Look your best at work, with our recommended beauty products
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Looking radiant on the outside works wonders for inner confidence. With our guide to the best skincare, haircare and make up products, you’ll look your best and feel amazing.
Nature’s finest
Every business woman wants fresh, polished and younger-looking skin to give her extra confidence, so to guide you through the wealth of skincare products on the market, beauty expert Jessie Hewitson selects her favourites that give the best results, naturally.
Going back to basics is Pai a range of chemical-free, genuinely organic moisturisers, eye creams and lip balms that are so natural and preservative-free they go off after four months. ‘More than 60% of what you put on your skin is absorbed into your body,’ says Brown. Pai and its founder Sarah Brown have garnered praise from beauty and fashion editors who appreciate its relatively affordable price – moisturisers cost around the £22 mark – and the company’s stance against nasty chemicals and preservatives.
Another revolutionary brand is Environ, a vitamin-based range developed by South African plastic surgeon Dr Des Fernandes. His creams and moisturisers protect skin from damage by the sun using ingredients such as vitamin A and the antioxidant vitamins C, E and beta-carotene which clear up any unwanted blemishes or colouring. Prices for moisturisers and creams are around the £26 mark; eye gel costs £16. A good moisturiser to start with is Environ’s Debut cream, which is a disconcerting peachy colour, but non-greasy and absorbs immediately.
Five-star skin
Whether you’re looking to kickstart your day or relax after a long slog at the office, we have the perfect skincare products for you.
This Works Clean Skin (£20): This cleanser is composed of 100% natural ingredients, including eucalyptus and rosehip. Smells divine and leaves skin squeaky clean. Available from John Lewis nationwide.
Bliss Triple Oxygen Energising Mask (£38): If you don’t have money for the Bliss Triple Oxygen facial – and at £145 many of us don’t – then this mask is a close second. Revitalises tired skin and leaves your face glowing.
Decléor’s Pureté Exfoliante (£23.50): Exfoliators are a controversial subject in skincare – heavyweights Eve Lom and Jo Malone don’t believe in them, but plenty of others do. Stick to an exfoliator that isn’t too abrasive to avoid any damage to the skin, like this one from Decleor.
Liz Earle’s Soothing Line Serum (£21.50): To be used at night to help disguise fine lines and strengthen skin. Good for areas where the skin is thin such as eyes, neck and décolletage.
Eyecon brightening eye cream by Benefit (£21.50): Using orange extract, this cream helps reinvigorate circulation around the eye and lessen dark circles.
Beauty bests
This year’s trend in cosmetics, says Kirsty Birnstiel, of themakeupshop.co.uk, will see a move towards a more polished look, with more natural make-up than the bright red lipsticks we saw at the end of 2007. ‘It is a very groomed look,’ she says, ‘which is great for career women. It’s very natural, too – all the colours that are up and coming are pink blushes, giving a healthy rosy glow, and very natural, sandy eye colours, while lips are a more nudey colour.’
‘People are becoming aware of the chemicals and preservatives in make-up,’ she says. ‘I recommend Bare Escentuals, as it’s all natural and preservative-free, and it’s really nice and easy to use. It also works on young and old skin, so it’s suitable for everyone. Their foundation is nice as it’s not completely flat; it has a nice sheen so you have a healthy glow. It costs £24, but you use a tiny amount at a time, so a little goes a long way.’
Melbourne-based Nvey Eco – a range of organic make-up, used by Hilary Duff and Sharon Stone, among others – has a similar approach. We love its organic moisturising fluid foundation, which is a sheer, light foundation that still manages to balance the colour of the skin and cover any blemishes. It costs £22 and is available from shops around the country.
A step up the price ladder is Chantecaille – a brand that always gets top marks from beauty editors. Its new tinted moisturiser Just Skin costs a whopping £52, but gives outstanding results – creating flawless skin with the dewy quality of a tinted moisturiser. It has an SPF factor of 15 and provided you don’t cake it on, a little bit goes far. The company’s Total Concealer is one of the best cover-ups on the market – well worth its price tag of £30. Thick enough to cover, sheer enough to look natural, and it lasts forever.
Make-up wonders
Be prepared for every occasion with these recommended make-up staples.
Clinique Superpowder Double Face Powder (£16.50): Provides excellent coverage and finish. Don’t apply it all over your face, just around the nose and chin or any other oily areas.
Laura Mercier Pink Diamond Lip Glace (£18): News of the death of lip gloss has been greatly exaggerated. For a halfway house between lip balm and lipstick, try this.
