Christmas haul

Another Christmas has come and gone and Santa was very kind this year. I received the holy grail of all shower gel - Elemis Frangipani shower cream.

I've been eyeing this up for ages. I can report that it's lovely, smells like heaven and is very moisturising.

I also got a mini Diptyque Roses candle.

I adore this candle and it's such a treat to have it.

I got a lovely organiser for my make-up.

I am thrilled with this, it's the perfect size and my old Muji storage was all manky and disgusting. It was time to upgrade. I spent a very happy half hour rearranging my make-up and chucking out old stuff.

Thank you Santa!

In other news, the Essie disco nail varnish on top of Essie Midnight Cami is as delightful as I anticipated but not for all 10 fingers. It turns out even I can't go that blingy! I did it on one finger and it was just right. Plus I think it may start a trend, you read it here first.

James Brown Dry Shampoo

Dry shampoo is one of those things I feel I should adore but can never get on with. I've tried it so many times over the years but this whole 'soaks up the grease' thing doesn't work for me. It just makes my hair more greasy. Yet I see other women rocking it and looking fabulous when they've not washed their hair for days and have told me their secret is dry shampoo. At the moment, I really want to get on with it because if I wash my hair less, my Brazilian Blow Dry will last longer. Plus the BBD is making my hair much more manageable and therefore I should need to wash my hair less. Do you all follow?

I've tried Batiste and it doesn't work. Plus all of them smell disgusting, it's most off-putting. I tried the James Brown one in the white can and that didn't work but I got a can of this one and can say, tentatively, that it's working. You have to hand it to me, I don't give up. I've spent a fair bit on dry shampoos over the years. Why I thought this one would work when his other one didn't, who knows?

I've used this twice in the last week (and used it to get through the grim three days of the BBD) and it's good. My hair has more bounce to it and it spins out the time between washes. I shall use a few more times before giving a definitive verdict but so far, it's the best I've found.

I am sure you all have a vision of me with smelly greasy hair now. Nice.

Shower gel of the week

It's 1986 at Cover Girl HQ as I bought a bottle of this. I used to love this back in the day and at £4 decided it was worth a try. I'm happy to report it's still really nice. It smells exactly the same and is perfect for these deep, dark days to blow away the cobwebs. Am loving The Body Shop at the moment.

Essie LuxEffects

I'm not normally one for glitter in my nail varnish, it's a faff to remove and I find it a bit teenage and not in a good way. However, a girl has the right to change her mind and oh me, oh my, Essie has a new glitter range out and I am lusting after this one. It's called Set in Stones and described as "disco mirror ball chaos". If that isn't made for me, what is?

You can wear it alone or over another colour. I'm thinking over Midnight Cami would be the Ultimate Christmas Manicure.

Am I right or am I right? The other Lux colours look pretty good too but none tempt me as much as Set in Stones. It's love and it must be mine.

What to get a beauty addict for Christmas?

Everyone knows someone who lives for Harrods Beauty Hall and so I am here to make your Christmas shopping a little bit easier.

My love for Bliss knows no bounds and they do some really good value boxes for Christmas. I can't imagine anyone not being thrilled to get the Lemon & Sage shower gel and body butter. I can't not mention their Oxygen mask. It's life-changing.

Clarins Eau Dynamisante is still one of my favourite perfumes and it's a perfect Christmas gift as it's so refreshing. A great present for whoever is doing the main cooking for them to spray on after their much-needed shower or bath.

Urban Decay do the best eye make-up, I am convinced of this. They have some great palettes and I love this one particularly.

All beauty addicts know that Guerlain do the best perfume. Don't get a new one, go old school.  Apres L'Ondee is lovely and I've never met anyone who doesn't like it.

Dr Hauschka do divine bath oils. The Lavender one will have anyone sleeping like a baby. My tip is to mix it with some bubble bath so the bath doesn't get too oily and don't overload with the oil - one or two drops is fine.

If you know someone with thick hair, get them some Moroccan oil. They will love you forever.

The Muppets OPI collection is pure genius. My money is on Excuse Moi! It's a glittery pink.

Literally every woman I know would love to get a Chanel mirror.

We all need something to carry our makeup in and MAC do some very cool bags or Lulu Guinness if you want something more fun.

I really like the SpaceNK Life range. This gift set is just £15 and is so cute.

I could go on and on. Basically, when in doubt, go to SpaceNK or a Chanel counter and just do a supermarket sweep!

