Vanity Case No. 7 Jessica McKendryService Manager, Selfridges

“My skin care routine I like to think is quite simple but probably compared to other people it’s ridiculous. Recently it’s started more from the inside out. I’ve started taking supplements and vitamins which feels really natural and I have noticed a difference. I take Vitamin C and Silica for hair, skin and nails. I also take a one-a-day multivitamin, which probably has more to do with optimal health but I think it all contributes anyway. And then I try to drink a lot of water and I’ve recently started having juices in the morning and I think that’s been amazing for me as well.

From a topical point of view I use Cetaphil  [Oily Skin Cleanser] cleanser. I have for over a decade now. It’s great for sensitive skin - which I have - it’s very cheap, you can buy it everywhere in the world, it’s really gentle, it removes your makeup and it keeps your PH levels in check so it doesn’t dry you out. So I do that always and then in the mornings I will put on QV Face Moisturising Day Cream SPF 30+. I’ve been using this for a few years because it’s also great for sensitive skin, it has really broad spectrum and it’s non-comedogenic. I had acne for so many years I had to be careful to find things that didn’t clog up my pores and make me break out. Then on top of that I’ve recently started using Invisible Zinc. I just use the four hour water resistant zinc which is probably quite heavy for an everyday cream. I know they do a tinted moisturiser which is lighter, but I think the properties of zinc are so amazing and I prefer to have the really heavy protection against the sun and stronger zinc than something lighter. It’s not moisturising though which is why I use a moisturiser below that. And then I just put makeup on top of that in the morning.

At night I will use eye makeup remover pads and then I’ll use the Cetaphil again. Then I’ll put on Cetaphil facial moisturiser which I keep in the fridge not because I think it’s particularly better, it just feels lovely to put something cool on at the end of the night. I always apply that very thickly. Cetaphil is also great because it’s not comedogenic. I can put as much on as I want and it’s not going to clog me up or make me break out. It’s beautiful.

I’ve just started using a serum which I got from Neal’s Yard Remedies. I’m not a purist so I don’t really insist on anything being particularly organic but this is Rejuvenating Frankincense Eye and Lip Serum and I just dab that around my eyes and they sort of drink it up and it’s quite expensive but it’s quite beautiful as well. So I’m enjoying using that. I’ve also started using Clinique Even Better Clinical Dark Spot Corrector both morning and night because in the summer my freckles come out a bit more.                                          

Masks I love. I have two types. I exfoliate probably two or three times a week, morning or night, it doesn’t matter - whenever I feel like I’ve got some dead skin cells or something a little bit evasive that I need to get rid of.  I’ve been using St Ives Invigorating Apricot Scrub for like 12 years now because it’s good for sensitive skin and I’ll put it on and I’ll let it sit for a couple of minutes, sort of like a paste, and then I’ll let it do its work and then I’ll wash it off. But for actual masks I have two. One of them I’ve been using recently is a dermalogica multivitamin power recovery masque. And it’s really just about hydration so if I’m feeling particularly dry or red that’s what I’ll do to boost it up and sort of let the skin drink it in. But my favourite is one that my mum gave me. She sells it in her shop and it is a Swedish (Lanolin-Agg-Tval) eggwhite facial soap and you can just use it like a normal soap and lather your hands up and then you pat it on and leave it for five minutes. In that time it will just sort of dry and it tightens and brightens and takes all the red away and then you just wash it off and you’ve got beautiful, even, rosy, gorgeous moisturised skin. Literally nothing makes it more perfect. I’m sort of at the moment figuring out how often I can use it because I would use it every day but I’m worried that it might be too much of a good thing. But it’s definitely my favourite new exciting thing.”

Beauty items you cannot live without?

1. Cetaphil cleanser
2. QV Daily Face
3. Cetaphil moisturiser
4. Concealer
5. Mascara    

Best beauty wisdom you have inherited from your mother?

Less is more when it comes to makeup and always, always, always wear sun cream. She’s big on always taking care of your skin and my skin is entirely in the condition that it is because she’s been very vigilant about sun care.

Final note:

I think I spend enormous amounts of money and time on beauty but I really love it and I love everything about being a girl.

