HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a wonderful time of year!! Time to get out the pumpkins, and the Ben Nye face paints, what a rare treat! I love the dark evenings and the falling leaves. Time to be inspired by colour. Time to think seriously about skincare. Two products I am loving at the moment are both perfect for Autumn/Winter and both from Kiehl's. Frst is their Midnight Recovery Concentrate, a rich combination of botanical extracts and oils which gives dull skin a lovely overnight boost. Second is their 24-Hour Ultra Facial Cream, a wonderful product that gives deep mosturisation without being heavy or greasy. It contains various goodies including glycoproteins which are said to help protect the skin from environmental stresses. All I know is it feels amazing on the skin and it is also completely unscented, which is a major boon to sensitve skin. 10/10 to both of these amazing finds!

Vitriol d'oeillet - my Autumn love affair

If you know me at all, you will know that I am a fragrance junkie. My bathroom window sill is crowded with bottles, everyone a much loved friend.

But move over guys, there's a new kid in town, and he's not sharing.

I got a sample of Serge Lutens "Vitriol d'Oeillet" and was just blown away by the spicy intensity. It hits you with pepper and paprika at the outset, then this is tempered by mellow nutmeg and carnation at the finish. I don't find it particularly "gourmande", but still puts me in mind of mulled wine and hot kitchens on cold winter days. it dries down to a lovely spicy oriental with a trace of wood, a hint perhaps of the cedar as in Feminite du Bois, a very intimate scent close to the skin. Also very unisex, there is no feminine softness here, it is rich and complex. Another to add to my Serge Lutens collection. On my wishlist, Jeux de Peau, a confection of milk, coconut and licquorice, smelling rather like a freshly baked brioche, and De Profundis, a pure floral, chrysanthemum at the heart of this beautiful cool fragrance with its gorgeous purple juice. I
MUST HAVE!!!

Another year older...

I realised today that I haven't posted on this blog for over a year. The skincare products I was using at the time have long since been used up, and several experiments have come and gone since.
At the moment I am trying Lancome's "Visionnaire", which claims to do everything except cure cancer and solve the Eurozone debt crisis. (If the truth be told it has exacerbated my own personal debt crisis, if anything). It contains a molecule called Jasmonic acid, a plant -derived compound which signals cellular renewal. They have essentially folded this molecule to make it small enough to penetrate to the dermis of human skin. I must admit I can't in all honesty believe this will work but I am giving it a try because at the end of the day the desire for a beauty miracle is stronger than all my logical impulses.

Initially I felt quite a reaction to the product. My skin heated up quite a bit, and I have resorted to using it around my eyes and on my T-zone only, avoiding the cheeks which are a disastrous mess of telangectasia and just too sensitive for this product. Since it seems to cause some sort of swelling of the dermis, it may do something to even out pore size and tackle fine lines, which are my main concerns anyway.

Time will tell......