Category Archives: beauty look

Jelly cleansers have crept (or should I say wobbled!) into my skincare routine over the last six months or so. It started on a purely superficial level – I simply loved the word “jelly” – but after trying Melvita’s Purifying Cleansing Jelly and then NUDE’s Perfect Cleanse Omega Cleansing Jelly, I realised that these wonderfully tactile, plumptious yet refreshing cleansers had a proper space in my beauty cabinet. They fill a (very small, admittedly rather niche) gap between richer cleansing balms, creams and oils and the lighter, splashier face washes. The jellies, for the most part at least, are highly effective at makeup removal and general cleansing, yet seem to leave a fresher feel to the skin and tend to be speedier to remove.

The Melvita Purifying Cleansing Jelly first made an appearance here around a year ago, when I wrote about the Best Light and Gentle Cleansers for Oily and Combination Skin – it’s still one of my favourite “good morning” wake-up options, with its easy-to-rinse formula and beautiful, subtle scent. Great for oily and combo skin, perhaps a little on the “tight” side if your skin is any drier. Which is why, I suppose, it’s labelled as being suited to oily and combination skin! £16.50 with free worldwide delivery at LookFantastic.com here.

The Softening Cleansing Gel Oil from The Body Shop is a great all-rounder – I had been looking for a more affordable option for this little jelly feature and then spotted Caroline Hirons’ post on it. It’s actually very similar in texture and effect to the NUDE cleanser that’s coming up next – you can get a lovely old massage going with it, and it removes makeup very well. There’s no way you could “splash” it off (you can, just about, with the Melvita if you are vigorous with the palms of your hands) and if you have oily or combo skin then you’ll want to properly, properly make sure it’s all off with your flannel before leaving the sink area. But it leaves skin feeling very clean and balanced and is only a tenner from The Body Shop.

NUDE’s Perfect Cleanse Omega Cleansing Jelly would probably be my pick of the bunch, if I had to play that game. It’s actually the cleanser that started this whole post off – I’ve been using it religiously since I became pregnant, apart from during my Olay Skincare Trial month. NUDE’s Cleansing Oil, which is a much older product, has “cult beauty” status; loved by many for its simplicity, effectiveness and clean ingredients list. I too am a fan of the oil, but on the whole I prefer the texture of a balm – you can really work it into the skin and over the eyes without a) all of the product running off onto your neck and b) making your eyes go cloudy so that you are rendered temporarily blind for the rest of your bathroom session. NUDE’s Cleansing Jelly is really the best of both worlds – like The Body Shop’s Nutriganics Gel Oil it has the texture of a kind of balm-gel hybrid, making it brilliant for massaging in but just as easy as an oil and with the same makeup-removing abilities. You can find NUDE’s Jelly at Space NK here – but at £32, it’s the most expensive option, which is what makes the Nutriganics one such a brilliant alternative!

I have a sneaking feeling that the Bio-Essence Miracle Bio Water might be about to take the world by storm. This “Jelly Makeup Remover” is a watery, incredibly refreshing gel that you simply apply with the palms of your hands, massage in and rinse. If you’ve ever wished that you could get Bioderma cleansing water as a face wash, this is pretty much it. Very gentle, very good at doing what it’s supposed to do – though it struggles a little with my mascara. It’s a clever cleanser, this one, and perfect for those who want a very quick refresh, or want to get the majority of their makeup off before proper cleansing. It’s fine to splash it off, but I do think that you get more out of it by using a washcloth/muslin/flannel to remove. You can find Bio-Essence Miracle Bio Water at Cult Beauty here, it’s £16.

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I asked top makeup artist Caroline Barnes (you all know Caroline by now – if you don’t then click back to our previous videos first) to sort out my brows. Pluck them, shape them, lift them and then, after the “sorting”, do something a little more dramatic. Good eyebrows are a thing of beauty, but I have to say that in recent years the trend for these perfect, painted on, sharp-arched Instagram-brows has really put me off doing anything with mine. I’ve barely even been plucking them, such has been my instinct to rebel.

