Charlotte Tilbury Goddess Skin Clay Mask

How many masks does a person need? What a ridiculous question and thankfully one I would never ask. I have a new mask love. And it's from a woman who I frankly have very little time for, Charlotte Tilbury*. When CT launched her make-up range the beauty internet world went crazy. Credit to her, she has great PR because she was everywhere, in every magazine. I dropped by the Selfridges counter at the time and came away distinctly underwhelmed. It was a zoo, the staff were doing their best but they were unable to cope with the demand and the packaging was so Avon calling.

Anyway, time moves on. Minds can be changed. I read an article about this mask on the pool which is becoming one of my favourite sites. A mask to tackle hangover face is the name of the article. I think you'll agree that I had to check it out. Yesterday, I was in London town having a delightful shop and went to Fenwicks where they have basically handed the entire front of shop over to CT. I was astounded. I've never seen such a huge real estate for beauty other than a standalone shop. It's full of art deco mirrors, studded lights and is completely over the top. It was not busy, the staff were very helpful (although yakked on to much and had SO much eye make-up on) and I bought myself a tube of this. £45. Not cheap.

I applied it last night and it is annoyingly, rather wonderful. Thin layer on cleansed skin, I relaxed in my bath, 10 minutes later, I massaged it in (which is what they tell you to do) and then rinsed it off. Poof! Younger, brighter, insanely soft skin was revealed. Plump! Fresh! Bright! Yep, I'm sold. It also smells lovely and does not require chiselling off your face.

I applied Kiehls Midnight Oil and woke up this morning expecting to look like my 12 year old niece. That didn't happen. Oh well.

*the hair, I can't get over her mane of hair. I don't know why it annoys me so much but it does.

Kiehls Line Reducing Concentrate

I was sent this from Kiehls. No, I have not reached the heights of being picked up by brands to review their products despite seven years of blogging. My dear friend and personal stylist Hayley was sent two sets of this along with the Midnight Recovery Concentrate. She sent one to me, bless her. Full size too. Oh yes.

This is basically polyfilla for your face, it's amazing stuff and feels like velvet. I am already addicted to it. You use it before your moisturiser. Is it a serum though? One is rather confused. How many layers of products can I pile on my face and who has the time? All questions that wiser people than me can answer. Nonetheless, I am loving this. I can only describe it as liquid velvet, soothing your skin and filling in lines. It's sadly only a temporary fix but it very much feels like it's doing good work.

A review of the Midnight Recovery Concentrate will be forthcoming.

Get your nails ready for Summer

I am so excited about this warmer weather we've had. Ok, it's colder today but last week I had sunglasses on and toes out! It was beyond thrilling.

Being a child of the 80s, I can't let go of my neon love and I treated myself to two Essie nail varnishes in bright (and I mean bright) neon colours.

The pink one is called Bottle Service and I am sporting it on my toes and fingers. It's so fresh and lovely and, yes, bright. And the orange is called Saturday Disco Fever so I don't think an explanation is required. Dark reds be gone until September. Wooooo!

Eucerin Hyaluron-Filler Concentrate

In January I talked about serums. Since then, I've become somewhat obsessed which is not unusual. I bought a Sephora own brand serum in New York which was ok but nothing special. Then I read an online review of this and decided to buy it last week.

Eucerin is not a sexy fun brand. It's a 'get the job done' brand. What I have discovered is I like serums that feel like they are hydrating the desert, not ones that sit like a plastic film on your skin. Separating these is not an easy task and required some dedicated research. Fortunately Sali Hughes beauty forum is full of women with opinions and they're not afraid to speak up, they've tried everything. This gets a lot of love and I can see why. It's excellent, it soothes as you apply it like it's actually filling up your skin's fine lines. I don't know why it comes in six dispensers instead of one big bottle but it makes me feel like I am in a laboratory. Read more about it here.

Clinique Even Better Foundation

I said I'd report back on this so here I am. For years I've avoided foundation, finding them too cakey, too heavy, too much like hard work, too try hard if you will. No more! I am loving this so much. I feel all Mad Men Joan, elegant, sophisticated, a proper lady. I'm not saying I am abandoning my beloved tinted moisturisers but this is a serious contender.

