Monthly Archives: March 2017

Here’s a new discovery: Time Bomb skincare. I had heard of the brand before, but it grabbed my attention properly when I found out that the range had been snapped up by Selfridges, both in-store and online. I have tried a few of the products and all have been very nice indeed. I have to say that I am deeply – deeply – impressed by the Powerball Intensive Moisturiser. It said on the instructions that I should apply it before serum and so I was expecting some kind of wishy-washy fluid thing, another one of those post-toner/pre-serum hybrids that have been sent to make us all incredibly cross and poor. But I applied it and boy was it rich! I didn’t need a serum afterwards, I didn’t need a moisturiser – I didn’t even need a moisturiser the following morning. It’s a brilliant concoction that manages to be quite light and non-greasy (good old hyaluronic acid with its hydrating super-powers) whilst having the lovely richness of shea butter to nourish dry skin. The blurb says this: “the key to Powerball’s amazing efficacy is Ectoin, a moisture grabbing and hoarding protein that enables organisms to thrive in harsh, arid, desert environments.” I’ll have to do some looking-up on that one, but expect a full review soon. You can find Powerball at Selfridges here, it’s £36 which I think is an excellent price. 

The Youth Juice oil blend is also superb, so far as I can see from the back of the box (I haven’t tried it properly yet as I had to start on my Genefique testing) and you get a whopping great big 60ml in that teeny looking bottle. £38 for 60ml, when most beautifully blended oils are at least that for half the volume? Got my vote. This oil apparently mimics the skin’s own natural oils (sebum) so rather than just moisturising temporarily, it’s supposed to really work to regain the skin’s youthfulness and glow. I’m very much looking forward to trying it – on my hand it feels light, almost like a dry oil, but incredibly moisturising. You can find the Youth Juice here – again, there’ll be a proper review soon.

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I’ve really been making a conscious effort this year to remove my nails as they’re so weak, and they split as soon as they manage to get any length so I was interested to try the Pedikur Hand and Foot Care products after reading about them, and the reviews on how effective they are. Pedikur is available to purchase on their on website, as well as the Beauty Chamber website, and the range includes Pedikur Moisturising Cotton Socks, Pedikur Herbal Hand and Foot Cream, Pedikur Hand and Foot Lotion as well as spatulas and the products can be purchased individually or as a set depending on your preference. The Pedikur Hand and Foot Care range can be used on both the hands and the feet, and the products work to remove dry skin and cuticles without the need for sharp instruments, as well as keeping your hands and feet soft and moisturised.

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Arlesienne

November seems a strange time to launch such a spring-like collection, but L’Occitane Arlesienne is hitting stores round about now. I’d describe it as a sparkly floral – there was a little hole in the envelope that these pieces arrived in which meant I could smell it before I opened it and I was smiling at the fragrance. I think that’s all a fragrance has to do, really. Make you smile.

L’Occitane Arlesienne

The release is a bit scary – it’s gone very French in the way that it describes the scent as being inspired by a “woman who is the silent, markedly absent heroine of a play by Dudet in three acts” – I’m sorry? What? When we’ve all finished smoking stuff we shouldn’t, the fragrance boils down to a rose and violet infused floral, a little bit powdery, a lot pretty and very fresh for spring. The top notes of saffron give L’Occitane Arlesienne a bit of an edge over more standard florals – if you spot it in store, definitely have a spritz because I think it’s one of their loveliest fragrances yet. The range is supposed to represent the Arles woman from the town of the same name in the South of France. That’s probably a bit of a stretch for anyone living outside of France – it might as well be a fragrant representation of the Nottingham woman for all that this will resonate.

The product line up is interesting, too and includes a hair mist (which I am getting more and more into), a solid fragrance, a body oil and perfumed candle amongst the more usual items such as hand cream and body oil.

L’Occitane Arlesienne seems higher in price point – the candle (which is small) is £24 and the EDT is £39, but at the other end of the scale, the soap is £4.50 and the sold fragrance is £8.

If you’re in the mood for Christmas shopping, I’ve just been on the L’Occitane website – lots of reductions on the site. However, do shop around – I noticed a Verbena Hand Duo for £32 and the exact same product, same weight etc, in a different box on the John Lewis website for £23.40 and the very same thing again for £26 on the Feel Unique site which is a bit naughty. I think the consumer needs a bit of consistency here – it’s really not fair to make customers work this hard.

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Listen, if you ever come to my house then you’ll be pretty well looked after. I’ll hang a nice dressing gown on the back of the guest room door. You can eat the last of my cereal, drink from my special mug, take the magazine part of the Sunday newspaper before I’ve read it, leaving me with just the boring bits for the following two hours. You can borrow my slippers, put your feet up on the sofa, make yourself completely at home: just don’t mess with my shower settings.

Do people not realise that a well-set shower, at just the right temperature (one that won’t burn off the top layer of your skin but is also not that awful, depressingly tepid sort of warmish that makes you feel as though you’re waiting for a bus in a rain storm) is a thing of absolute beauty? That you can just step in through those doors and know, with utter confidence, that the water is precisely to your liking?

Do people also not realise that finding the correct shower setting is a fine art? Those professional robbers who sit next to the bank safe slowly twirling the dial and listening through the door with a stethoscope – that’s me! That’s me finding the right temperature! If it then gets inexpertly adjusted by some shower-ignoramus, the next time I want to have a wash I first have to stand in the stall like a naked buffoon, turning the knob a fraction of a millimetre at a time, enduring mediocre, imperfect water temperatures until the sweet-spot is found. So don’t come on in and manhandle my temperature knob like some sort of comedy gorilla and cock it all up for me!

“Oooh, I like your shower but I just couldn’t get it to the right warmth! I turned the thing all the way one way, towards the wall, and then I turned it all the way to the door, and it just went really hot and really cold!”

THAT’S BECAUSE THERE ARE MORE TEMPERATURES THAN JUST TWO EXTREME TEMPERATURES YOU UTTER MORON! Would you get into a Ferrari and slam the accelerator pedal to the floor and exclaim that the car moved far too fast? And then, take your foot all the way off and declare it was far too slow? NO! BECAUSE THERE ARE DEGREES OF SPEED! Treat my shower dial like a Ferrari  and respect the preferred setting. There’s a reason the shower’s in my en suite, reached only by passing through the private sanctum that is my bedroom. If I give you access, think of it like you’ve been allowed entry to the control room at the Hadron Collidor. Don’t tilt my Rainshower head, don’t leave the lid off my Aerin cleansing wash and don’t touch the goddamn temperature. It’s set at the optimum, most beautiful level of supreme warmth and only someone trying to defrost themselves from a block of ice would need it hotter.

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