Something of a momentous post, this one, because today is the day that my dry shampoo range, COLAB, launches. What dry shampoo range? I hear you cry. This is the first I’ve bloody heard about it! Apologies, my dearest readers, but I’ve been under a bit of a gagging order and haven’t been able to talk about the range until today, the official launch date. And it’s kind of weird talking about it all full stop – a product, with my name on, in the shops…it’s not something I ever really imagined happening. I mean I’ve had my face on products and brands before, many times, but this is something very new. Very new, very exciting, and something I’m incredibly proud to be a part of. It’s a bit weird, talking about my own product, but I’m so pleased with it, so…here we go!

Dry shampoo has become big news in recent years, and I am the first to admit that I’m addicted to the stuff – for fluffing up my layers, for adding a bit of texture and volume, for taking away that little bit of grease at the roots in-between washes. But my main gripe with dry shampoo has always been the “chalky residue” issue; piles of talcum-powder-like particles that either stick to your hair and make it grey and dull, or fall off onto your shoulders making you look as though you have dandruff. And yes, you can brush the stuff out – I think that’s usually what the directions say on cans of traditional dry shampoo – but if you want to use the product for anything other than root-degreasing, it kind of defeats the object to have to take a brush to your newly plumped-up locks!

The COLAB dry shampoo has none of that chalky, powdery residue; the formula – Sheer Invisible – is so fine and clever that it leaves no whiteness in the hair at all. No manky residue, no greyness at the roots that makes you look as though you’re going to a halloween party, it just leaves everything feeling clean and refreshed and adds an instant bit of boost if you’re hair is feeling flat or lifeless. It’s the perfect in-between-washes product and because it’s sheer, you can apply it as much as you like. I tend to spray it liberally when I’ve let my hair down from being tightly scraped back into a bun; it just seems to pump everything back up and make it all a bit more “done”.

In a nutshell, this is just the easiest hair refresher ever (if I may say so myself, ha!) – shake the can well (VERY important), spray it onto your roots and throughout the layers, massage in with fingertips and you’re done. No need to brush through, if you don’t want to. There are five versions of the Sheer Invisible formula, each with a lovely grown-up fragrance – no “strawberries ‘n cream” or “blueberry muffin” smells here! I wanted to have a product that was for grown-ups, that solved a proper beauty dilemma and that could be used in a hurry with no chance of crapping things up just before you go out of the door. Because there’s nothing worse than using a dud product moments before you leave the house; foundation that goes patchy, mascara that flakes off, dry shampoo that turns you into the living embodiment of Miss Havisham. (A level English reference there, anyone who did Great Expectations.)

You can find COLAB at FeelUnique.com, Superdrug and BeautyMart, it’s £3.50 for a big can, but you can also find little travel sized ones which are great for chucking in your handbag or taking on your hols. You’ll be hearing more about CoLab very soon – I’m planning a little (very scientific) no-residue demonstration video and I’ll also be showing some behind-the-scenes footage from the campaign shoot and a film of me getting ready for the launch party. (Clothed, obviously! I’m not showing the whole process!)

And as I’m feeling very emotional on this important day, I would like to take the opportunity to thank you all for your support over the years; you have truly made it a joy to write A Model Recommends, and I wouldn’t be sat here typing about my own new product launch if you hadn’t all kept on reading and commenting and sharing my posts. So thank you, all of you: and now enough of this soppy stuff. I must go and find my all-in-one body control suit, as I’m planning to wear something quite tight and sexy later!

Take a look at the CoLab Website for more info…

The post Monumental News: I’ve launched my own Dry Shampoo! appeared first on A Model Recommends.

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Last week I wrote about Aurelia’s amazing Firm and Revitalise dry oil; this week it’s Roger & Gallet’s Huile Gourmande that’s taking centre stage. Or I should say that it’s the scent of it, the Fleur de Figuier that’s taking centre stage; it’s quite a loud and colourful summer smell that lingers on the skin and it has that kind of warm headiness that’s so appealing when you’re away somewhere hot.

The nose behind Fleur de Figuier is super-perfumer Francis Kurkdjian (he created Jean-Paul Gaultier’s Le Male, Elie Saab’s Le Parfum, the amazing Narciso Rodriguez For Her) and interestingly, he hasn’t gone for that ever-popular green kind of fig scent. That leafy, almost woody fig that transports you straight to the med. It’s nothing at all like Philosykos from Diptque or even Jo Malone’s slightly fruitier Fig & Cassis; this is a full-on fruity floral with quite an obvious hit of mandarin. (I find the Eau Fraiche fragrance from the same range to be slightly greener and earthier, so that’s well worth a look if you love your fig scents.)

