Bookish Monday

The one thing I buy as much, if not more than skincare, is books and music. Yes, I still buy CDs, the old-fashioned way. 

Book-wise, I'm a sucker for a beautiful, good, solid hardback and there have been an abundance of them released in the last month.

First up is Bloom by the lovely Estee Lalonde aka Essie Button-of-old to those of us in the blogging world. Bloom is a journey through Estee's life so far and is done really beautifully, almost like an extra long blog post with fabulous photographs. A joy. Available from: waterstones.com/book/bloom 

Estee's site can be found here: www.esteelalonde.com

I remember shopping for Lime, Basil and Mandarin shower gel in Jo Malone's first store in Walton Street in London. Since then she's sold the business to Estee Lauder, survived breast cancer and opened Jo Loves, while being a wife and mum along the way. This is the story of her journey. Available from Amazon: www.amazon.co.uk/Jo-Malone-My-Story More info on Jo can be found here: www.joloves.com

Sali's second book looks at iconic beauty products through the decades and is a cross between a fun encyclopedia and a trip down memory lane. LouLou fragrance anyone? 

A breeze to read, it's an excellent reference book and a perfect Christmas present for the beauty lover in your life. Available here: waterstones.com/pretty-iconic More info on Sali here: salihughesbeauty.com

Finishing up with The Coveteur. I am fairly new to this site, but I am completely addicted. If you like nosying into people's wardrobes/dressing rooms/general living spaces, be warned, you'll be here for hours. The book is beautiful. Big, hefty, bright and chock full of exquisite photography.

Available from Waterstones: waterstones.com/the-coveteur and the website is here: Be warned - make a brew before you start. coveteur.com/closet

As an aside: every time I googled these books, Amazon came up first. Can we please support traditional booksellers? The absolute joy of meandering for hours in a bookshop cannot be matched by having something delivered to your house with lightbulbs and phone chargers via Prime delivery.

To that end, here are some of the best:

www.dauntbooks.co.uk

www.johnsandoe.com

www.ica.org.uk

www.assouline.com/boutiques

www.thephotographersgallery.org.uk

www.clairederouenbooks.com

www.sotherans.co.uk



*This post contains no affiliate links. See my full disclaimer here: http://bit.ly/1rpEmSq The views expressed on this site are the author's own and are provided for informational purposes only. The author makes no warranties about the suitability of any product or treatment referenced or reviewed here for any person other than herself and any reliance placed on these reviews or references by you is done so solely at your own risk. Nothing on this site shall be construed as providing dermatological, medical or other such advice and you are always advised to seek the advice of a suitable professional should you have any such concerns.

Carey Lander and Sarcoma UK

My friend Sali Hughes wrote this beautiful piece of love for one of her close friends Carey Lander and her hideous but inspiring battle against osteosarcoma. 

the-pool.com/sali-hughes-on-osteosarcoma-and-carey-lander-camera-obscura

Please do have a read.

Carey's Just Giving page is here: www.justgiving.com/Carey-Lander and you can purchase the beautiful Carey Rouge We Are Faux lashes here: www.wearefaux.com/carey-rouge

Thank you.

Much love to you Carey from all of us Hirons. x

In the Bathroom Part 2

OMG I haven't blogged in so long. RIGHT. Back on the train today people - that's a promise.
In the meantime, you can amuse yourselves with my skincare stash, shagging dogs and Tena ladies. :)

See you soon!

In The Bathroom - Sali Hughes

Part 1 of 'In The Bathroom' featuring your truly has just gone live on Sali's YouTube channel.

Part Two - the product porn, is next week. Hope you enjoy!

New Monthly Focus - and Zelens Z Luminous and Intense Defence

When I spoke at the Harvey Nichols Beautiful Mind event a few weeks ago - one of the audience members asked the panel what brand we would pick if we could only use one for the rest of our lives. Needless to say, none of us could give a straight answer - we all had 2 or 3 options for each category. I said: 'Zelens for serums. No competition.'

These new additions will only reinforce that decision. Z Luminous and Intense Defence are not available yet, but I wanted to give a special heads-up to Z Luminous, which, from first application, was mind-blowing. It brightens, softens and gives amazing glow - something which is, as per usual, top of my list of requirements. :)

What is it?

'A new lightening and brightening cosmeceutical serum.'

Who is it for?

Anyone concerned with visible signs of pigmentation damage and people concerned with dull skin that lacks luminosity.

What’s in it?

Full inci list coming 

Natural? Organic? Man made? Vegan?

Man-made in the best frigging way possible

Tested on animals/sold in China?

No./No.

What's not in it?

Mineral oil - this much I can guarantee.

This is all a little bit of a tease for what is to come on the blog during May. My focus will be serums - all types, all prices, all strengths.

I will still be doing my normal reviews and Cheat Sheets - but am trying to focus on as many reviews as possible for serums - some new, some oldies but goodies.

