Category Archives: beauty look

For the month of October, Birchbox are letting their subscribers choose which box they wish to receive from two different boxes, which is such a fun concept and you know you’re going to get items you want. The first box on offer is the Stylist Guest Editor Birchbox, which contains five deluxe beauty must-haves as chosen by Stylist’s Associate Editor Joanna McGarry. The second box is the Back to Basics Birchbox which is all about mastering the beauty basics, and discovering products you can choose to use everyday, and again it contains five beauty treats.

I’ve never seen a beauty box brand allow their subscribers to choose a box like this before, and I think it’s such a great idea and would absolutely love it if Birchbox did this quite frequently as it means you’ll receive items you definitely want or would use. The Stylist Guest Editor Birchbox is packaged within a cute patterned box, whereas the Back to Basics Box is a ‘basic’ blue box – I love them both, but the Stylist box is definitely more aesthetically pleasing but I always reuse my beauty boxes within my makeup storage so I’ll be making good use of both boxes.

The first item in the Stylist Guest Editor Birchbox, is a 30ml bottle of Parlor by Jeff Chastain Smoothing Blow Out Spray (worth £3.46) which is described as a miracle tonic for blotting out frizz and protecting against heat damage, as well as making hair more manageable. I’ve never heard of this brand before, but it’s supposedly a Birchbox exclusive and it does smell divine, with a lovely peach scent. Then we have the 100% Pure Fruit Pigmented Lip Glaze (worth £19) which is a full size. The glaze is formulated with avocado and cocoa butter to nourish, and rich fruit pigments to give a matte finish, comfortable colour. The packaging is beautiful, with silver metal casing and it’s really impressively pigmented.

Next up is the cutest little 20ml bottle of Bioderma Sensibio H2o (worth 81 pence). Bioderma is my holy grail skincare product, so I’m super happy to see it within this box but the sample is just too small in my opinion as I have used half of the bottle in just one use so it’s a shame it’s such a tiny bottle as you might not have enough to try to see if you like it or not, but luckily for me I know I love it. Then we have a 50ml bottle of the Rituals Yogi Flow Foaming Shower Gel (worth £2.12) which is scented with Indian Rose and Sweet Almond. I really do love the Rituals Foaming Shower Gels, they lather up amazingly and have such a strong scent that they fill the whole bathroom and the scent lingers on the skin too. I’ve never tried this particular scent, but I’m hoping it’ll be as lovely as the other ones I’ve tried from the range.

Then there is a single When Travelmate Sheet Mask (worth £6.25), which claims to lock in moisture, soften the skin and to undo damage. I’m not entirely sure I believe the whole undoing damage claim, but I do like using sheet masks as they’re so relaxing and soothing, especially when you’re tired or poorly. Lastly there is a ‘beauty bonus’ which is a fragrance sample – the English Laundry No7 Signature for her which isn’t for me personally, but I’m glad it was a bonus and not in the place of a full size product.

Then we have the Back to Basics Birchbox, which firstly contains the full size Eyeko Fat Liquid Eyeliner in Black (worth £12) which I’m very happy about as I’d been pondering over whether or not I should buy this liner as I’d read some great reviews, so I cannot wait to try it. Next up is another full size product, and my holy grail nail top coat; Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (worth £9) – the best topcoat in the world in my opinion, which I know is a dramatic statement, but it really is unbeatable.

There is also another mini Bioderma in this box, but it’s the Bioderma Hydrabio H20 (worth 81 pence) version which is my favourite as it’s better for dry and dehydrated skin but it’s still super small, but perfect for a weekend away. The next item is a little random.. a sample tube of the Regenerate Enamel Science Advanced Toothpaste, which I’ll definitely try but I just cannot get excited about a toothpaste sadly. The last two items in the box are from Beaver Professional – a 40ml tube of the Hydro Nutritive Moisturizing Shampoo, and a sachet sample of the matching conditioner. I’ve never heard of Beaver before, but they’re another Birchbox exclusive.

