Head and Shoulders

I don't have dandruff. OK, now that's out of the way, let's proceed. Over the years I have noticed that when I say to people, ooh, I like your hair, they often reply that they use Head and Shoulders. I don't know why it took me so long to try it but I noticed that they do a formula for coloured hair and so I decided to try it.

That was about six weeks ago. I can report that since using it, several people have told me my hair looks nice. Is this a coincidence? It's also satisfyingly lathery without being stickily so, if you know what I mean. I am a convert. Best of all it's cheap. Really cheap. I saw it for 95p in Boots the other day.

So H&S gets an enthusiastic thumbs up from me.

Maybelline Dream Creamy foundation

I mentioned this last week. It was in the Sunday Times top 10 buys for 2010. At £5.99 in Boots (special offer, usually £7.99) I wasted no time in buying some. I normally am not a foundation girl. I am quite lucky in that my skin is fairly even and clear. However, foundation does make you look finished. And sometimes that can be nice.

So I gave this a whirl with little hope of really liking it. I can report that it's pretty damn good. It has a little sponge to apply it with and it's a very light cream but not a mousse. It has good staying power and very little flakage. Perhaps a tiny bit on the nose at the end of the day but at this price, I don't think one can complain.

It doesn't feel claggy or heavy. I rather like it and have used it everyday since buying it. A bit of a treasure really. Yay for Maybelline.

Coping with winter

It's been snowing in London. You may have heard about it. A flurry of snow and the world is coming to an end. Schools are closed and the trains have an excuse to be late. With snow comes very cold air. Central heating turned up indoors. It's a recipe for potential beauty disaster. Flaky skin, chapped lips and sad faces.

But don't despair, Cover Girl is here to see you through your winter woes. Here are my tips to keep you gorgeous all winter long.

Lip balm. Someone asked me today what the best lip balm was. Well, it's a subject I've paid close attention to because my lips are always dry. I have three contenders.

1) 8 Hour Cream - Elizabeth Arden. This stuff is great for heavy duty lip care. Not the lipstick version - that's rubbish. The stuff in a tube.

2) Kiehls lip balm. It feels like it's doing you good and it's nice and shiny too.

3) Blistex conditioning lip balm. The one in the pot. It really works and it's cheap too.

That's your lips sorted. What about your skin? Well, since buying the Guerlain cream, I am feeling the love. It's wonderful and moisturising but no greasiness. However, I realise £60 is a little extravagant and I will find it hard to justify replacing it at that price. So other heavy duty creams I love include: Dr Nick Lowe day cream and Kiehls Facial Moisturiser. If I had to pick one, I'd go with the Kiehls one as I think the consistency is just right. You can also get it with SPF15.

Your body? Kiehls again. No, they are not paying me. I got Creme de Corps for Christmas. This is a love/hate thing. Some people find it too greasy. I am not one of them. I love it. A little goes a long way so it's good value too. For those days when you feel like a dried prune, this is the job. I also really like the Jergens body lotions. The age defying one is particularly pleasing.

And to get you through winter I recommend lots of long bubble baths, some warm boots and booking a holiday to look forward to.

Another year, another perfume

My long-suffering man proved he listened by buying me a Guerlain perfume for Christmas. Not only that, he took photos of my current Guerlain perfumes (Mitsouko, L'Heure Bleue and Nahema for those of you not paying attention) and took it to the Guerlain counter.

That, my friends, is love. Anyway, he bought Idylle, the most recent scent. I was planning on taking this back as I already had some samples and wasn't sure I loved it. However after a run in with the woman in Selfridges (I am never shopping there again), I decided to give it another go. And it's rather nice. I think I like it as it doesn't smell like any of my other perfumes. If I could describe it, I would. I checked the Guerlain site and they actually have a typo in the description. Maybe I should apply for a job there to sort them out. Imagine how good I'd smell...

Also, he got me a parfum, not an EDT so it actually lasts. If all the perfume suddenly stopped being available, I think I'd now last until I was 100 with my current stash.

2010 - what do we need?

I just read the top 10 list in the Sunday Time Style magazine of what we all need in 2010 beauty-wise. I am excited by a few on their list:

The eye colour - Lancome Le Khol Gloss in Pop Petrol. It's out on Thursday. I've been reading great things about the revamped Lancome make-up and am definitely going to check it out. This sounds lovely, it says it has a texture like oil. Oooohhhh. And blue - my fave colour. It's £18.

The foundation - Maybelline Dream Creamy foundation. What a shocker! A cheap foundation being recommended. I don't wear foundation but maybe I should check this out at £7.99. How can I go wrong just looking? It is described as 'foundation perfection'.

