Become a NARSissist!

This is really a bit of fun.  Before you log on to the new website from make-up maestro François Nars, we suggest you reach for your brushes.       Follow the link here.  Then sign up to the Nars Facebook page - and after those simple steps, you can have a go at recreating the 'looks' from this international make-up guru which feature on his site.  

     If you're pleased with the results, you might even try uploding your own photos.  (Though be aware:  François isn't Bobbi Brown, and his looks are generally edgy, a little 'out there', and play well with our younger readers, we find.)

     There are 'points' to be earned for uploading your versions of his different looks:  more looks = more points.  What's more, our American readers (but not, alas, us Brits) can win fabulous prizes.  

     The smokey eyes, the bold lips, the don't-mess-with-me brows are all based on the Nars make-up manual, Makeup Your Mind (which our New York-based pal Karen Moline helped with).  At the very least, it's fun to go through the pictures and see how other women interpret these Nars looks, and you can even vote on them should you feel so inclined.

     As it's half-term in the UK this week, we'd definitely suggest telling any bored teenage girls in your house about this.  

     Though you might want to lock up your own make-up bag, first.

www.makeupyourmind.com

Makeup Your Mind:  Express Yourself is available via Amazon, if you click here.

Chanel Makeup Confidential: Edition 2

... Because a new edition of Chanel Makeup Confidential is just about our favourite way to spend 15 idle minutes at our screen, watching really fab videos.
... Because it's Friday, and a Bank Holiday weekend to boot.  (And yes, we'll be trashing our manicures in the garden.)
... Because Chanel's Peter Phillips is a genius...
... And so is Lisa Eldridge.  (That's why we feature her make-up how-to videos on our own website.)
We could go on about all the reasons we love this on-line magazine. But why take up your valuable 15 coffee break, when you could be clicking here and seeing the new edition (just gone live) for yourself...?

To click to Beauty Bible's own VIDEOS archive, click here.

This idea is NOT pants...

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best.  Pants For That was born out of a dinner party conversation about - yes - poverty, war, abuse and rape, in the developing world.  Turns out that throughout many African countries, lingerie isn't a luxury in the way we think of it:  women just don't have money for 'smalls'.
     So:  Pants for That was born.  Founder Janie Mac's idea is that you donate fresh, unopened packs of underwear, including for children and teenagers.  The kind of thing you cant throw in your basket next time you're in M & S.
     As Janie says, 'We're not going to be able to alleviate poverty from Africa overnight, and come up with solutions to fix the state of the continent, but we can donate fresh new unopened packs of underwear that cost us virtually nothing.'
     For more about this, see Pants For That's Facebook page, here.  Or nip into your local underwear department this lunchtime, and send a nice pair of pants to:  Pants For That, 20 Carnegie House, New End, London NW3 1JE.  (They will also accept bras, including secondhand ones in good nick, and send them o to contacts in the developing world who'll assure their safe distribution.)
     We've always believed that small changes can make a big difference.  Or maybe, on this occasion, that should be 'smalls'...?

For Pants For That's Facebook page, click here.

A Fresh way to enjoy fragrance

Do you know Fresh's fragrances?  We rather think you should, even though (for now) this fabulous Fresh Fragrance Bar is only available at one UK location (on Marylebone High Street).  But there are others, around the world - including Santa Monica (above), photographed by Jo on a recent trip to L.A.  Keep your eyes peeled, travellers.  (And your nostrils poised.)
     Bottles are filled on the spot with one of five Fresh bestsellers.  There's fresh-as-a-dewy-morning Cucumber Baie (with notes of watermelon, cucumber pulp, velvet amber).  Pear Cassis (an early predecessor to the new 'wave' of pear fragrances out there:  juicy but rose-lush, too).  Tobacco Caramel is more mysterious, sensual, warm.  (Best for winter, we'd say).  We very much like Violet Moss - powdery, intriguingly earthy floral - but our inner hippie truly thrills to Patchouli Pure, woodsy and spicy and with lashings of patchouli incense.
     Even more intriguing, Fresh recommend 'layering' the scents, so you can create a truly customised combo - and at £16.50 for a 15 mlbottle (filled before your very eyes), whyever not...?

