Tried & Tested PMD Personal Microderm for MEN
The PMD Personal Microderm for MEN is a skincare tool designed for men’s skin to help reduce enlarged pores, eliminate in-grown hairs and smooth rough skin, whilst stimulating skin regeneration to leave the complexion looking rejuvenated. The hand-held PMD Personal Microderm combines the power of deep exfoliation with vacuum suction to leave the skin looking brighter, smoother and more rejuvenated than ever.
PMD Personal Microderm uses the same aluminium oxide crystals as found in professional machines, which make up a flat, coarse disc that has a deeply exfoliating effect on the skin. The dead skin cells are instantly removed by the vacuum action of the device, which activates the innate skin healing mechanism that stimulates cell renewal and collagen production in the upper layers of the skin.
This hand-held device will reduce the appearance of fine lines, light scarring and wrinkles. It will also improve the overall skin tone by fading uneven pigmentation, sun damage, age spots, and skin blemishes. In addition, microdermabrasion also helps to reduce the formation of acne as it helps to clear out clogged pores and release trapped dirt and oil. Skincare products are more fully absorbed, maximising their effectiveness.
TheChicGeek says, “To be really basic and take this back to the fundamentals, it’s a bit like sanding your face, leaving a new and soft finish.
This isn’t a gadget to be rushed or over-used. It is recommended you use it once a week for 5 minutes. Make sure your skin is clean and dry before use. The brand images are deceiving as it needs to be plugged in while using it, so ideally you’ll have a plug in the bathroom or near a mirror.
There are different heads, depending on which skin type you have. I would start with a sensitive head while you get a feel for the machine.
The heads for the face are quite small - the larger ones are for other areas - and you don’t want to go over areas twice. You need to get a rhythm of holding it on the face, without pushing too hard, and moving it around. A vacuum sucks the dead skin into the machine. The more you use it, the easier it gets and the more confident you become.
Your skin is left feeling softer and other products, you may be using, are better absorbed and more effective. It does leave you feeling like you've had a 'treatment'. I think you could over use this machine, so be careful, don’t go over the 5 minutes and use only once a week. The heads need regular replacement, but the box comes with about 9 heads, all with varying degrees of abrasion”.
Above & Below - PMD Personal Microderm for MEN - £150 Harrods, www.personalmicroderm.co.uk, www.currentbody.com
Tried & Tested Crème De La Mer The Lifting Eye Serum
Crème de la Mer introduces The Lifting Eye Serum with its new 'Stretch Matrix Complex' to visibly support the architecture of the eye and brow. As soon as the silky serum touches skin, the eye area feels an immediate, soft yet tightening effect. With use, it helps to give a significantly more heightened look to eye contours, resulting in an appearance that is rejuvenated and elevated.
Engineered with a network of naturally derived ingredients and unique red algae, the Stretch Matrix Complex self-assembles an interlaced elastic net to help give the eye area a more lifted and contoured appearance. Combined with kelp gel, a natural lifting polymer, it helps give an immediately tighter sense to eye-contours. Ultimately eyes emerge looking more defined and sculpted.
TheChicGeek says, “This serum comes in a pipette applicator with one of Crème De La Mer’s famous applicator sticks - pictured - but this time it has a flat side.
What they are pushing here, as well as the product, is the time and attention you should pay to your eyes and the area around it. This means massaging, delicately, and stimulating the eye area as well as applying the product.
I tried to use the stick for a while and it’s cool, metal finish does soothe the eyes, but like all things it was quickly replaced with the finger. I’ve been putting this on in the morning, as a final product, around the eyes and the same before bed for the past couple of months.
It’s very gentle and you can get it in your eyes without worry. Because it’s a serum, I was told you could also use an eye cream as well, but I don’t think it’s realistic for guys to use two eye products. It’s hard enough trying to get them to use one especially when you’ve paid £180 for this one!
The result - you can definitely feel a light stimulation directly after application which is a positive. It is hard to judge, but the eyes are a long term project, best started early. Will I carry on using this? Yes".
Above - Crème De La Mer - The Lifting Eye Serum - £180
Tried & Tested Kiehl’s Cilantro & Orange Extract Pollutant Defending Masque
Clinically demonstrated to minimise the damaging effects of pollution on skin, the nourishing formula of cilantro - coriander - and orange replenishes vital nutrients. The masque defends and replenishes skin leaving it renewed, radiant and more prepared to protect itself from daily environmental aggressors.
TheChicGeek says, “The instructions for this ‘masque’ recommends applying a visible layer to clean skin. Leaving on for 5 minutes and gently wipe off with a tissue or cotton wool pad.
I didn’t think this was something guys would do, so I was told to apply a thin, visible layer just before bed and leave on overnight. It is recommended for use three times per week at night.
