Tuesday 31 August 2010

Charles Worthington goes logo


Oops. Must be the weather. When Beauty Bible lunched with uberhairdresser Charles Worthington the other day, we completely forgot to take a photo of him for the blog looking tanned and totally St. Tropez, where he's summering in his villa. As you do, when you've sold your haircare company for - well, let's just say lots. However, control-freak-in-a-good-way that he is, Charles is still extremely hands-on with his range (and his salons), and is rightly rather proud of the new packaging for the Charles Worthington products, which grew out of a logo he designed himself. (Put that in your pipe, expensive design agencies.) With soft pastels, silver caps and a very classy CW monogram, we'd say they're rather Ralph Lauren, actually, and would elegantly grace any bath or shower room. (It hits the stores any day now, in September.) Note: like an inreasing number of hair brands, the range incorporates a collection - Time Defy - for ageing hair, which is currently the coiffure world's Big Thing. Now there are so many high-tech solutions for lines, wrinkles and age spots, beauty's turning its attention to our ageing follicles, for which anyone over 40 should be grateful. So: gold star all round, Charles. And enjoy the rest of your St. Trop summer. (Jealous, us...?)

Sunday 29 August 2010

Follow your nose to Avery Fine Perfumery


Although Beauty Bible did succumb to temptation and nip into Avery Fine Perfumery a couple of weeks back incognito, this week was the first chance we had to wallow in all its fragrant temptations: a long session of spritzing and zooshing, an olfactory meander through niche-but-noteworthy fragrance brands (many only available at this location, in the UK).  The brainchild of Celso Fadelli, an Italian distributor, London’s been chosen as the flagship of what he plans to be a global chain of ‘cult’ perfumeries.  (The second is in the former Manhattan nightclub Limelight.  Ah, those were the days…)  What you'll find:  Hype Noses candles (pictured below – we especially like woodsmoke-y Cheminée), which have wooden wicks that crackle softly in the background.  On the scent front, there’s Esteban, from Paris, sun-drenched Carthusia fragrances from Capri (the world’s oldest fragrance house), husband-and-wife team Nez à Nez, Boellis (a stunning men's cologne from a Naples barbershop…)  Jo is looking forward to getting her hands (or more precisely her wrists) on a shortlist of some of these truly extraordinary fragrances to review in depth on www.thescentcritic.com - but meanwhile, if you’re anywhere near Bond Street, follow your nose (and our example) and let your sense of smell revel in one of the most spectacular selections of under-the-radar scents anywhere on the planet.  

Avery Fine Perfumery,  27 Avery Row, Mayfair, London W1K 4AY
www.averylondon.com

Thursday 26 August 2010

Magnetically attracted to...


... this palette (only available from the States via www.unicosmetics.com, or at Fred Segal - one of our favourite L.A. beauty pitstops).  It's magnetic - so you simply slot in all your favourite pans of colour (blusher, lip gloss, highlighter, shadow etc.) - and it comes in a choice of shades for the case (silver definitely chicest).  Typing this with fingers firmly crossed that a savvy UK beauty site imports this PDQ, in which case:  you'll be the first to know.

www.unicosmetics.com


Monday 23 August 2010

Hitting the beach - briefly...


Beauty Bible is off to roll our feet over some pebbles, get some salt in our hair - and chill, for a few brief days.  Be back soon.

