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Monthly Archives: February 2011
Dollface Reviews: Remington Spin Curl hairdryer
Greetings, Dollfaces! Today I come to kill you, mwahaha!
OK, OK, I jest. It’s not a strangely-shaped weapon, it’s a hairdryer. To be specific, it’s the Remington Spin Curl hairdryer, and it’s responsible for the huge pile o’frizz you see attached to my head in this photo.
I’ve actually had this since Christmas, but it’s taken me this long to put together a review of it, because, to be perfectly honest, that’s how long it’s taken me to work out that either I just can’t work the thing, or that it’s not designed with my hair in mind. I’m betting on the former option. I mean, it took me a few minutes to work out which end of it I was supposed to feed my hair into, so I’m not the brightest, and hair really isn’t my strong point. But I’m getting ahead of myself. First, the obligatory product description.
The Remington Spin Curl, as I’m sure most of you know, is a hairdryer with a special attachment which creates loose, beachy waves as you dry your hair. It looks like – and, in fact, is - a regular hairdryer without the attachment:
Jean Paul Gaultier ‘Fragile’ Body Lotion
Confession: I don’t like body lotion.
Well, actually, that’s not quite true. I love the smell of body lotion. I love the feel of it. I really like the idea of it. But although my bathroom cabinet is currently filled to bursting point with bottle after bottle of lotion, the reason it’s so full is that I hardly ever use the stuff. I just hate getting out of the shower into my freezing bathroom and then having to stand in the cold and apply lotion, and I also hate having to spend the next 20 minutes or so walking around with my skin all sticky/greasy, which is so often the case with me and body lotions.
This one, however, is different. This is Jean Paul Gaultier’s ‘Fragile’ Body Lotion, and Mr Dollface bought it for my birthday last year, to go with the ‘Fragile’ perfume (my signature scent… when I can afford it) he also got me. And I absolutely love it. As well as the scent (which is exactly the same as the perfume: that sounds obvious, but trust me, it’s not always the case), this lotion absorbs into the skin almost instantly, so when I use it, my skin feels soft and smooth, but there’s none of that tackiness I associate with other body lotions. The scent also lasts all day – I can still smell it when I get into bed at night, which makes it perfect for layering with the perfume.
If I could afford to, I would wear this every single day. Sadly, at £30 for a small bottle, it’s much too expensive for that, and is a “special occasions only” kind of treat for me, but if you happen to be a Fragile fan, it’s a worthwhile investment.
Click here to buy it.
Hello Sailor nautical wash bag from Dolly Dagger
I couldn’t let this little nautical style wash bag go by without a mention: well, it is one of my favourite themes, after all!
This is from Dolly Dagger (Which, incidentally, is one of my favourite destinations for cute/kitsch and reto fashion), and is £18.99, which is maybe a little bit on the pricey side, but still: as well as holding all your essentials, it’ll also look cute sitting in the bathroom, or wherever you choose to leave it.
Click here to buy it.
Michael Kors Very Hollywood scented ink pen
Do not adjust your sets, readers: I know this is a pen you’re looking at, but there is a connection to the world of beauty products, and I’m not just referring to the ones you can see in the photo, I’m referring to the pen itself. This, you see, is a scented ink pen, which you can use to send scented love letters, or anything else that strikes your fancy. (I rarely ever use pen and paper these days, thanks to the Internet, so I’m drawing a bit of a blank here. Scented Christmas cards, perhaps?)
It’s by Michael Kors, the scent is Very Hollywood, and I can confirm that the ink is, indeed scented, although I can only detect it if I sniff the paper, which I’m guessing not a lot of people would think to do. (You may need to add a postscript saying, “Please smell this letter!”) That aside, the scent itself is absolutely gorgeous, and I’ve now made a mental note to try out the perfume when I get the chance, to see if it smells as nice as the ink in the pen suggests.
This is a limited edition, it costs £20 or $25, and you can read more about it here.
[Disclosure: this was sent to me as a press sample]
Dollface Reviews: Invisalign Clear Braces
As those of you with very good memories may recall, at around this time last year, I started using Invisalign clear braces to straighten my crooked, gappy teeth. I actually finished my treatment a few weeks ago (I would actually have been done much quicker, but there were a few long gaps in the treatment where either I was on holiday, or couldn’t get to the dentist for some reason, and that made it last a little longer than anticipated), so I figured now was a good time to look back on the experience and tell you how it turned out.