So they are the two boxes that are on offer this month. If I had to choose one of the two boxes, I think I’d have to go for the Back to Basics box as it contains a full size Eyeko Liner and Seche Vite inside which combined are more than worth the price of the box alone. I’m not too fussed on the toothpaste, or the haircare samples but I’m sure they’ll please some people.

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Oh, you’ve left it until the last minute to buy something for Father’s Day? You and probably 98% of the population. Don’t feel bad. Here are some ideas to save you from panic-buying a multi-pack of novelty socks from M&S or one of those variety packs with bottles of ale called Goblin’s Knob and other such humorous things. You should be able to get any of the below with next day delivery, if you order online – no rushing around Waitrose at 10am on Sunday morning…

Shaving stuff is a notoriously boring present, but if you have to resort to it then make sure it’s stylish shaving stuff. My Dad loves the Rose Shaving Cream from Taylor of Old Bond Street so much that it has become his default Christmas gift. He calls it the “pink stringy goo”, which sort of undermines its luxury feel, but I have it on good authority that it works extremely well and smells amazing. It’s £12.75 at Amazon.

The Jawbone UP2 Fitness and Sleep Tracker, because it’s not enough these days to just do a spot of jogging and make sure you get your eight hours in bed. No: all fitness must be tracked. Training goals must be logged. Sleep must be monitored closely so that we get up at precisely the right moment and not a second sooner. The Jawbone does all of this monitoring and more – whether the father in question is a marathon runner or a couch potato, he’ll probably find the whole experience rather addictive… The Jawbone UP2 looks sleek, is easy to set up and use and is currently £34 at Amazon.

The only backpack to have on your back this year; the Herschel Supply Little America. Spotted in trendy photographic studios around London, this lightweight carry-all has classic styling that looks equally at home on the work commute as it does adventuring in the Rockies. £90 at Selfridges.

This SAGEMCOM phone is on Mr AMR’s wishlist and I must admit that it is very stylish and sleek, so far as home phones go. A good present for father’s day so long as the father is old enough to know what a home phone actually is. I’d assume they would be, but you never know. I met someone the other day who didn’t have a clue what a landline was! We are very antiquated in our household because, due to bad mobile reception, we use our home phone all the time. It rings and we never know who it is – imagine! Our current handset dates from 2001, so perhaps we’re due an upgrade… £79.99 at Selfridges.

This one’s a winner in the grooming category; great styling, brilliant ingredients and a price that is more than a little surprising. This Beard Oil from Johnny’s Chop Shop wouldn’t look out of place in a trendy New York apothecary, but you can find it in Boots. It’s £6.

On the pricey side for a father’s day present, but maybe he’s been extra-brilliant at taking you to – er – the zoo, or McDonald’s, or picking you up from the school dance. This is the Kilburn portable speaker from Marshall. It connects wirelessly to your smartphone or tablet, has a lightweight body and is touted as being one of the loudest speakers in its class. Something about it makes me think “frustrated roadie”, but not in a bad way – I can imagine it sitting in a pile of broken whisky glasses and cigarette butts after a particularly raucous party!  This should be £220 but Amazon have the black version, with next day delivery, for £175

A very sheer and natural makeup look for you in this video – dewy textures, glowy formulas and a healthy, youthful sort of finish. Those thinking of investing in either the Hourglass Illume Trio or Becca’s Aqua Luminous foundation might find it particularly interesting as I use both items here! I’ll try and do an in-depth review of the Aqua Luminous this week with skin close-ups – it really has such a lovely finish, though coverage is quite light and longevity isn’t amazing…

Penhaligon’s will launch Ostara, a new solar floral fragrance, in Spring 2015.

