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

The Neiman Marcus Beauty Event

"Oh, a beauty 'event,'" I thought when I got the Neiman Marcus promotional email for this one. "Notice that they're not calling it a sale. What's so special about it, then?"

As it turns out, the Neiman Marcus Beauty Event offers some pretty impressive gifts with purchase from brands such as Aqua di Parma, Laura Mercier, NARS, Bobbi Brown, Burberry, Prada, Annick Goutal, Jo Malone, La Mer, Creed, Chanel, and loads of others. Not only that, but when you spend $85 (before tax and shipping) on cosmetics and/or fragrance, Neiman Marcus will give you a cute pink bag stuffed with miniature versions of products from Kiehl's, Lancome, Dolce & Gabbana, Valentino, Natura Bissé, and others.

The only problem is deciding which brands to spend with; I'm leaning towards Laura Mercier and Acqua di Parma...

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.

Obligatory Christmas gift post

Okay, I'll join the fray, but only because I already got a ton of Christmas presents last week (I celebrated early with my family in Ohio, since I will be in London for the holidays; plus I bought myself a few nice things). Trust me on these:

1) Lancome mascaras. Lancome makes the best mascaras, but if they're so good, you'd think they could create just one that does everything a girl needs. Instead, there are like 38 varieties. I now own five of them, including two acquired this week from duty free. No regrets.

2) Flannel lounging 'pants'  - that is, trousers. I didn't actually get any of these, but Antoine did (a pair of Ohio State ones from my parents), and I'm definitely going to steal them. There will be no wearing them outside the home, though, and I'd like to examine the head of whoever started the horrible pyjamas-as-public-fashion trend.

3) The 20th anniversary Oprah Winfrey Show boxed set: 17 hours and multiple DVDs of the very best footage. Yes, this is the most humiliating gift ever, but I don't care. I haven't seen an episode of Oprah for something like eight years, and this is perfect for those who, like me, love surprises and having their heart ripped out by tales of people who have suffered beyond comprehension. Every viewing is a three Kleenex occasion. It's great!

4) Cotton Blossom scented products from Bath & Body Works, for those times when you just want to smell like fabric softener. (The Brown Sugar and Fig line is just as nice.) Only recently, I've regarded Bath & Body Works with extreme disdain, but I must admit, they do have some worthy items right now. Adding other lines to their repertoire has certainly helped: The Buttercream Body Frosting from Jacqua which B&BW offers right now is that rare item: a not-too-sickly addition to the many food-based beauty products that are so popular right now, presumably designed for those who deny themselves oral consumption of such things but still want to bask in their scents and textures.  (Also, do yourself a favour and buy $25 worth of products so you can nab the sweet faux crocodile overnight bag - I got mine in red - for only 25 more dollars. I've already used the hell out of mine in only three days.)

5) Tommy Hilfiger sweaters, going for cheap at Macy's. "Duh, why do you think they're cheap? No one wears Tommy anymore," my younger brother told me scornfully. Like I give a care. They're comfy and well cut.

6) Books out the wazoo, from Half Price Books in Columbus, Ohio. My father took me there, thinking I'd be in and out in ten minutes. Much, much later, I was finally dragged out with two huge bags of books. Set aside a whole day for this place.

All this after I told my parents that I didn't want any Christmas presents. Wrong! If you're still looking for something to get me, I really want subscriptions to Every Day with Rachael Ray and Cooking with Paula Deen. (There must be some kind of unwritten rule that celebrity chefs have to possess a mixture of charisma and repulsiveness which renders me unable to turn away from their image. Rachael is the female, American answer to Jamie Oliver: Superficially cute, but really quite annoying, and yet oddly engaging. Paula seems to be putting on her y'all-I'm-fixin'-to-hoe-my-row Southern schtick, but her dogged use of entire sticks of butter, heavy cream, mayonnaise, and white sugar has me morbidly fascinated. How is she still alive?)

Eve Lom products would also be appreciated, but never expected.

Free shipping from Lancome.com

From tomorrow through Friday, May 20, Lancome.com is offering free shipping on all orders. (Note: You have to be a My Lancome member - which is free, but means the hassle of filling out a registration form - in order to take advantage of this special.)

What passes for risk-taking around here

When I was in LA a few weeks ago, Hill gave me a big (Biba!) bag full of cosmetic goodies to bring back to London. I was, of course, absolutely ecstatic. But I didn't realise that what she was giving me wasn't just a bag full of free products. She was giving me some fun that I might never have had on my own: The bag contained, amongst the Tony & Tina Sun Goddess Set and the Smashbox mascaras, many products I never, ever would have paid for myself. Specifically, quite a few eyeliners and shadows in shades of blue and green.

Over the last week, I've been playing with those colours. One day, I wore the Lola Eyeliner in Peek a Blue ($16) with the Helena Rubenstein eye shadow in Outsmart Olive ($27.50), which sounds like a recipe for instant trash - and not in a good way. But I liked the look, which was much more subtle than I would have imagined. Same goes for Saturday, when I wore the Helena Rubenstein eye shadow in Soar Into Sky ($27.50) with the MAC eye pencil in Light Blue ($13). The bright-but-understated look that resulted pleased me immensely, not least because it's one I'd never have dreamed of trying on my own dime.

