It was a single-use sachet, 80g of fragranced sea salts and it was £2.35 well spent! I know that single sachets of anything are never that cost effective, but I’m drawn to them because they’re perfect for taking away to hotels and on holiday. Things like scrubs and bath salts always come in gargantuan glass jars that are totally impractical for doing any travelling with, so I always have a little stash of handy travel sizes.

Many bath salts, I find, don’t dissolve properly, leaving the bottom of the bath looking like a pebbly beach. It’s not pleasant to lie on these little rocky remnants, especially when they are in such close proximity to your danger zone. Other salts are so over-fragranced that they make you feel sick, or have been formulated with things that make you instantly itch. The Lavera ones, I find, are just right. One sachet is more than enough to ‘do’ a bath (I have a huge bath so a sachet, if you were feeling thrifty, would actually last for two) and the whole room is filled with the gorgeous scent of roses.

If you hate roses, as I know some of you do, then may I recommend having a go with the Coconut Dream variety? Same price, different fragrance: this one transports you to a tropical island, Bounty Bar style, rather than an English garden!

Lavera Rose Garden Salts, £2.35 for 80g with free delivery at Lookfantastic.com or try the Coconut Dream Salts

Having  a new kitten means that I am diddling about with gross things more often. Litter tray, poop scoop, smelly cat food. (Nobody tells you just how stinky cat food is, do they?) Obviously I wash my hands after I did any of the aforementioned gross things, but I have also taken to giving my hands a little extra clean in between washes if I am going to be touching my face. (Which is often, as I am always clarting about with something or other, whether it be skincare or makeup!) I have also been really unwell, so having very clean hands has felt even more important – I just want to feel as spotless as possible!

Now this little Jurlique Sanitiser is a strange one; it’s natural, yes, but it contains alcohol as its primary ingredient. So you’d think that it would leave your hands as dry as the Sahara. Oddly, it doesn’t. It contains ingredients that claim to enhance the skin’s natural barrier,  so after the alcohol has sapped every possible drop of moisture from your hands, the formula puts some moisture back in again. Or perhaps the barrier-enhancing ingredients stop the alcohol from disrupting the skin’s barrier, I don’t know. Either way, kind of nifty, I think.

After using this sanitiser my hands feel pretty normal – not particularly moisturised, but in no way dry. They almost feel exactly as they did before applying the sanitiser! Most others leave my skin as shrivelled as a fifty year-old walnut, so this is definitely a keeper. Even better when followed with one of the most gorgeous hand creams in the world, also by Jurlique, the notoriously amazing Rose Hand Cream.

The moisturising sanitiser is a nice one to have in your handbag for those hideous public loo trips and impromptu sandwich-eating moments. The little 50ml size (£5) can be taken in-flight, too.

Jurlique Moisturising Hand Sanitiser, from £5 at www.lookfantastic.com

When Liz Earle launched their Botanical Shine range of hair products last year I was instantly a fan. The shampoo left my scalp and hair really clean without stripping it with harsh chemicals, so it swiftly became one of my most-used shampoos. The conditioner, on the other hand, didn’t completely rock my boat. There was nothing particularly wrong with it, it just didn’t leave my hair supersoft, which meant that I had to also use a leave-in treatment. I always hoped that they would bring out a more intensive product, and now they have – the Liz Earle Botanical Shine Treatment. Formulated for frizzy, coarse or very dry hair, it’s a deep conditioner that needs to be left on for at least ten minutes (so perfect to use during a long soak) and then rinsed out. I was worried that it might be too heavy for my fine hair (lots of fine hair!) but it worked perfectly.

I left it on for the bare minimum, ten minutes, and could immediately tell that it had worked some magic. My hair was easy to comb through before rinsing, and after rinsing it had a glossy feel to it without any slimy residue. After air-drying naturally, my hair was beautifully glossy and shiny. Not, perhaps, quite so glossy as with some other intensive treatments (K-Pak, SEAH Cashmere, et al) but pretty darn good. If you’re a Liz Earle addict then you’ll definitely want to add this to your collection – it’s much more expensive than the standard conditioner, but if you’re using it as a weekly treat it’ll last that much longer.

The Botanical Shine Treatment is £14 from lizearle.com

So, here’s a random little video of Mr Bear’s first days at Model HQ – enjoy!

xxx

Same scent, same amazing results, but a formula that’s slightly easier to rub in and quicker to absorb. I prefer this packaging because it’s neat and clean and there’s no chance of me plopping body cream all over the bedroom carpet! As chance would have it, 1.5 litres (3 bottles of 500ml) are just £20 at the moment in Boots! I kind of prefer this deal to the mega-sized body butter!

