A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

Application was smooth enough on this 4-coater, but the formula was a little thinner than I’d have liked.  It has an almost semi-jelly finish with a undoubtedly glossy sheen.  Red Alert is an orange-based red that somehow manages to look ok on my skintone.  It reminds me of a 1950s pin-up red and I’m a definite fan of the shade.

I have an issue with longevity, suffering a chip within 24hrs of application is not a way to win me over, but strangely enough tip wear was non-existent even after a full 48hrs.  If you’re looking for a hot red with retro leanings for your tips or toes, definitely consider Red Alert by Models Own.  But maybe employ a good top coat.

Available from the Models Own website, priced at £5

…Introducing, AcneApp:

Everyone recognises Apple’s iPhone tag line “There’s an app for that!”, but check out Dr. Greg Pearson’s novel use of the latest in mobile technology.

AcneApp has been developed as a potential mini-alternative to professional light treatment.  It uses 420 nanometer blue light to fight bacteria and 550 nanometer red light, which is said to help kill bacteria and promote collagen growth.

In theory, you could be zapping your zits whilst catching up on the bestie’s latest boyfriend drama.  Or perhaps not, seeing as it’s yet to be clinically tested.  Still, it’s a great way to up your dose of cell phone radiation in the quest for perfect skin.

Just for fun, anyone recognise where this is?

With a title like that, I’m obviously referring to myself.  I thought I’d share my motives, aspirations and whatever else emerges from writing this post, which will no doubt at some point turn into a mild rant and an incredibly long ramble.

You may be aware of an ‘article’ (I want to say ‘post’, but that would suggest it was written by a blogger – heaven forbid) that has been causing a bit of a stir in the beauty blogging community.  Somewhere underneath the cloud of ridicule directed at a blog the writer has singled out for attack, she raises some interesting points.

She recognises a clear distinction between The Media (her capitalisation) and bloggers and never the twain shall meet.  Not a problem, it’s a word I don’t feel comfortable using to describe myself or this blog anyway.  You can also add ‘writer’, ‘press’ and a host of other professional sounding terms to the ‘makes me feel like a phony list’.

She sees beauty bloggers as consumers who are not qualified to give reviews on products.  She believes that beauty bloggers have too much influence over your buying trends.  It appears that as a consumer, you’re obviously not capable of reading my blog with any modicum of original thought.  You simply absorb what I tell you like some kind of foundation-fuelled osmosis.

One of her main criticisms of bloggers, is the writing style they use to feature a product or talk about the latest release.  I’m assuming she dislikes the anecdotal nature of blogging and the way we often eschew traditional journalistic methods of reviewing.

Good.  It would bore me to tears to write to you in a regimented albeit precise way.  To be fair, I don’t have the writing skillz to do so anyway.  I talk to you like you’re my friends because you are.  Don’t reach for the sick bucket just yet, I’m not arranging a sleepover, but it’s like this…

I have a passion.  A lot of you come back here day after day to share my passion and you understand why I would get excited about finding another perfect taupe eyeshadow to add to my ever-growing collection of perfect taupe eyeshadows.  I know that when I write, I’m sharing my experiences with you in an undiluted, raw way.  But as a blog reader myself, I embrace that because it’s pure and it’s true.

I write this blog because I love to see you come and read it.  I get a thrill if I notice my email subscribers jump up.  If I get linked from a forum ‘cos I’ve written something that interests you enough to come and stay awhile, my pride swells.  That’s my motivation.  PR freebies are a recent thing… probably from the end of last summer onwards.  They help me keep my content fresh and up to date and I love them.  I love playing with them, I love opening them and I love being invited to consider them for review.  Do they affect my honesty in delivering content to you?  You only have to read my negative reviews on PR acquired goodies to see that it takes more than a free sample of lipgloss to compromise myself.  Try a week in the Maldives next time nice PR lady.

I do try not to trash products, although I have on ocassion.  If I dislike something, there is usually some positives that I can include… not because it makes linking back to the PR any easier (although it does) but because I’m well aware that I’m only one person and what doesn’t work for me may be your next HG.