In the picture above, I'm wearing Bobbi Brown Lip Color in Salmon ($20), a color that has sat untouched for years in the limited edition Bobbi Brown lip palette that I bought on a flight from London to New York. Bolstered by my fun with new shadow colours, I decided to try something different on my lips, which are usually swathed only in shades of mauve-y brown or berry. The salmon thing doesn't really do much for me, I've decided, but it's not exactly offensive, either. Strangely, the lack of success in the end result did not lessen the fun of the experiment one iota.

What's the last look you took a chance and tried? Did you love it or hate it? And how much did it cost you to find out?

Give it away, now

Lancome's e-commerce site may be less than perfect, but the company does love to give away freebies: Further to Hill's post about free base and mine about the free blush and mascara samples when ordering $25 or more from lancome.com, you can also nab free "deluxe" samples of Exfoliance Confort exfoliating cream and Tonique Confort toner when ordering $25 or more from the site. Just input the code FLASH at checkout. (At the risk of eliciting a big "No duh, Jack," I'd break a $50+ order into two, then enter FLASH at checkout for one order, and CHERIE - the code for the free blush and mascara - at checkout for the other. More freebies = less space on the dressing table = who gives a care?)

More lancome.com freebies are listed here, and the site also offers free shipping on orders over $50 and choice of sample with every order. I'm still sulking about their buggy site, though.

Pink redux, and the mysterious success of Bath & Body Works

Further to Hill's post about pink, here's what I spotted in London's Fenwick department store yesterday, right under a sign proclaiming "PROM DRESSES". Indeed they are. But as far as I know, they don't have proms in the UK. I can only hope that prom dresses are the hot new thing to wear for females who aren't hormonal teens.

As for the pink eye shadow Hill mentioned, it jogged my memory that I, too, own some. It is from - of all places - Bath & Body Works.  I can't even find makeup on the Bath & Body Works site, which tells me how old that eyeshadow must be. (I have a taupe shade from B&BW, too, which is excellent.) I guess I should throw it away, since a) it looks awful on me, and b) it could give me an eye infection if I ever did wear it. But...no. Throwing away makeup is not something I am emotionally equipped to do.

And to go off on yet another tangent: What is the point of Bath & Body Works? All of the scents are knock-you-out and overly cloying; even as a 13-year-old, I could only tolerate my Juniper Berry and Sun Ripened Raspberry body sprays for a few days after purchasing them. Or maybe I'm just being snobby; when a store opens an outlet in my teeny, rural hometown in Ohio, as B&BW did a few years ago, I figure there is no reason to ever consider shopping there again.

That said, the addition of C.O. Bigelow products to their inventory might just lure me back into a Bath & Body Works store someday. But if you want to get your Bigelow stuff online, don't bother using the B&BW website, which only allows you to "browse online, shop in-store," as they put it. Luckily, you can purchase direct from the Bigelow apothecary's online shop - which offers free UPS ground shipping for all internet orders over $60.

Good Antibody

Friend of Jack & Hill and journalist Nancy Rommelmann writes:

You know those ads for conditioner that promise body? I'm waiting for one that offers anti-body. Why? Because when I take the barette out of my hair, it still holds its ponytail shape. This can have its moments, say, when you're trying to pass yourself off as psychotic or homeless, or to amuse young children. But mostly, I'm trying to get my hair to look like this and not this. The proletariat solution is Pantene Pro-V; it makes hair soft and is said to help curls to curl rather than frizz, something I wouldn't know about, having married my blow dryer at age 13.

But the splurge-that's-become-a-necessity is Terax, a miraculous crema from Italy that renders coarse hair lustrous, and more so the more you use it. Forget Frizz-Ease and Phyto's Phytodefrisant (which smells like school paste and has the consistency of spermicidal jelly) and anything that contains the word "natural." Terax is the bomb, and while you can spend up to $20 for the 5 oz. tube, smart girls get theirs for $13.

I never thought I'd have to spellcheck the word 'spermicidal' for this blog.

Free base

It won't get you high or set you on fire, but it will cover blemishes.  I happened to be walking through Robinson's May on my way to Lenscrafters this a.m., and noticed that Lancome is giving away a 10 day supply of base for the asking.  I'm always leery of being trapped at the counter, but there was no pressure-sell.  I now have a purse-sized vial of Renergie Lift Makeup in Porcelaine 20.

Lancome's website is giving me an aneurysm

I may be a lippy addict, but it looks like I won't be buying the four new limited edition Lancome Juicy Tubes. I really wanted to, until I tried to use their website.

The email Lancome sent me says that the "designer" tubes are $16 each, the page linked to in the email says $21 each, and the colour featured in the pretty picture is not even offered by the drop-down menu. Oh, wait. The email links you to the totally wrong page. This is the right one. And the four limited edition colours are not mentioned anywhere on it. But I know from the email that they are Frozen Punch, Rose Sorbet, Berlingot, and Marshmallow - and only one of those seems to be available on the drop-down menu.

Dear Lancome,

Buying lip gloss should not induce in the shopper a seizure of confusion and rage. The shopper should not have to work so hard to make a purchase that they are very inclined to make anyway. The difference between a shopper and a customer can be as little as fifteen seconds of unnecessary frustration with your inadequate website.

Bisous,
--Jackie, longtime customer and currently disgruntled shopper

If you're a lot more patient than I am, or are a rabid Juicy Tube collector, and plan to hunt high and low until you find the damned things on the website, you should know that you can get free samples of Blush Subtil Delicate Oil-Free Powder Blush in Sheer Amourose and Definicils High Definition Mascara in Black (my all-time favourite, I am pained to say) from Lancome.com when you spend $25 or more. Just enter the code CHERIE at checkout.