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

Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula Swivel Stick

This is a brilliant multi-purpose product, and cheap to boot. It's a fat stick of Palmer's Cocoa Butter in a non-messy balm form. I bought mine from Duane Reade in New York City during a recent trip when my hands started to dry out within hours of landing. (The skin between my fingers is very fast to get parched and cracked, so that it burns to wash my hands or apply lotion.) But I love to use this as a lip conditioner in cold or warm weather. Do I need to mention that it smells lovely, too?

Caudalie Moisturizing Cream-Mask for Face and Eyes

I got a sample tube of this recently at Bloomingdale's, and boy did it come in handy during my trip to the Sundance Film Festival.

I love this because it's a mask that blends into the skin so well that it's invisible, and it doesn't smell funny either. It also does not make my skin look greasy in the least. My preferred way to use a moisturizing mask is as an intensive overnight treatment, or even as a day cream when conditions call for it, so this invisibility counts for a lot.

Utah, where Sundance is held, was frigidly cold and somewhat windy. I knew my skin would suffer as a result of that and the dry airplane atmosphere on the way to and from Salt Lake City. But this mask saved me. I wore it as a day cream and overnight, and my skin didn't dry out in the slightest. I'll definitely be buying a full tube of this when I run out of the sample.

Carol's Daughter Soufflés

If you've got dry skin, or skin that is drying out in the cold weather, my advice to you is: Buy Carol's Daughter Soufflés in large quantities. I was sent a variety of them and have been eager to share the good news about this line with my friends...though not so eager to share the actual products. Mine, mine, mine!

What's in your shower?

A while back I wroe a wee post about Mychelle's Fruit Enzyme Cleanser, in which I mainly lauded the product's, er, cheapness. But a funny thing happened: since I began using it, my skin has completely changed for the better.  I've had seborrheic dermatitis for 20 years, and it is completely gone.

I began to consider that, as much as I hate to sound like a damned hippie, the absence of detergents and/or preservatives might be the reason. So I set out in search of natural, simple-ingredient shampoo, to see if my scalp would also clear up... and it did. After a a lifetime of perscription antifungal and cortizone creams and shampoos (one of which actually has a side effect of causing cancer), I'm amazed to discover that...I am just allergic to soap. So here, without further ado, is what I now have in my shower:

Mychelle Fruit Enzyme Cleanser and Blueberry Antioxidant Mask.

Aubrey Organics Camomile Luxurious Volumizing Shampoo.  Very gentle coconut corn-oil soap instead of sulfates. Nothing sexy here, but it's a really nice shampoo that does indeed make my scalp better. Not that it's not a dandruff shampoo, or scalp treatment shampoo. I find that the ingrediants in most scalp shampoos irritate my scalp. It's a matter of less is more.

Chagrin Valley Babassu and Marsh Mallow shampoo bar. A lot of what makes a shampoo formula complex is about making it into a pretty, transparent liquid. This stuff is surprisingly sensual, foams up beautifully ("saponified marsh mallow oil") and seems to contain nothing you wouldn't eat. The scalp is happy, and the hair is softer than ever, too, and needs no conditioner.

Trader Joe's Grapefruit Chamomile Sea Salt Scrub.  Salt and Oils. $6. Again, you could probably eat this (would make a nice grilled chicken baste).  This I've been using for months, and it smells and feels wonderful.

Dr. Bronner's Almond liquid soap. My mom used to use this back when she was a damned hippie. Again with the saponified coconut and olive oils. I prefer the almond to the classic peppermint. Mint is too harsh.

So that's my new bath product wardrobe.... I am still looking for that perfect macrame shower curtain, so if anyone sees one on ebay let me know.

Biotherm Source Therapie Superactiv

I'm not very happy about this trend in cosmetics that has everything looking and sounding so medical.  Surgical chic is not my cup of tea, not since the time I got to watch over a Beverly Hills sawbones' shoulder as he redesigned some poor girl's nose with a hammer and chisel--took all of the glamour out of it right then and there. 

I prefer beauty products to be, well, beautiful.  Pretty packaging, nice smelling potions, hope in a jar, what have you.  You can keep your bio-medi-thera-derma-matrix-activisms.  I want Madame Couchette's Syrope des Miracles Intense, made from the tears of fireflies, ground up fire opals and hummingbird jism--or something like it.

