Subtle Tan, Luxury Cushions and Is Every Ailment Peri-Menopause?

There are some fabulous beauty buys in this month’s favourites round-up. The entire thing is beauty-centric, in fact, with just a little bit of interiors thrown in at the end. Although: if you watch the video at the bottom of the page then you will not only get beauty with a little bit of interiors thrown in at the end but a comprehensive run-down of my current aches and pains! How could anyone resist that? (Pretty sure one of the aches is a Go Karting injury. You can read all about that here.) So do click play on the video screen once you’ve finished reading: some newer subscribers may not know this, but the Youtube video is actually the main event. I have been filming my favourites for well over a decade and I enjoy it because it’s a nice chance for me to waffle in a more relaxed way about things such as cat sick, aching wrist joints and hair thinning. And if that little teaser doesn’t hook you in then, quite honestly, I don’t know what will. Let’s get cracking on the favourites. Ad info: no paid or sponsored content. Post contains affiliate links and press samples sent with no obligation to feature. This is not the foundation to buy if you want proper coverage, where your skin is no longer really your skin but a layer of clever pigment and blurring stuff and whatever other lovely trick the cosmetics company has up its sleeve. This is the foundation to buy, however, if you don’t actually like foundation, prefer lighter coverage bases like tinted moisturiser and are seduced by anything that is ridiculously quick and easy to use. Because this, my friends, this stick of dewiness, could not be any quicker or easier to use. You just take off the lid, scribble it over your face like a demented toddler and then quickly blend in with a brush or sponge. You can use fingertips, yes, but for me that renders the stick format of the product totally pointless because the very beauty of the stick is that you don’t have to get your hands dirty. Just bish bash it on and blend. And it’s sheer, this Luminous Skin Tint Stick. But it gives a healthy glow and just enough colour to knock back redness and dark circles a little and create a more even skintone. Those who prefer the undone, no-fuss look, who want that barefaced kind of chic, who dislike looking “made up”, who want to apply the sheeniest layer of something in the quickest possible time: they will love this. It’s smooth and creamy to apply, excellent for drier skin, slips a little on oilier patches by the end of the day, but works magnificently well if you just spritz a bit of setting spray over those areas if you need more longevity. For people who simply want a touch of colour and polish to see them through from 9-5: marvellous. It’s £28.50 here: shade-picking felt complicated, but I trusted Findation to choose me the right one and it came up with 06 Ginger. Added some warmth and initially I was scared it would be too orangey on me but it blended out to perfection! I ran out of this last week and I think the fact that I immediately ordered another bottle, without hesitation, speaks volumes. Oilatum Emollient is a bath additive that helps to keep very dry, sensitive skin hydrated whilst you soak. I started using it when I had that weird shin eczema flare-up from hell after spending three solid days in the Center Parcs pool. I knew that baths weren’t ideal in that scenario, but I find it hard to live without them - they are a central part of my unwinding evening routine and also necessary for me to function, professionally, because I have all of my best ideas in the bath. (True fact. Also when driving. Or on the rare occasion I have a facial or treatment. Basically I have my best ideas when I can’t write them down.) Anyway, I chucked a bit of this into my bath each time and I’m sure it helped to keep my shin skin soft and supple, rather than unbearable itchy. I also like the Aveeno Oat Bath sachets for skin-soothing and softening, and they are made of oats rather than, er, paraffin, which definitely sounds a lot more wholesome doesn’t it, but I find they make the bath a bit messy. The Oilatum is quick and convenient. Oilatum Emollient for Bath is here online. I can’t remember the last time I used proper fake tan, the one where you can potentially dye yourself a totally different colour, complete with mottled tie-die effect behind the knees and between the boobs and anywhere else you didn’t allow to dry properly for at least nine hundred hours before dressing. This Glaze, from Vita Liberata, is not one of those fake tans. This is a peptide serum, first and foremost, delivering potent skincare ingredients and helping to smooth the skin and give a proper glow. The natural tan aspect is the bonus element. It’s subtle, but it’s absolutely there - and in the same way as the Bare Minerals foundation stick, above, it’s for people who appreciate low-key beauty that enhances and subtly “takes the edge off”. That’s actually how I’d describe the level of tan: it takes the edge off. Gives a hint of sunkissed warmth. Two applications and you start to feel as though you’re really relaxing into your non-existent beach holiday in the Maldives - the glow is deeper, the colour is more obvious. But still entirely foolproof. (I mean, obviously follow the usual self tan rules, like washing your hands afterwards and avoiding very dry bits if you have knees like velcro etc.) Is there a smell to this? Faint. It is in no way overtly biscuity. It’s about the same level as the Gatineau Gradual Tan, which - if you asked me to compare - I’d say is slightly more potent, in that the effects are perhaps more visible after one application, but a different type of body product. It’s a creamy body lotion with a bit of tan, whereas the Glaze is all about the peptides with a bonus sunkissed glow. You can find the Vita Liberata Glaze here, the Gatineau Gradual Tan is here. Oh my God I almost forgot: the packaging! I love it. So tactile, so stylish. So unique. 10/10 for the bottle design, it’s one of the loveliest things I’ve seen in ages. This is fast becoming my most-used leave-in conditioning product. Over the years I’ve had very long attachments to Aveda’s leave-ins (smell glorious), Kerastase pre-styling conditioners and, most lately, the Moroccanoil leave-in conditioner. But I have to say that the Beauty Pie spray is the most foolproof for me, with my fine hair that has the tendency to go limp and flat at the roots: I can spritz it in pretty much all over and I get soft, silky hair that never feels weighed down or greasy. The Moroccanoil spray is more potent, and leaves a glossier sheen, but I do find it very easy to go OTT with it and end up with a little more, er, silkiness, than I had bargained for. Both are beautiful products. My dry, bleached hair needs the extra stage of conditioning - even though 95% of the time I let it air dry naturally, without a little spritz of something nourishing it just dries into a bunch of semi-brittle frizz at the ends. With the conditioner applied when it’s half dry, it’s more manageable and has shine. So there. You can find the Beauty Pie leave-in here and the Moroccanoil one here. Oh! And just like that, we’ve gone from conditioners to cushions. Really you need to watch the video below to get the full sense of how much I love OKA cushions but to precis: 1. They are of a very respectably large size, 51cm, so they look luxurious and imposing and non-apologetic. If you layer them with other non-OKA cushions, they seem to lift the overall feel of quality and excellence, they’re team players like that. 2. The prints and fabrics are lush. 3. They usually have fancy trims on them, whether it’s fringing or piping around the edge, and I think that these little details make all the difference. I don’t feel I need more reasons, I have said my piece. When I originally raved about OKA cushions it was because there was a sale on and the sale usually brings them down to a price that is not horrendously more than the fa…