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Blink Blog
Winter Skin Saviours
New year, new you…or so they say. The only problem is that after stuffing ourselves with turkey and downing one to many mulled wines, we’re not feeling all that spritely. Add in a serious case of back-to-work-blues and some sun-starved skin and were almost ready to retreat into hibernation until mid May.
So…we’ve decided a pro-active approach is the only way. Here at Blink we’ve come up with a set of skincare essentials that will brighten up the dullest of winter-tinged complexions and help you combat the coldest months of the year. Banish chapped lips, dry skin and tired eyes with our hand-picked selection of beauty saviours and emerge into 2012 looking ethereal…well, fingers crossed.
winter skin saviours
- 1. Scrub away last years grime with Ren’s Jojoba Microbead Purifying Facial Polish, £18. Perfect for sensitive skin and ultra cooling, this face wash is sure to restore a glowing skin tone
- 2. Tried, tested and loved by many, Elizabeth Arden’s Eight Hour Cream, £25, is the ideal way to combat dry and dehydrated lips. Apply every night before bed to keep your lips supple and crack-free.
- 3. An essential part of your beauty regime, a good make-up primer can make the difference between healthy, well hydrated skin and a dry, grey complexion. Dr Sebagh’s, Luminous Glow Complexion Perfector, £72.00, eliminates signs of fatigue and leaves skin looking younger, firmer and with a long lasting glow.
- 4. Inject some essential oils into dry, tired skin with Aromatherapy Associates Revitalising Face Oil, £37. Combining extracts of rose, frankincense and borage, it won’t be long before you’re looking youthful and radiant.
- 5. Combat dark circles and arm yourself against the cold with this 24 Hour Replenishing eye Moisturiser from Espa, £35. Not only will it nourish delicate skin, but it also contains ingredients like Mimosa and Evening Primrose – packed full of antioxidants to help prevent the early signs of aging.
Guess The Celebrity Eyebrow
It’s Christmas, the time of year when it suddenly seems necessary to de-cobweb your collection of board games and spend a traditional evening in with your nearest and dearest debating whether or not ‘ailurophile’ is a real word in the festive scrabble tournament, (it is, look it up). So, in light of the Christmas gaming spirit we have come up with our own take on the Guess Who theme to create Blink’s first, but probably not last- ‘Guess The Celebrity Eyebrow’. Simply browse, ahem, through these A-list eyebrows and then try and work out whose belong to whom. Go forth and conquer from our pick of the good, the bad and the over plucked of the celebrity world.
Ps- Answers are below the pictures should you find your celeb brow knowledge sub par.
Party On: The Ultimate Party Make up
Yes we are officially in mid-December and that can only mean one thing- (apart from the fact that it’s really, really cold) it’s Christmas party season. In a bid to keep you looking at your alluring best, even if you only have two minutes in front of the heavily populated office mirror to prep, we have picked the ultimate beauty products that are no-brainer, party perfection winners. Just add mistletoe.
1. B by Blink Brow Bar, Strip Lashes, Twiggy, £15. To continue the 60’s eye revolution, apply a pair of full strip lashes to your natural lash line for instant doe – eyes. Perhaps one of the quickest beauty cheats known to women.
2. Nars, Eyeliner Stylo, Nuits Blanches, £18.50. Yes, using liquid liner can be treacherous when pressed for time but this fine, felt-tip style liner has a precision tip as well as being ultra long-lasting. If you can use a pen we can pretty much guarantee you can use this foolproof liner.
3. Bobbi Brown, Lip Color No7, £18. Obtain a flawless facade by applying this rich, suit-all-complexions, orangery lipstick to add an instant touch of glamour to your look. To seal the colour sweep a coat of Lipcote, £3.35 over your lipstick to keep it in place instead of lining your martini glass.
4. Essie, Nail Colour, School Of Hard Rocks, £9.95. This decadent, rich jewel – hued polish glides on to create a high-shine, chip resistant finish that will keep your nails perfectly coated throughout the festivities.
5. Diptyque, Do Son Solid Perfume, £28. A bag-friendly, solid perfume compact that is crammed full of rose berries, orange leaves and tuberose. Smooth onto pulse points for a subtle, yet long-lasting intoxicating aroma.
