Jack & Hill: A Beauty Blog - make-up, cosmetics, perfume, and the substance of style

The skin you're in

Someone asked in the comments here what I use on my skin to avoid crows' feet.

The conclusion I am coming to is that for me, specific products don't make a huge amount of difference. Cleansing well, rinsing very well (at least fifteen times), and making sure my skin is moisturized as needed seems to produce consistent results, regardless of the specific products.

(Do not consider leaving even the smallest amount of eye makeup on your face. I read recently that dermatologists are stunned at the amount of makeup residue that they see under their patients' eyes when they look at them under magnifiers. These traces contribute hugely to an old, tired look. Why spend tons of money on treatments and products if one of the easiest ways to look fresh is so cheap and easy?) 

Also, I don't smoke, I eat fairly healthfully, and I use at least SPF 15 every day, while not spending much time at all in the sun. (I also stopped drinking alcohol almost five months ago, since which time I have received lots more compliments on my skin and overall looks.) I could stand to drink more water, I'm sure.

But for what it's worth, here are some products that I use regularly.

Dove SkinVitalizer

I have to admit that my first assessment of the Dove SkinVitalizer is that it was created for women who are too shy to buy a vibrator - a Hitachi Magic Wand "neck massager" for a new generation. Because who on earth needs a vibrating handheld machine just to wash her face?

I'm still very dubious of whether or not this whole vibrating thing makes much difference in the longterm look and feel of skin. I suppose an argument could be made for it increasing circulation, which is never a bad thing, as most women have very poor circulation. But it all just seems overly complicated to me: the cost and chore of having to buy special dual-sided pads (which Dove calls 'pillows'), the obscene excess of plastic packaging involved, and the whole gimmick all did much to dissuade me against this product before I'd even tried it. (As you may have guessed, I got mine for free, from Dove PR.)

That being said, my skin did feel pretty soft and smooth after using both the cleansing and exfoliating sides of the pillows (though the products I applied afterwards - none of which were Dove brand - probably also contributed to this). I also found a way to get more use out of each pad, by using the SkinVitalizer to scrub my feet after I'd done my face. And with all of the foaming going on, I think feet are probably the only place where the cleanser embedded in the pads should really be used. Check out the ingredient list: water, Glycerin, Decyl Glucoside, Sodium Lauroyl Sarcosinate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Silicone Quaternium-8, Sodium Lauroyl Lactylate, Phenoxyethanol, Polyquaternium-10, Polyquaternium-4, Fragrance, Methylparaben, Propylparaben, Methylisothiazolinone. Let me have a cheaper, plain pad with which I can use my own cleanser of choice, and then we'll be talking.

Dove's website for this product is another horrible Flash monstrosity, so I won't link to the front page, which would only annoy you anyway. But they do offer a $3 off coupon on the purchase of a new SkinVitalizer with a 14-count refill of the cleansing pads. And all you have to do is fork over way more personal information than you should.

Sea Breeze Naturals Gentle Cream Cleanser: Quickie Review

I've been using this in the shower for the last several months, and it's just such a simple, straightforward product that I almost didn't notice how well it lives up to its name: It is gentle, it is creamy, and it does a good job of cleansing. It also has a nice mineral scent. At $5.99, this is a very inexpensive, oil-free, mildly anti-bacterial product, and the pump comes in very handy as well. (I've tried the foaming cleanser from the Sea Breeze Naturals line and found it way too drying for my skin, but my guy uses it on his.)

Murad AHA/BHA Exfoliating Cleanser: Quickie Review

I'm afraid this was far too drying for my skin. The texture of the cleanser was similar to the Cosmesis Self MicroDermabrasion that I tried and liked several months ago, but that product never left my skin feeling dry. I'm not a big fan of granular scrubs in general, as I prefer to let acids eat away at my face on their own. If you're interested in the Murad line, you might like to check out Paula Begoun's take on some of their products:

At the beginning, Murad's products were all about AHAs and his products were indeed well-formulated in this regard. But Murad also had poorly formulated products (now there are even more) that contained alcohol and other irritating ingredients, ranging from arnica to citrus oils.

Well, my boyfriend - who is the least hippy-dippy person you could ever wish to meet - swears by the all-natural arnica for making bruises go away, and a friend of ours even used it to help her recover from the soreness of childbirth. So perhaps take Paula's reviews, as you would any others, with a pinch of salt. (I've also found that exfoliating products for the face can successfully be repurposed as foot scrubs, always to be followed by a very emollient cream applied at bedtime and covered with thick socks.)

Murad Pomegranate Foaming Cleanser: Quickie Review

Pomegranate this-and-that seems to be a fad these days (I recently had some kind of frosty Pomegranate thing at Starbucks), and I'm not particularly interested in the so-called miraculous properties of the assorted marketing-driven ingredients I've encountered lately (caviar, red tea, rosemary, etc.).  I'm sure they're all fine and dandy, but buying a cleanser because it's got half an iota of fruit juice in it would be a bit like buying a car because the visor has a lighted mirror.  So, Pomegranate schmomegranate, I say.

