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Clarins Summer makeup

The Clarins summer collection has been inspired by India and its beautiful vibrant colours and traditional patterns. Every year India celebrates the festival of colour with enchanting vibrant pigments used as symbols; red for joy and love, orange for optimism, green for harmony and blue for vitality.

Clarins have applied that to their summer makeup, mixing vibrant colour with sun-kissed tones. The hero product of the collection is the Limited Edition Colour Quarter and Liner Palette (£30). Beautifully etched inside and out, this is a lovely collection of four satin smooth mineral eye shades, champagne beige, bronze, gold and violet with a golden brown eyeliner. The palette and shadows are etched with motifs inspired by traditional sari prints.

Another nod to India is the Kohl Kajal Ling-Lasting Eyeliner (£15) which comes in black or violet. It’s a revamp of traditional Indian kohl, and is really lovely, soft and creamy, with rose and mimosa offering softenig and soothing benefits. Works brilliantly inside the eye.

The collection also includes the hugely popular Instant Smooth Crystal Lip Balm in four shades (£16.50) and a Bronzing Duo SPF15 Mineral Powder Compact (£26) which comes in three shades, and finally,  the Colour Quench Lip Balm (£15) in two new shades – pink Jaipur and nude Delhi.

Clarins Summer Makeup collection, available May, from Clarins counters and clarins.co.uk

Beauty News!

Here’s a round-up of some beauty news to end the week!

* Elemis have a brilliant GWP (Gift with Purchase) offer on right now, until 27th May, available at Debenhams, John Lewis and  Harvey Nichols counters and selected spas and salons. With any two  full size Elemis products you can choose from four to eight complimentary travel sized Elemis favourites worth up to £89, presented in a sleek grey cotton zip cosmetic bag.

A trained therapist will be on hand to ensure you have guidance over which products suit your skin type. And, as well as this, if you book a course of three Elemis SpaPod facials, for the price of two you will receive a free facial for a friend. Brilliant offer. For more about Elemis, visit timetospa.co.uk

*Get your running shoes at the ready for the BeneFit and Refuge Mascarathon in June! This brilliant event, to raise awareness and money for Refuge the national domestic violence charity for women and children is a big old fun run, from June 15 to 29, starting in Edinburgh, stopping off at Newcastle, Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff and Oxford, before culminating in Spitalfields, London.

Caroline Flack is fronting the campaign and kicking off proceedings in Edinburgh by running the first two miles. I’ve registered my interest in running, and you can do the same by going to the site, mascarathon.co.uk. There will be a mascara baton which will be passed from runner to runner every two miles along the route, and all sorts of beauty-filled fun in the cities named. You can tweet about it using the hashtag #MascarathonUK

*Label.m and Giles Deacon have teamed up again to create a range of lovely gifts available in salons when you buy products in salon. You get a Cosmetics Pouch free with any two full-sized label.m products, a Tote Bag free with any three, and both bag and pouch free with any five products. The bag and pouch in a print emblazoned with Giles’s signature red-beaked, white swan print are available at specially appointed label.m salons, as well as TONI&GUY, essensuals. Tel 0845 070 8080, or log on to labelm.com

Philosopy’s new Glasgow counter

I was thrilled to open a gorgeous package of Philosophy hero products this week to celebrate the launch of their new counter in Debenhams in Glasgow, which opened yesterday, and looks something like the picture on the left!

Philosophy was founded in 1996 by Cristina Carino, a skin care entrepreneur and visionary with over 30 years experience working with leading dermatologists. The brand is fun and functional. The bath products are adorable, and the bottles were just meant for reading in the shower! I lost track of the brand for a while, as it seemed to move in and out of UK stores, but it’s back to stay, bigger and better!

The new counter will offer all of the brand’s hero, new and favourite products from skincare, to bath and body, to fragrance and gift sets. The top selling products are the hope in a jar moisturiser (£34), purity (various formats, from £17.50), the busy woman’s cleanser, amazing grace (£32) a floral, feminine fragrance that is really beautiful (although my absolute favorite ever is baby grace, which I don’t think they even do any more!), and of course those scrumptious shampoo, shower gel & bubble baths (£14) in almost edible fragrances like vanilla birthday cake, melon daiquiri, coconut frosting and more.

