Themed Thursday – Rhubarb revelry

It’s fruity, it’s juicy; it’s tart and it’s sweet; rhubarb has a contrary personality – much like most of us! So add some to your beauty routine and make it your new BFF.

Make your home the sweetest place to be, thanks to Baylis and Harding Rhubarb and Vanilla Cream diffuser set, a limited edition fragrance of reed diffuser, this is scented with a sweet fragrance that’s perfect for any room.

For the juiciest kisses, try Lanolips Lip Ointment with Colour SPF15 – Rhubarb. This contains over 60% Ultra-Pure Medical Grade lip-smoothing Lanolin, plus pure pigment, vitamin E, and some lovely natural oils. Also contains SPF15 for sun protection, making this the perfect everyday product.

Come out of the bath or shower feeling almost good enough to eat, courtesy of the luxurious Molton Brown Delicious Rhubarb & Rose Bath & Shower Gel. A delicious scent of rhubarb with rose and yuzu fruit accord pervades this product. Treat your skin to a recipe of tart rhubarb with a citrus twist.

And for decadent men, there’s Hugo Boss HUGO Red Eau de Toilette. This is a contemporary Oriental Woody scent, a contemporary blend of diverse ingredients, full of cold and hot tension.

It is built around two contrasting accords: the ‘Solid Chill’ accord that combines grapefruit in the top with rhubarb in the heart note and the ‘Liquid Heat’ accord which is characterized by cedarwood and hot amber. Its top notes include Grapefruit, while at its heart is rhubarb, with a base featuring a cedar wood and hot amber accord.

Tell me a story…

Ladies and gentlemen, roll up roll up and prepare to invigorate your senses, thanks to the Moroccan Tea Hand Soap from & Other Stories.

This fresh, minty liquid soap is an everyday indulgent wash that ensures hands are perfectly cleansed, cared for and delightfully scented. Crisp spearmint and lemon with a hint of cardamom and orange flower are combined with clean notes of cedarwood and skin musks topped with a pinch of brown sugar.

Mild cleansing agents ensure that hands do not dry out, and meadowfoam seed oil provides moisturisation and a rich feel.

How to use: Massage 1-2 pumps of hand soap onto damp hands. Rinses off easily with water.

Show me my silver lining*

It’s sad that silver can make us feel old. I’m not talking about silver jewellery, but silver hair and fine silvery stretchmarks which appear across our bodies.

While we can’t make them disappear, and shouldn’t want to, they can be helped to fade. Apothederm™ Stretch Mark Cream reinforces the skin’s fundamental support structures and helps to visibly repair existing stretch marks. This fast absorbing lotion is formulated with patented SmartPeptide™ technology, to help build collagen while reducing the appearance of both red and silver stretch marks and smoothing skin texture, and you should begin to see results in just two weeks.

The cream optimally blends shea and cocoa butter, olive oil and highly moisturising meadow foam seed oil to leave skin soft and firm. Additional ingredients resveratrol, liquorice and algae extract, brightening amino acids and sodium hyaluronate that work to fade the appearance of stretch marks and nourish the skin.

The key benefits include: impressive results seen in just two weeks and continued improvement at week 12; an improvement in the skin’s texture and smoothness; visibly reduction in the appearance of existing red and silver stretch marks; firmer, softer, more moisturised skin.

This is a calming, fast absorbing, non-greasy formulation and is also fragrance and paraben free.

*Inspired by this.

A bathtime bouquet

To start the week in a relaxed and soothed mood, reach for a bottle. No, not a bottle of gin, wine or beer, but one decorated in flowers. I’m talking Field of Flowers Wildflower blossom shampoo, shower gel & bubble bath from Philosophy.

Taking inspiration from the adage that ‘flowers are nature’s smile’, this sweetly scented formula features the aroma of wildflowers, and conveys the feeling of hazy summer days. 

The range, based on the original Wildflowers formula, also includes a Peony blossom, a Water Lily blossom and a Magnolia blossom version.