- As revealed to Vanity Case

Vanity Case No. 6 Celia BurtonMakeup artist

"I use a very light moisturiser with rose oil which I bought in Florence and it’s handmade and really beautiful. It’s called Giardin del Golfo. So I put that on and then I use a MAX Factor cover stick because it’s the only thing I can find that really covers dark colours. It’s cheap as chips and you can find it in any supermarket. It’s called Pan-Stik. So I put that just in the dark spots – under my eyes and sometimes around my nostrils as well. 

And then if I still feel like I need a bit more coverage I use MAC Studio Sculpt and that just kind of matches my skintone to everything so the Pan-Stik doesn’t show up. This is NW20. It’s a really beautiful foundation because it’s like moussey so you can have it really light and mix it with moisturiser or you can put two or three layers on and have really good coverage. And then after that I use a MAC pencil called Prunella which is a kind of kohl eye pencil. It’s really beautiful too. It’s like a kind of pearly, purpley, brown and because I don’t wear dark eye makeup ever that’s the only colour I use. I just put that on my top lid. 

Then I use the MAX Factor Lash Extension Effect Mascara. It’s brilliant, it’s absolutely brilliant and it's cheap. I have a Dior mascara [Diorshow] too which I use – and it’s amazing but it dries out quite quickly and I find you know when you’re wearing everyday makeup you need to spend less because you’re obviously using it more. So I use that in brown and I need to replace it like every eight weeks. And then I use a bit of MAC bronzer. I don’t like glitter on my face so I use a matte bronzer by MAC. 

I have three lip colours that I like to wear and they’re all by MAC. It’s Russian Red which is a beautiful blue-based red which is long lasting and again really matte – there’s no glitter, there’s no shine, it’s a really solid colour. And then there’s another one in the same range called Diva which is like a brown, bloody red and that’s beautiful and then I use a colour called Up the Amp which is kind of pinky, purpley. It’s the only kind of bright summer colour that I can really get away with wearing. But that’s a moisture-based lipstick so that’s not a long lasting. And then if I’m not wearing a lip colour I use this papaw cream [Lucas Papaw Ointment] which is from Australia so I have to order it online." 

- As revealed to Vanity Case

Vanity Case No. 5 Layla DwyerManicurist

“I’ve been in this industry for just over five years now. I’ve been freelance for the past three and then before that I was in a salon. I’m a beauty therapist so I do everything from massage to waxing to nails. Generally my – well I say 9 to 5 – but really my 9 [AM] – 9 [PM] job takes place at my clients’ homes. And then fashion week is coming up so I will be quite busy with that. I haven’t had all of the shows confirmed yet but normally it’s about 8 to 10 shows.

If you want to strengthen your nails always, always, always keep them short even if you want them to be long. I would always cut and file them weekly until they get to the length that you want them to be. Because for me if you leave them and they’re weak they’re just going to split further down the nail anyway. You are better off keeping them short with a base on - preferably something to strengthen them - and that will keep them strong. If you keep doing that for a good couple of weeks they then should be at the length you want them to be. And then also moisturising. So put some cuticle oil on like Dior Crème Abricot which is a rich moisture cream basically – the equivalent of an oil – and just massage that in. It’s the stimulation as well. And preferably you should do that every night. I just keep it by my bed and do it every night. You could use it during the day but for me it’s a bit rich so I like it at night. You also can’t do it and then paint easily. That tub will just last forever and you can put it on your lips also, it’s quite nice. But I wouldn’t want to use it and then go out and try to do anything because you just feel like you’ll stick to everything.

If you’re someone that has manicures all the time or if you manicure your own nails all the time it is good to have something on them because you’re strengthening them but at the same time they’re not breathing. So if you are someone that loves loves loves having their nails painted then what I would say is take it off one evening, leave it off for the night and put your Abricot Crème or cuticle oil or whatever it is you want, moisurise them over night, and then if you can’t leave the house without a colour then put it on in the morning so at least they’re having the night off. But ideally you want to give them more. But I know some people can’t bear it. I think some people are lucky and they are given what they’re given and naturally they’re going to have nice nails even if they abuse them - that sounds a bit harsh - even if they don’t look after them. But I think if you do have particularly weak nails or anything wrong with them and you do really try and look after them then you will give them the break that they need. Ideally if you manicure your nails weekly and it lasted for five days and then take it off and leave it off for two days and then do it again – I think that’s fine really. And for the feet, you know some people just want to wear polish constantly all year round but really you need to allow them to breath. And you also get discolouration.