So there you are – two very nice body moisturiser deals for those who like to bulk-buy. Just in case, you know, there’s a nuclear war or something.

One-and-a-Half Litres of Lotion, £20 at Boots.com and One Litre Butter Tub, £25: Limited Edition Butter

Model Scrapbook Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/ModelScrapbook

Products Mentioned/Worn:

La Roche Posay Lipikar: http://tidd.ly/6b7725da

Liz Earle Haircare: Liz Earle Haircare: http://goo.gl/M46l3

Lierac DioptiCalm: http://tidd.ly/30ead38f

Monu Balm: http://tidd.ly/801dbad0

Barefoot Recovery Cream: http://tidd.ly/8cbf8b31

Heal Gel: http://goo.gl/KHl9p

Avon Cashmere Magic in Ivory: http://goo.gl/S10N4

NARS Pago Pago: http://tidd.ly/29aec561

Body Shop Satsuma Shimmer: http://goo.gl/aDQ3M

Givenchy Compact Powder in Peach Plumetis (83): http://tidd.ly/b627909d

Estee Lauder 5 Colour Eye Shadow in Bronze Dunes: http://tidd.ly/6a8d3621

Nice.

Satsuma Shimmer is £2 at the moment on the Body Shop’s website, I’m not sure how much instore… I have the version shown in the photograph with the new packaging, but I’m pretty sure that the formula will be similar.

Ruth (@legslonglength) and I have been lunching together at inordinately expensive places for over ten years now; we have made it into something of an art. I won’t go into how much we must have spent eating out over these years, but I can tell you that other Ruth, as she shall be known for the purpose of this piece, once nearly had a heart attack when she went to submit her expenses for her tax return.

The Working Lunch at Arbutus should have been expensive (it is, after all a renowned Michelin-starred bistro in Soho) but thanks to their brilliant £16.95 set menu, we walked away having spent just £40 each. (GOD knows where the other twenty-three quid came from, but it wasn’t anything to do with wine. Honest guv.)  We popped there on Friday 13th expecting to perhaps unluckily choke on a chicken bone or fall down the stairs on the way to the toilet, but in fact had a great time. The food was faultless, and we managed to work our way through quite a selection of different beverages, including Madeira and PX Sherry! Ha. (That was not why other Ruth was late for her casting, I assure you.)

If you’d like to sample Michelin-starred food and you don’t have buckets of cash to spare (who does, anymore?) then I can’t recommend Arbutus’ set working lunch menu highly enough. As I said, the food was faultless; I went for the poached egg followed by the risotto and then the bitter chocolate mousse, other Ruth went for all opposites, apart from the same dessert. We fed each other samples of our own food and probably looked like illicit lovers, but after ten wonderful years of dining together, we care not!

You can book in for a working lunch by emailing or phoning; all details are on the webpage. www.arbutusrestaurant.co.uk

At under twenty pounds, the set menu (three courses) is purse-friendly eating at its best – you can also book in pre-theatre, so if you’re in London to catch a show then this is a perfect early evening stop-off!

Take the Black Rose Cream Mask, for example. It’s incredible. It’s also £88. Do I slather it on every week for my instant youth effect? Smoothing, plumping, brightening? Or do I save it for very very special occasions? I had the same dilemma with the Express Flower Gel - to resign myself to regular use, knowing how great the results will be, or to save for rainy days? I’ll tell you this for free: if you have some cash floating about and you’re looking for great skincare, then make friends with Sisley. I have had rave reviews from every single person I have recommended it to – it’s an absolute blessing for dry, dull complexions and its hangover-fixing powers are unparalleled. If you don’t have loads of cash to spare, then on the rare occasion that you decide to have a splurge, make Sisley your first stop.

Lecture over! The Black Rose Cream Mask is the newest treatment from Sisley – they only release new products every once in a blue moon, so I was excited to give this a try. It’s kind of the opposite of the Express Flower Gel; whereas that one is refreshing, lifting, tightening, the Black Rose is plumping, moisturising, radiance-giving. It has the same method of application (a thin layer left on for about ten minutes, excess tissued off)  and the same kind of results (amazingly fresh-looking skin) but the experience is quite different. This one feels more soothing and pampering – more of a traditional skin treat. It smells divine and the texture is, as the name would suggest, creamy. I can’t think of anything that I don’t like about this mask, but I’d say that it’s best used an hour or so before makeup rather than in a rush immediately before! It’s good to give it some time to sink in – of course, if you’re pushed for time then you can tissue off any residue and continue with your routine, but as it costs £88 I think it’s nice to give it some breathing space!