(This is long, so I’ve put most of it under the jump. If you want to know more about Invisalign in general, you’ll find my other posts on it here.)
Dollface Reviews: Frownies Forehead and Between Eyes anti-wrinkle patches
As I mentioned earlier this month, I’m currently engaged in a fight to the death with the attractive (not) set of pillow lines I’ve managed to acquire through years of sleeping in the same position every night, with my forehead crushed against the pillow. My first line of defence in this ongoing battle was the purchase of a box of Frownies Forehead and Between Eye Patches, which I’ve been diligently applying to my forehead (almost) every night since they arrived.
Now, for those of you who aren’t familiar with Frownies, they’re little cardboard stickers, as shown above, which you tear off, dampen, and stick to your head. Yes, I know that sounds a bit bizarre, and, indeed, it looks a bit bizarre, too – in fact, even although I’ve been using these for a couple of weeks now, Mr Dollface still has to stifle a laugh every time he sees me with one stuck to my temple. The idea, though, is a good ‘un: once attached to the skin on top of the wrinkle you’re trying to remove, the Frownie will keep the skin taught, and prevent the line from forming while you sleep, simply by preventing your face from forming the expression that caused the line in the first place. Over time, they claim to remove lines altogether, making them a much less intrusive/expensive alternative to treatments like Botox.
So, do they work?
In a word, yes. And no. Let me explain…
I’m mostly interested in using these to smooth out the pillow lines on my forehead, and prevent me from waking up every morning with a couple of train tracks on my face. (I’m also going to be trying them on the dreaded “11s” between my eyes, but for now I’ve been sticking to the pillow lines). Every night, I apply my Frownie before bed. When I wake up, as promised, the two lines that have become the bane of my life aren’t there: this is very, very good news for me, because previous to this, those two lines were very visible first thing in the morning, and still visible (although much less so) for the rest of the day. Now, while I can still see a very faint trace of them, they’re no longer visible at first glance, which is great.
The problem is, however, that instead of my usual two lines, I’ve been waking up in the morning with a NEW line. This is another pillow line, and it forms where one edge of the Frownie makes contact with the skin on my forehead. What’s obviously happening is that while I’m sleeping my head is pressing against the pillow, and that’s forcing the skin up against the edge of the Frownie, thus creating an all-new pillow line. This line, to be fair, is one that vanishes almost right away, so it’s not a big deal right now, but I tend to think that if I keep on using the Frownies, it will deepen over time, and I’ll have simply succeeded in moving the pillow lines to a different part of my face. This leads me to suspect that while Frownies do seem to be pretty good at erasing lines (at least for a little while), they may be more effective for expression lines, such as “the elevens”, than they are for the type of pillow lines that are caused by lying on your side. I’ve also noticed that if I miss a night, the lines will be back with a vengeance: Frownies say that once the line has completely disappeared, you can stop using the patches, but in this case I think the lines would just re-f0rm as soon as I stopped.
To break it down:
THE PROS:
- Successful at getting rid of lines overnight.
- Much less expensive than treatments like Botox, etc.
- Easy to use.
THE CONS:
- Created a different (albeit temporary) line where the patch meets the skin.
- Would require continuous use to keep my particular lines at bay.
- Not the most attractive thing to wear, especially for those of you who don’t sleep alone.
Dollface’s verdict: A good quick-fix for expression lines, although they’d probably be most effective as a preventative measure.
I bought my Frowies direct from the manufacturers website, where they’re currently £17.50 per box. This is a box of 144 patches, though, and I normally only use one or two per night, so they’ll last a long time, making them very good value. You can click here to buy a box.
Anyone else tried these? What did you think?
Clinique Bottom Lash Mascara
Now, I know what you’re (possibly) thinking: bottom lash mascara? Isn’t that a bit redundant? I mean, can’t you just use the same mascara on your bottom lashes as you do on the top, and save yourself some money?
