a note on individuality…

Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about the concept of uniqueness and how this really is something to be celebrated. If my recent ominous silence from blogging isn’t enough of a clue, I’ve been off frying other fish, in particular a big-fat-yoga-teacher-training-course shaped fish and it’s got me thinking A LOT about how difference is something to cherish, not shuffle into a corner and conceal.

First off, we’re all built differently. Ayurveda, yoga’s ancient sister science that governs our health and wellbeing, determines that there are three dominant doshas, Vata, Pitta and Kapha, each with their own set of characteristics and properties. You’re unlikely to be 100% of one dosha, but instead a mix of all three with one weighing dominant. What works for a Vata dominant individual who, for instance, doesn’t tend to gain weight easily, might be sacrosanct for a Kapha type who just can’t seem to shift excess weight. With all the will in the world you can’t change this.

So often in life, myself included, we take on these blanket statements from ‘experts’ or the media (guilty) about what is and isn’t good for us. All of us. To take a recent example, I’ll talk about coconut oil. I can’t get enough of the stuff, it tastes amazing, I use it instead of butter in baking, blend it into smoothies or just help myself to a teaspoon now and then. But guess what? It’s not suited to my Kapha dominant dosha. Oh. Yeah apparently it increases dampness in my system and to spare you the gory details, this dampness manifests in all sorts of ways from breakouts to bad digestion. I love it. But it doesn’t love me. The same goes for hot cloth cleansers. Many of which are touted as suitable for all skin types. What I hear you cry? I’ve seen that stash of muslins you’re hiding in the blanket box at the end of your bed. I hold my hands up. But as of a fortnight ago when I was lucky enough to be in the skilled hands of the infinitely knowledgeable Fiona Brackenbury of Decleor, I use them no more. It was my road to Damascus moment in the basement spa of the Dorchester. She’s the first facialist ever to point out to me that scrubbing every day with an abrasive cloth is likely to be making my hormonal, breakout-prone skin worse, not better.

Anatomically we’re all different too. No two skeletons are the same. Your major muscle groups have most probably been conditioned into certain behaviours from a young age. In class, my fellow yogis in training illustrate this perfectly. Bindi can’t practise shoulderstanding because of a prolapsed disk. Gwen is super flexible, like Olive Oyl from Popeye, but because of this she has to be mindful not to flare her ribs wildly in the most elastic backbends I have ever seen. Meanwhile I still can’t lay my hands flat on the mat without bowing out my knees from years of ‘turning out’ at ballet. Instead of working against these differences towards some sort of mythical norm, we are slowly learning to accept and celebrate our differences. We’re not identikit robots built from pressure-moulded metal parts. Our bodies are beautiful, asymmetrical, soft and wonky. They are strong, serve us 365 days a year and never ask for anything in return, so don’t be down on them if they can’t be moulded into exactly the same shape as the person on the mat next to you. Just be you, don’t try to be anyone else.

The beauty of yoga is it teaches you to accept and embrace your differences. Work with them. Cherish them even. Know that what works for you won’t necessarily work for your family member/neighbour/colleague, and not just in a physical sense but a spiritual, mental and energetic sense too. When you can get your head around this (and I don’t mean literally), you can get your head around anything.

*image via Pinterest

down with new…

It may be counter-intuitive to declare this on what is essentially, a blog about consuming stuff, but I am absolutely well and truly over “new” right now. Sorry, I know it’s contrary to almost every other post on this site (especially the one below) but it sums up the way I’m feeling right now about the beauty industry as a whole. New does not necessarily equal better. There, I said it. Sue me. I suppose my rant is born really out of the fact that every article I’m ever commissioned to write seems to hinge entirely on its element of newness, to the point where it doesn’t matter if it’s a damn good idea if the products mentioned are more than a few months old. Have we really become so fickle that a perfectly good product becomes obsolete almost immediately purely because it’s not brand spanking new anymore (BBs and CCs anyone?)? This, I’m sad to say, is what I encounter time and time again as publications clamber over themselves to appear the most-informed and zeitgiesty while all the while, the bloggers guffaw down on them from on high as they consistently pip them to the post, breaking embargoes and generally fuelling the whole newness hysteria. So, in the interests of putting two fingers up to the relentless world of newness, here are a few products I’d like to salute for their ancient wisdom, their tried-and-tested familiarity and down night oldness. True, you might not see them in the Sunday papers this weekend and they probably won’t be appearing in a pop-up boutique near you anytime soon, but in my eyes, that might actually be a good thing…

Based on a traditional recipe passed down from her grandmother to her father, Gamila first created her skin-softening cream cleansing bars using fifteen different herbs and natural oils harvested in her native home of Galilee, Israel when she was in her 30s. That was 40 years ago. I rest my case.