Definitely one to add to the Hangover War Chest!

Sisley Black Rose Cream Mask is £88 from Harrods.com

Read all about it HERE! (My interview, not my deficiency!)

TEEN VOGUE

The wonderful SiGod (until now anonymous reader but SO glad he popped his head above the parapet! I assume he’s a he….SiGod are you a he?) has put together this amazing iWarning sticker for me. It made me laugh so much that I simply had to put it up here! Please do feel free to print it off and stick to the front of your paperback novel or the back of your iPad at exactly the moment a person with annoying sound-leaking earphones sits opposite you!

Please may I add to the list of rubbish earphones those type that seem to have a huge doubly-bulbous ear part? They kind of look like a fat wasp with engorged abdomen and head? Because I have not seen a single person who has managed to actually push these earphones properly into their ears! The whole thing sits outside of the ear canal thus sending the soundwaves – yes – out into the air.

Rant over. Feel free to distribute the anti-apple flyers to your nearest and dearest – perhaps we can get one printed up all over the front page of the Metro. Chance would be a fine thing!

 The latest product on my testing list is REN’s Resurfacing AHA Concentrate. I used it for a good few weeks with no side-effects or strange, bubonic reactions. It’s an overnight serum that contains a complex of glycolic, tartaric, lactic and citric acids to promote cell-turnover and exfoliate away dead skin cells on the skin’s surface. It smells fruity-ish, quite pleasant, really, but beneath the surface there’s a whiff of something business-like and functional. Which is always reassuring when you’re after results rather than a nice-smelling sugar-pill product. I’m not entirely sure how effective the various acids are in the serum as I have no details on what quantities they are present in and at what pH they work at and so on. If I dug out my A Level chemistry books I could probably have a stab at doing a little bit of research, pH-wise, but quite frankly I’m time-poor this week and more importantly, I wouldn’t have a clue what I was doing.

Overall, I’d say that my skin is most definitely bright and clear in the morning after using REN’s Resurfacing AHA Concentrate, but it doesn’t feel as though it’s had quite as much of a ‘workout’ as I get with the Liquid Gold. I think that this is probably a much milder product – it certainly feels that way, and I have been using it without any problem for nine nights in a row, which wouldn’t be at all advisable with a low pH glycolic exfoliant. This could be a nice choice if you want to ‘dip your toes’ into the overnight exfoliant world – it’s a fruity, friendly introduction, and though I’m not utterly convinced that it’s performing at the same level as some other resurfacers (more reviews soon) it’s a gentle way to ease yourself in. The fact that it can be used nightly makes it easy for those who need to stick to the same routine day-in day-out, but I’d say, from my testing so far, that the results are gradual and subtle. There’s also a mask in the same range which has a beautiful brightening effect – the Glycolactic Radiance Mask. It has the same acid cocktail inside the bottle, but this one gets rinsed off after ten minutes – I’m assuming that the ingredients are more potent, but again, I couldn’t tell you for sure!

I really, really rate REN products and I’m pleased that they’ve introduced this range – it’s a bit more ‘active’ than the other products, so those looking to step up from a gentle routine have something to dabble with. The serum is £30 and the mask is also £30 – I’d definitely recommend these over the scrub. Though the scrub smells gorgeous and leaves skin soft, in general I’m just more inclined towards non-abrasive exfoliants these days!

Both products can be found at LookFantastic.com - I’ve linked through to the right page!

Here’s the trailer for the two-part series:

and here’s my Mum’s monologue. She did stop for breathing time now and then, but mostly she just talked through it.

“OK, press play. Press play! Where’s my wine? Oh it’s there. Where’s the cat? Oh Mr Bear! What are you doing Mr Bear? Don’t go to sleep, I won’t let you sleep you naughty little kitten!

[Pause for opening credits]

Why is that man singing? Oh my God, it’s awful. I hate Sebastian Faulks – I haven’t liked a single thing he’s written, not even Endleby.

[Me: It's Engleby. Please be quiet.]

[Enter Eddie Redmayne]

OH MY GOD! What’s wrong with his lips? Why are they so huge? Is there something wrong with them? Hold on – what’s wrong with her lips? Why have they both got such strange lips?

Oh, he’s a solider now. In the war. He looks better as a soldier.

She doesn’t look old enough to have those children.

[I agree]

Look how many moles she has on her face. She has so many moles! Now he has loads of moles, it’s like they’re infectious! The moles are spreading!

[Clemence Poesy takes off her brassiere]

OH MY GOD!

[Almost falls of chair. Mother, not Clemence Poesy.]

She is absolutely COVERED in moles! Oh, they’re going to have sex. Ugh. UGH.

