Happy St Patricks Day
March 17, 2010Beauty Essentials From Retro Chick Readers
March 19, 2010Every body (and I mean “every body”, not everybody) has it’s own specific little eccentricities and foibles that it’s owner will spend years, maybe the rest of their lives trying to solve.
You will develop your own list of favourite products and activities that help solve, minimise or rectify these minor “imperfections”. Sometimes a random impulse purchase or recommendation can spring you onto the product that you’ve been looking for all these years that solves a major irritation.
So, in order to play my own small part in this process I thought I might start sharing with you some of the products that have become must haves in the Retro Chick arsenal.
Starting with my top 5 beauty buys:
1. Carmex Lip Balm
I think the first time I bought this was about 10 years ago. I impulsively grabbed a pot from next to the counter in Top Shop and never looked back. I get very dry lips and I love that this doesn’t immediately slide off taking my make up with it, like I find Vaseline does. It lasts, as well, meaning I don’t have to reapply it every 10 minutes and I love the tingling sensation on my lips.
It also has uses you might never have thought of! Its minty scent means I have used it occasionally much as you might use Vicks. As it’s also moisturising and soothing I rub it on my poorly red stuffed up nose when I have a cold. I also use it to block out nasty smells (I went to York on holiday, got food poisoning, thought I was better and visited the Jorvik centre complete with “authentic” Viking smells. Suddenly I didn’t feel so good. Carmex to the rescue!)
I favour the version in the pot, and it’s been around since 1937, so I’m not the only one!
2. Ponds Cold Cream
Introduced in 1914 Ponds Cold Cream is another beauty classic.
I have skin that somehow manages to be insanely greasy the minute I apply moisturiser, but if I don’t goes dry and flaky. Ponds Cold Cream is a recent addition to my beauty regime, and I don’t think I’ll ever look back. I apply a thick layer over my face and then remove with a hot flannel. It removes all make up, including waterproof mascara and has been amazing for my picky skin, seeming to balance it out slightly. I’ve also suffered from fewer break outs since I started using it, and the ones I do get seem to disappear quicker.
3. Lush Bath Melts
This isn’t a luxury that I can use every single day, but if I want to treat myself to an indulgent bath this is what I’ll buy. My favourite is Ceridwyn’s Cauldron, which melts to leave behind a muslin bag full of oats to scrub your skin with.
I also like the name as it makes me feel a bit like a witch, maybe I’m performing a lovely skin spell (or maybe not).
I love Lush products because they feel like the “home made” solution for the busy modern world. When I was a kid I read endless beauty manuals that would often advise me to do things like fill my bath with oats, wash my hair with beer or make my own face masks out of avocado. With Lush I don’t have to make such a mess as they’ve done it all for me and put it neatly in a pot.
4. Lush Fresh Face Masks – Cosmetic Warrior
Again, this isn’t something I can afford to use all the time as it’s about £6.45 for a small pot. To be honest, I don’t really need to, If I’m having hassles with spots, this is my go to product. (seriously, I’m 30, shouldn’t the advantage of getting wrinkles be NOT getting spots?) I find that using it twice a week will clear my skin up and I then won’t need to buy another pot for a few months.
Plus it has the added advantage of being all fresh and preservative free.
5. Clinique Sparkle Skin Body Exfoliator
I absolutely adore this stuff, but at £18.50 a tub it’s something I only use when I get it as a gift/win the lottery/decide not to eat. A tub last AGES though so it’s excellent value for money.
The particles are small, but densely packed into a thick cream that sticks on your hands and body. This means it doesn’t get wasted by falling all over the floor of the shower. It leaves my skin feeling cool and smooth. Love it.
16 Comments
Great post! i am definitely intrigued by Lush product, I’ve never used them before.
My favourites are:
1. Labello Cherry Kiss Lip Balm (Most lipstick irritate my throat and I also have dry lips, it is the perfect solution)
2.Clinique Superbalanced Makeup Ivory – looks extermely natural and matches my strange pale-olive skintone perfectly.
3. “Simple” products – they are all great and cheap!
.-= Alice´s last blog ..“In the winter, Venice is like an abandoned theatre.” – Interview with Irish Fashion Designer Sinéad Doyle =-.
I use paw paw ointment on my lips. It’s the perfect cure for almost everything
Eucalyptus stick for getting stubborn pimples rid of. It dries them up quick smart.
Billy goat soap. So great to achieve hydrated soft skin.
.-= PixelHazard´s last blog ..Bad hair decade =-.
Paw paw is amazing, whenever I go to Australia I stock up!
