Lulu's Rescue Mission Mineral Bath

Lulu’s Time Bomb Rescue Mission Mineral Bath

It is always exciting when a favourite brand releases a new product, so all Lulu fans out there would have been very pleased indeed to hear of the recent addition to the Time Bomb stable –Rescue Mission Mineral Bath.

Created on a base of eight essential oils and five healing herbs, Rescue Mission Mineral Bath is designed to act as an all round pick-me-up. Lavender, Bergamot and Rosemary are employed for their soothing and relaxing properties, while Bitter Orange, Lemon, Lime, Grapefruit and Peppermint oils revive and refresh, leaving the potent mixture of herbs (Arnica, Comfrey, Calendula, Echinacea and St. John’s Wort) to de-stress, strengthen and give a bit of a boost to both body and mind. The combination is intoxicating, producing a sumptuous scent for a luxurious soak.  A truly indulgent bathing experience.

Most of the ingredients are of natural origin, so it is slightly disappointing, and not a little surprising, to see that the foaming agent SLS plays a part in the recipe. To someone who likes their skincare as natural as possible it is a slight deterrent. But, if you like your baths bubbly, then it’s a compromise that you will usually have to make. 

Relax, recharge and recover is the mission that this mineral bath has chosen to accept and natural ingredient nit-picking aside, it certainly manages to achieve it.

Lulu’s Time Bomb Rescue Mission Mineral Bath (£24.00/500ml) is available at QVC, http://www.lulusplace.co.uk

© Purple Peccadilloes

Love System Intensive Eye Serum

Love System Intensive Eye Serum

It’s always in the summer months that I most often find myself reaching out for eye care treatments; all that squinting in all that sun leaves the eyes feeling sore and tired and the skin looking dreadful. There is an absolute wealth of synthetic serum’s, creams and gels on the market at present to help soothe and revive and keep your peepers sparkling, but if you prefer your skincare more on the natural side the selection is significantly reduced, so you’ll be pleased to read about Love System.

Love System is a natural, organic skin and body care range built upon holistic principles and Australian Bushflower essences. Designed to influence not only how you look, but also how you feel, the range employs powerful essential oils and top quality organic ingredients to produce natural, effective products that lift your spirits as they work.

The Love System Intensive Eye Serum harnesses the power of remedial Australian Bush plants, such as Old Man Banksia (uplifting), She Oak (female balance), Crowea (calm) and Five Corners (happiness) to repair your mood, while Rose stem cells and antioxidants get to work on your skin. The serum is designed to alleviate dark circles, redness and puffiness, while rehydrating the skin and reducing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles.

Being created from entirely natural ingredients, the scent is quite strong, more redolent of roses than bush flowers in my opinion, so it won’t be for everyone, but the results are pleasing. On application, eyes feel instantly refreshed and after a few days use the skin begins to feel firmer and look brighter as elasticity is improved and moisture restored.

Love System Intensive Eye Serum (£21.95/30ml) is available from www.planethealthdirect.co.uk.

©Purple Peccadilloes

Beyond Organic Travel Pack

Beyond Organic Travel Pack

Regular readers will already be aware of Beyond Organic. Harvesting a wealth of beneficial natural ingredients, the Falmouth-based company has created a comprehensive range of impressively effective skin, hair and body care products free from all the nasty stuff that generally goes into high street beauty goods. Unlike many of their contemporaries however, they underline their natural ethos with a belief that it should take more than an organic label to generate a hefty price tag. This results-driven approach is more than evident in their timely summer release – the Beyond Organic Travel Pack.

Offering five holiday essentials, the Travel Pack is a little beauty saviour. Each item is packed with sumptuous high quality ingredients, from Gold of Pleasure oil, which is practically bursting with anti-ageing essential fatty acids, to Macadamia oil, which is the closest thing to the oil found in human skin currently known about, so is particularly absorbable and contains high levels of rejuvenating, nourishing and hydrating Vitamins E and A. Antibacterial Burdock, healing Comfrey, Rosemary, which is a very well known antioxidant and revitalising Seabuckthorn all play a part, with a plethora of other natural lovelies besides. The outcome is a Detoxifying Cleanser, Rejuvenating Serum, Rescue Salve (which will fast become a ‘handbag hero’, being a veritable cure-all for minor skin irritations from sunburn to insect bites), Moisturising Day Cream and Regenerating Night Cream to answer your every holiday need.

