A Saturday shop

I met an old friend for a spot of lunch and shopping yesterday. She loves make-up counters almost as much as I do. We had a very pleasant time in Richmond House of Fraser and I treated myself to two new pretties.

There is always the perfect eyeliner out there and I may have found it. Dior Pro Liner. Look at the shape of it. It glides on like a dream (on the back of my hand) and it's the perfect green. I tried to resist, I really did but I wanted it.

I did my nails on Friday with one of my YSL colours and remembered why I like it so much. It's such a doddle to apply. Summer is here and a new bright colour is important to survival, I am sure you'll all agree, so I splashed out on this lovely coral.

I managed to resist a new Diptyque candle in SpaceNK so actually I saved money.

A walk through my perfume hall of fame

Regular readers will know that I am partial to perfume. I'd give up many beauty products before perfume. It defines you, it cheers you up, it makes a grey day a great day and it's just so much fun. Why have one bottle when you can have 10? That's my motto. It got me to thinking of my journey through perfume. I've always loved it right from wafts of it coming from my mother as she kissed me goodnight.

My first perfume was everyone's first perfume. Anais Anais.

I've not smelt it for years but it's not offensive at all. A rather pretty scent and perfect for teenage girls.

Of course I also had The Body Shop's White Musk. Again, a rite of passage. Smelling this now always transports me back to secondary school.

My first grown up perfume was YSL's Rive Gauche. My mum must have bought me this. 

The packaging is marvellous. I thought I was the height of sophistication wearing this and let's face it, I was! It's still a lovely scent although I can never go back to perfumes, too many memories and makes me feel like I've regressed.

Being an 80s kid, obviously I had some Poison. This is much maligned, it's a lovely perfume as long as you don't drown yourself in it and wear it at night.

Then I discovered Calvin Klein. I was obsessed with Eternity.

I don't know why I loved this so much since I think it's pretty vile now. This reminds me of first and second year at uni. Along with this horror.

Escape, a truly awful perfume. My mother refused to let me in the car if I was wearing it! Then I found my first true love of a scent, the one that felt like me.

Dune is heavenly. I think this is when I really felt the power of a great perfume. People would tell me how wonderful I smelt when I wore this. Random men would stop me in bars and compliment me on my perfume. I can honestly say it was like an Impulse advert without the flowers. I wish I had never stopped wearing it because I can't go back. I feel all wrong wearing it now. But this defined my early 20s and I adored it.

The 90s were very much the Dolce and Gabbana decade and for my first proper job (in advertising), I wore this.

Nobody said to me, "honey, a little much for the office, no?" I must have asphyxiated everyone around me. I loved it though and the my colleagues were largely horrible so who cares? My mother must have hated this on me because I remember her buying me this.

Which is a nice perfume but a little dull for Chanel. I wore it but it never felt like me.

My husband (except he wasn't at the time) got me this and I knew he was a keeper.

It's simply lovely.

I think it was around this time I bought the perfume book that changed my perfume life. And I discovered Guerlain. Mitsouko is my go to perfume for when I mean business.

Mitsouko is suitable for any mood, any day, any season. It's perfection.

The day I realised Chanel's Les Exclusif range was a special one. So many to choose from, all so wonderful. Bois Des Iles was my wedding day perfume and I probably would pick it as my desert island scent.

So chic.

Sometimes you need a nice fresh scent and my go to for this is Jo Malone's Grapefruit. It doesn't last but it's oh so refreshing and zesty.

Dries Van Noten is a real grown up perfume. It's not for every day but it is totally divine and perfect for striding around in heels, owning the world.

Tom Ford perfumes are such a luxury. I find most of them a bit much, too cloying. But this little baby is heavenly. Wear it and feel like you are on the Amalfi coast even if you're commuting on the 7.02 from Hemel Hempstead.

And finally (because I could do this all day and I have to get on with my Sunday), I leave you with the most famous of them all. I think you have to feel like you've really grown up to wear this. I only came to it last year but it's beautiful. Coco, I salute you.

Dior Glow Maximiser

I have an update, I did indeed purchase the Dior Glow Maximiser last week at the airport. Given that I am prone to being a bit dozy, I thought I was on a later flight so I only had about five minutes to shop. I was very efficient speeding around picking up what I had identified as must-haves.

The Lancome mascara is fine but not life-changing. The Dior primer is brilliant, I love it. It just lights you up from within. It's a bit scary looking and I worried I'd look too sparkly but instead it just glows. I had a very busy week in New York and was jet lagged and waking up every day at 4am. Despite this, I managed to look more than presentable thanks to Dior.

I am sorry to tell you that you need this. Now.

Hitting duty-free

I found out last week that I need to fly to New York tonight. Which is fine because I am always happy to go to New York especially when I don't have to pay for the flight. I am planning my duty-free shopping because there are some items I really want to try thanks to Sali Hughes. Gee, thanks Sali.

First up and urgently, this.

Dior Glow Maximiser Primer. Read Sali's review here and tell me you don't want it immediately. I must have it.

I have also been reading good things about this.

Lancome Grandoise mascara. I read about it here. I think I need to stop following so much temptation on Twitter.

Then I must pick up my beloved Kiehls 24/7 moisturiser that you can only buy at duty-free. The shops don't stock it. I am nearly at the end of my supplies. Nothing is better for tired skin.

I shall then skip onto the plane to settle down to seven hours of movie heaven. I'll report back on the primer and mascara.

Another day, another mascara

Another flight and more mascara. This time from Dior with Diorshow. It has an exclusive nano brush dontcha know?