But I could tell, actually, that the shape of my eyebrows was starting to go off on one and I needed to get them back on track before they pulled my eyes down and made me look even more tired than I am. Which is really tired. So tired, in fact, that I couldn’t trust myself to pluck the right hairs from my face and so Caroline very kindly offered to do it for me. So here, people, is the makeup artist’s guide to doing your brows. Or rather doing my brows. But the method’s the same for everyone, as you’ll see…

Sorry, a little late with the (gargantuan) list of Alpha-H SPF winners. This will be a little like checking for your exam results, if you remember doing that (I don’t think I bothered turning up to school for mine, I’m pretty sure I just waited for the letter to be posted, but then those years are something of a Wonderbra-clad-short-skirted-Camel-fags-behind-the-bike-shed blur).

If you’re not a winner, and you do fancy trying something from Alpha-H then there’s a nice little gift-with-purchase running: a 15ml bottle of the amazing  Liquid Laser. The launch of Liquid Laser sort of passed me by – I was either heavily pregnant or had just given birth, I can’t remember which. So I didn’t ever really read the blurb properly and thought that Liquid Laser was a more advanced version of Liquid Gold; stronger and with more ingredients. I avoided it, because my skin had been really overly sensitive and I didn’t want to use anything that would rock the beauty boat.

Boy was I a) wrong and b) missing a trick! The lightweight, ultra-hydrating Liquid Laser was actually just what my skin had been needing; yes it contains a whole cocktail of AHAs and peptides to brighten and rejuvenate the skin, but it’s a sort of mega-moisture-boosting thirst-quenching face-plumping treatment, not as exfoliation-focused as Liquid Gold. Liquid Laser really works for my post-baby skin which – if left to its own devices – feels taut and dry and papery thin and can often seem dull and tired.

Liquid Laser does have a bit of a tingle going on, but nothing that requires you to stand in front of a desk-fan to stop your face from catching fire. (I wish I could remember who told me that their facials that were so acid-heavy that big fans had to be pointed at their face from all directions!) I can’t quite handle supersonic acid peels, these days – though I still try them now and then out of a sense of duty and masochistic curiosity – but I’m perfectly happy with a hint of a tingle. I don’t get any redness or irritation from Liquid Laser whatsoever, which is marvellous considering that it really does seem to do a complete turnaround job on my face overnight. Plump-feeling, brighter skin in the morning – rather like I’ve used one of those sleeping masks, except that the Laser sinks in immediately and doesn’t leave any goo on the pillows.

You can of course follow Liquid Laser with a moisturiser – the balm from the same range is brilliant (review coming soon – if you have dry, thin-feeling skin then this is a Godsend) – but I find that it works just as well, if not better, as a standalone night treatment. You can read much more about Liquid Laser at Cult Beauty here – to claim a free 15ml version, you need to spend £50 on any Alpha-H product(s) and use the code AMRALPHAH. (Which I keep reading as AM RALPH AH!) There’s no end date for the code, it’s just while stocks last.

Alpha-H at Cult Beauty

Now on with the winners – I’ve sort of bastardised people’s email addresses in some cases because I didn’t have their full names, so keep an eye on your inbox if you suspect you’re one of the lucky fifty. Congratulations people!

metaschlisbeth, mary.b.francombe, joannakinross, corriganrosie, debbie.robinson67,

RuthvenAndy, Salkovina_B, sanaa_mayet, farmermoley, richardandbev2205,

jillwrightwatson, gshg (Grace), elisacadams, Nicky Bullick, izzycrackett,

Emma Pau, kellylou212, krisztinarekaf, larabrown123, pdmimi (Susan),

Joanne Jessop, judyluk, Shabrina Khan, Tina Trowbridge, Mary Petrakakos,

Mohsina Kaan, Marianne Reynaud, sabidan (Sabrina), akahler91, Amelia Jackson,

nicaraman (Veronica), Liz Bracken, Georgia Birdsall,

Johanna Wahlfridson, Emily O’Mara (gertrude_gertree), chrismaas (Christine),

Tracey Tedford, robertcym96, dawnybriggs, puppieskittensandchemistry,

gabrielestark, claire@crcr, spikedangel, jessicalauren90, tw_wells,

Suzanna Gentle, Fiona Fishburne, rosemcgrory (Kate), 1105077 (Julie S),

luckyshadealwis.

