Rimmel Wake Me Up foundation

I’ve been tired recently.  Really, really tired.  Sometimes it’s physical tiredness, sometimes it’s psychological.  I can’t really say what’s causing it as I don’t really know.  I’ve been quite busy at work and have been out and about a lot seeing people and doing things, and that’s lovely.  But it’s not left a lot of time around these parts for some good, old-fashioned blogging, and any spare time I have had has mostly been spent thinking about how tired I am and frankly, I’m a little uninspired as well.

I suppose this follows on from my post about Stuff, and my desire to get rid of it.  Lately I seemed to have reached a saturation point with the beauty industry and its products and I’m just a little bit sick of it all.  I’m tired of reading about swathes of new products claiming the same things they always have and in reality delivering nothing like.  I’m tired of seeing the same iterations of the same red lipstick or pink gloss or smokey eye.  I’m tired of reading about people talking about things they’re ordering and buying when literally an hour ago they’ve written or tweeted or videoed themselves talking about more stuff they’ve bought.

In short, in case you hadn’t guessed, I’m tired.  I need a pick me up.  Something to make me look alive, feel better and try to re-ignite my love of beauty products because, well, if I don’t love them anymore, I might as well say goodbye to Product Pixie but I don’t really want to do that because I’m really quite fond of it and all of you who have made it into the nicely populated corner of the internet that it is.

All of this is just a very long, self-indulgent way of telling you that I’ve found a new foundation, and I really bloody like it.  Like, really.  REALLY like it.  It’s the Rimmel Wake Me Up foundation and I read about it on a little blog you might have heard of called Lipglossiping (I know, I like to give shout-outs to up and coming bloggers) and it piqued my interest enough for me to go and have a look at it in Boots.  Now, given that I did write that post about me not buying any make up this year, I feel a little guilty showing this a mere three weeks later, but technically I didn’t pay for this.  I STOLE IT!  Jokes.  No, I bought it with my Boots Advantage points, AND I’d just used up two other foundations so I thought it was a reasonable thing to buy.  And boy am I glad I did.

Rimmel Wake Me Up foundation is the newest release from the brand, and the blurb on the back of the – very nice, glassy, pretty similar to the Lancome Teinte Idole -  bottle tells us it’s designed to illuminate the skin and it has a Vitamin Moisturising Complex (please?) to visibly reawaken the skin.  Sure.  Whatever.  But I’ll have me some of that.

Anyway, as a fully paid-up member of the Oily Skin Brigade, I normally avoid these illuminating foundations like the plague, but Ms. Lipglossiping assured me it wasn’t too shinydiscoface so I thought I’d give it a whirl.  The pump dispenser makes it very easy not to tip out tons of the stuff, which is good because you don’t need to.  I use maybe 1 – 1½ pumps to cover my whole face, applying with my Daniel Sandler flat foundation brush.  I’d say the coverage is medium – full but pleasingly it doesn’t feel heavy at all.

The formula is kind of like a gel; not runny and thin, but it spreads around the face and blends beautifully.  It does a decent job on blemishes but I do still need concealer on the more stubborn campers on my face.  In terms of finish, it leaves me with pretty flawless skin, luminous but definitely not sparkly or too shiny.  However, the best bit about it is its staying power.  I’ve all but given up using powder for the last few months.  It’s been winter, for a start, so I haven’t need it as much, but also I felt like it was clogging my skin up badly and making it oilier.  As a result I haven’t been as shiny.  This is a fact. However, I’m obviously still prone to it but all I do these days is press a facial tissue lightly over my face once or twice a day, and that does the job.

With the Rimmel Wake Me Up foundation, I don’t really have to even do that.  I know.  I bet you can’t believe what you’re actually reading right now.  But I wouldn’t lie.  It is amazingly resilient to oil, adverse* weather conditions, crappy office air con, overheated restaurants, ‘glowing’ red wine face…all of it.  It stays on almost exactly as it is applied, even after a 16, 17, 18 hour day.  I just can’t get over how good it is, and for a high street offering, too.

I’m so pleased I read about it, I’m so pleased I went to check it out and I’m so pleased I took a punt on it.  It has woken me up…a little bit.  I’m not quite back to full health and wellness but this is definitely helping and that’s what make up’s about really, isn’t it?  Putting the glow onto an otherwise slightly grey face.