Anyway, it's very good. It applies very easily with no smudging, I do prefer a smaller brush. It's quite hard work to get off though! However that means it lasts all day and there is very little in the way of panda eyes. I'd recommend this if you are in the market for a high end mascara.

Navy blue eyeliner

I love the internet. One of my current obsessions is Pinterest. It's a virtual way to create moodboards and bookmark your favourite posts from websites by theme but it's so pretty as it creates a picture for your bookmark. Check it out at www.pinterest.com.

There is no better way to waste half an hour of your time than browsing other people's posts and what I enjoy is that you find things you didn't even know you were looking for. Which is a long-winded way to introduce the fact that I now need navy blue eyeshadow. I saw this pin above and thought oooooh, nice!

I've long loved navy and do have some gorgeous blue eyeliners but they are not quite the right hue. So I followed this pin to this page. What an informative post. Not only does the blogger recreate the look and tell us every item she uses, it also lists what Mila wore and it turns out it's all Dior. Specifically this:

I was adoring Dior eye palettes in Dec 2010. If I hadn't just got the Urban Decay set, I'd be hot footing it to get this but no, I mustn't. I shall find a cheaper alternative, I only need the navy hue anyway.

Isn't it such a divine look?

Not sure about the lashes but I am just loving that blue. And she has similar coloured eyes to me so obviously I would look just like her!

What do we need in 2012?

The year that it all ends according to the Mayans. I think we can all agree that we must make sure our hair and make-up is on trend just in case.

The Stylist is a great freebie magazine that comes out once a week. A very nice chap at work picks up a copy for us ladies each week and leaves them on our desks. I was perusing my copy in the bath earlier (with a fabulous new SpaceNK bubble bath) and they had Top 10 products for 2012. All are coming out this year.

Some caught my eye. Let's get to it.

MAC Mineralize Charged Water Moisture Gel (£26) - released 2 Feb.

Water moisture gel. I am already drawn in. It sounds dewy and you know, I love the promise of dewiness.  "An ultra-light gel like cream" says the website. Not too eye-wateringly expensive. It's got to be worth a go.

Dior New Look Mascara (£23) - released 30 January

Royal Jelly. Black Glass Pigment.  Yadder, yadder. It's a new mascara and therefore, I am trying it.


London Addixtion Sprax Delight Texturising  Spray-Wax (£12.60) - released late April 2012

I cannot find anything online about this. It sounds great. Easy to apply, doesn't weight hair down, gives texture. If I can find it, I shall be investigating.


YSL Forever Youth Liberator Serum (£60) - released 16 January

Firstly, you can already get this at John Lewis so the 16 Jan release date is wrong. I've been reading quite a bit about this. I can't be arsed to repeat all the science guff, Nobel prizes and so on. It just sounds awesome and I want to try it.

January is all a bit blah isn't it? My advice is to have lots of indulgent bubble baths, drink wine (January detox has been scientifically proven to be a waste of time - yay!) and dream of holidays, I've already started planning mine...

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.

Diorskin Nude

I've been dying to blog about this; Diorskin Nude Healthy Glow Complexion Enhancer.  My friend suggested we buy it for a mutual friend's birthday. Shockingly I hadn't got it on my radar. We all have blind spots. I was intrigued and hot-footed it to Selfridges to purchase and was told they'd sold out. I worked my way down Oxford St department stores to be told at each one they'd sold out. One lady said 'oh we sold the last one an hour ago'. Like that makes one feel better.

By this time, not only was I late back to work but I really wanted it. Thank you John Lewis, we can always rely on you. Paolo told me he had just one left. Being the kind person I am, I bought it for my friend (Paolo gave me a generous sample - we're firm friends now).

I tried the sample and was more obsessed. But oh my word, this stuff is divine. It's the elixir of youth. No wonder it's sold out. If you see someone glowing, they are using this. And not telling you.

I trekked to Kings Rd, Peter Jones. They were bloody well sold out. I stomped. The woman gave me three samples. I'm good at getting samples.

But I had to have my own bottle. Yes, I was still determined my friend would get the one I have. I can report that House of Fraser at Westfield has it in. Run don't walk people. I have a bottle now and four samples to take travelling.

About the product. You can either wear it alone (after moisturising) or under foundation. I have taken to the following application in order: serum, Diorskin, VitaZing. People have to put their sunglasses on as I approach as I am blinding them with my dewy, translucent skin. Well, maybe not, but it is well worth getting some of this. If you can...

Happy Birthday Linz!

Christian Dior me, from my head to my toes

Today I had the opportunity to go to the Dior shop on Bond St to look for their limited edition nail varnish. I was convinced this would be sold out but no, all three were available. Picking one to buy wasn't difficult. Far and away the most interesting colour was Bond St. A lovely bluey/grey. I can't wait to paint my nails in it.

It's the most beautiful shop. These top-end shops really are wonderful experiences and I urge you all to go into them. I know they look intimidating but they are really not and the staff could not have been nicer. One assistant let us paint her nails to try the colours (we didn't want to ruin our manis after all!) The nail varnish costs £17 which is expensive, no doubt about it but look how they present it to you:

So irresistible. The brush looks a little thick and I am not sure how it will be to apply but hey, who cares? It's a beautiful product. Their sunglasses are also awesome, I don't know how I resisted buying a pair but I did. 

I also found time to nip to the Lancome counter in Selfridges and look for the Dewy Glow Base. They had it and I had a little play. It's a spray. I wasn't expecting that at all. It's nice but not a must-have. Which is good as I spent quite a lot of money today...