Being created from entirely natural ingredients, some of the scents won’t be for everyone – I must admit that Sea Buckthorn and Rosehip is a little too strident a combination for me – but as with everything in life it’s a matter of compromise. Personally, I’d rather put up with a transitory smell not to my taste than to pollute both my skin and environment with unkind chemicals. And, as the ‘transitory’ hinted at, once absorbed the scents tend not to linger, unlike their synthetic counterparts.

All in all, this is a pleasing and handy addition to the Beyond Organic stable and well worth a look for anyone who likes their skincare a touch on the natural side.

The

Beyond Organic Travel Pack is £37.49 and available from www.beyondorganic.co.uk.

Green People Hydrating Firming Serum

Green People Hydrating Firming Serum

For fifteen years now, the good folk at Green People have been working to make natural skincare appealing to the masses, creating affordable, yet effective products free from all the unpleasant manmade chemicals so widely used in the beauty industry. From toothpaste to eyeshadow, their ever-expanding range covers pretty much everything you could wish for within the realms of skin-face- and body-care, all created from top quality ingredients and producing the desired effect. This April has seen the launch of their latest product and it is one that may catch the attention of more than just those who are interested in the greener lifestyle.

The Green People Hydrating Firming Serum is described as a ‘gentle facial toning gel for all skin types,’ which doesn’t sound all that impressive, but with the use of organic chamomile, seaweed, South American tara bush and rose geranium they have managed to create a gently moisturising serum, which has been proven to ‘reduce wrinkles by 7% and double the skin's natural collagen production’ with nary a paraben, petrochemical, phthalate, artificial colourant or perfume in sight.

The serum is light and non-greasy, easily smoothing on to the skin, generating a gentle dewy look on the face, neck and décolletage and leaving the skin feeling hydrated and refreshed. With none of the tacky oiliness one often associates with multi-action moisturisers, the Hydrating Firming Serum also works wonderfully as a makeup primer, effectively doing away with the need to purchase an extra product. After just a few days use skin will feel firmer, stronger and more flexible. The cleverest part for me however, is the creation of a product that genuinely caters for all skin types – the serum manages to feed my sensitive dry skin more than adequately, yet my Mum, who has a fairly oily complexion was also able to use it without any greasiness. This is an ingenious little product for an attractively little price. Well done, Green People!

The Green People Hydrating Firming Serum is (£11.50/50ml) and available from www.greenpeople.co.uk.

Steve’s Jubilicious Leaves

Steve’s Leaves jumps on the royal bandwagon with a celebratory Diamond Jubileaf™.

Psst, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there are a few events happening in old Blighty this summer, and everywhere you turn the shops seem to be trying their best to flog you something else that makes you proud to be British. Somewhat disconcertingly though, many of these must-have items are a touch on the unhealthy side, so it’s good to be able to tell you about something fresh and natural, which won’t add inches to your Jubolympic waistline.

Steve’s Leaves have been gracing our supermarket’s salad bars for a while now, offering succulent sides that are grown to provide the optimum quality and flavour for us, while working to conserve and support the natural habitats of British wildlife. To celebrate the Queen’s jubilee, Dr Steve Rothwell has been working hard to create a special edition of his eponymous leaves, featuring Diamond Jubileaf™ Chard. Crisp and tasty and full of vitamin A and folic acid, the new Chard sports striking white veins and adds a satisfying tangy crunch to any salad, making it a fantastic addition to the Pea Shoots and Baby Leaves bag.

Packed with vitamins A, C and K, Chard is considered to be one of the healthiest vegetables we grow and has been widely eaten throughout the centuries and around the world. Harvested when young and tender, Chard leaves make for an ideal salad crop, while the more mature plants are delicious when sautéed with garlic and a teeny tiny bit of butter. 

Steve’s Leaves Pea Shoots and Baby Leaves (£1.35/60g) are available from Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose stores nationwide and online at www.Ocado.com.

Allotinabox

Allotinabox

Despite spring’s false-start and the tumultuous weather of April, if, like me, you dabble at growing your own fruit and veg, now is the time to start planting if you want to get yourself a decent harvest. If you’re new to the whole GYO scene however, you might appreciate a little helping hand and I know exactly the place to find it.

Starting a veg garden from scratch can be daunting if you don’t know what you’re doing, but it really needn’t be; planting seeds, nurturing seedlings, then ruthlessly butchering their fruits is immensely satisfying and can be done in even the smallest of spaces. If you’re not sure where to start, the lovely people at Allotinabox have put together a series of seasonal kits to help you get underway and enjoy fresh and healthy vegetables and herbs throughout the year.