How to: Stress Free Christmas Beauty
THE BLINK GUIDE TO STRESS FREE CHRISTMAS BEAUTY
Christmas is a time for lists. Present lists, cards lists, food lists and just-about-everything-else lists. And whether you’re oh so modern with your digital reminders, or – like us – prefer the old school method of putting pen to (Smythson notepad) paper, lists are the modern gal’s way to get through the season relatively stress-free.
So in the spirit of minimum fuss, maximum efficiency, we thought we’d give you a helping hand and compile the Blink Party Prep list to end all lists.
1. It’s surprising how having good skin magically makes our life less stressful and make up regimen more speedy. When ours goes into SOS mode, we love nothing more than Bobbi Brown’s Extra SPF25 Tinted Moisturiser Balm, £25 (www.bobbibrown.co.uk). Let it double up as your moisturiser and UV protectant by applying it pre make up – then pat it on at the end of the day to wake up your skin before you head into the night.
2. Never underestimate the power of a girlish blush to take years off your face – and fake several hours more sleep. Maybelline’s Dream Soft Blush in Apricot, £6.49 (www.boots.com) melts into ashen cheeks and highlights temples and brow bones for when you need to get your glow on.
3. So you’ve been feeling a little worse for wear ever since the night before the night before. Which is precisely why smart party hoppers pop Sprayology’s Party Relief, £25 (www.glowgetter.co.uk) into their handbags. Containing a secret blend of homeopathic wonder workers, it’ll quell those waves of nausea, support your tired liver and boost your energy levels to set you straight before another night out on the town.
4. Really though, when it comes to party season, we firmly believe it’s the eyes that have it. Tired, sensitive eyes can so easily be scratched by regular eye pencils. Which is why our Intense Kajal Liner, £13 is so genius. Packed full of olive and jojoba oil, it slides onto the lash line, soothes sensitive skin – and smudges into something smoky and sultry.
5. And the finishing touch? It has to be a party-perfect set of lashes. Knowing how much you love our existing array of strip lashes, we thought we’d give you an early Christmas present and created three new, eye popping sets to make youe party season go with an extra swing. Even better, we’ll even apply them for free when you purchase – so you can head straight on out in style.
- Taking their cue from the ‘60s references that ruled the AW catwalks, are the Twiggy lashes. As an ode to the swinging sixties icon, they’re long, full and make eyes oh-so-wide.
- Sparkling is always in style at Christmas. So give your eyes a light-reflecting glimmer, the Sparkle set come with diamantes studs at the base.
- For something that’s cute, girlish and suits all eye shapes, we just love the Dolly. Pop these on with your Maybelline blush and you’ll look as fresh as daisy – even in the hours of the morning.
Brows The Look: Vintage Curls
Party season is fast approaching and this year we’re determined to remain composed and classy at all times and not to end up pulling some embarrassing and undignified stunt at the work Christmas party. So, in an attempt to embody the glamour, and dare we say it, sex appeal, of a silver screen starlet, we’re trialling a new look – the vintage curl.
Great for long luscious locks as well as on shorter cropped styles for an authentic 40s take on the trend; we reckon this one’s a winner. So, if like us you fancy yourself as a modern day Veronica Lake (we can all dream), then perhaps it’s time to give the vintage curl a try…
1. Apply a wet gel like Au Naturel Styling Gel by Fedderik Fekkai, £10, to damp hair where you’re going to sweep behind the ear, then use Percy and Reed Abundantly Bouncy Volumising Mousse, £12.00, across the rest of your hair, keeping hair back from your face
2. Blow-dry using a flat bristle brush, sweeping the gelled hair backwards behind your ear, whilst brushing the moussed side forwards over your shoulder.
3. For perfect rolls use curling tongs or heated rollers – making sure that the curls all run in the same direction
4. Finally, use the flat bristle brush over the curls to smooth hair and bring waves together and finish with Bumble and bumble’s extra strength holding spray, £16.50
Blink Nails: Our Top 5 Winter Shades
We’ve always liked a challenge. So after spreading our wonder-working brow wisdom at various UK beauty hotspots – not to mention our tip-top venue in Henri Bendel’s New York – we decided to enter the brave new world of nails.
We applied our exacting brow shaping standards, false lash attention to detail and the nurturing know-how of our Ayurvedic massages and looked at creating a mani/pedi-perfect equivalent. And what better place to start than in the fabulousness that is our new Blink bar in the all-singing, all-dancing freshly-refurbed Selfridges Manchester?
Within weeks, we’d got glowing reviews from the lovely ladies at Vogue, and the ever-discerning team at Elle.
