The Makeup Mole

I have dinosaur paws at the moment, with hands that feel as rough as a stone mason’s. Not the best look when you use your hands for your living! Enter some serious hand hydration by way of Jurlique Rose Hand Cream. It has Safflower Seed Oil and Macadamia Oil too soothe even the most wizened claws, and it smells like a rose garden (not a rock garden).

I love Jurlique skincare – it’s an Aussie wonder brand that grows all its own plants on farms in the Adelaide Hills in South Australia, and the quality of everything I have tried from them is just beautiful. I am also using their Love Balm lip balm a lot at the moment, as it’s very hydrating with Olive Oil, Soybean Oil and yet not too shiny (so it’s also great on shoots, especially if you’re doing male grooming! Lucky I have two).

I decided yesterday whilst looking at my super dry hands, thanks to too much handwashing (OCD anyone?) that I’m just not spending enough time pampering. So if your paws are feeling more Stone Age than Betty Rubble’s, get your mitts on this.

Estee Lauder is really a brand that I’ve been avidly watching the last year or so. They have been re-inventing themselves from a luxury heritage company that was getting a bit dated to a brand for a much younger, fresher, cooler consumer, whilst still keeping the history and refinement of the brand’s legacy.

It started with the appointment of Tom Pecheux, their new International Creative Director and master-mind of their last few collections, which have, without exception, been absolutely gorgeous. His latest one Wild Violets, is no exception.

The other addition to the line is the eagerly awaited Pure Colour lipstick, part of their Pure Colour line that has re-formatted single eyeshadows, nailpolish and gloss. These lipsticks are beautiful. Hydrating, comfortable with a lightweight feel yet great pigment pay-off, they are what girls now want to toss in their handbags. It’s exactly the type of lippie you can wear every day. Even in the deeper colours (my favourite is the deep wine-red Plum Couture), it glides on like there’s nothing there, provides amazing colour and best of all, your lips look shiny and supple, and stay that way.

I’ve long been a fan of Estee Lauder lipsticks – Vanilla Truffle hello! So gooooood for a nude lip, and the Crystal lipsticks which are like tasty little bonbons that you just want to eat, and now Pure Colour is here I feel like it’s an Estee Lauder festival at my house.

I’ve just had a big decanting session for my kit (something I do every season to take advantage of all the gorgeous new colours out there), and although cutting up high end lipsticks makes you feel like a murderer, I now have a brand, spanking new selection of mouthwatering new lip shades. Time to get lippy!

www.esteelauder.co.uk

So I can now die a happy lady. The ONE thing that used to disturb me about my kit was my nasty bottle of chemist dry soap – I have bought it in Paris, and London and the US, and no matter what brands I tried, it just never looked chic. Because when you have all your lovely bottles and tubes of La Mer and Kiehl’s and Chanel laid out, it was always jarring to have a tacky little bottle of Aqium or Purell stuck in the middle. It screamed “Here I am! I’m a hand sanitizer!” Not the first thing I want to jump out at a client when they look at my work table.

But now my prayers have been answered – and at the risk of my blog turning into an Aesop infomercial, it’s the good people at Aesop who have answered them. It’s an alcohol based hand wash to cleanse and refresh hands – so it’s the Chanel of Aqium basically. And best of all – it comes in their classic brown bottles, but, wait for it, IT’S PLASTIC. So there’s no carting glass around (which, whilst chic would also be heavy, and let’s face it, potentially dangerous). And it’s only 50ml, so it’s perfect for planes, or throwing into your handbag for a little on the spot refresher wherever you are. Clean hands without water! And I don’t know about you guys, but I get increasingly germ phobic as I get older. It all started on the Paris Metro when I saw a guy scratch his nose – except he had no nose, it had been eaten away by some devastating disease. Poor man – but then he wrapped that itchy finger back around the Metro pole and I nearly passed out at the thought of what detritus he was leaving everywhere. So at the risk of sounding all Howard Hughes, hand sanitizer is my friend.

This one smells gorgeous, and has Mandarin Rind and Rosemary Leaf in it, plus unlike its nasty chemist counterparts, it contains moisturizing agents to ensure skin is left clean but not dehydrated.

So now my kit looks classy AND clean. Delish.

www.aesop.net.au

Ladies, it’s time to start planning Spring makeup. Enough with the heavy coats and the tights and the legs that are so dry they look like Victoria Beckham’s new alligator purses, enough, ENOUGH!

