Now, why not, this Christmas, give the gift of good skin?
Dermalogica has come up with some fabulous gift sets for many skin demands. Being the mask lover I am, I went for this handy Power Rescue Masque Trio, which has my favourite mask ever, Charcoal Rescue Masque (38ml), the MultiVitamin Power Recovery Masque and the Skin Hydrating Masque.
Perfect for this time of the year and multitasking, this kit will cater for many skin concerns. You can also layer the masks – when I say this is a super muilti-tasking kit, I mean business!
Individually, the masks have very distinctive properties and are a dream to use.
Together, they deliver the perfect combination for my sensitised winter skin: purification and exfoliation for the T-zone, anti ageing moisture for the centre of my face and extra hydration for everywhere else.
Apart from the Power Rescue Masque Trio, which costs £43.25, you can also get:
- Body Buffing Set (£15.50) – perfect gift to buff up dull skin and reveal the smooth underneath in time to see in the New Year. Contains travel size Conditioning Body Wash and Body Hydrating Cream and an Ultimate Buffing Cloth.
- Skin Health Heroes (£33.10) – a trio of Dermalogica’s most popular products in handy travel sizes, this kit contains Special Cleansing Gel, Multi-Active Toner and Hydrablur Primer for the healthiest skin ever.
- Skin Brightening Duo (£53.25) – made up of two of Dermalogica’s skin heroes, the combination of a full size Daily Microfoliant® and PreCleanse work together to remove impurities, leaving clear, bright skin.
- Skin Perfecting Set (£67.60) – illuminate skin during the day and repair at night with this complementary duo of full size Skin Perfect Primer SPF30 and Overnight Repair Serum. Firm, smooth and minimise the appearance of ageing.
- Clear Skin Day In, Day Out (£13.70) – ideal for teen skin, this kit contains a complete day to night regimen of travel size Foaming Wash, Daytime Treatment and Overnight Treatment. Clearing the way to healthy skin from a young age.
Visit the Dermalogica website to find out more and purchase the gift sets. You can also get it fromthe Dermalogica shops, counters and many retailers, on and off line, across the country.
Be quick and get your hands on them before they sell out!
We’ve all been there: great party straight out of a stressful day in the office. And now with the end of year parties in full swing, it is likely you are finding yourself in that situation more often than not.
For skin that has been in the office (and in party mode) the 
To refresh your makeup, invest in a little multi-tasking palette which doesn’t take much space and will go a long way.
For you lips, my newest obsession, liquid lipsticks are just perfect as they are quick to apply. At the moment, Kat Von D Vampira is my autumn go-to shade and scream edgy party look.
A small deodorant goes a long way – I love the little 
Sore feet? Carnation has a fabulous range to maximise your heel-wearing span and I love this Anti-Blister Stick, which minimises the party-busting shoe rubbing.
Make sure you always carry flats; I love these 
For extra hair oomph use a good dry shampoo. I love the 
I always carry a good brush with me, and this mini 
Has barely made it home for a shower? This tiny Gillette Venus razor is perfect for shaving on the go. Showers in the office or the gym? Done! Just make sure you rinse the floor well :)!
Finally, to smell good, nothing better than a roller ball fragrance. The 
Most things in my life seems to fall into the subversion category, so with fragrance it’s not different.
I’m always cautious when being torn fragrances; being such a personal thing, more often than not it does not suit me.
Having said that, a fragrance that is “the very scent of defiance” and an “invitation to subvert” “for contemporary rebels” really could not go wrong for me.
This gorgeous 
For me, Crabtree & Evelyn have the best hand creams in the market. Undisputed. When they add a festive spin to the scents, they become unbeatable.
This season sees the rise of Rose Pineapple, a gorgeous scent that combines the classic delicate and subtle rose with the tropical, sweet zing of pineapple. It’s like something you never smelt before.
Having loved the two fragrances about, I must confess my biggest surprise was the gorgeous Spiced Earl Grey fragrance. It’s got a sweet spice scent with a hint of lemon that is totally intoxicating and soothing.
I also have the fabulous Christmas cracker, which also comes with the three seasonal hand therapy creams in a handy 10g.
Prettily set on frosted glass rectangles and stackable, they deliver a durable punch of the fabulous festive scents to really set the mood and create that seasonal ambiance.
Water. More than half of our bodies is made of it. We all love it and know how important it is in our lives and beauty regimes.
