Darphin Purifying Balm - Spa In A Jar

Having a history of acne and reactive skin I have never believed, even from the mouths of 'industry insiders', that oil formulations and oily skin could co-exist in anything other than a squelchy, hellish union. It was very much a case of tra-la-la experts, talk to the hand 'cos this face ain't listening. To my grease-phobic mind the thought seemed ridiculously counterproductive

However, and it pains me to say it as I hate being wrong, having trialled Darphin Purifying Balm (a press sample) over the past six months I'm seeing method in the madness.

A match made in skincare heaven? Well, oil be damned (couldn't resist)

Since kicking my spot-prone complexion into touch with Alpha-H skin care, I've found I'm able to use richer, treatment products - on occasion - without ill effect. Result. I can't go bonkers and baste my face in oil every night ( now that would just be asking for trouble) but I can enjoy the pampering benefits that balms and the like offer.

You'd be hard pressed nowadays to find a skincare range without a balm of some form in their line, but not all are born equal or have the same uses. For example, many cleansing balms at both the high and low-end of the market contain ingredients likely to unbalance the skin such as petroleum and mineral oils. I try and avoid both of these where possible after having once been told by a dermatologist that they act as 'shrink-wrap,' creating a seal that prevents moisture from entering the epidermis and toxins from exiting = a dry, slick, congested skin. 

But it's not just chemical synthetics that can irritate. Some natural oils such as coconut and wheatgerm also have a high propensity to clog pores. As an aside, did you know that Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (derived from coconut oil and used in cosmetics as a cleansing, lathering agent) is highly comedogenic? Food for thought if you use SLS shampoos and get breakouts around the hairline or forehead. I discovered this fact via an enlightening article on Viva Woman. Read the full article here. 

Anyway, I'm digressing as Darphin Purifying Balm isn't a cleanser and doesn't contain any of the above which translates in the texture; a silky, extremely fine and supple balm that melts as soon as you rub it between your fingertips. This is a luxurious product saturated with skin-conditioning oils in the base - apricot kernal oil, sunflower seed oil, hydrogenated vegetable oil and beeswax - and additional decongestant, purifying and calming oils such as tea tree, sage, thyme, lavender, ylang ylang, balsam copaiba (an anti-inflammatory), geranium and chamomile. 

Six months of once/twice weekly use and
there's still a smidgen left

Unlike a cleansing balm designed to be removed, this balm is applied to the skin at night as a treatment. I use it once or twice a week when my skin's looking dull, peaky or it's a Friday evening and I'm on wine glass number 3 and counting... The smell is aromatherapy spa divine and I 'cup and sniff' - somehow that sounds gross but is in fact gorgeous - every time I melt it in my hands. 

Don't panic if your skin feels really rather oily on application because by morning there will be little, if any, trace. Results-wise how does a smoother, brighter, more balanced complexion with a reduction in open pores grab you? Hell yeah, it grabs me too. 

The only downside to all this marvellousness is, of course, the price. At around £37 for 15ml (I've got bigger lip balms!) it's a lot of dosh for a teeny pot but I would still highly recommend it for any skin type, not just oil-phobics, as you need only use a small amount. Mine has lasted for a good six months. 

Have you used Darphin skincare? I'd love to hear your thoughts. And could you would you mix oily skin with oil?

* Darphin Purifying Balm is available nationwide (check out the store locator here) and at online beauty outlets. 

Ooh La La! Lovely Lilacs (pinks) From Make Up Store

Sometimes I jump on the idea of a make-up trend and then quickly scuttle away before I've even tried it. You know, you buy something that you think will be a bit different and then in the cold, hard light of day - bottle it.

Colour me (err) lilac - with a touch of tan

So it has been with the colour lilac. Before Christmas (this is how long it's taken me to muster the courage), I spotted a brand I'd never seen before on Carnaby Street called Make Up Store. Inside, it looked a lot like M.A.C and quite a bit like a professional film and theatre make-up shop; rows upon rows of pigment, shimmer and sheen presided over by extremely helpful, colour-confident and immaculately made-up MUA's. I went in and walked out with a caramel blusher, a lilac blusher and a dinky lilac lip gloss pot. I then proceeded to spend £16 on Christian Lacroix notelets in Liberty. What can I say, it had been a nerve-wracking day. I was trying to shop the edge off of it.

