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.

Kiehl's Overnight Biological Peel

Last week I was reading the beauty pages of something. I couldn't tell you what as I read dozens of magazines, newspapers and supplements. Anyway, they were talking about salon treatments you could buy and do yourself at home. One that caught my eye was this little baby - Kiehl's Overnight Biological Peel. It gave it a rave review and said it was totally safe.

Is it just me that is a little freaked out by the word 'peel' in beauty? It makes it sound like your skin will literally peel off and you'll be left with sore, red patches. Like when Bill is in full sun trying to rescue Sookie in True Blood. Only maybe not that bad.

But I've always had time for Kiehl's and I figured it's been ages since I bought anything new to try. So I hot-footed it to the Kiehl's counter in House of Fraser, Westfield, where a very nice man demoed it. I was impressed as I couldn't remember anything about the product when I asked about it. I said, "I read about it last week, it makes you look 10 years younger overnight, do you have it?" And he knew immediately what I meant.

You put it on in place of your moisturiser before you go to bed. And you wake up 10 years younger. To be fair, he did say that was unlikely.

I put it on last night. You don't need much which is good news as it's expensive - £38.17 to be exact. Although of course much cheaper in the US. I woke up this morning, rushed to the mirror and...

Ummmmmm. Not 10 years younger but definitely smoother of skin and brighter of complexion. Which has nothing to do with my 9 hours sleep I had. Oh no. It's all down to this!

You mustn't use it more than three times a week. I'll report back in a few weeks an let you know if I think it's worth the expenditure.

The nights are drawing in...

I quite like this time of year. I know the getting dark at 4pm is fairly grim but let's look on the bright side, you can get away with shaving your legs once a week or less. You don't have to have pedicured toes all the time (although I do because it makes me feel less depressed about winter).

And you can have more baths. At this time of year I crave comforting scents and I am currently loving good old Dove bubble bath. It smells like Granny should smell and I like it. And it's cheap too which is a bonus.

Lush has also come up with some lovely A/W ballistics. They call it the Christmas range but I prefer my title. I've had a So White and it was gorgeous. It creates a snowy froth on the top of your bath. And I have a Cinders ready to use but am put off by reports that it stains the bath. Cleaning the bath after you've got out of it is no fun.

And I am loving Moringa bubble bath by The Body Shop. It's a pretty floral and nice for when you've had a tough day at work and just want to feel girlie.

Talking of The Body Shop, they've totally copied Lush and have a Retro thing going on. They've brought back some old favourites! I bought some of the Passionfruit Cleanser because I used to love it. I can report it still smells exactly the same and is a very good cleanser. Only £3.99. Bargain. They also have the banana shampoo which I also used to love. Find out more here.

The last day of summer

Back from France and been a bit busy and had no time to update the blog.

Terminal 5, Heathrow. Mecca. I bought some holiday perfume. Always nice to have a perfume new for holidays so that when you wear it you are reminded of happy days. As you know, I didn't really need a perfume but that's never stopped me. But guilt crept in as I really do have LOTS of perfume. I compromised and bought a perfume that only cost £17. A Guerlain one at that. Who'd have thunk?

I got one from the Aqua Allegoria range - very light and summery and in the most beautiful bottles. It's all sparkly and orange and it was perfect for the south of France. However now I am back in Autumnal London, I think it's going to have to have a rest as I want spicy warmth now.