Posts Tagged ‘RMK’

Ah, forgive the silence; I have been holidaying in sunny Sardinia, but don’t worry, I didn’t leave my beauty head at home.

A lot of black women I come across think that being on a beach holiday is the perfect opportunity to be a ‘natural’ beauty – i.e. no base, Vaseline instead of lip gloss, etc etc. I, however, beg to differ. Of course I am not an advocate of looking like Jordan meets Danny La Rue while walking along the beach, but come on ladies, even on holiday, there is a reason God gave us Mac, Nars, Lancome et al. So with that in mind, despite packing lots of ‘just in case’ products, these five things turned out to be my fail safe beauties.

Prestige Mascara - Okay I have used tons of mascaras – some that cost three times as much as this – and I have to say, this mascara has blown me away. It’s great! You get really thick, full lashes and it doesn’t smudge. Though I have no idea if it’s waterproof – I can’t swim so the water never got past my chest. For those who didn’t know, swimming and black hair are not really great buddies. £4.99, available at Boots stores nationwide.

RMK Oil Cleanser - When I die and go to heaven, as well as my purple velvet made to order sofas, I will be taking this cleanser. It is the one thing that cleans my face perfectly regardless of the hardness of the water. Available at Selfridges.

Elizabeth Arden 8 hour cream – Great for sunburn, peeling and a multitude of other skin complaints. Yes, black people burn in the sun too! Available at all good department stores.

PIXI Lip Blush – I love this lip stain. It is matte – without being drying – giving you super-natural looking bee stung lips and a colour that lasts nearly all day. £16.00 from www.pixibeauty.com

Olive oil - On day two of my holiday I went to the supermarket, bought the biggest bottle of olive oil I could find and literally doused my hair in it. “Why?” you ask? Because the sun was turning my hair into straw, that’s why! The olive oil worked wonders though; my hair really softened up and by the end of the week I had a semi normal looking Afro.

Years ago if anyone had suggested that I should use an oil cleanser to get better skin, I probably would have slapped them. Like most black women I have quite oily skin, so why would I put more oil on skin that churns out more than the Middle East? Oil on skin to me meant a million spots and blemishes. Now I know better.

My first liaison with an oil cleanser was with Eve Lom. I was shocked at how well this thick oily gooey substance would loosen black heads from my skin. The ingredients include hops (yes, the thing they use when making beer), chamomile, clove, eucalyptus and lots of other bits that I can’t quite pronounce. What does it matter when it works, eh? It comes with a specially made muslin cloth that I also think is a miracle worker. It works with the cleanser to clean and exfoliate. I have literally seen blackheads on the cloth afterwards. (And it’s not because I scrub too hard!)

Another fabulous oil cleanser to try is the SKII Facial Treatment Cleansing Oil. I have never known anything to take make up off so thoroughly. It does leave a little bit of an oily residue so if you’d rather not have have that make sure you use a cloth similar to the Eve Lom version.

RMK’s Cleansing Oil is also fabulous. It emulsifies really well and does not leave a residue or sting the eyes, which is a huge bonus. 

Next on my list to try is Shu Uemura’s High Performance Balancing Cleansing Oil, so I’ll let you know how I fare. As you can tell, I have been totally converted to oil cleansers and my skin has never looked better. 

RMK available at Selfridges, SKII and Shu Uemura available at Space NK.