I’m excited to tell you about this week’s Product Spotlight! A few months back Bloomingdales.com and my affiliate marketing company sent me a Blogger Bonus Box. It had many fabulous things in it, including Viktor and Rolf BonBon (which became my Paris fragrance) and today’s product Sisley Paris Phyto Eye Twist.
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I’m majorly fan-girling on this product. At this time of year I work 7 days per week. I don’t have time to fluff around in the mornings, I have to get ready and get out the door quickly. I am a makeup artist, so I have to arrive to whichever gig I’m working on looking what I call “tastefully polished”. That means well groomed but no overblown Kardashian-style makeup, which isn’t my vibe anyway. They sent me the Phyto Eye Twist in Shade 1, Topaz (which may just be the best fall/winter shade ever). Topaz is the perfect bronzy-gold shade for fall. It has warmth rather than being too yellow, and the perfectly calibrated shade looks gorgeous on any skin tone. I am a cool toned girl, so many golds look alien on my skin, but the depth under this shade makes it a gorgeous match for my skin.
The Phyto Eye Twists come in 12 shades. They are very creamy and the color is buildable, so you can wear it as a sheer wash of color, or you can wear it as more of a statement. I apply as much as I’m in the mood for that day, smudge it a little with my finger, add a little eyeliner and mascara, and am ready in 5 minutes.
Sisley Paris is a high tech, plant based luxury brand. Being a French brand there is a huge focus on quality paired with a love of great skin. This means you won’t find abrasive chemical ingredients. Some eye crayons can leave your eyelid feeling irritated after a few hours of wear, but the Sisley Eye Twist is gentle on the delicate skin around the eyes. It’s really lovely. And it allows you to channel your inner French girl…
Grab one for yourself and grab another as a stocking stuffer.
To this day the smell of freshly cut grass catapults me back to idyllic summer afternoons in our back yard in New Zealand when I was 6 years old.
The smell of roses takes me to the city I grew up in, Christchurch, to our garden that was full of blooms, to the fresh cut roses my mother always had in our home.
The combination of jasmine and lemon flies me in an instant to Capri and the Amalfi Coast. Add honeysuckle to the mix and I can close my eyes and imagine I’m back in Lipari, wandering down the lane to the ocean front.
“The capacities for both smell and emotion are rooted in the same network of brain structures, the limbic system. The olfactory center also interacts directly with the hippocampus, a brain area involved in the formation of new memories. “No other senses have this kind of deep access,” ~ excerpt from The Hidden Force Of Fragrance, Rachel Herz
Back in Los Angeles in the 90’s I had a long spell of wearing Chanel No. 5. During that time I had a billionaire makeup client who owned countless businesses, and his production team was always booking me to shoot with them. In many ways he was an overwhelming presence to be around, easily the most genius brain I have ever encountered, but at the same time the epitome of quiet elegance.
He used to tell me he could tell if I had been around because there would be an almost imperceptible trace of Number 5 in the air. I was always amazed that that super computer of a brain would stop long enough to take in that detail.
Years ago I had a layover at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport on my way to Florence. I wandered into a duty free store and picked up a bottle of Narciso Rodriguez For Her and sprayed it onto a card that I then dropped in my bag and forgot about. But when I arrived in Florence the fragrance wafted up at me every time I opened my handbag. After a day I had to go find it and buy it, and to this moment every time I wear it it takes me back to Florence.
Elegance is not catching somebody’s eyes, it’s staying in somebody’s memory ~Giorgio Armani
Bloomingdale’s recently sent me a Fall 2017 Beauty Box. (I still can’t even believe they know my little blog exists! How is it that I am not lost in the giant shuffle of influencers filling up cyberspace??) One of the items inside that box was a big bottle of Viktor and Rolf Bonbon.
Fragrance is the voice of inanimate things. ~ Mary Webb
The box itself was so gorgeous that I kept it on my nightstand for days, just for the sheer pleasure of looking at it.
Once opened I found the bottle itself was a little work of art, cleverly shaped as a wrapped candy. Viktor and Rolf Bonbon is for women who enjoy and celebrate the true pleasure of self indulgence.
Women in my world work and raise families and spend their days in an endless, multitasking whirlwind, like a juggler with a hundred balls in the air. We don’t lead self indulgent lives, but we live with the dream of them. We take enormous amounts of pleasure in the littlest of things. Sometimes that can be something so small as the delicate whisper of our perfume as our wrist passes by to juggle more balls high in the air.
When you know already that fragrance is such a powerful, emotional link to memories, you have the opportunity to create that link for yourself.
By the time you read this post I will be heading back to Paris for more whirlwind multitasking. Instead of packing a travel sized perfume I’m choosing to take my full sized bottle of Bonbon.
I love its caramel notes wrapped around oranges and mandarins and peaches. I love the jasmine in its heart, and the base notes of ambers and cedars and sandalwoods. It feels indulgent.
Viktor and Rolf Bonbon is both feminine and insouciant. Paris is equal parts nonchalant and indulgent, so they will be a great fit, not just for this trip, but forever. Because by wearing Bonbon on this trip they will be linked in my memories for eternity.
I am never, ever ready to let go of summer. I always try to squeeze out one more week of sundresses and sandals, evenings by the pool with a spritz and some summer music.
The reality is however, that it’s time to pack away summer clothes and summer lip colors, and get prepped for the new season. I can already hear the upcoming collective squeal of “pumpkin spice latte!!!” (yuck – really??) and the reverential excitement over the return to boots and sweaters.