Everyone should have a good file with soft grit. So generally when you buy a nail filer it will tell you what grit it is. So the grit will be something like 180 or 240 or even lower. The higher it is the softer it is. So 240 is the softest but you should know by feel. If you file your nails and it makes a really loud noise then I think it’s too strong, too harsh for your nails. If you’ve got really strong nails it’s not a problem but for most people you want something soft.

Also a good buffer. A lot of people have ideas that buffing isn’t good. I think if you buff once a month - you know you don’t need to do it all the time but just as and when they need it.  If they are discoloured it will help get rid of the discolouration and if they are flaky it will get rid of the top layers. But you don’t need to do it often. [Rumour has it the OPI buffer is really good].  

A good orange wood stick to push back cuticles - or a hoof stick some people may call it – is another good tool to have. You can get rubber hoof sticks. The rubber ones are probably better to push back [cuticles]. I use a metal one personally but the rubber ones are great because they’re hard at the end and with some Abricot Crème to push back and then just moisturise really.

I think it’s also a good idea to actually carry a file with you because how many times do you break a nail when you’re out? You don’t have a file and you bite it or pick it off. It sounds like the most basic of things – carrying a nail file with you. I normally do have one with me but the times I don’t I get completely caught out and I just think that is what everybody needs. And you can buy a file so cheaply. I’ve even got one with a little case because it scratches everything in your bag doesn’t it?

And people always ask me do you need a base coat – you know why bother? They just see it as an unnecessary thing but for me it protects your nails and it’s going to stop staining. So you really can’t cheat [laughs]. If you were in a hurry and didn’t have time to do four coats - the base, two colours and a top – if you apply one generous layer of the colour I would still choose to do that and then a base and a top. So you’re still getting the proper manicure. So the base is very important and the top is very important to lock it in and to make it glossy. So you can’t really compromise.

Dior currently doesn’t have a hand moisturising cream. I don’t know but I think they might be formulating one because I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t have a hand cream. They have quite a nice range of their nail products – they don’t just sell colours, they’ve got a couple of different base coats, two different top coats and the Abricot Crème so I think it would be something that they would do. So watch this space, maybe they are. I don’t know.”

- As revealed to Vanity Case

(Layla was a manicurist for Dior during the launch of the company’s new autumn 2011 beauty range) 

Vanity Case No. 4 Free Gift With Purchase

I recently read an interview with Jean Godfrey-June (beauty director at Lucky magazine) on my favourite beauty blog Into The Gloss. I love Jean’s philosophy on beauty and why she enjoys writing about it. ‘People are very generous with each other about beauty,’ she says, ‘and it’s something where people will talk about themselves at a much more personal level.’

The post conveniently weaved in details about her memoir Free Gift with Purchase: My Improbable Career in Magazines and Makeup, and so naturally I found myself ordering it on Amazon moments later.

Beauty editors are often criticised for offering makeup or skincare advice despite their lack of formal cosmetic credentials or professional training. But rather than claiming to be an expert, Jean falls back on her theory of beauty being about community and the value of passing on secrets from one woman to another.

And so without further ado, here are some beauty tips from the lady herself:

·      Look out for the following ingredients used in moisturisers (they actually do work as anti-aging tools); alpha hydroxy acids, retinol, peptides and vitamin C

·      A little bit of blush makes everyone, including Jean, look significantly prettier     

·      Laura Mercier's concealer is the best ... and speaking of concealer …. when applying pat, don't rub (apparently that phrase was almost the title of the book)

·      Crème de la Mer moisturising cream is actually worth its enormous price tag

·      Jean has been using the same shampoo - Phytojojoba from Phyto - for years (even before she was a beauty editor) because it makes her hair look better than anything else. It is for dry and damaged hair, despite the fact that her hair is oily and relatively undamaged