Fresh, 92 Marylebone High Street, London W1U 4RD/020-7486 4100
For Jo's regular scent reviews, don't forget to visit www.thescentcritic.com

Welcome to the (live) John Freida Academy

Can we suggest you make a date for your diary - this Friday, 27th May 2011, at 1 p.m.?  Because that's the timing for the first-ever John Frieda Live Hair Academy:  a unique show that's going to be streamed on-line via their Facebook page.
     There'll be two top John Freida stylists ready to answer your questions on-air.
     You can sit back and watch spring/summer's top catwalk hairstyles being created in real-time.  (And then vote for your favourite.)
     And most exciting of all, you can apply to become a model to put the yes-it's-truly-life-changing Frizz-Ease 3-Day Straight Styling Spray to the test, assisted by a member of our friend Mr. Frieda's A-list team.
     Lucky it's a lunchtime, eh?   (Memo to self:  pack sarnies on Friday.) 

Click here for the John Frieda Live Facebook page.

Hail to the 'Brow Queen'...

At Beauty Bible, our longstanding brow advice has been:  get your brows professionally shaped, then do the upkeep at home.  (That's what we've always done.)  But then we get asked:  how do I find a great brow-shaper...?  So this is what you need to know:  Benefit now have 27 brow bars in the UK, 10 in Ireland - and a dozen Benefit boutiques where brow-shaping/waxing/tinting services are offered from qualified pros.
     And while we're talking pros, the woman in the picture above is Benefit's 'Brow Queen' (or rather, Benefit Global Brow Expert and Master Aesthetician, to accord Hilary Foote her full title), who touched down in London, tweezers in hand, to celebrate the success of the Benefit Brow Bars by...  well, by waxing Jo's brows!  (Though Jo's already a convert, having nipped into the Benefit Covent Garden store for brow-shaping on many previous occasions.)
     The great tip that Hilary shared with us, for brow-shaping at home?  'Draw your perfect brow in really, really dark, with a brown or even a black pencil.  Then pluck the hairs outside that.  Makes it much easier to get the shape.'
     Budding Audrey Hepburns, you have been told.  

For Benefit's Store Locator,, visit www.benefitcosmetics.co.uk, or click here.

Friday's bathroom swoon

It being Friday, here's the latest in a line of bathrooms lusted-after by the Beauty Bible team, courtesy of the excellent Sacramento Street blog that we often surf off to when in need of a little 'lift'.
     We're digging the metal lockers.  (What a way to organise your beauty swag!)  We're rather loving the rag rug, not to mention the chandelier.  Let's not overlook the stack of books, for (careful) in-tub reading.
     And as for the vintage leather armchair?  Interestingly, a couple of weeks ago Jo spotted an almost identical pair in a store called Eras of Style, in St. Leonards-on-Sea (near her Hastings home), and is now rather kicking herself for not snapping them up.
     But overall, they definitely add up to the kind of space we'd love to soak in.  What about you...?

www.sacramentostreet.com
www.erasofstyle.com

Shall I compare thee... to an iPhone App?

In general, we're not big on beauty comparisons.  In fact, at Beauty Bible, we celebrate all different kinds of beauty.  (Which is why we signed up to Psychologies Magazine's Positive Beauty Manifesto, a couple of weeks ago - which you can read more about here.)
     And yet, and yet...  We couldn't help be a little intrigued by this new App based on serious scientific studies from the University of Toronto, which show that our 'perception' of beauty is related to feature symmetry.  What you do is upload a photo of yourself (or anyone, actually), and the App measures critical factors (hairline, eyes, chin), and gives a ranking out of 10.
     Just don't take it too seriously.   But as a harmless piece of fun, a party game...?  You should be able to download it for free using a special code via their Facebook page, below.
     But as a PS, we'd just like to add:  nobody's perfect.  And Jo definitely isn't taking personally its verdict on her wonky nose and less-than-symmetrical eyes, the legacy of a childhood squint...

