Home made beauty - turmeric face mask

I love noodling about on the internet and recently I noodled upon the lovely Vintagious channel which has lots of basic vintage hair and make up tutorials.  Well worth a look.

One of her posts though, really grabbed my attention.  The turmeric face mask, which seemed to really work to lighten and brighten her skin.  Now don't get me wrong.  I'm not after whiter skin, well not really, I'm pale enough - and I'm completely aware that the vintage = pale thing is nonsense.  Look at Coco Chanel and her deep tan, the ruddy faces of landgirls...etc etc.  A tan is much more vintage accurate.

But...but...I have dull skin and patchy areas of freckles post Summer and could definitely do with tidying the whole lot up a bit.

Turmeric masks are an Indian bridal ritual used for thousands of years, using just the contents of your larder.  I couldn't resist.

There are lots of recipes out there but I went for simple: turmeric plus a splash of milk plus a drop of honey.  Slather it on the face and rub in, get in the bath. Wash off a good few times then tone with lemon juice.

It worked a treat and I didn't look like an oompa loompa afterwards.

So here goes nothing, do not run in fear from my make up free visage:

1) The before -

2. The during

3. The after

It is hard to see the results but my skin looked so much smoother and brighter that my good chap, when he popped round soon after, commented on how rested and alive I looked.  I'm taking that as a positive.

The only negative side:  a yellow bath:

I can only conclude it works in a few ways:  the lactic acid in the milk, the acid in the lemon and the exfoliating action of rubbing in the powder all buff the skin while the turmeric and lemon whiten.  Lemon has long been used to whiten dark nails and skin.  Lemon wedges on the elbows anyone?

So, I'm going to do this a couple of times a week for the next month and see if it fades my unevenly freckled boat race.

I shall be sure to report back at the end of the month - wish me luck!

For hands that do knitting...

Aft'noon

This blogging lark can be jolly good fun sometimes, especially when ones gets invited to fancy schmancy events, which I have no qualms accepting invites for as frankly it can be pretty draining trying to entertain you lot, y'know *wink* us nose to grindstone types need a break every now and then...

Anyway - I was recently invited to attend an event promoting Atrixo, yes, Atrixo - the chamomile hand cream that we probably all recall our mothers or grandmothers using.  The scent sure does bring back memories.  It was launched back in the 50s - '55 to be exact but is part of the Beiersdorf portfolio of products which includes my very favourite - Nivea - and so can probably be traced back to Edwardian days.  That's like, serious vintage.

The event was held at Home House, a private members club on Portman Square - its a bit posh round there and this venue was no exception - with cakes and nibbles from the Vintage Patisserie and a knitting class from the wonderful Catherine Hirst.  Feast your eyes on the goodies that were laid before us:

An array of Atrixo products were available to sample

Beautifully decorated tables heaved with food

cake stands fairly trembled beneath the mass of scones

Knitting needles were prepared ready for action

Brass deer nibbled on rose petals (where am I going here, I don't know anymore)

decapitated fluffy bunnies stared menacingly into your soul

...and I ate all the jam *bwahahahahahaha*

Unfortunately I am currently mid dryathlon, so could not take advantage of the wine on offer but I did fill up on tea and scones and learnt a few new knitting tricks along the way.  Yes, I have finally graduated from thumb cast on to long tail cast on.  I can now call myself a fully grown up adult knitter.

Here is my little flower - it's pretty ain't it.

As for the Atrixo products - I'm thoroughly impressed.  I've placed a tub next to my bed, one of my work desk and one next to each sink in the home.  I now have the hands of a 10 year old.  Well almost.

Atrixo products are marvellous value, smell divine and are available in your local boots, Tesco or Superdrug.  I strongly advise giving them a try for a real vintage hand care experience.  That sounds almost rude.  I'm leaving it in.

Thank you Atrixo for a thoroughly lovely do.

The lovely Fleur goes into more detail here so to view much nicer pics and read her much more erudite account of the day please clicky.

Beauty review: Missha Blemish Balm

Thanks to Dita, the vintage look now seems to mean being as pale and as flawless as possible.  Now, I'm all for the flawless, I would love to look like my skin was poreless, smooth and perfect.  I'm not dead set on the pale though, for while pale skin does look lovely on some, tans were popular in the 30's onwards and if you are keeping out of the sun purely to be vintage correct, rather than for health or other reasons then well,  vintage - you are doing it wrong. ;-) 

Personally, I do wear factor 50 every day, I have good reasons for doing so though, which do not relate to being vintage: firstly, being a smoker (still trying to quit), I need to minimise my exposure to other carcinogens as much as possible.  Secondly, I don't tan, I burn and then freckle, and I look about 12 years old when my freckles come out.  Thirdly and finally, I really don't like the platinum blonde hair and tanned skin combination, it is all a little bit too Glamour Model for me. It may work on others but it makes me look terribly cheap.

