Makeup
Jennifer Aniston rocks the bronzer Photo: Stephen Lovekin
This week I had to admit that the winter chill (and my subsequent overuse of portable heaters) had got the better of me and it was time to surrender to - nay, embrace - proper skincare. I had tried and tested a handful of moisturisers and I felt satisfied in myself and my replenished skin - especially around the delicate eye area.
But then, just yesterday, a little box arrived from St. Tropez. I don't mean the location, I mean the fake-tan brand. Although it may as well have been from the town, because with its chic design, black top and silver writing, it looked like a jewellery box - the type one might find in the plush bedroom of a luxury yacht moored somewhere on the French Riviera.
The box was in fact a small, clear container full of bronzing "rocks" - little balls that you sweep a brush over and then sweep over your face to look bronzed.
You can even pick up a rock and use it in place of eyeshadow.
Is it original? Hardly. The concept has been around for years. But when the sexy yacht bronzer box entered my life, suddenly all those moisturisers paled in comparison (not too difficult - they are uniformly white). I remained so overwhelmed by the rocks that I forgot who I was for a moment and sniffed the box. Oh, I'm joking! I inhaled. Deeply. The box, gentle reader, was embracing my soul. (Apologies, I'm having Oprah withdrawals.)
But, just like love and marriage or luxury yachts and billionaires, you can't have proper bronzer application without moisturised skin. Of course, we're not novices here: we know to wait until the moisturiser has been properly absorbed before dusting that bronzer over the cheeks - otherwise it will resemble war paint. It's also wise to avoid applying it to dry skin or you'll end up looking like a broken-down pantomime actor.
Assembled is a sampling of embraceable moisturisers for all skin types, from Weleda's Skin Food for dry skin through to the Body Shop's Moisture White Shiso Moisturising Essence for oily skin and Napoleon Perdis's Set Wake Me Up Day Cream, which smells like the dawn. Well, okay, flowers. I've also recommendeda separate lotion for the eye area and one specifically for nails. They're good at what they do - no doubt about it - but the box stands alone.
The product du jour
Kit: + Sensory Lab Coffee Body Wash
Some things in life defy explanation. They're so mysterious and unfathomable they function almost as a cleansing sorbet for the brain, like the Pyramids or that M.C. Escher drawing of hands drawing hands or the incomprehensible rules of Deal or No Deal. Well, you can add Kit: + Sensory Lab Coffee Body Wash ($23, from David Jones, 1800 358 999) to that list. A body moisturiser with a coffee scent I could understand and maybe start to incorporate into my belief system - but a coffee wash? So I smell like coffee when I exit the shower? I can't approach it. I can't cope. And yet, I can't get enough. It's probably because it smells a bit like caramel as well as coffee or perhaps it's because, judging from the main story above, it's obvious I like to sniff things. I can offer no explanation for this compulsion - which means that, in the end, I'm as bad as the body wash.
