Friday 26 August 2011

The 'rough luxe' bathroom

And now for something completely different, bathroom-wise.
     This is the type of beautification space that we would like to discover on arriving at our sun-drenched holiday villa.  Somewhere like Crete, or Essouira, or Ibiza.     
     Cool, concrete surfaces.  Rough-hewn wood doors.  A few Oriental artefacts.  Simplicity itself, actually.
     Maybe not inviting enough for a chilly British bathroom in the middle of February - but on vacation, a change is as (almost) as good as a rest, interiors-wise.
     Wherever you're showering this weekend, have a good one.

Wednesday 24 August 2011

The Big Veggie Survey







Since the launch of Meat Free Monday, the number of vegetarians has soared.  (It figures:  if you can go deliciously meat-free one day a week, why not every day...?)
     And if you're veggie, demi-veggie, pescatarian, The Vegetarian Society would like to hear from you.  (Or even if you're raging carnivore, come to that.)  They're currently running an on-line survey into eating habits.
     Go on, fill it in.  It's August.  The office is really quiet.  And you could win a £50 voucher for a Beefeater Grill meal.  (Which is more logical when you discover they've recently introduced Vegetarian Society-approved dishes on their menu.  Though we're still not entirely sure how die-hard veggies - that includes Jo - would feel, seated next to a rare-steak-eater.  Happily, then, the voucher applies across the Whitbread Group generally.)
     We think it's food for thought, anyway.

To fill in the survey click here
For info about Meat Free Monday, click here




Monday 22 August 2011

There's 'The Ultimate Facial'. And there's this...


















We have a lot of time for facials.
     Well, in truth, we don't have as much time for them as we'd like.
     But here's one we'll be making time for: the new Liz Earle Healthy Beautiful Skin Facial, which leaves complexion looking - well, just that. Healthy. And beautiful...
    It's very hands-on.  (Lots of puff-beating massage.)  Uses some of all all-time favourite products.  And, frankly, is as much of a skin treat anyone could wish for.  Even a picky, picky beauty editor.
     Or two.

And here's where to find it:

Liz Earle Duke of York Square - available now (call 020-7730 9191)
John Lewis Cheadle - from 23rd August
John Lewis Newcastle - from 14th October
John Lewis Reading - from 17th October

Friday 19 August 2011

Bamboo-yoo-tiful...

With fashion and beauty's focus on Chinoiserie this autumn, we think it could be time for bamboo to make a comeback in the home. Specifically, the bathroom - of which this is the latest in our (beautiful) series.
     It's certainly got us out there junketeering, seeking out a little bamboo sidetable for beside the basin.
     But we like it, particularly, paired here with Spanish tiles, a 'foxed' mirror (very flattering as one ages, that) - and a single, deliciously blowsy dahlia in 'knicker pink'.
    Thanks to the Everything Fabulous blog, for this.
    Have a bath-tastic weekend, won't you...?

www.everythingfab.com

Wednesday 17 August 2011

At last, the unscary makeover













We know women who'd rather go on the Stealth ride at Thorpe Park than have a department store makeover.
     We know where you're coming from. (Although we've also had fantastic makeover experiences ourselves, most notably at Bobbi Brown, Laura Mercier, Clinique and Chanel.)
     So:  you need to know about Shiseido's Magic Mirror, based on a revolutionary technology:  it scans your features, then allows you to 'apply' a range of lip, cheek and eye shades so you can see how they'll look on you - very realistically.
     No walking around wearing scary green eyeshadow all afternoon.  Or dashing back to the office to wash your face.
     Magic?  We'd say it lives up to its name...

And here's where to find the Magic Mirror, in a department store near you...


29th August – 17th September:  House of Fraser Meadowhall 
September – 3rd October:  House of Fraser Manchester
5th October – 19th October:  Jenners Edinburgh
21st October – 4th November:  John Lewis Newcastle
9th November – 29th November: House of Fraser Westfield
1st December – 24th December: House of Fraser Milton Keynes
23rd December – 20th January: House of Fraser Oxford St
23rd January – 11th February: Harrods

    

Monday 15 August 2011

A Vogue-tastic site


Dithering over what to wear this summer morning?
     Us, too.  
So we rather hanker over an era when it was a toss-up between the crispest striped shirt, a trio of playsuits, or a full, floaty cotton skirt.  Maybe some Capris and – oh, OK, never been sure about dungarees...
     But we can’t help but be admiring of those hand-span waists, to show them all off.
     Still, we really bought you this to alert you to a new blog discovery, My Vintage Vogue.
     Fashion lovers - like our wonderful Executive Assistant Amy Eason (a..a. ''Miss eBay'): read it and swoon.  And have a lovely summery day, from us.

     

Friday 12 August 2011

Our quirkiest bathroom yet...























