Eyeshadow for A Lazy Day

I’ve got in to a real makeup uniform recently; same base, same quickie cheek routine, same brow product, same eyeshadow, mascara and then I either do a bold lip or a nude lip. Simples. The eyeshadow in question is this – CHANEL’s Illusion D’Ombre in Mirage. I first heard about it through Sali Hughes and then when I was in Boots a few weeks back I had a swatch of it on counter and it was love at first sight (it was love at first sight for my friend too who also walked away with a pot!).

There are two things to note with this formula. Firstly – it’s all about applying it with your fingers. Try a brush and you’re destined for failure because it’s your fingertip that warms up the product and allows it transfer from tip to lid, then just blend it out to soften the edges either with your finger or a brush. Repeat until the desired opacity is achieved. It couldn’t be easier. I’ve applied this without practically looking in a mirror and in low-light conditions and each time it looks surprisingly polished.

Secondly, it’s a sheer texture but it’s buildable, which is great because it’s a true day-to-night little multi-tasker. Rub it on lightly in the morning, lob it in your bag and then go in a little heavier for a touch-up before you head out in the evening. Easy peasy.



If you love a good ol’ bronzey lid then say hello to your new makeup bag staple.

Love The Scent of Me Bath

 These mini Ice Creams are so cute! First I love the scent, it's so fruity and feminine. They come in a resealable package, but are also each wrapped individually so you aren't worried about them being exposed to air. The first night I got them, I tossed one into my bath and the water was foamy and smelled amazing. I am also happy to report that the scent lingers, and did not dry out my skin or make it feel sticky. These are a nice affordable alternative to other brands that cost a little more, but you get less. I will be picking up other scents for sure!

This Shower Sherbet is an exfoliating sugar scrub. It looks like something I want to put a straw in and drink heh. This scrub has the scent of pomegranate, cranberry, apple and peach notes sprinkled with a touch of bergamot oil. It is an amazing at exfoliating, without being abrasive to my skin. I use body scrubs often, but I can't use ones that are harsh to my sensitive skin.



I was at Target the other day with my friend (hard to believe I know) and I mentioned to her that I had been using these products. She bought the the body wash in Summer Rain. She texted me later that week and said she went back for the rest of the products it smelled so amazing. Now I feel like I need more scents too.

I love a good at home pamper session, but these are so affordable I can treat myself everyday if I wanted. Have you tried anything from Me! bath?

Looking Forward to Three New Launches

Whilst I’m always trying a tonne of new things, I endeavour to bring you the crème de la crème of this freshly picked crop. It’s always nice when something is debuting on the scene and is all shiny and new and sometimes we get blindsided in the prettiness of it all, but I try my best not to give in to my Magpie-like tendencies and instead just save the really, really purchase-worthy stuff for post material. Case in point; the following three items which in a sea of autumn/winter releases have really stood out as things that are a little bit different, a lot functional and are well worth a spot in your makeup bag, or in some cases – your party bag…

Clarins Joli Rouge Lipstick – launches September. Clarins have re-vamped their Jolie Rouge range which will be cropping back up on counters during this month. There are 25 shades in total and there’s a bit of everything from vampy berries to a shedload of nudes. Whilst the brights are nice, I prefer something a little more matte for those and seeing as the formula is so creamy and easy, I think the subtler colours are the real stars of the show here. 751 Tea Rose has made it into my makeup bag, but 747 Rosy Nude, which is slightly more peach, 707 Petal Pink, which is more pink and 705 Soft Berry which is a bit more plum are all waiting in the wings. Everyone’s going to find a suitable nude here.

Estée Lauder Double Wear Makeup to Go – launches October. Now this is an interesting one. Estée Lauder have taken their bestselling Doublewear range and fused it with the whole ‘Miracle Cushion‘ trend to create a handbag-friendly compact that holds a foundation formula that’s basically made for touch-ups. The texture is a little more blendable and lighter than the original Doublewear, so it’s a good one to layer and it’s pumped out of a little circle in the middle of the compact by pressing a button (side note: pressing the button becomes very addictive). I’m not the biggest powder lover in the world and as someone whose skin eats up foundation for breakfast I’m the perfect customer for this kind of thing. I really like it. Plus the dispensing mechanism means the whole ‘feeling gross about double-dipping into a sponge‘ thing is not an issue here. Phew.

