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Posted on January 25th, 2012 by Dollface
It happened again last week.
I was out visiting family, and a casual acquaintance of theirs – a woman I’ve only met a few times – suddenly zeroed in on my pasty complexion.
“Are you feeling OK?” she asked, cutting across the conversation we’d all been having to address me. “Because, it’s just, you’re SO PALE! You really look ill!”
Embarrassed, I explained (with the help of the other people present, bless them, who agreed that my complexion looked the same as it always does) that I was feeling perfectly OK, thanks, but, like many other redheads, I have very pale skin, and that this is how it looks.
My questioner was not to be appeased, though.
“You really don’t look well at all,” she told me. And then, addressing the room at large, “She’d look a lot better with some colour in her cheeks.” (I was wearing my usual makeup, including blusher) at the time. “I’d like her better with some colour.”
Now, as some of you know, I am not ashamed of my pale skin. I firmly believe that pale skin can be just as beautiful as any other shade, and I am not going to apologise for the face I was born with. Or, as Lady Gaga might say, “I was born this way, baby!”
But.
With all of that said, there’s no denying that I was stung by this woman’s comments, as I always am when someone tells me that my natural skin colour is unattractive or, in this case, makes me look “ill”. I don’t expect any healthy person enjoys being told that, do they? Because saying someone “looks ill” is just another way of saying they look BAD. Unless you know a person very well (or they’ve told you that they actually ARE ill), I think it’s one of those things that are best left unsaid. Never ask someone if they’re pregnant unless you can see the baby crowning, and never tell someone they look ill unless the ambulance is on the way, or you’re sitting by their bedside. Some free Dollface advice from you.
Over the next few days, then, I found myself looking at myself even more critically than I normally do, and I had to acknowledge that while I don’t think I looked ill, I am certainly much paler at this time of year than I am during summer, say. This is something that always happens to me in winter. I wear sunblock all year round, but in Spring and Summer I find that my freckles will darken just from being in the sun, which gives me the appearance of “having a bit more colour” as my new friend would say. By January, however, I haven’t seen the sun for such a long time that my freckles fade completely and my face becomes almost paper white (er, not exactly, obviously, but you know what I mean) without so much of a hint of natural colour.
When that happens, my usual makeup just doesn’t cut it any more, so I dug around in my beauty box, and I came up with this:
NARS Iluminator, in ‘Orgasm’. As you may remember, I received this as part of a complimentary Glossybox a while back. After my initial experiments with it, though, I found I didn’t use it much, because it wasn’t particularly visible on my skin. That was back in August, though, and I’d had three weeks in the California sun, plus the “best” of the UK summer. Now that I’ve tried it again on my much paler face, I have to retract my original comments on this. Yes, it’s still very subtle. No, it doesn’t create the kind of difference that makes you go OMGLOVE! But, having been wearing it all over my face (with the exception of my forehead, which really doesn’t need to look any shinier, thanks, and is mostly hidden by my fringe anyway), I find that it does take the edge of my pallor, and gives me a slightly healthier “glow”, as much as I hate that word.
I’ve moved this from “occasional use, only when I remember it” to “daily essential”. For now, at least. Next time I see that particular acquaintance, I may just let my pale flag fly!
Posted on January 24th, 2012 by Dollface
Wow, I’ve been doing a really bad job of keeping this blog updated, lately, haven’t I? I’d like to say that I’ll do better, but honestly, I’m so busy with my other sites at the moment that I can only promise sporadic posts, when I have something to say, so a huge thank you to those of you who are still subscribing!
With that said, here’s a really old photo of the Shellac manicure I got just before Christmas. Now, my nails are an absolute disaster zone: I can rarely be bothered to apply polish, and when I do, I’m too lazy to bother with the whole basecoat/topcoat thing, so it chips quickly and has to be removed. Which honestly doesn’t really bother me much, because I’ll probably be bored with it by that time anyway. Let’s not even talk about my cuticles, which should really be given their own postcode. Or the fact that I can’t stand the feeling of long nails on my keyboard, so I file mine down every couple of days and don’t always do a fantastic job of it.
In other words: I’m not a nail person.
This, however, made Shellac ideal for me. You see, I was really, really sick of having terrible, raggedy nails all the time. With Christmas approaching, and all of the various social engagements it brings, I wanted a more, er, manicured (sorry) look, and I wanted one that would be low-maintenance, and which would last for a long time.