But we’re not one to have favourites among our fans. So we decided to set up a nail shop at London’s The Spa at Bluebird. Set on the uber-cool King’s Road in Chelsea, this brand new nail bar serves up a selection of the most seductive OPI and Essie shades. And to save you time when you stop by, we put together our top of the nail picks rundown of the colours that will take you through winter and into spring/summer…
5. So chic, so go-with-everything wearable, we just can’t get enough of taupes, greiges and putty shades right now. So seek out Essie’s Mink Muffs or caramel-delicious Carry On.
4. Like the LBD of nails, you gotta love a classic. A dark, blood red shade magically looks great against all skin tones – so when you need something you just know will work, look no further than Essie’s Limited Addiction..
3. Blue is the new red ladies. So when a berry just doesn’t seem en vogue, trust us when we say Essie’s Midnight Cami won’t fail you.
2. Yet by the time deep, dark winter sets in, sometimes a gal needs a bit of a perky-nailed pick me up. Opt for OPI’s OPI on Collins Ave on your toes and you can dream you’ve been whisked off to far-off shores while you gaze at them during the eighth downward dog of your yoga class.
1. For a winter wonderland look worthy of any Ice Queen, try Essie’s Marshmallow. A sheer white shade with a gorgeous glossy finish, this colour is perfect for French manis as well as fully white-washed nails.
And for anyone who’s got a not-a-moment-to-spare diary – or better still , really is leaving for sunnier climes – we’ve even laid on the option of an Artistic 3-Week Mani in your chosen shade.
Now that’s what we call nailing your beauty regimen!
Movember
Not technically Blink territory, but a well maintained moustache is certainly worthy of some attention. For those of you wondering why there are more moustachioed men wondering the streets than usual, it’s because this is the month of Movember – a time when men adorn their faces with handlebars and horseshoes in an attempt to raise money and awareness of male cancers. We’ve caught up with Murdock’s Head Barber Alex Glover and Movember participant Andy Marsh for the low-down on life under the mo’
Alex Glover: Head Barber, Murdock at Liberty (Murdock London)
Which product would you suggest using to keep your moustache in top shape?
“Clubman for styling and Captain Fawcett for fragrance”
In your experience, what’s the most popular moustache style?
“Probably the handlebar…it’s the most classic”
Can you recommend a good moustache comb?
“Kent. They’re the best bush and comb manufacturers in the world and also known for their handmade bristle brushes”
On average how long does it take to grow a good moustache?
“Normally about 2-3 months”
Any top tips for moustache maintenance?
“Keep the lip line clean, grow it for a little while and then seek professional advice”
Freddie Mercury or Poirot?
“Poirot”
Andy Marsh – Movember participant
Would you consider keeping your moustache after Movember is over?
“Yes. I find the style suits my face. It makes me feel more distinguished”
How long does it take you every morning to perfect the perfect handlebar?
“5 minutes to apply the wax and comb it and another few minutes to twist the ends”
What’s your moustache inspiration?
“Gentlemen from the Victorian era ranging to the 1940s”
Has having a moustache influenced the way you dress?
“Half and half…the two things influenced each other. The direct ratio would be the height of my trousers to the length of my moustache!”
Do people react differently to you now?
“They certainly comment on it. I think it gives me an air of authority”
Who’s your ultimate moustache idol?
“George Orwell”
Brows The Look: the 60s eye
Thinking back to LFW, whilst the couture catwalk offerings were undeniably eye catching, we were finding it increasingly difficult not to divert our attention to the emerging makeup trends that were cropping up in tandem with the clothes, making it hard to know where to rest our highly trained eye (note, it was mostly on Kanye West front row)
So, inspired by the plethora of feathery lashes a-la Chloe and in time for the festive frivolities, we herald the return of the 60’s eye. Though obviously a nod to the decade defined by caked on mascara and vats of hairspray, we like to think of this reinvention as a more toned -down -Twiggy.
