I suspect there’ll be some sort of online meltdown on the 10th January because – brace yourselves – that’s the day that Caroline Hirons’ first ever skincare product will go on sale. If you are an avid Hirons follower (to be honest, I don’t know of any other type – once you get started on her beauty blog you’re likely never to leave) then this news will no doubt make your heart beat that bit faster. Caroline’s sharp eye for great skincare formulations and her experience in the industry mean that whatever products she decides to create will be the stuff of beauty dreams.

And the first, in collaboration with the increasingly popular (and really quite excellent) brand Pixi, is a stroke of genius: the Caroline Hirons Double Cleanse. Two cleansers, one pot, easy and fast-but-very-thorough cleansing with minimal fuss. If you’re reading the phrase Double Cleanse and thinking huh? then let me explain, because it’s probably something you do anyway without really putting a name to it. It is, quite simply, cleansing once (to remove makeup and break down dirt and so on) and then, after removing your cleanser with a flannel or what have you, cleansing again. (Albeit with a different cleanser, if we’re being strict about things, but I’m trying to keep things basic here!) Two cleanses. Double Cleanse.

If you don’t already do this, then humour me and do a little experiment; remove your foundation and what have you with a white flannel and one lot of cleanser. Balm, gel wash, cream cleanser, whatever you usually use. Now rinse the flannel clean and go back in for another cleanse. I can almost guarantee that there will still be crap coming off and that the second cleanse will finish things off nicely.

But Caroline’s new Double Cleanse is more than just “cleansing twice” – there are two different formulations in one pot, created in this way because they have slightly different functions. One for makeup-melting, the other for a more sumptuous and nourishing cleansing experience. I managed to hunt Caroline down (she was dealing with a migraine, a broken boiler and two kids off sick but still picked up the phone!) to answer some Double Cleanse questions… Continue reading →

Oh, what a beautiful collaboration this is! I already adore l’Occitane’s Amande range with its perfect green and white packaging and its warm, comforting scents, but throw a bit of ballet into the mix and you have something quite gorgeous. l’Occitane have teamed up with The Royal Ballet to produce an exclusive drawstring bag that’s filled with three ballet dancer beauty essentials; the firming and sculpting Tonic Body Oil, a tube of Lighter Legs and the Smooth Hands hand cream.

The Tonic Body Oil is an interesting one; it’s light enough that you can spritz it on from the glass bottle, but it still manages to behave like a far richer oil once it’s on the skin. You can really get quite a good massage going with it, which helps when you’re trying to improve the skin tone on areas like your thighs and hips and tummy. I never feel that there’s much point just slathering stuff on – you need to have a bit of a pummel to get the old circulation going! Anyway, I like that this oil is spray-on – very convenient – and I also like the heavy bottle, which feels luxe and expensive.

The Lighter Legs is another surprise; I always underestimate these leg cooler things that come out every summer, dismissing them as gimmicky. This one is supposed to relieve the feeling of tired legs and feet when you massage it in; it’s a light gel-cream that has a zingy, slightly tingly aspect to it that instantly cools your skin and makes your legs feel less heavy. Lighter Legs is an apt name, I think, it does work very well.

The last tube in the set is the hand cream, Smooth Hands. It’s lighter than l’Occitane’s classic hand cream, without any trace of greasiness at all, so ideal for use throughout the day. All of these bits and pieces would cost over £70 bought separately, but the Royal Ballet set, with its be-ribboned bag (that could make quite a nice shoe bag for your special ballet pumps?) costs £49. A nice gift for someone special, if you can bear to give it away, but also a good saving on the individual products if you’re a regular stocker-upper of the Almond range. Note that these body products don’t have quite the same scent as the original Almond Milk Concentrate, one of my absolute favourite beauty products of all time – the scents are lighter and fresher. But the Tonic Body Oil layered beneath the Milk Concentrate is just dreamy!

I’ve always had a bit of a thing for the ballet; it’s a magical, beautiful world that is so far removed from the reality of my daily life that I just find it fascinating. I only did ballet until I was about ten because I was useless at it, apparently – quite clumsy and graceless, said Miss Latham. I think. Don’t quote me on that. Anyway, I shall be imagining myself as a prima ballerina when I apply my Lighter Legs and my Body Tonic; hopefully the towel rail in the bathroom will survive my clomp-footed attempts at “pliés” and not fall off the wall. Again.

The Royal Ballet pouch is available online here.

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I told you this week would be rather heavy on the Chanel, but I couldn’t write about their amazing Nail Gloss without then going on to reveal the ins and outs of the new autumn launch, Le Rouge Collection No.1. (If you’re astute and read between the lines, here, you’ll realise that I spent all of my allotted work day clarting about with Chanel stuff and didn’t leave time for anything else. I have red Chanel things coming out of my ears.)

But what a gorgeous collection – the first from their global creative makeup director, Lucia Pica. Le Rouge is a beautiful collection of makeup for eyes, nails, cheeks and lips using the colour red as a sort of underlying theme. Sometimes its used boldly, in the bright cherry-red lipsticks, for example, but often its included in a more subtle or surprising way – when was the last time you saw a brick red eyeshadow, or red-tinged mascara?

I’ve played about with my favourite items from the collection on video – it’s not a perfect, polished look, because I was quite literally just messing about with the camera rolling, but you get a good idea of how the products can be worn. I found it quite liberating splashing on red shadow and then a clashing red lip – it seemed to go against all of the makeup “rules”, but felt so good! The reddish shadow from the Candeur et Experience palette seemed to brighten my eyes instantly, and I’ll definitely be wearing this a lot going into the Autumn – I enjoyed wearing the red lipstick too, but I do find red lips a bit of a faff unless I’m going to something very dressy and need to make an effort…

If you’re a true red lipstick fanatic then there’s plenty to keep you going in this collection. It would be weird for there not to be, I suppose, for what makeup item lends itself better to red than a lipstick? Above, from left to top right, there’s the deep and dangerous Rouge Audace, the bricky and chic Rouge Tentation, the bright and summery Rouge Feu and the shade I wear in the video and photo above, Rouge Charnel. In all honestly, Feu is my favourite, but I decided to go wild, push myself out of my comfort zone and choose a tone darker than usual.

What an absolute daredevil I am.

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