Wake it to make it

If you want to look like Sleeping Beauty first thing Monday morning, then help is at hand. Not from a fairytale Prince, or magic godmother, but from B. Nourished Night Cream.

This reduces the appearance of deep lines and wrinkles in just four weeks, gives 12-hour moisturisation and offers clinically proven results.

The Technology: it includes Palmitoyl Tripeptide-38 that smooths wrinkles from within, stimulating collagen where it’s needed most; Spanish Needle (Bidens Pilosa) extract, a retinol-like botanical, that improves radiance, texture and restores firmness in mature skin; Plantain (Plantago Lanceolata) stem cells, designed to fade the effects of skin ageing, and Hyaluronic acid, that offers highly effective long-lasting moisturisation as well as Niacinamide – Vitamin B3 to help brighten skin.

Created for mature skin, this will nourish, protect and help reduce the appearance of more advanced lines and wrinkles.

An overnight treatment allowing skin to focus on repair, this is dermatologically tested and improves the complexion and helps fade areas of hyperpigmentation.

Set your goals

Everybody loves a quick win, and what better way to achieve those beauty goals really fast than by using a product that will give you results in just one week?

Thalgo Hydra-Marine 24H Gel-Cream is a super-light face cream that will leave your skin looking luminous and feeling less dehydrated.

In the morning, apply to clean skin, over the whole face and neck. Finish with light pinches to stimulate the skin from the bottom of the face upwards.

Fast Friday – Glow for it

If you’re feeling pale and anticipating the warm days of summer, invest some pennies in St Tropez In Shower Tanning Lotion – Golden Glow Medium.

The acclaimed in-shower tanning lotion has arrived in a new, darker hue; use sparingly.

For a a deeper, natural, sunkissed glow, that gradually builds, apply for three consecutive days to achieve a healthy looking tan.

Reapply daily as part of your daily shower routine, or as desired, to build your depth of tan.

It contains Sweet Almond Oil for up to 24 hour hydration. This is streak-free and easy to apply.

Themed Thursday – Nail your look

Nail art is big business, and is a look that comes around every few seasons, which is good! It’s time to get involved, thanks to some affordable and time-saving items that will turn you into an artist in next to no time.

Who needs a whole nail kit when you can buff, file, shape and shine with the multi-use marvel that is Models Own 4 Way Nail Buffer Block. It could fast become your perfect mani partner.

Fine brushes and tools make creating a mani-masterpiece a total doddle. Treat yourself, and your nails, to an Elegant Touch Stylish Nail Art Tool Kit and release your creative streak.

Looking for further artistic inspiration? Try a Barry M Nail Art Pen. These pre-loaded fine liners, in a choice of colours, will stripe, dot and scribble in four bold shades to pimp up your pinkies – and any of your other nails, too!

Purest of them all

Give your face the gentle touch tonight, to rinse off the grime of the day.

A foaming facial wash that’s perfect for oilier skin types, La Roche-Posay Effaclar Purifying Foaming Gel prevents pores overproducing excess sebum, stopping spots at the source.

The best form of defence is attack

For men who are interested in beauty, sorry, grooming, but who don’t like to make that fact public for fear of ridicule, please send word of ManCave Borage Moisturiser to their own man cave!

This innovative natural face moisturiser is enriched with bioactives to create a soothing easily absorbed formula, which rejuvenates, retextures and helps firm skin leaving a smooth matte finish.

As caffeine stimulates your skin to help reduce the appearance of fatigue, organic Borage oil locks moisture into the cells defending against dryness throughout the day or night.

The moisturiser is formulated with UV Absorbers and Vitamin E to help protect against free radical damage to the skin, and this Natural Defence product also does not contain: parabens, sulphates (SLS SLES), synthetic dye, petrochemicals, ingredients from animal sources and is not tested on animals. It’s also Vegan friendly.

Apply to face and neck until fully absorbed.