Posts Tagged ‘olivia inge’

Today sees the launch of The Body Shop’s new perfume campaign – White Musk Libertine, for which I am the Brand Ambassador. This job was all the more exciting because they wanted someone to encapsulate the idea of a 21st Century Libertine and thought of me!

I hasten to underline the 21st Century part and ask you not to confuse me with the 2nd Earl of Rochester for I am no more a debauched, immoral, lecherous, or wanton womaniser than Kate Middleton.

I am a free thinker, I follow my own inclinations and (generally) walk to the beat of my own drum. I encourage my friends to believe in the ability to better their lives, to be sexy in a chic, individualistic manner and above all to think freely without bias. I think this is what being a 21st Century Libertine is all about and this is why I loved the whole idea behind this scent. The Body Shop have focused on encapsulating this feeling of adventure and confidence by decorating your Vampire hot spots with their idea of how a Libertine might smell. And it’s a darn sight better than what I imagine was the scent of the rampant Earl…

The perfume itself is a sensual, sweet scent, a play on their first “White Musk”, which first launched in 1981 and which quickly became a Cult classic, now selling 2.5 bottles per minute. The Body Shop enlisted the Nobel Prize winning fragrance house Firmenich to design this fragrance. Dr Vincent Schaller used 65% rare musk which features in the top, middle and base notes, something that is unique to this perfume.

They’ve added floral notes of Sharry Baby Orchid and subtly sweetened it with Turkish delight and Chantilly Cream, whilst retaining their well-known code of honour by using cruelty free musk (a first back in 1981) and Organic Community Fair Trade sugar-cane alcohol. 30ml Eau de Parfum – £12, the 60ml Eau de Toilette – £14.

Here is a little video we made of me running around town being a Libertine minx to celebrate the launch. olivia inge

I am not a massive fan of malls. I come over all ‘country cousin’ when I step in them. The first time I entered Westfield in Shepherd’s Bush was last year, I promptly turned around and marched out. It felt like a wrong spaceship. Yesterday I ventured in for an Indian Head Massage at Malika, I was late so my fear took a back seat as I ran in a circle for miles, trying to find this needle in a cement-stack.

Malika is a tiny salon situated on the ground floor of this vast shopping mall. This salon chain, run by Ritu and Sejal, originated in Canary Wharf, then expanded to Covent Garden, Westfield and they’ve just secured a spot in the new mall “One” (not yet opened) opposite St Pauls in Bank. Not bad work for a company that was set up 4 years ago.

The decor isn’t great, the space is tiny but clean but it feels like a backstreet beauty parlour. Needless to say it didn’t instill much faith, but the proof was in the pudding. I was sat in a chair in the main room/nail bar/threading/facial/reception area and asked to lean forward so my therapist Sejal could massage my back. As soon as she started it was easy to block out the sounds of the happy shoppers and focus on her magic hands. Olive oil was massaged into my neck, shoulders and then my head. I was putty in her hands. The massage lasted 30 mins and costs £30. Fair and honest work.

Sejal (the manager) came over for a chat. We spoke at length about her history, she comes from a village in Maharashtra where her father taught her and her siblings about all the beautiful plants and their properties. I remarked on the poor decor to which her reply was “hesitation goes away once you are attended to”, which I guess is true. The lady next to me was having a facial and judging by the animalistic sounds she was emitting, she wasn’t fretting about the decor.

Sejal also has a very impressive list of clients, granted not all of them come to this tea-cup of a salon except for Christine Bleakley, but they all trust Sejal for her remarkable talent and the fact that she genuinely cares about you. She isn’t fake and she doesn’t perform any treatments that she doesn’t think will help. Sejal asked me 3 times if she could tidy up my rebellious eye-brows, on the third I relented and am very pleased I did.

Sejal also does an incredible facial using only selected herbs and fruits, tailored to your skin type. Her other facial use REN products. She talked me into wanting one. Nay, needing one.

Aloe Vera was smeared on my face using a little wooden spatula, if applied by human hands this would affect its purity. This was left to work its magic while she went to work massaging my neck, shoulders and chest with grape-seed oil. I am not sure what the order of play that followed was, as I was hypnotized by her touch, but different layers of totally natural ingredients that you would find in your supermarket – banana, whole milk, honey – were massaged into my face, one after the other. None were taken off until we came to her secret mask recipe. This may sound like a terrible breakfast-face-mash-up, but the sequence meant my facial was absolutely CHEMICAL-FREE and any bits that ran into the crease of my mouth tasted really good.

I was advised not to put anything on my skin for 24 hours and when I woke up this morning my face looked radiant and felt incredibly soft. Job done. This place is perfect as a quick stop beauty bar. The staff are lovely, smiley and bloody good at their job. olivia inge

After Williamson’s show, I jumped on the fashion bus to be taken to Waterloo Station for Richard Nicoll’s show. Whilst waiting for it to fill up, a helicopter came over our heads and landed 20 metres away, whooping up a massive dust storm much to the demise of a bevy of stylists, buyers and journalists who all ended up looking like they’d survived a desert storm.

I arrived just as the show was starting on the old Eurostar platform. A predominantly black and white collection, Richard’s main focus was working the pleated chiffon. He had dresses with sheer ankle length skirts and short pleated minis on top. More bustiers (wahooo), bomber jackets, gorgeous hour-glass patent pvc dresses with sculpted chiffon stiffened into subtle choir boy curves around the neck and pre-historic mini wings on the back, curves were accentuated with undulating skiff peplum lines. The show had a provocative sporty feel to it, it was strong, elegant, futuristic, sexy and I would happily have it all in my wardrobe, please.

The make up was in neutral tones, faces were kept pale down the middle with a warm, orangey bronze on the lower cheeks lifting up to the temples and hair line. No mascara and all about the cheeks…again. A brown/peachy gloss was applied to the lips.

The hair was pulled back into a greasy ponytail with a looser slightly higher top. olivia inge

Cult Beauty’s Olivia Inge caught up with Erin O’Connor at London Fashion Week where they chatted fashion, beauty and Boris Johnson.