Enter Shellac, which, as most of you probably know, is a 14-day manicure which won’t chip, won’t flake, and which dries instantly, so you can leave the salon and go about your day as if nothing happened. All of which sounded great to me.
Luckily for me, my friend Lindsay is a beauty therapist (see her page here), and Shellac is one of the treatments she offers, so I headed over one night before Christmas to have my nails “seen to”. At last.
The Shellac process is much like a regular manicure, the difference being that, between coats you place your hand under a UV lamp which instantly dries the polish to a hard finish. I decided to go for a classic French manicure, and was amazed by how quickly the different coats dried: when I removed my hand from the UV casing, the polish was already totally dry, which means you can instantly go about your business.
Shellac generally lasts for around 14 days. Lindsay had warned me that the French polish I’d chosen might not last quite as long, but it was still going strong 14 days later, and looking every bit as good as it did when it was first done: not a single chip or flake, no fading of the colour, nothing. I’m fairly hard on my hands, and even although I’d chosen to have my manicure during the holiday period, when I wasn’t doing much in the way of typing, there were still lots of activities which would definitely have wrecked a normal polish, but which didn’t even chip the Shellac. (For the first few days I found myself instinctively “protecting” my nails from things that might damage them, but after that I got used to it!)
At just over 14 days I noticed a very slight chip on one finger, and because my nails grow quite quickly, I also had quite a bit of “regrowth” at the base of the finger, so I decided it was time to remove it. This is a little trickier than having it applied: the polish is designed not to shift easily, but I soaked my nails in some remover and then used an orange stick to peel away the polish, as instructed by Lindsay, and it came off after a few minutes.
Now I just need to decide which colour to go for next…
(P.S. If you’re in central Scotland, Little Luxuries Beauty and Hair is here, and offers lots of other treatments, too!)
Posted in Nail Care
Tagged shellac
Posted on December 20th, 2011 by Dollface
This bottle of Thierry Mugler’s ‘Womanity’ dropped through my door a couple of weeks ago, and I’ve been trying to work out what I think of it ever since.
As regular readers will know, describing scents is not my strong point, but this one is a particularly unusual: it contains notes of citrus, woods, fig and caviar, which means that it somehow manages to be super-citrusy and fresh, and very musky, all at the same time.
 My own preference is for musky/powdery scents, so I find the blast of citrus, which is the first thing to reach your nose, a little overpowering. Leave it a few seconds, however, and I’m left with a really interesting, musky scent, which I really like. The citrus notes are still detectable, even once it’s had a chance to absorb for a while, but it becomes much less “fresh”, for want of a better word.
I probably wouldn’t have picked this up myself – the name alone is would normally be enough to put me off – but having had the opportunity to try it, I’d say it’s definitely one of the more interesting scents I’ve tried this year, and it’s gone into my regular rotation. I Also LOVE the bottle : definitely different!
If you want to try this for yourself, the price starts at £19, and you can click here to visit the Womanity website!
Posted on December 13th, 2011 by Dollface
As you can probably see from the state of the box, this little tub of MAC Fluidline Eye-Liner Gel has seen better days. That’s because I use it a lot.
This wasn’t always the case, though. You see, this is actually the very first gel eyeliner I’ve ever owned (I know, shocking), and I’ve only had it for a few weeks. In that time, however, I’ve become converted, and this conversion has come as something of a surprise to me, because I really didn’t expect it. I mean, I’d found my holy grail eyeliner pencil , I’d even found a budget version I loved: there was just no need for gel eyeliner in my beauty box.
Or so I thought.
I bought this tub of Fluidline on impulse a few weeks ago, when I was ordering some new brushes from MAC. (You know that thing where you think, “Oh, what the hell, I may as well just add something else to my basket, make the total up to a nice, round number?” That’s just me, isn’t it?) It comes in a little glass tub, and has a thick, creamy consistency:
 You will need a brush to apply this, and there isn’t one supplied with it. I have an Anastasia one which came free with something years ago, but any angle brush should do the trick.
To apply, you simply press your brush into the pot:
 And then use the brush to draw a line on the eyelid.
The reason I like this so much is that it creates a really smooth, thick line which is perfect for cat’s eyes and flicks. I only use it on the top lid – if I was doing a smoky eye, say, and wanted a more smudged effect I would go back to my trusty pencil, but this is the perfect product for precise application, and the kind of dramatic flicks I like. (I did take some photos of it on my actual eyes, but… I deleted them from the camera by mistake. Whoops. I will try to remember to take some more soon!)
