Allure Magazine

I love magazines. Vogue, Marie Claire, Elle, InStyle, Love, Stylist. They are all great, but as they are fashion magazines, I always end up a bit frustrated for the lack of articles about beauty.

Last year I found out about Allure magazine. It's an American publication about beauty, health and fashion. From what I know this is the only magazine mostly about beauty there is. It's been published since 1991, but for some mysterious reason there's not a British Allure, and it's sold in only a few places in London (Selfridges, Conde Nast Worldwide News - a showroom near Regent Street - and at some branches of WHSmith). Of course you can always subscribe to it.

The magazine is full of articles about make up, skin and hair care, health, some fashion, and product reviews. I love their Insiders' Guide, Beauty 101, and Beauty by Numbers. Their Essays are always very interesting as well.

I also like their website Allure.com They have a fantastic Beauty Product Finder, lots of interesting articles like this one about contour and highlight, and nice little videos, like this series called Beauty Basics, where they show how to do smoky eyes, apply bronzer, false lashes etc, in a relaxed and fun way.

Skin Care - Sunscreens

An interesting fact about England is that even though the sun doesn't shine as often or as brightly as in other places, it is still extremely damaging to the skin. I wasn't aware of this and it took me a while to realise that after only a few months living here I already had some discolouration on my face.

I've been taking this matter very seriously now and using sunscreens with SPF 50 every day when I go out, even if it's cloudy. If there's daylight, there must be sunscreen.

Choosing the right sunscreen was not easy, as I wanted a product that would protect me from the sun, but that at the same time wouldn't react with my foundation or mess up my make up.

Some sunscreens are good but smell strongly of chemicals, many of them are too greasy, and others leave a white cast on the skin that interferes with the colour of the foundation you are wearing.

Before I found my holy grail sunscreens, I tried a couple that didn't work for me.

Shiseido Urban Environment UV Protection Cream SPF 40
It leaves an accentuated white cast on my face, and smells strongly like sunscreen.

La Roche-Posay Anthelios AC Matte extreme fluid SPF 30
It reacts with my foundation, making it difficult to be worn under make up. It also leaves a white cast on my face.

My absolute favourite sunscreens:

MAC Prep and Prime SPF 50
This product is sold as a primer and it is a fantastic one. It has SPF 50, doesn't smell like a sunscreen, and it's perfect if you have very oily, oily or combination skin as it's light and doesn't clog pores. What I like the most about this product is that it mattifies the skin as no other sunscreen I have tried before. It makes my skin look better even before I put on make up.

Cane + Austin Ultra Sheer Weightless Sunscreen SPF 50
Outstanding sunscreen.The consistency is very runny, it's fragrance-free, oil-free, transparent on the skin, and can be used as a primer. One of the things I like about it is that because it's so sheer it can be reapplied over the make up. Just put some product on your hands and pat delicately on your face.  
It also has antioxidants. No parabens, no alcohol.