First of all, there is no getting away from the fact that this requires more effort to get right. You can't just slap it on in a half-sleepy zombie fashion and hope it will look ok. You have to use a primer (I am still adoring Dior Maximiser) and you have to delicately dab dots of it round your face and blend properly. It probably takes twice as long as a tinted moisturiser to apply but even then, we're still only talking about a minute or so of your time. I then use a foundation brush to give it a more flawless finish which is an extra 10 seconds work.

As someone who has also avoided powders for years, a foundation does require some powder around the nose area. The lightest of dustings does the job. Basically, years of habit are being thrown out of the window as a new routine comes home to roost.

It's worth it though because the result is glowy, even skin. A divine base for blusher and again, a change for me. I've always preferred cream blushers but somehow this look requires powder blusher so I am rediscovering long-lost loves. I am currently enjoying a Bobbi Brown favourite I bought a few years ago. It all looks far more polished. Better still, after 10 hours in the office, it's all still on my face. This is a revelation and worth the extra effort in the morning.

If you've not tried foundation for a while, I urge you to revisit. I think the formulas have improved no end and I am very much loving the result. This Clinique one is £26 which although isn't cheap, it's by no means expensive and it's very impressive.

Face masks

It's nearly April and tonight the clocks spring forward. I adore Spring. The flowers, the longer evenings and light mornings, throwing off the heavy duvet, drinking coffee in the garden. It's all joyous. It's also a time to take a close look at your skin. After months of winter, dare I suggest it might look a little tired and grey? I am not being rude, I am looking in the mirror. Face masks are the way forward.

I've just come back from New York where I went into Sephora four times. Three of those times I took in colleagues who looked wide-eyed as they filled their basket with goodies. One of them recommended this face mask to me.

One minute facial. You can see how I couldn't resist despite having many face masks at my disposal. It's truly fabulous. It's slightly gritty and a strange green colour. You smooth it on, wait 60 seconds, splash on water and rinse it off. The whole thing is effortless and it makes a huge difference. Skin is all fresh and bright. It's my new favourite face mask.

I discovered the Sephora face masks in France last year. $6 each.

They have a whole range. Perfect for travelling and treating jet-lagged skin. Also perfect for amusing your partner as you wear it. Mine laughed for about 10 minutes as I lay on the bed with mine on.

I also still love the Bliss eye masks.

These pep up tired eyes a treat.

I highly recommend all of these. The Sephora masks are a steal.

Armani Eye Tint

Did I need this? No. Did I want it badly? Yes. Especially after testing all of them on my hand at Terminal 5 and deciding I needed a treat.

You can use these as a wash or you can build up to dense colour. The colours are gorgeous. It's like eye make-up nirvana. They are not the easiest to put on but I am not exactly dextrous when it comes to anything other than a pencil when it comes to eyes. I need to experiment more with it but I honestly wanted all the colours. Check them out.

Spring, Spring, Spring!

Welcome to March. We made it! I am so excited that January and February are over. They are tough months and I am bored of being cold and wrapping up warm. I know March can be the cruellest month but psychologically I feel better.

Thoughts turn to new beauty treats to play with. We all deserve a treat for surviving the winter. Here are some delights that have caught my eye.

If I needed another perfume (which I resolutely don't, nope, no way), then these are To Die For.

Oh so pretty. I saw these in Peter Jones last week and had a good sniff of them all and they are divine. Look at those bottles. Tell me you don't want one on your dressing table. They are part of Estee Lauder and they are gorgeous. I am lusting hard. Read more here.

Hello Lancome.

I think I've learned my lesson with make up palettes and then one comes along that throws all logic out of the window. I don't use all the colours, therefore they are not good value but look. Look at it. It's just so pretty, frivolous and girlie. It's made for Spring. It's made for bouncing through Paris in a tutu. And at £42, is it really that expensive?

Another obsession that is growing by the minute is candles. Making my home smell like a spa is important because I live near a sewage works. That's my excuse for buying Diptique candles like there is about to be a worldwide ban. I admit I did pick up a couple in the post Christmas sales which required ninja-like skills. They are £40 each and yes, that is expensive but there is just nothing as good as Diptique. And believe me in candle world, £40 is often the entry price point. I think I've fully explained myself. Let's look at the joy

Do I need to explain Eucalyptus? It's one of my favourite smells and perfect for Spring.