For £12.99 you can begin your growing foray with the Limited Edition Seasonal GYO Box, which comes complete with a handy little growing guide wheel, plant markers, jute twine for tying up your beans and peas, gorgeously scented Scrubs Up Soap and, of course, a selection of seasonal seeds and instructions. For £10.99 the Super Seed Box is also available, for those who wish to ditch the paraphernalia and stick with the really important parts. If handled correctly, each box should yield up to £50 worth of produce, and no end of pleasure!

The thought behind Allotinabox (which is surprisingly difficult to type, I might just add!) is ‘encouraging anyone anywhere to get growing’ – a premise I wholeheartedly support. Not only can growing your own food save you money and provide immeasurable gratification, but gardening can be great exercise, a fantastic way to get kids outside and away from the TV and computer (once you’ve all stopped reading The Culinary Guide, obviously) and can help our native insects – such as the humble bumble and beautiful butterfly – survive in what is becoming an increasingly hostile world. So, come on, do your bit; get out and get growing.

For more information visit http://www.allotinabox.com

 

© Purple Peccadilloes

Make Mine A Mojito...

This review can also be found on www.TheCulinaryGuide.co.uk. Visit the site for in depth food, drink and travel features and news pieces as well as restaurant and hotel reviews and competitions.

Make Mine A Mojito...

I don’t care what the weather is doing; my calendar says that spring is officially here, so it’s time to start thinking about lingering summer evenings sipping long cool cocktails. It is fortuitous then, that Vacu Vin have launched this funky new range of bar side paraphernalia just in time for us all to start shaking our way to cocktail cloud nine.

The Vacu Vin set includes a Shaker (£14.95), Recipe Sticks (£7.95), Muddler & Tools (£12.95) and Party Friend Purple Ice Cube Tray (£5.49), in other words everything you need to make your own fruity and alcoholic concoctions, and all at a very affordable price.

The hefty glass shaker with its pliable lid and inbuilt strainer makes preparation a breeze (a Sea Breeze, if you’re really lucky... Or maybe a Bloody Mary, Amber Mist or Mojito). Measurements in millilitres and fluid ounces are clearly marked to help avoid the need for guesstimates – the enemy of all would be Cocktail Maestros – while the strainer removes the faff of messing around with an external filter, creating fresh, smooth drinks without the lumpy telltale signs of the novice.

I love the lingo that comes with mixing your own cocktails – where else do you get to play with tools with such wonderful names? Shaker, Muddler, Jigger... They are almost onomatopoeic, so perfect are they for their purpose, and ideal for the inebriated mind; ‘can you pass me the... the ... you know... the jigger, darling?’ The Vacu Vin Muddler, Jigger and Special Tongs are designed for use with tall glasses, allowing you to bruise, squeeze and generally abuse your ingredients into submission without too much mess or fuss and can be used alone, or in conjunction with both the shaker and the Recipe Sticks.

A clever little idea, Recipe Sticks, and one that I’ve somehow not used before. Ideal for single servings, each stick holds a sliding rubber cap which clasps the lip of any tall glass and uses notches to mark the measurement of each ingredient. The pack contains guides for six of the most popular dinks and should be enough to fuel any party.

And finally, the ice cube tray. I must admit that this is my inner child’s favourite part of the set. The silicone mould isn’t the easiest thing in the world to handle when full of water, but the ‘Party Friend’ shapes are great and will bring a smile to even the most serious of cocktail drinkers and kids love them... Obviously minus the alcohol.  But the best part for me is that it’s multifunctional and can also be used for jellies, chocolates and even baking cakes, so offers hours of potential fun. Silicone is ever such clever stuff!

The Vacu Vin cocktail pieces are widely available from all good cookery retailers and online at www.amazon.co.uk. For more information visit: http://www.vacuvin.nl.

© Purple Peccadilloes

Lovin’ Summer Legs

This piece can also be found on www.TheDetour.co.uk. Visit the site for fashion, beauty and entertainment features and news pieces as well as spa reviews and competitions

Lovin’ Summer Legs

With summer just around the corner it’s time to turn your mind to getting your lovely legs beach ready. I don’t know about you, but throughout the winter months laziness tends to stand between me and a good exfoliating regime, so come spring my knees are looking a little on the crusty side and my thighs, well just a hint of a tint of orange peel begins to appear. There are lots of theories behind the reasons we develop cellulite, covering everything from genetics to indolence and over-eating, but in truth no one really knows what causes that irritating dappled and doughy look, so it’s difficult to take treatments claiming to ‘cure’ it seriously. But, like everyone else, I’m a sucker for a feasible idea, and whether they actually combat the dreaded ‘C’ word, or just slough off dead skin cells and reveal a sparkling new complexion, I feel that a spring time exfoliation is never a bad thing. So, to set you on the road to reaching that beach body beautiful, we’ve been road testing a few of the best exfoliators and anti-cellulite treatments on the market, as well as one or two complementary products. 