·      The good beauty advice is the kind you get in the locker room at the gym, when one girl is telling her friend about this amazing new mascara that makes her eyes look five thousand times bigger

·      Oh and Jean did spend 40 minutes on a bed with Tom Ford and he is reportedly every bit as gorgeous, magnetic, masculine and sexy as everyone claims

Vanity Case No. 3Tiffany IngleNatural beauty, Part 3

Makeup

“bareMinerals i.d. - from Bare Escentuals - is now in quite a lot of stores over here [London]. When it first came out in Australia about five years ago there were only about three foundation colours and a couple of eye shadow colours and it was really a new thing to come out. The actual brand of i.d. has actually been around for about 25 or 30 years. It’s one of the oldest mineral makeup brands around, it just hasn’t been known and now because it’s [mineral makeup] a trend it’s picked up. So you can actually get bareMinerals i.d. in department stores like Selfridges and House of Fraser. And the range is absolutely huge. So I have quite a few products of theirs. I have the mineral foundation, the blushers, a gazillion eye shadows. I have their mascara which I swear by. It took me so long to find a good mascara and this volumising one by bareMinerals is brilliant. I don’t know what it is about it but it’s just good. It doesn’t leave any horrible nasty clumps. And I have their brushes as well. So their blush brush and their eye shadow brush and their concealer brush. 

I also use, which I’ve just recently discovered and I love and I want to now get the whole range, is this brand called Inika. This is now in Australia and in London so it only has two places where it’s produced. Again this is mineral makeup and I get this at a really lovely health food store - there are only two in London, there is one down in Balham which is where I work and there is one in Chiswick. It’s called As Nature Intended and I’m so in love with that store it has everything gluten and wheaten free that I could possibly imagine. It’s my absolute heaven! And they have this beautiful makeup range at the back. So I use from them their liquid mineral foundation which is fantastic. I use their primer which is organic. I never used to use it [primer] for a lot of years because I don’t have particularly problematic skin - if I put makeup on in the morning it will stay on and be there 12 hours later. I’m lucky in that way but sometimes I do want to ensure that it stays more picture perfect especially if I’m going out in the evening for a dance and that sort of thing, so I use a primer and it is brilliant. And this is the best one that I’ve found. I’ve done primers from a few different brands and this one is really lovely. 

Then I have this mineral foundation which is a foundation crossed with a bronzer. It’s actually what I’m wearing today and it’s what I wear everyday. I don’t wear liquid foundation everyday, that’s only for when I go out in the evening. But what I do use is this Inika illuminating mineral foundation and I know it looks really dark but I only need to use the tiniest amount. And I have my kabuki brush which is beautiful. You’ll hear this word kabuki brush in a lot of different places for all brands that use loose powder mineral foundations. You are advised to use a kabuki brush. It has a kind of thick cone-shaped bristle head to it and so it’s perfect for sticking it in, rubbing around, getting the minerals ‘activated’ as they say and then rubbing it on. 

I use a mixture of three different mineral makeup ranges. I’ve got my i.d., I’ve got my Inika but the original one that I started using because my mum started using it - I’ve been using it since I was 16 - is Jane Iredale. She’s American and you can get her everywhere in Australia and not many places over here [London]. She is one of the original people to bring out mineral makeup. So I use her eye shadows - I have quite a few of them. I use her mineral foundation as well but I ran out of that which is why I started using bareMinerals. It might seem like I chop and change but I find them all just as good it just depends on when I happen to have finished one and then I happen to have been given another one as a present or something like that. And I use her concealer as well which is really really lovely. I actually want to get the Inika concealer because it is amazing, I’ve had a sample of it and I will get it but I want to finish this first. Or I might get it as well because I use this for my everyday things, however I’ll probably use the Inika one for evening with the Inika liquid foundation because I think those products work well together. 

So Jane is my number 1 because I’ve used it for so many years and she’s been around for so long but I’m so glad I’ve discovered Inika and I really want to develop my range of that.”

