Wake Up
Last week’s sunny days provided a delicious taster, or at least an amuse bouche, of Oxford at its best. Even the most studious of fashionistas were seen fleeing the confines of the Rad Cam to bask in the spring warmth and the glory of their recently purchased summer dresses with a glass of Pimm’s in their hands. Then, of course, the inevitable drizzle sent them packing to the dingy depths of their college bars, where they wilted like delicate flowers over their dirty pints.
But the sheer decadence of Oxford summers comes with a price: the dreaded early morning tutorial and immobilising hangover. As though a searing headache, aversion to bright light and waves of nausea were not punishment enough for a night of alcohol abuse, late nights and dehydration transform the most radiant beauties into a pallid, bleary eyed wrecks. Which is why I thought I would investigate some of the alkaseltzers of the beauty world.
YSL Touche Eclat £21 Admittedly a bit pricey, but touche éclat is fantastic for hiding dark, puffy under-eye circles and makes eyes look brighter. If eyes are terribly bloodshot, Boots Bright Eyes eye drops (£2.69) are really handy to keep in your handbag. Fantastic for looking deceptively alert during a nine am drilling on Semantic Externalism.
You can also use it to highlight cheekbones and for the particularly vain and selfconscious, blending a stripe of touche éclat down the bridge of the nose makes it look considerably thinner. Benefit Benetint blusher and lip stain £21.50 This vibrant yet subtle colour adds a pretty flush to otherwise pasty and toxin-filled skin and makes lips look provocatively bitten.
Perfect for cultivating the ravished, sexed-up look, even if you spent last night collapsed in the corner of a seedy house party in the godforsaken outskirts of Cowley. Too Faced Lip Injection £10 I personally am a sucker for the stinging, tingling sensation that this lipgloss gives and even if it doesn’t actually increase lip size as promised, at least psychologically you feel a little more like Angelina Jolie than before.
Let us face it, when it comes to hangovers, self-deception is the most important route to beauty confidence and anyway, shiny lips do add some life to washed out features. I am also told on good authority that applying some Lip Injection onto the nipples is a fantas- t i c way to maintain the peanut smuggling look that can be so much harder to achieve in the spring warmth, a cunning way of ensuring that men don’t take too much time scrutinising your alcohol ravaged face.
18th May 2006