If there’s ever a time to rise to the occasion and look sharp, Valentine’s Day is surely it. Follow our grooming guidelines to look on point for your date and boost the romance quotient.

Don’t neglect your personal grooming in the midst of all your romantic V-Day planning, because no matter how well dressed you might be on the day, puffy eyes or tired-looking skin won't go unnoticed. Here’s how to look your handsome best on the big day.

KEEP IT CLEAN

Kick off the process by cleansing your face with a product that removes dirt and sebum from the skin’s surface without stripping it of essential oils. Next, exfoliate with a gentle scrub to remove dead skin cells and other debris. Exfoliating is also a vital pre-shave step as it opens your pores and lifts facial hairs away from your skin, preparing the way for a comfortable and smooth shave.

Clinique For Men Face Wash 385
ClarinsMen Exfoliating Cleanser 360
Tom Ford For Men Exfoliating Energizing Scrub 925

BE A SMOOTH OPERATOR

Keeping your facial fuzz in check is an important step in the grooming process. First, apply a thick, lotion-like shave cream to your skin to hydrate and protect it while you shave. Post shave, use a natural aftershave to calm and soothe sensitive areas. If you have a moustache or beard, treat it with a beard oil or balm to keep it soft and styled.

Kiehl’s Grooming Solutions Nourishing Beard Grooming Oil 480 
ClarinsMen Smooth Shave Foaming Gel 305
Nuxe Men Gentle Toning Lotion 245

HYDRATE AND REFRESH

Keep your face soft and supple with a nourishing moisturiser. Products enriched with hydration-boosting ingredients and antioxidants will brighten a lacklustre complexion, for a fresh, youthful face.

Clinique For Men Maximum Hydrator 610
Elemis For Men S.O.S Survival Cream 1110
Sisley Sisleÿum For Men Anti-Age Global Revitalizer 3135

TACKLE DARK CIRCLES

Use a hard-working eye cream to diminish dark circles and smooth fine lines. Look out for a product containing power ingredients like hyaluronic acid, which plumps and firms dehydrated skin, and caffeine, a natural antioxidant with a knack for minimising puffy bags and energising tired-looking complexions.

Filorga Optim-Eyes Eye Contour 885
Kiehl’s Eye Alert 270
La Mer The Lifting Eye Serum 3660

SERVICE YOUR LIPS

Dry, cracked and chapped lips are not going to encourage any romantic displays of affection. Make sure your lips are smooth and healthy by applying a lip balm regularly leading up to your date. If you’re put off by notions of glossy, fruit-scented sticks, think again – there are plenty of no-shine formulas geared towards men whose lips need a moisture boost.

Kiehl’s Facial Fuel No-Shine Moisturizing Lip Balm 220
Lab Series Pro LS Lip Tech Lip Balm 205
Tom Ford For Men Hydrating Lip Balm 550

BE HANDS ON

Rough, dry hands are an instant turn-off. You may think your body lotion is good enough for your hands, but this is not necessarily the case. Hand creams are formulated with a thicker consistency than body creams, and contain nourishing ingredients such as nut butters and vitamins A and E, for soft, smooth hands that invite intimacy.

Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream Intensive Moisturizing Hand Treatment 270
Nivea NourishingCare Hand Cream 34.99
Clarins Super Restorative Hand Cream 705

WEAR A SENSUAL SCENT

Your date won’t be able to resist an incredible scent, so put some thought into your V-Day fragrance choice. You could play it safe with your signature scent, but for those wanting to make more of an impact we recommend a deeper, richer fragrance with notes of cedar, patchouli, oud and even rose. These fragrances are stronger, with more projection, than your day-to-day choice, so simply spray a little on each wrist, followed by a dab on the neck, to prevent fragrance overload.

Bvlgari Man Wood Essence 100ml EDP 1640
Giorgio Armani Code 125ml EDT 1727
YSL M7 Oud Absolu 80ml EDT 1550


Photography: Getty Images
All items subject to availability. Prices may change.