Ostara was developed by perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour, and is intended as “a modern interpretation” of the daffodil from “bulb to bud to bloom”. The notes include clementine, bergamot, red berries, juniper, spearmint, blackcurrant bud, violet leaf, leafy effects, aldehydes, hyacinth, narcissus, beeswax, cyclamen, ylang ylang, hawthorn, wisteria, styrax, vanilla, benzoin, musk, amber, and white woods.

Penhaligon’s Ostara will be available in 50 and 100 ml Eau de Toilette.

And so begins a whole slew of travel posts, because I have been here there and everywhere, recently, and I have lots to report. But I must begin with a little trip back in time – February, Les Etangs de Corot, with my Mum – because we had such an amazing break together, and as often happens when I have to write about something amazing, I put it off and off because I can’t find good enough phrases for my descriptions. I work myself up into a little frenzy, scribbling down words and then gritting my teeth maniacally, inwardly screeching “but it doesn’t tell them how AMAZING IT IS!” And eventually I do the modern, electronic equivalent of throwing down my quill and parchment (clicking “save as draft” on my computer) and, exhausted by my emotional efforts, retire to the local tavern (pub) to grapple a wench or two (drink wine).

But here we are, months later, and I am biting the bullet (getting on with it) as best I can. With perhaps a little too much pre-amble? I don’t know. Don’t judge me – I’m just getting warmed up. You have to ease yourself into these things.

Question: have you ever shared a bedroom with your mother? Not as a baby – obviously you might have shared a bedroom with her then – but as an adult? Because I can tell you, it’s more than a little nerve-wracking! They see your little untidy habits (not making the bed, or even attempting to) and your private quirks (pillow must be misted with Deep Sleep spray, phone alarm must be set to a time that has a seven at the end of it) and these are things that nobody really gets to see, apart from your partner, if you have one. And (I’ll just put this out there) it’s possible that they might be watching you as you sleep. Just a thought.

I jest, of course; sharing a room with my Mum was a breeze. It helped that it was such a lovely room and that our surroundings were so beautiful, but Mum and I worked out a little code of conduct quite quickly and easily:

1) If you don’t tell anyone about my weird sleep-talking thing, I won’t tell anyone about your weird sleep snuffles, and,

2) If you’re going to go to the bathroom then put the television on first.

You may remember me visiting Les Etangs de Corot, sans mother, a few years ago. I reviewed the spa and wrote about it here – it was so gorgeous I promised myself that one day, when I had the means to do so, I’d go back and stay there with my Mum. And so that’s what I did for her birthday, back in February. Les Etangs was the obvious choice when I started planning the trip; I wanted to take Mum to see Versailles (Les Etangs is just a ten minute drive down the road from the palace), I wanted to treat her to amazing food and wine (the hotel has a fabulous restaurant and wine cellar) and I wanted her to experience the Caudalie spa, which the hotel keeps downstairs. A quiet haven of gurgling water and wet bamboo and gorgeous aromas. If ever you were looking for everything in one place – a bit of historical sightseeing, a lot of fine dining and as much relaxation and pampering as you can handle – then this is your spot. It’s only a quick hop over on the Eurostar to Paris, but you feel as though you’ve properly gone on holiday. It’s near enough to go away just for the weekend, but far enough to be able to detach from normal life and really kick back.

Mum and I left London on a Thursday and stayed until Saturday; I knew that Versailles would be busier at the weekend, so I planned for us to visit on the Friday and use the rest of our time to relax. And eat. (I’m going to write about Versailles separately, because it really is quite a spectacle, but know that if you’re planning a trip then you’ll need at least half a day to properly tour the palace and get round the grounds as well. And I would most definitely make time to go around the grounds – the summer residences, Grand Trianon and Petit Trianon are just as interesting as the main event.)  It is so easy to relax and eat at Les Etangs; it’s quiet and warm, luxurious yet still somehow cosy and welcoming, and absolutely everything you need is right there in the grounds. There’s no real reason to leave, apart from visiting Versailles…and even then, we were hard pushed to get ourselves out of the door!

