Jack & Hill: A Beauty Blog - make-up, cosmetics, perfume, and the substance of style

Alba Bath & Shower Gel

Fickle as I am, I don't like to use the same shower gel for very long before I switch to a different scent and texture. So I'm guessing the bargain lover in me took over when I bought a couple of Alba shower gels in industrial-sized bottles, complete with pump for easy use. (They came from TJ Maxx, where I find so many wonderful products for next to nothing, and cost $9.99 per gigantic container.)

Here's some hippie stuff some of you will probably like, but which matters not a jot to me:

• Hypo-allergenic
• pH balanced
• No sodium lauryl or laureth sulfate
• No synthetic colors
• Paraben and phthalate free
• 100% vegetarian ingredients and no animal testing

I bought these back in April and have barely made a dent in them. One is the Honey Mango variety, the other Sparkling Mint. They are both, as the labels claim, very emollient. But they do not, as the labels claim, make for very good bubble baths. These are strictly for shower time. Still, I'm a fan, even after all these months. For me, that's saying something.

Hotel Costes: The toiletries

  Hotel Costes 
  Originally uploaded by dynamist.

Look, the bordello vibe isn't really my thing when it comes to interior design. I'm more of a mid-century modern girl, a fan of clean lines and retro chic. But, oh my God, did I fall in love with the Hotel Costes in Paris.

Jacques García's design maxim for the place was "All things in excess," and boy does it show. Even the front desk is upholstered in scarlet velvet. (More pictures here.)

One thing I loved about Costes is the way the design didn't stop at the way things looked and felt. García extended it to our olfactory senses, filling the hotel with a deep, spicy scent that drove me crazy - in a good way. And I say this as a fragrance junkie who is not really one for spicy scents, my affection for the amber-tinged notwithstanding.

Elemis Sharp Shower

  shower on the beach 
  Originally uploaded by gnackgnackgnack.

If you can't have THIS kind of sharp shower, I recommend Elemis Sharp Shower as a substitute.

Antoine nabbed several travel sized bottles of this from his hotel room in Geneva, Switzerland earlier this year for me, and I can see that I am going to have to buy a full size bottle as soon as I run out. It contains chamomile, nettle, wild marjoram, spearmint, and peppermint, with the last two being the most clear and fragrant. I typically like minty products anyway, but others do not fare well in comparison to Elemis Sharp Shower, which lacks any chemical or artificial overtones. It's almost as close to nature as a shower on the beach.

Rich Hippie

I really and truly do not know what to make of bath and body newcomer Nature Girl, or her sister site for fragrance, Rich Hippie. I feel that I should have an opinion, and probably a strong one at that. But I am stumped. There seems to be something oxymoronic about a $34 bottle of hippie soap that comes in the same kind of packaging as Dr. Bronner's. Still, I have whined and carped my share about wanting more luxurious choices in the natural product realm. But then again... $34 for hippie soap? $125 for 1/2 oz of a fragrance called Maharishi?  What a disappointing aesthetic for a luxury product line.

I am admittedly a bit weary of hippiness, especially the aesthetic--as far as I'm concerned, the best thing about the hippie movement is that they took those hideous clothes off as often as they could. I can get past that, if these products are truly superb. I just don't want to feel like a pathetic sucker standing around Fred Segal in a $300 tie dye t-shirt.

Has anyone tried this stuff?  Is it the white truffle oil of natural soaps, or a crunchy come-on?

What's in your shower?

A while back I wroe a wee post about Mychelle's Fruit Enzyme Cleanser, in which I mainly lauded the product's, er, cheapness. But a funny thing happened: since I began using it, my skin has completely changed for the better.  I've had seborrheic dermatitis for 20 years, and it is completely gone.

