Beauty bits: Afro hair and beauty show, Lipstick Queen, Selfridges, Calvin Klein, Into The Gloss, Estee Lauder, Acqua Di Parma
THIS WEEKEND: THE AFRO HAIR AND BEAUTY SHOW
No plans for the Bank Holiday? Don’t forget to head to the Afro Hair & Beauty Show 2014 at Business Design Centre in Islington (30th-31st May). A mecca for product junkies and trend hunters, it’s the biggest hair & beauty exhibition of its kind in Europe. Tickets are £12 on the door.
LIPSTICK QUEEN’S NEW SUITS-ALL RED
My favourite new treat from Lipstick Queen is Jungle Queen lipstick (£20) – a flattering orangy red that works with my olive skintone. I love the texture, it’s just moisturising enough but doesn’t all slide off. Lipstick Queen’s founder Poppy King swears by the animal-print-with-red-lippy combo so has packaged this one in a luxe green tube with an animal-print box – very retro and a little bit Fiorucci… Buy it at Space NK.
GOOGLE HANGOUTS AT SELFRIDGES
I’m loving the programme of Google Hangouts that Selfridges is broadcasting as part of its Beauty Project which is now in full swing. Google Hangouts can be glitchy, but when they work, they’re great. The inimitable British Beauty Blogger hosted a hangout with Charlotte Tilbury which was a little QVC-like (Charlotte knows how to upsell!) but addictive to watch nevertheless. And this Google Hangout panel discussion by Sali Hughes and her beauty editor mates on beauty and growing old gracefully is highly watchable (although you may find yourself shouting at the screen).
CALVIN AND CHRISTY
Calvin Klein is slap bang back on my radar. Aside from those sweatshirts, I’m having a flashback moment to the Eternity years (AKA my signature fragrance of the late 90s). Clever of them to get Christy Turlington back as their campaign girl for Eternity and Eternity Night, this time co-starring hubby Ed Burns. Might be time to reinvest.
CINDY CRAWFORD AND DEBI MAZAR ON INTO THE GLOSS
Can’t decide which of these two Into The Gloss beauty interviews I loved more. Debi Mazar discussed her auspicious beginnings as a dental assistant and her years as Madonna’s makeup artist and BFF (here they are in the True Blue video). Meanwhile, Cindy Crawford discussed her early modelling years and her high-low beauty product habit (think 6 pots of Crème de la Mer for the whole family, plus Elnett hairspray and generic Secret deodorant).
ESTEE LAUDER’S BB GLOW
These two Estee Lauder products came out in March but I’ve only just got round to using my samples. The Double Wear Brush-on Glow BB Highlighter (£23.50) is nothing short of brilliant. Yes it’s just like Touche Eclat (it even comes in a gold tube – tsk!), but it’s a fatter tube, the product flow is better and it seems to be a bit more moisturising. As with Touche Eclat, it’s billed as a highlighter, not a concealer, so add it to the browbone as well as dark circles for a more wide-awake effect. The Double Wear All-Day Glow BB Moisture Makeup SPF 30 (£29) is a lightweight foundation with a slightly dewy finish (hence the ‘glow’). I found this slightly thick compared to my trusty Myface foundation, so a good tip is to add a teeny bit of serum or Advance Night Repair to dilute it a little.
ACQUA DI PARMA’S BLUE SUMMER
Now we’re nudging into summer, Acqua Di Parma is the scent of choice in the DRG household. I love the freshness of their colognes and I like the aesthetic and quality of the brand. They’re unisex too which is very handy – Mr DRG buys, I wear… The latest in the Blu Mediterraneo line is Ginepro di Sardegna (75ml EDT, £54), a warm, woody scent to evoke Sardinia’s windswept shores. It’s heavy on juniper, pepper and cedarwood notes so if you like aromatic masculine scents, you’ll love this. Also part of the line is a shower gel, body milk and deodorant – apparently you should layer your body lotion over your fragrance to lock it in. Who knew? Buy it here.
