Search results for: “ ”
-
Two Openly Gay Paralympians
‘Sport doesn’t care who you are – Everyone can take part,’ is the message being offered by Samsung in their Paralympics video (linked below) which we completely agree with.
-
GROOMING TOP 5: Shaving Creams, Foams and Gels
It can be the bane of every man’s morning routine, but a good wet shave is the surest way to look and feel your best.
We’ve tested some of the best shaving products available in the market place and discovered that choosing the right shaving foam, gel or cream is the key to a nick-free, burn-free, invigorating shave.
★ EDITOR’S CHOICE ★
L’occitan Shaving Gel transforms into a thick silky foam which glides easily onto the areas which you are wanting to shave. Its gorgeous masculine smell is evocative of summer evenings, woody but fresh. Boasting an incredible staying power whilst on the face as you shave, it allows easy passage of the blade as it cuts your hair. Just a small amount is needed as you smooth the silken gel onto your face. Skin feels refreshed and free from dryness after use. A little amount goes along way, making this our ‘must have’ shaving cream. Packaged in a classic brushed aluminium can, L’Occitane presents an impressive shaving product.
£13.00 150ml
http://uk.loccitane.com/l’occitan-shaving-gel,83,1,29969,270385.htm
ClarinsMen have long been a brand of choice for many men who love its reputation and quality and their shaving gel is no exception. In classic Clarins packaging,ClarinsMen Smooth Shave is light and with Clarins’ distinct fragrance. The gel texture doesn’t foam until you lather in your hands or directly on to your face, so you don’t get great big dollops of it on the floor or on your clothes as you apply. It’s cooling and very soothing to the skin and allows your razor to glide naturally through your beard and moustache. Ingredients include Aloe, Wintergreen and Bison Grass, for a soothing, energising and purified shave. Ideal if you’re short of time, as the foam is thick and luxuriant adding protection to your skin in a rushed environment. We love it.
£15.00 150ml
http://www.clarins.co.uk/ClarinsMen%20Smooth%20Shave/C070100003,en_GB,pd.html?start=4
Close Shave Cream by Neal’s Yard Remediespromises, like all NYR products to be: organic and contain no parabens, silicones, carbomer, phthalates, propylene, glycol, EDTA, mineral oils or synthetic fragrance or colours, leaving you with an irritation free shave cream for a closer, smooth shave. As there is no propylene in NYR’s shaving product so it’s not a gel like the other products we tested. The cream has a distinctive, earthly, natural scent, which when rubbed onto your face with water creates a thick creamy lather. Made with red clay to deeply purify your skin drawing out impurities, apple which is a perfect astringent and uses olive oil to soften your skin. Leaving you with a natural and organic high. Our skin felt renewed and fresh.
£12.85 140ml
Simply Skin is a company which hand-makes all of its products. Lovingly created by the owner, Vivienne McAlister, her goal is to create products that are ‘carefully and thoughtfully designed to bring you pleasure and enjoyment’.
With a base of frankincense, myrrh and amber this shave cream is luxurious. This shave cream doesn’t use a propellant and you lather with a little water onto the face, either with your fingers or with a shaving brush. Good old fashion values come to mind as you open the jar, which comes all the way from Weeps in the Netherlands, and spread the woody oriental cream ready for the ‘Ultimate’ shaving experience. Rather than creating a mountain of lather, the cream spreads a thin but protective layer over the face and the shave is wonderfully smooth and close. The pre and post shave oils are perfect partners for Simply Skin’s Ultimate Comfort Shaving Cream.
€14.00 120mlhttp://www.simplyskin.eu/ourshop/prod_1751426-Ultimate-Comfort-Shaving-Cream.html
★BEST BUY★
Original Source is a strong brand in the supermarket and not many of us haven’t picked up one of its gorgeous shower gels before and been enlivened with 7927 tingling mint leaves, well the bods at Original Source have created an Aloe shave gel which at £2.80 for 200ml is our least expensive purchase, by far. Made with Avocado oils and Aloe this foaming gel is perfect for re-energising skin and according to folklore Avocado’s benefits include the speedy healing of wounds. Perfect if you should nick your skin with the razor. The fragrance is soft, subtle and pleasant, and the shave is close and skin feels refreshed after use. The Aloe Vera serves as a natural antibacterial, to keep your face looking a feeling great all day. Vegan society approved, not tested on animals, and ‘packed with natural stuff’ Original Source is our Best Buy choice for shaving creams.
£2.80 200mlhttp://www.originalsource.co.uk/skin-care-products/mens/shaving/aftershave-balm
-
Chandler’s Tiple: Galway Hooker
Irish Pale Ale
Whilst the Campaign for Real Ale has not yet caught on here in Ireland as much as it has in Great Britain, there are still a few places you can get a good brew. Now, I am quite happy to drink Guinness on an evening out – in fact I will drink most anything, but variety is the spice of life, and small-batch beers and real ales provide a lot of variety.
Lager is a particularly prone to over simplification to meet the taste demands of the masses. Basically the big brewers stay away from any strong flavours so as not to offend people. As a result most lagers are decent enough, but subtle bordering on bland. To simply slake your thirst maybe this is not a bad thing, but to tantalise the taste buds, we must look elsewhere.
I was out with colleagues after work the other day at our usual place, Peter’s Pub in Dublin. They pour a lot of Guinness, like most pubs in Ireland. You can also get lagers like Carlsberg or Heineken there or even some flavourless American stuff. However, they have a one small-batch keg that is well worth a go – have a ride on the Galway Hooker.