I just wanted to mention all this before I start my review as these products, Blemish Balms, come from Korea and many are designed to whiten the skin. This is not why I decided to try one.  I am more interested in their multifunctional claims - they say they work as a primer, foundation, sunblock and anti wrinkle treatment all in one. Sounds great huh?

I did a bit of Internet research and the one I most wanted to try was the perfect cover cream from Missha, as it had great reviews and was reasonably priced, so I tracked it down on EBay and bravely bought the palest colour, as colour descriptions online have not been great,

I was impressed with the product straight away - it was beautifully packaged in an expensive looking box and stylish maroon and gold squeeze tube.  On swatching on my hand at work I was a little panicked that my choice of colour, the palest at Number 13, might have been too light.  I couldn't wait to get home and try it out though!

 unswatched and lightly rubbed in, super pale right!

I tested it when I got back and was quite impressed but, as with all bases, you need to see the effect under natural light and so it was in the morning that the real test began.  I applied it over moisturiser, and used the recommended pea sized amount.  A little does go a long way.

So, prepare yourselves, for pictures of my morning face; saggy eyed and without a scrap of slap.  I am posting two each of before and after photos so you can get a real idea of how it evens out the skin.

Before:

Note the very tired eyes, shiny skin and unevenly toned areas around the eyes, nose and chin.

Ignore the double chin and unbrushed  hair.  Oh, you can't.  Sorry!

After:

Everything looks matte and more even.

I was worried that it had the slightly grey cast I had been warned of, but I found that after 10 minutes on the skin the product settled and kind of warmed up.  The overall effect is not as artificial as I had hoped (who wants to look real anyway) but it did even out the redness in my skin.  It was especially good at hiding my freckles and the red spider veins around my nose.  It also smooths and disguises pores beautifully.  It doesn't gather and cake around the hairline / eyebrows either, which is wonderful!

I really like the product, I now use it daily either on it's own for daytime or as a primer for evenings.  It works beautifully under my Revlon Colorstay foundation and this combination makes my skin scarily doll-like - which I love!  It lasts all day and has not caused me to break out at all.  It also smells of baby powder, which I adore.

Here it is smoothing my skin out as part of a full face of make up.

My only real reservations are the lack of colour choice (I understand new shades are being added to the range as we speak) and also the claims of SPF 42.  You really don't use enough product for it to be of any use as sun protection.

It also wouldn't be any good if you were planning to be photographed as the high SPF included doesn't work well under a flash.

I'm thoroughly enjoying this product though, and have added it to my daily make up bag so I will certainly buy it again.  Top marks!h

Beauty find - Salux Bath Cloth

I'm a lazy person - a lazy blogger, late sleeper, domestic slattern - and so I'm always looking for the easy way to do things.  I write my blog posts in my lunch break at work, bathe at night so I can get up later and clean during the ad breaks.  Yep - lazy but clever...

One of the things I'm usually far too lazy to do is exfoliation.  I know it is important, it makes your skin feel smoother and look healthier and all that jazz.  Who wants their body to be grey and rough - not me.  Most exfoliants don't work for me though- products with granules need rinsing out of the bath (ugh), body brushing adds a whole new step to your routine (blah), those shower puff things are all suds and no action (meh), those glove things - it takes ages to get them on and my cats seem to think they are fish and steal them out the bath (hah!) and loofahs, don't remind me of the dank odour of a slowly rotting loofah (gag).

As a result I'd given up on the whole exfoliating business for a while, I've been single for 18 months or so and frankly couldn't be bothered with that level of upkeep if no one was going to marvel at the after effects of all that work.  Then I stumbled upon the recommendations section of Makeupalley and saw the rave reviews on this product - the Salux Bath cloth.  The Alley is rarely wrong and I decided to give the Salux cloth a go.

I ordered mine from eBay, all suppliers seem to ship from overseas and so I was surprised when my cloths arrived within the week.  Brilliant service.  The cloths themselves are long and fairly narrow and made of a similar stuff to those exfoliating mitts but in a much more user friendly towel form.  They come in a variety of colours and while apparently they come in two weaves they feel the same to me - both devilish rough!

I was scared to try these at first, they are rather vicious feeling things, but after lathering up with one in a long hot bath, I have to say I am sold.  They are rough but not too rough, easy to use either balled up or stretched out - enabling you to get to every hard to reach bit of your back.  They dry quickly, are cheap, long lasting and hygienic and, frankly, make my skin feel absolutely incredible.  I've been stroking my arms in admiration all day as a result.  Vain, moi?

