Spring and Summer (!) Scents featuring Mark Jacobs, Guess and Roger & Gallet

Spring Summer Scents

 

It’s with joyous disbelief (with added “about flupping time”) that I write these words… Spring has sprung! It looked like it was never going to come, what with snow and freezing temperatures punctuating much of March, but it’s definitely here. We’ve cut the grass, opened all the windows to give the house a good airing, and *gasp* cracked out the sunglasses. And I’m telling you it’s not a moment too soon. I was starting to suffocate under my Aran knits and microfleece cozy opaque tights.

 

There’s nothing quite so evocative of spring and summer than a light, fruity, floral scent. Think cherry blossoms shaking in the breeze, the sweet magnolia scent of a summer’s eve, oranges, lemons and limes almost bursting with juice. Nom. I’ve packed away the dense, musky, albeit comforting Winter scents and am embracing the spritzes of the season. Here’s hoping I haven’t jinxed it for all of us! Read on »

Merumaya – My new favourite skincare products!

Merumaya
Merumaya is a new British skincare brand that launched recently; unfortunately I missed out on meeting with the brand whilst they were in Dublin and I am now raging after using and loving some samples I received. I started using the sample sized products last month and ended up purchasing some full size products direct from Arnotts.   Read on »

How’s your beauty conscience? Clean your face (and your slate!) with Oriflame this Fairtrade Fortnight!

Oriflame Eco Beauty Smoothing Day Cream Eye Cream

Did you know that yesterday saw the start of Fairtrade Fortnight, 25th February to 10th March? If you’re anything like me (a normal person then yeah?) when you think of Fairtrade, you think (rightly or wrongly) of higher prices on the shelves next to “regular” goods, and that well off guy who drives a Prius; he probably buys Fairtrade EVERYTHING to go with his zen garden and sense of smugness. It’s far from the Celtic Tiger we are now, and it’s hard enough to get food in our own children’s mouths never mind having to feed the black babies too, eh? Well missus, I’m here to show you can totally incorporate Fairtrade into your daily life, and then you can swan around just as smug as that Prius driving gombeen. First up in our “Ethical Beauty” feature line up, I present to you Oriflame’s Smoothing Day Cream and Eye Cream.

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Best & Worst face masks for dry skin feat: Yonka, The Body Shop & Liz Earle

My skin has been extremely dry for the past few months so I have been experimenting with products I would never usually use: face masks for dry dkin. I spent my youth and best part of my twenties using masks aimed at oily, acne prone skin. My how the tables have turned! Today I give you a run-down of what to buy and what to avoid! Let me know what you think in the comments x

Oh and one more thing. My skin is patchy dry so I am not sure if all of these products would work for full blown dry skin all over your face!

Yonka Masque No 1

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Introducing Bia Beauty…..Feed Your Skin!

A few weeks back  I was introduced to the a wonderful new-to-me  Irish company by the name of Bia Beauty.  I had arrived into the office that morning having woken up in bad form for no particular reason and upon getting to work Bill the postie had delivered the itziest, bittiest and cutest parcel of  trial sized products I had ever seen! Operation cheer up commenced immediately thanks to Bia Beauty!

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Avon ANEW Clinical PRO Line Corrector Treatment with A-F33 – It works!

 

This is another review that has been a while in the making mainly due to the fact that I was CONVINCED the product would fail miserably and not live up to the hype surrounding it. I even said I would eat my hat if this worked (my winter hat by the way).

 

I’ve heard people raving about Avon’s Anew Clinical Pro Line Corrector Treatment with A-F33 but to be honest I didn’t believe all the fuss being made; that was until I put it to the test myself. Well that’s a little bit of a white lie really as my mam put it to the test for us!

 

Let’s get the facts and figures out of the way first shall we?! Avon partnered with powerhouse cosmeceutical brand Neostrata to develop the apparent “biggest innovation in skincare since the discovery of AHAs”.  Avon have announced that with this launch  they are bringing a powerful new anti-aging molecule to the market that even dermatologists do not have access to. The molecule A-F33 (Amino Fill 33) is a molecule that has been found in testing on skin cells to work in a way that other well known anti-aging ingredients such as glycolic acid, retinol and CoQ10 don’t.  Now, I am no scientist (Kat wears that hat) but I do know that I love a nice product full of glycolic acid or retinol so if A-F33 can do a better job then them well, just  consider me sold Avon lady!

Thankfully my mam doesn’t tend to read much online or in print about beauty products so she was blissfully unaware of the hullabaloo surrounding this product when I asked her to be our guinea pig. (Avon’s PR people had kindly sent us a some of the product to test as it was not yet available to order).

 

Mam was given the product in early August and I promptly forgot about it (well it was on my spreadsheet of products to follow up on) until Mam came to visit recently. She has smoker’s skin, and anyone that has ever smoked will know what I mean. Skin that feels dehydrated with fine lines from puffing on the ciggies can be tricky to care for. She is also a sun worshipper and I am constantly telling her to wear spf to no avail!

 

Long story short having not seen mam for a couple of weeks she arrived over and I immediately commented on her skin. It was plumped, brighter and fine lines did seem very much less obvious.  I actually could not believe it. Mam is RAVING about this serum, and it takes a lot for her to rave about a beauty product.

 

This product is coming to a catalogue near you soon (if not already, I’m trying to track down my local Avon lady as I type!) and will cost €39.00 at full price. I did hear a whisper it’s on offer at launch for €26 so if you can grab it at that price do. Either way myself, my mam and gran and all of the girls in the office will no doubt be getting orders in. This stuff works and I HAVE just eaten my hat!

 

To keep up to date on all things Avon check out their Facebook page!

 

Weleda Skin Food; a new favourite

I am a total sucker for cult beauty buys and products such as Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream, Clarins Flash Balm and Lancome Flash Bronzer have all graced my dresser in its hayday. I surprised myself by resisting Weleda Skin Food for years, that was until a recent trip to a local health food store where I spotted it. I tried a small bit in the shop and instantly fell in love with its tangy fragrance and I duly handed over 10.50 of my Euro bucks to take it home with me. Read on »

Max Factor Mini Polishes: Dalston Collection

These Max Factor mini polishes are the absolute bees knees! You’ve probably seen them plastered all over the internet for the last while but I couldn’t resist this post. They really are bottles of cheer me up all for the purse friendly price of  4.99 euro bucks. They come in four “collections” so there really is something to suit everyone. Read on »

Dolly Rouge’s Best of 2011 – Part 2: Makeup, Nails and Gadgets!

Here we go with our second installment of Dolly Rouge’s 2011 favourites. If you missed it, check out part 1.

 

La Roche-Posay Teint Mineral is a powder compact. It can be used on its own with a sponge for medium-full coverage (oily or combo-skinned ladies), dusted with a powder brush to set foundation, or provide more coverage over sheer foundations (combo-normal skins). It covers redness/imperfections, doesn’t look powdery, doesn’t oxidise, doesn’t budge when faced with oil, doesn’t clog pores and has SPF 25. Consider that all boxes ticked for me! Read on »