Category Archives: Make-up

Home Made Gentle Eye Make-up Remover

Posted in beauty, eye care, lifestyle, Make-up, Rosewater, Scent, Skin Care, Wellbeing by

DIY Eye Make-up Remover

This is a quick and simple recipe for making your own gentle eye make-up remover.

All you need is some good quality oil, Rosewater and Glycerin.

Make it in small batches as the ingredients are all natural and there is no preservative so it is best to make it fresh every few days, 50ml should last between 3-4 days if you plan on using it every morning and night.

Ingredients:

20ml Rosewater

20ml Jojoba oil

10ml Vegetable Glycerin

How to make:

Pour the Rosewater, Jojoba Oil and the Glyercin in a small bottle. Shake vigorously to combine the ingredients. This recipe is very similar to the home made Micella Water recipe which I wrote about a while ago. You can see the post by clicking this link.

As you can see from the test below, I applied a very dark colour pallet of eye shadow, eye liner and mascara and used the home made version on one eye lid and compared this to the Clinique Eye Make-up remover that I occassionnally use.

Home Made Eye Make-up remover test

I was surprised as the Clinqiue remover was good, I’ve always used this as it’s non-scented and wipes away Make-up with only a couple of swipes. But the home-made version took off much more make-up with just one swipe. Result!

Better still is that it cost considerably less and smells lovely because of the Rosewater.

I’ve been using Rosewater for many years now and I don’t think there is anything better than this gorgeous smelling scented liquid.

Clinique – Gifts with purchase at Harrods

Posted in beauty, Make-up, makeup, Skin Care, Skincare, Uncategorized, Wellbeing by

Clinique GWP

Whilst Harrods caters mainly for tourists and the super wealthy, there are a few things which if you are a beauty addict like me, then Harrods is a destination for the sheer experience of exploring the Beauty and Perfume Emporiums.

About twice a year Harrods and nearby Harvey Nichols also promotes the Clinique Gift With Purchase offer.

What’s special about both Harrods and Harvey Nichols Clinique Gift with Purchase promotions is that there are usually extra items. For other department stores, Clinique Bonus Time usually contains around 5 products plus make-up bag.

For Harrods and HN, there are usually 7-8 items in the Clinique’s Gift with Purchase promotions, so well worth the effort of visiting the stores if you want to bag more with the Clinique offers.

Having seen the posters for the promotion, I knew it was time to stock-up.

The two products I purchased to get the gift were:

  1. Even Better Clinical Dark Spot Corrector. Does what it says on the tin. I find this works to even out skin tone and lightening the dark spots that I now have. The texture is light and non-perfumed.
  2. Clinique Moisture Surge CC Cream with SPF 30. This is not only a great moisturiser, it gives just enough coverage without the need for any foundation. For work, I use this with a little concealer under the eyes and set with powder to give a natural and even finish to the skin on my face.

The Harrods offer was conditional on spending a minimum of £65. Yikes, but since I hadn’t bought any makeup for a long while, and I’d just about finished the CC cream, it was worth it because of the additional products in the Bonus offer. It included the following products:

  1. All about Eyes. I like this one as the texture is so light and under make-up, it seems to hold eyeshadow in place for the whole day.
  2. Moisture Surge Intense Fortifying Hydrator. Great moisturiser for the winter.
  3. Smart Custom Serum. I’ve not tried this one yet, it promises to adapt to your skin and works to reduce wrinkles, uneven skin tone, firmness and radiance.
  4. Rinse off Foaming Cleanser. This feels creamy and light. A great Travel size to keep for overnight stays away from home.
  5. Blusher in Precious Posey. A delicate pink colour with a just a tiny amount of shimmer.
  6. Chubby Stick Lip Balm in Mightest Maraschino – Lovely plummy shade with a lovely texture.
  7. High Impact Mascara in Black – the travel size mascaras are great to keep in the make-up bag for emergency touch-ups. Once I completely forgot to put any mascara on before going to work and was thankful that I had included a small tube of this in my bag.
  8. Aromatics in White Perfume Spray.  I’ve never been too keen on the original Aromatics. This version is lighter and less overpowering though it’s unlikely that it will become a regular perfume as I prefer making my own or Chanel and L’Occitane scents.
  9. Large make-up bag.

Not a bad haul, considering that most of these products are ones that I would choose to buy anyway. The promotion has ended now as they are gearing up for Christmas. There will be another in Spring early next year. You can sign-up online at the Clinique website here in the UK to receive their text alerts for their Bonus Time offers.

Lastly, Harrods at night just looks so pretty. Lit up, it is so over the top that there is nothing else to do but stare at it.

A blatant homage to commercialism. I think, though, every once-in-a-while, a little bit of decadence is just a bit naughty but nice.

Summer Party and 10 tips for stay put make up

Posted in beauty, Chanel, eye care, Foundation, Health & Wellness, Make-up, Skincare by
Summer Heat Proof Make-up tips

Summer Heat Proof Make-up Tips

Although this post is not particularly about scent, I feel it might be helpful now that we are in high summer, to share 10 beauty tips I’ve learned over the years.

The company that I work for decided to throw a summer party this year in celebration of it’s 150th year anniversary, it also happened to be on my birthday.

While everything was being prepared, what we hadn’t accounted for, was that the date scheduled for the party happened to be the hottest day of the year.

