Triona McCarthy: Feeling spendy? Pick up these luxe products to create a home spa day
It got me reflecting on luxury and how even small touches of it can enhance our lives. Whether it's treating yourself to a spa day, savouring a fine meal, or simply taking a moment to enjoy the beauty around you, embracing luxury — however you define it — can add significant value to your day-to-day life. Here are five of my latest favourite luxe products.
Ooh, lippy!
Violette Bisou Balm Mon Cheri (€34, violette.fr) is a fresh new lipstick shade from the iconic Bisou Balm collection, which creates colours for cheeks and lips that feel like your own, but are more saturated. It is warm in tone, making it ideal for all complexions. The matte shade from this trés sophisticated French brand has just the right amount of boldness and it also has a great blurring effect when applied to your lips.
Bronzed beauty
For a healthy sun-kissed glow, Chanel Les Beiges Bronzing Cream (€55, brownthomas.com) comes in three shades to warm up the skin. Apply the lightweight and easy-to-blend cream-gel bronzer on cheeks, nose, forehead and décolleté using the fingers or a brush, for an ultra-natural make-up look. For a more sculpted, contoured look, apply it just below your cheekbones.
Ooh la la
La Mer The Lifting and Firming Mask (€285, brownthomas.com) targets visible ageing concerns to lift and firm the skin for a youthful, sculpted appearance. This luxurious cream mask infuses skin with serum-strength power and works over time to enhance the skin's natural processes. You can use it on your face and neck, and apart from giving a surge of hydration to your skin, it targets visible lines, wrinkles, sagging and lost density.
Luxury scent
I love creating atmosphere with a scented candle when I'm getting ready to go out and Baobab Collection — Sacred Trees Cocody (€95-€255, eu.baobabcollection.com) has a gorgeous scent of jasmine, patchouli and basil. Each candle was created in Italy, which are presented in a beautiful motif glass jar. With each purchase, you contribute to planting 10,000 Baobab trees in the Ivory Coast's northern region and establishing a vegetable garden for local women in Kani.
Pippa's products
Pippa O'Connor Ormond's POCO Beauty is known for its skin-loving formulas and pared-back approach. I love the POCO Beauty Skintuition Foundation and Unfiltered Soft Focus Finishing Powder (€32/€21, pocobeauty.com), which are designed to enhance your natural skin rather than mask it. O'Connor Ormond says her products are designed to be simple, effective and beautiful, and are aimed at busy women who want to look fresh and feel pulled together without overthinking it.
Treat
Glow up To build dimension, micro-contour and add a pop of blush-glow to your face, try Charlotte Tilbury Glowgasm Face Palette in Nudegasm (€75, arnotts.ie). The hybrid cream-powder formula comes in five shades and gives a glass-skin soft-focus finish. This is thanks to its brightening glow gel that provides a glowing translucency that stretches over the skin.
Trick
Line out I use eye cream around my mouth to help minimise fine lines and plump my lips. This area is often overlooked and while we have a lip balm for our actual lips, we rarely take care of the entire mouth area that can be just as prone to wrinkles. Once I have finished applying eye cream around my eyes, I always take the remainder and dab it around my mouth to smooth out those laughter lines and make my lips even more kissable!
Treatment
Medik8 Crystal Retinal Age-Defying Facial, €140, The Spa at The Johnstown Estate, Meath, thejohnstownestate.comBy combining Medik8's signature retinal technology with professional-grade actives, including the fusion of vitamin A and vitamin C, this award-winning facial reduces wrinkles, boosts radiance and firms skin in one hour with no downtime. The 60-minute treatment includes 90 minutes of R&R in The Spa's gorgeous thermal suites.
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