Dangerously addictive: Stark & Son Recharge Menthol Lip Balm with Caffeine

Hello everyone hope you've all had a lovely Christmas and are looking forward to a great New Year!

This post is for everyone who's had to go back to work today and are longing for an energy kick.

Stark & Son is a new menscare line launched by owner of organic and natural brand Silk Naturals, Karen Stark. This tingly mentholated matte lip balm was part of her holiday collection. 

I've become terribly addicted to this, not for it's lip-balm-ness, or even for the menthol kick, but for the straight-up, instant buzz the caffeine gives! I've never tried a caffeinated lip balm before and I can attest that this goes straight into your blood stream far faster than any espresso will!

One swipe and I'm all HELLO! If I use it too often, I get jitters. It's crazy!

Guest Review: Hugo Boss Bottled NIght

A male fragrance needs a man to review it. So meet Kenwick ladies. He's roadtested the cologne for a few weeks and here's what he thinks of it:

Sexy.

Invigorating.

Confident.

These are the words that came to mind when I spritzed on Hugo Boss Bottled Night before an outing one evening.

My first impression; I liked it. The pleasant, not overpowering aroma made me feel energised and my confidence level did go up a notch. The fragrance has a mild musky scent, which I attribute to the louro amarelo wood ingredient, making it an ideal night scent for the casual night about town.

After I left home and met up with my friends, I noticed the scent took on a warm subtle tone having been warmed by my body temperature.. However, it didn’t linger all night and could only be faintly picked up if the nose was very near to the skin.

For the guys: Smell like Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte

When touring the royal chapel in the Hotel Des Invalidés, Paris (where they buried Napoleon in the massive-est tomb you've ever seen), I came across bottles of this cologne in the gift shop.

For €10, you can purchase a bottle of authentically recreated scent made from Napoleon Bonaparte's own recipe. And I gotta tell you guys, whether you're intent on conquering nations or no, it smells pretty good!

Spicy, and yet fresh with citrus notes of lemon and bergamot, the cologne is manly yet strangely metrosexual considering who it was made for. But then again, judging by the skin-tight red pants he made his army wear, perhaps the metrosexuality is understandable.

As it's a cologne and thus mostly water and alcohol, it doesn't last very long after application. However, you could do what the old boy used to do and drench a handkerchief in it, whipping it out to protect your nostrils from the stench of the battlefield.

I first came across this scent in a fascinating article in a National Geographic issues on perfume. The article even had a scratch and sniff panel and this scent is bang on (if memory serves). They had also recreated Cleopatra's perfume, which was suitibly spicy with cinnamon and frankincense. I wonder if it's possible to buy it today. I wouldn't mind swanning about smelling like Cleopatra.

Who else would you like to smell like? I personally would love to know what Helen of Troy used to cause all that havoc.

For the boys: L'Oreal Men Expert Skin Renovator Cleansing Exfoliating Skin Renewer

Here's a nifty product that may just be macho enough for most men, while being desirable enough that the girls will want to steal it. L'Oreal Men Expert Skin Renovator ("renovator", really! Beauty marketing for men is downright goofy at times) is basically a very good scrubby scrub. How good? Well, when packaged for women - it's marketed as step 1 of the L'Oreal Refinish Microdermabrasion Kit which retails for £12.49.

Both scrubs contain high amounts of aluminium oxide micro-crystals which is used in microdermabrasion (the surgical version). In a scrub, they make for a very fine, very effective scrub that should not be used more than twice a week. Now L'Oreal's Microdermabrasion kit comes with a moisturiser to use after - but let's face it, what we really want is the scrub. And if you get your boyfriend to buy 'ol Skin Renovator here for £5.79 you get to nip it for free. And why should guys buy it?

No more ingrown hairs
Girls have long known that exfoliation helps prevent in-grown hairs caused by shaving. This wisdom has been neglected by men for ages, till now. Today's "close shave" is actually a little too close. When you use a razor with 4 blades, you're actually cutting the hair so close that it recedes below the skin surface. This causes the hair to potentially be trapped in the pore by dead skin cells, causing an ingrown hair. Use this scrub on your face, and it will exfoliate all the dead skin clogging up your pores away leaving your face hair free and clear.

Minimize acne scars
Not much will get rid of acne scars completely. But encouraging skin-cell turnover can only help minimize the appearance of scars. It will help lessen pigmentation and redness of recent blemishes.

Fewer blemishes
Blemishes form when a pore is clogged and gets infected. As mentioned above, an exfoliant will help remove the gunk and keep your skin clear(er). Just go easy on it, don't rub all your skin in the "renovation" process!