Since then lilac has been popping up everywhere. I especially love the lilac lips, cheeks and tan coloured eye-combos showcased recently in a ton of magazine editorials, so decided to finally embrace this most powdery of purple shades. It has to be said that I appear to have used a TOWIE trowel to load on the blusher but I still like the look; fresh and spring-like.

Shade-shifting: in some lights the blush and gloss appear
 less lilac - more pink

Neither of the shades I used on my cheeks (Matt Glory) and lips (Bay) are actually as lilac as they seem in their pans. Instead, they're a cool pink with slightly violet undertones but very lovely nonetheless. The second blusher (Matt Caramel) is a tan hue with a hint of dusky rose/maroon. I've been using it as a cheek contour  - every 10 years I rediscover my cheekbones - and generally as a means of warming up a genetically wan skin tone. It's a useful, versatile shade. 

Considering that there is a lot of powder fall-out from the blushers (the talc high up in the ingredients list is probably responsible for that), I wasn't expecting the quality to be up to much but these are surprisingly good. I chose the matt variety which are so sheer - but buildable as you can see! - that they actually blend very, very evenly. As an aside, a blusher that doesn't apply patchily can only ever be a positive in my book. Being a perfectionist I HATE it when that happens. 

In terms of negatives, the casing is so butter-fingers light that the blushers have ended up skimming the bathroom floor like hockey pucks on more than one occasion. The lids also have an annoying habit of slipping out of their hinges. At £14 for a Blush Colour and £11 for a Lip Gloss Pot it would obviously be highly preferable for these things not to happen, but neither would put me off of buying more from the range because the effects/performance of the make-up itself are - luckily - so good.

Ultimately, I haven't found my perfect lilac shade but I have found a perfect violet/pink blush and a make-up range I will return to. Have you tried Make Up Store? x

Arty & Bella - New Clips On The Block

There's something about handmade gifts that always appeals to me. The care, attention to detail and the fact that time and effort have been poured into bringing a personal vision to fruition makes buying for others somehow more special. When I saw these beautifully crafted Arty & Bella floral hair clips in a local shop I knew I had the birthdays of all BB's favourite little ladies sorted.

We started with the girls from his baby group. The 'adorables' I've known since they had wispy, newborn chick hair but who now (at a blink-and-you-missed-it 3-years old) have curls, ponytails and fringes that make the cutest canvasses for pretty clips. I split two packs amongst three girls which worked out at £8 a pair, including the shop mark-up, and teamed them with mini Paperchase rucksacks that I bought in the January sales for a bargainous £2 each. I have never been - and will probably never again be - so organised.

Buying handmade also makes me feel, as BB likes to say, 'sharing/caring'. Since becoming a mum I try to support other mum's businesses where I can and take my hat off to all the ingenious, inventive women - like Arty & Bella's Zelda Burborough - who now fall into the WAHM (work at home mum) camp.

Women who, in the wee small hours when their children are asleep or during snatches of time when little ones have been dispatched to nursery, pre-school and school are busy baking, sewing, designing, painting, writing, photographing, product-making and more. In theory it all sounds glossy magazine idyllic but, in practice, getting a business off of the ground and maintaining it from home must sometimes feel like a labour of love. 

So, next time you need to buy a gift why not think about supporting a local, kitchen-table business if you can? Paying it forward might just make someone's day. When I contacted Zelda to ask if I could use a couple of her images for this post she replied by saying 'I spend so much time shut away sewing it's always good to hear that people like what you do!' Buying something (when you can afford to), means you show a home-grown business that you don't just like what they do, you love it.

For more Arty & Bella treats take a look online here. I have my beady-eye on this Jubilee Headband, £20 and these Japanese Liberty Print Hello Kitty Hair Elastics, £4.50. 

Legendary Nail Shade From a england

Now here's a nail colour I'd have never 'clicked' up if it hadn't first caught my eye over on The Swatchaholic. The images on this beautiful blog showcase shades in such high-resolution, covetable quality that you just want to own them, all of them. And that's before you've even read the review.

Saint George: my first holographic nail colour

Having fancied a green polish for quite some time - but not a neon bright or sludgy khaki - a england Saint George fits the bill perfectly. Deep emerald green, with a touch of teal, it has a holographic finish packed with micro-fine specks of green, teal and silver glitter.