I have literally spent all day today sorting out my stash *SPOILER KLAXON* because there is nothing like an impending visit from Sali Hughes and her 'In The Bathroom' crew to make you try and get organised. 

How gorgeous is Hughes?

I am therefore spending tomorrow photographing said stash for upcoming reviews, including approximately 60 serums.

Sweet Lord in Heaven. Let's do this.

Confused skin: what do you treat first? And with what product?

Only a very select few have what would be termed 'normal skin'. Which is why I find it odd it is called 'normal'. It's far from the norm for most people!

For the rest of us, there are multiple issues to contend with. Pigmentation, dry, oily, combination, sensitive, rosacea, dehydrated - you name it, you probably have at least one of them. 

But what if you have more than one? What if you have 3 of them? FOUR of them?

It would not be uncommon to see a dehydrated, hyper-pigmented, sensitive, ageing skin with hormonal breakouts. Dr Leslie Baumann wrote about her 16 skin types years ago - and she was spot on, although I think there's more than that..

What do you do in that situation? 

You treat by the potential your issue has to cause pain and/or long-lasting damage such as scarring or broken capillaries.

For that reason, the first thing you do is take care of the sensitivity/rosacea. Inflammation will exacerbate the rest of your issues. For example, if you had rosacea and acne, and used a foaming traditional acne 'wash', your cheeks would scream at you. That's not good. That's not what you need or want for your face.

Sensitivity is King. Best product choice: moisturiser for sensitivity.

Followed by Dehydration. A dehydrated skin drinks anything you put on it, but you have to do it repeatedly. Your anti-ageing serums end up just filling a gap in your skin rather than actually doing their job. 

If you are dehydrated, which 95% of us are, you need to treat the dehydration. You can leave the house in the morning with a perfectly hydrated, bouncy face and be dehydrated to the point of it showing on facial machinery by mid-morning. No matter what you do, what you use, how old you are, and your lifestyle, you can be dehydrated just by waking up. 

Dehydration is Queen. Best product choice: the toning phase - both acid and spritz and serum. Acid on cotton pads to gently strip it back and spritzes and hyaluronic acid serums to follow. Neither of these two products should irritate any of the other issues....

Then you can start to be more general. 

As long as you are keeping your redness under control and your skin hydrated you can tackle anything. But the best product choices for these skin types/conditions are, for the most part...

Dry - facial oils and oil in products including balm cleansers - no foam, ever. Dryness frequently crosses issues with dehydration - if you're both, treat both simultaneously and if you are unsure which you are read this: Cheat Sheet - Dry or Dehydrated

Ageing - targeted serums - think *retinoids* and peptides

Pigmented - dedicated serums for pigmentation and retinoids and SPF (not suggesting you don't use SPF normally, it's just the priority if you scar easily, get sun spots etc)

Oily - acid toners and essences are great as are the right moisturiser. Don't over-embrace oil-free and foaming. 

Acne - acid toning phase is key, as is your moisturiser. Please, please think carefully about how you will go about replenishing the oils in your skin if you use an oil-free moisturiser. If you want to try and keep your oil under control by mid-afternoon, use an oil-free moisturiser if you want to - but use a facial oil dedicated for acne/combination underneath it. I promise a drop or two can make all the difference. We're ahead of the game now, the market has plenty. The old 'foam wash, strip tone, oil-free moisturiser' routine is dead and buried. Or should be.

And finally, a special mention to the sufferers of melasma - or chloasma as it may be called by your midwife if you're pregnant. Melasma and pigmentation are different things. Pigmentation, for example, can be caused by sun damage, acne scarring, picking spots or inflammation and can normally be treated with topical products - glycolic, kojic and azaleic acids, retinoids, and licorice for example with some success.

Your best product choices would be peels, targeted serums containing those ingredients and SPF.

And if you still get no joy, go to a dermatologist before you spend any more cash and see if it isn't in fact...

Melasma can be triggered by those things but is also linked to hormones (hence the link to pregnancy, the pill and peri-menopausal women), illnesses, such as Addison's Disease, Lupus and Celiac disease among many others. Female sufferers outnumber male 9 to 1.

It's basically your melanocytes throwing their toys out of the pram by doing this:

Instead of behaving politely like this:

Something that Into the Gloss managed to misinform its readers of last week by recommending $300 serums to treat melasma:

Sali*, a melasma sufferer, tried to get them to talk about it/correct the piece, to no avail.

You best product recommendation for melasma is time, a laser and sun block. I had mild melasma with pregnancy, it eventually cleared up on its own. Some people aren't that lucky.

Yes, peels (clinical) can help, but if you want it gone, it's a laser. And the bad news is that even if you stay out of the sun and wear a complete sunblock, it will probably come back, because your melanocytes hate you that's what it does. Please make sure you know what you have before you part with your hard-earned cash. 

*I obviously asked Sali's permission to post these screen-grabs and mention her melasma and I refer to the ITG article purely because it led to questions from readers for both Sali and I.
www.salihughesbeauty.com

Sunday Instagram Catch-up

I know a lot of you don't use Instagram so I thought a catch-up would be good. I spend more time over on Instagam than I do any other form of social media. I love photography and there are SO many brilliant, inspirational accounts to follow. You really should check it out.