- As revealed to Vanity Case

Vanity Case No. 2 Tiffany IngleNatural beauty, Part 2

Body care, skin care, sun care

“I use this brand called Organic Surge which you can get from the same places as I get my Australian Organics – so your health food stores and Waitrose. When I use Radox or any of the other brands I am itchy everywhere, it creates little bumps on my skin all that sort of thing. When I use these it doesn’t. I really enjoy that and it comes in different flavours. This one is called Fresh Ocean, I do like this one but the other one that I like is Peach and Pomegranate which is lovely and fruity. I love anything with Pomegranate in it.

I also use a brand called Liz Earle. She is English and she is sold either on her website or I got this from my girlfriend Eva who works in Browns in central London. They [Browns] often have a lot of boutique products there. So that’s how I was introduced to Liz Earle and I absolutely love it. All naturally derived, it has some really calming things in it. This is Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish (Hot Cloth Cleanser) so you use it with a muslin cloth. So after doing your cleansing you put this on. It’s a really really fine exfoliator because I can’t use anything that is thick or heavy or has too many big granules because my skin is just too sensitive and I think it takes away too much skin - you’re not supposed to be completely stripping skin off your face. So it’s really fine and you put that on and leave it for a few minutes. Then get your muslin cloth, using natural cotton, with warm water and you just gently polish it off in circular motions. Really, really lovely and refreshing. I have to be careful because even though products might definitely be organic or natural I could still be allergic to them because I’ve discovered that lavender doesn’t work for me and a lot of natural products have lavender in them. There are so many brands out there, especially in Australia, that are lovely and should have been so good and I just got terrible eczema on my face or breakouts or pimples or whatever because they had lavender in them. So I need to be really careful to stick away from that and Liz Earle is one brand that doesn’t use a lot of lavender. So that’s why I love her. I use that once daily and it will usually be in the evening before I go to bed.

Another brand which I love for natural stuff is Jurlique, which is Australian and it is just so gorgeous and it’s super hard to get over here [London]. Again I got it from Browns but you can order it on the Internet. This is an intense recovery mask so it’s one of those green masks that you put on your face and you look like an Alien. You leave it on for 10 minutes and then wash it off. I use that once a week.

I do wash my face in the morning but I don’t do the full regime like I do in the evening. When I wake up I’m lucky I don’t have very oily skin or put it the other way I don’t have very dry skin. I’m really in the middle so in the morning I just have to do a general quick cleanse and moisturise and I’m fine - I don’t need to do my whole mask and exfoliator. I also use dermalogica. It’s not organic or natural and this is where I can sound a bit contradictory. I use it because when I’ve tried alternatives - because I wanted to get off it not because it didn’t work for me or anything like that but because of how I’m trying to sort of introduce as many naturally derived things in my life as I can bit by bit and I wanted to get rid of the dermologica just so that I could do that - and so I tried. There are so many lovely brands out - there’s Sukin that’s a great one, again it’s Australian but you can get it over here in health food stores, there’s Dead Sea Mineral, and I tried so many - probably about 6 - and none of them worked for me. I got breakouts. I got eczema again on my face. It was horrible and I know that sometimes when you change products sometimes your skin needs to get used to it so you’ll often have a breakout for a couple of days or maybe a week and then it will settle down but I got to the point where I would want to scratch my face off because it was so itchy. Or at one point before I went to Australia last year I started a new product, all natural oils in the moisturiser and cleanser and everything and I just got eczema all around my nose, all around my mouth. It was just horrible and I just don’t know what it was so I’ve gone back to dermologica for my cleanser, toner and moisturiser. But then again within dermologica there are so many products that I can’t use that will also give me reactions. So I’ve been lucky and found the ones that work for me. I use UltraCalming Cleanser, a hydrating toner, and I use the skin smoothing cream. So they’re my three dermologica products that I use that work absolutely perfectly for me.

For my sun care I use True Solutions Total Age Protector SPF 30+ Untinted cream. So I use this after my moisturiser. I put the sun screen on, let it sink in and then I’ll put my mineral makeup on. Because this is SPF 30+ I don’t use this in winter or even autumn over here [London]. I only use it in summer but it is absolutely brilliant. My mineral foundations have SPF in them it’s just that in summer I like to have a little bit of extra protection.”

