Category Archives: beauty products

I’ve been pulling a few cleansing and exfoliating bits and pieces out from “the archives” recently; products that I’ve tried before and loved, but haven’t – for one reason or another – given my full attention. For the past month or so I’ve had the One-Minute Glow Powder from Givenchy in my bathroom and I’ve been using it for a quick bit of morning exfoliation if my skin has been looking a bit dull.

I get on really well with these cleansing/exfoliating powders (some exfoliate, some cleanse, some do both, though I wouldn’t use any of them to remove my eye makeup); I had the Radiance Boosting Powder from Diptyque on the go for about a year, which felt very decadent and smelt amazing, but there are quite a few different versions on the market. The idea behind them is – usually – that they provide very low-level, non-abrasive exfoliation in a quick and easy format; just mix a bit of the powder with water in the palm of your hand and massage onto the skin. I tend to leave on for a minute or so, especially if the powder contains exfoliating ingredients or a bit of cleansing clay, and then rinse off by thoroughly using warm water.

More facial exfoliants….

The Hydra Sparkling powder from Givenchy feels a tiny bit more abrasive than the Diptyque one I was using, but I like the scrubbier feel. I don’t tend to use face scrubs, but now and then I do enjoy the feeling of giving my skin what feels like a bit of a spring clean! Acid exfoliants (things like Alpha-H’s Liquid Gold, or the Mild Clarifying Lotion from Clinique) are brilliant for getting rid of dead skin cells and boosting the skin’s radiance, but there’s no satisfying scrubby feeling, if that’s what you’re after. The Hydra Sparkling One-Minute Glow Powder gives the smallest bit of scrub satisfaction without the sand-blasting effect.

In actual fact, despite the slightly abrasive feel, the Glow Powder is one of the most finely-milled face-washing powders I’ve tried; it doesn’t clump when you add water, which some tend to do, and so you get a nice smooth paste that’s easy to massage over your skin. No tightness on rinsing, no redness, just really clean and fresh feel. It contains alpha and beta hydroxy acids to smooth and brighten the skin – that’s why I leave it on for a minute or so, just to let things get to work. I have no idea whether that’s long enough, but it’s better than rinsing it straight down the drain! What I tend to do is massage the powder on, after cleansing, then do my other bits and pieces – put deodorant on, brush teeth, etc – before rinsing it back off again. My skin looks brighter and it takes mere minutes – under a minute, if you follow the instructions properly and don’t leave it on!

You can find Givenchy’s One-Minute Glow Powder at Escentual here – it’s £29.50. I’ve been using it about three times a week for over a month and I don’t seem to have used that much at all, so I’m guessing it’ll last quite a while. It actually says “Daily Micropeeling” on the bottle, but as with all exfoliants I think it’s better to err on the side of caution and work your way up…

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If there’s one makeup trend that has completely divided us beauty-obsessed people it’s the trend for drawing brown stripes on our faces and then rubbing them in as though we’re trying to remove stubborn patches of dirt. AKA “contouring”. One of the problems with this contouring business, I think, is that lots of demonstrations and tutorials happen in front of studio lights and/or are quite graphic and hard. And unless you’re the type of person who never leaves the house during daylight hours and is only ever seen with full-on evening makeup, it’s all just a little too harsh.

I asked makeup artist supremo Caroline Barnes (you will remember her from last week’s video) to create a contour for people who don’t like to contour. Soft, realistic but still dramatic enough to sculpt and shape the face. (If you want really, really soft and natural then it’s not really contouring – you could use a slightly darker face powder or very pale bronzer to create a shadow but we’re probably moving out of the realms of the “contour” then. Which is fine. I have to say I think I’m happiest with the softly-softly touch-of-sculpt!)

Caroline uses the brilliant gel sculpt from Illamasqua (here) and also MAC’s Cream Base in Pearl (here) but I’ve listed all of the products below the video screen for easy reference. I particularly love the way that Caroline uses concealer to lighten the middle part of my face – and also the eye-socket/nose-sculpting trick looks amazing! Here you go – enjoy:

Illamasqua Gel Sculpt in Silhouette: http://tidd.ly/c3237632

MAC Cream Base in Pearl: http://tidd.ly/ecfbafa6

Max Factor Cream Blush in Soft Copper: http://amzn.to/1WApaR6

Amazing Concealer in Fair: http://goo.gl/j2gzCT

The post Makeup How-To: Subtle Daylight Contouring appeared first on A Model Recommends.

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I did a little contouring kit comparison over on my Telegraph “hub”; Clinique Chubby Contour sticks vs the Tom Ford Shade and Illuminate. Tom Ford’s “S&I” was one of the first contouring products that I remember seeing on a cosmetics counter; now the world is inundated with things to make your face look like some kind of chiselled sculpture. Except that it hardly ever does. Look like a chiselled sculpture, I mean. And all of this business about it being one of the oldest “backstage” tricks, with makeup artists contouring their models left right and centre: nah. As I say in my Telegraph video, I can honestly count the times I’ve been contoured on two hands and I’ve done hundreds and hundreds of shoots.

Any-hoo, people seem determined to draw in cheekbones (or perhaps the beauty industry is determined to make people feel as though they have to draw in cheekbones) and so we are being treated to a bazillion dubiously-coloured creams and gels and powders with which to achieve this razor-sharp look. My choice would probably be, after having tried much of the contour-paraphanelia out there, a sweep of matte bronzing powder just beneath the cheekbone – no glitzy highlighter to “contrast”, just a beautiful glowy foundation that catches the light. (Or something like Laura Mercier’s Illuminating Tinted Moisturiser, which is still one of my favourites over a decade on.) All of these creamy contour things are a potential recipe for disaster, as they do tend to slide about a bit as you blend them and it’s easy to dislodge your foundation and make everything look a bit grubby. Saying that, I think that the Clinique Chubby Contour stick will be a huge hit – it has a kind of “kindergarten” appeal: you just draw the crayon on where you want a shadow and then blend.

Go on over and take a look at the video, see what you think. It actually all turned out to be very subtle, which is, I suppose, what most of us want. Most of us. A tip with the Chubby Contour Stick: it helps to buff it in using a small, flat-topped foundation brush after you’ve blended it a bit with your warm fingers for a few seconds. It just seems to give a neater finish, but do experiment and add your tips and tricks below!

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Selfridges used to stock a nail polish brand called Kure Bazaar that I was obsessed with – I loved it but for reasons that I don’t know, it disappeared. Its USP was that its formula used up to 85% of natural origin based on wood pulp, wheat, cotton, potatoes and corn. So does Soigne – and these ‘botanical’ formulas from past experience really do seem to bring something extra to the party in terms of gloss and longevity. It goes without saying that if you reduce the harshness of the formula, then it’s going to be a better deal for your nails. Soigne Spring Nails looks milky and elegant; reminds me a bit of sugared almonds. Incidentally, the trio is supposed to be inspired by marshmallows – clearly the French brand hasn’t ever been exposed to the violently pink Tesco marshies. I’m googling French marshmallows now to see if they really are so Farrow & Ball. Colourwise, the soft peach/pink shade is Creme Bavaroise, white is Vanille and leans to a warm white and the ashes of roses shade is Canneberge. Soigne doesn’t get nearly much attention as it should – everything about this brand is elegant and stylish and I’m… Read More

The post Soigne Spring Colours appeared first on British Beauty Blogger.

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