Illamasqua Broken Gold – launches November. Now this might not look like your typical Anna pick here and yes I must admit that my inner Magpie might have drawn me to this one, but just look at that. GOLD LEAF IN A TUBE! Ah common’ – it has festive season written all over it. The set-up might fool you into thinking that we’ve got a gloss on our hands here, but instead it’s a watery texture that evaporates after application leaving behind a non-sticky, non-uniform layer of gold leaf behind that doesn’t move. It’s just asking to be patted on over the top of eyeshadow or on the tops of the cheeks. I want to bath my face in the stuff. When this is released I urge you to run to your nearest counter.

Reviews of Beauty Junkees Brush

8 Must Have Eye shadow and Eyeliner Brush Set

What you get:

8 pc Professional Quality Eye Makeup Brushes; pro Pencil, pro Tapered Blending, pro All Over Shader, pro Precision Eye Liner, pro Angled Shading, pro Flat Definer, pro Blending, pro Crease PLUS BONUS GIFT Black Makeup Brush Case ($20 Value)
another brush brand sells an eye brush set for $77 you can't beat the quality and price of these brushes!

As you can see in the first picture they all come individually wrapped in plastic. The few I still have in plastic are because I haven't used them yet and will probably toss into my pro kit. The brushes I am featuring are because they have been my go to, my must have if you will from that set!

These have been washed several times, from spot cleaning to deep cleaning. They are a high quality brush, I didn't notice any shedding and they feel like great quality. You can tell how the quality of a brush is if you give it a tug where the ferrule meets the handle. If it is loose, you know they are poorly made, and that is where a lot of my brushes have fallen apart. These brushes are pro quality, and I am so happy to have them in my arsenal of beauty tools!

5 piece mini set

5 Piece brush set with makeup bag

You can use these brushes for:

The small bristle head is perfect for concealing, highlighting, contouring, blending and buffing in the hard to reach, yet delicate areas of the face, such as around the eyes, nose and mouth. Get fantastic coverage and touch up perfection every time.

I use these brushes for my clients, because I do a lot of bridal work. These are amazing for contouring, I love to use cream products for contouring and these work great. I also use them to buff in concealer around the eyes, and nose. These again, are amazing quality and have been washed many times, and spot treated a lot. With cream products you need to get rid of the product as fast as possible so it doesn't stain the brushes.

Please use these discount codes to order your brush sets. Think of the Holidays coming up, these will make some beauty lover or makeup artist very happy!

2016 New Generation Sunscreen Oils

I packed a few of the suncreams I featured in my ‘Youth in a Tube’ sunscreen film on my recent holiday - which were much needed as the weather was hot! Lots of you asked me for body sunscreen recommendations and as I said in the video, many of the brands I mentioned (Avene, La Roche-Posay, Institut Esthederm) have great sun protection lotions for body. However, I've noticed a big trend towards body sunscreens with oil formulas this summer. I'm sure that for some people (myself included) the thought of a sunscreen oil conjures up images of baking in the heat in SPF4, but these new-gen oils have high SPFs of 30 and 50, so they’re perfect for anyone who wants to keep their skin protected but prefers the texture of an oil to a cream or gel (plus improvements in formula means that most of these oils have lovely light, non-greasy textures). Many contain emollient moisturisers so they're a good sunscreen option for dry skin and, as they’re colourless, they work on all skintones and won’t leave you looking white or ashy. You can also use them on your hair, too.

If you want to try one, there are a couple of things to keep in mind. When I spoke to some dermatologists about sunscreen oils, one of their concerns was, like other oil-based skincare products, there is a risk that they could be comedogenic (i.e. pore blocking), so if you have oily or acne-prone skin, look out for ones that are listed as non-comedogenic. And like all sunscreens, make sure you apply all over sun exposed skin and allow the oil to fully dry before you go into the sun (around 20-30 minutes) to make sure it's properly binded to your skin - if it remains fluid and oily it's not giving you a stable barrier from UV rays.

