Category Archives: beauty look

Space NK are running their brilliant £15 “try something new” discount again*, which means it’s a great time to do your stocking up if you’re running out of your favourite products. Or, if you’re particularly organised, a good time to do a bit of Christmas shopping! Space NK are giving every shopper £15 off when they spend £60 or more – just use the voucher code EXPLORE30 here.

The idea is that you use your £15 saving to explore different brands and discover something new, so I’ve done some quickfire reviews of new and interesting things just to whet your appetites. (Lies: a couple of the products are old favourites. But equally as interesting.)

Kicking off with some skincare, the fresh-as-water Hydraskin serum from Darphin. A recent discovery, this lightweight serum feels cooling and soothing and really helps to boost moisture if you’re feeling dehydrated in the facial department. It’s £43 .

OM is a new brand on my radar – I haven’t had a good go with the whole range yet, but it all looks and feels delicious. The Revitalising Beauty Booster is a gorgeous little bottle of antioxidant goodness – a few drops can be massaged neat into the face or mixed with moisturiser. I think this could be a great travel product for frequent flyers and those who repeatedly burn the candle at both ends! It’s £22.50 .

Omorovicza’s Elemental Emulsion is an old favourite – so wonderfully light but so incredibly hydrating. If you’ve got oily skin but want something rich and decadent that won’t feel greasy on the skin then this is it. Ditto if you’re on the dry side and want a moisture boost to layer on before your thicker cream… The price makes me want to weep, but if you’re in the market for a luxury skincare buy then this is a top choice. It’s £90.

Read my original review of Omorovicza’s Elemental Emulsion…

Diptyque Baies: where has THIS been all of my life? How have I reached thirty-five (thirty-six next month but let’s brush that under the carpet) and not ever burnt a Baies candle in my house? This smells like being trapped in an underground fairy grotto – there’s something of the woodland about it, fresh and green, but it’s also rich with berries. Difficult to describe, just know that you need this scent in your world. Candles start at £20 for the small size

Christophe Robin’s Volumising shampoo and conditioner with rose extracts have become my top hair treats. They seem to add bounce and life back into my hair when it’s limp and flat and the smell when I use them is so beautiful that it’s like a little uplifting mood boost. I’ll admit that the prices are extremely steep (I seem to have done a bit of a fantasy shopping session on this page I’m afraid!) but – again – if you’re after something decadent and take your haircare very seriously, this is a great brand. Find it online

Another brand that seems to be making waves (ha!) on the hair scene: Ouai. Now look; I don’t love the Ouai shampoo and conditioner quite as much as the Christophe Robin, but it is, price aside (another wince-inducing £20+ tag) very effective and, long-term, my hair does feel better and stronger after a stint with the “Smooth” range. I have the “Clean” products to test out (shampoo pictured above) and I’ll report back on those – I do like a thorough, non-stripping shampoo – but you can browse the entire Ouai offering

Here’s an easy way to wear blue around the eyes without looking like a five year old in a beauty pageant: a few coats of mascara wiggled right into the roots of the lashes, top and bottom, so that there’s almost a haze of colour defining the eye. It looks great on an otherwise quite neutral face – good base, touch of complexion enhancer or light bronzer, brows groomed with a brow gel – or, if you’re on holiday, it looks really striking against sunkissed skin.

YSL Beauté have launched a new line of mascaras called Vinyl Couture, with a jet-black lash lacquer (I’ll try and use that in a video soon) and a range of top-coats and coloured mascaras in the most vibrant shades. Some coloured mascaras tend to act more like tints, and they only really show up in a certain light. My favourite blue before the Vinyl Couture, which was, incidentally, an older YSL one, looked amazing on the wand but wasn’t quite so noticeable on the lashes. The new Vinyl Couture in 05 looks just as intense in real life as it does in the tube – no chalkiness, no fading. It’s really rather zappy.

Zappy! Good God. I’ll be saying trendy next.

It’s the Space NK Gift with Purchase time again  – or, as I like to call it, The Time of Great Temptation. Some very nice things to try in this new season edition, as well as the obligatory Diptyque mini-candle. I’m especially interested in the Algenist serum, as I’ve been really impressed with their cleanser (here) and am keen to try more from the brand; also the Chantecaille mask and the little bottle of treatment from Radical Skincare. Lots to get your teeth into, if you’re something of a beauty fanatic. Here’s a closer look at some of the skincare samples:

For those of you who have wanted to try Sunday Riley’s face-transforming Good Genes but not make the full investment, this is a nice opportunity – and you get 10ml, so a third of a full-sized bottle. (The full size costs £85, more info here.) Good Genes can be used a serum or a mask and there are three other face masks in the goody bag – Caudalie’s Instant Detox, Chantecaille’s Healing Mask and Wei’s Bee Venom.