Weleda’s cult Skin Food formula, a multipurpose cream I use on my hands, brows and just about anywhere my skin feels a bit parched, launched in 1926 and is still a firm favourite with discerning shoppers, make-up artists and a smattering of celebrities today.

Compared to the above this is a relatively new entry. But one I just had to mention. Created in 1998, I first fell in love with Penhaligons LP No.9 while on a shoot as work experience for Bliss magazine when I was just 21, three years after it launched. The make-up artist smelled so sophisticated, a world away from the Jean Paul Gaultier Red Jeans I was so liberally daubing myself in at the time. I didn’t actually get to own a bottle until many years later when a beauty editor friend ‘sourced’ a bottle for a birthday beauty bag. A more nostalgic scent I have yet to encounter.

it’s not shopping, it’s research…

I could (and sometimes do) spend hours wondering about the hallowed beauty halls of London. From Liberty’s cleverly curated modern-day apothecary to Selfridges zeitgeisty edit of cult buys, the big retailers have cottoned on to the fact that we don’t all want to look/smell/feel the same. Difference is key and a diverse crop of niche brands seems to be the way forward. And while high street retailers must surely be fighting every (whitened) tooth and (shellac’d) nail for actual, product-in-bag-sales against the many wonderfully savvy beauty etailers out there with their free shipping and sampling incentives, it’s heartening to see another physical beauty space pop up on London’s radar in the shape of H&Ms sister brand, & Other Stories.

To be honest I just popped in to check out the clothes. I didn’t even know they had beauty (wtf ?? – BAD journalist). I’ve since acquired the official press material from my good friend Disneyrollergirl, though I’d already typed in frantic notes on to my iphone and hipstamatic-ed the whole space with a view to writing this post.

It’s a beautiful light and airy space on the ground floor of the regent street store. It reminds me a bit of Barney’s in the US, but more oh-so-cool Scandi with beautifully packaged brands I’ll admit I’d never heard of that had me frantically googling – enter L:A BRUKET, a range of handmade soaps and spa products from Sweden whose sage, rosemary and lavender salt scrub smelt like the elixir of life, and Wash with Joe, an NYC bath brand extolling the youth-boosting properties of, you guessed it, caffeine. See what they did there?

But it’s their own-brand ranges I was really impressed with. Ben Gorham, the perfumer behind Byredo, worked up the fragrances for the bath & body line. I love the belfast sink (a concept borrowed from Aesop I’d hazard a guess) where you can sample the line up of pretty hand soaps. Another cute touch is their recycling incentive. Bring your empty bottles and tubs back for a 10% discount on your next purchase. Unlike so many fashion brands who segue into beauty, this feels like much more than an afterthought of ‘quick, let’s bung some branding on these generic body lotions’. It’s the same for their make-up. Lisa Butler, respected international make-up artist, consulted on their cosmetics offering (see the short film below for a taster). There’s a coolly understated-looking line of skincare too, which I can’t vouch for, but if the rest of the concept is anything to go by, it’ll be well thought out, functional and affordable too. Gotta love those swedes.

So if, like me, you missed all this when it debuted at Colette during Paris fashion week (oh, jeez, I must have been handwashing my woolens that day), proceed to the Oxford Circus end of Regent Street poste haste. Or, for all you non-London dwellers, get your virtual fix online here. Oh, and the clothes aren’t too shabby either….

alma mater

In just over a week it will be mother’s day, well here in the UK at least. So, while ‘real’ (ie paid work) means I’m a little busy to write you a really juicy post right now, I thought I’d paste up the below feature, from the Feb issue of Psychologies, as it seems rather timely…(thanks again to Cerine, Rosemary, Sunita, Jessica and all the wonderfully glam mums – don’t you just love those black and white snapshots? Come back Polaroid, all is forgiven).

surviving the cold spell…

It happens every year around this time, you’d think I’d be more prepared. Christmas is over and the cold snap kicks in in earnest in the January bleakness. This is when I have to loose all glamour, I’m afraid, and level with you about my dry skin issues. It’s not beauty product grade ‘dry’ as in a cursory swipe of body lotion post-shower sorts it out. I’m talking itchy, uncomfortable borderline eczema. On legs, arms, tummy, shoulders for chrissakes! Reptile skin. Transepidermal water loss. However you want to call it, my skin barrier (the natural layer that keep moisture in and infection out) is shot. A result of too much central heating as the temperatures plummet (as I type, 10cms of snow is settling on the roof outside my window) and not enough omegas I suspect, though I couldn’t physically consume any more skin-salving avocados, nuts and seeds.