I've spotted lots of new ones around - here are four that I've been testing at the #HouseofEldridge…

La Roche-Posay Anthelios XL Nutritive Oil SPF50+ sinks in quickly to a satiny finish, though it's still important to wait for around 20 minutes before you go into the sun. It contains triazones (so isn’t available in the US unfortunately), as well as L'Oréal’s patented active sunscreen Mexoryl XL, listed as drometrizole trisiloxane on the bottle (I talked about Mexoryl SX in my sunscreen film - it's water soluble, whereas Mexoryl XL is the oil soluble version of Mexoryl). This one is also non-comedogenic.

Garnier Sensitive Advanced Nourishing Protective Oil SPF50+ has similar actives to the La Roche-Posay sunscreen above, triazones and Mexoryl XL, but it feels a little richer so some people might find it slightly greasy. However, it’s very fluid so easy to work into skin and feels nourishing, so it’s a good high street option.

Supergoop! Sun-Defying Sunscreen Oil SPF50 uses the sunscreen active avobenzone and is available worldwide. It's non-comedogenic, however, it contains some plant essential oils, so not the best option for sensitive skin. The formula, which is rich in moisturising and antioxidant oil extracts including meadowfoam seed, argan and coconut oil, feels really nourishing and absorbs quickly into skin.

Decleor Aroma Sun Expert Summer Oil SPF30 is another sunscreen that uses triazones. It's also rich in monoi oil, which is made by soaking Tahitian gardenia petals in coconut oil, so it’s like a souped-up version of coconut oil. It's incredibly moisturising and less greasy than other oils, so has a lovely texture. The spray applicator can make it a little tricky to apply all-over, so take time to make sure all of your exposed skin is evenly covered before heading out in the sun.

Get Ready With Me To Check My Personal Stash

You know I love a good GRWM. In fact picking out music for them is one of my favourite tasks. For this LA edition my first choice was California Dreamin’ by The Mamas and Papas, but YouTube wouldn’t allow that, then I thought it would be a bit of a giggle to use Phantom Planet’s California because that was practically the theme tune of my youth (and fun fact: the first time I discovered YouTube because I used to use it to stream O.C episodes – shhhhh!), but YouTube declined that too. So we ended up with my third choice, it’s a funny little tune that I once spotted in Gossip Girl and have loved ever since. I picture Lily and I driving down the coast in a convertible car to it. So whilst that ditty plays watch me get ready for a day in L.A. Time to get those sunnies out…

I’ve been trialling a lot of new products recently, and these four have quickly become favourites. It's a bit of a diverse mix of skin, hair and make-up products.

Perricone MD No Lipstick Lipstick

I've been on the hunt for a new, easy everyday lip moisturising product that had a bit of 'natural lip but better' colour (but not too much), felt comfortable and was quick to apply on-the-go - and this ticks all the boxes. Its often difficult to find 'exactly' the right colour of this type of product but this flattering shade works well on my lips -   neither too pink or too brown and it contains a decent amount of low-key pigment (enough to look visible, despite the ‘No Lipstick’ name). It has a healthy, shiny (but not glossy) finish and smells like caramel chocolate.
I also love the texture - it contains emollient moisturisers like jojoba seed oil and mango butter, so feels like melting butter on the lips. It also has SPF 15 (using the mineral sunscreen active zinc oxide), so it's good for keeping pouts protected in the sunshine. And another good thing - the lid screws on, so it doesnt fall off in your handbag!

COSRX Acne Pimple Master Patch

These little patches are made from hydrocolloid, a light, thin material that’s been used as a surgical dressing for years - it can help to treat open wounds by encouraging the skin to heal while simultaneously protecting from additional trauma, blocking out bacteria, pollution and any other potential irritants. There's been a trend in Asia over the past couple of years to use hydrocolloid patches, like these ones by Korean brand CORSX, to treat spots and blemishes. While they don’t use 'traditional' spot healing ingredients like salicylic acid, the idea is that by keeping spots covered they're protected against infection (and any spot squeezers out there). At the same time, the patches can help to reduce redness and inflammation and draw out bacteria and excess oil (which in turn brings down swelling to leave spots flatter). Plus, as they keep skin moist, they encourage skin to heal quickly, with less scarring, dryness or flaking. Many also contain antioxidants (these ones have Songnox 1010), which helps to speed up the healing process.