I began to consider that, as much as I hate to sound like a damned hippie, the absence of detergents and/or preservatives might be the reason. So I set out in search of natural, simple-ingredient shampoo, to see if my scalp would also clear up... and it did. After a a lifetime of perscription antifungal and cortizone creams and shampoos (one of which actually has a side effect of causing cancer), I'm amazed to discover that...I am just allergic to soap. So here, without further ado, is what I now have in my shower:

Mychelle Fruit Enzyme Cleanser and Blueberry Antioxidant Mask.

Aubrey Organics Camomile Luxurious Volumizing Shampoo.  Very gentle coconut corn-oil soap instead of sulfates. Nothing sexy here, but it's a really nice shampoo that does indeed make my scalp better. Not that it's not a dandruff shampoo, or scalp treatment shampoo. I find that the ingrediants in most scalp shampoos irritate my scalp. It's a matter of less is more.

Chagrin Valley Babassu and Marsh Mallow shampoo bar. A lot of what makes a shampoo formula complex is about making it into a pretty, transparent liquid. This stuff is surprisingly sensual, foams up beautifully ("saponified marsh mallow oil") and seems to contain nothing you wouldn't eat. The scalp is happy, and the hair is softer than ever, too, and needs no conditioner.

Trader Joe's Grapefruit Chamomile Sea Salt Scrub.  Salt and Oils. $6. Again, you could probably eat this (would make a nice grilled chicken baste).  This I've been using for months, and it smells and feels wonderful.

Dr. Bronner's Almond liquid soap. My mom used to use this back when she was a damned hippie. Again with the saponified coconut and olive oils. I prefer the almond to the classic peppermint. Mint is too harsh.

So that's my new bath product wardrobe.... I am still looking for that perfect macrame shower curtain, so if anyone sees one on ebay let me know.

Khadi

I am currently in New Delhi, where yesterday I picked up an assortment of beauty products from the Khadi Gramodyog Bhavan, a government-run emporium.  Khadi is the homespun, coarse-weave fabric Mahatma Ghandi used as a symbol of Indian independence, and the emporium carries silk, cotton wool, and various spices and products emodying an ethic of simplicity (and not without a whiff of quaintly obsolete socialist austerity).  I will wait until I get home to try the Khadi Fruit Vinegar shampoo or Basil glycerine soap, but the simple packaging, which reminds me of Kiehl's, is aesthetically appealing.

Primal Elements

I was in Draeger's in downtown San Mateo today and saw this clever application of extruded design applied to sliced loaves of bar soap, made by Primal Elements.  If I were the kind of girl who put holiday themed bars of soap in my guest bathroom, this is what I'd buy.  Okay, if I were the kind of girl who had a guest bathroom.  The only person I know who actually has cute bar soap in her guest bathroom is my Aunt Marilyn, who makes Martha Stewart look like Jimmy Kimmel.

Sanctuary on sale in the US

I don't know how long they've been available, but I noticed while in California that The Sanctuary's bath and body products are now on sale in America. You really can't go wrong with this line, which smells amazing; my favourites are  the Sanctuary Foaming Bath Soak,  Sanctuary Body Wash, and  Mande Lular, the Sanctuary's gorgeously fragranced body souffle. Everything from the Sanctuary smells amazing, and perfect for hot baths on the cold August nights we're experiencing here in London. It is probably hot wherever you are in the US, but bear this in mind come winter.

Elemis, TimetoSpa.com, and a jubilant Jack

Last week, at a New Media Age event, Hillary and I were introduced to Melissa and Jo from TimetoSpa.com. (That's them, at left; aren't they pretty?) The website is the official online retailer for, amongst other brands, Elemis. Jo told me that, sometimes, she feels like a spokesmodel for the brand, as she can't help but gush, whenever she gets together with her friends, about the wonders of all of the Elemis products she relies upon. Hmm.

The wine was flowing freely, the conversation was good, and before long, we'd been talking so long that Hillary and I were running late for the Samizdata Summer Party. But I was definitely intrigued to try out some Elemis lotions and potions, if they were good enough to reduce a girl to pub time product promotion.

