Category Archives: beauty look

How has it been a full month since my last Beauty Heroes post? Time sure is flying by and spring is almost here! When I heard that the March Beauty Heroes box was going to include SkinOwl I was over. the. moon. Having used both the Lavender and Geranium Beauty Drops in the past I knew I was going to love the new Beauty Drops PM Mangosteen too. I’m always itching with excitement to receive my box and the two week wait from the announcement at the first of the month to me actually receiving my box is a rollercoaster of emotions.

Inside this months box ($39) you will receive a full size Beauty Drops PM Mangosteen 60ml, worth $85 / £68 and a sweet sidekick exclusive to Beauty Heroes; a single use Beauty Steam named Heroic Helichrysum, worth $9.

Heroic Helichrysum Beauty Steam.

all-organic dried yarrow, helichrysum, cornflower, calendula petals, rose petals + buds, french lavender and chamomile.

It’s been so long since I last indulged in a facial steam and I can’t wait to find a peaceful moment to get my R&R on. This smells predominantly of lavender and oh so calming, I can’t imagine how delicious it’s going to smell when the hot water releases all of that herbal goodness. Make sure to soak a flannel (or cotton pad) in the water after your steam is complete and press against skin for more skin benefits, too.
I wonder if you can save the water to use as a facial mist afterward? If stored in the fridge for a week or two (strained) it should last, right?… I may give that a go!

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With all the various stresses of the past few weeks (I won’t bore you with the details, but the Dexter Dog catastrophe has been only one of many worries!) my beauty routine has gone out of the window. I’ve been using whatever has been next to my sink, which has mostly been the three products below. Actually, I only got the Sunday Riley eye cream recently, so that’s a new addition, before that I was slathering on my Clarins Extra Firming eye cream. (Rich, buttery, great for dried-out and crinkly undereyes. You can find it online here.) But you get the gist, at any rate.

I can’t say that my skin has suffered, particularly, for the lack of umpteen ritualistic steps and hydrating serums and acid toners and AHA peels and deep cleansing masks, but there are definitely a couple of little rough patches that I can’t wait to iron out and I have missed steeping in the bath with a face mask on. But overall, this simple little three-product routine has kept my skin pretty balanced and calm and I’ve enjoyed stripping things back to basics. The smell of both the cleanser and moisturiser are gorgeous and I find them both to be brilliantly effective; the REN cleanser does remove all dirt and makeup but feels gentle and non-stripping, the MV Organic Skincare Rose Soothing and Protecting Moisturiser (here) adds just enough moisture to the skin without overloading it. Dry skin might need a little more, but for my combination skin it’s just perfect.

I wrote about the REN Rosa Centifolia cleansing balm not so long ago, you can read about it in the November Skincare Favourites (or find it online here); the MV moisturiser also featured recently but I just can’t give it enough air-time. It’s so clean-feeling and light on my skin, but incredibly nourishing at the same time. The £75 price-tag does initially seem frightening, but it’s a 70ml bottle making it no more pricey than the average cream from Estee Lauder or similar. It took me a while to love this; it’s an odd texture at first and isn’t the quickest to absorb, but it has become one of my most-used products of the year. Full details and ingredients list over on Cult Beauty.

The jury is still out on Start Over from Sunday Riley – I nabbed it out of the Cult Beauty gift-with-purchase I was photographing because I have really liked everything from Sunday Riley so far. (Take a look at this feature from earlier in the year.) It seems perfectly serviceable, but I haven’t been using it for long enough to give a proper verdict. So watch this space! (It’s worth noting that my 10ml sample (above) has a rather good stainless steel applicator that massages the undereye and cools it at the same time – the real, full-size one doesn’t seem to have this.)

The post Current Simple Skin Care Routine… appeared first on A Model Recommends.

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1) This week saw me sustain what must be the first cheese-related injury in history. No joke! I took the dog to dog-training and cut my thumb open on a piece of Manchego! You may ask what I was doing thumbing about with a piece of Manchego in dog-training, well: you have to take “highly salient” treats and I didn’t have anything particularly suitable. The trainer suggested tiny bits of cheese. Yes I KNOW they’re not supposed to have cheese, and I never give it, but it was an emergency situation. And given that this dog regularly has things in his poo that I can’t even fathom, I couldn’t really see how one piece of cheese could kill him. At any rate, cheese never made it to dog because the bloody stuff was so hard I couldn’t break it up! And then the rind shot down beneath my nail and cut my thumb and then there was blood.

