Maximize your locks, your fragrance and your sleep with great tips from our beauty buff, our to-the-max resident beauty expert.
Triona’s trends
As regular readers will know, I have serious time-management issues, so most of my tips come from me always being in a rush to get somewhere!
If you’re the same, then you need to know about the 3na Zone Blow Dry. It’s the fastest way to blow-dry your hair in the morning to make it look presentable in, like, three minutes.
It’s basically a three-zone blow-dry. So you blow-dry your parting and/or fringe (zones one and two), and then around your hairline (zone three). And that’s it!
Simply leave the back of your hair to dry itself, by pulling it into a bun.
Wash your hair beforehand with Kevin Murphy’s Plumping.Wash shampoo, above , centre, €27. It’s normally recommended for people with fine hair, but it gives the best hold if you want a blow-dry that really lasts.
Use the Plumping.Rinse conditioner, far left, €27, and then, for even more body, use the Body.Mass Leave-in Plumping Conditioner Treatment, left, €34. This product uses eyelash thickening and lengthening technology to strengthen the hair, making it appear thicker and fuller instantly, while improving the quality over time.
Finally Shimmer.Shine, below, €24, a finishing mist, revives, repairs and adds shine to hair like nothing else I’ve used in a long time.
Triona’s trick
Wondering why your fragrance seems to disappear a lot faster at this time of year? Your skin is drier, given the cold weather, and perfume doesn’t work as well on dry skin. So before applying your perfume, rub a very thin layer of Vaseline -every beauty junkie’s number-one product – onto the skin. You will smell absolutely delicious for even longer.
Choose shoes
I read a report recently that over 50pc of women had hurled a pair of shoes at their partner. The rest would never disrespect their shoes like that!
Ha ha ha!
Oh, I do love a bit of nonsense.
I also love shoes.
Because my weight fluctuates so fecking much, shoes are my thing. Not only do they always fit, a colourful pair always help to brighten up a black outfit, which is the only colour I wear when I’m mourning my pre-baby body!
Who am I kidding – sure I had a mummy tummy long before I had babies!
Now, what has me off on this rant? Oh yes, the new Jimmy Choo L’Eau, above, €89.
This fresh, citrusy scent with delicious musk base notes is a must for the new season. It’s more subtle than the original and not as sweet.
Remember: fragrance fits when fashion fails!
Krazy about Ken
Award-winning make-up artist Ken Boylan has that special way with women whereby he just knows what works. With over 20 years in the business of making women look wonderful, Ken can deliver any kind of technique – from natural, barely there make-up, to the kind of full-on glamour that Irina Shayk, above, does so well.
Working out of Zeba in D2 and Mimi’s Beauty Rooms in D4, Ken is busy with bridal parties, but he also does private make-up lessons for anyone who wants to freshen up their technique.
These are also particularly popular with brides marrying abroad, who intend doing their own looks.
See kenboylan.com
Triona’s most wanted
Trust me to come up with what I think is the ultimate parenting/beauty hack!
So, Maxi, my three-year-old, always wakes around 6.30am and runs straight to our room. He then proceeds to prise my eyelids open with his little fingers, while shouting, “Time to wakey up, Mum!”
Now, I’m not exactly a morning person, so I used to just hand him my iPhone until 7am so he could look at Tubes, as he calls YouTube. But then I read how bad this was, so after that I just let him play with all the beauty products on my nightstand.
And that is how I now get a half-hour massage in the morning, as Maxi rubs Margaret Dabbs Intensive Hydrating Hand Lotion, €30, into my hands and arms first. Maxi loves how fruity this smells, with its uplifting geranium and mandarin scent, while I love how deeply nourishing it feels.
Maxi the masseuse, as we call this game, then uses Margaret Dabbs Fabulous Feet Foot Lotion, below, €25, on my legs, feet and, eh, sheets!
It actually absorbs almost immediately, leaving my feet feeling fantastically hydrated.
In fact, this particular lotion has gained global hero status after it was spotted on Bridget Jones’s bedside locker in the film Bridget Jones’s Baby.
Bridget, if you’re reading this, put that baby to work!
Cult product
Shiseido’s new Synchro Skin Glow, above, €48, is like a dewier version of their cult Synchro Skin foundation.
This base luminises skin while hydrating it, for a healthy glow. While I still love the original matte versh, at this time of year my skin looks and feels drier, so I’m reaching for this.
My mum, Margaret, wasn’t mad about the original, but she can’t get enough of this one!
*This piece first appeared in the Sunday Independent Life Magazine on March 5th 2017*