Daylight swatch: brings out the teal tones but the shade's truer to life in the top pic

The branding of a england has an olde world feel; the shades themselves are inspired by myth, legend and gothic romance. It's not my kind of branding if I'm honest (horses for courses), but I'm still really pleased with my purchase especially since Saint George draws so many compliments when I wear it. On the subject of wear this manicure lasted chip-free for four days with a base and top coat. 

• a england Saint George Nail Polish is priced £9 and available online.

P.S: I've just logged onto the a england site to discover a flash 72 hour discount of 30% on all available nail shades - as of 31/03/2012. Saint George is currently out of stock but can be added to a wish-list. Do not fear, there are plenty of other gorgeous shades available in the Legend and Mythicals collections. Go look!

Sunny Side Up: Benefit Cabana Glama

I'm not a fan of hot weather or the sun (I hate feeling sweaty) but this week's bright skies and warmth have been undeniably pleasant. I even dug out my flip flops. I've also been inspired to break into a box of Benefit loveliness that I was lucky to be sent to trial. Cabana Glama has been patiently sitting on the bathroom shelf waiting for the official signs of spring - sustained, unavoidable sunlight - to enter my shaded world.

This dinky collection of staples perfectly compliments a sunnier mood. Maybe it's the postcard packaging, subliminal jet-away message (the insert pictures a deserted pier and a palm-fringed bar at sundown, yes please!), or the knowledge that if I do decide to embrace an en vacances look I have the means in one place and easily to hand. 

Cabana Glama contains two products I have previously used and loved; Posie Tint and Some Kinda Gorgeous. (Posie Tint is a see through candy-pink cheek tint and Some Kinda Gorgeous, a whisper-light almost invisible base). But it's the Hoola Bronzer that has proven most surprising especially as I generally avoid any kind of faux 'tan' like the plague. Despite looking scarily brown to my eye, I've found (like lots of other Hoola devotees) that the tone is flatteringly true-to-life. I may have discovered a bronzer I could actually learn to live with.

Sunny delight: Cabana Glama 'beach in a box'

Also in the Cabana Glama kit are three neutral eyeshadow shades (a champagne/peach, a soft golden bronze and a mid-cocoa brown) which won't set your make-up collection on fire but nonetheless are very useful, wearable and blend without fallout.

If you already have some of the products in full sizes then this isn't a necessity buy. I don't think the eyeshadow shades alone are inspiring enough to sway a purchase. However, if you like the idea of a 'beach in a box' - where every item works in sunny unison - then this kit has classic Benefit feel-good factor and is a great way to put a spring/summer face together - simply. x

Destination beauty: postcard packaging

• Benefit Cabana Glama is on sale now (online and nationwide) priced £28.50. In this kit Some Kinda Gorgeous is only available in Medium, suited to medium skin tones. 

Reviewed: Rhodes To Heaven The Lip Plumper

I'm not into the idea of nip/tuck surgery. Each to their own, what a woman does with her body is her perrogative after all but you can't out-smart age forever. Once you're on the cosmetic surgery conveyor belt surely it's a little like the scene at the end of the film Death Becomes Her? Eternally in need of an ally to scoop, skim and scaffold. 

I'd be lying if I said I'd never entertained the idea of a small injectable tweak. Isn't it annoying how features that were once smooth and plump (like the lips) lose volume and crinkle? A bee-stung pout appeals but you can guarantee I'd end up looking like a guppy. Anyway, the husband has categorically stated that any facial meddling will result in divorce. He seemed mighty serious. 

Thrice as nice: rhodes to heaven the lip plumper

Looking for more natural means of regaining lip oomph led me to Rhodes To Heaven The Lip Plumper, which claims to be a multi-tasking plumper, gloss and salve. The ingredients list revealed (amongst others) beeswax, lanolin, castor oil and fruit waxes - all good stuff for hydrating and attracting moisture to thirsty lips - but it was the 'plumping' palmitoyl oligopeptide protein that interested me most. Peptides are commonly used in glosses and lipsticks designed to boost lip volume (they may increase levels of collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid) but not so often in a lip balm formulation. 