Food made with love is arguably the best gift of all, something author, chef and businesswoman Mogau Seshoene knows too well. Her love for South African cuisine and heritage combined with her fear of being dubbed a lazy daughter-in-law who doesn’t know how to cook turned into a successful business – The Lazy Makoti (the lazy daughter-in-law). She shares with us her recipes from her new book The Lazy Makoti’s Guide To The Kitchen – our Valentine’s Day gift to you. 

THE SALTED CARAMEL AND APPLE UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE

Serves 8 – 10 | Preparation time: 20 minutes  | Baking time: 1 hour

6 – 8 apples, cored and quartered

Caramel sauce
⅓ cup butter
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup cream
½ tsp salt

Cake
⅘ cup butter
¾ cup sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla essence
1½ cups self-raising flour

Preheat oven to 180°. Grease a cake tin and place the apple pieces side by side to cover the base, creating a circular or spiral pattern. In a saucepan, heat butter and add sugar, cream and salt. Stir to dissolve the sugar, bring to a simmer and cook until sauce turns a brownish caramel colour. Pour the caramel over the apples and set aside. To make the cake, place the butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and combine well. Stir in the vanilla essence and fold in the flour. Spoon the batter over the caramel apples. Bake for one hour until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Cool and turn upside down onto a plate.

SUMMER BERRY TARTS

Serves 4 | Preparation time: 30 minutes | Baking time: 10 minutes

Pastry
1 cup flour
1 Tbsp castor sugar
½ cup butter, cold
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 Tbsp cold water

Filling
2 tubs cream cheese
¼ cup honey
3 cups fresh berries (variety of your choice)

Preheat oven to 180°. Grease and prepare a tart dish. To make the pastry: sift flour and castor sugar and, using your fingers, rub in butter until crumbly. Add egg and mix together. Blend in cold water and chill in fridge for 30 minutes. Roll out pastry and cut into squares to cover 4 x 10cm tartlet tins. Line tins, trimming pastry if necessary. Prick pastry with a fork and bake for 10 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and set aside to cool completely. To make the filling: combine cream cheese and honey in a large mixing bowl and mix well. Pour into prepared pastry cases and top with berries. Tip: if fresh berries are not available, try frozen berries. Defrost before adding to tarts.

PEPPERMINT CRISP CAKE

Preparation time: 20 minutes | Baking time: 30 minutes

Cake
1 cup cake flour
3 heaped Tbsp cocoa powder
1 Tbsp baking powder
¾ cup butter
½ cup castor sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 Tbsp milk

Topping
360g tin of caramel
1 cup cottage cheese
1½ slabs Peppermint Crisp chocolate
Fresh mint leaves to garnish

Preheat oven to 180° and grease a 20cm cake tin. Sift flour, cocoa and baking powder together in a bowl. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and castor sugar, and then add the eggs, vanilla essence and milk. Make a well in the flour mixture and mix in the wet ingredients. Spoon batter into cake tin and bake for 30 minutes until risen and cooked. Allow to cool. For the topping: mix caramel and cottage cheese in a bowl. Grate one bar of chocolate and fold into the caramel mixture. Generously spread caramel topping onto the cake. Decorate with more grated chocolate and mint leaves.

Everything you need to know for your upcoming week

From brutally honest reads, new car launches and tech releases, to series and movie synopses, here’s what’s dropping this month.

Streaming series

Santa Clarita Diet 

(Netflix, first week of February)
Sheila (Drew Barrymore) and Joel (Timothy Olyphant) are husband and wife estate agents who lead an ordinary but dissatisfied life in the L.A. suburb of Santa Clarita with their teenage daughter Abby – until a dramatic change in Sheila’s life sends the family down a road of death and destruction. Expect blood, guts and loads of zippy one-liners! The first season comes to Netflix SA in the first week of the month, while season two has already been commissioned in the US.