Well, of course, you can, and if that works for you, then you’re luckier than me, and you also don’t need to bother reading the rest of this post. (Come back tomorrow, though!) For me, though, bottom lash mascara sounds like a pretty great thing, because the truth is, I’ve been using different mascaras on my top and bottom lashes for as long as I can remember, and the reason for this is that all mascara wands are not created equally. Some a great at lifting and curling and volumizing the upper lashes, for instance, but what I generally find is that those that are good at doing all of those things generally aren’t so great at coating the lower lashes: the brushes are normally too thick and rounded, and if you have very fair, sparse lower lashes, like I do, you just end up with a big old mess.
Meanwhile, the mascara brushes that are perfect on the lower lashes… generally don’t make one bit of difference to the top ones. Gah.
Instead of making do with just one mascara, then, I generally have a couple (or, you know, more) of mascaras on the go at any one time, and I’ll use one on the upper lashes and another one, with a smaller, finer brush, which I use on the lowers. This works out OK for me, but of course, there’s always room for improvement, and this is where Clinique’s new Bottom Lash Mascara comes in. It, you see, has a brush which is designed specifically to help you get to grips with the lower lashes. It’s both smaller, thinner and more delicate looking that regular mascara brushes, and this should allow for a much more precise application, with none of those little lashes being missed out. (It’ll also come in handy for the corner of the eyes, which is another area larger brushes don’t always get to.)
All of that sounds good to me, and as I’m using more than one mascara per eye anyway, even the £10 price tag doesn’t do much to put me off. This is available in black/brown and standard black, and while it’s currently out of stock at the Clinique UK website, you should be able to pick one up at your nearest Clinique counter.
Tory Burch ‘Alice’ green quilted cosmetics bag
I have a bit of a “thing” about the colour green. I love it. My great love mostly revolves around green dresses (and dozens and dozens of green sweaters, now I come to think of it), but it could very easily extend to green makeup bags if I’m not very careful to keep my habit in check, and this little Tory Burch bag is certainly doing its best to lead me into temptation.
It was the colour that caught my eye, obviously, but it looks like a nice, hard wearing fabric too, which would be excellent for travel purposes, and if you don’t share my love of green, it’s also available in a rather lovely bright blue.
This is $65 at Shopbop: click here to buy it…
Dollface Reviews: Rimmel Volume Flash The Max Bold Curves Mascara
Behold! A new mascara has entered the Sephora Box O’Doom! It’s Rimmel’s Volume Flash The Max Bold Curves (a name which fairly trips off the tongue), and as you may or may not be able to see from the image above, it promises to deliver “our biggest curve ever!” “We’ll see about that!” I thought, as I opened it up to put it to the test. Here’s what I found inside:
This is the not-so-secret weapon which has been tasked with the job of creating “extreme volume and lift”. It’s a curved, chunky wand, and as you can see, the mascara itself is fairly fibrous: I normally find that to be a good sign as the fibres cling to your lashes and make them look longer. Or that’s the idea, anyway.
So, how does it perform? Let’s take a look:
It’s not what I’d describe as the biggest curve ever (and I’d curled my lashes beforehand, too, to give it the best possible chance), and nor would I call this “extreme volume”. Those points aside, however, I actually quite like it: it creates a rather nice, fluttery effect, and while it did have a bit of a tendency to clump, especially on the lower lashes, it was easy to apply, too.
Dollface’s Verdict: Doesn’t do what it says on the tin, but a good budget mascara all the same.
Rimmel Volume Flash The Max Bold Curves Mascara is £6.99 at Boots. Click here to buy it.
[Disclosure: this was sent to me as PR sample]
NARS Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil
Because my middle name is “lazy”, I’ve always been a fan of lipsticks that come in the form of a pencil: well, it’s so much quicker and easier to be able to outline and fill-in with just one product, isn’t it? I’m also a fan of red lips, so the colours of NARS’ new Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil also appeals to me. This is a creamy, easy-to-apply (apparently) formula, which is based on the Velvet Matte collection, but rather than providing a matte finish, it provides a glossy sheen instead, as you’d have guessed from the name.
These are £17.50 each, which is on the expensive side for a lipstick, but the colours do look gorgeous, so if you want to check them out for yourself, just click here to go to the NARS website. Oh, and while I’m on the subject, did you know NARS is also now sold at ASOS.com? This combination of two of my favourite brands is going to be absolutely lethal for me, I can tell…
