Tuesday 18 May 2010

Philips Lumea: The Final Verdict



The 8 weeks are over (where have they gone?!), the 4 trial sessions completed and the Philips Spa at the Soho Hotel officially closed. And now comes the exciting bit: the results.

Am I totally fuzz-free? Well not quite, but very nearly. There are still a couple of patchy bits that I should think will disappear with one final zap. The hair growth has undoubtedly slowed enormously, and the hairs that have grown back are weedy shadows of their former selves, hurrah! So overall, it’s a huge thumbs up.

Compared to every other type of hair removal I’ve ever tried (and trust me, I’ve tried them all) there’s no question this wins hands down. It doesn’t hurt, it’s quick and easy, long lasting and very effective. What else could you ask for?

Of course, it does cost £400, which initially seems expensive (I for one don’t have £400 just hanging around in my bank account, waiting to be spent!), but if you work it out over 5 years (that’s the Lumea’s official shelf life) it’s actually far cheaper than any other form of hair removal.

Let’s take a professional bikini wax, for example. I’d say it costs £25 on average (although at inflated London prices, it can easily cost twice that!), that’s £25 every 2 months or so. So £150 per year. Over 5 years, that’s £750. Just for your bikini line. That’s got to hurt more than the waxing.

And when you consider you’re getting leg hair removal and bikini line and underarms for £350 less, and it doesn’t hurt, and you can do it yourself at home…it starts to make sense, right?

I know I’m starting to sound a bit like a Philips salesperson, and I do apologise, but price aside (even though I do think it’s worth the expense) I genuinely can’t think of a single negative thing to say about it. Basically ladies, you need the Lumea in your life!

Philips Lumea, £400, available from Boots now.

Thursday 6 May 2010

Dior furore







I’m so sorry, faithful followers, that I’ve not posted for a while. I’m actually working with the utterly fabulous girls at the Dior press office for the next few weeks, before returning to editorial at the beginning of June. So apart from feeling inadequate in the presence of so many beautiful and achingly-stylish French girls, I have also been feeling a bit out of the beauty blogging loop. Plus it feels wrong blogging about other brand’s products when I’m being paid to PR someone else’s.
The flip side of course is that I’ve been gorging myself on Dior products galore, which has been nothing but a pleasure, as I’m sure you can imagine! So I thought I’d stay faithful to Dior, and you, by giving you my totally objective, un-biased top 3 picks from Dior beauty cupboard:

1. Dior Addict Crystal Gloss – This pink jelly-textured confection is everything you could want from a gloss and more. It looks sexy as hell, sits beautifully on the lips and will set off a deep tan perfectly.

£19.50, available nationwide from 17th May

2. Diorskin Nude Glow Complexion Enhancer – I find that with a tan comes the confidence to go foundation-free. Of course, I’d never want to go TOTALLY naked, so this complexion enhancer is perfect for giving a radiance boost without weighing down the skin. It smells beautiful too.

£29, available nationwide from 17th May

3. Escale A Pondichery Eau de Toilette – When my boyfriend smelled this on me for the first time, he said: “Mmmmm, you smell like a stripper!” When I reacted with surprise (to put it mildly), he very hastily explained that he meant it smelled sexy, not trashy. He couldn’t however explain how he knew what strippers smelled of?! Hmmm. Anyway, don’t be put off by his reaction – this fragrance, inspired by a trip to Kerala in India, is an exotic blend of black tea, cardamom, jasmine and sandalwood. A delicate but dark and sensuous night-time beauty.

From £46 for 75ml, available now

And finally a date to put in your diary: Monday 2nd August 2010. Why? Because that’s when the stunningly beautiful limited edition Tailleur Bar Palette goes on sale in Selfridges, London, and there are only 150 to be had. Celebrating the first Dior Couture collection in 1947, it’s inspired by Christian Dior’s favourite shades of muted greys, mauve and pink, and comes with a pink Serum de Rouge, designed to compliment the shades of the palette. Beautiful, non?

£65, available at Selfridges, London from 2nd August

There are a couple of other big launches for Dior coming up in the Autumn, with one product in particular that’s truly special, but agonisingly, I’m not able to talk about them yet… I will of course let you know as soon as I can!

Gros bisous x