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Today though we are going to have ourselves a little chat about prepping our skin for the new season. In case you haven’t noticed, skin gets thrashed over the summer. The combination of heat and humidity, paired with extra sun and wind exposure, compounded by extra layers of SPF – or worse! the lack of SPF, leaves your complexion looking dull by the time fall arrives. You may be noticing your skin looking a little opaque through your foundation, and even though you have a tan there is a slight gray-ness instead of that early summer, healthy glow that you were sporting back in June.
Which means we need a plan to get the complexion back into tip top shape.
New fall skin care products just arrived on my desk!
I just received a box of goodies from Bloomingdales.com that are all about getting your skin back to gorgeous for fall. In fact, they represent the 5 Fall skin care steps you need to know.
5 Fall Skin Care Tips That You Need To Know
The Cleanse.
Last week I talked about doing a double cleanse, the first being an oil cleanse and the second a water cleanse. I’m pretty obsessed with water cleansers and have been using them in my pro makeup kit for more years than I care to remember.
This one is Trish McEvoy Skin Cleansing Water. Its super gentle on the skin, removes makeup (even stubborn, waterproof eye makeup) and gives you a nice cleanse. As the weather moves through fall and into winter this is an ideal cleanser, clearing away impurities but not stripping the skin. Trish McEvoy Skin Cleansing water is available online at Bloomingdales.com
The Exfoliation
I am super, super excited to start using this next product!
After the build up caused by perspiration, excess oils, hot and dry weather, chlorine, salt water, sun protection products – basically every single thing we have encountered all summer long, skin looks super dull. The top layer of dead skin and debris needs to be cleared away. The ideal solution is to go have a microdermabrasion treatment with a facialist, but that can be costly and it can also be difficult to schedule, especially if you have a mad schedule like mine! But now I have this new PMD Microdermabrasion Kit, which comes with microdermabrasion at home products.
This is extra cool because it is said to be the best at home microdermabrasion machine. The PMD Personal Microderm kit comes with a nifty little hand sized personal microderm machine/wand, a variety of different discs that allow you to choose if you have very sensitive skin, sensitive skin, medium skin, or skin that needs maximum strength dermabrasion. There is also a disc for use specifically on the body. You can give your skin persoanlly customized microdermabrasion treatments at home every week if necessary, but for most people every 2 or 3 weeks will be ample.
The PMD Microdermabrasion Kit comes with a DVD on the ins and outs of how to use it and a booklet, both making it really easy to use. It would make a really fantastic Christmas/end of year gift too!The PMD Personal Microderm Kit is available online at Bloomingdales.com
The Soothing Hydrating Mask
Summer strips your skin. Winter does too. Skin that has had to deal with the elements feels sensitized, dried out, irritated. This Kiehls Calendula and Aloe Soothing Hydrating Masque calms and soothes skin and then gently hydrates it. It is wonderful after sun exposure, so is great not only for beach days but also ski days.
This mask is also fantastic throughout fall and winter when skin gets so overly challenged with wind, biting cold, central heating – the works. It is a wonderful soothing mask for sensitive skin and sensitized skin. The Calendula and Aloe Soothing Hydrating Masque is good for all skin types, it isn’t heavy and it doesn’t leave your skin feeling greasy. You can find it here on Bloomingdales.com
The Treatment
By the beginning of fall the summer glow has been replaces by skin that looks dull and lifeless. When skin looks dull and tired your makeup will too. Its time for a refresher! After exfoliating away the debris on the surface of the skin you need to introduce a Vitamin C treatment. Vitamin C helps treat some of the UV induced photo-damage, revitalizes the complexion, and is a powerful antioxidant that neutralizes free radicals in the skin. Vitamin C is also loved for its anti-aging benefits, and is known to brighten skin, retexturize and even out skin tone.
But here is where it gets tricky. In order for Vitamin C to be effective it needs to be fresh, so most over the counter Vitamin C skin care products have a very limited shelf life and lose their power long before you have finished using them. Clinique has a Fresh Pressed 7 Day Pure Vitamin C System that uses powerful, pure Vitamin C in individual stay-fresh servings.
It is a 2 step process, starting with a morning cleanse that uses single serve stay fresh packs – one for each of the next 7 days. The second step is the daily booster with pure Vitamin C. It comes in an airtight pack with 7 days worth of serum.
Vitamin C is best used in the morning so that the powerful antioxidants can fight off all the free radical pollutants we are exposed to in the environment.
I’m heading back out to Paris in 2 weeks, so am starting my 7 day treatment in a couple of days. If ever there was a place to arrive with glowing, revitalized skin, Paris has to be it! You can find the Clinique Fresh Pressed 7 Day Vitamin C System online here at Bloomingdales.com
The Sheet Mask
If you’ve been following this blog for more than 5 minutes then you already know that I am obsessed with sheet masks. Every Sunday night I use a sheet mask – its part of my skin ritual and I love it! I use them during the week when I have time and I always, always pack them for international travel.
I got these Wei Sheet Masks from Bloomingdales.com. They are ideal for the beginning of fall – one is detoxifying, stress relieving and soothing and the other is brightening and illuminating. You only need to leave them on for 10 minutes, but I like to keep them on longer.
If you found these Fall Skin Care Tips helpful please share this post on your social media. There are links at the bottom of this post. Thank you!!