This costs £13.50, but I know a lot of people swear by the Maybelline version, which is supposed to be almost identical – I’ll have to give that a try, too.
If you want to try this, meanwhile, you can click here to buy it at MAC.
Posted on December 8th, 2011 by Dollface
A few weeks ago, The Vintage Cosmetic Company very kindly sent me some of their false eyelashes to review. I’ve been really slow in getting round to trying them out, but I’m planning to road test some of the styles this month, and I’m starting off with the ‘Kitty’ lashes shown above which, like all of this brand’s products, come in a cute, vintage-themed package.
Here’s what they look like out of the box:
 Very long, and very fluttery, and I must admit that when I first held them up against my lashes, I was a little alarmed, because these are longer than I normally wear, and I was a bit worried they’d be a little OTT. I needn’t have worried, though, because while they do deliver plenty of drama, they were actually more wearable than they expected:
  These come in a range of different styles, and, as I said, I’ll be trying out some more of them soon: for now, you can click here for a list of stockists.
Posted on December 6th, 2011 by Dollface
Curmudgeonly Confession coming up: I’m not a huge fan of Christmas.
Oh, don’t get me wrong: I love the day itself. I just don’t really enjoy the run-up to it, what with all of the hysteria, the Christmas-Carols-in-Spetember, the crazed shopping people seems to indulge in at this time of year. (When, as we all know, crazed shopping isn’t just for Christmas, it’s an all-year thing!) (I’m kidding.) (Maybe.)
If it was up to me, then, I’d restrict Christmas to the week before the day itself at most, and would do all of the shopping on Christmas Eve. I am, however, willing to make an exception for beauty products, and these Philosophy gift sets are my one concession to The Christmas Spirit. (Unless wine counts as “the Christmas sprit”, that is…)
These are…
 Fun In the Frosty Air, £22
This contains three of Philosophy’s classic shamppo/showel gel/bubble baths, in tree festive scents: Ginger Berry Frost, Fresh Vanilla Frost and Sugar Plum Frost. I can confirm that each of these:
a) Smells fantastic
b) Is a helluva lot more fun than the ACTUAL frosty air, which may look pretty, but which is really just a massive pain in the butt, isn’t it? I’d much rather be in a nice, steamy hot shower with these than outside with the frost, that’s for darn sure.
What you may or may not be able to see from the photo is that these also have a hint of glitter in them, which doesn’t make much different to the performance, but which IS very pretty.
I’ve also been “preparing for Christmas” with:
Jingle Joy, £13.56
The scent here is “Sweet Winter Air”, and the orange bottle is the shampoo/shower gel/bubble bath, while the oatmeal coloured one is a body lotion. You can see the shimmer effect much better in the shampoo here, which is such a gorgeous colour that… I was going to say I wish I could bottle it, but as it’s already bottled, that would be silly. Instead, I’ll simply say that I’m tempted not to actually use it, and just keep it out on display, because I really enjoy looking at it. (I won’t, though. That would be silly, too.)
If you want to try these for yourself, Philosophy is avaialable at Boots and QVC in the UK, and at Sephora and Nordstrom (among other places) in the US. The Jingle Joy set is actually a Nordstrom exclusive: they DO ship to the UK, but it may be on the pricey side for just one item.
(Disclosure: these were sent to me as review samples.)
Posted on December 1st, 2011 by Dollface
When it comes to hair, I’ve always been very much a “wash and go” kinda girl. I’ve never really had a lot of time for styling products or tools, so for most of my life, a hairdryer and brush have been more than enough for me.
For most of this year, however, my hair’s been going through one of those annoying “growing out a fringe” stages. Suddenly, washing and blow-drying just doesn’t cut it any more: that fringe just wants to stick up and out, in all directions, so over the past few months, I’ve found myself becoming increasingly obsessed with finding the best tools to keep it under control, and looking as good as it can under the circumstances.
Enter Nicky Clarke’s Hair Therapy Straighteners, which were sent to me by VoucherCodes.co.uk as part of their bid to find out if budget straighteners are a good investment compared to their more expensive counterparts.
