Get touched

Speaking of Ole Henriksen...I interviewed him last year. He is ridiculously healthy-looking, wiry and spry. Clearly has a portrait in the attic/pact with the devil/fresh blood injected weekly. And the advice of this fresh-faced beauty mogul: "make love to your skin".

I'm still trying to work that one out but I think gentle touch and massging products in is the key. It's what works for uber-facialists Anastasia Achilleos and Emma Hardie in the UK, and if I may say so, Virginie-Claire in Harold's Cross in Dublin (Tippy tips of fingers like tiny angels wings brushing across your face. I have never been so relaxed in my life as I was when I went for a facial there.).

Muscle tension makes a huge difference to your face. After a week off work recently, I looked like a different person. After half an hour of traffic hell driving in on the first day back the tightness across my forehead and cheekbones was palpable, and tooth grinding was back with a vengeance. And my ten years younger holiday face disappeared.

Softly softly, catchy monkey

First up, I've been a bad bad blogger, with nary a glance this way in two months. But a very busy two months starting a new job as resident fashion be-atch on Irish Tatler. So busy in fact that there is precious little time for looking the part - eep! State of me...

And so, on the bank holiday weekend I decided to gift myself with beautiful body care that I had been hoarding for ages, waiting to use. (I was doing that thing where I say I really must use up the 50 lip glosses I have before I get another one. Ah but minimalism is no friend of the beauty-holic.)

Confession: I don't really bother with body moisturiser. I get plenty of compliments from me handsome fella about having soft skin, so I reckon I must be doin alright. However, there being no clean bedclothes in the fella's house except for a nylon-y, ball-y horrible set, I was soon driven demented by night itches, and decided the way forward was to grease myself up to provide a coating between skin and icky bedclothes.

Enter stage left Clarins Satin Smooth Body Lotion. Verdict: disappointing in the fragrance department. It doesn't have that Clarins smell. You know the one... So enter stage right Ole Henriksen Lavender Body Oil. Nice. Lavender-y. Nearly gave the fella a heart attack that someone would pay 44 euro for something you could make up with some essential oil. Anyway, a trick they use in Clarins salons is to mix body cream and oil for massage. Lovely slidey texture without the greasiness. Verdict: we likey. And so does himself, who did not object to several euros worth of ridiculously expensive massage oil being worked into his post-match muscle aches.

Oh and he said my skin was softer than usual. So perhaps I'll convert to the cult of body moisturisers after all. He'll be telling me cellulite creams work next...