However, thinking primarily of my Mum, who doesn't do social media in any way, shape or form, here is what I've been up to...  :)

Stella McCartney's Green Carpet Challenge - blog post coming

Pummeling faces. Lovely.

Pretty standard day in the life of.....

Had an appt with Dr Barbara Sturm at the Dorchester to discuss her skincare line.

Tacos anyone?

Recoup and relax with these.....

Spoke at the M&S Beauty Conference. God help them.

Received some lovely personalised goodies from Soap & Glory

And Lush - this cracked me up.

Tatcha's beautiful travel kit arrived just in time for Paris Fashion Week

Celebrated Sali's book launch.

Celebrated Zoe's new beauty line with Ruth and the gang.

Photobombed literally every photo taken on the evening including this one of Zoe and Tyler. *wears flats in future*

And bumped into Nicky - a friend I have known for 29 years and literally never see. JOY.

Have a great week everyone.

Choice Books - Beauty: Pretty Honest by Sali Hughes

OK I'll make this quick. If you are female and have skin you need this book. 

Sali Hughes (to the very few uninitiated) is a brilliant, straight-forward-talking, no-nonsense beauty writer that talks to you like she's that friend. You know the one. The one who says 'You know I love you but you look a right dog and frankly that chin needs a pluck.'

Pretty Honest combines the beauty of a coffee table book with the actual content of a reference book. It is  full of fun, useful information and observations, not fluff.
With sections on skin types, skincare, foundation, public grooming, perfume, teens, acne, red lipstick, beauty and motherhood among many, many others, the one that tells you what you need to know about Sali is 'how to pay and receive compliments'. I always judge a woman (sorry not sorry) by the amount of female friends she has*. And Sali is surrounded by women. All of whom are fiercely loyal and vocally so. Sali is a woman's woman. If you don't have that friend to tell you what you need to hear rather than what you want to hear, Pretty Honest will be even more of a revelation to you.

Pretty Honest is out now and available at all good booksellers including ones that pay their taxes in the UK like www.waterstones.com.

Highly, joyously recommended.








* Right. A few people have asked me to 'explain myself' regarding my comment about judging a woman by the amount of female friends she has (see comments) - here's the thing *sigh*.

• I am talking about the woman who only has male friends and is actively negative towards her female sisters.
• I am talking about a woman who will throw her female counterparts under a bus (figuratively speaking) to impress a man.
• I am talking about the woman who finds it impossible to offer up a compliment or say anything nice to a woman because she feels threatened.
• I am not talking about a woman who has no/few female friends through circumstances or her own choice.
• I am actually incredibly non-judgmental. Do what you like. When you like. (OK - within reason) That's the point. My tone is frequently ironic. As am I.

And on a side-note. I think part of the popularity of this blog is that I talk as if I am talking to a friend, not scripting a page on a blog - or cut and pasting a press release. I am talking as if we were having a chat over a cup of tea. I don't want to have to start explaining my every comment or move. Then it becomes scripted and 'too thought out' and frankly, fake. If there is one thing I'm not, it's fake. See beneath the comment for the intention. My regular readers will know me, know that my intention is always, always, to help, chat, enlighten (skin-wise I mean, I'm not the Dalai Lama), entertain and hopefully just offer a good read. The rest is up to you. Thanks for reading. And go buy Sali's book. It really is very good.

Mumsnet Blogfest 2014

Just a quick one. I'm speaking at Mumsnet's Blogfest this year. If you're going along please do come and say hello. Sali Hughes and I are discussing the how to's and the ins and outs of beauty blogging. 

It's always an action-packed day complete with great food and good women.

For tickets look here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/mumsnet-blogfest

Should we grow old gracefully? - Google Hangout with Sali Hughes

As some of you will know, next Tuesday evening I am on a panel hosted by Sali Hughes with India Knight, Brix Smith-Start and Pearl Lowe as part of the Selfridges Beauty Project discussing our attitudes to ageing. 

The talk is sold out but before we take over The Salon, India, Brix and I are taking part in a Google Hangout, again chaired by Sali, answering your questions.

For those of you that missed out on tickets, this is a great way to join the conversation.

More details on how to register can be found here: Hangout with Sali Hughes, Caroline Hirons, India Knight and Brix Smith-Start

The Beauty Project - Selfridges and HUGHES

From 1st May until 12th June Selfridges are holding 'The Beauty Project'. A series of events and talks over a period of 6 weeks with the focus on all things beauty. 

Sali Hughes is compering a series of talks embracing everything from ageing to insider tips to how the industry treats women of colour.

I'm appearing on a panel with India Knight, Pearl Lowe and Brix Smith-Start on 13th May discussing our attitudes to ageing. 

Tickets are available at Eventbrite.co.uk and more information is available on Selfridges website about the entire project. 

See you there!