*I say adverse, but I suppose ‘a bit windy with some light rain’ doesn’t really count as adverse.  I’m just being a bit dramatic.

Hair Hates

It's always nice to read about products that people love, products that change people's lives* and make them look better and, more importantly, feel better.  But sometimes, there's part of me that loves even more to read about products that people hate.  You know, have a good old bitching session about a concealer or a mascara or a cleanser.  Because we're all mature like that.  Anyway, today I'm showing you three hair products that I really don't like.  Like, REALLY don't like**

Let's go left to right.  The KMS California Hairstay Style Boost came in a Boudoir Prive box*** I believe, late last year.  Billed as a styling foundation for hair, this is a weird, mousse-gel hybrid that crackles in your hand, kind of like those sweets that crackle when you put them in your mouth****.

The consistency is like a really watery mousse that feels sticky to the touch.  I run it through my towel-dried hair and style as usual and I think it's supposed to add a bit of volume and smoothing and generally a bit of a boost.  However, it just leaves my (fine but thick) hair lank and greasy-looking, and weighs it down rather than gives it a lift.  The novelty factor of the crackling soon wears off when your hair looks like shit one hour after washing.  Not a good look.

Next is the John Frieda Sheer Blonde Go Blonder lightening spray that got a lot of coverage last summer.  This is a bit of a controversial one because, in theory, I love it.  It's essentially a grown up Sun-In, that lovely spray bottle of, basically, bleach, that got a lot of love in the 80's and 90's to add that sunkissed (read: brassy) streakiness to hair.  The idea with the John Frieda spray is you apply it a few times a week, or even less, to lift highlights or add a bit of blonde through hair if you want it to be a bit lighter.  

In short, I doused myself liberally with this every day for about two weeks, and surprisingly enough, my hair looked shit.  I didn't really expect it to do anything if I'm honest, so didn't worry too much about bleaching my hair.  I thought it wouldn't even really do anything (don't ask why I bought it if I thought this, we all do stupid things) but actually it's very effective.  It works better if you regularly use heat on your hair, which I do, and within three or four days my hair was noticeably lighter.  I say "noticeably", I hadn't noticed a difference but other people started commenting on my hair, asking if I'd dyed it.  At first I was pleased but after getting someone to take some photos, I realised it looked..well...bad. 

The problem is that this product has the consistency of water and dispenses from a spray pump, so it's kind of hard to apply it in any discernible places on the hair to create a 'style'.  In essence, you're basically spritzing your hair with bleach, with no control over the placement of the product.  As such, you end up a patchy, streaky, sorry mess and will consequently resort to dyeing your hair a very bright red in an attempt to rectify your follicle situation, and frankly, that's not the road that everybody wishes to travel.  So I advise you give this a miss.

Finally, and perhaps most disappointingly, the Hei Poa Pur Monoi Tahiti Coco treatment.  I'd been after this for ages and finally bought it late last year, hoping to inject a bit of tropical sunshine into my grey, sub-zero days.  Firstly, this smells UNBELIEVABLE.  Like, absolute beach holiday coconut sunshine sex in a bottle.  It's totally yummy.  The consistency is a thick, white balm that's solid, cue initial blind confusion on my part.  Do I smash the bottle to get it out?  Do I delve in with a tiny spatula to drag out product each time I use it?  No Kathrine, how about you READ THE BLOODY INSTRUCTIONS??? Hmmm???  What you need to do is melt it before use.  Bit of a faff, no doubt, but easy enough.  Leave standing for a few minutes in hot water (or the shower) or pop next to the radiator.  Soon enough, it transforms into an oil.  Lovely.

Problem is, it's a horrible oil.  It's thick and greasy and doesn't seem to penetrate my hair and moisturise it as much as it does coat it and leave it feeling lank and like a chip pan.  A very nice-smelling chip pan, but a chip pan nonetheless.  I was so disappointed.  I thought this was going to turn me into the Tahitian goddess I know I really am inside, but the reality saw me standing sadly in the bathroom smelling of beaches but looking like an old frying pan after twelve rounds in the caff at breakfast time.  Not quite what I had in mind.

So, three hair products that definitely let me down.  I guess it's back to squ-air one.  No?  Anyone?  Anyone?  Bueller? Anyone?