I love Rose and I love Geranium. So this is a no brainer.

Moss. Named after me! "all the fresh scents of the forest floor after rain" they say. Also, pretty colour.

This is one I picked up in the sale (half price!) and it's minty. It's lovely and fresh.

And I got this one in the Selfridges sale (half price!). It isn't on the Diptique site. The description of it is ridiculous but it does smell heavenly.

And finally my friend bought me this for Christmas. There is a reason she is my friend.

Jo Malone has new perfume out. My Jo Malone obsession isn't as strong as it once was but Sali Hughes reviewed this yesterday in The Guardian and now I want to investigate more. Birch and Black Pepper sounds intriguing.

I just happen to be going to Terminal 5 next week so I shall do us all a favour and check them out. Happy March!

Clinique Bonus Time

I used to get so excited to see those words in my 20s. I've not partaken of a bonus for some time but yesterday I met my sister for an afternoon of light shopping and gossip on Kings Road. Is there a more delightful way to spend an afternoon? I don't think so. We shopped, we lunched, we shopped some more, we went to Peter Jones for a coffee and talk turned to make-up. I was explaining that I felt I needed a foundation in my life. I've always been a tinted moisturised kind of girl, very natural, nothing too heavy. But over the last year or so, despite loving my Origins CC cream, I've felt something was missing. My sister being the wise one that she is said, well, why don't we go and look at foundations in here? So we did.

We fell upon a Clinique bonus so we stayed and looked. Clinique has so many foundations. It's overwhelming. They have a new one they are busy promoting which appears to be a foundation and concealer in one. Which confuses me. I asked for some advice and the woman was helpful. She tried a few shades on me and I ended up buying this.

In my experience, every Clinique sales assistant wants you to go darker than you are. I reined that in and ended up with Ivory. I'll report back.

I had to buy something else to receive the bonus so it just so happens I've just finished my Dramatically Different Moisturiser this week.

I am so happy that they reformulated this. It is now a complete bargain and a perfect base for make up.

And then I got to choose some gifts. I went for a bright pink nail varnish, a chubby stick in Woopin' Watermelon (which happens to be my favourite and mine is running out), Repair Wear Sculping Night Cream which costs £58 and I got a massive pot of it and a tube of face cleansing something or other. Plus  I got two extras that you don't get to choose: the Custom Smart Serum and some perfume. All in a cosmetics bag.

It's a generous deal. I had forgotten the delights of freebies. All in all, tremendously satisfying.

Kiehls Creme de Corps

This product gets a lot of love on beauty forums. I've always thought it looked like it would be greasy, I can't bear a body lotion that takes forever to sink in, who has the time? Anyway, last week I found myself in Terminal 5 Heathrow on a Saturday for a work trip. Clearly that meant I had to buy something to cheer myself up. I bought a small bottle of this because my skin was feeling particularly dry.

Why have I not bought this sooner? It's miraculous! It sinks in effortlessly yet skin feels properly hydrated in a way that no other body lotion has ever achieved. I now plan to buy a massive bottle of it ready to prep my scaly body for the summer. It really is wonderful and it smells nice, not over powering but pleasant. I thoroughly recommend it.

Serums

I have rarely seen the point of serums but times change, one gets older, fine lines appear and the inevitable happens. Serums have happened to me and I'm wondering why I waited so long. Whereas I'll spend a small fortune on Karl Lagerfeld branded cleansers, somehow I become a little more cautious about serums. They are just not that exciting and I have splashed out on the Clinique one and not seen any visible difference. So I decided to spend less.

I recently finished an Olay serum. This one:

I liked it very much. I mean, I finished it. It takes me forever to finish anything but I religiously used it every morning and it lasted a good three months or so. Seeing as how I liked it, I of course then replaced it with something else. This one:

As recommended by Sali Hughes in her Guardian column. It's ok, it's a bit runny which I find annoying. I prefer the Olay one and it was cheaper so lesson learned there.

Serums provide a great base and help moisturiser sink in better. I think of them like polyfilla.

Both are available at Boots.