I spy with my little eye... Bliss bliss!

I'm sure you will remember my hilarious experience at the Bliss Spa at the W Doha, if not, click here to read about it. Well following that energetic morning, Glambox sent me a bunch of products to review. I didn't try everything, I focused on what I usually use (clearly not dedicated enough to put my skin through treatments it doesn't need): body butter, day cream and mask. 

So here we go, let's start with the one I had the most fun with: the triple oxygen instant energising mask. As you can see on the picture above, the texture turns into foam. When it comes out of the bottle, the product looks like a normal mask with a creamy consistency so you can apply easily but 30s after you applied, it changes into foam. It is quite fun to watch your whole face disappear under bubbles, but because of the volume of the foam, the mask quickly starts dripping which is quite uncomfortable (I didn' find running back to the bathroom to make sure it's not getting all over clothes wasn't the most relaxing thing). I can't say I saw a visible difference after leaving it on for 5min as indicated. I can't really say that my skin was smoother or more luminous. So a fun product but didn't really work for me.

Same kind of applies to the triple oxygen energising skin, I suspect my skin doesn't really react to oxygen or it is already at it's oxygen maximum? Whatever it may be, this day cream didn't make any difference. It is very light and easy to apply but no visible result on my part.

Last but not least, the body butter is my favourite product, although it contains paraben, which I don't approve of. It did hydrate my dry legs with efficiency, but I would keep it as an emergency product for when you can't find your paraben/petrochemical/sulfate free daily body cream.

I spy with my little eye... hair rollers!!

In January, Tina and I met with a bunch of bloggers, models and make-up artists to work on a beauty photoshoot, remember this post? Well I particularly liked the pin-up session she had prepared for me and I juuust got the final pictures, so I'm happy to share them with you! I have to admit, as much as I like pin curls, I don't know how 1940-1950's women had the patience to wait for hours with rollers in their hair, or worse, to sleep with them! I admire their dedication. We didn't have such equipment so the lovely (and crafty!) make-up artist Amanda faked them with tissue, yes ladies and gentlemen, on these pictures I have tissue in my hair. And even with fake rollers, I couldn't wait to loosen my hair!

I want to thank the lovely Amanda for not giving up on my baby hair, she put up a very impressive fight!

I spy with my little eye... the half moon manicure.

When I have time (or rather when I decide to take it), I go for a classic half moon manicure, very 1950's. I had quite a laugh when my lovely hairdresser Salome (Carita, Zabeel Saray on the Palm, best hairdresser in Dubai, just saying) looked at me right after I did a half-moon manicure "Honey, you need to do your nails", I had to explain that it was meant to look like that, gotta love our intercultural world!

I like to keep it discreet with a small half moon but you can make a statement and adapt it's size as you please. I already wrote a tutorial here, so I won't go through the whole process again, all you need basically is: time, nailpolish, eyelets, and a good tv show to watch while it dries (may I suggest Call the Midwife or Masters of Sex?)! In vintage I trust!

I spy with my little eye... the Masters.

Since I've been talking about BBC series lately, I had to write about "Masters of Sex". It took me a while to decide whether on not to publish this post on a Dubai blog but after all, it's a BBC series, the title is pretty clear so you will be free to check it out or not, so here is to free will pitchouns!

Masters of Sex relates the story of pioneers of sex medicine Virginia Johnson and William Masters, "The couple who taught America how to love" as Thomas Maier's biography puts it. William Masters, a well-known obstetrician met twice divorced Virginia Johnson when he hired her to be his assistant in the 1950's. I think we can all imagine how difficult it is to find participants when you decide to run a scientific study about sex, but professional Masters and unflappable Johnson somehow found a balance that worked. The series illustrates the synergy between these two characters who became a couple, and who made considerable discoveries despite the prejudices. How do you explain to puritan doctors that a study about sex isn't porn? How do you find people who will let you study their intimate parts? Moreover, how do you study these parts without any adequate instruments? How do you react when you discover homosexuality? How do you present your study? All these questions are directly linked to the 1950's sociology, and that's what I loved about the series. I could not recommend it enough.

Now a quick overview of Johnson and Masters legacy:

- the sexual response cycle, that is to say, the 4 stages bodies go through when sexually stimulated

- the discovery that women can have repeated orgasms (which implies that women can actually experience orgasm, who knew?)

- the fact that sexual life doesn't stop after menopause, or with age

- a few clinical treatments for sexual problems

A toast to Virginia Johnson and William Masters!

I spy with my little eye... Dove's little miracle.

It's International Women Day today and every woman who arrives in Dubai goes through the same panic when she sees how much hair she's suddenly losing, supposedly, because of the quality of the water. I will never know why exactly but you hear the same story all over town and I was no exception. It took me a good two years to get back to my normal volume and length, and I now have my little tricks, but I definitively spent much more time than I should have on my hair! So when Dove sent me a hair treatment treating hair loss, I thought: as much as I don't like to put chemicals on my head, let's take one for the team and see what it's really worth. After all, it was only 2 weeks, and if it didn't work, I would have confirmation that science is just a big marketing argument when it comes to skincare, haircare and cosmetics.

The treatment includes a shampoo, conditioner and these little vials to apply one every two days.

So there I went, feeling pretty sceptical.

But I have to admit I was quite surprised to observe a very noticeable improvement. Within 2 weeks, the amount of hair on my brush was easily reduced by 2, so I have to admit that for once, science proved me wrong. I probably wouldn't use the treatment on an every day basis but as a cure, it's very effective, and the good news is that it's affordable and you can find it in your local grocery store. 

That's my little wink to all women in Dubai today: Dove's little miracle.

I spy with my little eye... a sailor in Dubai.

Outfit pictures are not really my forte, so when I spend the day with an enthusiastic (and patient) photographer, I tend to make the most of it. When Mariyah met for a beauty shot a few weeks ago, I didn't forget to bring my sailor pants, jacket and hat. Some of you will recognise the Christian Lacroix trousers from the Katharine Hepburn series, as you can imagine, the lack of vintage in Dubai doesn't allow me to update my wardrobe as often as I would like, but there's always a way to mix and match!

Click here to read her post.