* I mean, not literally.  Not in an Oprah kind of way.  But kind of.

** I am enjoying the irony of posting about products I hate on the nationally recognised day of love.

*** PR sample

**** I do not advise squirting this in your mouth in the manner of a sweet product

Stuff

“Ownership is the most intimate relationship that one can have to objects. Not that they come alive in him; it is he who lives in them.” - Walter Benjamin

I’ve being thinking a lot recently about “stuff”.  Not “stuff” as in life and death and relationships and work and health and friends and family.  “Stuff” as in “things”.  Items, objects, possessions…just, STUFF.  I imagine most, if not all, of you reading this have stuff.  A lot of stuff.  Probably too much stuff.  I know I do and I’m religious about clearing things out I no longer need or wear, donating clothes to charity, books to charity, unused products to family and friends, magazines and newspapers and papers and bills (unread, of course) into the recycling…I do it all.

I don’t like clutter.  I don’t mind a bit of organised mess, but I feel a little bit panicky at the thought of having mountains of possessions cluttering up my home for years.  I like to know what I’ve got and I like to use and enjoy all of it.

Anyway, when I read the above quote, it got me thinking (in that irritatingly Carrie Bradshaw-esque way) about my things and my relationship with them (bear with me, I’m trying not to go too hippie shizz on you, just having a bit of a ramble).  Since the beginning of the year, I haven’t bought any make up*.  It’s been a conscious decision, partly fuelled by financial reasons, and partly because just before Christmas I counted all my eyeshadows and lipsticks.  I don’t actually have that many (if the context is other bloggers) but I worked out that, at the rate I go through things, it will take me around five years to completely use up all the cosmetics I own.  Five years.  FIVE. YEARS.  HALF A DECADE.

And then I thought: that is completely and utterly ridiculous.  Just stupid.  Madness.  Idiocy.  I don’t know any other material item (as in something that isn’t intended to last forever) that I would buy five years’ worth of.  I wouldn’t buy five years’ worth of toothpaste or toilet paper or bleach or hand wash or pens or pants or cotton wool so why have I done it with make up?

Blogging, is the short and simple answer.  Before I started this blog I had a small, well-loved make up collection that I had curated over the years.  I knew what I liked, I knew what suited me and I used everything I owned.  Then I discovered beauty blogs and suddenly there was this whole world of like-minded people who could tell the difference between 56 difference taupe eyeshadows and absolutely needed those 18 different coral lipsticks because they were all special in their own way.  As well as the people, I discovered the products they so lovingly wrote about.  My eyes and shopping basket were busted open and stuffed to the brim in a very short space of time and I started buying make up on a very regular, and very bulk, basis.

Little over a year later, the one Muji box I had that was less than a third full was overspilling into make up bags, baskets, drawers and cupboards and I just couldn’t keep track of what I had.  I’d started buying things because I knew they were hard to get hold of, or because everyone raved about them , or because it was  a Wednesday.  I used to be a savvy shopper and I had become, instead, a grabby shopper.  I did not like it.

So, blog sales ensued, and anything I didn’t sell I gifted to friends and family (as long as they were in perfect condition).  That downsized my stash by a considerable amount.  Then I dug out the oldest or most used-up items and got to work on finishing those.  At the beginning of 2011 I started an ‘Empties’ series which I found really satisfying, and I’m continuing it this year.  Of course, the vast majority of items I use up are skincare and haircare but gradually, my colour cosmetics are working their way in there too.  I rotate the products I use on a weekly basis, going through my stash and picking out random items and using those exclusively for the week.  This way I keep on top of what I’ve got but also it means everything it getting chipped away at and used.  USED UP!

Finally, as I said, I’ve stopped buying make up.  Almost.  I did buy a new liquid liner last week, and I’ll continue to buy mascara (but only when I’ve completely run out), and I’ll buy clear brow gel.  But other than that, I won’t be buying anything for most of this year because I won’t need anything.  If I get sent any PR samples, that’s fine (and lovely), and I’ll be making a MASSIVE birthday/Christmas wishlist throughout the year of things I see but won’t buy.  I’ll then edit it down before issuing it (yes, it’s that formal) in December.  I hope that way I’ll only pick things that I’ve been wanting all year and so will be of definite use to me.