1. To quickly replicate this doe-eyed look, curl lashes with Shu Uermura eye lash curlers that have been slightly pre-warmed by the hairdryer (emphasis on slightly warmed not smouldering hot)
2. Next coat lashes with a few slicks of our intensely black mascara- the gel formula will coat each lash individually, instantly adding length and body to wispy lashes and can be built up in layers to create bambi-esque eyes
3. To finish pat Mac’s nude lipstick in Myth onto lips to create a muted yet sultry sixties siren.
Berry Lips
As the days get colder and greyer so too can our appetite for colour. We run the risk of mimicking the weather, our wardrobe morphing into blacks and greys, our adventurous summer eye shadows transformed into classic kohls and smoky greys and our nails neglected and bare. So, in attempt to beat the winter blues we are 100% whole heartedly embracing this season’s autumn/winter berry lips trend. Warm up your look and transform yourself into a sultry seductress…well that’s the idea anyway. Thankfully, there are quite a few options out there when it comes to picking your preferred shade of statement lip colour – from deep cherry to strawberry reds and raspberry pinks, there’s a whole fruit bowl to choose from. Take a look at our top 5 lipsticks for the perfect winter pout.
1. Nars : Pure Matte Lipstick, Carthage Hot pink, £18.50 2. Ellis Fass : Milky Lips, Colour L202, £22 3. Laura Mercier : Creme Lip Colour, Plum Wine, £18.50 4. Chanel : Rouge Coco Hydrating Crème Lip Colour, Rouge Noir, £23 5. Hourglass : Femme Rouge Velvet Crème Lipstick, Muse, £22
Get your BFC Fix (That’s Beauty Comfort Factor!)
If summer is all about long, lazy days, bronzed limbs, light salads and sunshine, when it comes to winter we have a whole different set of priorities. When the days start to shorten, your woolly tights are your new best friend and you’ve forgotten what having the sun on your back is like, we all need a little something to cheer us up and make us feel all cosy and snug. Which is where the BCF, (Beauty Comfort Factor) comes in.
So stock up now on these good-enough-to-eat treats and not only will the dark days of winter seem slightly more bearable – but they might just stop you reaching for the chocolate to get some much-needed comfort. Or at the very least, limiting yourself to one bar…
SET THE SCENE
First thing’s first. When you want to be perked up, you need to create the right environment. Even when it’s damp and dreary outside, Jo Malone’s Nectarine Blossom and Honey scented candle, (£38; www.jomalone.co.uk) combines uplifting citrus with a soothing sniff of the sweet stuff. Pop it on your desk or by your bath and forget that winter ever existed.
GET A SWEET TREAT
We love a fix of pistachio in summer but when we’ve been wearing three jumpers and a scarf all day, a sweet treat that’s on the chilly side is the last thing on our minds. Instead, slather on Laura Mercier’s lip-lickingly-good Crème de Pistache Souffle body cream, (£43.50; www.spacenk.co.uk) to keep your skin smooth and satisfy your cravings for all things sweet.
SAY CHEERS AT SHOWER TIME
So, we admit it: while we like to think of ourselves as being Little Miss Sociable during summer, we get to winter and tend to hibernate. So if you can’t quite drag yourself out to meet the girls after work, a dose of Philosophy’s Senorita Margarita 3 in 1 Shower Gel, (£14; www.johnlewis.co.uk) is the next best thing. Just don’t tell your girlfriends.
PROTECT LIPS THE LICAKBLE WAY
It’s an oldie but a goodie: Palmer’s Cocoa Butter Lip Balm, (£1.83; www.boots.com) not only staves of the inevitable winter chapping, but it gives us a heavenly hit of chocolate –
without the guilt we get from just looking at a bar of Galaxy.
GIVE YOUR NAILS A NATURAL SUGAR HIGH
All in the name of getting a balanced, beauty comfort diet we thought we’d follow our cocoa-ed lips with a fruit-focused nails tip. Revlon’s Scented Nail Enamel in Pretty in Papaya, (£6.49; www.boots.com) will purge you of your former sins and give your BCF a healthy spin.
FILL YOUR SKIN WITH THE SCENT OF SPRINGTIME
Yet even once you’ve done all the above – refreshing your palate with some fruit, indulging
in a pistachio soufflé and caressing your lips with molten chocolate – sometimes spring can still seem depressingly far off. Which is why you need to bring the turning of the seasons to you. Pat our Pure Rose Facial Gel, £24 that contains extracts of rose water and cucumber, onto skin before bedtime and not only will your skin drink up its goodness, but you’ll drift off into the deepest of beauty sleeps – dreaming of spring, of course.
Embracing Autumn – The Blink Way
Hear that? It’s a slight rustling of leaves on the trees as a breeze – just a few smidgens cooler than we’ve been used to – nudges at brunches to see what it can dislodge. And while we are loathe to admit it, there have been a few chilly-ish nights that have sent our eyes lingeringly longingly towards the heating thermostat. Even our opaque tights seem to be creeping out from the shadows of our wardrobes, vying for a place in direct eye line where they know we’ll succumb to their leg-warming benefits.
