The Best Beauty Advice – The Editor’s List

Bye Bye January. It’s staying lighter slightly longer and its socially acceptable to have a couple of drinks. February can be gloomy too but hey it’s a leap year so only 28 days to endure. Why am I so annoyingly perky? Well I have a new business launching this month that I’m super excited to share with you.

The Editor’s List is a beauty concierge service that connects people to the world’s top cosmetic doctors, derms and surgeons. If you’re planning to do any cosmetic self-improvements this year this is definitely something you need to know about. I sprung on the idea when I was sitting at the bedside of my heavily bandaged friend and former colleague Fiona Golfar, (former editor at large of British Vogue), who was recovering from a neck lift that I’d arranged for her by another friend of mine, London’s leading cosmetic surgeon Rajiv Grover.
Fiona is just one of the many people that call/email/text/DM me pretty much round the clock for beauty advice, “Liv who is the best hair colourist for Blondes in London?” They ask. “Do you think face lift surgeons in New York are better than ones in London?” They want to know. “Who does your Botox Liv, can you introduce me to your doctor?” That’s pretty straightforward. “My friend has just had twins, can you recommend for a full mummy makeover (tits and tum).” Not so straightforward. “Liv what top three things to rejuvenate tired, grey January skin?” In the spirit of sharing I’ll enlighten you with this one – Hands down the best things I’ve tried recently are:
1. M22 laser (from £595 at Phiclinic.com) a combination of rejuvenating IPL (intense Pulsed Light) that works on reducing redness and pigmentation and ND YAG laser that works to resurface skin and boost collagen production below, its like putting a light bulb under your skin.
2. Profhilo (from £1,000 drnirdosh.com) a newish injectable hyaluronic acid gel that differs from traditional filler in that its not a targeted plump but instead is injected into five points around the side of the face to diffuse hydration, remodels collagen and improve the quality of skin (its brilliant for first signs of crepey-ness.
3. The budget solution – Bobbi Brown’s Skin Long-Wear Weightless Foundation SPF 15 (£31 Bobbi Brown.com), is the most flawless camouflage that hydrates skin, and stays put all day.

Phew! As you can see, answering all these questions was becoming a full time job for me, so I decided to capitalize on my vast wealth of experience (I was Tatler’s Beauty Director for 10 years and spend an unhealthy amount of time striding down Harley street, hopping around Park Avenue clinics, and slipping into Rodeo Drive dermatologists, scrutinizing all manner of anti-ageing experts). Indeed these people are my life, I eat dinner with them, holiday with them; some are godparents to my children. The Editor’s list therefore takes a very personal approach to taking the stress and trauma out of finding you the best of the best for your particular concern. I’m here to hold your hand, listen, ask the questions you may not think to ask. My aim? To help you achieve all your beauty goals in the safest, most effective and efficient way possible.

View The Editor’s List today

Beauty New Year List

If you started to go slightly cross-eyed over the New Year here is some time saving beauty suggestions guaranteed to reduce stress and simplify your current beauty routine.
For the days bookended with booze-filled festivities, when you regular skincare is jut not cutting it, Dr Barbara Sturm’s products offer maximum results with minimal hassle. A German cosmetic doctor who has a large Hollywood following; Kim Kardashian, Rosie Huntingdon-Whiteley and Bradley Cooper are among the time poor tribe who love her faff free products, which are packed with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant ingredients. Frustrated with constantly seeing skin inflammation caused by aggressive skincare such as harsh peels, retinols and the like, Sturm’s fuss-free routine has three cornerstone products: a gentle foamy cleanser £40 that softens and soothes winter whipped skin, a wrinkle melting Hyaluronic Serum, £230, and Face Cream, £132, into which you can drop her genius SPF Sun Drops, £105, for some UV protection (all available at cultbeauty.com). From my own experience I found this basic routine totally changed the texture of my skin both brightening and softening it in just two days.

I’ve also swapped out my bulky make up bag for a sleek TrinnyLondon Make Up Stack, (from £16).

These small, air travel compliant pots of colour include foundation and bronzer, plus eye, lip and cheek colours that conveniently clip together. A godsend for anyone fumbling their way through the party season, the colours are cream rather than powder formulations so are easily applied with fingertips and available exclusively online at trinnylondon.com where Trinny has a trademarked a genius match2me algorithm that works out the most flattering colors for your unique skin tone.

Finally an alternative to time consuming fake tanning, eighties supermodel Celia Forner has come up with Alleven, £70,

This is a brilliant quick dry, skin perfecting spray with a hint of a tint. It’s best described as a tinted moisturizer for the body as it hydrates skins and adds a bit of colour (that washes off in the shower but wont rub off on clothes or sheets). It covers up imperfections such as spots (that backless party dress is no longer off limits), veins (you can bare legs in the depths of winter) and blotchy crepey skin (it takes about 10 years off a crepey décolleté). Currently only available online on Almost Essential 
Trust me put these products on your Christmas shopping list now and they will not only save your skin but your sanity too.

