Conversations through the middle

Life from a (slightly) more mature perspective

Phil Smith Be Gorgeous Total Treat Argan Oil Cream – review

Hair products and I often don’t get on. I don’t have time to spend hours sorting out my hair so I don’t tend to use lots of different products, preferring to stay with a couple of tried and tested favourites instead.

My hair has also become more frizzy over the years, and when I find something that tames the frizz and stops me looking like I’ve been dragged through a hedge backwards, I tend to stick with it.

So when this arrived through the post I had no expectations about it at all.

I tried it – and I love it. I have been using it for a couple of weeks now and I can really see a difference in the smoothness of my hair; it looks more groomed and shiny than before.

I had all of my hair cut off a few weeks ago in a drastic move to signify a new start in my life, and because I was so sick of having to wear it up all the time (it looked a mess down). I now have a short bob, which incidentally is the best do I have ever had.

Back to Total Treat. Blowdrying has never been my forte, so I rough dry my hair then use the straighteners on it to iron out the frizz. You are supposed to apply a pea sized amount of the product after washing, then style. I use more than that, but I have thick hair and haven’t had a problem with greasiness or stickiness from using too much.

I’m really impressed with this. The tube is going to last for ages, but when it does run out it will be on my shopping list as it now ranks up there with my beloved Illuminoil as one of my favourite haircare products.

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A day in London town – Dot and me

During the summer holidays Dot came with me to London for a couple of product launches. We made a day of it, meeting up with her dad for dinner and eating her favourite food in her favourite food place – Chinese in China Town.
Before that we spent time at the Thorntons Christmas in July show, where she sampled lots of chocolates (I had a few too) and patted an enormous chocolate dog. I’d got the times wrong – no idea how I did that – so there was hardly anybody there when we arrived and they were starting to pack up to go home, but we still enjoyed the fake snow and seeing the goodies Thorntons are launching for Christmas 2013.

Chocolate is one of Dot’s all time favourite things, but make-up is fast becoming the must-have favourite, so she was overjoyed to attend the launch of Mary Kay at Play. Mark Kay is a beauty company that operates along the same sort of lines as Avon – it has reps and catalogues and a growing customer base in this country, though I don’t think it’s anywhere near as well known. I’ve used their products before – their True Dimensions lipstick was my favourite lipstick of last year, it’s so creamy and the bullet design is so satisfying to hold and open (it sort of pops open, unlike lipsticks generally that you twist up).
This launch was for their collection Mary Kay at Play, which includes lip crayons, baked eye shadow trios, eye shadow pencils and lip gloss, and as the name implies, it is a range designed for younger women, teens to 20s. That said, the products are lovely and I have no problem wearing them – I have a post on a few of them coming up shortly.
We started off with mocktails (she’s only 12) and she felt ever so sophisticated sipping the icy concoction through a straw. There were a couple of flavours on the menu and she sampled both of them. 

We played with the products, listened to a brief talk about the collection, and then to Dot’s joy, she had her make-up done by a real live make-up artist using some of the new products! She was in her element.
Best of all, she got to leave with a good selection of make-up from the new range (or rather she commandeered most of the products I was given) and has loved messing around with them ever since.

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Life’s a peach – The Body Shop peach body butter

Well this is a blast from the past. I think the fragrance of peaches is the first I associate with the Body Shop from a long time ago and I’m really happy to see it (or should that be smell it) again. 


In those heady, long ago days we were not used to creams, lotions or bubble baths that smelled like food – they smelled like Matey, or Fairy Liquid, or if you were posh, Badedas. This was something new, something you almost believed you could eat (and I bet you I’m not the only person who put that to the test at the time; as we all now know, the taste is nothing like the scent!)

Time has marched on, fruity, foody, gourmand, fragrances are everywhere and in everything, even perfume and makeup. No longer does the Body Shop make fruity bubble bath – it’s all shower gel now, reflecting how bathroom habits have changed also since the late 70s/ early 80s. And there’s also masses of ‘me toos’ out there – I’m not saying they are any less beneficial for softening skin or cleaning away dirt, just that where the Body Shop ploughed the furrow, the others have followed.
So I will be guarding my peach body butter from my daughter, using it when she’s not there and hiding it in between times (she has already had her fingers in the pot, as you can see). Dot has lots of scented, fruity smelling products by lots of different brands, but this one, this is mine; this is a link to my youth and the importance of that will be lost on her (or rather, she will just think I’m old and sad). Which of course, I’m not… 

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