I first tried these right before my personal appearance in New York. I felt a big PMT bump coming up on my chin so wore a patch on the plane on the way over and for two consequetive nights when and they really helped to stop the spot from coming up. They’re very easy to use, just peel off a sticker (they come in three different sizes) and apply to clean, dry skin (don't use any skincare beforehand). One of the best things is that they’re transparent which makes them really discreet (although you might notice them turn white as they draw out exudate) - I kept one on while I nipped to the shops and it was almost invisible. I've now got some in my makeup bag and my kit for emergency spot-zapping! They're a fairly new trend in the west, I'd love to know if you've tried them and what you thought.

Lancôme Hypnôse Volume-à-porter Mascara

I've had a lot of compliments about my lashes recently - which I can only put down to this mascara. It's my new, everyday favourite because I love the way it separates every single lash. Its a good one if, like me, you like your lashes to look volumised but, at the same time, really individual and not overloaded with product. It pays off quickly so I like using it when I'm in a rush in the morning.  I did the make-up for the ad campaign  - combining it with a black and white liner and it turned out to be one of my all-time favourite Lancôme campaigns (I've filmed a tutorial of the look that you can watch here).

Although it’s not waterproof, it’s very resistant, and I actually find it a little tricky to remove with michellair water - you definitely need to use a bio-phase' oil remover. The only bad news is that it's only launching in certain countries in Europe as well as  Australia, South Africa and Russia - as far as I know it won’t be making its way to the USA, South America or Asia.

Simplicity is Complexity Resolved

One of the questions I’m often asked in interviews is, ‘where do you find inspiration?’ And though the answer is ‘everywhere!’, one person that I reference again and again is the sculptor Constantin Brâncuși. As an art-lover, I’ve spent countless afternoons strolling around galleries and museums, but still remember so vividly visiting the Pompidou Centre in 1995 to see a major retrospective of his work. Although I'd seen photographs of his sculptures before it was only when I saw them in the 'flesh' that I really understood. I remember thinking 'This is it!'  and feeling quite euphoric. It was a real lightbulb moment for me and from then on I became obsessed with his ideas and work.

Brâncuși’s art centres around clean, geographical lines and simple forms (from tall columns to birds and fish) and he created his sculptures using materials with smooth surfaces like marble and bronze. He often produced different versions of the same sculpture, making them increasingly abstract and simplified each time - it’s this very simplistic, elegant style that he’s known for today and that drew me to him. I absolutely adore how Brâncuși can turn simple shapes and basic forms into truly beautiful pieces, and especially love his highly polished brass sculptures - the high shine catches the light to create the most beautiful highlights and reflections which are just stunning, and also very inspiring. It this polish and shine that I have tried to recreate in my own work... only my canvas is skin.

Brâncuși also had lots of great quotes about art and what it meant to him. One of my favourites is ‘simplicity is complexity resolved’ - it’s a saying I live by, and it works so well in makeup.

If you’re a Brâncuși fan you’ll know that he led a fascinating life. He was born in Hobitza, a small village in Romania, and studied at Craiova School of Arts & Crafts and Bucharest School of Fine Arts before walking from Romania to Paris in 1903 (when he was 27) to study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. The British film director Peter Greenaway is currently filming a Brâncuși biopic, ‘Walking to Paris’, which focuses on this trek across Europe and how it influenced Brâncuși’s later work - Greenaway says that, as he walked, Brâncuși was ‘constantly building sculptures out of found materials - wood, stone, sand, snow and ice, leaving a trail of abandoned experimental structures across the landscapes of Europe.’ Wouldn't you love to have stumbled across these?!

Though he spent the majority of his working life in Paris, the first show that really launched Brâncuși’s career was the Armory Show in New York in 1913. It was the first large exhibition of modern art in America and his work sat alongside prices by other contemporary artists like Van Gogh, Monet, Matisse, Picasso and Cézanne. One of the sculptures that he included in the show was Mademoiselle Pogany, a portrait of Brâncuși’s friend Margit Pogany, a young Hungarian artist. Though Mademoiselle Pogany is now one of Brâncuși’s most loved sculptures (and one of my favourites), at the show it was ridiculed by some of the press and exhibition visitors - they claimed her features were nonsensical (her nose was likened to a beak and her eyes were said to be bulbous). One journalist described the sculpture as ‘a hard-boiled egg balanced on a cube of sugar.’

