Lucas' Papaw Ointmentment!

This product I have long underrated until now!  It has been knocking about in my kit for at least a year. I recently started using it more when I ran low on Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour cream which is similar.  It is however less shiny and less sticky than Eight hour cream.

Lucas' Papaw has many great uses including helping burns, dry skin conditions, sores, bites and as a intense moisturizer.  I know models that slather this on the entire face when flying to keep their skin super hydrated!

This was my absolute go-to product on my recent honeymoon in Mauritius.  My bites were banished instantly with a dab of this wonderful ointment and the itching immediately stopped.  After my awful cold my lips and nose were sore and dry but this soothed and banished redness and dryness so much quicker than it would be normally.
Even my husband was converted to use it as a lip balm and he will not use anything usually.

I personally love to dab this onto the tops of cheekbones to achieve a gorgeous dewy glow and worn over lipcolour it keeps lips perfectly dewy and hydrated.

This is a firm staple in my make-up kit and my make-up bag from now on!

Available at Amazon.com and Netaporter.com
Price £9-£12

Make-up advent

25)

By the mid-sixties women were artfully brushing on their make-up, in fact everything bar foundation to achieve a sculptured look.

Merry Christmas!

December Update!

December has been full of Christmas fun! We visited Berlin at the beginning of the month to see the Christmas markets it was bitterly cold and snowed but drinking the Gluhwein certainly helped to warm us up! The markets were all fabulous to meander around carelessly for hours looking at all the wonderful handmade gifts and delicious food for sale. We really enjoyed visits to both The Helmut Newton Gallery and the Bauhaus archive while we were there.  See some of my Berlin photos below.
I also have a couple of Christmas brides and really enjoy beautifying them for their gorgeous winter weddings that are just extra magical at this time of the year.  I have also been busy with many party make-ups and shoots for magazines including Glamour and Good Housekeeping plus a menswear shoot for Duck & Cover...so a busy month what with the additional Christmas shopping, wrapping and baking to boot!
We have had lots of fun festivities with our friends and family and I look forward to a lovely week off over Christmas to relax  and that means no social media! Well maybe just a little...

On reflection 2013 has been a great year for me, I am truly blessed and I hope 2014 will be even better!
I would like to wish my friends, family, clients and followers a wonderfully happy and healthy New Year!
XXX

 Berlin Holocaust Memorial

 Currywurst!

 TV Tower, Berlin

 Brandenburg Gate

 Christmas Market, Berlin

 My Make-up work on the cover of next year's Bride Magazine

 Poodle tree decorations

 My homemade first ever Christmas Cake!

 Snowballs!

 Festive fun at the Christmas Markets in Berlin

Gluhwein!

Make up advent

24)

In 1955 one of the newest cosmetic ingredients was the highly advertised 'Royal Jelly', the food of the Queen bee. It was expensive so it had to be good....

Make-up advent

23)

Max Factors contribution to cosmetics in 1954 was a flesh coloured make-up stick called ERACE.  It was used to hide dark circles and discolorations.  Max factor was a polish immigrant wig maker, he started in Hollywood beautifying film stars. He began compounding new powders and greasepaints in more becoming colours.  When the stars started weaaing his make-up off screen as well as on, he was in the beauty business for good.  One of his greatest successes was the pan cake foundation.

Make-up advent

22)

During wartime in the 1940's there was shortages to deal with. Curtailed supply of alcohol meant more perfume but less cologne. Reduced supplies of fats and oils and unavailability of glycerinne meant substitutes were needed.  Packaging was most difficult at this time and was important in the sales of products.  Plastic was in short supply and metal containers and closures had to be replaced by something else.  Cosmetics remained hugely morale boosting during this time.

Make up Advent

21)

The first food and drug act in the US since 1906 went into effect in 1940, it now covered cosmetics. It covered all cosmetics involved in interstate commerce.  This law was designed to prevent adulteration, mis-branding and deceptive packaging.  No cosmetic could therefore contain poison or harmful substance and could not promise to eradicate wrinkles or anything else it could not actually do!  The Industry adjusted to the changes and survived providing the public with better quality and accurately labelled cosmetics.

Make-up advent

20)

Max Factors pan-cake was the first water soluble cake foundation.

Make-up advent

19)

In 1937 Yardley opened its first salon in London

Make-up advent

18)

By the 1930's new products were seldom marketed in the cosmetics industry, at least by reputable companies without having undergone exhaustive tests.  Sun tan lotions were patch tested on women's backs with ultra violet light. Face creams were put into ovens and refrigerators to make sure the ingredients did not separate. Products were also aged for months and years to discover if they would turn rancid.

Make-up advent

17)

1923 saw the invention of KURLASH. A tool for curling eyelashes. It took ten minutes to use, looked extremely complicated and cost 5 US dollars, it did enormously well.