To start with, the essence is very fresh; in the morning it does help you wake you up. The Activating Water Essence basically prepares the skin to receive and better absorb the care; it feels soft and revitalised after application.
The lovely 
Never thought I’d openly talk about wearing my subversions and perversions, but hey, here we are.
Subversion is a classic eyelash primer, white in colour to coat all lashes previous to receiving the mascara. The formula is creamy and the brush is a medium size, with bristles the pick all lashes.
Perversion is the ultra black mascara with a large brush. Despite the fact the brush is almost on the too large side for my taste, it does work very well. The formula is creamy and thick, and it gives decent separation and superb volume, lacking a bit in lengthening.
I got those (plus my all time favourite Eyeshadow Potion Primer) at the launch of the new Urban Decay shop at Carnaby Street, London. The European flagship store in split in two floors of all UD colourful fabulousness.
And I hear Urban Decays is opening three more stores in the UK by the end of the year: London King’s Cross (24 Nov), Nottingham (1 Dec) and Liverpool (9 Dec).
Fine hair in desperate need of hydration, but worried about heavier products? Try the new Andrew Barton No Weight, Hydrate coconut hair range.
The Shampoo lathers well and leaves hair feeling pretty clean. The Conditioner feels a bit too light for me as I just use conditioner on the ends of my hair, but after rinsing hair feels soft and brushes well.
Combined with the Shine Spray, it delivers a great finish to hair dried naturally or blow-dried.
As the lovely Andrew Barton (I mean, he is too lovely and fun!) explained, the whole range has Moroccan argan oil as well as coconut milk in a light balancing formula to deliver hydration to dry ends and purification to oily scalps.
Sleek is bringing the sparkle back. And they don’t it by halves: living proof is their new Rockstars collection, just launched.
Perfect for Christmas and by that I mean all the parties soon to commence, the Rockstars collection has two sides.
On the lighter side, Diamonds in the Rough with a lot of rose, golds, champagnes and peach in their eyeshadow palette, with two rich cream shades; the golden one makes the best highlighter!
All metallic and beautiful, including the gorgeous Scandalous lipstick, a metallic deep red and a highlighting soufflé in pretty shimmery peachy pink, called Pink Opal.
The Superstar lipstick is a metallic shade of deep warm purple with iridescent particles, also present on Scandalous.
The highlighting soufflé here is Smoky Quartz, a gorgeous slightly glittery light gold, perfect for cheekbones but even better for finishing the eyes with an intense shimmer on top of colour.
The bullet on the lipsticks deserves a chapter to itself: faceted, they have a sculpted shape, cut as the jewels they are.
Who remembers last year’s furore about the M&S Beauty Advent Calendar? At a very affordable £35, when you spend £35 on non-food items, the 2015 calendar delivered great value.
And the “Christmas tree of love” (ok, I made it up) shape? How amazing will that look in your home in the run up to Christmas?
Now, the deal is the same. You get over £250 worth of beauty products, covering skincare, makeup, hair, body and nails for £35 when you spend £35 in non-food items.
What my favourites are, you ask? Well… I have to say it is hard to pick… My top three are (drumroll)..
Eyeko Skinny liner – a fabulous pen eyeliner that changed my life and ignited my love of pen eyeliner. It’s super black, precise and durable. Enough said.
Alpha H Liquid Gold – a resurfacing “all-in-one” product dubbed the overnight facial is a quick fix for skin. I love Alpha H, so was very happy to see this in the calendar. The miracle product for the party season (I may have put it back on the calendar on day 1, maybe).
Nuxe Huile Prodigieuse – a multi-use oil for face, body and hair, it is a blend of six precious oils. Delicious! And fab for winter skin.
I can’t leave out the M&S Autograph nail polish in Cranberry, which is super festive and fabulous, exclusive for the calendar.
Cleaning my makeup brushes has always been torture to me. So much time is spent, it is a dull task that not even the feeling of a squeaky clean brush on your face is able to numb the pain.
When I first saw videos of the StylPro Makeup Brush Cleaner and Dryer, I knew that at some point I would get one, it was just a matter of time.
Although there was no discount on the £49.99 retail price, I got a bottle of their fab brush cleaner thrown in as a gift, which is a saving of £14.99.
The different sizes brush holders will cater for most brands (I have many and there was one for every single brush I cleaned). Attaching is easy and quick, just what you want when changing between brushes.
So Many Lovely Things 