Hard skin is the No. 1 enemy of a happy life, if you ask us. As devoted walkers who like to wear pretty heels (at least sometimes), keeping our feet blissful has always been a priority. (The world’s most expensive face cream is not going to help if you’re grimacing from uncomfy feet.) But there are pedicures – and there are Margaret Dabbs pedicures. (As in: when was the last time you reclined on a massage chair in an oxygen chamber as your polish died, enjoying a 15-minute guided meditation while staring at a Planetarium-like ceiling? See Jo, showing off her indigo toes in the aforementioned ‘egg’ chamber, left) First, though, comes the really important bit: one of five podiatrists (Margaret herself, if you’re willing to pay £120 a session not including varnish) buffs your feet to marble-smoothness, and expertly shapes the nails. (Because they’re medically qualified, the Margaret Dabbs team can also offer pedicures to diabetics, who we know find it hard to access glamorous foot services.) Feet are slathered with the emu-oil-rich, ultra-nourishing cream (the range is pictured right) – and then you’re ready for your expert varnish application. Too few places combine both the health aspect with glamour, in our experience – and once the hard work’s been done, it’s so easy to upkeep at home (Alida’s is our foot-file-of-choice, which you can get from www.victoriahealth.com). We now completely ‘get’ why our friend Nicola Moulton, Beauty Director of
Vogue (who could enjoy gratis pedicures in any salon of her choosing) actually pays to go back once a month for this: ‘It’s the one thing I can’t live without,’ Nicola tells us. Jo has a feeling she knows exactly what Nicola means. Oh, happy, happy feet.
Margaret Dabbs Foot Clinic & Nail Spa, 7 New Cavendish Street, London W1G 8UU/020-7487 5510
www.margaretdabbs.com
Clinique’s old-style ‘abacus’ is still around – but the technology’s been eclipsed with this real computer, which gives you a skincare prescription print-out. But most of all, we like the ‘Foundation bar’: foolproof display of shades, textures, coverage – all there, for simple at-a-glance selection. (Find something similar at Selfridges’ gleamingly gorgeous new Clinique counter, on this side of the pond. No walkie-talkies, though. Guess we’re still just too l-a-i-d b-a-c-k, compared to the average Manhattanite…
This is gearing up to be a very good season to be a make-up hound. Just as the shops are full of fabulous Little Black Dresses (and lots of navy - a rare winter sighting), nobody at a make-up counter is likely to be trying to persuade you that really, pink eyeshadow is The Last Word in Fabulousness. At least not for the foreseeable future. ‘The beauty houses are playing a little safer,’ Sylvie Chantecaille explained to us over tea at The Berkeley recently. ‘It’s a very good season for shades that are simply beautiful - rather than too fashion-forward.’ Now, Sylvie knows a thing or two about make-up (she launched Prescriptives for Estée Lauder, and has since created one of the best-loved luxury cosmetics brands in the world - which you can find at Harrods, Fenwick of Bond Street, Harvey Nix and Space NK). And as advocates of foolproof, classic shades, we couldn’t be happier to hear that this autumn is going to be all about fabulous neutrals, rich berry tones and can’t-go-wrong browns. What’s more, we are really awfully keen on the her Personal Collection Fall 2009, which includes the most gorgeous, deep claret collagen-enriched Lip Chic lipstick in Heirloom, and Sylvie’s Personal Palette (with three organza-sheer eyeshadow shades and a perfect blush) - just about as wearable and flattering as make-up gets, frankly. Every recession, it seems, has a silver lining. (Or in the case of this season, a softly shimmering taupe lining.)
That’s what happens when you try to type with a vibrating mascara in one hand. Well, not really. But no sooner had we been musing about which budget beauty brand would be first to launch a vibrating mascara - territory claimed at the top end of the market by Lauder and Lancôme - than Maybelline were first past the post with Pulse Perfection, launching this month (August) at Boots for £14.99. (At the same Sanderson Hotel event, they also showed us Color Sensational: 26 shades of lip-quenching colour - and it was definitely the first time we’ve watched a burlesque striptease at a beauty launch!) Still, it’s Pulse Perfection that got us buzzing - and Maybelline New York make-up artist Fiona Jolly agrees: ‘I was cynical about vibrating mascaras. But I’m such a convert that honestly, I predict that within five years there won’t be a non-vibrating type, because they do all the work, wiggling the wand from root to tip!’