For Beauty Check's Facebook page and that free code, click here
For the Beauty Check iTunes page click here (NB  It's 59p without the code - and to be honest, not sure we'd pay that...)
And last but not least, for the YouTube Trailer, click here

It's Beauty Month at Harrods

Reward cards.  Pah!  We usually turn them down.  (Just another way to part us from our hard-earned.)  But as you might expect, what's on offer at Harrods is just a little different.
     We've both been swooning around their marbled beauty hall - well, since we were kids, so Beauty Bible has a bit of a soft spot for the store, it's true.  But what you need to know is that each May, Harrods celebrates Beauty Month.  And for those who have a Harrods Reward Card tucked inside their wallet, there are some special free 'masterclasses' on offer.  On Thursday, for instance (19th May), there's an SK-II skincare workshop, hosted by their experts.  (Times are
11 a.m. - 12.30 p.m., 2 - 3.30 p.m. and 5 - 6.30 p.m.)  To secure your place, customers should e-mail maybeautymonth@harrods.com.
     Elsewhere in the store, for non-cardholders, there are plenty of fab make-up, skincare and fragrance launches which you could find it quite rewarding to check out, we think.  Why, we might take an hour or two to do just that ourselves.
    (And in case you're wondering why we've got fab-at-fortysomething Cate Blanchett's smooth-complexioned features plastered across our blog, she's the face of SK-II.  And we're fans.  Which is why Cate also happens to feature on p. 177 of our latest book...)

It's 'Bathroom Friday'. (Again.)

It's becoming a little Friday tradition at the Beauty Bible Blog to share with you a bathroom that's caught our fancy.  That's because we think there's no better retreat from the world, for most women, than to close the door, run the taps and wallow.
     So:  here's the latest bathroom where we'd be happy to spend an hour or two submerged beneath fragrant waters with a book.  Check out the eclectic framed pictures (some watery-themed), the over-sized tub, the shiny silver ice bucket reincarnated as a plant pot.  (Not to mention the Jo Malone and Acqua di Parma unguents.)
     It's an image we came across on Lonny, the brilliant on-line home décor magazine that you ought to know about.  And which we'd read in the bath, probably, if we weren't at risk of getting our iPads wet.  (And possibly electrocuting ourselves.)
     You've got to admit:  there's still a lot to be said for paper.

www.lonnymag.com

Alice's adventures in Elemis-land

Alice Temperley is a designer name to gladden most women's hearts.  So:  take one Alice Temperley leopard-print 'traveller' holdall.  Fill with Elemis skin treats (including Beauty Bible Award-winners like Pro-Collagen Marine Cream, Papaya Enzyme Peel and Exotic Franginpani Monoi Moisture Melt).  And what you have is a truly lust-worthy accessory which should help raise the £40,000 for the Mothers4Children charity that is Elemis's target.
     It's now on sale nationwide at department stores and www.timetospa.co.uk.
    Purr, purr...

A new style of scented candle...

We're always happy to have scented candles in little round pots, flickering on the mantelpiece.  Oh, yes.

     But here's a rather chic alternative, from Lyn Harris of Miller Harris (who's also rather chic, as it happens).  They're made by one of the oldest artisan candle makers in the world, who've been producing pillar candles for the Church for centuries.

     Unlike the plain wax type you'd light in a cathedral, however, these are exquisitely infused with Lyn's Bois Fumé fragrance:  all smoky birch and black tobacco, with subtly spicy undertones and the woodsiness of cedar, vetiver and sandalwood.  The candles have been lightly dipped, so the scent's subtle and won't clash with your cuisine.   And as Lyn notes, 'Candle light is as flattering to a room as perfume is to a person.'

     We're drawing up a guest list already.

Find them at Miller Harris, 21 Bruton Street, London W1J 6QD

www.millerharris.com

Stop trying to relax...

