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

MAC Naked Honey Body Wash

Full disclosure: MAC sends me a ton of products every month - an overwhelming, but wonderful selection of free cosmetics, skincare, and some of the most beautiful promotional artwork you've ever seen.

With that out of the way, I must tell you that their new Naked Honey Body Wash is simply the most glorious thing I've ever used in the shower. The smell is incredible - the honey melds with the scent of narcissus, jasmine, and a bit of lavender for the slightly masculine edge that I love. My only complaint is that the scent is perhaps a bit too subtle. That said, I used it during my evening shower and woke up in the morning wondering, "Hey, why do I smell so amazing?"

The entire Naked Honey collection of thirteen items includes a skin salve, a body cream, and a fragrance. I think I shall be spending some of my hard-earned ducats on a few of these products as soon as I can.

Essence of Beauty Walnut Whip Body Cream

Walnut Whip Mmmmmmmm!
Originally uploaded by charliebubbles.

Walnut Whip is one of my favorite classic British sweets (the vanilla variety only, thank you very much). Something about breaking the semi-hard candy shell with one's teeth and sinking into the vanilla softness within is incredibly satisfying. (Frankly, I find the walnuts on top surplus to requirements.)

So I was intrigued to come upon Essence of Beauty Walnut Whip Beauty Cream in a friend's bathroom recently. The bottle was a dead ringer for Bath and Body Works body cream, and I guessed that Essence of Beauty was some cheap knock-off brand. I was right, but I was also pleasantly surprised by the product itself. It smelled delicious - not cloyingly sweet or babyish - and left my skin softly scented.

Alas, this product that once graced the shelves of CVS pharmacies everywhere now seems to be out of circulation. Google results reveal multiple boards where people are desperately seeking replenishment, and a few people are flogging them on Craigslist.

However, with the embarrassing amount of body creams I own, I definitely don't need to buy any more. But if I did, I'd shell out for this one - if I could find it.

Flirty Little Secret Body Butter by Booty Parlor

Flirty Little Secret Body Butter by Booty Parlor
Originally uploaded by dynamist.

This stuff is amazing. So emmolient, non-greasy, gives a nice shimmer and smells like a dream. (Full disclosure: I didn't pay for this, but it's $26.)

I just love the texture - there's nothing else like it on the market that I've found. Not sure I buy into all of the pheremone claims, that's for sure, but I haven't used a body moisturizer this enthusiastically in a very long time.

Miller Harris Citron Citron (redux)

Sculpture at the Fairmont
Originally uploaded by dynamist.

I spent the weekend at the Fairmont Hotel and Resort in San Francisco. (Yes, I live 15 miles from SF, but I like to spend the weekend there in a hotel and get a lot done without all the hassle of traveling back and forth to home. Plus, I love hotels to an almost unnatural degree.)

When I checked in, I was delighted to see Miller Harris toiletries stocked in the bathroom. I'd never tried their products and had heard the hype about London's premier custom perfume maker.

But I was underwhelmed by the Citron Citron body lotion, which I found did not absorb well and didn't smell overwhelmingly wonderful to me. But in doing a search for the product on Google, I found this post on this very scent from our own Hillary, on this very blog. She had written:

...I remember distinctly rolling my eyes at what I considered yet another citrus scent for sissy girls who can't handle perfume for real women. At the time I was heavy into the orientals, and no fragrance without dark, narcotic weightiness seemed worth my attention. Sophomoric? You betcha. Like a college student who has discovered Sartre and Genet for the first time....

But now I find that the Miller Harris citrus scent has layers of aromatics and woods, including basil, cedarwood and cardamom, rolling like smooth bass notes beneath the sparkly lemon-orange surface (which also hides a dash of bitter lime). It's not the least bit "pretty," nor even "womanly." It is, however, extremely ladylike in that vaguely threatening, complex Jamesian sense of the word--every bit like something Isabel Archer would wear.

So maybe I just need to grow up.

La Mer Body Crème & Victoria's Secret Very Sexy Dare Body Lotion

I was excited to try out the La Mer Body Crème that I received as part of my great Christmas haul. No matter how skeptical I remain of supposed miracle products, I am always eager to put them to the test.

My verdict: It's a good lotion. The only part of my body where the skin seems resistant to garden variety moisturizer is the leg - actually, both of them. I feel like they're never soft and smooth enough, so am a bit obsessive about the products I use there. On my legs, the La Mer lotion did a fine job. Most body moisturizers do not.

But is it a $195 lotion? Is it even a $50 lotion? That I don't know. Perhaps someone with bigger challenges in the dry skin area than I have would be better qualified to make that call.

What I do know is that the $20 Victoria's Secret Very Sexy Dare Body Lotion (which I got for free from Victoria's Secret, one of many valuable gifts they have given me over the last year) is as nice to use. It smells lovely, is extremely emollient, and absorbs well. The package lettering seems very "inspired" by Stella McCartney and Max Factor, but the package lettering doesn't go on my skin. I'd buy this lotion.

Dry Brushing

Daily dry skin brushing is supposed to help stimulate circulation and lymphatic drainage. I've been doing it for several days now, and can attest that my skin is softer in texture. I hope to see more benefits the longer I do it--I'd certainly like tighter skin here and there, thank you very much, and I have heard that dry brushing can do this. I'll keep you posted.