The coloured jar makes this look more radioactive than is actually the case. The thick, green formula goes on easily and I applied a decent layer before bed a couple of times a week.
My skin definitely looked and felt ‘fed’ after using this. By the morning, it’s gone and you continue with your usual grooming regime. You may go to bed looking like the Incredible Hulk, but you certainly don’t wake up like him”.
Above - Kiehl’s - Cilantro & Orange Extract Pollutant Defending Masque - 75ml - £28
Tried & Tested - Heeley Parfums Chypre 21
Perfumer, James Heeley’s homage to Paris and the classic chypre type fragrance, Chypre 21 is a creation for the 21st century whereby the main ingredients of a classic chypre: bergamot, rose, patchouli, sandalwood and oak moss have been reworked to create a contemporary, unisex fragrance.
TheChicGeek says “This has a freshness without the - *cough* - of the classic powdered finish which often makes the chypre more Dame Barbara Cartland than contemporary male. This has an addictive greeness and while the rose is pronounced it doesn’t dominate”.
Left - Heeley Parfums - Chypre 21 - 100ml - £125
Tried & Tested - Parfums de Marly - Carlisle
A new ‘old’ fragrance house, Parfums de Marly, is named after the Marly Castle, which was the party place of the French kings - like Versailles wasn’t party-central enough!
Located in the suburbs of Paris, it was the famous leisure residence of the Sun King Louis XIV and became the centre for his horses and hunting. King Louis XV, succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. He was offered 8 Arabian horses - Godolphin & Darly - by the King of Tunisia. He bred these with his European horses to create superior racehorses; which he used to compete in exclusive Royal events. The King himself owned over 600 horses.
Parfums de Marly’s fragrances are all named after famous horses to reflect the places equestrian heritage.
The new fragrance, Carlisle, has been christened after the majestic English horse of the same name from the year 1695. Hailing from the fruity spicy family of fragrances, the fragrance boasts top notes of bergamot, mandarin, apple and French lavender. It then moves on to middle notes of violet, jasmine and geranium Egypt. Base notes include Paraguay gaiac wood, Indonesian patchouli, sandalwood, Guatemalan cardamom, vanilla and Madagascar pepper.
Parfums de Marly - Carlisle - 125ml - £215.00 Exclusive to Harrods
TheChicGeek says, “There is no denying the quality here. These are unisex fragrances and it’s nice to get a bit of a French history lesson in the process too. This is fruity, it has an almost olfactory of top-layer-of-strawberry-jam that is warmed by the vanilla and spicy pepper. It's a gourmand delight that makes you want to taste. It's very consistent as you would expect at this price and lasts. I did suggest that their next one should be called ‘Desert Orchid’, but then again it does sound a bit Tom Ford!”
More...
Tried & Tested - Liquides Imaginaires Peau De Bête
Inspired by the sweat of a horse after its gallop, Liquides Imaginaires’ ‘Peau De Bête’ contains heads notes of chamomile blue, cumin seed, Madagascar black pepper and parsley seed.
Left - Liquides Imaginaires - Peau De Bête - 100ml - £230
The base features cade wood, guaiac wood, Atlas cedarwood, Texas cedarwood, Indonesian patchouli, patchouli absolute, Indian cypriol, Dominican Republic amyris, ambrarome absolute, castoreum base, civet base and skatole.
TheChicGeek says, “I like a curve ball, when it comes to fragrance, as much as the next person, but, a curve ball through a shitty stable and around the sweaty backside of a horse, may just be pushing it. Translated as animal hide, Peau De Bête, isn’t for the faint hearted.
The base ingredients include skatole, which appears naturally in faeces and civet base which is the natural byproduct of the anal glands of exotic civet cats.
The initial spray certainly hits you, it has something you can’t quite put your finger on! Scarily, on a second visit, it starts to normalise and smells like a really deep and smoky leather. It has that dirty, hairy, animalic musk and warmth that you would get from a horse’s neck. And the more you visualise it the more it smells like it.
You’ll be pleased to know it does dry down to something more incense-like with the potent animalic hit disappearing to a background of strong yet attractive leather”.
Tried & Tested - Jo Malone Orris & Sandalwood
Part of Jo Malone’s Cologne Intense range, Orris & Sandalwood, centres around orris, the name for the dried root of the iris. One of the most expensive ingredients in perfumery it is grown in Tuscany and takes many years to dry out.
Here it is combined her with top notes of violet, and a base of sandalwood.
TheChicGeek says, “This is the dirty side of orris. The initial burst of fragrant violet doesn’t stop this from quickly drying down to an earthy, woody and almost animalic base. This would appeal to those fans of oud or incense type fragrances. It has a strong beginning which does lighten with time”.
Left - Jo Malone - Cologne Intense - 100ml - £105