New Discoveries for Sensitive Skin And Some Cosmetics Recommendation

I recently noticed that a lot of the new skincare I've been trialling is designed for sensitive and reactive skin. And while I wouldn’t class my skin as sensitive (although it is prone to breakouts, so you could call it sensitive by definition), I’ve really enjoyed trialling these products on shoots and on myself. Here's a quick round up - they're all great for keeping sensitive skin (or skin that's generally feeling tight, irritated, red or uncomfortable) soothed, calm, and gently hydrated...

The cleanser: La Roche-Posay Physiological Micellar Water Gel
I believe cleansers should be as simple and as gentle as possible, while removing makeup thoroughly. I like micellar waters as they cleanse quickly but feel soothing, and use La Roche-Posay’s Physiological Micellar Solution a lot. This new Micellar Water Gel works in the same way but is gel, rather than water, meaning you can massage it in to help dislodge dirt and makeup (of course, if your skin is very reactive then make sure you massage gently so you don't aggravate your skin).

Like the original Micellar Solution, you can use the gel without water and remove it with a tissue or cotton wool, but I prefer to rinse it off. It removes makeup well and leaves skin feeling really clean but not stripped. You can also use it on damp skin, so it's a good, gentle cleanser for the bath or shower.

The moisturiser: Bioderma Sensibio Tolerance+
I used this moisturiser one morning when my skin was a little red - it felt really soothing and reduced most of the redness quite quickly, so it’s perfect to keep in my kit for those shoots when I’m suddenly faced with a tired/stressed/red-faced model!

The lotion contains acetyl tetrapeptide-15, a peptide which helps to decrease redness and inflammation, strengthen the skin's barrier (to make it less reactive) and soothe tightness and discomfort. It also contains sodium PCA, a natural humectant which hydrates skin. I personally like lightweight moisturisers that don’t feel like they’re going to clog my pores, so this very light lotion is perfect for me. It absorbs quickly and dries to a matte, almost velvety finish that’s great under makeup.

The mask: Racinne Delicare Soothing Mask
I love face masks and use them regularly, adapting them to my skin’s current needs. I tried these masks from Korean brand Racinne when my skin was feeling dehydrated after a string of long-haul flights and late night shoots. Each mask comes in a single sachet (12 per box), good for my kit or if you travel a lot. They contain a hexapeptide called delisens which helps to calm sensitive skin by interrupting and breaking the chemical process that causes inflammation. There's also shea butter and almond oil to soothe and hydrate.

Some of my favorites

I know I say this every month, but there are some real solid favourites in this instalment. I feel like if you’re a regular round these parts then there won’t be any surprises here, but it’s interesting (I hope!) to see what makes the cream of the crop cut. There’s the makeup tool that it took me ages to purchase and now I won’t put down, the face mask that trumps all other clay-based formulas, the facial oil that everyone’s raving about – including me – and the recipe book that I used to inspire our mealtimes most days this month. Of course there’s more, but you’ll have to click on the video above for that. Oh what a tease…

Unisex face brushes: the next frontier in gender-neutral?

The Foreo is boxed like an iPhone, but when you take it out of the fancy packaging and official carry bag, it looks like a cross between a Glade plug-in and a vanilla sex toy. I switch it on and look at the instructions that basically show a woman ramming it at different parts of her face. That can’t be all there is to it, so I visit the Foreo website where there’s a video of the Foreo Luna FOR MEN (exactly the same as the unisex model but in jet black). In it, an American Psycho-style City boy undresses and gets into the shower – he washes his face and then, while he’s still all soapy, out comes the Foreo, gently pushing bubbles around his stubble. Apparently Foreo is selling itself to lads as “the ultimate pre-shaving device”. Our Patrick Bateman then removes his high-street stubble, gets resuited and is then ready for the big presentation (or to throw a prostitute in a ditch, whatever’s closer).