The post Alpha-H: SPF Winners and a Liquid Laser GWP appeared first on A Model Recommends.

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I can’t actually remember what prompted me to use this beauty balm as a cleanser; I had always seen it knocking about in online reviews and videos and assumed that it was a kind of moisturiser. A bit like the Decleor balms that you heat between your palms and press over the skin. (It’s that too.) But anyway, one night I was about to have one of my epic bathtime product-testing sessions and I wanted to try a new cleansing balm, and lo and behold, when I popped open the box that the Wild Rose Beauty Balm came snuggled in, a muslin cloth fell out! It was almost as though the whole thing was meant to be…

I have to hold my hands up and admit that I don’t actually love the Wild Rose Beauty Balm as a cleanser; it feels too heavy and thick and I find it difficult to remove. Even after a once-over with the cloth and a Clarisonic, I still have an oily residue on my skin that I’m not quite comfortable with. People with dry skin will no doubt adore it but personally, and for my skin type, (combination), I like my balm to rinse off clean. Saying all of that, I have found that leaving on a layer of this as I do the rest of my ablutions makes for an effective cleanse and a soothing, plumping mask. There would be worse cleansing options if you were travelling and wanted to take an all-in-one beauty solution with you…

But the best use? Miraculous overnight treatment. A small amount of the Wild Rose Beauty Balm, melted between fingertips and massaged gently into the face, gives the most beautifully soft complexion come morning. I have been testing out overnight masks recently, and have to say that I’ve been disappointed by most. Little more than standard moisturisers, the skin drinks them up within ten minutes and I fail to see where the benefits lie. This balm, however, hangs about for at least half the night (there was still always a trace left when I went to cleanse in the morning) and it is truly, truly rejuvenating and radiance-boosting. The formula is rich in all kinds of things, but I have a sneaking suspicion that the high rosehip oil content might have something to do with the rejuvenating effects; I’m already a big believer in rosehip, especially for repairing skin damage and helping to diminish the appearance of acne scars. (If you would prefer a concentrated rosehip oil, no added essential oils, I can’t recommend Pai’s version enough. It’s £20 and there’s a free Echium eye cream with orders over £20 at the moment*, see here.)

So, Wild Rose Beauty Balm. A true multitasker, especially if you have dry skin. If yours is more oily/combination, don’t be scared by the idea of a balm texture; the rosehip is great at vanishing blemish marks and there are other ingredients to help soothe and calm the skin. A great product, as I said, for taking travelling – it would make a fabulous non-greasy in-flight mask. Not cheap at £37 for 50ml, but a little goes an incredibly long way, It would take years to finish this pot – in fact, a smaller pot would be a good idea, if Neal’s Yard could make one!

£37 for 50ml at Neal’s Yard Remedies

*so sorry, I think I read an old offer!

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Bobbi Brown is known for muted, wearable shades but every now and again she ventures into a colour splash, as with the forthcoming Bobbi Brown Pop of Colour lip and blush shades. New shades are Pop Pink, Coral Nectar, Watermelon, Ibiza Pink and Bright Poppy – above, in the picture you can see Watermelon and Pop Pink.

The pinker shade is Pop Pink and the redder shade is Watermelon. They’re veeerrrrryyyyy bright! So, if you love a cheerful, bright lip keep an eye out for these, on counters on 27th of July for £19.50 each.

The post Bobbi Brown Pop Of Colour appeared first on British Beauty Blogger.

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