After three months of use my verdict is that this is a very impressive balm on a par with my beloved Lanolips. The medium-thick consistency has good wearability, of around half an hour, and leaves lips feeling nourished, cushioned and looking super-shiny. The pretty ballet slipper pink colour tints lips ever-so-slightly and I love the fact that it is available in a click-pen brush applicator. I loathe dipping my fingers into balm especially when I've been commuting or on public transport (germ phobic).

The plumping effect definitely isn't going to give Angelina Jolie sleepless nights but I have seen a moderate, visible increase in volume - especially in the centre of my top lip - and a smoother lip surface. Please note that my lips are marked from past cold sores so their tone is naturally uneven.

My only slight niggle with The Lip Plumper is that one end of the box was quite scuffed on delivery which took the shine off of the 'treat' somewhat. If it had been a gift for someone else I would have asked for a replacement. Though, in fairness to Rhodes To Heaven, I didn't give them the chance to provide an alternative as I was itching to put its plumping prowess to the test straight away.

To dip or not to dip, that is the question

Overall, this is a very lovely lip treatment and definitely worth a look if you're in the market for adding a new anti-aging balm to your collection. I'll be repurchasing the jar version (better value) and using the empty pen dispenser as an applicator - genius, huh? Although it's worth pointing out that the pen has lasted three months of daily use. Good going, I'd say.

The Lip Plumper is available from Rhodes To Heaven in a 5ml click-pen for £8.95 or a 10ml jar for £13.95.

Vintage Finds: Dressing Table Treasures

Today I thought I'd showcase some of the vintage finds I love unearthing in charity shops, at car boots and on Ebay and Etsy.

Sometimes objects are poignant and intimate; I own a woman's diary from the 1930s that chronicles a courtship (he bought her diamonds and furs for Christmas), which I couldn't bear to see tossed onto a car boot scrap heap. It cost just 20p to save. Sometimes items are a perfect fit; my wedding ring is a 'previously owned' Art Deco design that I knew had been waiting for me the minute I laid eyes on it. Most often I just find the history and romance of the past compelling. The husband grumbles that hours of his life have ebbed away watching me rifle through 'bits of s%*t.' Send me into a good flea market and I enter a trance. Truly I do. 

Beyond general retro relics, I'm also a keen collector of vintage cosmetics and will be sharing more trinkets in upcoming posts for those similarly inclined. But for now here are a few of my pink, black and gold powder-room pretties. Aren't they just charming.

From top left;

• 'Springtime' portrait by Enid Elliot Linder - £4 from Cancer Research. This little image caught my eye in a charity shop window. I love the colour combinations (black, gold, pink and peach) and the whimsical illustration. Enid Elliot Linder was a talented artist from Torquay who began producing silhouettes in 1972. Her work can still be found in antique shops and on eBay.

• Elizabeth Arden Ardena Powder from eBay & Sarah Coventry Pearl Magic Pendant from Etsy. Both appear to date from the 1950s or 1960s. The Ardena Powder is as new and has an unusual box compact design. The faux pearl pendant remains in its original packaging (the top of the case is clear plastic and faceted like a jewel) and is deceptively weighty. I plan to wear it on a long gold chain. For more beautiful vintage cosmetics and collectibles take a look at Rose Petal Curiosity Shop on Etsy here.

• Boots La Question Face Powder from eBay. The La Question range was introduced by Boots in the 1930s/1940s. Still retaining its beautiful peach pigment and distinctive heritage scent (think Nana's), this powder pot is pure make-up history.

• Minature Chanel No5 fragrance bottle (empty) and Max Factor Hollywood Face Powder in SUM'R TAN from eBay. These were purchased as props for use in a still-life set, although I ended up buying them myself. The Chanel bottle is definitely vintage but difficult to date; I would hazard 1980s at a push. The Max Factor Powder is unused and has the most fantastic description on the reverse that reads -

'Created by Max Factor Hollywood... Correct colour harmony shades to blend with individual complexion colourings.

Made from purest ingredients, superfine in texture, delicately perfumed to please the most fastidious tastes.

Guaranteed free from lead, orris root, and any other harmful ingredients.

 Its adherent qualities make it "stay on" and "cling" under the most trying conditions.'  

Are you hooked on the history of vintage make-up? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thank you for reading x