Author Archives: marc

I’m back with another Beauty Reviews video; this time it’s Dior’s new Diorskin Star Foundation that takes centre stage, along with a brilliant primer from Smashbox and an old makeup favourite, Pixi’s Natural Brow Duo. I’ll be talking about the Smashbox primer in another post and the Brow Duo has been mentioned here on the site about sixty-five million times, so it’s the Star foundation that I want to concentrate on today. This is Dior’s newest launch; a foundation that’s incredibly lightweight but that still manages to have very good coverage. A base that has a true radiance but that doesn’t contain any shimmer or glitter. I think that it’s just beautiful. Here’s my skin without foundation, for purposes of demonstrating coverage:

and here it is after I’ve applied Diorskin Star:

I’ve done some close-ups, too. Without foundation:

and then with:

I like that there’s enough coverage to properly even out skintone and cover small blemishes, but that the finish looks very real and natural. I don’t want to look as though I’m wearing foundation when I wear foundation, so all of these new-fangled barely-there bases that keep launching are ideal for me. The problem with many of them, though, is that unless you have flawless skin to start with, you’re only going to be putting a kind of “tinted blurring veil” over the top; you can still see imperfections, though they are made less obvious. With Star, I feel as though you get a proper coverage but the formula is still lightweight. Not “weightless”, but very, very light. 

Take a look at the video and my sponge application method; I’ve never been big on sponges, but it actually works very well with this base. I tried it with a dampened sponge too (I used the Beauty Blender from Dior, but I’m guessing that many of you will already own a makeup sponge!) which gave the sheerest coverage, a very healthy and ethereal kind of sheen. I’d highly recommend trying out Star when you pass a counter – it has launched this week exclusively at Debenhams, so easy enough to locate. It has definitely usurped Dior’s Nude foundation, for me – much lighter, but with the same (or better) coverage and an extra whack of natural glow. The foundation seems to diffuse light rather than “reflecting” it away from the skin, so it’s a really soft, overall glow with an almost matte finish, rather than anything too shiny or – haven’t heard this phrase in a while – dewy. Very modern, very chic. Tres bien. You can find Star at Debenhams.com

Smashbox Blemish Free Primer: http://tidd.ly/3cc1d068
Dior Star Foundation in shade 30: http://tidd.ly/23e2e2b1
Pixi Brow Duo in Medium Brown: http://tidd.ly/886cac8

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This weekend I spent an inordinate amount of time playing about with Bobbi Brown’s Scotch on the Rocks makeup collection. It’s absolutely delectable. Warm, shimmery tones that make you think of candlelight and sparkling champagne; rich shades like Bordeaux and Scarlet and Sultry Red that are as deep and sumptuous as velvet… And then there’s the packaging – perfect golden lipstick tubes and tortoiseshell compacts and the faux-crocodile-skin casing on the eye palette. Perhaps I have a completely overactive imagination, but it all makes me think of a big Christmas party thrown in an old Scottish castle; twinkling candles and enormous chandeliers and walls swathed in tartan and women elegantly swanning about in long satin gowns. The kind of Christmas party I always imagined I’d go to once I “grew up”, until I realised that those kind of parties exist mostly in Ferrero Rocher adverts and Richard Curtis films.

Anyway, we can but dream. Will you just look at those lipsticks? I usually balk at shimmery lipsticks, but these are decadent and pigmented and have more of a sculpting effect than anything too glittery. My instinct was to reach for the very palest (Beige Gold Shimmer) and the bright red (Sultry Red) but in actual fact my favourite of the bunch turned out to be Malt Shimmer, second from the left, which is a medium, hi-shine nude. (You can see it in my makeup look further down the page.) Continue reading →

Starting off the new week with a skincare video; here’s a roundup of the beauty products I’ve been slathering on my face in an attempt to beat the dreaded “winter dryness”. I think my horrifically dry and tight skin has been more down to being ill rather than the weather, because until very recently it hasn’t been too cold at all, but the symptoms have been much the same. A stretched, flaky forehead, general dehydration and sensitive, red skin around my nose and on my chin.

Read about more products for dry skin…

There’s a good mix of different brands and budgets here – completely by fluke, I should say! – and quite a few of the products shown are actually on sale at the moment. The Zelens Intensive Recovery Repair Balm has about twenty quid off, which helps a lot considering the high price point, the Darphin cream (reviewed last week here) is still reduced and the Olay serum is a third of its usual price. All of the product links are below the video pane, so – as always – if you can’t bear the sound of my voice and don’t want to see a cute baby scoop about eighty-thousand pounds worth of face cream out of a pot with her chubster hands then please feel free to scroll on down.

Right you are, let’s get on with the show, shall we? I must get around to reviewing a lot of these dry skin products separately, so make sure you give me a nudge in the comments if there’s something you specifically want to hear more about. Enjoy…

NB: I’m not recommending the micellar as a cleanser for dry skin, it’s just something I’ve been using as I’ve been ill!

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No sooner had I finished filming my Autumn fragrance video (in which I lamented the number of new perfume launches that I couldn’t keep up with) than a package arrived on my doorstep containing yet another new launch. That I couldn’t keep up with. I threw my hands into the air and sighed in a very dramatic way and crossly decided that I wouldn’t be writing about any more perfumes for the rest of the month.

Until I received a text from my trusty assistant and beauty-news-sleuth, Rach, shouting “HAVE YOU TRIED MARC JACOBS DECADENCE? IT’S LUSH!” When Rach has an excitable shout about something I tend to listen – I’ve never met anyone with such a passion for luxurious, sexy, boudoir-y stuff. Her bedroom is literally lined with pairs of shoes and boots (I have no idea what colour the walls are underneath) and her shelves overflow with amazing handbags and tassled purses and vintage perfume bottles and feathery boa-typed things.

So I had to try Decadence, because Rach would have kept on nagging me otherwise, and also she has very good taste so I didn’t want to miss out. And I am very, very glad I did, because this is one sultry little number! Ignoring the packaging for a moment (difficult, because it’s rather outré) and focusing on the scent itself, I can safely say that this is the opposite of the girlish, sweet-as-cherry-pie Daisy. If Daisy is the irritatingly nice girl next door (Daisy Dream Forever being the exception) then Decadence is the woman who rolls her eyes at her. Black lace knickers, expensive leather jackets and a cutting sense of humour. Decadence is full and rich and also my favourite of all perfume descriptions: heady. It has a hint of dark and dirty rose (think Velvet Rose & Oud) and a load of exotic jasmine (hello Aromatics in Black) and then a warm and sexy base with amber and papyrus wood.

The packaging (told you I’d get back to it) is the most interesting I’ve seen in a while; the whole bottle has been designed to resemble a kind of glass and metal handbag, complete with chain “strap” and slinky tassel. The lid is heavy and luxe-feeling and the faux-python covering, which could so easily look tacky, has been nicely done. I love the whole thing. It’s totally OTT, but I suppose that’s what decadence is. It’s all very appropriate. Apart from my dog’s furry leg that’s photo-bombing the above picture – sorry about that, I didn’t see it until I was loading the photos into my computer!

Overall, this fragrance is what it says it is: decadent. I like it. There are no disappointments here – in fact I was pleasantly surprised.

Marc Jacobs Decadence is available now – find it at Escentual.com here, it starts at £49 for 30ml, my version with the tassel is 50ml.

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