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.

Here Are Some Ways To Select The Best Eye Shadow Colors

A lot of women are unsure about what eye shadow colors fit their eyes. They do not how to choose the best eye shadow colors for them? Here are some ways to select the best eye shadow colors.

Method1.

Testing eye shadow is the best way to find out what colors are right for you. Most drugstores and large department stores have makeup and beauty departments where you can use testers to see which products suit you. Most makeup counters have sales employees that offer professional makeup advice as well. So, it is easy for you to testing them before you buy some.

Method2.

Another one of the best ways to choose an attractive eyeshadow color is by visiting a professional cosmetics consultant. These individuals are commonly employed in department stores that sell a wide range of brand name cosmetics. Generally, they are very helpful and skilled when it comes to selecting the right makeup for each consumer. There are at least two benefits of employing their assistance. First, you usually get to learn a lot for free, second, you usually get a professionally applied sample even if you do not make a purchase.

Method3.

Choose your shade according to your eye color. For example, if you have blue, green, or hazel eyes, choose an eye shadow color that complements the color of your iris to enliven your eyes and bring out the most striking effects. If you would like to use an eye shadow within the same color range as your eye, remember to select a shade lighter than your eyes and to use eyeliner and mascara to highlight the subtle difference between the color of your iris and the eye shadow color on your lid.

Method4.

Shop for shades that complement your skin and eye color. Look for colors that softly contrast with the shade of your eyes – not colors that match them exactly. When choosing the best eye shadow for you, you can follow these methods and find the best one for you finally.

Besides that, when applying for eye shadow makeup, you should also consider venue and activity, you should choose eye shadow that is best for the time of day, venue and activity is a valuable makeup tip. For example, bold, dramatic eye shadow is perfect for evening, while subtler shades will work best in many daytime situations.

Tips For Choosing The Right Lipstick Color

Choosing the right lipstick color seems to be one of the most confusing and often expensive parts of makeup shopping. Women have used lipstick, in various forms, for thousands of years to enhance their lip color. Lipstick was mainly some sort of red pigment applied as a stain to give the alluring appearance of more blood circulating in the lips.

These days, with technology and diverse fashion trends, there are hundreds of thousands of lipstick colors available. This makes it really quite hard to choose the perfect lipstick color. The best way to get the right color is to try and try again. Everyone is different and everyone has so many different variables to consider. There are so many factors to consider!

First, look at the texture- matte, sheer, cream, gloss, iridescent or a combination of any of these.

Matte - is longer lasting, is high in pigment but can be drying, so not ideal for dry or chapped lips.

Sheer - has less color pigment, is more moisturizing, good if you have dry lips and want a less intense look. Not so long lasting.

Cream - usually highly pigmented, creamy texture, has a slight sheen.

Gloss - High shine, can be clear or pigmented, can be worn on its own or over a lipstick color. Makes lips look bigger. Needs to be re-applied often.

Iridescent - has a shimmer, best used with a lip liner to avoid losing the lip shape.

Next, consider the shade – light, medium or dark. It is really up to you as to what you prefer, but think about these factors when deciding. Dark lipstick will make lips look thinner. Light lipstick will make lips look larger and gloss will add more dimension, making lips appear fuller. In saying that, if you have a darker complexion, stay away from light shades, it will just look out of place and unnatural.

To find a neutral color, one that will look totally natural and give you a "no makeup look", choose a lipstick color that is the same color as your lips but a shade or two darker. Notice what colors appear in your lips naturally and look for something to match.

Get used to examining color. Look closely at what colors your skin is made up of. It's actually lots of different layers of different colors. If your skin has a pink undertone, stick to lipstick colors that have a cool base i.e. blue based pinks, mauves and reds. If your skin has a yellow or olive undertone, go for lipstick colors with a warmer base, such as warm browns, orange-based reds, bronzes or warm pinks.

To confuse you even further, lots of lipstick colors on the market today aren't obviously cool or warm. That's because, they may be made up of both cool and warm pigments.

A good way to see how the color works with your skin tone is to apply it to the inside of your wrist. This area is usually a true indication of your skin tone because it hasn't been exposed to the sun.

And last but not least, consider your own personality; wear what makes you feel comfortable and confident. Don't forget that makeup is an art so it's ok to be creative, just be prepared to try on quite a few colors before you find "the one."

Types Of Fashion Makeup Of Fall-Winter 2012-2013

Make-ups fashion changes together with presentations of new collections of clothes when visages, thanks to their ability, create new female images of forthcoming season. Only you should decide how to reproduce fashionable make-up on your face, but nevertheless try to familiarize with basic concepts in a make-up of a coming season. So, let us go look at fashion parades and learn what visages recommend to do in upcoming season of fall-winter 2012-2013.

Types of fashion makeup of Fall-Winter 2012-2013

Nude make up – It's the natural beauty when the invisible make up is created, but at the same time it makes person look expressive. Essence of this reception is hidden in the accent on the most expressive part of person; these can be cheekbones, lips or eyebrows – one of these things should be emphasized by means of natural palettes of cosmetics.

Reserved make up – A few light shadows in the internal corner of eye, brown or bronze shadows, peach blush and minimum amount of mascara.

Make up and a Hat – By fashion rules the light headdress assumes bright and sated make-up; fashionable is also make-up in tone of cap. And for eccentric caps/hats unusual make-up will be appropriate.

Extensive Liner – wide arrow draw pop- and rock-stars, and teenagers who wish to draw attention to themselves as well as women who have got stuck in retro-style. But it's not all as easy as it sounds, this type of make-up undergoes variations – each season the form of an arrow changes a little, therefore it is necessary to look narrowly at the images created by fashion visagistes.

Thematic make up – thematic make-up can reproduce retro images, cinema images, Indian or even American Indian subjects, and the image of Japanese geisha – here are no strict fashionable recommendations. All depends on the place where you want to go and show off your make-up. These can be: thematic party, party in club, when you want to stand out from the crowd and declare your individuality.

Dark make up – In this case very dark lipstick or contrary color of shadows create courageous, unexpected and even provocative image. There are two directions: smoky make-up by means of black and gray shadows and brown make-up, and its intensity depends on if the image looks natural or bright. Dark make-up can be also thematic make-up when the accent is drawn on retro or rock style. Sometimes it's enough to use dark shadows only, but it becomes truly fashionable when is completely sustained in dark tones: dark shadows, lipstick, and blush.

Plum Lips – In the season of fall-winter 2012-2013 it is currently important to have plum lipstick in your toiletry bag. But don't get upset if this color doesn't look good on you, there is variety of dark colors of lipsticks, so it's easy to find the replacement. Plum lipstick in a fashionable image may be used to counterbalance the person in a dark frame of glasses. In this case the effect of light eyebrows is created, eyes are painted depending on purpose of lenses of glasses; and it is necessarily to use sated tone of lipstick.

Orange Make up – It is one more fashionable type of make-up which makes impression of pallor of the person that is not always beneficial. It is necessary to apply shadows both on eyelid and under-brow zone; only in this case fashionable effect will be reached. But blondes should not abuse orange shadows.