It will also offer the philosophy peel bar (in Glasgow until the end of July this year) where customers can experience the microdelivery peel. Pop in on your lunch break, or on a shopping trip for a quick demonstration of this gentle exfoliation.

For more information, visit philosophyskincare.co.uk

Beauty Bargain of the Week – Carmex lipbalm

We can all spend a fortune on beauty products, but we don’t need to. Every week, I’m going to bring you my ‘Beauty Bargain of the Week‘  – a product I’ve used, and would recommend, and that, on most occasions, costs less than a fiver! What’s not to like!

I am not a big lip balm wearer, but if I was going to carry one around it’d definitely be Carmex. It’s got that brilliant retro cool vie about it, don’t you think? I love the Original Pot (£2.69) – classic design, brilliant colours and logo. And the product isn’t bad either!

Cherry Carmex in a tube (£2.69) smells brilliant, and I have been known to use a little of this under some matte lipsticks to make them less drying on the lips. I was delighted to receive both of these in a little Carmex package last week.

However, I’m not so impressed with their new Carmex Moisture Plus Ultra Hydrating Lip Balm (£4.49). It contains Vitamin E + Aloe, has a slanted tip for application and a sunscreen SPF15…but…I really hate the design. It’s horrible, and so naff compared to the original Carmex, no?!

It comes in a variety of colours, including this Pink Sheer Tint, pictured, and it does feel as nice as the original Carmex, but it’s not going to do it for me I’m afraid.

Carmex lipbalms, available from Boots and independent chemists.

Touce Eclat – 20 years

I was shocked to learn that Touche Eclat from YSL celebrated it’s 20 year anniversary this year. I first came across it back in the late 90s when I started out beauty writing.  This product became a must-have in the late 90s/early Noughties, with various celebrities hooked on it.

I recall being at an interview and photo shoot with Donna Air (remember her?!) around 2001 for the Daily Record, and watching her circle her eyes in it, over and over again. She was clearly a Touche addict!

Touche Eclat – or Radiant Touch to give it it’s English name, is a light-reflecting, illuminating highlighter, NOT a concealer as many think. It is only for use under the eyes, and should be used sparingly – it will reflect light away from dark circles, but you don’t want to end up with the reverse Panda-eye effect over-use can produce.

If you are going to splash out, then buy this special anniversary Touche Eclat Celebration Collector Edition (£25) and, if you head over to the Facebook App, you can share your love of the product, and be entered into a prize draw and get the chance to become part of an exclusive VIP panel, and test a new YSL foundation BEFORE it launches!

Touche Eclat now comes in 10 shades, but the Collector’s Edition only comes in the original, Shade 1. Available from YSL counters nationwide, and yslbeauty.co.uk

Beach ready with Bobbi Brown

The weather outside my window couldn’t make me think any less of going to the beach, but I am hopeful that Bobbi Brown’s summer collection will transport me to a sunny place in my head at least!

The Miami Collection ‘recreates the fresh, glowing look you get at the beach,’ assure Bobbi. The key products include four new shades of Bobbi’s Long-wear Cream Eyeshadow (£17) – Copper, Bronze Sugar, Nude Beach and Candelelight. Blendable and buildable, this eyeshadow has a 12 hour guarantee. These gorgeous beach colours will look beautiful with tanned skin.

There are four new, Limited Edition, shades of Treatment Lip Shine (£18) – Peach Sorbet, Pink Seashell, Sunset Beach and Orchid Pink,. The fab lip shine is a lipstick and rejuvenating treatment, brilliant for summer, and it also contains Paracress which helps stimulate natural collagen production to reduce fine lines and wrinkles.

The beautiful Limited Edition Shimmer Cheek Glow (£30.50) which comes in Miami or Gold is a gorgeous sheer powder formula that gives a natural glow and soft shimmer.

Bobbi’s Beach Fragrance (£38) has been given a makeover, in a sleek new bottle, but is still the same, beautiful light scent; a blend of sand jasmine, sea spray and mandarin, and there is a lovely, Limited Edition, Shimmering Fragrance Oil (£30) to match.