The multi-purpose product - Nars Orgasm Illuminator. Nars. Orgasm. Say no more. £21.

The lipstick - Ellis Faas, Ellis Red. It's the colour of blood apparently. Comes in three finishes - creamy, milky and glazed. And it's on sale at Liberty and I love Liberty. £21.

They talk about the latest Chanel nail varnish but Chanel does not make good quality nail varnish. I know it gets all the fuss but it chips. It does look like a gorgeous colour - minky brown. Mmmmmm. And they talk about a Revlon mascara but I am now such a cynic about mascara.

Christmas haul

Is there anything nicer than a Christmas full of cosmetic, bathroom wonder? Obviously my answer would be no.

So seeing as my friends and family know me very well, I had an excellent result in the pampering department this Christmas.

Firstly Retro Lush. If, like me, you miss all the stuff Lush used to do so well before it descended into pink fluffiness, then Retro Lush is for you. I made a list because Lush you don't like is worse than any other brand you don't like.

And I got a massive bottle of Flying Saucers - the best bubble bath ever. And one called Smaragadine which smells very green and fresh. I used some last night. I also got some Absolute Delights - the best ballistic Lush ever made - pure rose gorgeousness. Some Silent Whites, the second best ballistic they ever made which covers the water in fluffy white snowfall. And some Hollywood bubble bath slices which are also divine. All these things have in common is no bits of leaf and flower petals and no glitter. Just beautifully scented bathing magic.

In other news, I got some Guerlain perfume from the mister. He was directed to Guerlain and did very well considering I gave him no further instructions. He even took a photo of the perfume I currently have from Guerlain. However, he was palmed off with their newest scent - Idyll. It's nice but I do believe Guerlain's older scents are far superior to anything new they can do so I shall be swapping it. Not sure what for yet.

My friend got me a very nice bath oil. I've not had time to try it yet but it smells lovely and subtle and I can tell I am going to like it.

And I got a Kiehls pack from my sister which had their lipbalm - one of the best in the business, some of their body cream (ditto), a moisturiser which is fab as I use it and this is travel sized and some life-changing handcream which has managed to transform my hands from shrivelled dry sad things to soft and pretty!

A love affair with Guerlain

I thought it would just stop at the perfume. But no. No, they had to give me a sample of one of their moisturisers when I bought Nahema. And of course, it's fantastic. It smells of roses.

Super Aqua day cream. It sinks in and is so perfect for this time of year. My skin has not been looking great as the central heating just sucks all moisture out of it. I went Christmas shopping yesterday. First rule of Christmas shopping - buy something for yourself. So I did. I am not going to tell you how much it was.

It's divine. I don't care. I'm worth it, right?

Nahema perfume

A similarly perfume obsessed friend told me she wanted to try this. It's described as the perfect rose scent and so when I read about it, I also had to try it. And my word, it is rose in a bottle but so much more complex than that. It's just heavenly divine. Perfumes - The Guide, describes it thus:
Nahema is without equal among perfumery roses, and so awe inspiring that nobody even tries.

It's my new favourite and check out the bottle! Bling-tastic!

Follow-up

The nail polish arrived. I did my nails in Midnight Cami today and it's perfect. Shimmery dark blue. I love it. Quite tricky to apply because it's so dark and mistakes stand out but I won through.

And the Kiehls peely thing? Am LOVING it. 10 years younger? No. But glowing? Yes, I'd say so. It's a keeper. And it's so low maintenance. No scrubbing and effort required. Put it on, go to sleep, wake up looking better. Marvellous.

Winter nail polish

I know I'm obsessed with nail polish. I make no excuses for it. I think painted nails look better than non-painted nails. I try not to buy nail polish as I get my nails done weekly at work by a lovely person who comes in - link on the right of my blog.

But this week, I decided I needed some. I bought two bottles online. Both Essie. The best nail polish in my - much researched - opinion. I got Damsel in a Dress which I know I love as I have had my nails done in it a few times. It's a beautiful purple without being obviously purple rain. It's quite deep and looks delicious in the winter.

The other one is called Midnight Cami. Described as a twilight blue on the site. It's not though because twilight blue is surely quite pale? Being as it's not dark yet. And this is very dark. So that's stupid isn't it? Or am I reading too much into it?

Follow-up post about the Dermalogica sun cream

Before I went to France, I blogged about the Dermalogica sun cream. I've just realised I never reported back and I promised Foreigner I would. Foreigner lives in a hot climate all year round. Yeah, I'm jealous too.

Anyway, I loved it. It's not greasy at all and it worked a treat. The first week was really hot and not so much as a red nose for me. I highly recommend it.