So, how to solve this skin disaster. First up (and this really isn’t glam in the slightest readers, I warn you) I’ve packed away my aromatic shower gels in place of a giant tub of medicinal-looking aqueous cream. You don’t know how long I spent in Boots deliberating this purchase but so far, I haven’t found any natural product (even my Dr Bronner’s Pure Soap hasn’t safeguarded me this winter) I can use in place of shower gel that has the same effect. That is to create a film on the skin that stops moisture escaping. I hate that it contains liquid paraffin, it massively jars with my mission to detox my bathroom, but in fact Paula Begoun, aka the Cosmetics Cop, says it’s really not so bad after all. It’s a naturally derived mineral oil that has effective skin emollient properties, just what I need (read her full blurb here).

Next up, what to use after the shower? Oh and here I should add that over-cleansing is actually counter-productive in this entire process, making the skin even drier, especially if you shower in super hot water, something I’m guilty off when it’s too cold to even step out of the bathroom. Presently I’m switching between pure coconut oil and a zinc and castor oil cream I picked up in the Baby section at Boots. So basically, I’m covered in nappy cream. Again, attempting to stick with as few ingredients and keep them as natural as possible. If you flip any of the bottles in the supposed ‘dry skin’ section of your local chemist you’ll see that most of the formulas contain at least 15 ingredients AND perfume, which to me seems counter-intuitive for irritated skin. Plus they all cost in excess of £6. My nappy cream was £1.25. (My one concession here is Aveeno. They’re not 100% natural by any stretch, but I do like the addition of colloidal oatmeal in their dry skin range, though instead I’m going to try the old sock-of-oats-in-the-bathtub trick. Same skin soothing oat substance, less packaging and cost, it is January after all.)

Finally, I’m thinking more about what I put into my mouth. If that could be possible since food is pretty much what I’m thinking about at any given moment. I was lucky enough to be gifted recently with two bottles of tasty Udo’s oil, though I’ll admit I haven’t been as religious in my dosage as I could have been. It’s an omega oil blend made from cold pressed seeds of flax, sunflower and sesame plus coconut oil, rice and oat germ (note: no whiffy fish oils so it’s veggie/vegan friendly too). You add a few tablespoons to soups, juices, salads, porridge and so on to shoehorn more omega 3, 6 and 9 into your system. But it must be used raw, heating destroys the essential fatty acids that will hopefully return my scaling skin back to its former glory. That and buckets of water and rooibos masala tea and rehydration here I come.

*picture via Pinterest

the barefaced backlash

Bare skin, blah blah BLAH.

I’m sorry. I’m so over this already. Just call me Liz Jones (we all have our crosses to bear Liz, yours are crows feet, mine are spots). Standing in line for 17 minutes at the post office this lunchtime I found myself zoning into royal mail tv, trancelike, where they were showing, on a loop, an ad for the BearFaced campaign for Children in Need (to fill you in, this is where various celebrities and models, among them Heidi Klum, Louise Redknapp, Julia Bradbury and Lulu (lord, why?), have been photographed sans make-up by Rankin for a campaign to, erm, raise awareness? for Children in Need).

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE an altruistic gesture in the beauty industry, just see my last post, but I am struggling to link celebrities and models with good skin (that allegedly has not been retouched, riiiight ) going without make-up and the aforementioned Children…that are…in Need. How does this help them? What am I missing? Personally I’d have liked to see them do a ‘Waitrose’ on this, veto-ing the whole costly business and instead funneling the misguided budget of the entire hapless project directly to charity. And don’t tell me everyone waived their fees so there are no funds. What about the studio? And lunch? And cars for the talent? And the no-make-up-make-up-artists that certainly would have been in evidence? All free was it? Frankly, I’m baffled. I have nothing against the concept of make-up free skin in the media. It’s nice. Refreshing even. I just think it’s rich to ask normal women to forgoe make-up (and their confidence in many cases) in what is clearly not a level playing field. Lets have a cake sale instead eh?

And this on the back of Stylist who this week a ran a shot of a make-upless model on the cover of this week’s issue to advertise their skincare awards. Again. Playing field? Level? Does it surprise you that the majority of models actually have really beautiful skin? It’s their livelihood after all. A touch misleading methinks to suggest that any of the ‘winning’ brands, many of them big advertisers I might add, will help give you skin like the aforementioned dewy-complexioned model. But I at least think I see where there were going with it.