Scrub and Polish

Beauty Lab Peptide Tanning Pre-Tan Skin Polish (£18.00/ 150ml) – Packed with active ingredients, from smoothing and revitalising Ginseng, to anti-oxidising Grapefruit and Glycopure, that heady mix if Glycolic, Citric and Lactic acids, widely used to remove dead and dying skin cells and encourage new growth, Beauty Lab’s Peptide Pre-Tan Skin Polish pretty much does what it says on the box. The scent is a light and slightly unusual citrus, not at all unpleasant to use, while the polish itself is effective, yet surprisingly gentle – skin does not feel at all abraded, which is somewhat disconcerting during use as it doesn’t feel like it’s actually achieving anything, which thought is belied by the results; silky soft skin ready to take the world by storm! To complete the look, Beauty Lab Peptide Tanning Lotion is also available.

Beauty Lab Peptide Tanning Pre-Tan Skin Polish is available from http://www.beautylabshop.com.

Crystal Clear Crystal Body Polish (£32/150ml) – I’ve not come across Crystal Clear before, which surprises me because their range is pretty extensive and, going by the example of the Crystal Body Polish, both pleasant to use and effective. The formula combines a ‘special blend of anti-ageing ingredients’ (Honey, Grapefruit Oil, Sunflower Oil, and Matrixyl 3000 – a mixture of powerful peptides) with essential oils and ground garnet, with the aim of providing a microdermabrasion treatment, which will ‘leave your skin feeling smooth, supple and instantly revitalised.’ The scent is distinctively ‘spa’ while the product is one that actually feels like it’s working – the fine particles really do scrub, but in an agreeable way, rather like a good back scratch, that leaves the skin quietly singing and feeling utterly alive. During the course of a week, with daily use, I found that even the roughest patches of dry skin – knees and elbows – were exfoliated into submission and my whole body felt cleaner and smoother. This is not a product that promises miracles, but it does deliver all that it promises and I very much like it for that.

Crystal Clear Crystal Body Polish is available from www.crystalclear.co.uk. 

Yon-Ka Phyto-Gel Exfoliant (£35.70/200ml) – Well, having looked at the celeb’s (J-Lo, Kylie, Jennifer Anniston, Madonna, Victoria Beckham and Eliza Doolittle, to name but a few) favourite, Yon-Ka hand cream earlier this year and found it counterintuitive (surprisingly dry for the purpose), but effective, I was curious to try another product in the range. The Phyto-Gel Exfoliant is more in line with expectations; an uplifting, zesty shower gel with obvious – but not abrasive – ‘diatoms and jojoba pearls,’ which work to scrub away impurities and dead skin cells while hydrating the epidermis left behind. All in all, I have to say that I like it; Rosemary, Sage and Citrus oils rejuvenate, cleanse and provide a stirring scent, while Sweet Almond Protein, Algae Extract and Castor Oil moisturise and protect, the finished result being a feeling of alertness, a willingness to face to world that is often hard to come by and skin that feels beautiful both inside and out. The tagline of Yon-Ka is ‘the alchemy of pure wellness,’ the mixing of modern technology with holistic principles, as such over 70% of Yon-Ka products are comprised of more than 90% natural ingredients.

For more information, or to purchase Yon-Ka Phyto-Gel Exfoliant visit www.yonka.com or call 0207 518 8370

 

Lulu’s Bombshell Body Revealing Body Cleanser (£12.75/200ml) – This one is perhaps aimed at the slightly older beach babe and designed to ‘gently lift and remove the dull, dry top layer of skin,’ while a blend of revitalising and moisturising ingredients pamper the freshly revealed skin below. Bombshell Body Revealing Body Cleanser is made up of exfoliating beads and micro-crystals, luxuriantly coated in a mixture of mineral- and protein-rich green and red algae, silk amino acids and essential oils, which work together to soften, smooth and renew your tired outer layer. Lavender and Rosemary, both known for their rejuvenating and antiseptic qualities, play a large part in the product, not least in the scent, so if, like me, you’re not a fan of lavender, this won’t be the exfoliator for you. That said, the results are gratifying; skin is left looking clear and bright and feeling super soft, so it does everything that it claims in the most gentle of ways and at a bargainous price.