Incidentally, the training went very well, thank you very much – Mr AMR did all of the proper work, I just handed slithers of chicken and stood there like a lemon, sucking my bloody thumb.

2) From one cheese to another… SMELL MY CHEESE! KISS MY FACE! AHA! Yes, I’m talking about Alan Partridge and, in particular, the fact that last Sunday I did actually kiss his face. Steve Coogan’s, if I’m being accurate, but he very kindly indulged me and slipped into “Alan” mode when I asked him to. What a sport. He probably gets asked “to be Alan” all the time, so: thank you Steve. You made my day. I have ticked one of my lifetime achievements from my to-do list! (Sad, but actually true.)

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Last week we had ten under ten, this week it’s five under five. Next week, who knows? Two under two? Ha! That’ll cut my workload down… Actually, it’s really quite unexpectedly hard to find good things online for less than a fiver, unless it’s all beauty stuff…

So first of all, the book that many of you have urged me not to read… I have to say, I’m sitting on the fence. Do I need lots of harrowing images floating around in my already morbid mind? If you fancy a long – but apparently incredible – read, then A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara is currently £3.85 at Amazon here.

I’ve recently discovered this nail polish from KIKO when I was judging nail products for a beauty awards and it’s just absolutely top-notch. Shiny, gel-like with an intense colour. Pro Power Nail Laquer from KIKO is £4.90 here.

I love the print on this A4 (ish) notebook from Ohh Deer. Very sultry and more than a bit House of Hackney, if you ask me… It’s a snip at £3.99 here.

The micellar water that’s cheap and cheerful and lives next to my desk, to be used liberally every time I do any sort of makeup testing. Garnier’s Skin Naturals water does the trick when it comes to speedy cleansing, though not on waterproof makeup – it’s available as an “add-on” item at Amazon for £2.66 here. You get a huge 400ml bottle for that price!

For an inexpensive treat that properly works (and I have to say that I greatly appreciate the humour that has been injected into this product!) the Dirty Works Cucumber Eye Pads from Sainsburys. Cool, refreshing and amusing Instagram fodder… £3

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Some rain essentials for you, this week, seeing as though the UK is experiencing a seemingly relentless downpour. Man, I need a holiday…

Wading on in with an investment piece, first of all: the Kensington trench from Burberry. This needs to be the sort of investment you make for life, not just for a season – it’s prohibitively expensive – but a classic Burberry coat, luckily, will stand the test of time. You can find it online here – there’s also a monogramming service if you fancy splashing even more cash…

You may be wondering what’s going on in the picture above: brace yourselves, for this is something so genius and ridiculous in equal proportions that it might just take your breath away. It is a raincoat for your handbag. Yes, dear readers, a Handbag Raincoat. Why the hell haven’t I seen one of these before? I need one in my life. Imagine being able to cover up your luxury bag as soon as the first raindrops begin to fall – it’s like lovingly blanketing your vintage car when the frosts set in, or wrapping your palm tree trunk with bubble wrap in the winter. Or whatever it is that you’re supposed to do. I can only see a US website for this, so if anyone finds a UK stockist then let me know – prices start at $25.

For those without a handbag raincoat there’s always the faithful brolly. The Birdcage umbrellas from Fulton are always a good bet – you won’t catch these turning themselves inside out at the slightest hint of a breeze! Deep enough to protect your whole head and shoulders from even the most enthusiastic of showers, it’s handily see-through so that you don’t walk into walls/lampposts/other people. These people at Fulton, they think of everything… Find the Birdcage umbrella here – it’s £18.

Givenchy’s Noir Couture 4-in-1 Mascara has had a bit of a makeover, with special flowery-print packaging. A new overcoat, if you like. This mascara is seriously waterproof, to the point that you need a toolkit, complete with chisels and hacksaws, to remove it – it also boosts lash volume, lengthens and curls. Find it online here – it’s £25.

The internet is flooded with affordable wellies, but I still have a thing for a classic Hunter boot. This short version is really smart, I think, and is 40% off at The Outnet here – £45 instead of £75.

Right, that’s it – enough of this rain. Next week it’ll be shorts and t-shirts. Everyone send positive summery vibes!

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