Olivia Falcon

Need To Know: How to slow down in the fast lane by Beauty Editor Olivia Falcon

Post holiday, I’m back on the hamster wheel of city life and full of good intentions. Chasing wellness, I’ve signed up to Paola’s Body Barre classes at the new KXU (kxu.co.uk) on Pavilion Road,I’ve purged my kitchen cupboards of sugar and stodge – my new fav breakfast tipple is Noble’s Himalayan Salted Cacao £29

 and I’ve also got a head start on Go Sober October.

But despite these healthy adjustments I was still feeling stressed, harassed and overwhelmed by the pace of life, until that is, last week when I met a man who shook things up.

Alan Dolan, AKA the Breath Guru, is a real deal healer. Warm and reassuring, he radiates positivity, indeed just being in his company one finds one’s shoulders drop an inch or two. For most of the year Alan’s based in Lanzarote, where he runs game changing Breathing Space Retreats (breathguru.com) but he also travels monthly to the Spa at The Landmark Hotel in Marylebone to see city worn folks for a variety of stress related conditions: insomnia, anxiety, panic attacks and digestive issues.

When I arrived at his room I was tired, hungry and feeling slightly under it with deadlines. Alan got straight to the point, “Before you consider diets or exercise classes you need to consider your breath. Breath is life and when you breathe better, you live better. Our cells rely on oxygen and our breath is the vehicle to carry oxygen and energy through our entire body. We are essentially Electro magnetic beings but this energy is pulled more and more out of wack by the tech age, as most of us are running in the top half of our bodies as we are constantly over stimulated by laptops and smartphones, which creates a restless mind.” Alan explains his breathing techniques help people plug back in to their bodies and regain peace and balance in their daily lives.

Keen to try his techniques, Alan guides me through a series of breathing exercises, which focus on opening up energetic pathways with deep belly breaths in my lower abdomen while he gently triggers acupressure points around my body. The experience is quite remarkable. I feel a tremendous surge of energy, and a fizzy, tingling feeling in my calves and down my arms to my fingertips. At one point I start to feel a bit nauseous but about three minutes later when I return to a normal breath, I feel so clear headed it is as if someone has reached deep inside my befuddled brain to smooth and untangle every last jangled spiky nerve ending and neuron. Physically I feel more present and that dreadful racy feeling I’ve been carrying in my chest is gone. I feel less fragile and stronger. A sense of calm, akin to the grounding one gets after a really powerful yoga class is the takeaway, but unlike an 90 minute yoga class, these breathing exercises take just five minutes and practiced everyday at home, Alan says, will result in a more balanced and manageable me.

For someone that often runs on empty and has precious little time to myself, I am thrilled to have a new highly effective coping mechanism to ride the crazy curveballs life throws and I would encourage any frazzled soul to seek him out.
The simple power of breathing which includes a session with Alan and a one-hour spa treatment at the Landmark spa plus the use of pool and sauna facilities costs £395. Email here for more detail  or click here

Alan Dolan’s top tips for slowing down
BUY – In Praise Of Slow by Carl Honore, an essential for your bedtime reading list.
LEARN – to say NO to things and create space for yourself.
USE – flight mode on your mobile phone to back up your messages which can be downloaded a couple of times a day, rather than being continually on call.
EAT – root vegetables and foods grown in the earth to help ground yourself.
AVOID – over planning your kids or your own diary – there is functionality in boredom that lets you get to know yourself.
EXERCISE in the centre of parks and green spaces, to connect with nature and avoid pollution. Don’t jog near traffic.

Olivia Falcon

Oliviafalcon.com

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There I was, standing rather self-consciously in my knickers, baring my thighs and bottom to the affable Dr Anna Marie Olsen, who many of you might know as Dr Sebagh’s right hand lady. What you probably don’t know is that right now, she is offering summer’s hottest new Body Perfecting Treatment (from £800). The ‘problem’ we were both pondering is my derriere; it’s slightly deflated and dimpled due to two kids and a sedatory desk job but Dr. Olsen has a new trick to fix this. Proceedings kick off with her grading my cellulite.

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Need To Know…Going with your gut by Olivia Falcon

As a beauty editor, I have to confess that while I can reel off details of skin whispering facialists and body sculpting personal trainers that I’m often at a loss to recommend a truly life changing nutritionist. Until now that is. A few weeks ago I found myself in the Notting Hill consult room of Eve Kalinik, with post holiday bloat and a mouth full of ulcers. Eve came highly recommended by a high-flying friend and on first impression I instantly liked her.

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