Lulu’s Bombshell Body Revealing Body Cleanser is available from www.lulusplace.co.uk and www.qvc.co.uk.

KORRES Body Scrub (£12.00/150ml) – Being Korres, this one makes no grand claims about slimming and firming, it simply uses lovely natural ingredients to remove dead skin cells and improve circulation, leaving skin soft and supple and ready to face the world. Bamboo and Jojoba beads do all the hard exfoliating work, while a ‘multi-mineral combination’ of Sodium, Magnesium, Zinc and Manganese deeply hydrate and restore the skin. Vitamin-rich Wheat, soothing Aloe Vera and protecting & moisturising Shea Butter also all play their parts. The deliciously scented Basil Lemon is my favourite in the line, but a light and summery Watermelon – rich in vitamins A, B6, C, lycopene, potassium, fibre and free radicals (those lovely little fighters of environmental ageing nasties) – is also available. All Korres products are created from homeopathic premises and free from parabens, silicones, phthalates, synthetic scents and dyes, mineral oils and animal products, and as such are a complete joy to use.

KorRES Body Scrub is available fromwww.korres.com and www.amazon.co.uk. 

 

Green People Sensuous Sugar Scrub (£19.95/245g) – I like Green People; I personally share their ethical viewpoint and all the products I’ve tried so far have been pleasing, so I was pretty sure that I would find something positive to say about the Sensuous Sugar Scrub. What I wasn’t prepared for though, was to fall in love! Now, I’ll admit that it is something for a superficial love, based largely upon the wonderful scent that gently caresses your nostrils the second you peel back the lid – a light mixture of citrus and rosemary with a slightly coconut-y base – but once I’d stopped inhaling and started scrubbing I found that there was more to this little pot of goodness than a fabulous aroma. Created from a blend of cane sugar crystals, moisturising Shea Butter, healing Rosehip, anti-oxidising Pomegranate and much more besides, this is a fairly dry scrub, which is initially difficult to handle, but manages to spread itself a long way. The sugar crystals are quite coarse and leave your skin feeling slightly glowing, not unlike the less indulgent spa treatments, while the essential oils get to work feeding your parched epidermis, removing the need for a moisturiser later. The overall result is wonderful and the knowledge that you’ve attained beautiful skin without the use of parabens, phthalates, petrochemicals and artificial fragrances is even better.

The Green People Sensuous Sugar Scrub is available from www.greenpeople.co.uk.

Fight that Cellulite

Fushi Really Good Cellulite Oil (£19.95/100ml) – Fushi’s RGCO works on the premise that cellulite is, if not caused, at least increased by poor circulation, so they set about harvesting a powerful mix of simulating, circulation-enhancing ingredients. Triple-infused Gotu Kola rubs shoulders (or thighs) with Green Coffee bean, which is known for its diuretic properties, nourishing, vitamin E-enriched Wheat Germ Oil, cleansing and anti-oxidising Grapefruit and detoxifying Sweet Birch. This combination is designed to enhance lymphatic drainage, help strengthen connective tissues and prevent collagen binding with fat cells, all of which works towards reducing the appearance of cellulite. Being made from 100% natural ingredients, the oil smells fantastic and is a real pleasure to use, so it seems impossible that it can be doing any good, but... It surprisingly does. Using RGCO alone is not going to give you svelte thighs, but it does really seem to improve skin tone, so with time and a little bit of effort your legs should be beach-ready. Fushi’s body care products are also pleasingly free from Parabens, Petrochemicals, SLS, PEGs and synthetics.

Fushi Really Good Cellulite Oil is available from www.fushi.co.uk. 