Other fig-scented things to browse…

But I’ve become distracted with smells; it was actually the oil’s beautiful texture that I wanted to talk about. It’s really quite gorgeously sumptuous; the effects are long-lasting and the spray bottle makes it so easy to apply. The oil is rich and silky on the skin without leaving too much of a residue – you can feel it on the surface even after an hour or so, but it’s not a sticky or greasy finish. Just beautiful. There are quite a few plant oils blended into the Huile Gourmande; nourishing grape seed, Pomegranate seed, blackcurrant seed and also olive, avocado and sweet almond oils. Between them all they have pretty much everything covered; soothing, anti-inflammatory, nourishing, moisturising, regenerating…

I think that this is a great summer oil. Light enough to use in hot weather but with enough clout to really help soften and nourish the skin, keeping it supple and stopping it from drying out when you’ve spent all day on the beach. It’s usually £25.50 but Escentual.com have a third off their Roger & Gallet supplies this month, so it’s down to a much more purse-friendly £16.83 here. And if oil’s not your thing then I seriously can’t recommend the Bois d’Orange cream enough. It’s just amazing. That’s a tenner here.

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This little skincare trio worked so well for my skin when I was away in Greece. A little something pre-SPF (the Decleor Tan Activator Serum, in the little glass bottle) and then something balmy and soothing for afterwards, when all of the sunscreen and sand and salty sea-water had been cleansed away. That would be the Decleor High Repair After Sun Balm, in the little pot on the left. Looks teeny tiny, and so does the bottle, but a little of both goes far – you wouldn’t want to be slathering too much on, unless you want to have a face as oily as a freshly basted Turkey. The SPF is, as you can see, the Daily Defence from Zelens which you can read more about here, should the urge take you.

I feel as though I’ve said this about four thousand times this year, but I’ll say it again: I don’t tend to show my face, these days, in extremely harsh sunshine. I keep under a wide-brimmed hat and, if possible, I sit in the shade. I used to love lying out for hours on end, sizzling away on my sunlounger and turning myself at regular intervals, much like a rotisserie chicken, but the evidence against grilling oneself is now too strong to ignore. That if you fry your skin, it will not thank you for it. There’s the obvious skin cancer risk and there’s also the fact that you’ll get wrinkles faster and you may, by the time you turn forty-five, have a face that is indistinguishable from an old leather boot. (I plucked the number forty-five out of thin air, just because it had the right rhythm – there’s no reason why that would be the magical “skin turns to crap” number. If you relentlessly burnish your skin then it might look like leather by the time you’re thirty. Equally, you may be blessed and have amazing skin in your sixties, even sans-SPF. My Mum has barely a line and has only worn sunscreen about three times, ever, but personally I’m not prepared to take the risk!)

Look, I’m not a No Sun Fanatic; I do lie out in it, I do sit on the beach and go a rather bronzey shade, and there’s no lovelier feeling that soaking up some rays as the waves lap against the shore. I just think that I’m a lot more careful these days; I use SPF religiously when I’m on holiday, I reapply every few hours and I never, EVER burn.

I’ve digressed, as usual, because I really wanted to talk about the Decleor skincare products; but I suppose that what I am trying to explain, in a very roundabout way, is that although I do tend to keep my face out of the strongest sun, it’s not completely hidden all of the time. The fact that it’s now, post-hols, a whole foundation shade darker means that the hours in the sea, lying on my back, and the times that I basked – hatless – in the late afternoon sun have left me slightly more bronzed than I was. And I knew that this would be the case – I was on holiday, for goodness’ sake, I wasn’t going to hide indoors! – which was why I came ready prepared with the Tan Activator Serum and the High Repair After Sun Balm. One for helping to boost the skin’s natural defences and one for helping it to repair. The serum (which I would rather call an oil, because that’s what it is) contains argan oil, which is rich in antioxidants to help the skin protect against UV damage and also has carrot oil, which apparently helps the skin to develop a gorgeous hue. The balm, which melts between your fingertips to form a silky oil, contains argan, jojoba, avocado and shea to nourish the skin as well as something called bisabolol (me neither) and extract of vanilla to soothe hot skin. And I don’t know about separately, but used together on a daily basis – serum before sun, balm after – they left my skin so, so plump and gorgeous. No redness, not ever (probably more due to the excellent coverage in the Zelens SPF, to be fair, but worth noting) and not a single blemish or little whitehead pustule, which I’d normally get at some point if I was bunging on loads of oils. It was, I have to say, something of a Dream Team, this combo. Even Mr AMR was very impressed, though he’s the kind of person that turns the colour of mahogany as soon as he even so much blinks at the sun, so I often think that such products are wasted on him…

You can find the Tan Activator Serum at LookFantastic here and the After Sun Balm here – if you want to just go in for some Vitamin E action, then you could do worse than take a look at the Neal’s Yard Remedies Argan Oil. It’s simple but effective and isn’t too pricey.

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