But rather than succumb to the season-changing blues, we thought we’d wave a cheery goodbye to summer and embrace all things autumn. So here’s how to sniff, slick and shimmer your way into the new season – the Blink way.
1. GO SEASONAL WITH YOUR SKIN CARE
Autumn is the season for all things apple-related. So as good old English apples wing juicily into season, stock up your fruit bowl – then use this wonder food to ace trans-seasonal skin. Oskia’s Bedtime Beauty Boost, (£74; www.oskiaskincare.com) contains Swiss Apple Stem Cells plus hyarulonic acid and milk peptides to maximize your skin’s ability to regenerate overnight so you wake up to a smoother, plumper complexion come morning.
2. STEAL SEPTEMBER’S COLOUR PALETTE
Now we love our summer pastels as much as the next girl, but taking a quick peak outside is all you’ll need to take your make up wardrobe into the new season. Look to the rusty auburns and muted ambers of the leaves then translate this into a shimmering shadowed masterpiece on your eyes. MAC’s Mineralize Eye Shadow in Faux Gold, (£16; www.maccosmetics.co.uk) sweeps on like silk and opens up the eye so you look the very picture of autumnal beauty.
3. GET CLEVER WITH YOUR GLOW
If summer is all about bronzed limbs and shimmering gold highlights, autumn requires something altogether more subtle. When the sun sits lower in the sky and the hazy days of September are filled with that autumnal half-light, a gold highlight will scream ‘so last season’. Instead, rub St Tropez’s Rose Skin Illuminator, (£12.26; www.st-tropez.com) onto forearms and shins for a pinky-hued luminescence that’s perfectly suited to the season.
4. CONKER THE NEW NAIL TREND
September is no time for neons, lilacs or mint greens. So update your talons in a trice by mimicking the conker-brown glossiness of autumn with Jessica Nails’ new Wild Thing polish, (£9.75; 0845 217 1360). Then head forth into the September nights safe in the knowledge that you’ve nailed seasonal beauty.
5. ENVELOP YOURSELF IN AUTUMN
When it comes to the change of seasons, we find it pays to seek comfort in old classics. Which is why we adore Donna Karan’s classic fragrance, Cashmere Mist, (£45.50; www.theperfumeshop.co.uk). A perfect blend of autumny amber and musk, it summons up images of forest glades – and wraps us in a luxurious mist that brings all the comfort of our favourite cashmere jumper.
6. SINK INTO SEASONAL CHANGE
And finally, while you may feel like seething at the loss of long summer days gone by, we find it’s better to cheer yourself up with a good old treat. The one-hour Blink Ayurvedic Body Massage, (£75) uses a variety of oils to soothe the skin, nourish the soul and help you see the sense in going with the autumnal flow.
The Girl’s Guide to Male Grooming
As any gal about town knows, men today generally fall into one of two camps:
The resistor is the man who mocks his moisturizing friends. Not for him the desire to be smooth of skin, oily of chest and just greying enough, (please refer to George Clooney for the perfect ratio of dark to whiskery white hair). As with all things though, this man is simply in living, breathing fear of the unknown. Behind the locked doors of the bathroom, he’ll pick up your Ren Moroccan Rose Body Oil, (£24.50; www.cultbeauty.co.uk), examine it warily – then hastily put it down when he hears you knocking. So you’ll need to break him in to new grooming habits – but gently.
Then there’s the second-wave metrosexual in the other camp. He saw the emergence of the first wave, allowed them to absorb the ridicule that followed early devotees of (gasp!) moisturiser – then jumped on the bandwagon of the new metrosexual movement. Today’s modern man is comfortable with the fact that he not only moisturises, (“hydration really is key to maintaining the dermis,” he’ll cry upon entering the bathroom each morning) – but he has a business-like schedule of exfoliation, (he loves the Elemis for Men Energising Skin Scrub, £26.50; www.lookmantastic.com) eye soothing and dandruff tackling. It’s not something he’d admit to his friends but well, the L’Oreal Men Expert Hydra Energetic Ice Cool Roll on, (£11.25; www.boots.com) – with it’s de-bagging, de-puffing powers – is his new best friend.
Whichever camp your man, (or prospective partner) falls into, he will however need your guidance. And that’s where we come in.