Now, I’ve always used budget hair straighteners, mostly because I’ve never considered them enough of an “essential” to want to spend a lot of money on. That said, I don’t want to ruin my hair either, so I was pleased to find that although these are only £14.99, they come with a range of features including tourmaline coated plates and Far Infrared Rays to help lock in moisture and stop your hair getting frazzled by the heat, basically. They also come with these:
 A brush, comb and banana clips, to help you achieve that “salon-straightened” effect: I love it when hair tools come with these little extras.
As for the straighteners themselves, they’re of the “no nonsense variety”:
 Forget the snazzy colours and cute carrying cases: these are sleek and functional, with a grey and silver casing, which houses the plates themselves, with the power switch and temperature dial on the inside.
These have a top temperature of 230degrees, and there are four heat settings. Rather than giving the actual temperatures, however, these are labelled FINE, MEDIUM, THICK and MAX, so you know exactly which setting to use for each section of hair. I found this really useful, as it takes a lot of the guesswork out of using this styler. With my current straighteners, which give the exact temperature, I have a tendency to just ramp them up to the highest setting, and use that for everything, but with these ones I found I was more likely to adjust the temperature according to which section of hair I was working on: I found that the “fine” setting, for instance, was more than enough to straighten my growing-out fringe, while I needed the higher temperatures for the thicker sections at the side and back of the head.
These warmed up within a couple of minutes, and were as easy to use as any other straighteners. I experimented with straightening some sections of my hair and using them to put loose waves in other sections, and had no problems at all, and I did feel my hair looked shinier afterwards than it normally does with my regular straighteners, which have no “moisture-locking” properties!
My one criticism of these would be the placement of the temperature control and power switch:
 It’s not in the most accessible position on the inside of the casing, and, being rather accident-prone, I was a bit worried that I’d end up burning my hand as I reached in to change the settings. I haven’t so far, thankfully, but I’d like these a little more with the dial on the outside, to minimise the chances of any accidents!
Overall, I was very happy with these, and while I don’t have a huge amount of experience of more expensive straighteners to compare them with (I do use the GHDs at the gym sometimes, but that’s pretty much it!), I found them perfectly suitable for my needs.
These are currently £14.99 at Comet, down from the original price of £39.99. Click here if you’d like to buy a set.
Posted on November 29th, 2011 by Dollface
Nanoblur is possibly one of the most-hyped beauty products of the year so far: it’s one of those “quick fix” creams, which doesn’t offer long-lasting changes to your appearance, but DOES promise to make you look younger and better while you’re wearing it. In this case, Nanoblur claims to make you look “Up to ten years younger in 40 seconds or less.” Well, obviously I was going to have to try THAT…
Unlike many of the other products in this genre, Nanoblur is actually pretty cheap. It costs just £20 per tube (Mine was actually sent courtesy of price comparison website, Idealo.co.uk, which makes it even more tempting – and made me even more skeptical, I must admit. So, what is it?
This looks like skin cream, but is really a cosmetic product, which, according to the blurb, “Immediately reduces the appearance of skin ageing, including the look of lines, wrinkles, crow’s feet, sagginess and enlarged pores.” It comes in a white plastic tube, and looks much like any other cream:
 There are a few different ways to use this, but the key to it is that it must always be the last step in your regime, so if you’re using it with makeup, you have to apply your makeup before using the Nanoblur. You can also use it on its own, however, and I decided to try that first, so I could give it a proper test.
Just like in the adverts I’ve seen for this, I decided to start off by applying the product to one side of my face only, so I could really see any difference it made. (No, I didn’t take photos of this: you have to be very unlucky to get to see me without my makeup!) I applied a thin layer over my skin, and waited for a few seconds to allow it to get to work.
Almost instantly, I felt a light tingling/tightening sensation on the surface of my skin, where I’d applied the cream. It’s not an unpleasant or painful sensation, and is much like the feeling you get with something like the Peter Thomas Roth Instant FirmX product I reviewed earlier this year. After about a minute, I looked in the mirror and…
…yes, there was a definite, visible difference between the side of the face I’d applied Nanoblur to, and the side I hadn’t. The main difference for me was that the Nanoblur side was now very, very matte. My skin has a tendency to shininess, and this product soaks up every last bit of it, so you’re left with a totally matte finish, which also has the effect of making my skin look paler and smoother. On the Nanoblur side, the pores were less visible, and the fine lines around the eyes were less pronounced, but not dramatically so.