And that said, I love the stuff.  Greasy cleanser offends my senses, although my dry skin is equally offended by cleansers that to an over-aggressive job, but the Energizing Pomegranate Cleanser Murad sent us last week works for me because it is foamy and lightweight, yet unctuous and non-drying like a cream cleanser--which it basically is.  Think of whipped cream, and you'll get the idea.  Lovely.

Elemis, TimetoSpa.com, and a jubilant Jack

Last week, at a New Media Age event, Hillary and I were introduced to Melissa and Jo from TimetoSpa.com. (That's them, at left; aren't they pretty?) The website is the official online retailer for, amongst other brands, Elemis. Jo told me that, sometimes, she feels like a spokesmodel for the brand, as she can't help but gush, whenever she gets together with her friends, about the wonders of all of the Elemis products she relies upon. Hmm.

The wine was flowing freely, the conversation was good, and before long, we'd been talking so long that Hillary and I were running late for the Samizdata Summer Party. But I was definitely intrigued to try out some Elemis lotions and potions, if they were good enough to reduce a girl to pub time product promotion.

So you can imagine my delight when, this afternoon, I took delivery of a massive box full of Elemis products from Melissa and Jo. This smaller, gorgeous teal and aubergine box was tucked inside the larger one, and looked so perfect that I almost did not want to open it. (Of course I did, though; it contained a voucher for an Absolute Aroma Stone Ritual - a stone therapy massage followed by an anti-ageing Performance Facial - at the Elemis Day Spa in Mayfair, and a little bottle of bath milk. Score!)

We're all beauty junkies here, right? So you know that when I say I was having palpitations of joy over this bounty, I am only exaggerating a tiny bit. No matter how many free products I get - and believe me, I am only moved to write about a fraction of them - I am always excited to try new things. Melissa and Jo sent me a box of about 25 new things, so my usual sense of anticipation was rather heightened.

The package also contained a beautifully handwritten letter from Melissa, covering two sides of an A4 sized sheet of paper, giving me explicit directions on a relaxing nighttime routine using no fewer than six of the products. I wasted no time in high-tailing it to the bathroom, my arms overflowing with Elemis. I added another two products to the mix for good measure. Here's the lineup:

1. Cleanse with Elemis Rehydrating Rose Petal Cleanser

2. Follow with Elemis Rehydrating Ginseng Toner (Smells fab, and you mist it onto your face before wiping with a cotton pad; I was wary of trying this, as my skincare routine has been toner-free for a few months now - with excellent results - but this toner is so mild that I could use it to wipe off my eye makeup. Freshness without stinging? My kind of toner.)

3. Apply Elemis Papaya Enzyme Peel (I'd rather use this than eat an actual papaya; again, no stinging)

4. Rinse off the peel after 15 minutes, smooth on Elemis Exotic Cream Moisturising Mask

5. Remove mask; massage Elemis Cellular Recovery Skin Bliss Capsule (lavender capsule at night, pink in the morning) into face and neck (This is rich with moringa oil, but absorbs quickly and completely - no environmental disaster of an oil spill left behind.)

6. After a few minutes, apply a layer of Elemis Pro-Collagen Marine Cream to the face and neck (This, their best-selling anti-ageing moisturiser, smells amazing - like the ocean if it didn't stink of fish corpses.)

I completed steps 1 through 4 while soaking in a bath containing five capfuls of Elemis Skin Nourishing Milk Bath; this can be massaged into very dry skin as a cream, and I think I will buy a bottle of it for my step-mother (who suffers from skin so dry that she sometimes uses Vaseline as moisturiser). The scent is floral without being grandmotherly - same goes for the Elemis Exotic Island Flower Body Balm that I rubbed in post-bath. These two would make a great gift for a woman with severely dry skin, and the latter absorbs quite quickly into a damp dermis.

Truth be told, I am now far too relaxed to be sitting upright, let alone typing this. But I jumped online to do just that, so thrilled was I with both the gesture from Melissa and Jo and the effects of tonight's routine. Watch this space for updates on how regular use of these products pans out, as well as reviews of the other products they sent me. Thanks, TimetoSpa team!

Avene Extremely Gentle Cleanser

Yeah, I kinda left you hanging there. So: Avene Extremely Gentle Cleanser is, as I said, my new favourite. It is what it says on the label - non-irritating and creamy without leaving a film on one's skin (as something like, say, E45 Wash - which I was using prior to the Avene - does). According to the label, you don't even need to rinse it off; you can just use a cotton pad to apply and a tissue to remove. Because I'm contrary - not to mention afraid of the tiny spots one can get from failure to rinse thoroughly - I apply it with my fingers, wipe it off with a cotton pad, and rinse with lukewarm water at least ten times. It's good and also relatively inexpensive - I got mine from my (paid) friends at the Skin Knowledge Network for £7, 50 pence off the suggested retail price.

My skin looks fine (or so everyone goes to pains to tell me), but in truth it's something of a nightmare: it tends to dry patches, while also being shiny as hell, and can be awfully sensitive when it wants to be. Unfortunately, I can't find Cetaphil here, and thinking about it, I wouldn't be surprised if the Avene Extremely Gentle Cleanser was comprised of the same exact ingredients.