So you can imagine my delight when, this afternoon, I took delivery of a massive box full of Elemis products from Melissa and Jo. This smaller, gorgeous teal and aubergine box was tucked inside the larger one, and looked so perfect that I almost did not want to open it. (Of course I did, though; it contained a voucher for an Absolute Aroma Stone Ritual - a stone therapy massage followed by an anti-ageing Performance Facial - at the Elemis Day Spa in Mayfair, and a little bottle of bath milk. Score!)

We're all beauty junkies here, right? So you know that when I say I was having palpitations of joy over this bounty, I am only exaggerating a tiny bit. No matter how many free products I get - and believe me, I am only moved to write about a fraction of them - I am always excited to try new things. Melissa and Jo sent me a box of about 25 new things, so my usual sense of anticipation was rather heightened.

The package also contained a beautifully handwritten letter from Melissa, covering two sides of an A4 sized sheet of paper, giving me explicit directions on a relaxing nighttime routine using no fewer than six of the products. I wasted no time in high-tailing it to the bathroom, my arms overflowing with Elemis. I added another two products to the mix for good measure. Here's the lineup:

1. Cleanse with Elemis Rehydrating Rose Petal Cleanser

2. Follow with Elemis Rehydrating Ginseng Toner (Smells fab, and you mist it onto your face before wiping with a cotton pad; I was wary of trying this, as my skincare routine has been toner-free for a few months now - with excellent results - but this toner is so mild that I could use it to wipe off my eye makeup. Freshness without stinging? My kind of toner.)

3. Apply Elemis Papaya Enzyme Peel (I'd rather use this than eat an actual papaya; again, no stinging)

4. Rinse off the peel after 15 minutes, smooth on Elemis Exotic Cream Moisturising Mask

5. Remove mask; massage Elemis Cellular Recovery Skin Bliss Capsule (lavender capsule at night, pink in the morning) into face and neck (This is rich with moringa oil, but absorbs quickly and completely - no environmental disaster of an oil spill left behind.)

6. After a few minutes, apply a layer of Elemis Pro-Collagen Marine Cream to the face and neck (This, their best-selling anti-ageing moisturiser, smells amazing - like the ocean if it didn't stink of fish corpses.)

I completed steps 1 through 4 while soaking in a bath containing five capfuls of Elemis Skin Nourishing Milk Bath; this can be massaged into very dry skin as a cream, and I think I will buy a bottle of it for my step-mother (who suffers from skin so dry that she sometimes uses Vaseline as moisturiser). The scent is floral without being grandmotherly - same goes for the Elemis Exotic Island Flower Body Balm that I rubbed in post-bath. These two would make a great gift for a woman with severely dry skin, and the latter absorbs quite quickly into a damp dermis.

Truth be told, I am now far too relaxed to be sitting upright, let alone typing this. But I jumped online to do just that, so thrilled was I with both the gesture from Melissa and Jo and the effects of tonight's routine. Watch this space for updates on how regular use of these products pans out, as well as reviews of the other products they sent me. Thanks, TimetoSpa team!

Space NK Soulful redux

After I raved about my beloved Space NK Soulful fragrance a few months ago, John Prothero, who is the head of press and PR for Space NK and Eve Lom, sent me a wonderful email...and a box stuffed with several products from the Soulful line: shower cream, body balm, bath oil, bath tablets, and a bottle of my favourite fragrance. (This squeal-inducing gift was accompanied by a lovely note on a beautiful card. Classy guy, that John Prothero.)

I have, of course, been making good use of all of these products. I have to say, though, that the bath tablets are for me a total revelation. Not only do I emerge from the tub dripping in my favourite Soulful smell, but the gorgeous scent lingers in the bathroom for many hours afterward. This may not seem like a big deal to you, but when my pre-bed bath means that my middle of the night trips to the loo are made more pleasant with a beautifully fragrant bathroom, well, I just don't mind that I have to get up in the first place.