[Me: general murmurs of agreement that the sex is rather unnecessary. We are prudish!]

What is he doing to her? Oh that is not necessary! Against a tree? There are people behind in the background, look!

[Both of us shout at TV: THERE'S SOMEONE BEHIND YOU!]

[Cut to trenches, WW1, bombs going off and people getting shot.]

Oh dear. He’s dead now.

[Me: I bet he's not.]

No, look, they’re burying him.

[Me: then what would the second part be about? I bet he's alive and his eyes will flicker as they start to dig his hole.]

No, he’s definitely dead.

[Me: he's alive. I bet you anything.]

Dead.

[Redmayne's eyes flicker at the last moment.]

[Both: HE'S ALIVE!]

[End credits.]

Mum: that was rubbish.

[Me: watch it next week?]

Yeah! “

So. If you missed the first part, there’s a quick summary for you – and a spoiler, of course! Should have warned about the spoiler before I started, really…

*disclaimer: I’d like to point out that none of the above opinions are mine – Eddie Redmayne and Clemence Poesy are both “proper lookers”, neither are that freckly/moley and Redmayne’s lips are a thing of wonder. He once lay on my couch, and that’s all I’ll say about the matter…. My Mum heckles just about anything that isn’t Friends or Lark Rise to Candleford!

All of the products mentioned are listed below the video and there are links for prices and more information if your curiosity has been aroused. I just deal with hair maintenance here and not styling, but I’ll be doing some styling videos as soon as I get the chance. Nothing is easy when you have a kitten trying to hang itself from the venetian blinds!

Aveda Color Conserve: http://tidd.ly/dd8e2764

Naked Colour Range: http://tidd.ly/cb425fdb

Liz Earle Haircare: http://goo.gl/M46l3

SEAH Cashmere Mask: http://tidd.ly/30af5bb

Phyto Restructuring Mask: http://tidd.ly/71d9aa0a

Aveda Damage Remedy: http://tidd.ly/5dcdab5f

Moroccanoil: http://tidd.ly/2f557665

Lee Stafford Argan Oil: http://tidd.ly/1a86a8f0

Tresemme Argan Oil: http://tidd.ly/89d592bc

V05 Miracle Oil: http://tidd.ly/a1579769

Bonacure Miracle Oil: http://tidd.ly/9760839b

Mythic Oil: http://tidd.ly/3e4f26c9

Tangle Teezer: http://tidd.ly/60554617

Phyto Day Cream: http://tidd.ly/45b42231

Phyto Serum: http://tidd.ly/fa7def18

Philip Kingsley Scalp Mask: http://tidd.ly/3bb14d89

La Roche Posay Anti Dandruff: http://tidd.ly/508fdd97

Secret de Nuit, Phyto: OK, FeelUnique DID have this but now it’s gone again!

KMS Dry Touch up Spray: http://tidd.ly/ec17fe5d

Batiste: http://tidd.ly/99ebd1e4

Bedhead Sugar Dust: http://tidd.ly/a8310517

John Masters Cider Rinse: http://tidd.ly/73ea6242

I have been trying to steer clear of the sales for the last week or so because I have an addiction to them that borders on a medical condition. I cannot resist a bargain.

Finally, though, I’ve been ‘had’. l’Occitane have my most favourite ever range in the sale – one that I thought had completely disappeared off the face of the earth! The Calanques range is absolutely beautiful – I posted about it when it was new, you can read about it here: Calanques, Buoy-Oh-Buoy

I love everything about the range, from the scent right down to the look of the packaging. There’s only the body scrub (above) and the body milk left, but both have a full 50% off, making them £13 and £9 respectively.

That was my main cause of excitement, but have a good browse – there are some very cute little things to be had at knock-down prices, including the Green Tea Fizzy Sugar Cubes:

a steal at £1.50, and the prettily packaged Green Tea with Jasmine soap,

down to £2.25 for 100g! These would be particularly good to stock up on for last-minute gifts as and when you need them throughout the year. One of these, wrapped up with a good paperback novel? A brilliant little present!

Until the 29th of Feb, if you spend £30 or more you get a free Verbena set worth £20 – it includes a shower gel, body lotion and soap. The Verbena range is gorgeous! Just quote the code ADY24 at checkout.

ukloccitane.com

He looks extremely fat here, but he’s really not. (Honestly.) I’m kind of more worried about my face – what is that expression?! I must be about to speak. Just for a change.

Here is Mr Bear unwittingly preventing me from doing any work whatsoever! How can I type with that little snoozy face pointing up at me? And those huge bear paws…it’s just a no-win situation, productivity wise.