     ...  If you're trying to have a baby, that is.
     'Just relax' is the stock advice, isn't it, for women who inexplicably can't have a baby?  Well, author Genevieve Morton was so sick of being told to do just that when trying to conceive that she sat down to write Bump & Grind:  The AZ Survival Guide for every woman in that boat.  Half health manual, half in the style of a Cosmo-esque quiz, it's by someone who's been there, done that and cooed wistfully over the newborn-size t-shirt.
    Covering everything from the top 10 fertility superfoods to the effects of stress on infertility (and how to tell the boss you're TTC - Trying To Conceive), we like its empathetic style and sound advice from someone who knows.  And whose infertility journey had a happy ending:  when she stopped trying to relax, along came Rafferty.
     So if you're wanting a baby and it's just not happening, there are worse ways to spend a few hours than relaxing with this book, which is published by White Ladder Press, price £12.99.
     Er, did we just tell you to relax...?

Beautiful bathroom ideas (contd.)

Call us bathroom fetishists.  Go on.  We don't care.  We're always on the lookout for lovely ways to display  beauty products - not to mention cotton buds and Q-Tips.
     So:  you don't have an alcove in your bathroom...?  Well, why not fake one - as the owner of this black-and-white bathroom has done. (And yes, it is simply resting on the lavatory cistern.)  Add a bristled shaving brush, some vintage hairbrushes, a striking framed silhouette (so fashionable) - and oh, why not display granny's china and hand-me-down silver, while you're at it?
     But however your bathroom looks, have a happy weekend, beauty-hounds...     

Mama Mio! This is quite a way to win £1000...

Beauty Bible spent much of the Easter weekend on a beach.  In England. Watching it all hang out, as it were.  Blimey...!
     But seriously:  what's your summer confidence factor?  Because fab bodycare (and now skincare) brand Mama Mio might just give you a £1000 Kuoni voucher (not to mention some fab Mama Mio products) if you tell them.
     Right now, they're running the Mama Mio Summer Confidence Challenge.  Simply click on the link below and share with them your Summer Confidence Factor (out of 50), in a little on-line five-question quiz, to be entered for this so-fabulous draw.  Yup, it's almost that simple.  (You also have to take the poll again, at the end of summer, so they can compare results.)
     Our personal confidence rating...?  22/50, as it happens, after taking the challenge.  Definitely an all-in-one cossie rating, rather than a mini-kini number...!

Click here for the Summer Confidence Challenge challenge at www.mamamio.com

Sign up to the Positive Beauty Manifesto

Hats off to Psychologies magazine for this, which features in their current 'Postive Beauty' issue, on sale from today.
     It's a manifesto that they'd like women everywhere to sign up to - and we were delighted to do just that, because it 100% reflects our philosophy about beauty.
     We're proud to see Beauty Bible's name alongside Brooke Shields, Gillian Anderson, Susan Sarandon, Daria Werbowy, Cynthia Nixon, Kathy Lette, Corinne Bailey Rae, Vaishaly Patel, Mary Portas, Jemma Kidd, Marcia Kilgore, Camila Batmanghelidjh, Lisa Eldridge, Laura Mercier, among others - many of them our own heroes.
     We'd like to invite you to add your name, too.  Read more in the new issue of Psychologies or follow the links below.  It's a lovely thing they're doing.

Click here to log on to www.psychologies.co.uk to pledge your support.

It's National Lavender Week...

... so we thought we'd share this beautiful image of a lavender sunset.  Somewhere over Provence, probably.  But it got us thinking:  what our our favourite beauty products, created around the amazingly rebalancing, skin-calming ingredient being celebrated this week...?
     The list is below (with links to find them).  But we'd love you to tell us - via Twitter or Facebook - what are your favourite lavender 'finds'...?

Holistic Silk Lavender Eye Mask (at www.victoriahealth.com)
Weleda Lavender Relaxing Bath Milk (at www.lovelula.com)
Jurlique Lavender-Lavendin Hydrating Essence (at www.jurlique.co.uk)
Yardley English Lavender Cologne Stick (at www.yardleylondon.com)
Neal's Yard Remedies French Lavender Soap (at www.nealsyardremedies.com)