Which is why I was startled this morning to find I'd used up my bottle of Biotherm Source Therapie Superactiv.  I haven't exactly noticed how much I like this product, it's so unassuming and sternly all-business.  But to put things in perspective, I never, ever finish anything.  Haven't in years. But this stuff is gone, gone, gone, and I'm sad about it.  I can give no higher recommendation. 

Purely Shea: Better butter

Purely Shea is an extremely pure cosmetics company.  They have only one product, called... Purely Shea.  And Purely Shea has only one ingredient..... shea butter.  This comes as a tub of soft, waxy stuff that liquifies at skin temperature--you can scoop some on a finger and watch it melt like butter on a hot pancake.  It's recommended for rashes, sunburn, stretch marks, blemish treatment, etc.  I used it last night as a night cream on my extremely dry skin--my nose has the texture and appearance of an unpeeled pineapple these days--and will do so again.  I will also slather it on during the day when I go sailing, as it seems like the perfect barrier coating against the wind.

It's also refreshing to see a company offer a generous amount of product (the jar almost qualifies as a vat) at a reasonable price ($19.95).

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!

Dermalogica Intensive Moisture Balance (plus shopping talk)

I'm living and dying in this necklace I bought from H&M last week. It goes great with my heavily soft pink summer wardrobe choices.

I am also rarely out of the black beaded slipper-style pumps I got from Monsoon last week. They're very flat, which means I can wear them with trousers I had previously worried might be a fraction of an inch too short for me, as well as with summer skirts. I wouldn't want to walk miles in them, what with having only a thin sole between the bottom of my foot and the pavement, but they're more comfortable than high heeled sandals.

When I told my boyfriend that I was seriously considering buying another of the same pair, just in case I wore the first ones out, he replied, "You should." If you've ever had a boyfriend or husband who wasn't quite as encouraging in these things, you can appreciate how much I wanted to give him a big kiss at that moment.

But they were out of the slipper in my size (I'm a 42 in European, 9 in English; my feet keep shrinking as I lose weight, which is an excellent, unexpected consequence), so I ended up with the copper-coloured version.

My legs tend to dryness, so I'm quite pleased with the Dermalogica Intensive Moisture Balance lotion that Lookfantastic.com's Jason Russell gave me some sample packets to try. It absorbs quickly and smoothes away any signs of ashiness, so you can wear your summer skirts without anxiety.

Glytone Rejuvenate Facial Cream

So, skin woes. Mine is combination - tends to shine, but with occasional dryness. And I guess it's a bit sensitive...but then most skin is sensitive when you're irritating the hell out of it.

Until recently, I felt like my skin was a nightmare that would never end. The dry patches were really getting me down, because despite the fact that no one else (said they) could tell they were there, I knew. And sometimes they'd be itchy, which drove me crazy, because I couldn't do anything about it unless I wanted red raw dry patches.

But a month or so ago, I started getting some treatments for certain problems at a skin clinic. I described my skin nightmare to the nurse, and she could see for herself what was going down, and she told me in no uncertain terms to ditch my Eve Lom cleanser and steer well clear of any granular scrubs. Instead, she advised me to use a glycolic acid cream every night (easing into it with twice a week usage to start), which would exfoliate away the dry skin without irritating the rest of it. For daytime, she insisted I use a 30+ SPF sunblock, which functions as my moisturiser.

I bought from the clinic a pot of Glytone Rejuvenate Facial Cream, and have been using it faithfully ever since. I don't know whether the improvement my skin has seen is due to that or the Avene Gentle Cleanser (which the same nurse recommended and sold to me), but the difference is dramatic. The itching is gone, as are the dry patches, and I've not had any sort of breakouts or other annoying/gross skin issues.

...Until, that is, I tested a toner for the purposes of this blog. It may just be a coincidence, but the morning after using the toner, I woke up with a blemish. Toner ditched, everything's back to normal.

I'm quite pleased with the Glytone cream - it's not cheap, but after using it for a month, I've barely skimmed the top layer. At this rate, it will need to be thrown away for freshness reasons before I've actually managed to use it all. And it doesn't irritate my skin, despite the alpha-hydroxy acid content.

Now that I've got a skin routine that seems to be working for me, I'm now faced with a whole new set of circumstances: I may just have no real reason ever to try or buy any new skincare products. The prospect of that fills me with horror, boring as it would be, but it would also be a nice problem to have.

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.