 

Proskins Anti Cellulite Leggings (£50) – Now, I know what you’re thinking and yes, I have to agree that £50 is actually a lot of money for a pair of leggings, but no matter which way you look at it, Proskins are no ordinary leggings; no, no, these are…Super Leggings! Caffeine, Retinol, Ceremides, Vitamin E, Aloe Vera and Fatty Acids all lurk within the weave of the fabric – made from a ‘patented microencapsulated yarn’ – creating a pair of comfy trousers which work to reduce your wobbly bits even while you’re sat on the sofa, watching telly and eating a bag of crisps! Obviously, the results will be better if you don’t partake of the junk food, but that’s not the point. Apparently clinically proven to ‘reduce thighs by 2cm after 4 weeks of 8 hours a day wearing,’ Proskins have attracted celebrity fans in the form of Danni Minogue and Mel C, and employ the above ingredients to increase lymphatic drainage, improve circulation, flush fluids and toxins from the body and leave the skin feeling smooth and healthy. Now, I only have one pair and I’ve only had them for a fortnight, so I’ve not been able to put the Proskins claims truly to the test, but I must say that they are incredibly comfortable to wear and my skin has been feeling both firmer and nicely hydrated. As for the girth, well... there is perhaps a small reduction, but I’m not yet prepared to put it down to the leggings. But, as the Proskin’s goodly properties last for around 100 washes, further trials will continue and I’ll get back to you on that one.

Proskins Anti Cellulite Leggings are available in three lengths from http://www.next.co.uk, http://www.clothingattesco.co.uk and http://www.proskins.co.uk.

 

Caudalie Contouring Concentrate thighs / hips / buttocks (£25.50/75ml) – 100% glamorous and 100% natural is the claim made by Caudalie for their slimming and firming range. The natural bit isn’t up for dispute; a quick glance at the list of ingredients confirms a sumptuous range of actives including the ever-reliable Rosemary, Grape Seed, Sunflower and Lemon Oils as well as the less common Juniper (antiseptic, diuretic, detoxing), Pelargonium (healing, balancing, reduces excessive oil and helps complaints such as psoriasis) and Cyprus (improves circulation, reduces fluid retention, heals). As for the glamorous, well the simple scent and feel of this product checks that box very nicely – this feels like an indulgence, which is pretty good going for a £25 product. The main remaining question is; does it work? The aim is to increase lymphatic drainage and filter excess fat to reduce cellulite and improve the appearance and skin tone of the treated areas, as well as – here’s the big statement – reduce your thighs by up to 3.8cm. Hmm. Despite being largely made from oils, the Contouring Concentrate is not the slightest bit greasy, it can be applied either in or after a shower and seems to be absorbed in moments (perhaps I just have thirsty thighs??), leaving skin feeling hydrated and smooth, with none of the tackiness one associates with oils. Skin immediately looks and feels healthier after the first application and after a week’s use my thighs did appear firmer and my behind a little less wobblesome! Time restraints prevent me from running the full 28 day trial recommended, but those two factors alone endear it to me and I shall be sticking it with it for the duration to see if there are wonders to behold!

Caudalie Contouring Concentrate is available from www.caudalie.com and selected Boots outlets.

Finishing Touches & Little Helpers

Caudalie Draining Organic Herbal Teas (£10.00/20 sachets) – If you’re looking for something a little extra to help you gain the perfect beach body beautiful, Caudalie may just be able to help. Caffeine-free, so great for all you detox-ers, the Draining Organic Herbal Tea is a beautiful blend of five organic plants – red vine, blackcurrant, cinnamon, blueberry and orange zest – selected for their detoxing and diuretic properties. I prefer to use them to make a hot drink, but they can be used cold as a reviving fruit punch. It’s hard to tell if they have any real effect in terms of weight loss and water retention, but they do taste great and are much better for you – in terms of both toxins and calories – than a latte, so it can’t hurt to add them to your beach-ready routine.

Caudalie Contouring Concentrate is available from www.caudalie.com and selected Boots outlets.

Parissa 2 in 1 Roll-On Body Sugar (£19.99/140ml) – Of course, the final part of readying the body for summer exposure is the one that we all hate; hair removal. If you’re brave enough to attempt the deed at home, then Parissa have a great range available to help you. Sugar-based, rather than wax, to make sure that all you lose is your unwanted hair, rather than your freshly primed skin, the 2-in-1 Roll-On just needs to be popped in the microwave and applied – it couldn’t be simpler. The two applicators are ideal for covering all parts of the body and, best of all, should it all get too much, you can chicken out and rinse the sugar solution off with warm water – no harm done. Simple, effective, with a built-in get-out clause!

Parissa Azulene Oil (£8.99/60ml) – And finally, once you’ve buffed, scrubbed and shaved yourself to within an inch of decency it’s worth smoothing the skin over with a good, soothing moisturising solution. Azulene Oil is designed to prevent in-growing hairs, razor burn and irritation from sullying your lovely legs. With ever-reliable chamomile as the main active ingredient, it does a wonderful job at calming skin, leaving it soft, healthy and ready to show off.