So it seems we’re in the grip of a barefaced phenomenon right now. One that’s great if you’re blessed with poreless, even skintone and horrid if you’re not. When I’m having a good skin day there’s nothing I like more than trotting to the shops with just a blot of lip balm and some eyebrow pencil. Post detox (yawn, sorry) I loved the fact I had to wear less make-up but slowly and surely, with deadlines looming and a smattering of forbidden foodstuffs infiltrating my diet again, the concealer had been on almost permanent standby. I guess what I’m getting at, not all that succinctly, is if you have lovely skin, I’m truly happy for you, I am. Just don’t expect other women to want to blaze your trail and whip out the wet wipes on request in the name of feeling liberated. Some people actually like wearing make-up. Skin is a delicate subject. The faces we construct for ourselves are our modern day armour. Even if like me, you’re a no-make-up make-up girl, it still takes a good 15 minutes to create the illusion. Children in Need don’t mind if we wear foundation. In fact, they weren’t even opposed to a bit of lipstick last time I checked…

*Image courtesy of Alexander Khokhlov via LaraJul

ready, set, shop

You want hair? Hershesons can help…

This month, two beauty behemoths go head to head as opposite ends of Oxford Street each get a posh new beauty hall.

Over at Oxford Circus Topshop have launched their revamped basement beauty zone and it’s looking pretty good. Not only have the existing franchises, Bleach, Hershesons and WAH been suped- and slicked-up, there’s a new tattoo and piercing parlour, Metal Morphosis, as well as a Strip waxing room and Blink brow bar (recommended by me, best brows for time plus a comp head massage!). There’s also a new ‘hot desk’ reception area so you don’t have to wonder aimlessly into the salons waiting for somebody (anybody?) to notice you while you secretly implode, vowing never to spend your hard earned cash here EVER again. We’ve all been there.

Mood board at Bleach. Yep, Barbie is a bonafide muse.

Back down the road, Selfridges will officially unveil their new Beauty Workshop on 15th, though it’s been semi-open for sometime. Tripling in size with a sleek new design-job by Dutch architects, Uxus, the space will showcase over 50 new skincare, hair and cosmetics brands plus a slew of top beauty treatment counters – Blink & Hershesons, again, plus St Tropez tanning and a nails inc. Paint Shop. Plus, they’ve trumped Toppers with an online booking service. Neat huh?

Beauty Workshop, with virtual customers…

All this upgrading says only one thing to me. Beauty is fast ousting fashion as the high-street’s biggest draw and with Christmas approaching faster than Santa’s Coca-Cola sponsored steam train (sorry, but it is), retailers are gearing up for a big, and beautiful, festive season.

doors to manual…

The beautyhaul is off on holiday (well I say holiday, does a friend’s wedding in Brittany qualify in a recession?) and boy, had I forgotten how exhausting it is doing the whole pre-holiday beauty prep schlep. Ooh la la! As the bride might say…

So, just a quick insight then into this beauty marathon as I find time between trying to weigh my hand luggage on my miniscule kitchen scales and deciding which mags to buy at the airport.

1. Ole Henrikson Lemon Strip, £98 as part of a kit of three products – a genius at-home glycolic peel, perfect for use pre-tanning and for a general skin de-gunk and brighten. Pricey, but a little goes a long way.

2. Supergoop City Sunscreen Serum, £16 for travel size – Mr Beautyhaul has been enjoying this particular bottle for a few weeks now. In fact after I’d gifted it to him I immediately regretted it and wanted it back…Hence I’ll be ‘borrowing’ this light as a feather, skin repairing SPF 30 en vacances. You don’t need a separate moisturiser either saving vital washbag capacity. A serious consideration when you’re a bottle hoarder like me.

3. Dr Lewinns Revitalising Hand Polish, £21 – realised in the bath last night I had no body scrub, what the F*&%! So I promptly  reached for the nearest thing, this cult hand scrub, and it worked a treat. NB. I showered again this AM. to make sure there was no trace of oily residue pre-tan, which leads me on to…

4. LDN Skins Couture Spray Tan at Daniel Galvin, 58 George St (ask for Justine) – Okay, so I’m still in the 8 hour ‘cooking’ stage but so far, my Tone 3 tan is shaping up nicely. Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lawrence and VB all love this brand so I’m expecting good things when I shower it off at 5.45am tomorrow. I’ll keep you posted.

 

Photograph courtesy of Nina Leen for Life magazine circa 1950 via adore-vintage.blogspot.co.uk

notes on a facial…

Mr BeautyHaul is regularly left slack-jawed at the sheer amount of complimentary products and jollys I’m party to in this ‘job’ so I thought it only fair to share the love, so to speak, and send him for his very first facial. Being a treatment virgin I wanted to get him in at the top end and so it was with high expectations that I packed him off for City Recovery Facial at swanky London men’s spa, The Refinery.