So, I'm back to my smooth and glowing best.  All I need now is someone else to stroke me....any volunteers?  ;-)

Beauty Review: Revlon Just Bitten lip stain and balm

I remember first trying a lip ink pen from The Body Shop back in the mid 90's.  I'm not sure if it was my unhoned application methods at fault or if the product was a bit primitive but I remember being horrified at the "coloured in with a felt tip pen" effect that resulted.

Thankfully it seems that either my skills have improved or that the technology has as I'm really rather pleased with the new (to the UK at least, the US have had this in roller ball form for a while but I never managed to find it here...) lip ink style pens in Revlon's "Just Bitten" range. 

Packaging:

These are styled like felt tip pens, with the felt tip at one end and the balm at the other.  I have to say the packaging is a little cheap looking for Revlon and unfortunately the balm at the end is not retractable so I can imagine that it might easily be broken with rough use.

The colour of the packaging does not seem to really give much indication of the colour of the product.  The stain I bought is a red but the packaging, to my eye at least, is much lighter than the actual colour of the product.

Some users have also reported that it doesn't last long.  I'll have to report back on that after a few more trials.

Oh AND I think the vampire theme with the names of the colours (Twilight, Gothic etc etc) is a bit try-hard and oddly off market for Revlon who I tend to see as a more grown up brand.


Product:

So, I have found that it is best to start with lining your lips and then colouring in. You can use the product for both of course - using a normal lip liner would just be daft!  You have to be fairly quick at the colouring in part as it does dry pretty quickly and, at least in the shade I purchased (the reddest, Gothic) you can see where you have gone over an area twice. 

While this is annoying in the learning how to apply stage I can see the benefit of this in that it makes the colour buildable - you could get either a sheer red or a really intense dark red with this product.

I would advise to make sure your lips are as free of dry skin as possible however as the colour can cling in these areas.

After applying the stain you just need to let it dry (seconds, honestly) and then you can choose to apply the balm for a shiny effect or, of course, not bother for something more matte and 40's looking.


Verdict:

I really liked the colour, a good true red.  The application process is fairly simple too.  For vintage looks this may be too sheer for some as it isn't good for changing your lip shape with as it really shows the texture of your skin and makes it fairly clear that you have overdrawn your lips.  I do like it for daytime though, it is a much more summery way of getting a red lip than the old stodgy Ruby Woo and I got a few compliments on it from strangers, which is unusual.

 the close up...you can see the fade where I overdrew the lip line

 snooty face

 Yesm today I was rocking  a "Jedward" inspired do (look at the state of them there roots!)

yes, its is my mouth, again.

On the negative side, I haven't found it very long lasting, though to be fair I applied it once at night and took it off again before bed and once on Friday before going to have  blood test (how appropriate...) and, being nervous, had managed it chew most of it off by the time I got home 4 hours later.

Personally I think I will keep this product for daytime looks or, and this has yet to be tested, as a base for my usual lipsticks on a night out.  Depending on how long this one lasts I may well buy it again.

Beauty review - the perfect daytime red

I think I've finally found a good, affordable daytime red.  Up until now I've always used good old MAC Ruby Woo, the vintage girl's favourite, but it can be a bit OTT in the daytime, and it is nice to be able to switch from a gentler colour to something more powerful for a night out too.  You don't get that if you've been wearing the Woo all day!

My discovery was completely accidental, I was going to meet some friends and realised I'd forgotten to bring a lippy with me (quelle horreur!) and so nipped into Boots and picked up the first thing I saw that I hadn't tried before....Rimmel's Colour Show Off lipstick in Red Fever.

I have to admit that initially the packaging put me off, it is thoroughly cheap looking and very lightweight.  A hot pink metallic tube worthy of Jordan herself.  I was, however, pleasantly surprised by the product.


Though it looks shiny in the tube it goes on beautifully matte.  Compared to Ruby Woo it is soft red, though most users who have reviewed in online so far consider it bright, and I guess it would be for someone unused to wearing a red.  It is also a much softer texture than the Woo and therefore not as drying, which is definitely a winner for daytime.

 MAC Lady Danger, the Rimmel, Ruby Woo (click to enlarge):

It lasts reasonably well, better than most drugstore lipsticks, though you do need to reapply after eating to keep the colour even, but at around £5-£6 a tube that isn't too worrying.

Here is what it looks like on, please excuse my morning face:

Just the one layer there.

I think you'd need a few to pull of the colour of postergirl - Georgia May Jagger:

Overall I'm really pleased with this red.  I might even investigate the other colours in the range now, they have a lighter red and a few pinks to choose from.