Author Archives: marc

The “Ten Under £10” edition of the Weekly Window Shop was so very popular that I decided to make it a  regular, standalone feature. Because who doesn’t want a round-up of brilliant and affordable stuff?

Ten Under £10 will concentrate mostly on beauty, but if there’s a particularly good glut of other things for under a tenner at any given time then I could be swayed! I do love a good fashion bargain…

I’ll usually have a video to go with any beauty round-ups; it’s handy to see the products “in real life” – especially if they’re makeup items – and even handier to watch them being applied. I’ve kicked off the series with my top 10 face highlighters (or illuminators, strobe creams) for under £10. As always, I welcome any suggestions or additions to the selection and apologise if I’ve missed out anything spectacular – I try dozens and dozens of products when I research these sorts of posts and videos, but it’s impossible to try absolutely everything. Especially brands not easily available in the UK.

So, my favourite cheekbone, cupid’s bow and bridge-of-the-nose highlighters for under a tenner – a nice selection here, including products that can be used beneath your face base as well as cream sticks than can be very simply drawn on and blended in with fingertips.

The skin highlighters that have made it into my makeup bag over the past few weeks – the ones I have really found to be very useful, effective, wearable and believable – are briefly described below, but you can find longer reviews as well as watch them being applied in the following video.

Sorry, I feel as though I’ve been spending a lot of time on lipsticks lately. It seems to be a new obsession of mine – strange, considering I have never been a big lipstick wearer. But I seem to be coming round to the whole grow-up, painted lips thing – just adding that final bit of polish to a makeup look or providing a flash of colour when you can’t be bothered to do the rest of your face. Sunglasses on, lipstick on, out the door!

The latest lipstick? Bobbi Brown’s Art Stick in Hot Orange. The Art Sticks are great – really very highly-pigmented, long-lasting and with the most vibrant shade options. Hot Orange is the kind of red that enters the room before you – there’s no hiding when you’re wearing this! Luckily it’s incredibly easy to apply, what with its precision-pencilling abilities. It’s like using a lipliner, but quicker and chunkier – slightly less wieldy when you get into the very corners of the mouth, though still easier to get right than a traditional lipstick.

Every time I look for Hot Orange online, it seems to be out of stock, and then when it is in stock it only stays there for the quickest moment before selling out again. It seems to be quite consistently available on the Bobbi Brown website though, and I have also seen it pop up at Selfridges.com – do let me know in the comments if you see it elsewhere. It’s a total cracker for the summer months, especially if you need something longwear to glam up your poolside look!

Bobbi Brown Art Stick in Hot Orange: £19.50 here.

The post Catch It Quick: Bobbi Brown Art Stick in Hot Orange appeared first on A Model Recommends.

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I wasn’t going to do any more posts this year on Gifts-with-Purchases but I just love this one from Harvey Nichols: it’s mammoth. It’s as though someone on the beauty team got completely overexcited about the whole idea and decided to put in every sample they could get their hands on. I’ve copied the full list of products at the bottom of this post for your perusal but there’s just the most brilliant mix of skincare, bodycare and makeup.

And the bag itself is lovely – roomy, smart-looking and with a classic, Aspinal-like feel. It’s quite masculine, in a way, and (dare I say this?) you could probably get away with giving this is a Christmas present, with a few choice grooming products stashed away inside. That’s if you can bear to part with it…

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Brace yourselves against the sheer force of my positive vibes here, because this little face mask is a bit of a blinder. (Not literally, that would be terrible! I haven’t actually put it in my eyes, so I can’t be 100% certain, but I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t make you go blind. There’d be uproar. Anyway, I digress…)

When I first saw the Charlotte Tilbury Goddess Skin Clay Mask I felt a little underwhelmed. I have loads of clay masks. I try loads of clay masks. Some of them are excellent (check out the powerhouse that is Omorovicza’s Deep Cleansing Mask) some of them manage to be deep cleansing and luxurious (see Diptyque and NUXE) but many of them set into a concrete-like layer, leaving the skin a bit dried-out and parched-looking. Some do this as well as leaving the skin smooth, some do this and seem to have no discernible benefits whatsoever. The whole clay thing can be a bit hit and miss.

More face mask reviews…

Not so with the Goddess Skin mask: it promises to “visibly lift, smooth, brighten and tighten pores for baby skin” and – unbelievably – it does. I say unbelievably, because it’s quite a lot of claim to make on the front of a tube. Most brands now shy away from making big claims, preferring to hide behind ambiguous phrasing – not Tilbury! She’s the unashamed Queen of Claims and I love her for it. The woman has no fear and enough conviction for a hundred people – she believes in her products and her enthusiasm and belief is highly effective.

So, the mask. There’s more claiming on the back of the tube: “for the rebirth of your skin – it’s a miracle! Skin texture appears visibly healed, hydrated and rejuvenated. Skin feels smoother, firmer and plumper.” Just about everything ticked off there, then. But do you know? I rinsed this mask off after ten minutes and my skin was weirdly, weirdly different. It was tightened and lifted but not dried-out, it was smooth but not uncomfortable, it felt incredibly clean but not stripped and the surface felt balanced and somehow primed, if that makes any sense? It was as though I’d had a facial and reached the moisturiser stage, but the moisturiser hadn’t been applied yet. And yet oddly, my skin wasn’t crying out for any moisturiser – I almost wanted to just apply my makeup straight away, because the “canvas” felt so prepped and ready. Pores were less visible, my skin was brighter – it was like the ultimate red carpet fix. No irritation, no “tingling”, just really sorted skin.

Another thing to note: to me, this mask smells of tuberose. It could be my sense of smell being slightly skewed, so can anyone who’s tried this please let me know if they think the same? If so, what an utterly beautiful and unusual scent to add to a mask! I really felt as though I was being properly pampered.

Additional bonus points for the easy-to-transport tube packaging – no cumbersome pots here – and the fact that you’re directed to only use a thin layer. This mask would last you an absolute age. Top marks to Tilbury on the Goddess Skin Clay Mask, I’m incredibly impressed. You can find it at CharlotteTilbury.com and Selfridges.com. It’s £45 for 75ml, but – as I said – would last an age.

The post Wonder Product: The Goddess Skin Clay Mask appeared first on A Model Recommends.

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