The Body Shop Hemp Hand Protector

I bought some of this the other day while I was picking up a present for CoverBoy. It was half price so £5 and not £10. And I have to say, I am loving it. I have very dry hands that border on eczema and they are always bad at this time of the year. I slapped a bit of this on and instantly soft (yet crucially, not greasy) hands were mine. 

It has a huge design flaw though, the screw on top is small and fiddly and it is in a weird metal container - this going to make it much harder to squeeze it all out.  You'd think they could design a hand cream container a little better, it's not exactly difficult. Flip-top lid please L'Oreal, come on, you are not new to this.

Despite this drawback, I am going to recommend it because it really does work. It's still £5 this week and that makes it a real bargain too but I'd buy it for a tenner too. A perfect stocking filler.

Brazilian Blow Dry, early report

I washed my hair today - oh such bliss and joy. I can't tell you how fantastic it is to wash your hair after keratin had been painted on every single strand, blow dried and then sealed in within an inch of its life with hot irons. Then 72 hours (72 hours I say) without tying it back, tucking it behind ears, getting it wet and a sweaty zumba class. It felt disgusting to say the least.

My early report is very positive. It's super duper shiny, it took much less effort to blow dry and it is looking good. However, I do think when you've not washed your hair for ages, it does look so much better when you finally do - it's like it does your hair good to not be washed so much. So my tentative report card is that it's an optimistic start.

I shall naturally keep you all posted. I know you are on the edge of your seats.

The return of the Brazilian Blow Dry

Thanks to the joys of Wahenda, I had another Brazilian Blow Dry yesterday and only had to pay 30%  full price. It was a different salon to last time and altogether very different. It was at Lisa Shepherd in London which is a new salon although I was told she is big in the Midlands. She also appears to be famous for the TV show 10 Years Younger judging by the marketing everywhere.

The salon was very swish and seriously impressive. You are led to an area to wait for your stylist with the fanciest water machine and coffee maker I've ever seen. And a yellow Smeg fridge! I now want a yellow Smeg fridge. Excellent magazines too.

My stylist was from Dagenham. Really, do I attract stylists from the less glitzy areas of the world?! He was very young, bless him but seemed competent enough. They washed my hair with a clarifying shampoo and left me for 10 minutes with it on my hair. Usually I hate being left with my head back over a sink but it was so comfortable and you even put your feet up. Then he painted on the keratin (no choice of flavours this time) and took me back to the waiting area for 30 mins while it did its thing. Here they have internet access on Apple laptops. Nice touch. So much more interesting than sitting in a chair.

Then he blow dried it roughly and straightened it to seal it all in. I am now in the 72 hour no wash/no tying back period. Fortunately I am not at work so nobody has to suffer me over the next few days. This is the worst bit.

My hair is longer than a year ago so I am hoping it will have the desired effect. I decided to try this again because my hair is getting long and hard to manage. This is its last chance saloon before being chopped into a bob. I'll report back of course. I must say that I would go back to Lisa Shepherd (and I promise you they didn't bribe me to say that!) They were all very polite and not snotty because I had a voucher (some places can be). The whole salon had a nice vibe.

Dior Addict lipstick

Back in June when I was buying the miracle product that is Diorskin Nude, I was given a very generous lipstick sample. It was a proper lipstick but teeny tiny. I really liked the colour, it suited me and it was great for the handbag. Being me, I lost the lid and therefore it was not great for the handbag. The lid had the shade of the colour on it so I was somewhat stuck.

However, today I decided to rectify this and take my lidless one in and ask for help. The lovely lady at Peter Jones identified it as Diorkiss aka 578. I was very impressed until she told me that was the only sample they did of the Dior Addict lipsticks as it was the one Kate Moss wore in the advert.

Obviously I look better in mine than Kate but she's had a hard life so it's not her fault. I believe this is one of those magic lipsticks that suit all - it's lovely and bright without being garish and it's great for day or night. It also doesn't appear to dry my lips out. It's expensive but at the moment Debenhams and John Lewis are doing 15% off all cosmetics so run, don't walk. With all this Christmas shopping, you need to treat yourself and up the glamour for the Christmas party season.

Edited to add - I now, of course, have found the lid to the sample lipstick. The law of sod.

Nail colour of the week

I love this colour - Angora Cardigan. I've had it for a while now and it's the perfect dusty rose that is very easy to wear. It also has the perfect name. A snuggly, perfect colour for early December. We'll be breaking into the sparkles for Christmas soon...