I follow his lead and soap up, and it feels quite pleasant, but not as pleasant as, say, a nice Aesop face wash with some gritty bits in. I shave, moisturise, then look in the mirror afterwards and I look – you know, as if I’d just washed my face and moisturised. I try it again a few times using only soap with much the same effect.
Herein lies the problem for the Foreo as a unisex device: men like beauty products that leave them with a distinct sense of “this made a difference” – aftershaves that stink, moisturisers that tingle, mouthwashes that leave bits in the sink. If the Foreo has any advantages, then they are long-term and invisible and I know no man who is willing to spend £149 on something they can’t immediately see the benefits of.
But back to the unusual design: since showing the Foreo off, my work colleagues and my female flatmate have all judged it to be little more than a repurposed vibrator. “I think it would do the job quite well,” says one, asking if she can have it when I’m done. So I think the question for Foreo, if it wants to make its products more multipurpose, is not: “Can we make a face brush be unisex?” but: “Is it dishwasher safe?”
Morwenna Ferrier

I have no idea if sonic power brushes work, but a successful spate of online canvassing by the mother of sonic – Clarisonic – sucked me in earlier this year, so here I am, institutionalised with a very clean face. Sonic brushes are designed for anal people like me who are scared of dirt. Since launching in 2004, a bunch of other companies have launched similar sonic products, including one by Clinique and this, by Swedish company Foreo, which claims to remove 99.5% of dirt and 98.5% of makeup residue from your skin. As Sam explains, it looks sort of freaky. While the Clarisonic is palpably a giant brush, this is iPhone size and covered with little bobbles not geared towards people with trypophobia. Made of silicone, it looks like a ped-egg or something I use to scrape lasagne out of my pan with, but that’s besides the point: its usp is that it’s unisex, something demarcated presumably by the colour, as there are “feminine” shades and masculine shades. Mine is slate, which presumably is for men inspired by axes and gravel and steel and stuff. But I’m relieved; I’m post-pinkification and frankly, the pink one was offensive.

The instructions are straightforward. Over the course of a minute I paste my skin in oil and move the brush up my cheeks, nose, forehead and under my eyes in circular and straight movements. The vibrations are very light, the Foreo coaxing dirt from my skin instead of choosing the Clarisionic method of removing it by force. That said, there’s a school of thought that says the latter is too powerful so maybe this is better for everyday use. Afterwards my skin feels clean enough. £149 clean? It’s too early to call. What’s extraordinary is that something like a sonic brush is being marketed to both sexes despite them requiring different routines (Sam, for one, has a beard; his is also, he says, a pre-shaving device), which suggests its piggybacking on the unisex movement, the trendiest of all trends. Still it has its pros: it’s tiny, light and plugs into your computer with a USB charger which is ideal. But, as my friend Priya asks, “what happens to all the little bits of skin?” I have no idea.

Feeling lippy over makeup fad

The latest fad in beauty treatments is the “5:2 Makeup Diet”. (That is assuming you’re reading this on Sunday. By Monday it’ll be something else; muesli facials, perhaps, or the hot new Japanese chip-pan massage. By mid-week, I hear, owl wee moisturiser is going to be huge.)
The 5:2 Makeup Diet is a cosmetic version of the weird food fad that had suggestible people fainting every Wednesday and Friday afternoon for most of 2013. The idea is to eschew makeup for two days a week and go about barefaced.
It follows a study that found two thirds of British women wear makeup seven days a week and 71% suffer skin problems as a result of excessive foundation.
Skincare guru Dr Tijion Esho, from Channel 4’s Bodyshockers, says: “Taking makeup breaks of one or two days a week will dramatically improve your skin health and appearance by allowing healthy skin cells to regenerate.”
I’d be interested to know more about Dr Esho’s medical qualifications. Is this definitely how skin cells work? I’m not saying he skipped any of the key phases of medical school, but I will say that if I were suffering chest pains or a sudden blinding headache, I wouldn’t necessarily be reassured by the advice of someone whose Twitter handle is @IAMDRBEAUTIFUL.
I admit I was shocked to hear that two thirds of women wear makeup seven days a week. Seven days a week? That is just because they can’t be bothered to wash it off between Saturdays, right?
If true, it sits amusingly with that other recent study which found that only a fifth of women have a shower or bath every day – which in itself is no big deal, but only 57% even “acknowledge the importance of hygiene”.
That means, if my maths are right, that even if there’s a full crossover between the non-hygiene-acknowledgers and the non-makeup-wearers, that still leaves 10% of women who are both crawling with filth and caked in makeup. How very Elizabethan.
But my problem with the 5:2 Makeup Diet is exactly the same as my problem with the idea of wearing makeup seven days a week: routine. Joyless, Sisyphean routine.