A very special mention must go to Le Corot, the gourmet restaurant at the hotel. My Mum has diligently recorded the entire tasting menu that we sampled over on her blog, but I can tell you that as we were ploughing our way through the endless delicacies, we both muttered (almost continuously) how does this place not have a Michelin star? Well. It seems that someone out there was listening, because I am pleased to report that the restaurant now does have a star, and incredibly well-deserved it is, too. I hadn’t enjoyed a meal as much as that in a long, long time. Everything was – to use one of Mr AMR’s favourite phrases – a “taste sensation”. All of the ingredients were sourced as locally and as responsibly as possible, all of the dishes had been designed in a way that made you wonder whether or not you should eat the food or frame it!

And by God, my Mum is a trooper when it comes to finishing food. I could not believe how much she managed to eat! Even when we got to the second (third? fourth?) dessert sample, she was still gamely popping morsels into her mouth and scribbling notes down on the back of her menu. (What a woman. An idol if there ever was one; full of surprises and showing no sign of ever slowing down. The perfect holidaying companion, I have to say, as a little aside. I don’t want to single her out and cause her embarrassment, but…if she rented herself out as a travel “buddy”, she’d be fully booked. An (almost) unlimited sense of humour, a good grasp of conversational French, a love of wine, a bottomless appetite for mischief and adventure…)

We only just managed to roll back up to our room after the meal – I was so bloated that I had to pull myself up the stairs using the handrail, much to Mum’s amusement – and we were asleep within minutes. I think I may have even gone to bed with my shoes still attached to my feet, because neither I nor my mother could bend far enough to take them off. The whole meal had been a bit of an event, really; definitely a highlight of the trip and something that would have been a big treat even without any kind of hotel stay or spa visit. If you go to Les Etangs then you MUST book a table at Le Corot; it’s very special indeed. A meal to remember.

So much so that the meal has clouded my memory of the spa. I remember entering the spa, and I remember lying down on the heated bed, cocooned in warm towels; I also remember – vaguely – being spritzed with Caudalie’s Elixir. After that? Nothing. I had a massage, apparently, and then a facial, but all I can recall is being in a very deep state of relaxation for a couple of hours. Exemplary service, just as it was when I visited years ago. It’s not often that I completely switch off in a spa, but again, Caudalie did the trick. I was far more marshmallow than human when I left – and so was Mum, who sat waiting for me with a happily vacant expression, almost as though her brain had been removed and they had filled her head with cotton wool or those polystyrene things that they put into packing boxes.

Note: after the facial, Mum had absolutely NO lines on her forehead. She is over sixty. No lines. I’ll just repeat that – because we both did, over the course of the following day – there were no lines on her forehead. We even invented new expressions for Mum to pull so that lines would appear – nothing. No lines. She was one very impressed customer, let me tell you.

For a quick (ish!) girly getaway, I couldn’t recommend Les Etangs de Corot more. There were quite a few Mums-n-Daughters there, and some girls who had obviously gone as a group and your usual spattering of couples and families, too, but the overall atmosphere was just so chilled out and quiet. Packaged up with a trip to Versailles (I will tell you about that, I promise!) it just makes the perfect little weekend away. You can read my Mum’s thoughts here and the hotel website is here.  Do also take a look at my spa write-up from 2010 – it’s still a very accurate description and far more in-depth than this one! I actually managed to stay conscious…

Rooms when I booked were about €170 for a double or twin, but I’m guessing that prices vary depending on time of the year and day of the week and all of that jazz. You can reach Ville d’Avray (where the hotel is) by public transport, but it’s a bit of a mission. If you have to, to stay in budget, then get the train to Versailles and hop in a cab from there to the hotel. Mum and I saved on our Eurostar tickets (they were about thirty pounds each, each way) and so taxis for other legs of the journey didn’t feel so extravagant!

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