So what has this got to do with that quote?  Well, I suppose I just reached a point where I was feeling like I’d stopped buying make up for the love of it and had started buying it without thinking.  Blogging is so great and I love it but it’s extremely hard to not go overboard and buy myriad products every week.  I read so many blogs and interact with so many other beauty lovers, I inevitably hear about all sorts of delicious goodies, but that doesn’t mean I need to own them all.  The last part of the quote “…it is he who lives in them” is kind of what I aspire to with my beauty collection.  I want each item to be something I truly love, something that suits me, and something that I will use often.  Realistically, I’m never going to wear neon pink nail polish or turquoise eyeshadow or wear false lashes (obviously all of the above come in extremely useful at 80’s fancy dress parties) so no matter how beautiful they look on other people, I need to get out of the mindset that I will look beautiful in them too, and that they will in some way enhance my life.  Because they won’t.  I wear browns and taupes and red lips and nude nails (for the most part), so that’s what I should own.   And I do.  Five years’ worth.  I think I’m done for now, no?

I’d be really interested to hear your thoughts on this.  In no way is this meant to be a preachy post about how to spend your money: it’s absolutely your choice.  I just am at a crossroads where I need to save money and want to save space and love what I have. 

*Not strictly true, as evidenced by the admission of the liquid liner purchase.

label m. Therapy Age-Defying Protein Cream

It's day 2 of Hair Week (yes, it's an official thing) and I'm handing the reins to my friend SJ, who's been putting the label m. Therapy Age-Defying Protein Cream (catchy name) to the test for me.  So I'll get out of here quick and let her do the talking.

"Pulled about, yanked, dyed, hair-sprayed to the point of suffocation there is no wonder my hair has been on the phone to the ‘abused hair helpline’. Although I feel slightly guilty about this abuse, I do have to defend myself. Through no fault of its own, my hair is thin, weak and lifeless – much like myself on a Monday morning (apart from the thin part!!). It doesn’t matter how many expensive conditioning treatments I use or how many products I fall for that give me the promise of ‘shiny, volumous locks’ it’s just never going to happen. 

Enter my good friend ‘Product Pixie’ who I sit next to every day jealously watching her receipt of exciting, product filled parcels. While I try to seem nonchalant (apart from the odd day when I’m nagging ‘what is it what is it??’) she receives an exciting looking parcel from Toni&Guy. It’s the new range of label m. Therapy products in pretty purple packaging (yes, I’m that easily bought). So, the lovely friend that ‘Product Pixie’ is offers me the Protein Serum from the collection. Without taking offence to the product name - Age-Defying Protein Cream (I’m only 21 after all! Cough) - obviously I accept!

           

So, once again, falling for all the promises on the bottle I use it in my hair the very next day hoping to become Elle MacPherson. So, as you can imagine, this didn’t quite work out, however I was pleasantly surprised by the results….

I had previously been using more of an oily serum, so this creamy texture felt much nicer to use. The smell is also yummy – fresh and a bit fruity. Not overpowering but enough to make you feel like the girl from the Timotei ad (oops, possibly just given away that I’m not really 21!).  It contains White Caviar, a supposed anti-ageing ingredient in haircare. I apply it on my hair after towel-drying and then blow dry as usual.  It definitely took away the brittle, frizzy feel that my hair would usually have and a few people have commented that it looks a lot thicker and in better condition. 

In the six weeks or so that I've been using it I'm not sure my hair looks any 'younger' but it definitely feels more nourished and manageable (advertising speak for 'nice') than it has in ages. It doesn’t weigh your hair down, it’s not sticky and it doesn’t make your hair feel greasy so all in all probably the best serum I’ve used for a long time. The only problem is, now I’m hooked I’m going to have to go out and start actually paying for it myself! Thanks Product Pixie!!!"

No SJ, thank YOU.  You're a good writer.  I may take more advantage of this from now on...

*PR sample

Hair Week: Percy and Reed

Ever since I dyed my hair last month, it's become a focus in my beauty regime.  I've never lavished a lot of time or attention on my locks, partly through laziness and partly because I always thought it was fine as it was.  My routine was made up of shampoo, conditioner, a mask once every three months (or whenever I stumbled across a hair mask in the depths of my cupboard) and Paul Mitchell Skinny Serum through it before it was dried.  It did me well, that compact list of products and practices, but I knew my hair had more potential.