It might be rotten weather outside but this lovely collection will give you a little hint of summer before we finally, hopefully, get a real one!

Bobbi Brown Miami Collection, available now at Bobbi Brown counters and bobbibrown.co.uk

Beyonce’s Beauty Secrets!

I’m not sure how much baby weight Beyonce actually gained, (and no, I don’t believe those rumours!), but, she is back to looking hot – as you can see from this recent picture of her and hubby Jay-Z posted on her tumblr blog

Apparently she’s being doing ‘cardio and plyometric moves like lunges and jumps on and off a bench’ with her trainer Marco Borges, sticking to meals of vegetables and grilled meats and stocking up on one particular beauty product to help her maintain a healthy glow.

Per-fekt Body Perfection Gel in ‘Exotic’ was first introduced to her by her makeup artist Francesca Tolot on the set of Dreamgirls, and she is hooked.

This body gel, with a hint of tan comes in three shades – Exotic, Brilliant and Golden. It’s formulated with Mica which produces a shimmer with a hint of sparkle, brilliant for reducing the appearance of cellulite. It also contains Orange Peel Oil which apparently breaks down fat cells. According to Per-fekt beauty founder, Richard Anderson, it’s ‘photo-shopped skin in a bottle”. It’s photo-shopped skin in a bottle’.

You apply it by patting it on to and smoothing it on to the skin in simple strokes working from the legs upwards. You can also use it to highlight the  decollete, and anywhere you want the light to hit

It was an instant sell-out in LA’s Fred Segal store since Beyonce’s last visit, and other celebrity fans include Kirsten Stewart, Megan Fox and Rihanna.

Here in the UK, it’s available at Harvey Nichols and Fenwick, and perfektbeauty.com

Per-fekt Body Perfection Gel, £41, available now

Lily Cole for The Body Shop – Cruelty-Free Beauty

Model, activist and actor, Lily Cole, is The Body Shop’s first ever Global Brand Advocate, and this cute little cruelty-free makeup collection is one of the first thing she’s put her name to with the brand. It’s Limited Edition, and full of really lovely products, at great prices, with no harm to any animals in the making. What’s not to love?!

The collection includes Lip Treatments (£4), excellent Shimmer Cube Eyeshadows (£16), Lily’s favourite product, the Lip & Cheek Domes (£10) and my favourite, the Puff on Radiance powder (£16) as well as much more.

If you head over to The Body Shop website, you can read an interview with Lily all about her role with the company. There are also brilliant tutorials on how to use the collection available when it launches.

Lily’s Cruelty-Free Makeup Collection, available soon, from The Body Shop stores, and thebodyshop.co.uk

Sit Tight! And beat the cellulite!

I love Soap & Glory. They make beauty fun. Sit Tight was their original anti-cellulite cream. I loved the concept – sit in your seat, and the cream does the work. Not entirely sure if I’m convinced by that, but well, it’s great marketing.

Now, Sit Tight is back, in the guise of Sit Tight Intense XS Special Super-Strength Body Firming Serum. It comes in a tube with the new ‘Circu-360™‘ ergonomically engineered tri-ball Massage Roller. This roller is supposed to help you apply the serum correctly. It also contains things S&G call Detoxyboost™, Puffdrain 82™ and Slimergy™-3 – which all claims to help stimulate drainage and help with cellulite.

I’m not sure if there is even a cure for cellulite at all. But this is a really nice product, if you like this sort of thing. It feels nice, and S&G claim that ‘Skin looks firmer, tighter and less dimply after just four weeks usage‘. I think I might give it a go and see if there is any difference at all. I’ll keep you posted.

Meantime, if you want to try it, it’s available now, for £16.50 in larger Boots stores,and boots.com

Body Shop Mists

We can but hope that by June, when these new Body Shop Mists go on sale, we’ll have a bit of sunshine, and will be feeling more summery! But if not, splash on one of these lovely fragrances and feel it anyway!

Choose from eight different scents – fruity Coconut, Strawberry, Satsuma, Mango or Pink Grapefruit, or fresh Shea, Moringa or Vanilla.

Roll on the good weather!

Body Shop Mists, £7 each, available from June, bodyshop.co.uk