Book

The Killer Collective by Barry Eisler 

(1 February)
When a joint FBI and police investigation into an international child pornography ring gets too close to a group of powerful people, sex-crimes detective Livia Lone narrowly survives a hit. Suspecting the FBI itself was behind the attack, Livia reaches out to former marine sniper Dox, and together they assemble a team to tackle the threat. Hopping between Japan, America and France, the group uncovers a series of interconnected conspiracies which seemingly lead straight to the doors of senior US government officials. This fast-paced page-turner is from the pen of New York Times bestselling author Barry Eisler.

Gadget

Gillette Heated Razor

The Heated Razor by Gillette aims to deliver the comfort of a ‘hot-towel’ shave in the traditional personal razor format. A warming bar heats up the shaver head to your preferred temperature in under a second, which the designers say helps contour the face throughout your shave for a more comfortable experience. The waterproof razor also boasts wireless magnetic charging and an ‘Intelligent Heat Safety Control System’. Currently only in the prototype phase, having been launched via Indiegogo at $150 (about R2 100) as a test product, it’ll be interesting to see if it lives up to the hype and the price tag, and whether it ever makes it into mass production.


Motoring

Super Supra

The fifth-generation Toyota Supra – and the first to be produced by Toyota GAZOO Racing – is here! Drawing inspiration from heritage models and the 2000GT sports car, the front-engined, rear-wheel drive racer offers enthusiasts the perfect blend of power, agility and precision handling, thanks to a short wheelbase, wide track and low centre of gravity. The 3.0-litre engine is boosted by a twin-scroll turbocharger, producing 250kW and 500Nm of torque and driving the wheels through an eight-speed automatic gearbox. ‘Launch control’ mode helps the car move from rest to 100km/h in just 4.3 seconds, and an active differential makes the drive more responsive during both acceleration and deceleration. The obligatory Nürburgring Nordschleife testing honed the handling – but it was also tested in the ‘real world’ on roads around the globe. The first GR Supras should arrive in South Africa by mid-April 2019, with pricing still to be confirmed.


Film

Holmes & Watson 

(8 February)
The cast of Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly and Ralph Fiennes lead a brand-new Sherlock Holmes caper, this month. Detective Sherlock Holmes (Ferrell) and Dr. John Watson (Reilly) join forces to investigate a mysterious murder at Buckingham Palace. All signs seem to point to Professor James Moriarty (Fiennes), the duo’s longtime nemesis. When new twists and clues begin to emerge, the world's greatest sleuth and his trusted assistant must try to catch the killer before the Queen becomes the next victim.


Film

What Men Want 

(22 February)
Passed up for a well-deserved promotion, sports agent Ali Davis (Taraji P. Henson) wonders what more she could possibly do to succeed in a male-dominated industry. Seeking help from a psychic, Ali finds herself with the sudden ability to hear what men are thinking after drinking a strange concoction – and uses her newfound powers to beat her obnoxious male colleagues in the race for basketball’s next superstar. Sound familiar? It’s a modern retelling of the 2000 film What Women Want, starring Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt.


Game

Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown 

(1 February)
Bandai Namco’s cult favourite flight simulator returns with its seventh version, set in the alternate universe of Strangereal. Take your aerial duels to the next level with first-person cockpit or third-person views – with specially-created missions for Playstation VR owners. Expect the trademark political intrigue and glorious Top Gun-level cheese as you pilot some of the world’s most advanced warplanes through photorealistic visuals which deliver intense dog-fighting action, a multitude of authentic and futuristic aircraft to fly, an immersive storyline and even virtual reality!
+- R830 for PS4, Xbox One, PC via www.bandainamcoent.com


By Trevor Crighton

Photography: Paulo Toureiro/Hero. Styling: Rushana Burton, Getty Images

All items subject to availability. Prices may change.