- As revealed to Vanity Case

Vanity Case No. 1 Tiffany IngleNatural beauty, Part 1

Hair Care

“With all of my hair care, face care, body care, I try and get things that are based primarily on plant extracts because I find that they’re the most gentle on my skin and they are generally the most natural thing. There are a lot of products out there that say they have natural ingredients and they are plant based or whatever but you’ve actually got to turn around and look at the ingredients.

I think that because I am so allergic to so many things with my diet, but then as well I also have very sensitive skin, I always look at the ingredients on the back of all of my products. And it’s crazy how many times you can turn over and the ingredients straight away will be sodium lauryl sulfate, cetyl alcohol - in the first two ingredients! Yet on the front it says it is an organic product or plant-based product or a natural ingredients product, and it’s just so deceiving. A chemical that I stay away from as much as I can is sodium lauryl sulfate because it just strips everything that your body naturally produces. So all the natural oils in your hair, all the natural oils in your skin. It’s such a strong chemical.

So I always try and find things that say, for example my hair care here says sulphate-free and paraben-free. So they are two things which I try and not have in any of my products. And it’s funny, since using my Macadamia Natural Oil Rejuvenating Shampoo, I’ve noticed with having red hair now I shampoo my hair with that and hardly any colour will come out of it. I used to use Kérastase for so so long because sure Kérastase makes your hair nice and smooth but it also looked like I was bleeding in the bath. That’s how much of my hair dye would come out. It just completely strips it. That’s why I’ve changed to sulphate-free shampoos. This is an American-based product [Macadamia Natural Oil] and it has a whole range and it’s beautiful. I buy this on the Internet. Most of my products I do buy on the Internet. There are so many websites out there; beautyflash.co.uk and mypure.co.uk is a brilliant one if you’re wanting organic and naturally derived products. Or you can actually go onto their individual websites and buy them.

Before I found that I was using this Australian Organics brand. You can actually get this in places like Waitrose or Holland and Barrett and a lot of other health food stores have it. I really really like Australian Organics. I like a lot of products from Australia. I just find that they work really well and that we seem to have a better hold on it [organic products]. So Australian Organics are brilliant because I can just get them locally if I’m not able to order in my specialist ones. They’re always on hand and there are different ranges for different hair types. I have the volumising one because I have such thin hair. They’re not as good as my Macadamia but for what they are they are still very good.

I also use a lot of Aveda products because again the range is all based on plant extracts and they just have a lovely odour to all of their products. They’re just beautiful and they tend to work really well with my hair. I think that a lot of it is experimentation with your own hair, your own skin. Something that works for somebody might not work for somebody else. It just so happens that I’ve been using Aveda ever since I was about 16 at home [Australia], because it was quite big at home. I used to use a lot of their makeup as well as their hair care and I just find it very soft on my skin and on my hair. It’s not harsh at all. Right now I use Aveda Damage Control. So I will spray it on after I wash my hair, before I dry it. I’ll spray all over and it coats the hair to protect it when you’re blow-drying. But then again if I don’t want to blow-dry it I can just spray and scrunch and I get that sea salt beach look hair.

This is the Moroccan Argan Oil that I use on the ends of my hair before I blow-dry it. You literally only need to use the tiniest amount - I’m talking a pea size amount in your hand and rub it all through the ends of your hair. I don’t know what it is in its properties but it makes your hair dry twice as fast and also back to my Macadamia shampoo it also has these certain types of oil properties that makes the hair dry faster so it means that I don’t have to spend as much time with the heat of the hair dryer on my hair so hence less damage. And there are so many different brands that do this Moroccan Argan Oil, I’ve got a BaByliss one which I got from Australia but there are so many different brands. I think Kérastase has one and Schwarzkopf and Redken has one. I’m not loyal to any brand because I find that they basically all do the same thing, they’re just packaged differently. Now it is expensive for example this little tub here is 100ml and it cost me AU$35. But I use a pea size twice a week, because I only wash my hair twice a week, so this will probably last me for another five years [laughs].”

- As revealed to Vanity Case