When I dyed it, it spurred me on to take better care of my hair; as I now blitz the life out of it with two boxes of dye every three weeks (apparently red is quite the bitch to maintain - GREAT), I need to balance that out with extra care and attention so this post is the first of a week of hair-related musings.  Today's spotlight is being trained on Percy & Reed, a brand I knew of for the salon and its roster of sleb clients, but wasn't so familiar with their own range of haircare products.  Anyway, I was asked if I'd like to try one or two products from the range and I said yes and they hooked me up.  They hooked me up GOOD*.  As such, I've spent the last couple of weeks tinkering and trying and slathering and smoothing and generally get right stuck in to all their products.  I have a few favourites which I'm going to write about now, and the other items will be cropping up over the course of the week (I know, try to contain the excitement).

First things first, the shampoo and conditioner.  The cornerstone of haircare (could I sound more dramatic?), it's important to cleanse and moisturise your hair well so that any styling tools and products you go on to use are being used on a good base plus, of course, it's important to just keep your hair clean and soft and sweet-smelling.  We've talked about this.  The Really Rather Radiant Colour & Shine Shampoo and Conditioner arrived at the perfect time for me, being newly dyed and all.  The packaging is beautiful; a matte white with pretty illustrations and font, they certainly make for prettier bathroom viewing than anything Herbal Essences or Aussie might come out with.  Big bottles too, which I appreciate.  

The scent is lightly floral; if you're familiar with the James Brown range of products (the white ones) I think they smell pretty similar.  As you can see from the info on the bottles, both items are formulated with raspberry oil which made me expect the scent to be fruity but it's not.  The shampoo lathers nicely with just the smallest amount and rinses easily.  I usually do two rounds with the shampoo, once to remove product and dirt and once more to thoroughly clean.  I then follow with the conditioner, about a 10p-sized amount.  It's creamy and rich and very nourishing, but I find I need to rinse really, really well to stop my hair feeling weighed down (my hair is fine but I do have a lot of it).

After washing, I comb through with my Tangle Teezer and wrap up in a towel whilst I trowel my face on and retrieve a hopefully acceptable outfit from my walk-in wardrobe**, and then it's time to select a styling product.  My mantra as far as hair is concerned is "there's no such thing as too much volume".  I love big hair, I live for big hair; I basically want to be Diana Ross.  As such, I'm always drawn to products that promise to volumise.  The item that I zoned in on immediately from the Percy & Reed range was this, the Volumising No Oil Oil.  To my tiny mind, I didn't see how you could have a product that injected volume as well as fulfilling all the smoothing and nourishing elements that an oil usually deals with, so I started using this right away to see what it was like.

The consistency is that of a serum, very much like Frizz-Ease.  I use just over half a pump - any more and my hair is left feeling greasy and yuck - and run it through my towel-dried hair before drying.  Lemme just say this...I am in love.  Actual love.  No messing.  This product is fantastic.  It adds a lovely fullness to my hair without weighing it down, smooths and nourishes it and just generally makes blow-drying it a simpler task than it used to be.  I'm obsessed with this.  I don't really like using anything else now because I'd just rather use this and be done with it.  LOVE.  If you didn't get that already.

Lastly, a bit of extra special attention in the form of the Totally TLC Hydrating Mask.  I sattisfyingly thick, creamy texture, it's lovely to slap on my hair once a week and cover with the sweet little shower cap that comes with it, although it does make me look like Ena Sharples on a tea break.  Exhibit A.

The instructions suggest leaving on for a minimum of 10 minutes but I still don't think that's really long enough, so I usually keep it on for around 20-25 minutes before rinsing out.  Hello shiny, baby soft hair.  It's so good.  SO good.  As I said I've got fine hair so I don't need tons and tons of product, but this would work equally well I think on thicker hairs.  It's incredibly rich and will give your hair that top up of moisture and shine that frankly, we all need sometimes.

So that's it for now; some absolute gems in the Percy & Reed range which I highly recommend you check out.  And here's my hair freshly pampered and preened.  Not bad for someone that is about as far removed from being a hairdresser as Kate Moss is from fronting a campaign for KFC.

*All products mentioned are PR samples

** My room is about the same size as a small walk-in wardrobe so in many ways, this statement is true.