We'd love to meet the woman who bathes here.
    Confident in her taste.   (You'd have to be, to mix Chinese cabinetry with a Rococo mirror and a straight-from-the-backwoods tree trunk. Not to mention the Japanese cork mat and the black-and-white wallpaper).
     Awfully stylish.
     And not afraid of a splash of colour.  (Try imagining this bathroom with a black or beige cabinet, in place of the lipstick red.  Would it be half as impactful...?)
     Let this latest in our series of beautiful bathrooms - courtesy of A Punch of Color blog - inspire you, this weekend.
     Either to reach for the paintbrush.
     Or a chainsaw.
     Or simply to lay back in your own bath, and relax.

www.apunchofcolordesign.com



Thursday 11 August 2011

Quite a bathing belle!














Just one more reason to love Soap & Glory.
     They're currently sponsoring this extraordinary installation by artist Oliver Voss on the Inner Alster lake in Hamburg.
     She is fully recyclable and made of non-polluting materials.
     And man, does she need a lot of soap.

www.soapandglory.com

Monday 8 August 2011

Feast your beady eyes on these…


Only if you’ve been living in a cave could you have missed that false lashes are suddenly huge
     In every way. 
     Forget ‘can’t-tell-them-from-real’:  the current trend is for lashes that a Jersey cow would be proud of – thick, lustrous, preferably eyebrow-grazing.  
     In fact, false lashes are so hot-hot-hot that in Superdrug – where (in selected stores) you can have lashes you’ve bought there reapplied for free – they sold 40,000 pairs of their new ‘falsies’ in the first week or so.
     But trust Shu Uemura (say it 'shoo ay-moor-ah') – who were lash kings long before the current fad for faux – to up the ante, beading the tips of these feathery creations, which you can find at their Tokyo Lash Bars and on-line.
     Not so much false eyelashes.  
     More false 'eye-FLASHES', we'd say.
     

Friday 5 August 2011

The perfect powder room





Off somewhere swanky for the weekend?
     Hope so.
     Will they have a powder room as gorgeous as this...?
     Maybe not.
     We're loving the vintage stool, almost camouflaged by the wallpaper.  (Stools like that go for a song in seaside junk shops.)
     We adore the way that a boring brown wood sideboard's been converted (with a bit of marble and some black paint) into a sunken washstand, complete with splashback.  (Which has been perfectly shaped to showcase the window.)
     Thanks to the ever-inspiring interiors blog A Punch of Colour for letting us look through the keyhole at such a perfect little space.
     We'd rather like to be washing our hands somewhere as glam as this, this weekend.
     But it'll probably be Wet Wipes on the beach, again.
     (And nothing wrong with that, at this time of year.)

For A Punch of Colour, click here



Wednesday 3 August 2011

Ahoy! Liz Earle news...














For yachties.
     And Liz Earle fans.  (Who are legion, among Beauty Bible readers.)
     And anyone who happens to be having a jolly buckets-and-spades holiday on the Isle of Wight.  (Or, alternatively, enjoying the island's rather marvellous cuisine:  it's becoming quite a foodie destination, as Jo has discovered on successive summer visits.)
     One of the highlights of the island's calendar takes off - with the wind in its sails - this Saturday, with the start of Cowes Week, the largest sailing regatta in the world.  This year, one again, Liz Earle Naturally Active Skincare is the event's 'skincare sponsor'.
     Wonder if the sailors will be getting a preview of the soon-to-be-launched Sheer Skin Tint SPF15?  (Trust us:  it's worth waiting for.  Or maybe even learning to sail for, actually.)
     And if you're not into boats but you love your beauty, the alternative is to tack right over to what was their first-ever store, in Ryde.  
     Sun, sea and skincare.  Now, that's our kind of holiday.

Union Store, 22 Union Street, Ryde
01983-813980

Tuesday 2 August 2011

Are they real...? Find out on Saturday!




















Talk often turns to mascara, in the Beauty Bible offices.
     Oh, it's deep stuff.
     However, the mascara that's got our Beauty Bible Assistant Amy all a-froth is Benefit's They're Real.
     You can't really get your hands - or your lashes - on it until 27th August.  However, Benefit's organised a 'flash sale' at 10 stores this Saturday, listed below:  an exclusive preview where you can put the mascara to the test.
     Our tip:  wear dark glasses when you leave the house, to get the full effect...

House of Fraser Glasgow
John Lewis Oxford Street
Boots Manchester Market Street
Boots Nottingham
Debenhams Belfast
Debenhams Brighton
Debenhams Chelmsford
Debenhams Henry Street, Dublin
Debenhams Mahon Point, Cork
Debenhams Cork

Plus the Benefit boutiques in Covent Garden and Spitalfields only - click here for the Storefinder