Since I was determined to enjoy myself without having to worry about  makeup sliding off my face, I applied every tactic I’ve learnt to keep my make-up intact and ready for the party.

Some years ago, I had a number of make-up lessons for my wedding from various make-up artists from various brands. What I learnt about wedding make-up was that it needed to be flawless, fade resistant and take you from day into evening with the minimum of touch-ups.

Here’s the 10 tips I’ve learned for stay-put make up:

1) A good Oil Free Moisturiser: Before applying make-up, and after you have cleaned, toned your face, the moisturiser should be oil free and best quality you can afford as this would protect and act as the base for any primer and foundation.

No7 Beautifully Matt Make Up Base

No7 Beautifully Matt Make Up Base

Chanel’s Makeup artist’s tip on applying makeup was to let the moisturiser sink into the skin before applying a primer or base.

2) Mattifying primer/base: To maintain a shine free complexion, apply a mattifying base over the t-zone area or whole face. The one I have discovered recently which works very well at keeping my face shine free is from Boots No7 Beautifully Matte Make-up Base.

3) Oil Free Foundation with high SPF: Leave the primer to settle for just a little while before applying any foundation. The one that I am currently using is the CC Cream from Clinique as the oil free formula, combined with the SPF30 is a great way to have coverage whilst keeping everything looking natural during the day. As soon as I finish this however, I am going to try the Chanel Vitalumière Acqua that I discovered on Ravishing Roses’ blog here. and use it along with Clinique’s oil free Super City Block SPF 40 that I use alone at the weekends.

4) Concealer for eyes: Apply a primer over the eyelid area, this will prevent eyeshadow from creasing and blur any wrinkles. I always use a base for my eyes – Clinique’s All About Eyes concealer, which I find works great as a concealer and primer in one.

5) Set with Powder: Applying a light dusting of powder will set and help make-up last longer in heat and humidity – the one I’m using is Clinique’s Blended Face Powder, Transparency 3.

Clinique Transparency 3 face powder with CC Cream and Foundation

Clinique Face Powder, CC Cream & Foundation

Over the years I have tried many face powders, but this one is the one I keep returning to. It is mineral based and natural looking, you forget that you’re wearing it and is also long lasting.

6) Use good quality products for eyes:  The tip from my make up lesson from Chanel was to use a tiny bit of water to mix in with the eyeshadow to create a more intense look, it will also last longer. You can use it even as an eye liner, with the darkest shade in the eye shadow palette.To line the eyes, I used Bourjois Khol and Contour eye pencil in a dark grey, I find this is a good quality pencil and easy to blend. I took the Bourjois Smoky eye trio in Gris Party a very dark instense grey pallet to use for the party.

Kanebo Sensai 38°C Mascara

Kanebo Sensai 38°C Mascara

7) Smudge free mascara: To compete the eye make-up, the mascara that I use is Kanebo Sensai 38°C in black, this stays put in any heat. As it is smudge proof and suitable for contact wearers, it’s helped me avoid the dreaded panda eyes. Best of all it only comes off with warm water that is over 38 degrees. I have been known to bulk buy this so that I do not run out. You can now order this online through Harrods website. I have also discovered that Clinique has a similar product called Lash Power Mascara Long Wearing Formula which I’ve not tried yet so can’t tell you if it stays put as well as Kanebo’s.

8) Lip line the whole of your lips: The final tip from the make-up artists, was to use a lip-liner, a natural shade close to your own lip colour and fill in the entire lip, that way you don’t get the circle of colour around the mouth.

9) Long lasting lipstick: My all time favourite lipstick is Chanel’s Rogue Coco in Légende which has a slightly blue tone and is a perfect match to my lip colour, it adds a slight iridescence and I love the subtle scent of rose.

It tends to last and last so I never really have to remember to re-apply more than one or two times in a day. Although it’s pricey, I find it lasts 2-3 times longer than budget brands and that means for me, better value and a little bit of luxury that makes me smile.

For the evening, I chose Revlon’s Super lustrous lipstick in Revlon Red 730, which is a vintage red, that suits any skin tone. This is also a great quality moisturising lipstick which has very dense pigment is also very long lasting.

10) Use blotting paper or loose fine powder: Finally, I have always kept blotting paper in my bag for the occasional touch-ups. My favourite is the little booklet of Lehacresor Papier Poudre which is now only available to buy online. Since I had run out of this, I took the Bourjois Java Rice Powder that I use occasionally as

Bourjois Java Rice Powder

Bourjois Java Rice Powder

a subtle highligter for days when I think my skin needs help.

This powder looks like powdered mother of pearl. Although it is a soft delicate pale creamy pink, it is very fine and is translucent with a lovely light rosy fragrance which as you apply wafts around you, making the air feel soft and fragrant. I love the retro packaging.

By the time of the party, the office had literally melted in the heat, we had a power outage in the morning which meant most of the building had been without power and with it no air conditioning or fans to keep everyone cool.

I gave up on any idea of taking off the day-time makeup and re-applying fresh make-up for the party. Instead, I opted to dust the Bourjois powder over my face to revive my skin.

As the heat of the sun begun to fade, the open roof-top terrace was transformed into the maritime themed party, complete with a bar in the shape of a ship’s deck serving cocktails. The humidity and heat was forgotten as everyone turned up in fancy dress and partied on the lawn. I slipped away to get home early enough, just in time to unwrap a few of the birthday presents my kids had made for me before their bed-time.