Parissa products are available from Boots, www.boot.com, www.amazon.co.uk and Sainsbury’s stores nationwide.

© Purple Peccadilloes

My Face: My Choice

This piece can also be found on www.TheDetour.co.uk. Visit the site for fashion, beauty and entertainment features and news pieces as well as spa reviews and competitions

My Face: My Choice

Like many women, as I’ve aged I’ve come to associate a high price tag with a high quality when it comes to my cosmetics. This is perhaps not surprising in my line of work – I often get to play with fabulous products I’d never be able to afford myself – but every so often a brand comes along which proves to be the absolute exception to the rule and I have to now put my hand up and admit to following in the path of many a celebrity chickybabe (Gwyneth Paltrow being among the number) and jumping on the myface bandwagon.

Described as a ‘foolproof colour collection for the 21st century,’ myface comprises three complete makeup ranges designed for specific skin tones – fair, medium and medium/dark. Each assortment offers complimentary cosmetics to complete your perfect look, covering everything from foundations, concealers and powders to blushers, eyeshadow and nail polish. Each product is fashioned to bring out the best of your natural attributes, while providing an almost tailor-made colour scheme specifically for you. And yet, for all of this, the most expensive item within the range is £12.99, which instantly sets my snobbish little brain into a cynical cycle.

Now, I’m not what you might consider to be of classic appearance and I don’t fit well within any of the myface profiles – I may be ivory skinned, but I am fair in no other way – think Twilight vampire pale with Anne Hathaway hair (without the great styling!) and dark blue eyes, a celeb comparison for which I’m struggling to find, so the baby pinks and soft browns suggested to suit my skin tone by the myface website would not be my natural choice. Still, I like a good kit to play with, so I thought I’d give them a go.

I based my selection on the Fair 01 foundation and moved on from there, blithely picking all the recommended accoutrements before plonking myself in front of a mirror. While not perhaps a look I would have imagined working for me, I was actually pleasantly surprised by the result: a softly glowing complexion with subtle, gentle highlights. The foundation is thin and buildable without being watery or greasy and covered my skin well (although it would possibly not fare so well on blemish-prone or greasy skin), providing a sound base for the other products to glide on to. The effect is light and natural, leaving you looking fresh and clean without being ‘made up’. While not ‘pretty’, the simple yet effective packaging allowed for a quick and flawless application, with only the eyeshadow causing any pause – like most others, it required some working before use, but everything else went on like a dream. Most pleasingly of all however, is that it seems to be pretty smudge resistant – sitting in front of a computer all day, I have the terrible habit of resting my face on my hands while I think and yet I was still patch-free at the end of the day, which is impressive for any makeup brand.

myface cosmetics start at £5.99 and are available from Boots and online at www.myfacecosmetics.co.uk and www.amazon.co.uk. 

Love myface? Share your thoughts!

© Purple Peccadilloes

Broadway ImPRESS Nails

This piece can also be found on www.TheDetour.co.uk. Visit the site for fashion, beauty and entertainment features and news pieces as well as spa reviews and competitions

Get Ready To ImPRESS...

Every woman has some kind of problem with their nails; if you’re not a biter you’re a picker, or your nails are weak and flaky, or you work with your hands so your nails are always broken, or when varnishing you struggle to stay between the lines, or like me a couple of your nails are a weird shape and not even a professional manicurist can help... Even though nobody else ever notices! Every woman has something, which is why we spend millions of pounds on products each year, trying to make our fingers look pretty. This spring Broadway Nails have launched a fab new product to add to your nail care armoury – ImPRESS.

ImPRESS are the UK’s first ever ‘press on polish’. Pre-loaded with adhesive, all you need to do is choose your shade and design, pick out the right size, remove the tab and apply on top of your natural nail – et voila; Beautiful manicured-looking nails with minimum fuss at a minimum cost. The press-on nails last up to seven days and are available in 24 styles and with no glue to ooze, foils to faff with, or drying time to take into account – this is the fasted way to fabulous fingertips currently available. And what’s more, they are super simple to remove, leaving behind no nasty residue or damage.

Ex-Pussycat Doll, Nicole Scherzinger, is already a big fan of ImPRESS and is recently quoted as saying ‘I love that they are incredibly easy to use... My schedule is so hectic it’s nice I can take them with me on the road and have a beautiful salon perfect manicure in minutes with no drying time or mess! They stay looking perfect for a week without chipping like nail polish. Plus they are super shiny, just like a UV gel manicure – a look I love!’