It is hard to resist a beer with a good name. I like going up to the bar and ordering a “pint of Trouble” or “another Hooker, please.” Galway Hooker, a pale ale, has all the right ingredients to wake up your palate. It is light and bubbly – the sort of thing you want to drink in the summer. Compared to your usual lagers, the Hooker has distinctive bitter notes from extra hops and longer, natural fermentation. You get some citrus flavours, which are bright on the tongue, and this Pale Ale has a refreshing dry finish. It is not heavy, so you can drink it all night.
I’m afraid you might have to visit Ireland to get a taste of the Hooker. There are several pubs in Galway and Dublin and a few more dotted around the country. They have a nice little Web site that shows you exactly where:
www.galwayhooker.ie
Until next week, bottoms up!
-
Scott Mills To Release Autobiography
Scott Mills is one of Radio 1’s most loved DJs, having been at the station for over a decade.
-
INTERVIEW | Heather Small
Heather Small is looking and sounding incredible. Famous for her distinctive vocals, an incredible ‘fountain’ of hair and for laughter that makes you feel like you’ve known her forever – Heather is still very much on form.
Heather gained fame in the 90s pop group M-People (whose hits included: ‘Search For A Hero’, ‘Moving On Up’ and ‘One Night In Heaven’), before going solo and releasing the song that has gone on to define her career. We caught up with the Proud singer before she takes to the stage at this year’s Cardiff Pride. We talked Olympics, Lulu and hair!
-
COLUMN: Made To Measure
There’s always that question in my mind whenever I see a traditionally dressed skinhead in Doctor Martin boots and braces: Is he gay with a skinhead fetish, a Neo Nazi or part of the real skinhead culture? Maybe all three?
-
Rylan Clark Is Kissing You In X Factor
Rylan Clark, formerly of Signed By Katie Price, now of X Factor fame has bowled the judges with his personality, but left them a little unsure about his rendition of Des’ree’s Kissing You.
Rylan who was interviewed for TheGayUK last month has been reportedly working on music projects since he came 2nd in Katie Price’s Living TV show.
The audience and judges were also bowled over by singer-songwriter Lucy Spraggan, who is a former winner of Live and Unsigned, the UK’s largest talent competition outside of The X Factor.
-
THEATRE REVIEW | Drag Divas
I’m calling for a show like Drag Divas to be a nightly event in our fair capital city of London.
-
Jessie J Confirms Voice Return
Multi-platinium star Jessie J has confirmed by Twitter that she is to return to BBC 1’s The Voice as a coach for its second series.
(more…)
-
MUSIC: Mika’s New Album Slated For October Release
Multi-platinum pop-star MIKA returns with his brand new album ‘The Origin of Love’, released on Island Records on October 8th 2012.
Following up his multi-million selling worldwide smash ‘The Boy Who Knew Too Much’ (which debuted in every single i-Tunes top ten around the world), ‘The Origin of Love’ is Mika’s third album and will be preceded by an anthemic brand new single ‘Celebrate’, an epic slice of cool modern pop destined to be a global summer soundtrack, written by Mika and Pharrell Williams, produced by Nick Littlemore fromEmpire of the Sun and also featuring Pharrell on vocals.
The video for ‘Celebrate’ can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIBXTHB0QDw and had over 500,000 views on its first day.
Completely self-created and self-imagined, ‘The Origin of Love’ has been a two-year DIY labour of love for Mika who has put together everything on the record himself, flying around the world under his own steam personally assembling an incredible roll call of collaborators – in addition to Nick Littlemore and Pharrell Williams Mika has also worked with Benny Benassi, FrYars, Greg Wells (Katy Perry, Adele), Klas Ahlund (Robyn’s Body Talk) as well as working with some brand new unsigned musicians he found himself online.
“This single is what happens when you combine a 22 year old you find online, Fryars, with an extra-planetary Nick Littlemore and Pharrell Williams!” says Mika of ‘Celebrate’. “Written by me, Pharrell and Fryars and produced by Nick, this kind of collaboration is only possible when everyone throws themselves into it wanting to have fun and without any ego. This collective and open attitude was at the heart of ‘The Origin Of Love’. It’s an album about crazy love songs and tolerance. It was recorded in Miami and London but mostly in Fryars’ north London bedroom studio!”
Mika has commissioned a short film to accompany one of the songs from the new album. ‘Make You Happy’ which can be seen at http://vimeo.com/43593102 . Another track from the album ‘Elle Me Dit’ was released in France last year, reaching No 1 and becoming one of the biggest tracks of summer there.
A further Mika composition from the album writing sessions ‘Gang Bang’ features exclusively onMadonna’s new ‘MNDA’ album, a track which she has widely praised as her favourite song on the record.
Mika spent most of 2010 and 2011 on a massive Global tour playing over hundreds of shows to sell-out audiences across Europe, Asia and North America. He is currently on a sell-out European tour that has seen him play to over 200,000 fans this summer and recently returned to the UK to headline a storming set at Lovebox and his own show at Heaven which The Guardian gave a 4 star review saying ‘Mika played the pop star to perfection’.
This summer has also seen Mika play a live set at the Olympic Games and discuss the Opening Ceremony live on BBC Newsnight which can be seen at www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01l8nqc
Mika has now sold over 8 million records and Gold or Platinum awards in 32 countries worldwide across his previous two albums ‘Life in Cartoon Motion’ and ‘The Boy Who Knew Too Much’, winning Brit and MTV Awards in the process.