Make-up advent

16)

 Helena Rubinstein had began by beautifying Australian women in 1902 with a batch of home-made face cream from Poland. Make-up soon became her business and her art. Rubinstein formed one of the world's first cosmetic companies with her first salon initially in Australia. At the outbreak of WW1 she moved to New York city opening her first cosmetics salon in New York city in 1915, the first of many across the country. She could also be consulted personally in London's Grafton Street in the 1920's. 

Make-up advent

15)

In 1913 for the first time ever cakes of powder and rouge were being packaged in a single box.  These often included puffs and mirrors...."little boxes of hard powder, each with its tiny puff"...wrote the beauty editor of Vogue in 1913..."have become almost indispensable to womankind"...

Make-up advent

14)

In the early twentieth century beauty parlors sprang up and were popular. However these were usually no better than their owners, mostly owned by wealthy men with no knowledge of anatomy, physiology, chemistry or medical therapeutics.

Make-up advent

13)

The twentieth century saw the return to the free and open use of make-up again.  Unlimited use of cosmetics became universally accepted perhaps for the first time since the ancient Egyptians.

Make-up advent

12)

Ladies not content with whitening their faces also liked to emphasize the blueness of their veins on their porcelain skin.  Blue tint for the veins was available, grease pencils or jars of french/ venetian chalk made into a paste with gum.

Make-up advent

11)

In Victorian times the deception of wearing make-up continued with most women not advertising the fact that they wore rouge.  Women were very discreet and secretive about their make-up and few women rouged openly in fact and got away with it.

Make-up advent

10)

The nineteenth century saw make-up become much more neutral.  Deceptively worn or sometimes not at all.

Make-up was much more artfully applied to avoid detection.  Women pretended they were not painting their faces and cosmetic were going out of fashion or underground. With rouge now out of fashion a pale ethereal look came into Vogue. However older women tended to cling on to their old habits of white enameled faces and rouge.

Kiko cosmetics

I have to give a well worthy mention to the Italian professional make-up brand 'Kiko cosmetics' as I think they are fabulous!

Last year I purchased a coral nail colour and a smart lip pencil to try while I was in Spain as they were around two euros per item! I assumed at this price they would not be as good as they looked. I couldn't have been more wrong. The lip liner has a great colour payoff, feels very good on and lasts. Likewise the nail colour is long wearing, vivid colour that applies well.

Whilst on a Christmas visit to Berlin this month I visited another Kiko store and this time had a good play for at least an hour or more!  I purchased a lipstick to try, this I am amazed by it is long wearing, feels so nice on and the packaging is great to boot all this for just 5 euros! I brought a few more lip pencils for my kit and some palette eyeshadows which I am also pleased with. Kiko have different sized eye palettes starting from just three shades so you can choose your own colours from their wide array to go in them.

I left the store with over ten items and only spent around £43.00!

I think their products are super affordable, very good quality and mostly well packaged.

Purchase in the UK at Westfield and the new Kiko store on Regent street also online at www.kikocosmetics.co.uk

Make-up advent

9)

In the eighteenth century make-up was highly artificial and obvious.  Chalk white faces, bright red lips, magenta cheeks and penciled eyebrows were the order of the day.

Make-up advent

8)

The end of the sixteenth century saw the beginning of a new era of 'patching'.  This was the fashion of wearing little black beauty spots to set off the whiteness of the skin. They came in different shapes and sizes and were used to cover blemishes and scars. They are believed to have begun with the application of black velvet or taffeta to the skin. The seventeenth century became known as the century of patches as they were worn by both men and women and were essential to the fashionable.

Make-up advent

7)

Under Queen Elizabeth 1, make-up became more permissive. She introduced 'Sweet Coffers'.  These contained paint, powder and patches for the face. White lead or powdered borax was usually used to paint the face.

Make-up advent

6)

Upper class European ladies in the middle ages wanted to be pale. They achieved this look by painting their faces.

Make up Advent

5)

In ancient Rome crocodile excrement was used as a facial mud pack

Make-up advent

4)

The ancient Greeks and Romans believed eyebrows that met over the nose were a thing of great beauty. Indeed in ancient Greece some women even wore false eyebrows.

Make-up advent

3)

Ancient Egyptian men and women always lined eyes heavily with kohl. This was a black, grey or even a coloured powder

Make-up advent

2)

In ancient Egypt both men and women used make-up as part of their daily routine.  They went to their final resting place supplied with cosmetics ready for the next world.

Make-up advent!

Throughout December 25 days of interesting make-up facts!

Check out my blog daily for my Make-up advent!

1)

The first make-up may have been protective, possibly as a form of camouflage.

November Update!

Well this November has been a truly fabulous time of the year unusually for me considering I hate the cold miserable winter weather. This year was different because my husband and I jetted off on our belated honeymoon which we put off after we married in July 2012. It was so worth the wait as we honeymooned in Mauritius otherwise known as paradise and had the most amazing time. See some of my pictures below.

Now back in cold blightly and the exciting Christmas preparations begin! I just need to get over my long lingering cold. A busy month ahead of parties, family gatherings, photoshoots, Christmas weddings and even a Christmas trip to Berlin.

Also watch out on my blog for my daily December Advent make-up facts!

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