The not-so-secret garden

Oh, what a small world: I do a Google search for my favourite new cleanser, Avene Extremely Gentle Cleanser, and the first result is from the Garden Pharmacy, which is located a few doors down from my new office. (I'm also a fan of Avene Thermal Spring Water, for spraying on my face if it's a bit irritated. I don't know that the water is all that special, but my skin has been quite good lately.)

The Garden Pharmacy is a fab little place in Long Acre, Covent Garden. I had to rush in - to pick up some contact lens solution - and out the other day, and wished I didn't have something stuck in my eye, as it would have been nice to have a long browse (and not to have something stuck in my eye). At the moment, they've got a sale on Clarins products: buy two, get three large sized products free. (This is in the shop; their excellent website doesn't seem to reflect this special offer, though there are loads of others on there.) While the jury may still be out on Clarins skincare, this is worth a look in if you're a fan. (Another parenthetical aside: My boyfriend has an apartment in a Parisian suburb, and apparently the Clarins HQ is just across the road. They actually drop samples off with the local women! We are so moving there.)

Skin Milk

Thanks to Jamie at Shop PR for sending me a big box of Skin Milk (WARNING: Slow, pointlessly all-Flash site) goodies a couple of weeks ago. There's nothing like a huge box full of products to make a girl happy.

The Skin Milk line is made up of products - bubble bath, shower cream, body moisturiser, facial cleanser, and facial moisturiser - that all smell milky. This is one of my favourite scents; of course, the cosmetic version is not quite authentic, but it's definitely improved on reality.

The products themselves vary in their usefulness for me; the facial cleanser is too drying, and the facial moisturiser is not emollient enough. But my skin is somewhat problematic, so I imagine that someone with decent skin wouldn't have any trouble with these.

The shower cream is more useful to me, especially when backed up by the body moisturiser. If you've got extremely dry skin on your body, though, you might need something more substantial to deliver more moisture.

At $4.99 a pop for all products, it's a cheap and cheerful way to stay clean. (I'm recycling the facial cleanser as hand wash, as I often do with inexpensive cleansers or shower gels that I just don't love enough to use for long. The facial moisturiser could be used for hands, too.) You can buy these products in Walgreens and stores like that. They'd make a good gift for a tweenie.

Slovakia haul

By far, the very best purchase I made in Slovakia was a big bottle of Dermacol Elixir Milky Cleanser from the Dermacol Studio. It's perfect for skin that is leaning towards dry, and was cheap as chips - $4 or so. When I bought it, the shop assistant popped in two sample sachets of other products, Elixir Serum (that page is only handy if you're fluent in Russian) and Elixir Make-up with algae. I liked the former, and absolutely loved the latter. I didn't try it out until the morning we left, at which point I texted our friend Adriana - who flew over with us but was staying on to visit family - and asked her to pick up a bottle of it for me. She did so immediately, it seems, clearly understanding the momentousness of finding a good foundation.

Another good purchase was the pleasant-smelling, seemingly effective Sebamed Day Cream for dry skin. It was something like $14 from a pharmacy in the Polus City Center, and so far it doesn't seem like a waste of money. Time will tell.

I was also pleased to pick up a bottle of Calvin Klein Euphoria, a scent that suits me very well. I am shameless in the mainstream nature of my approach to scent; I cannot abide stuff like Calvin Klein Escape for women, Clinique Happy, or Elizabeth Arden Sunflowers, but my favourite scents of the last decade have been Beautiful by Estée Lauder (which my grandmother and best friend also wore, a fact which does not have as much to do with my preference as one might imagine) and Prada's eponymous scent. I don't like it when I pass a woman who is wearing either of these, viewing her as a trespasser on sacred ground. Euphoria is another that I hope against hope will not be purchased by anyone else on earth, despite the huge publicity blitz and accompanying free samples that have been inserted into what seems like every magazine published in the last two months.

The shop assistant in the perfume store was also free and easy with the samples - something that shocked me after years in stingy Britain, where samples simply do not exist. One was A*men by Theirry Mugler, which is semi-interesting - chocolate-y and cinnamon-y, but too much like his Angel to be that remarkable. I wear the sample contentedly; I wouldn't shell out for the stuff. The other sample was Kenzo Pour Homme. I used to wear Kenzo Flower, but found it boring after a couple of days. This is similarly yawnworthy, with strong grapefruit scents (good) accompanied by cedar, musk, and other stuff that sounds like it would smell better than it does. After wearing it for a few hours, I asked Antoine what he thought. "Heavily chemical," he said, hitting the nail on the head. It owes a bit too much to the aforementioned Escape for women for my taste.

All in all, I spent much less money on cosmetics in Slovakia than I would have imagined. We're now gearing up for a Thanksgiving visit to the US in two weeks, and I know I can get good products there - with the directions and labels in English, no less - even more inexpensively than (for the most part) in Europe.

Oh, and there was only one purchase that instilled lust in my heart, and it was one I passed: a beautiful black fur handbag with leather strap, much like this Fiorelli one. It cost £40 (about $70), which isn't really a lot of money. But I'm in the "I don't need to buy beautiful things in order to appreciate them" mindset, and trying to stay there.