I’m really into my minis at the moment (even more than usual!) because I’m living from a suitcase and have had to whittle my beauty product stash down to a ridiculous bare minimum. I’m quite enjoying trying lots of new things, though; filling my makeup bag with little travel sizes and working my way through them. One area I’m particularly lacking in is haircare (I misjudged how much I’d need to take with me during my holiday-let-hopping period) and so I’m particularly pleased about these:

I loved the No Frizz stuff from Living Proof so looking forward to having a go with the styling cream and the Phyto shampoo is a welcome surprise. Also – completely unrelated to haircare I know – I do still absolutely adore my mini versions of the Sleep Plus Pillow Spray from This Works – I take them absolutely everywhere with me to create a kind of “home from home” ambience. It’s comforting, calming, and I’ve already popped one in my bag of stuff to take to the birthing centre when the time comes to welcome Baby AMR into the world.

As usual, the Space NK goody bag is free with any order over £150 – no need for a code, it will automatically be added to your order once you’ve reached the threshold. The goody bag can be shipped internationally (though usually I think that the US is excluded because they have their own separate promotions, let me know if you’re in the states and manage to order one) and it’s available on a first-come-first-served basis, which is why I’ve crept this post in before the big Space NK newsletter goes out! The gift with purchase promotion runs from now until midnight on the 14th (tomorrow night) and it’s limited to one per customer.

Shop at Space NK…

My suggestions for a shopping list if you’re stuck for ideas? Laura Mercier’s amazing Silk Creme Foundation (see full review here), Algenist’s Genius Cleanser, Aurelia’s Dry Body Oil, which is quite possibly the best smelling body oil ever to have been invented, and Diptyque’s Philosykos eau de toilette, a gorgeous figgy scent to take you through the summer. The more electronically-minded people who are looking to tech-up their home facial routine can find the various versions of the Clarisonic at Space NK (I love the new limited edition summer colours) and if you were looking for some seriously swish home fragrancing, then Diptyque’s gargantuan version of the Figuier candle is a bit of a showstopper.

View the full list of products in the Space NK goody bag… 

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1) Sorry, I was a bit slow off the mark with this week’s Sunday Tittle Tattle and so those who subscribe by email will be reading this on Monday morning. Also, I’ve decided to go Old School and return to the previous way of titling these posts; it’s easier to pick them out when they’re marked Sunday Tittle Tattle which is important as they are – strangely! – one of the most consistently popular posts. If you’d like to browse through the back catalogue and see if you’ve missed any, you can find them all archived here.

2) I have set Mr AMR the monumental beauty task of working his way through all of these little Tom Daxon fragrances and reporting back on his findings. I was going to do it myself, but they are just a little too much on the masculine side for me.

Apart from Crushing Bloom, I suppose, but even that isn’t feminine enough for my prettified pregnancy sense of smell! I’m not sure what the point of this perfume testing is, really, but when you have no phone reception and slow internet and have finished all of the available Game of Thrones episodes, one has to make one’s own entertainment. We also spend quite a lot of time looking at bathroom supplies catalogues and “popping out” to do unnecessary tasks. You can find Tom Daxon’s Sampling Set online here, if you fancy a try yourself.

3) This week’s photo of “Mr Bear on Holiday”: Mr Bear hiding in the laundry. Thank you Mother, keep them coming! (I’m actually going to go and visit Mr Bear in a week or so, I can’t wait!) Did you know that my Mum has a blog? I tell you this to put some pressure on her to write more posts – if you find yourself reading through, please all of you leave comments telling her to write more posts! She’ll be very perplexed but it will make me laugh.. My Mum Says…

The post Sunday Tittle Tattle: Back to the Old School appeared first on A Model Recommends.

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There are few things we enjoy more than getting the scoop on which Benefit products our fave bloggers & celebs are currently obsessing over! Especially when the seasons are changing & everyone has a new beauty routine. This time around, we caught up with Vanderpump Rules‘ star Katie Maloney (she’s got a super-cute new makeup blog Pucker & Pout) to talk about her fall favorites.

To create her flawless face, Katie layers hello flawless! powder over the POREfessional primer. POREfessional gives a smooth, shine-free canvas that Katie says can even be used on its own, or with hello flawless! dusted on top for lightweight formula & a natural look with a bit extra coverage.

We love rocking a flushed “just in from the cold” look this time of the year without actually having to GO out in the cold, and Katie recommends majorette booster blush to amp up the color. We know our Benebabes like to stay cheeky, and majorette is the ultimate tool to keep the flush going all day long. It can be worn alone or under your favorite box o’ powder—either way, the cream-to-powder formula and perfect peachy-pink shade is a win for every skin tone.

Benetint is another one of Katie’s fall-flush secret weapons. Just like us, she loves having rosy lips, but often finds herself putting on a fab lip color first thing in the morning, and then neglecting it for the rest of the day. Benetint adds a subtle splash of just-bitten color that lasts all day, so you don’t have to worry about reapplication.

Last, but certainly not least, Katie is a fan of Benefit’s they’re real! mascara & they’re real! push-up gel liner. Her go-to eye look uses the they’re real! duo to create a simple, winged accent line on the outer corner, and super fluffed-up lashes to open her eyes.

We’re totally loving Katie’s benefaves, and so psyched to see that she uses some of the same Benefit classics that we do! We’ll feel just a little bit cooler swirling on our majorette tomorrow, knowing that she’s doing the same thing! What do you think about Katie’s picks?

Katie Maloney appears on Bravo TV’s Vanderpump Rules! in addition to blogging for her beauty site, Pucker & Pout. 

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