Jet set beauty | Clarisonic Opal and Rodin Olio Lusso lip balm

Whisking yourself away on a last-minute weekend trip somewhere tropical? I know, me neither. But for those of you who are (or still received a bonus), there are a few new jet set products out there that'll give you more room in that carry-on for the cruise collections.

The latest (not yet released) is the Clarisonic Opal, a miniature, flattened version of the Clarisonic that uses the same sonic technology but this time coupled with serum already loaded into the plastic pellet. The brush is smaller as it's meant to be used around the eyes. In the video, they demonstrate the way the sonic movements are better at pushing the product (in the case of Clarisonic Opal, already loaded into the device) into the cap of a mushroom than your fingers are at patting it on. I'm not entirely sure that our skin works in the same way as a mushroom so a bit baffled by that but any advances made in the field of exfoliation have my fullest attention. Price TBA.

The second bit of jet set beauty news is the launch of Rodin Olio Lusso lip balm, which hit shelves at the end of last year. Lost in the flurry of festive madness, it's now surfacing a bit in the press and is stocked at such fine stores at Beauty Cube in Spain and Barney's in New York. The famous floral scent from the elixir now comes in the form of an all-natural, sheer, blush-coloured balm. Ingredients include jasmine, orange flower oil, shea butter, beeswax, and castor seed oil all within a very cool lucite square compact (of the Belmacz packaging family. Love it). In London, Rodin Olio Lusso lip balm is stocked at Notting Hill's Beautyworkswest.com for £18 ($28).

Alternatives for the skinted among us:

Instead of Clarisonic Opal try, well, your hands. They're not moving at a sonic speed, but simple massage (done correctly can help). Emma Hardie and Sarah Chapman both champion a sort of dry traction massage that seems to work wonders in the short run (same sort of thing that's promised with the Opal).

Instead of Rodin Olio Lusso lip balm try Nuxe Reve de Miel lip balm. It melts right onto your lips, stays put for ages and truly does moisturise them (it's brought my lips back from the brink of completely chapping many times). I find things like Vaseline just exacerbate or mask the problem. This afforable product (half the price) works. Available at Spacenk.com and many chemists for £9.00 (in all the chemists in France).

Bad beauty trends: escapism or just poor taste?

Crimped hair has been rearing its ugly, geometric head for the past few months. I have tried to ignore it, glazing over when I come to fashion spreads in my glossies (ahem, September Marie Claire and French Vogue) but it's clear the beauty-industrial complex or its hairstylists or whoever is really pushing for this one to make it back into the mainstream (have we not tired of the 1980s already?). I can ignore it no longer... Sure, it's less offensive than the penultimate look du jour (eyebrow-less as in 'I have a crack habit and have shaven off my eyebrows' eyebrow-less... who thought that was a good idea and why do all junkies seem to be missing their eyebrows?) or the pre-penultimate one (purple lips a la cadaver)... but it Will. Never. Work. In. Real. Life. At least in its pure form. I mean, if you're in The Noisettes, sure you can rock a half-crimped, half-slicked back style. But try walking into any office block wearing your neat little pant suit and... crimped hair!? Not working. On top of the fact that it's probably about as welcome in most work place as a face full of piercings, it's not exactly all that flattering.

We strive relentlessly for soft, wavy, touchable, voluminous 'dos, at least that's what I'm led to believe if I look back at the ads in these same glossies. Soft hairstyles gently cradle the face. Maybe we're pushed to wear such styles because they are more feminine and as the proud owners of 2 X chromosomes, we're supposed to want that? I like a bit of edge sometimes (actually, most of the time) but the crimped look does not provide the good sort of edge. It gives the sort of edge that the mean girl at the mall (the ringleader who holds said position due simply to her large frame and aggressive disposition) sported... crimped hair, body of a Fijian wrestler, concrete wall of vertical fringe (bangs), blue eyeliner and pink gloss. That's the sort of girl who sported crimped hair. Fast forward to now and couple the crimped hair with the not-so-new new penchant for black makeup and... well, you can imagine it. Get yourself a gimp suit and you could easily and convincingly have your own dominatrix business.

But, thinking about it, maybe all this stuff we see on the runway and in the magazines is simply meant to stay there. These imaginary worlds are just that - imaginary, escapes for us from the hard-and-fast (at times) beauty rules by which we live our lives... and if you don't think you live by them, just look in your purse. Nude lip liner, powder, black mascara. Just as we wear uniforms to work, we also wear a sort of facial uniform. Sometimes we step out of line with a slash of red on the lips or a haze of charcoal around the eyes, but never to the point where we become grafittied caricatures of ourselves. 

What led me down this train of thought? My compilation of best beauty looks from New York Fashion Week for S/S 2010. A slideshow with my favourite looks will be posted shortly. In the meantime, have a long, hard think before you plonk down the dosh for that new crimper... and if you are absolutely compelled to crimp your coif, at least do the following: brush it out so it's a less severe crimp and then pull it back into a low chingon. There's some iota of style and dignity in that look (as seen above at Narciso Rodriguez courtesy of Style.com).

Delo

Selfridges has started stocking an interesting new product called Delo. They're little caps you screw onto the top of a water bottle (apparently only in French half litre size so start stocking up on Badoit). The caps release their herbal contents only as you drink. Each cap contains the equivalent of 6 sachets.

It's great too because you don't need to buy a new bottle of water each time you want to use one of these suckers. Just pop it back on after you refill the bottle. There are 5 flavours (de-stress, energy, sun, slim and sexy) each with a unique combo of herbs that correlate to the action you want to take (de-stress with Hawthorn and Orange Blossom or feel more energetic with Ginseng, Guarana and Acerola).

Delo launched at the Colette water bar in 2007 and is now available exclusively at Selfridges.