Beauty UK 2013, Birmingham

by

So off I went on May 20th to the annual Beauty UK show at the NEC in Birmingham. I went  along with a PR and buyer from Boots (that post will be coming up soon), but at the same time I was attending for my own business interests. I need a new therapy couch and the show beats looking at equipment online. You can actually try stuff out and get a better feel for what will meet your needs.

Rosewood

The show didn’t seem to have as many exhibitors as it has had in past years and there wasn’t any one trend being showcased. However I did discover some wonderful skin care from the French brand Payot, from Collgen London, distributors of Natural Collagen Inventia products, and from Hydropeptide, an American company who’s products are distributed in the U.K. through Bioactive Beauty.

Rosewood

Payot’s multi-purpose Elixir with extracts of myrrh and amyris was wonderful to try. The scent is very subtle and can be used on the face, body and hair to nourish and hydrate.

Inventia are a line of anti-ageing products that use non-hydrolysed, biologically active natural collagen from non-animal sources. They are hypoallergenic and paraben/preservative-free. The list of claimed benefits is pretty extensive, so do give their website a look. You’ll see they have a collagen filled gold face mask which looks really intriguing. I was given two 5ml pots of Inventia; one of a serum and the other is the collagen day cream. I’m looking forward to trying both. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get a mask to try (damn!).

Hydropeptide are another brand specializing in anti-ageing products using a combination of up to 21 different peptides. Peptides are short chain amino acids that help with the production of collagen and elastin in the skin.  Both of which are necessary to keep the skin looking smooth and plump and, I’m sorry to say, we produce less and less of as we get older. One product in particular that perked my interest was the SPF 30 Enhancing UV Protection which gives UVA/UVB coverage and adjusts to match your skin tone.  You can apply makeup afterwards or use it on its own. I got a little sachet of that to try along with a few others.

There was a makeup artists’ competition going on with some really spectacular special effects work being done.

Rosewood

Flesh-eating flower model. You can just see her eyes in the flower head. The blue lights you see continue to the back of the headdress. This was my favourite of the competition.

Rosewood

Not sure what this was, but it was my second choice of the entries

 

The Neal’s Yard stand, which I could spend ages dithering over, trying all their wonderful products.

IMG-20130520-00068

 

The show is held annually over two days, Sunday and Monday, from 10 am to about 4 pm each day and to properly see everything, you do need several hours. I know I was more than ready to head for home by mid-afternoon.

A great day out and I’m looking forward to going to the Big Show aka Olympia Beauty, in London in September!

Cleanser Favourites

by

Cleansers are an area of skin care I tend not to experiment with much. I’ve been around and about enough to know what works for me and suits my skin. Ingredients are important and I tend to favour the organic brands in this respect.  The reason for this is my mature skin runs to the sensitive side and seems to get along better with more organic ingredients. The product has to effective at removing make up, as well as gently cleansing a bare face.

These three, in no particular order of fabulousity,  are my long time favourites in the organic/natural ingredients category;

Purity Organic Skincare conditioning cleansing lotion

Trilogy cream cleanser

Burt’s Bees Orange Essence facial cleanser

This is not to say that I can’t and don’t use non-organic cleansers. I do have one that my skin gets along well with and that’s from Olay.

Olay Essentials conditioning milk

Cleansing is such an important part of your skin care routine and these four all make it a real pleasure. What’s some of your favourite cleansers?

 

Spot Treatment with Burt’s Bees

by

You would think once your in your 50′s like I am, breakouts would be a distant memory. Not so. I still get them from time to time; usually on my forehead or one side of my nose and occasionally on my chest.

Something I have found works every time and also works rapidly is Burt’s Bees targeted spot treatment from their Anti-Blemish Solutions range. The active ingredient is 0.75% salicylic acid in tea tree, calendula, yarrow, parsley and borage extracts. Redness is quickly reduced and I find more often than not, that I don’t need to do anything more with the spot. Its less noticeable almost right away and disappears within 48 hours. I don’t find it at all drying and it smells great too!

Rosewood

The dropper bottle keeps things neat; just apply a drop of the solution to a clean finger or a cotton swab, then dot onto the affected area. The 7.5 ml bottle is small enough to tuck in your bag too for on the go breakout rescue.

Rosewood