Broadway ImPRESS nails available from Boots and www.boots.com at £7.99 for plain colours and £8.99 for patterns.

© Purple Peccadilloes

Grate to Plate

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The Great Grate to Plate

Allow me, if you will, to introduce my favourite new kitchen appliance – Grate to Plate, the most recent addition to the Judge Kitchen Essentials range.

Now, I have my suspicions that I was perhaps something of an odd child, but I have very clear memories of long drawn-out acts of warfare between my sister and me over who would grate the cheese when Mum cooked spaghetti carbonara. Looking back, I realise that my sister wanted to do it for the far more normal reason of being able to sneak-eat bits of cheese, but for me it was all about the grating... And I’m afraid to admit that not much has changed. I love graters for the same reason that I love paper shredders and electric pencil sharpeners; it’s the reduction of the whole into less than the sum of its parts... It is for this reason that I always get unreasonably excited when a new grating implement comes on to the market, and I have rarely found a utensil that has given me more pleasure!

Super simple to assemble, use and clean, the Judge Grate to Plate comes complete with three interchangeable blades to answer all of your grating needs, covering fine, course and slicing cuts ideal for fruit, veg and, of course, cheese. The clever build allows non-slip, suction-cup feet to keep the grater steady, while the handle keeps fingers well away from the sharp blades and allows food to be prepared with the minimum effort – very little force is required to turn the handle and even trickier food stuffs, such as ginger and coconut are sliced and diced within seconds.

Although the body of the Grate to Plate is not dishwasher safe, the blades are and the rest is very simply cleaned in warm water, while the collapsible legs allow for more convenient, space-saving storage.

Ok, so the Grate to Plate may not seem a revolutionary idea, but it ticks all my boxes – simple and efficient, offering hours of grating fun! Now, where did I put that parmesan...

The Judge Grate to Plate is £13.20 and available from all good cookery shops and departments, for more information visit www.judgecookware.co.uk.  

© Purple Peccadilloes

Kings & Queens Bath & Body Collection

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Skincare Fit for a Queen...

Inspired by the ancient skincare secrets of the most iconic royals and nobles of the distant past, the Kings & Queens collection has been formulated from natural ingredients to transform your daily ablutions from humdrum affairs to occasions full of sumptuous pampering and glamour.

From Tsar Peter of Russia and his love of aromatic tobacco at a time when the substance was highly illegal, to Queen Isabella of Spain who was so very fond of cinnamon that she financed Christopher Columbus’ search to find a new route to the land of Ceylon, where the spice was grown, and thus inadvertently discovered America, history is peppered with examples of world leaders doing all that they can to get their own way. It is this determination to fully grasp opulence that made the ancient royals who they were, and now that the ingredients are available to all (goodness, Isabella would be shocked at the wanton abandon with which I now sprinkle cinnamon on my toast of a morning!), the people behind Kings & Queens have created a range to make you feel like royalty.

The line consists of shower gels, body milks, body butters and soaps, with each one being built upon a base of herbs, spices and milks favoured by the long lost aristocracy and telling tales of rebellion, indulgence, debauchery and more.

With eleven scents to choose from, there should be something to suit everyone in this range. My personal favourite is the Nefertiti Honey Collection. Wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten, Nefertiti was known by many titles – Hereditary Princess, Lady of Grace, Lady of all Women, Great of Praises, Sweet of Love, to name but a few – and was the mistress of all Egypt  from around 1350BC. Renowned for her great beauty – the literal translation of her name is ‘The Beautiful Woman Has Arrived’ – she would bathe regularly in honey, showing great foresight as honey is now scientifically proven to hold anti-ageing properties, as well as antibacterial.

For the Kings & Queens collection, the honey is blended with a mix of pomegranate, known for moisturising, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, healing blue Egyptian lotus and antimicrobial malachite extracts. All of these ingredients have been used for centuries to create the most indulgent and effective skincare possible and to exhibit the status of the users, being symbols of royalty, glory & eternal life and harmony respectively. The result today is a collection of toiletries gourmanderie in scent that leave the skin feeling luxuriously soft, pliable and healthy.

The Kings & Queens collection comprises Body Butter (200ml/£8.00), Shower Gel (300ml/£5.00),  Shimmering Body Milk (200ml/£7.00) Body Milk (200ml/£7.00) and Soap (185gm/£4.00) and is available to buy online from www.BathandUnwind.com and www.NivenandJoshua.com.

© Purple Peccadilloes