It’s time to start thinking about the season ahead, the one where you will be warm and you can wear clothes that make you feel like sunshine. To that end, today’s recommendation about what you will be needing, is a new lipstick. Not just any old lipstick though, and I’m sorry to do this to you at the beginning of the year when you’ve probably got your credits cards, quite literally, on ice, in the refrigerator, but I’m sorry, there’s nothing I can do. This lipstick has me in its thrall, and it ain’t cheap.

Namely True Coral, by Tom Ford. I have blogged about these incredible lipsticks before when they launched, but it’s time to rhapsodise again. This lippie will spoil you for other lipsticks. It is rich, opulent and delicious. Its formulation is just so beautiful that it practically applies itself – one coat and you’re done. It gives you lips like Elizabeth Taylor sipping a mai tai in Acapulco in a caftan – gorgeous and 60’s in the best possible way (are you proud of me? I didn’t mention Mad Men once yet. And I won’t – except to say oh my God are you watching Season 4?? It’s unbelievable).

I love everything about this lipstick – the packaging is original, classic, elegant yet still cool, much like Mr Ford himself. It’s for grown up women, and I can guarantee this lipstick will be going nowhere near a festival this year. As for the colour? It’s a true, perfect Technicolour coral, one of the many colours that will be huge once Spring kicks in with a vengeance. It makes me dream of sunshine and palm trees, cat’s eye glasses and tans, cocktails and swimming pools. Oh and alright then, Don Draper. But don’t hold it against me.

Tom Ford Private Blend lipsticks are available from Harrods and Selfridges in London, and David Jones in Australia.

But this is a lipstick that could change all that. I’m ready to bust out some colour and head to Acapulco way…

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a fun and festive holiday season and are returning to every day life bright eyed and bushy tailed (as opposed to hungover and broke, which is the other, less attractive option).

I’m going to kick off the year by declaring a new love, although it’s one that’s been around for awhile. And alright, I’ve been crushing on it for a bit as well, most of last year in fact, but still! Let’s put it in the New Year, New Love category.

It’s Lancôme. My interest in this brand goes from strength to strength. I used to just like their skincare – their Bi-Facil Eye Makeup remover has been in my kit for years as it removes even the toughest eye makeup with one gentle swipe, and I love their Hydra-Zen moisturisers. I had a few makeup bits of theirs floating around, but nothing major. By the time I got to Lancôme I felt I had really built my kit and there wasn’t much room for anything else. In the last couple of years though it feels like it has really become more interesting as a brand – the formulations are the same high quality they have always been, but with Aaron de May now as Global Creative Director it feels like it’s breaking new ground and this grand dame of French cosmetics is loosening up a little, getting a younger, fresher image.

So just before Christmas I found myself SQUEEZING in a new Strasse eyeshadow (and I do mean squeezing – that kit is TIGHT). The colour? Dazzling Steel, which you would expect to be a rich pewter but is actually an unusual khaki grey colour. Why is it getting crushed into my kit? It’s sparkly, and I’m still loving metallic makeup – it’s not just for the holidays you know!

I like the way the shine catches the light but still looks elegant, not like some 15 year old let out of a school disco. This is sparkle for grown ups, and whilst it’s lovely as a liner I’m looking forward to letting this sparklepuss out of the bag and rocking it with a smoky eye combo for some true sexy evening allure. And Lancôme? I have a feeling we ain’t heard nothing yet.

How can you have a Christmas Gift Set in your kit, I hear you scoff? Well that’s easy my friends, because the beautiful coffret box that the Aesop Gertrude Street set comes in is just the most perfect size to take my decanted foundations, and is now the basis of how I organize my makeup when I’m on a job.

I should be telling you about the delicious contents of the aforementioned box which have made me love Aesop products even more – the Fabulous Face cleanser which is gently cleansing my dehydrated face, waking me up every day with its scent of bergamot and rosemary. You wouldn’t think an olive oil cleanser could feel this yummy, but it does, and it doesn’t cause breakouts either (which some oil cleansers are prone to do).

This particular gift set comes with five beautiful full size products nestled within – the cleanser, the Tea Tree Leaf Facial scrub which when mixed with the cleanser is a wonderful exfoliant, the Primrose Facial Cleansing Masque that’s an amazing treat when your skin feels congested and comes with French clay (fancy) and Vitamin E, the B & Tea Balancing Toner which I’ve blogged about before as it gives you that lovely super clean feeling (nice when it’s hot!). Last but by no means least, the Mandarin Facial Hydrating Cream, which is happily nestled on my bedside table, my current standby night cream. All the products have been specifically selected for a warm climate, so it was a welcome addition to my skincare arsenal.