Frankly, the resistor will need the works. So start with an essential Eyebrow Tidy and Trim, (£17) work up to having those External Ear Lobes attended to next time, (£15) – and entice him into our walk-in bar with the promise of a Head, Neck and Shoulder Massage, (£20).
The second-wave metrosexual will be all for a bit of preening and priming – but we’re sensing he may not quite have nailed the attention to detail the well-groomed man requires. So book him in for a Middle of the Brows threading, (this area is all too often missed, £5) then attend to his undereyes with a refreshing Eye Soother massage, (£20).
At which point, you may want to have a sneaky set of Classic Lashes, (£60) applied – and a Blink Facial Massage, (£40 for 30 minutes). You wouldn’t want your beloved being better groomed than you now would you?
The Blink Bible to Savouring Summer
Don’t tell anyone but we here at Blink towers are starting to feel a bit twitchy. We’ve returned from our summer hols and – as September approaches – we’re starting to get that sinking feeling that autumn is on its way.
The good news is that with a trick here and a few tweaks there, we can use our favourite beauty products to prolong that summer holiday feeling. So follow the Blink Bible to Savouring Summer – and you’ll almost feel the sand between your toes, the swish of seawater lapping at your ankles and the beat of the sun on your back.
STEP 1: SPRINKLE SOME SUNLIGHT
However militant we are about applying our SPF, (and trust us – we’re sticklers for sun protection) summer always brings out our freckles, giving us an effortless just-left-the-beach glow. To make your glow go further once you’re home, make like the artists backstage at the Chloe AW11/12 show and fake a sprinkling of freckles by dotting our Brow Pencil in Indian Chocolate, £13 over the bridge of the nose and onto cheeks.
STEP 2: ADD A SHEEN TO YOUR SKIN
Just spending time in deliciously hot climes seems to give skin a newfound radiance. So pat Bobbi Brown’s Extra Moisturizing Balm, £56.50 (www.bobbi-brown) onto the tops of cheekbones, beneath brows and in the middle of the forehead after applying make up. This multitasking wonder cream contains Aloe, cucumber and vitamin A to hydrate skin and give it that sheeny glow that’s not quite shiny – and definitely not sweaty – but makes you look as if you’ve been basking in the humid weather of far-off shores.
STEP 3: LIQUEFY YOUR LASHES
You know that shiny, starfish separation that a dip in the twinkling aquamarine waters of the sea adds to your lashes? The good news is that you can fake it even once you’re landlocked back home again. A backstage secret from the catwalk shows is to load your mascara wand with product then push it just into the very base of the upper lashes, (the extra volume at the root makes the tips fan out slightly). Add a sea-soaked shine by slicking a coat of our Eyebrow Grooming Gel in Clear, £15 over the top.
STEP 4: BRING THE BEACH HOME
It’s a classic and we love it. The Hei Poa Pur Monoi Coco Oil, £10 (www.hqhair.com)
smells so tantalizingly of coconuts that it’s almost as if we were still sipping Pina Coladas with nothing but white sand as far as the eye can see. Smooth it on after a shower to keep your skin plump and perky – then spritz on Tigi Catwalk Session Series Salt Spray, £9.07 (www.luxuryhaircare.co.uk) to maintain your beachy waves with the scent of the sea breeze.
STEP 5: SEE SUNSHINE WHEREVER YOU GO
Finally, slick Butter London’s Cheeky Chops yellow lacquer, £12 (www.butterlondon.com)
onto your nails to bring some sunshine yellow into your life – no matter what the weather is doing outside.
Are Your Brows Ready for their Close Up?
What can we say? When it comes to the best brows in show business, we pride ourselves in providing a red carpet worthy service. Sure enough, one of our favourite A-listers, Emma Watson popped by for a quick re-shape prior to the recent Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows worldwide premiere in London.
Which got us thinking about the best movie brows of all time. So bag the popcorn, kick back on your red velvet seat, put your mobile on silent and we’ll run the trailer for the top five, screen-worthy brows of all time.
Warning: this trailer comes with a PG (Perfectly Groomed) certificate.
5. Gloria Grahame in Oklahoma!
When it comes to being camera-ready, nothing beats the elegance of the classic silver screen brow. With the triangular arch, Gloria’s 1955 brow showed off the kind of high-precision grooming regime that was typical of the good old days, (sigh!). This elegant
brow lifts the eyes yet comes with the softness of the ever-so-slightly Prairie girl vibe.