Friday 20 August 2010

Our first guest blogger: The Legologist

It’s always fascinating to us to find out what our fellow beauty editors actually love.  We are all sent a gazillion products, try loads of stuff – and something has to be really special to hang around on our bathroom shelf or in our make-up kit.  Now, we are big admirers of fellow beauty editor Kate Shapland and we’re devoted readers of her blog, The Leg Room, where Kate describes herself as ‘a beauty columnist who loves her food but hates her thighs’, and which is dedicated to the zone between toes and knicker-line, basically!  (That includes everything from cellulite treatments to roll-up shoes.)  So for our first guest blog, we asked The Legologist to come up with her all-time top 10 favourite products – ever, ever, ever…
Guerlain Divinora Pure Radiance, £40. completely transformative, but it’s all in the application: smooth it over just-cleansed, warm skin and it seals the pinkness in and acts a bit like egg-white, giving skin a noticeable lift.  The gold flakes brighten.  It’s a proper tonic for a tired face.  I use it over moisturiser and instead of foundation. 
Lancôme Color Fever Gloss, £17.  Covers and finishes unlike any other gloss.  It’s a hybrid lipstick-gloss because it has the pigment density of a lipstick, the consistency of a gloss (without the lip-lash stickiness – it isn’t overly shiny either) and is dispensed via a wand.  It stays on too.  Shade 316 Blackberry Party is the closest they have got to my all-time fave lip-colour – a dark mauve Juicy Tube that I liked so much I had to ration, then cut open to get at the last of the colour.
Bobbi Brown Sheer Raspberry Sheer Colour Cheek Tint£16.50.  This has exceptional hold (it doesn’t come off on your phone), it’s an easy-blend cream and the colour is spot on for a pop of colour.  I only recently finished my previous all-time favourite blusher – a limited edition Chanel 3-tone powder blush from three years ago; it had the perfect mix of pigments.  I got two and squirreled one away; it took me three years to work my way through both.
Serge Lutens Mauve de Swann Necessaire de Beaute Lipstick (£53, 020 7235 5000): my all time favourite.  The name is enough to make it covetable.  But it also happens to be the perfect size – small, like an old-fashioned faceted bullet lipstick (Lutens made it to fit a female hand), the best colour – a mauve-pink which looks a bit edgy (but not Goth) and could pass off as being classic, and a satin finish.  Perfectissimo!
Shirley Page Chamomile Dreams.  Made by my facialist, the wonderful Shirley, this is a healing and balancing organic oil – the only aromatherapy blend I can use on my face.  I just tap it onto my cheeks and neck at night when they feel dry.  It’s also magic at soothing psoriasis (unusual for aromatherapy oil) so I’ve normally got a bottle on the go (bedside table, desk ..) to tap on patches when they get angry.  (Available by mail order from 7th September 2010 price £40;  call 07776-375659.)
Sunday Riley Liquid Diet.  One of a few rare topicals that truly help the appearance of cellulite by easing water retention and firming skin.  I come back to this every time I want to shift a few (fluid) centimetres and it works brilliantly as a short, sharp hit for thighs and muffin top, especially if I take a daily dose of Super Diet Cellimine Organic Drink – a great diuretic with green tea, birch and meadowsweet in it which I discovered in a French pharmacy some years ago – at the same time.
Kate Logan Beauty Fennel Nourish Oil, £19.99.   I’m prone to puffiness (knees, ankles) so I’m quite obsessive in my quest to find topicals (and oral supplements) which nix the problem.  This seems to work very well for me, easing out trapped fluid; I’ll apply it at night after a soak in a bath with a dash of Magnesium Oil Original Soak (£19.95) – another good ‘ban the bloat’ remedy – in it, and tend to feel less balloon-like in the morning. 
Josie Maran Argan Bronzing Oil I’m not a self-tan fan.  I just don’t think any of them work well enough to use on a regular basis – drift and grab are still problems.  This is a non-sticky skin oil (you can use it on your face and legs) with a slight tint to it, so it gives you a subtle from-within glow – it’s quite remarkable.  It was developed by an ex-model and it’s full of skin nurturing vitamin E and essential fatty acids.  (Currently only available from the US.)
Femergy Food Supplement£9.95 for 60 capsules.  100% the best daily energiser you can take.  This is a new find, but it’s something I can see myself taking in 10 years time.  It’s a herbal blend (Peruvian maca, ginseng and gingko biloba) which, instead of making you jittery, just lifts you gently and sharpens your concentration and focus.  Magic stuff. 


www.thelegroom.blogspot.com

Thursday 19 August 2010

Gone but not forgotten...

Before Leaving Checklist

Had to share this - which we just found at www.hu2.com, a wall sticker company which produces PVC-free decorative sheets that include everything from Mac keyboard shortcuts to recycling reminders via this very useful front door memory-jogger.  No excuse ever to leave home without your iPod, phone, Oyster card, keys or make-up ever again.  (So much more attractive than a Post-It note above the door handle, and the wind can't blow it off.)  

Wednesday 18 August 2010

Who ya gonna call? Stressbusters...



Who wouldn't like less stress in their life?  (The bad, nerves-on-edge frazzlement type, anyway.  Not the just-stressed-enough-to-get-you-out-of-bed-and-greet-the-world-with-tons-of-energy 'good' type of stress.)  Well, today, we thought we'd share a little stress-busting wisdom from the Stress Management Society, who regularly ping de-stressing tips into our mailbox (and you can sign up here, too).  We rather like their latest, for instance:  'If you're feeling stressed today, here's a simple tip that could help.  Make your excuses and leave for 10 minutes.  Look up at the sky and take a few deep breaths;  watch the clouds;  search for birds and follow them as they fly and land;  feel the wind or sun on your face;  count the planes;  shut your eyes and listen.  Almost immediately, your heart rate will be lower and your body will be recovering from the stress back in your house at office.  Changing your perspective like this helps you remember that your stress is not the only thing in your life.  It gets you away from the stressful situation.  And now when you return (yes, you do have to go back!), you've reset your internal system to "neutral" and be better able to cope.'


Now, forgive us while we make our excuses and go look at some clouds.


www.stress.org.uk

Tuesday 17 August 2010

Hot and bothered...?