Did I look ten years younger, though?
No, not really. Smoother and less shiny, yes, but not a whole ten years younger. Damn.
Having just told you that Nanoblur has to be used AFTER foundation, you can presumably guess what I did next. Yes, I tried to apply foundation over it. “Well, how hard can it be?” I thought. The answer? Very hard. Foundation just didn’t work over the top of it: unsurprisingly, given that the instructions specifically tell you not to do this. It won’t do you any harm, of course, it just goes on very patchy, and looks horrible, basically. I tried only in the name of research (I promise!), but didn’t repeat the experiment: instead, the next time I tried this, I used it OVER my foundation, as directed.
This attempt was a bit hit and miss. I find it quite difficult to apply the cream without it taking my foundation off, or making it look streaky, and when I do manage to get the application right, I have to use such a small amount of the product that I don’t really feel it makes a huge difference to my skin. That said, I don’t have a lot of deep lines yet, so I decided to take the test further, and took my trusty tube of Nanoblur to my mum, to let her have a go.
On my mum, the effect of this was much more apparent. As well as the mattifying effect I’d noticed, her frown lines looked softer (she also tried applying it to just one side of the face) and she really felt that it had made a difference. The difference it makes does seem to differ from person to person, however, because once my mum had tried it, Mr Dollface decided he had to have a go, too… On him, there wasn’t much difference to the frown lines, but we all noticed an improvement in the under-eye shadows and some of his other fine lines.
(Yeah, we have some fun times in our house, can you tell?)
Overall, I think this product DOES make a difference: just not a “ten years” younger, difference, although I do think there’s a knack to applying it properly, and I’m willing to admit that I may not just have found that knack yet! For me, I think the Peter Thomas Roth product I mentioned above has a much more obvious effect, and while it IS more expensive, it would still be my first choice above this: I think my best advice to anyone thinking of trying this would be to try to sample it first, so you can see exactly what kind of effect it will have on YOU, first. Oh, and be prepared to spend a little bit of time getting used to it: if you’re using it with makeup, it’s definitely not a “slap it on without even looking in the mirror” kind of thing!
This is available at Boots - or rather, is currently NOT available at Boots, because it’s been so popular that it keeps selling out. I got mine from Idealo.co.uk, which allows you to compare prices on lots of different products and then purchase direct from the retailer. You can check them out here.
Posted on November 23rd, 2011 by Dollface
This makeup bag appears to have an actual “dollface” on it, so naturally I had to show you it. Sure, it’s described as “kissy face”on the website, but we know what it REALLY is, don’t we?
This is just the right size for travel, and has a washable surface, which will come in handy if you’re prone to spilling things a lot, like me. Clear inner compartments also help you find what you’re looking for quickly, rather than having to dump everything out onto the vanity and then rummage through it. Er, also like me.
This is by Felix Rey, it’s $95, and you can click here to buy it at Shopbop.
Posted on November 22nd, 2011 by Dollface
 Hey, Dollfaces!
I’m currently laid up with a heavy cold, so I hope you’ll forgive a very lazy post, the purpose of which is simply to show you the contents of this month’s Glossybox, which was a very welcome surprise yesterday afternoon. I will try to string together a coherent thought (or as coherent a thought as I ever manage, anyway) tomorrow, but for now we have, from left to right…
Philip Kingsley Elasticiser
A super-moisturising shampoo for all hair types. My hair has been thoroughly abused with the heated rollers and curling tongs lately, so hopefully this will help whip it back into some kind of shape.
ETRO set of five fragrance vials
I would tell you what these smell like, but I can’t actually smell ANYTHING right now. Woe is me!
DEAD SEA SPA MAGIK bath salts
Exactly what it sounds like.
NAIL ROCK Designer Nail Wraps
I’ve wanted to try nail wraps for ages, so I’m really keen to test these out. Mine are in a black and white stripe pattern, which is a bit of a departure for me, as I usually stick to bright red or neutrals when it comes to nails, but it should be fun to try something different.
ARBONNE FC5 Ultra Hydrating Hand Creme
I’ve had this sitting on my desk since it arrived, so I can remember to use it at regular intervals. Before my sense of smell deserted me completely, I was really enjoying the smell of this – hoping it will bring some life back to my dry cuticles, too!
Now, back to the Lemsip!
(Disclosure: this was a PR sample.)
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