Virginia Nicholson’s new book, Perfect Wives In Ideal Homes, published last week, poignantly illustrates how the women of the 1950s yearned for the innovative technology of the era to liberate them from repetitive drudgery: wash day and mangle on Monday, jam-making on Tuesday, floors and doorsteps on Wednesday… They wandered, drooling, round the Ideal Home Exhibition, dreaming about owning fridges and washing machines – the new, magical robots of liberation.
Are our faces the new mangles? Our lips the new jam? Our eyebrows the new floors? This metaphor out of hand? It seems as though the moment a combination of white goods and feminism created a bit of freedom and flexibility in our schedules, a flood of cosmetic hogwash poured in to clog them up again.
Seven days a week, five days a week, why impose any kind of timetable on what should be, if anything, the expression of sporadic whim? I have nothing against the principle of makeup or physical self-embellishment; I’m grateful to live in a world where my presentability is not reliant on God’s mercy alone.
A few years ago, for various reasons, I suffered a depression – a proper, pill-popping, bed-ridden depression – and I associate bad skin, unwashed hair and awful diet with that phase where I didn’t much care if I lived or died, never mind what my face looked like.
Trying to look slightly cleaner and prettier than one would with no effort at all is connected, for me anyway, with self-esteem, and self-esteem is an aid to all kinds of professional, social and domestic well-being.
Besides, it can be fun. Our culture, keen as ever on binary divides, likes to categorise women either as grooming-obsessed birdbrains or intellectual frumps. Either there’s no room in your tiny head for anything but seaweed wraps and £500 handbags, or you can read and write but you’ve worn the same beige tights for a month.
This false division creates a clever situation where women cannot but feel guilty and embarrassed – either for caring too much or not caring enough – and thus we get our come-uppance for the invention of the washing machine.
But I’m a perfectly bright and hard-working person; I can speak French and do maths; I maintain a mild interest in current affairs and social justice; I also feel quite excited about a shiny new lipstick or a creamy pot of moisturiser, and screw you if you think that makes me an idiot.
Nevertheless, I have to work quite hard to keep remembering not to be frightened by a beauty industry which threatens the total disintegration of my face and body due to my shameful failure to adopt a proper “routine”: to shop for makeup weekly, to go to “spas”, to have pedicures and skin peels and vein zaps and bum pummels, all under the horrifically misleading title of “pampering”. As soon as it’s a routine, I think, it’s immediately awful. Makeup is only fun if it’s occasional and capricious – just like it’s a treat to have an empty day ahead, but it wouldn’t be if you were doing 20 years in Parkhurst. I like snow, but I don’t want to live in Siberia.
So: break free, my sisters who are wearing makeup seven days a week! You shouldn’t do anything seven days a week except eat, excrete and remember to be grateful when you haven’t got something in your eye.
But wearing makeup five days a week, then going without for two, is not breaking free. That’s just a different but equally monotonous routine. And you can definitely trust me, because I’m not a doctor.

Tips About Lips Make UP

Most cosmetic lines, along with their glosses and lip sticks, also offer a lip stain. A stain is a pigment contained in a gel or water base. This is a very important step that is necessary for your overall lip look, so don't skip it! If you don't want to use the method mentioned here, you will find products designed just for this purpose that you can apply to your lips.

You will want the look of your lips to compliment the rest of your look. So if you are trying to achieve a bare and natural look, then you will want your lip stain to be as close to your natural lip color as possible. Lips are prone to getting dry, chapped and flaky, which is not only unattractive to the extreme, but can also turn your lip makeup into a mess. If you want supple, smooth and full lips, an endless array of beauty products is not the way to go.

A formulation of sugar with olive oil also makes for an excellent exfoliator. Just like our skin, your lips too need protection against harmful UV rays. Before stepping out of your home, Mornings can be very hectic and no matter how hard you try, you can't seem to find the time you need to get ready for your day properly.

The reality is that no matter how pressed for time you are, you can still find some time to apply a little color. The secret is that you should develop an effective five minute routine designed to help you look your best in a limited amount of time. Even if you're the type to wear a full face every day, it is still worth your while to develop something you can do fast, just in case. Not only that, but a shorter routine is perfect for midday touchups or for those moments when you want to transition your makeup from your day look to your night look.