Couldn't resist this new poster about 'sauna etiquette'. Although they did forget to put something about not using your mobile phone in a sauna. (And yes, we've seen it done. Till his screen fogged up, anyway.)  Coming (in laminated format) to a sauna near you in September - including Titanic Spa, The Chelsea Club and Malvern Spa - via Dalesauna.

Monday 16 August 2010

Marshall Street Baths - back in the swim!



Once upon a time, long, long ago, every morning before hitting her desk, Jo would plunge into the waters at Soho's Marshall Street Baths and do 30 brisk lengths.  These amazing 1930s baths were closed in 1997, but have just reopened - with a full gym and workout centre, plus two exercise/dance studios.  We've got ever-so-slightly mixed feelings about the replacement of the original wooden changing rooms with swanky modern versions (we won't miss the discarded plasters on a less-than-pristine floor, we will miss the panelled retro feel) - but there is really no excuse for anyone who lives, works or hangs out in Soho not to be ploughing up and down the lanes of this gorgeously refitted bathing venue, with its fabulous sky-lit vaulted ceiling.  Swimcaps to the ready, girls.


Marshall Street Leisure Centre, 15 Marshall Street, London W1F 7EL/07801-477 750


Friday 13 August 2010

Bored with scented candles...?


Let's face it, they've become pretty ubiquitous. There are some brands that still quicken Beauty Bible's heart - Cire Trudon, some Diptyque, NEOM and a new-ish natural brand called Pure Light - but many have us yawning. (And/or throwing open the windows.) This window display in Selfridges relit our passion, though: candles as decoration, not just pretty background smells. (Beauty Bible tip: remember, everyone looks 1000 per cent better by the flicker of candlelight.)

Thursday 12 August 2010

We are LOVIN' Bloglovin'...



So. You read blogs. (Or you wouldn't be reading this.) But if you're anything like us, you don't want to clog up your inbox with e-mails that tell you that your favourite blog has been updated. (Even if it's from us.) So Beauty Bible Blog is delighted to tell you about Bloglovin, which lets you keep track of all your fave blogs via one cleanly-designed site. (Tip: cut and paste the URL from your chosen site into the Search box - otherwise it sometimes doesn't recognise blogs you're looking to add to your list of 'followed' sites.)

Honestly, it's lifechangin'.

www.bloglovin.com

All the best things...


... come in small packages. Especially when you're flying and anything but the smallest size of skin-rehydrator/lip balm/hand cream is likely to be confiscated at check-in. So www.3floz.com is a fantastically clever idea: everything on the site is in plane-friendly sizes (and they'll ship from the USA). Brands range from Dr. Hauschka to Ole Henriksen via Weleda, Anthony For Men, Malin + Goetz and Molton Brown, plus this flight-specific Air Repair Kit. Alternatively, Beauty Bible suggests decanting your own favourite rehydrators and skin treats into the very brilliant clear plastic Alida Travelling Light Kit at www.victoriahealth.com: three empty bottles, two jars, two spatulas, a funnel, all perfectly sized to be green-lighted at check-in. So: so no having your precious moisturiser whipped away and binned before you board.

www.3floz.com
www.victoriahealth.com

Tuesday 10 August 2010

Before you swing for Botox...


... Beauty Bible suggests an eye test and some new specs. It's extraordinary how many brow-furrows and laugh lines are actually sight-related. (Squinting at print, or trying to refocus on the number of that distant red bus...) Glasses, however, can be pricey. One of our favourite tips - which we were reminded of by this beautiful line-drawing from an intriguing blog (see below) - is to scoop up vintage specs and have them retro-fitted with your prescription. Jo has hers done at The Optical Lounge, an extremely cool and groovy (and very reasonably-priced) spec shop in her home town of Hastings where so many fab shops are springing up. (But you'll need your own prescription - easily acquired at Specsavers, for instance - as the store doesn't offer eye tests.) You'll also find a pretty darned stylish selection of sunnies and specs, some exclusive to this funky boutique: Paul Frank, Anne et Valentin, Kirk Originals and Maui Jim. And The Optical Lounge has a terrific new on-line store, too. So: hold that syringe, doc...

www.theopticallounge.co.uk 36-37 George Street, Hastings TN34 3EA/01424-713900

PS As for the blog? It's a project in which San Francisco blogger and illustrator Lisa Congdon is photographing (or drawing) one of her collections, every day for 365 days till the end of the year.

www.collectionaday2010.blogspot.com

Monday 9 August 2010

Something for the weekend...?


Ever since Beauty Bible first met Zoe Phayre-Mudge (the unlikely-named founder of ZPM - well, now you know why she uses her initials...), we have been fans of her hang-it-over-the-bathroom-door-and-store-all-your-beauty-clutter kit-bag. (It's called a Weekender.) This pretty pink 'Lovebird' version (very 'us') has just been launched, part of a new collection all a-flutter with pretty avian designs, from birdcages to these 'Lovebirds'. (Er, should we be Tweeting this, rather than blogging it...?)

www.zpm.com