I do have a slight issue with PR that I’m struggling to find my feet with… perhaps the blogger/reader relationship should dictate that I keep it to myself… but being the chronic oversharer that I am…

In the article (or comments, I can’t remember which) someone raises the point about bloggers being a little sheep-like, reviewing the same thing at the same time.  It’s true.  And it’s the one aspect of this brave new world that I’m uncomfortable with.  I desperately want to come up with the goods for me, for you, for my blog.  Quality, independent features that no-one else has access to.  Why do you think I damn near peed myself when I got the Urban Decay Alice in Wonderland Palette?  Well… apart from getting to play with it before you suckers.  The problem is, I’m one of many beauty bloggers out there.  Not only that, but there are far better writers and reviewers out there too.  Until the dust settles and PRs learn how to ask bloggers for their pageviews and stats (why is that never done?) – I guess we all have to review Liz Earle at the same time.  Heck, I could turn it down if I’m so altruistic and concerned about your reading experience couldn’t I?  But I REALLY WANT TO TRY IT!  However, I am becoming much more selective nowadays.  It was only yesterday I turned down the opportunity to review the latest in nail fungal cream. (I jest…)

I accepted it. (ok, I jest again… sorry).

There is another genuine problem with the whole consumer turned reviewer aspect.  We’re fickle.  Sam raises this point in her article.  It’s a fair one.  In the past I have given you a crappy review of a product, only to fall in love with it weeks down the line.   If this happens, my intention is to go back to my initial review and update.  You may come across some of these haphazard updates in my archives.  Vice versa, we all get infatuated by a new product only for the shine to rub off a few weeks later and whilst we don’t suddenly dislike the product, newer shinier ones take precedence.  But does this make my initial review any less valid?  Of course not.  I’m a consumer and I’m doing exactly what you, Sam or anyone does.

If you’re looking for the perfect review that promises you will be as thrilled with the product as the reviewer.  Tell me when you find one.  I know I don’t need to tell you to check out lots of reviews and articles written by a variety of makeup lovers: MUAs, Consumers like me and Journos – looking at the combined picture will probably bring you closer to the perfect review than anyone can alone.

If you want shared experiences, a bit of banter and someone who lives to buy and play with makeup and beauty shit as much as you do.  Pull up a chair ‘cos I’ve just bought/been sent (delete as appropriate) this bloody gorgeous looking coral lipstick.  It pongs like grannies though.

Wow. 1110 words. 2 hours in the making.  If only I’d put that much effort into my Media & Cultural Studies degree *dons Mickey Mouse ears* then maybe I’d have those Journalistic qualifications I need to have an opinion.  Doh!

ho ho ho…. or not.

I have been given the green light to ask a bonafide (and rather lovely) Benefit counter manager some questions about her job as MUA to the “rich, famous and downright ugly” (her words not mine!)

She’s recently launched a shiny new counter and I’ve been following her tweets, stunned by the sheer amount of hard work and effort opening and promoting a new counter takes.  I don’t know how this lady drags herself out of bed in the mornings!

Do you have any questions you’d like to put to her?  Wanna know what the latest and greatest Benefit products are?  Curious about the company’s sales tactics?  From what distance can she spot a sample hunter?

Check back soon for the interview and Q&A.

I was just having a clear out, and thought I’d scan and upload these incase they’re of interest.

Click on an image to see the full size version.

Derek Lam:

Marc Jacobs:

Marchesa:

Phillip Lim:

Thakoon:

…is my hair dye.

I’ve been using Superdrug’s Colour Performance for the best part of 5 years and simply haven’t found anything better for the price.

It’s a permanent dye which is gentle on my sensitive scalp.  A few others that I’ve used in the past *cough Excellence Creme cough Nutrisse* have irritated and left my scalp sore despite patch tests.  Colour Performance leaves me with no irritation at all.

I generally either plump for the shade shown (3:0 – Natural Rich Darkest Brown) which is a very dark brown or (4:0 – Natural Dark Brown).

One of the reasons I give these hair dyes so much love is because the browns are ashy in tone.  Red or mahogony based browns tend to clash with the pink tones in my skin, so I’m happier with these ashier shades which are surprisingly hard to find on the high street.

Dying my hair is a chore I hate the thought of, but once I’m done… I’m always left wondering why I left it so long.  This dye is foolproof and has consistently returned great results for me *whispers* even over my dodgy grey roots… I’ve unfortunately been going grey since I was 19 *sniff*.

And then there’s the price… I usually buy 2 of these at a time when they’re on offer. 2 for £5.  I think individually, they’re around £3.20.  Amazing.

I actually had a mini panic attack when I saw these new packs on the shelf:

Colour Radiance 10. I emailed Superdrug, worried that it meant they were discontinuing my beloved Colour Performance.  “Of course not”, was the reply… “they’re very popular!” Phew!