4. Sarah Jessica Parker in Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
Oh for the ‘80s! When SJP danced, spun and flipped her way through this 1985 movie, who knew that she’d be so seriously ahead of her time in brow terms? That full, heavy brow may seem OTT right now – but it’s bang on the money for this autumn’s boyish, brushed up brow. And we love it.
3. Lucy Liu in Charlie’s Angels Full Throttle
If there’s one thing we can say about that brow is that it’s fierce. Sassy, sexy and just a little bit saucy, it’s just the right side of skinny and fabulously frames those beautiful feline eyes. Appearing on our screens in 2000, it’s the very epitome of new noughties brows.
2. Romola Garai in I Capture the Castle
We’re calling this the poetic brow. Soft and ethereal with a perfect rainbow arch in a mousy shade, this brow is a match made in heaven for the classic English Rose skin tone. Not only will it widen your peepers, it’ll add contours to a narrow face. This 2003 screen brow is a clear contender for the best wearable style for real women everywhere.
1. Emma Watson in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Note please the full but not bushy shape and the shapely arch contrived to set off the almondine eyes with the utmost subtlety. Now we don’t like to brag but we did a darn fine job here. And we’re modest too.
So pick a filmic brow, pop by one of our Blink brow bars and you too can be ready for your close up.
The Blink Guide to Being a Festival Babe
We at Blink love a bit of glamping and festival fun as much as the next girl – but there’s a knack to looking glam rather than grubby. Because let’s face it, when you’re no Kate Moss and a luxury Winnebago would be stretching your budget, festival living can be a recipe for some serious beauty disasters: over-baked skin, greasy hair, crusty eyes and past-their best nails are all just waiting to happen. So we took a few leaves out of Glasto queen, Beyoncé’s beauty book and put together the Blink essentials for festival flawlessness…
GET SCRUMPTIOUS SKIN
You may be waving your lighter in the air by night but if the sun beats down during the day, you’ll need to pack in some serious SPF protection. For something that soothes and safeguards against both UVA and UVB damage, we can’t get enough of Korres’ Yogurt Sunscreen for Face and Body SPF50, £22 (www.lookfantastic.com). It’s full of skin-boosting proteins, vitamins and minerals – and smells good enough to eat!
BE A SAVVY SLEEPER
Waking up with tired, crusty eyes after your first night under the stars is no way to start. So before you bed down, use the nifty Beauty Fixation by Japonesque Make Up Remover pads, £4.99 (www.boots.com) – that come pre-loaded with cleanser – to swipe of old eyeliner. Then pat on our genius Hydra Eye Gel, £24, which contains rosewater and honey to soothe, firm and lighten dark circles. Finally pop on Holistic Silk’s Lavender Eye Mask, £41 (www.holisticsilk.com) to help you drift off into the best possible beauty sleep.
HAVE YOURSELF SOME TIP-TOP TALONS
We love our neons, adore our pastels and are even digging this summer’s trend for banana yellow nails. But if there’s one thing we hate, it’s chippy, flakey nails. After rigorous testing, we can confirm that Maybelline’s Forever Strong Professional in Flamingo Pink, £3.09 (www.boots.com) really does go the distance.
GET HEAVENLY HAIR
Spend the night in a field and it’s all too easy to end up with hair that looks like a haystack. So regain control and neutralize oily roots with Klorane’s Oatmilk Gentle Dry Shampoo, £2.98 (www.escentual.com) that softens and silkens when you go for days without a proper wash.
OPEN YOUR EYES
We positively swooned over Beyoncé fierce, wide-eyed look. So pop by a Blink bar for a pre-festival set of our semi-permanent Classic Lashes, £60 then add a slick of Stila’s new Sparkle Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner in Curacao blue or Royal plum, £14; (www.asos.com) for perfect bootylicious beauty!
LOVE LICKABLE LIPS
And for the pièce de résistance, channel Beyoncé’s cocoa lip vibe with Smith’s Mocha Rose Lip Balm, £7 (www.zuneta.com). You’ll gain beauty kudos for its cute, retro tin – plus have baby soft lips for the festival duration – no matter how many hamburgers you manage to scoff!
Our Beauty Essentials for a Season of Summer Fun
Oh, the promise of long, hazy summer days…with the sun tickling our noses and a glass of Pimm’s to hand, we’ve got a sudden urge to plan our social calendar – our favourite Smythson diary to hand.