For a description of how to do it, I like Kris Carr's approach (quote: "It's dry brushing, not rocket science!").

You can buy a long-handled body brush, if you want to be able to reach your back. For now, I am using a natural bristle hairbrush, and use the need for back-brushing as an extra excuse for some morning intimacy. If I am still doing this after a week or two, I may have to order the brush pictured for $12 from Daybreak Lavender Farm. The angle looks just right for reaching the backs of the legs.

How Much Would You Pay to Get Rid of Cellulite?

Whatever it is, it's not enough, though Aina Hunter thought $1200 sounded about right, to rid herself of the lumps and bumps around her "waist and thighs. Plus that area just above my knee caps which has grown increasingly hateful over the past couple of years." She reports as to the treatment's efficacy in Cellulite Treatments: Do They Work?, not the sexiest title and, sadly, not the outcome we of dimpled thigh and ass would hope for, though I could have forecast that, for if a treatment of slathering, super-heating, and massaging eradicated cellulite, I would have years ago ponied up the twelve hundred smackeroos.

Did Hunter have fun while she still had hope? Not really.

I wanted the treatments to work. I felt that they should work. They were uncomfortable enough. To be fair, [masseuse] Iriana asked me several times if she was pressing too hard. I shook my head no as she dug her little hands into my screaming flesh. I covered my face with a pillow and bit into it. I wanted results, not coddling...

Expect cellulite treatment involving tissue manipulation — be it Endermologie, Vela Smooth, Syneron or some combination — to make you feel like the victim in a pre-code, post-mod Hollywood cult film. You will lie on a slab under fluorescent light in paper underwear and accept your expensive punishment. A few days later you'll return for more.

Hunter's results? "Negligible." But I did learn something interesting, which is that whether you develop cellulite is determined by the thickness of your dermis (your inner layer of skin) and, as Hunter writes, "the pattern of the connective tissue beneath it which holds your fat cells together that matters."

If you are lucky enough to have a sort of cross-hatch pattern, your fat cells are held in with double reinforcements. Regrettably, this pattern is most often seen in men. Most women have connective tissue patterned like columns... It's easier for fat cells to bulge out of columns than small openings.

I don't know about that "regrettably"; I see enough cellulite on myself so don't need to see it on my husband, thanks. Also, I cannot be the only one who's noticed that women who are slim through the hips do not tend to get cellulite. My daughter is this way, as are nearly all the women in her father's tribe. It's us curvy gals who develop it, even when we're thin. I personally like my waist and boobs, and thus, and especially when checking out Sophia, see a little orange peel as an okay trade.

Bulgari at the Ritz Carlton

My man surprised me this weekend, as we drove from Chicago to Toronto, with a stopover in Dearborn, MI, for a night at the Ritz Carlton and a visit to Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion House. The Ritz has a partnership with Bulgari, which is a good thing if you are a connoisseur of amenities, which at the Ritz includes soap, shampoo and lotion lightly scented with the unisex Bulgari au Thé Blanc. I'm usually not a big fan of "white" scents, as they tend to be floral, but the notes here are white tea and white pepper over ambergris and musk. The effect is very white and clean indeed, but not in the way of laundry soap. I wouldn't even describe it as white, so much as clear. Yes, it smells transparent. Lovely, and appropriate in a hotel, where a fragrance really must be subtle enough to please everyone.

The Ritz experience was marred by an extraordinarily rude doorman, who scolded me publicly upon our arrival for accidentally tripping the safety lock on the revolving door (this happens, strangely enough, when you push on the door's handle). The next day, this same doorman was on duty, and when I looked daggers at him, he nervously skulked over and apologized, and then literally chased us into the parking lot offering to personally buy us breakfast, so sorry was he to have caused offense. I went from angry, to forgiving, to... kinda creeped out. A simple apology would have worked, but in the end it was just way too much doorman--doormen being another hotel amenity that should be transparent.

Aveeno Eczema Care

I don't have eczema, but I know plenty of people who do, so this product grabbed my attention right away. (I was made aware of it by Aveeno's PR firm, which also supplied me with the products for this review.)

My stepmother suffers from eczema and is always on the lookout for products that will give her some relief. I mailed her the Aveeno Eczema Care Moisturizing Cream and Eczema Care Body Wash to see what she thought of them. Here's an excerpt from her email to me:

I didn't even know Aveeno made a product for eczema.  I started using Aveeno over a year ago and I like the regular product.  So I was thrilled to open it and see that they now make a product especially for me!  I started using it immediately and I like it very much.  It is creamy and yet not greasy, which is often a problem.  It didn't burn, another common problem. I'm very encouraged after just using it two times.  Many thanks from me and my dry skin.

This was a few weeks ago; I saw her shortly after and she was still happy with the products. I noticed during that visit that my father was showing symptoms of eczema, too, with red, blotchy skin around his nose. He'd complained a few months back of dry facial skin, so I'd supplied him with a moisturizer, but what I saw a fortnight ago made me encourage him to try the Aveeno products.

I spoke to my dad on Sunday night, and he said that he's been using these products and notices a big improvement. My stepmother is still singing their praises, too. So I'd recommend these even if you just suffer from parched winter skin. Even better, since several of my friends' children have been afflicted with eczema: These products are safe for use on babies as well as adults.

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.