Have you ever tried Superdrug Colour Performance or Superdrug Colour Radiance 10?

Deep Skincare are a fairly new Dutch brand that I hadn’t heard of until they contacted me in December to ask if I’d like some products for review consideration.  Taking a look at their ‘about’ page… they seem quite hippy in a love each other, love yourself kinda way.  Which is nice!  Not enough people love me and I could do with some more harmony in my life.

Anyway, enough of all that!  Looky looky leg balm!

Splendid Smooth Legs.  What a rubbish name.  It’s like one of those bad Japanese translations isn’t it?  I think they should have added a “silky” in their somewhere to really tip it over the edge.

Housed in a heavy dark glass jar with a fairly plain label, the product has a nice simple look.  Understated.  I like it.

The first thing you notice when you unscrew the lid is the smell.  Immediately recognisable…  Taking a look at the ingredients confirms the source of the scent: Camphor and Menthol.  Vaporub anyone?  I love the smell of Vicks, but I know some people hate it, so beware!  Once on the skin, it takes about 15 minutes for the scent to fade completely.

The cream is thick but lightweight, a beautiful texture, it feels instantly cooling as it makes contact with the skin, fantastic for weary legs.

Looking more closely at the ingredients, the cream contains Arnica which is widely believed to help reduce inflammation, bruising and encourage the dilation of blood vessels and capillaries under the skin.  Witch Hazel also puts in an appearance on the ingredient list, a natural astringent often put to use as a treatment for varicose veins.

Exactly the ingredients I want to revive and massage into my legs after a full day on my feet.

They say:

Deep: Splendid Smooth Legs sports an invigorating and active formula. A delicious treat to pamper weary or swollen legs. Due to the purely natural ingredients, this balm has a very wholesome effect.

Rather than every-day use as suggested on the jar, I’ve been using this a few times a week.  A small amount goes a long way and leaves my legs feeling refreshed, cooled and less ‘heavy’ than before.  In the Summer, I do a lot of walking and I can’t wait to put it to good daily use as part of a post-bath routine!

While I remember, I also applied this in the middle of the night a few days ago after waking up with cramp in my calf, it really relaxed the tightness in the muscle and for once I didn’t get that limping you get the next morning when you don’t catch cramp in time.  I’d really recommend this as a hugely useful gift for mamas-to-be.  I suffered horrendous leg cramps in my 3rd trimester and would have loved a pot of this.

Do you neglect your legs? I’m ashamed to admit that mine don’t generally get much attention other than a nice shaving gel.  I don’t know why I’m so lax, varicose veins ain’t pretty!

You can purchase Deep Skincare online from their website. Splendid Smooth Legs is priced at £14.21 for 250ml.

If you want to learn more about taking good care of your pins, check out The Leg Room.  What Kate doesn’t know about legs, isn’t worth knowing.

Check out Nonie Creme from Butter LONDON working feverishly in preparation for Jen Kao’s show at New York Fashion Week.

So, I downloaded the Cosmetifique app for the iPhone about a month ago and am back to share my thoughts on it.

Firstly, it looks and feels kinda clunky.  It takes a large amount of effort to manually enter all the ingredients from a product ingredient list into the app and out of the 7 different products I tried, Cosmetifique’s database was missing at least 2 ingredients from each product, so after all that effort, I didn’t feel like I was getting the full picture anyway.

I was actually expecting to be able to simply enter the name and brand of the cosmetic item and watch as the app downloaded all the relevant INCI (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients) info from it’s own database.  I didn’t realise I had to manually enter each ingredient into the app myself.  What a palaver!

The app is designed to be used whilst shopping, so that you can input ingredients into the program and in a matter of seconds discover the quality of the INCI rating.  This sounds promising, but the app uses a hugely simplified traffic light system to rate the quality of the ingredients where RED = BAD, GREEN = GOOD and YELLOW & AMBER = somewhere inbetween the two.

This over simplification doesn’t appeal to me, I want to know *why* Limonene is a YELLOW, even just a small paragraph would do.  I also compared the results from Cosmetifique to Cosmetics Database and got conflicting results on some ingredients, which confused me further.

Let me give you a working example using my Revlon Colorstay Foundation:

There you go. Any wiser? No, me neither. Apparently my foundation is a bit bad and it’s a bit good… even Cosmetifique describe it as:

Quality of Ingredients: So so… be careful.