With Chelsea Flower Show just gone, there’s still the promise of Hampton Court’s own floral extravaganza not to mention the green, green grass of Polo in the Park, the thud of hooves at Royal Ascot and the swish of oars in water at Henley Regatta. And if none of those appear in the pages of your own diary, we’re betting a garden party, picnic or BBQ certainly will do.
So in celebration of the great British outdoors, we’ve come up with a capsule collection of fruity, floral beauty you’ll want to carry in your summer clutch or wicker basket wherever you go.
ADD SOME TANG TO YOUR LEGS – When it comes to getting perfect pins to set off your sundress, first thing is most definitely first. Book in for our Blink Leg Wax, £45 for hair-free, super-smooth legs then slather on Jo Malone’s luscious new Dry Body Oil, £38 (www.jomalone.co.uk) that comes in Pear and Freesia or Lime, Basil and Mandarin – for moisturisation with a more-ish tangy scent.
GET ZESTY WITH YOUR NAILS – When a garden party calls, there’s nothing more stylish than a natural nail to set off that glass of bubbly you’re bound to be clutching. Bag Revlon’s Scented Nail Varnish in Peach Smoothie, £6.29 (nationwide) and you’ll not only get the desired nude effect, but they’ll give off a waft of fruity fragrance too.
FIZZ UP THOSE LIPS – No sooner have we heard the sizzle of sausages on the barbecue and our mind jumps to the fizzle of a soft drink. But if you’re saving your teeth – not to mention your waistline – steer clear of the sugar-laden softies and plump for Lip Smacker’s new balm, £2.50 (www.primark.co.uk) that comes in flavours of Coco Cola, Sprite and Fanta that are good enough to eat.
MAKE YOUR EYES BLOSSOM – Bring the colours of an English country garden into your make up regime with L’Occitane’s new Petals Eye Quartet, £22 (www.loccitane.co.uk). The four petal-perfect colours – from sweet pea pink to wheatfield bronze – are ideal for daytime drinks and can be smouldered up with the graphite shade when nighttime calls. Simply slip on our fabulous Strip Lashes, (from £10) and you’ll be set at sunset – and ready to party on until dawn.
By which time, you’ll need some serious R&R. So whatever time you make it home, pat some of our cooling Pure Rose Facial Gel, £24 onto your temples to help you drift off into the heavenly-scented depths of sleep. Zzzzzzz.
Blink and you’re in Manhattan!
Brrrreaking news….The battle of the brows is now on as Blink are on the move – because we’re going Stateside to the exclusive Henri Bendel’s of the fabulous Fifth Avenue. And from perfectly groomed Big Apple brows to Lusciously long London lashes, there’s just no telling who will be crowned queens of the super-speedy beauty regime.
But before the battle lines are drawn, let us take you back to that distant memory that was 2003. When bad brows – from the scarily spindly to the just plain bonkers bushy – roamed the streets of London, spreading like a contagion amongst our otherwise chic city ladies.
Then in 2004, along came Vanita Parti – a Batwoman of Brows – to save the city and all those follicly-challenged beings who couldn’t keep their tweezers under control. Suddenly the ancient Indian practice of threading arrived in uber-chic, walk-in bars all over the Capital. Beauty editors went mad for it, celebrities just couldn’t resist and in no time at all, Vanita had London’s brows in hand and Blink popped up in all of the places to see and be seen – from Selfridges and Space NK to the heavenly Harvey Nick’s.
But alas – all was not right in the world. No sooner had she conquered good old Blighty’s brows than a rumbling of rumours spread about dropped arches taking over New York City. Park Avenue princesses seethed with jealousy at our British brows, overly-tweezed ladies hid in shame on the 400-zillionth floor of Wall Street’s skyscrapers – even the Statue of Liberty blushed at its shameful lack of grooming.
So once again, Blink has come to the rescue. The speedy, clean, long-lasting threading service has arrived Stateside to whip straggly strays into shape. She’s taking a highly trained A-team of therapists to bring her famous threading menu to Manhattanites.
So pick up a new perfume, help yourself to a new handbag why not? Then stop by to finish your look with a perfectly groomed pit stop at our new Henri Bendel Blink Brow Bar.
Arm yourself with our Luscious Lash Oil, our famous Kajal Eyeliner or our dreamy Pure Rose Facial Gel – and let the global battle of the beauty queens commence…
Blink London are launching in Henri Bendel Fifth Avenue, New York 21st June 2011.