But can I talk about the box again for a minute? This is what has me sold on this set – all my decanted foundations are stacked, perfectly aligned within its sleek black walls, and it zips up at the top so it can just be lifted out of my bag for instant access at work. It’s ace. Like everything from Aesop it is practical, beautiful and luxurious – in a word, classy. And now I can now carry Aesop with me wherever my makeup takes me.

For Christmas this year Aesop have six different sets named after the streets where their shops are internationally, all with a different selection of products to suit every skin and every budget. And I think you’ll know you’ve been very good this year if you find Aesop in your stocking.

The Aesop Christmas sets are on-counter now. For more information, visit www.aesop.net.au

The new product on everyone’s lips seems to be Lanolips, and there is a good reason why – it’s really ace.

Lanolips is the brainchild of Aussie PR maven Kirsten Carriol who grew up around lanolin, with a father who was a doctor and espoused it as a wonder ointment and had grandparents with a sheep farm, so lanolin was always part of her consciousness. Contemplating a long haul flight back from Paris (and all its hydration issues) a few years ago, she decided to utilise lanolin in an effective and portable way. And now it’s stashed in a zillion handbags.

At first I was a bit wary of it to be honest as I’ve had some not so great experiences with lanolin in the past (Ella Bache and my teenage skin, I’m talking to YOU), but when I did some research into Lanolips I discovered:

• It’s 100% pure lanolin moisturiser, which has been refined to Ultra Medical Grade status
• It is one of the only substances hygienic enough to apply to a fresh wound and its medicinal use dates back to 700BC when the ancient Greeks used it as a skin reparative
• Holds up to 200% of its own moisture
• Able to imitate the function of human skin lipids
• Made from lanolin sourced from Australian and New Zealand wool
• Lanolin is a natural by-product of the wool industry, extracted from the fleece once the sheep are shorn and is no more cruel than drinking milk or using beeswax.

So being a general lip product ho I decided to try it – and it has lead me to cheat on my Lucas’ Paw Paw Ointment (as you might recall from the beginning of my blog, we were married, but being an incorrigible lip product flirt I have been dallying with other products lately, including Homeoplasmine again). And now, with all my reservations about lanolin put to rest it has been Lanolips turn!

Whilst I haven’t tried it MacGyver style on all the other things it’s supposed to work on – sunburn, nappy rash (haven’t had them for awhile), rough cuticles, smoothing wild brows (definitely have those but I’ve been too lazy to try Lanolips on them), like all good lipbalms I’ll be putting it through its paces in the coming months.

Lanolips comes in four colours, plus clear, and I keep Apple in my handbag as it is pretty much the ultimate “your lips but better” colour. A word of warning though – it’s quite pigmented so checking it in a mirror is advised as if you don’t rub it in properly you end up looking like a hot mess with streaks of red glossy balm all over your lips! Once rubbed in though it’s a juicy, natural lip, and great for blondes who do need a little bit of something to stop them looking like an egg.

I also keep it in my kit in Clear for those moments when you just need maximum lip hydration – those emergency lip softening times. If you’re looking for a new lip romance – this just might be it.

Lanolips is available from www.victoriahealth.com and in Boots chemists across the UK from November.

www.lanolips.com

I think I mentioned before what a skincare orgy it is at the moment at MM HQ. From being distinctly unimpressed about most skincare and sticking to my faves, I have discovered some absolute gems lately – Aesop as you all know, and also Biotherm’s Aquasource moisturizer, new to my kit.

I actually worked on the commercial for this in London, with Kay Montano doing makeup on the unbelievably gorgeous Biotherm spokesmodel, Russian Sasha Pivarova. Statuesque, gorgeous and glamorous in towering boots, Sasha was everything you’d like your supermodel to be. At lunch I discovered she was lovely as well – very down to earth and nice, an unexpected bonus. Two things I will tell you – she loves her coffee, and yes, her eyes really are that blue!

When I got a chance to try the new Aquasource moisturizer I was slightly trepidatious as often moisturizers that have offered a high water content actually leave your skin feeling drier than it started, as the water evaporates and seems to take more water from the skin. But new technology has radically improved these and Aquasource not only feels like water on the skin (which is lovely and refreshing in summer), but my skin really retained the moisture and in the morning it still felt hydrated, and not like a dried up old walnut. And happily, no breakouts which I can sometimes get when I switch skincare. In addition, it’s such a nice base for makeup that I’ve slipped some in my kit (sorry Kiehl’s, for the first time in nearly a decade, you’ve been relegated!)

Here is the lovely Sasha P in one of her European Biotherm campaigns (I love it when she talks about kung-fu! So awesome with her Russian accent.)

www.biotherm.co.uk