Here’s how he got on:

Me: So, your skin looks amazing (like it had been vacuumed and polished, seriously good), what did they do, what did they do???

MrBH: Well the place was really posh, I felt a bit scruffy, but the girl was really nice, made me fill out a form…

Me: No! What did they do to your face?

MrBH: Oh well they get all up in your grill don’t they? It’s quite, well, in your face…

Me: No sh1t Sherlock.

MrBH: Well. She started by wiping off all the dirt.

Me (interjects): I think they call it cleansing…

MrBH: Then she put this mask on and she said ‘oh it might tingle a bit’ but it really stang, I mean really.

Me (inside voice): gosh they really do have a lower pain threshold don’t they.

MrBH: And then she squeezed all my blackheads which hurt, but I kind of liked it.

.Me: Oh yeah it’s good isn’t it, all that gunk coming out.

MrBH: Then she did a sort of massage on my face, it was quite firm, and put on some more potions (his generic term for all beauty products).

Me: so, you enjoyed it then?

MrBH: well yeah, it was really relaxing and she gave me these little samples to use too (produces two vials of Skinceuticals Hydrating B5 and Phloretin CF serum from his jeans pocket).

Me: well your skin looks AMAZING, wish I had your skin (sulks). Cor she even got the really big blackhead up near your eyebrow that I always attack but never manage to get out.

In conclusion, I’ve never seen skin so clean or glowing. Even on a girl.

The City Recovery Facial, ‘designed to combat environmental skin damage’ is available now at The Refinery, 60 Brook Street and The Refinery, Harrods. £115 – 75 minutes or £80 for a 45 minute Express.

Mr BeautyHaul, and his newly exacuated pores, was a grateful guest of Skinceuticals and The Refinery, London.

*I found this image on Pinterest but it’s sadly lacking a credit so if it’s you, or your dad, please get in touch!

honey monster

Beehives in Volterra, Tuscany courtesy of Andy Hill

Bees are having a hard time right now. Facing dwindling numbers due to parasites, pesticides and attack from the ever prolific wasp, it’s little wonder they manage to survive at all. Ironically however, the health and beauty industry is buzzing (sorry, couldn’t resist) with bee-related hype. Considering the influence and sheer pots of money beauty brands can throw at their chosen cause, could this be the bees saving grace?

French organic experts Melvita are one such brand investing heavily in future of bees. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they’re already famed for their high quality honeys, royal jelly ampoules (the food produced by the bees to feed the Queen, rich in amino acids and vits B) and skincare formulas containing honey. They love bees so much the Covent Garden branch have installed an apiary on a nearby rooftop, lovingly tended by Camilla Goddard of Capital Bee, and come harvest time, will sell the honey in store. Beyond London the Melvita Foundation support at least 15 charitable projects around the world that support organic farming, including the PUR project in Peru which provides 2 years of beekeeping training and facilities to a local tribe called the Queehua in the hope of returning traditional bee keeping methods to an area where the process has almost virtually been wiped out.

Camilla at the Covent Garden hives

But, I couldn’t write this post without mentioning bee venom, although it’s with very mixed feelings that I include it. Bee venom or ‘sting’ is now being touted as a natural botox and skin healing substance and thanks to famous faces like Kate Middleton (sigh, she knows not what she does), women are buying bee venom formulas by the wheelbarrow load in the hope they’ll achieve a similar royal glow (please, it’s her genes alright?). But I have huge reservations about it. Even if the bees aren’t harmed, which I’m just not buying, they must undergo huge stress to have the substance extracted. If you know otherwise please do correct me, but in my mind the bees can do without this extra demand on their already diminishing resources.

Far nicer and safer for the bees is this skin-fixing Bee Balm from Brixi. It’s made by Emy’s mum (Emy owns the shop) with by-products from her hive and magically smoothes flaky skin and sun-dried lips. Her beeswax candles are worth a look, and sniff, too.

Bee Balm, stock up now it won’t be around for long…

So, what can you do to help the bees I hear you cry? The British Bee Keepers Association has some great information on their website here. If you have a garden or rooftop and would like to try keeping your own bees, contact Camilla at Capital Bee for more information on how to get started. Or if, like me, you live in a top floor flat you can do your bit by planting up some window boxes or pots with bee-friendly flowers (lavender and alliums are faves – angelica gets them drunk!) and watch in awe as these magical little creatures go about their business quietly saving the world, and potentially blitzing wrinkles, in one fell swoop.