I LOVE Lush too!!! I wish it would come to South Africa. You lucky Brits have so many wonderful things. Lovely list, friend. x
I need to do one of these posts! I am not a big “products” girl, but I do have a few must haves.
1) Oil of Olay Mosturizer – I can not live without it!
2) Neutrogena Deep Clean Face Wash
3) Vicks for my Lips! Plus, I love that it’s multipurpose & I love the menthol scent.
4) Nars Blush
5) Laura Mercier Tinted Mosturizer (if I’m going out. Otherwise, I wear no makeup.)
.-= Maddy´s last blog ..“Out-of-the-Box” Strawberry Shortcake =-.
I also love Carmex, as I also have ridiculously dry lips, but I seem to loose every lip balm i buy. then all of a sudden I find like 10 various sticks and pots all covered in fluff at the bottom of my numerous bags!
My top 5:
1) Astral cream (i use it as a day moisturiser on my face as I am very dry, its so much better than nivea!)
2) Neutrogena hand cream, (you know, the one Norwegian fishermen use!)
3) Eternity by Calvin Klein. my all time fave perfume.
4) Sanex moisturising shower gel.
(green bottle) it smells like very clean fruits, almost watermelon-y with fresh cut grass. great for those with uber-dry skin like me.
5) Tigi rockaholic ‘fun times’ hairspray.
Amazing for short, sticky-up styles. its a protector as well. you can straighten hair after spraying it on for mega height. it does everything!
Loving the lists ladies, i can see a trip to Boots after pay day!
xxx
have to completely agree with the Carmex Lip balm…I only started using it some weeks ago. My boyfriend had a pot he got for jogging and protecting his lips in the cold wind. It definitively lasts more than other balms or vaseline, the texture is so light, and now I just cannot live without it!! great post by the way 🙂
.-= Fashion Limbo´s last blog ..Hello Spring! Ah, Double-Denim, We Meet Again =-.
So interesting to read given that this is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately.
The disadvantage of growing a business through a recession is you end up poorer than you would normally be. So I have variously been substituting some beauty products for others which has taught me my must haves!
I have to say I’ve been a fan of clinique for years and although it’s expensive it does last but not when I need to replace that’s tough. However I now know that I can’t do without
1. CLinique Take the Day off Make up remover, most eye make up removers just make my eyes sting or just totally don’t do the job, I have to buy this again it’s the best!
2. Clinique All About Lips – I didn’t think I got particularly dry lips, and really I don’t but I really noticed the difference when I stopped using this wonder product.
3. Aveeno Body Lotion – I first used this in the US. I haven’t got very dry skin but it’s definately drier the older I’ve got, or in winter or in air conditioning. My skin got dry this year with the cold and I found this in Boots, it’s back to itself again!
I’m sure there are more but I’ve gone one enough :o)
chanel foundation, YSl touche eclat and vaseline lip balm, bodyshop hemp hand protector. I just can’t live without these.
.-= Style Eyes´s last blog ..The Wang Effect =-.
You just reminded my about Pond’s Cold Cream! An inexpensive way to remove make-up and moisturize that I got from my mother! The oldies are still goodies.
.-= Laura Connell´s last blog ..NADA’s Fashion Future =-.
ooooh that Clinique looks nice! I always find them a bit clinical (in looks & products) but sparkly exfoliator!
.-= Sarah´s last blog ..What Lady Luck Did Next =-.
Hmmm,
YSL touch eclat – It always makes me look more human and less zombie.
Carmex – lipstuff of the goddesses!
Clarins – hand and nail cream, amazing!
I know it is not a product, but to me is a definite essential – decent slanted tweezers!
Bio oil- sorts dry skin,, evens skin tone and helps with scars.
I got some good tips there, thanks!
My favourites are:
Body shop body butters, I love all the ones I’ve tried but my favourite is coconut
I also use Carmex balm but go for the cherry flavour, I use it all year as it has SPF
My favourite all time scent is Chanel Allure it makes me feel sophisticated and I never get tired of it
Nivea cream (the original type in a dark blue pot)- as a night cream and general moisturiser
decent tweezers
Max Factor 2000calorie mascara
Olay tinted moisturiser – a new discovery, you really CAN put it on without a mirror
Molten Brown Heavenly Gingerlily range – any of it, teh fragrance makes me feel happy!
I swear by Body shop body butters.
Also, the body shop lip balm in a strawberry flavour…
For zits…(it might sound strange)…but ive discovered that a dot of toothpaste (regular white ones) on a zit at night before I sleep works wonders and they dissapear in 2-3 days time.
My must have is paw paw lip balm. I buy it in the 10’s when ever i visit Australia as we can’t get it here in the UK. I think is makes a great gift for women and send them to my friends for Birthdays and Christmas.