Youthful glow and other non-alcoholic things you can get in a bottle

Confession time.

I'm a cosmetic whore. I make it my business to find out what foundation the celebs are calling their Favourite and if it happens to only be available in New York, so-be-it. I search high and low to find The Best Mascara and if it means I need to place orders and buy in bulk to ensure stock of the stuff, so-be-it. I am also (un)healthily obsessed with skincare. It can be 9 degrees and raining and you will find me wearing sunblock and I started using the best eye cream I could afford when I was 16. Seriously. My friends were buying weed. I was buying Clarins. Whore.

For what they are worth, this is what I've found:

1. Dermalogica is super. If you're in your 20's and you still think that wrinkles only happen to linen. On the dark side of 30 when you're arse starts to sag and the skin around your eyes starts to look like crepe paper, you want to be using IS Clinical. WICKED stuff. I still use Dermalogica's gel cleanser and the Multivit masque, which is the best I've ever found, but the IS serums kick Dermalogica's tight butt. You literally look younger and fresher in DAYS. Very hard to find and generally available only at paramedical beauticians and medical centres. It is fer-nomenal stuff.

2. There is no better foundation than Laura Mercier. No. Better. Ever since I started using her moisturising foundation, people have commented on my skin. My skin, beneath its Laura veil, is a bit freckled, a bit red in the cheeks, a bit veiny and a bit blotchy. With Laura, I can just about rival Cate Blanchett. (if it's dark and you're really pissed) You can only get it in the big first world cities, but get it you must. She also does a bare mineral foundation, which is terrific. Love love love.

3. If like me, you look like the offspring of Marilyn Manson and a stray, gothically-inspired raccoon by 4pm, Blinc mascara is a lifesaver. Metropolitan Cosmetics in Hyde Park sells it (at a healthy margin). That stuff rocks. Marilyn Manson has officially left the building.

4. MAC lipsticks. In fact, MAC for anything pigmented. And for their MAC Strobe Cream. Bless them. I used it a LOT when I was pregnant and a lot of people commented that I was 'literally glowing'. Fuck that for a joke. The hormones didn't make me glow, unless 'glow' is a synonym for 'get fat and sweat'; MAC Strobe on the other hand, gave me a visible aura. Niiiice.

5. If you've been living under a rock, you will not know about the new lash enhancing serums. I have friends who sit for hours so that some beautician can glue individual lashes to their lashline. Get Rapid Lash. So it makes your eyes red and itchy for a week. Toughen the fuck up. 6 weeks and you're looking like Bambi.

Kisses xxx