YSL Nail Touch Brush Pen (£35): It’s expensive, we know, but so clever. Out with the pot and in with the pen: click the top of the pen and brush. There’s no danger of spilling your nail polish now. Available in six fashionable colours.
Lancôme L’Extreme mascara (£17): Lasts all day and makes your lashes instantly and wonderfully long.
Nars Liquid Eyeliner (£20.50): Liquid eyeliner is back – just ask Amy Winehouse. This eyeliner is cream-based and comes with a brush. It stays put all day so there is no need to reapply.
Hair heaven
There’s no room in a business woman’s schedule for hair-related traumas, so it pays to invest in the best treatments. Here are our favourites for healthy locks.
Spa treatments
Currently standing out most in the crowd is the Shu Uemura Deep Hair ceremony. The equivalent of a Japanese tea ceremony for your hair, it involves having oils ladled on to your tresses and worked in with plenty of indulgent head massaging. First, a cleansing oil is rubbed into your scalp to clean away any unwanted grime. Then a conditioning cream is applied to your hair – strand by strand – and left as a mask, while the scalp, neck and arms are massaged. Your hair is then washed, conditioned and given the blow-dry of its life, emerging more radiant and glossy than ever before. It lasts 50 blissful minutes, but at £50 it’s not cheap. (Available in Harvey Nichols, London or Edinburgh. Call 020 7201 8797 or 0131 524 8356.)
If you’re looking for some serious hair indulgence,the Caviar Hair Mask at Hari’s Salon in Brompton Road, London (020 7581 5211) is your best option. This mask combines high-potency fish oils and, yes, caviar, to nourish and revitalise dull and dry hair. It’s accompanied by caviar canapés and champagne, as well as a scalp, neck, shoulder and hand massage, and a blow-dry. The price is £200 and the treatment has to be booked five days in advance, as it takes this long to buy and prepare the caviar. Or for £100 you can have the caviar treatment and head massage without the other luxuries.
Do it at home
Philip Kingsley Elasticizer (£22): This much-lauded super-moisturising pre-wash treatment increases your hair’s silkiness and strength while helping to prolong the colour.
Aussie 3-Minute Miracle (£4.99): Value for money and fast working, this treatment is great for weekly rejuvenation.
John Frieda Sheer Blonde Hair Repair Conditioning Treatment and Brilliant Brunette Shine Release Intense Conditioner (£5.99): Tailored to blondes and brunettes, these treatments guarantee bouncier and more vibrant locks.
L’Oreal Paris Elnett Satin Hairspray (£4.24): Still going strong after years at the top, this reliably impressive hairspray gives versatile, unsticky hold and brushes out at the end of the day.
Luscious locks
A good shampoo and conditioner will help you kiss goodbye to bad hair days once and for all.
Bumble and Bumble Sunday Shampoo (£13.50): A once-a-week shampoo to rid hair of styling products or general pollution. Contains ginseng, rosemary and sage.
Aveda Shampure (£9.50): A non-abrasive shampoo which is expensive, but lasts a long time. Smells wonderful and herby.
Mop Glisten Conditioner (£9.95): This has everything you want in a conditioner: gives your hair more body and leaves it untangled and looking glossy.
Kiehl’s Creme with Silk Groom (£16.50): Relaxes frizzy hair and leaves it looking as groomed as a Grand National thoroughbred.
Lash envy
So now you’ve got the perfect hair, skin and make-up, how about your eyelashes? In case you didn’t know, eyelashes are back in fashion. More precisely, false lashes are. After a long period in the wilderness, the fickle fashion pendulum has swung back in favour of the falsie. Catwalk models for the Chanel, Versace and Dior shows last year all sported long, fluttering – and artificially enhanced – lashes.
If you’re not one to be left out of a trend, try JinnyLash eyelash extenders to the rich and famous, with shops in London and Surrey. A far cry from the glued-on versions that last only a night, JinnyLash and other lash embellishers now glue synthetic lashes to the roots of your existing ones, ones that can last up to eight weeks. The cost of a full set of lashes is expensive – £150 for 150 lashes – though it is possible to opt for a more affordable 10 or 20 lashes. Although getting each individual eyelash stuck on to your existing lashes with pointy tweezers is a long procedure – 90 minutes in total – you are left with fluttering masterpieces.
COMMENTS
Your post is really very nice but i really like your “Do it at home” point. I ‘ll definitely try to follow it. Thanks for sharing such a nice info.
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