So So? That’s useful, thanks.  What am I being careful of? Skin Irritation? Tentative links to cancer? Not blending my jawline adequately?

I just don’t really ‘get’ anything from this app and the sketchy knowledge it provides me, it doesn’t give me enough information to make any informed choices and the lmited information that it does display on my screen is often incomplete anyway. What’s the point.

I give Cosmetifique a big fat

Who’s Wearing What is a discontinued China Glaze shade that I picked up on eBay.  I do like my greyed out purples and this fit the bill perfectly:

It reminds me of a more muted version of OPI’s ever popular Done out in Deco.  I love my durgy colours and this one fits nicely into my ever-growing collection.

It’s a 3-coater to look it’s best and unfortunately it’s a slow-drier, definitely needing a coat of Seche Vite to finish off.  The creme finish is gorgeous, very glossy and smooth.  I’m pleased to have picked up this shade while it’s still available!

It’s stronger and less pastelly than Orly’s Bon Bon, so may suit you well if you’re darker toned too!

I was sent a tube of this to try after I couldn’t fit in a proper salon tan job on my last London visit.  I’ve bored you all senseless MANY times moaning about my uber paleness.  I know that pale is kinda ‘in’, but that’s porcelain pale… smooth creamy ivory skin. Which, I don’t have.

I have blue pale.  Blue pale with red blotches.  Combine that with bingo wings and you have some sexy upper arms right there.

Having said that, I’m scared of anything that darkens my skin.  Bronzer, fake tan, eating chocolate biscuits without a plate… soooo I’ve kinda put off using this.  Every time I went to crack it open, I’d remember some important thing I had to do in the next few days and screwed the lid back on terrified of appearing in public looking like a satsuma.

Well, I couldn’t put it off any longer. ‘Cos I have nothing to do for about a week. Enough time for any hideosity to fade if something went wrong.

Xen Tan is widely regarded as one of the best faux tanners on the market (don’t you prefer the word ‘faux’ to ‘fake’?), The manufacturer’s say:

Transform has been developed especially for today’s growing gradual tan market, giving the same delicious daily dose of moisture you’ve come to expect from Xen-Tan but with an extra boost of tanning ingredient to deliver a silky smooth olive glow. With a wonderful fresh vanilla scent, its advanced formula means fewer applications are needed. Apply just like an everyday moisturiser for sun-kissed skin that’s streak-free, sumptuously soft and never ever orange.

Can’t go wrong then can I?….

I did it. I grabbed the bull by the horns, or the um bottle by the lid and just. did. it.  I’d bought a tanning mitt in preparation and used that to apply.

The cream goes on smoothly and does feel quite moisturising.  The scent is heavenly!  True vanilla with no biscuits in sight!

I finished in less than 10 minutes and washed my hands like I was supposed to.  Unfortunately, I then forgot to apply he stuff to the back of my hands after washing them (what a n00b).  It’s ok though, it just means you guys get to see how natural and un-orange the colour is on me.

I went to bed slightly sticky, but still smelling full on like a tasty vanilla pod.  I woke up, bronzed, gorgeous healthy looking and stinking of a 1 year old hob nob.  I jumped in the shower and emerged all clean-smelling again!

I love the tan.  It’s a beautiful golden olive tone with no hint of orange.  I keep catching sight of myself in the mirror (oh ok, *looking* at myself) and it seems very strange not to see a big pasty face looking back at me.  I really look about a 100% healthier.

I need to get this application malarky down.  For a first attempt, I’m happy.  I exfoliated and moisturised the day before tanning and that seemed to work well to avoid dirty looking knees and elbows (Thanks to Saskia for the tanning tips!).

I think I’ve shamed myself enough this week with my dodgy hair… but… here, have a pic of a bad tan line.

I dunno what’s with the perfect v… but anyway, the photo is more to demonstrate the lovely shade of tan I am rather than my inability to remember simple bloody instructions.  And incase you were wondering, I’ve worn foundation on my hand today to minimize my mark of stupidity.

See, S.M.U.G

I was nervous putting it on my face, really nervous!  I waited till the mitt had a small even covering of cream and I don’t think I used very much at all.  Infact, for the most part I think I over applied.. considering how little product I applied to my face and how even it’s come out, I probably need to use about 1/2 of the product that I initially applied to achieve a good result.

I’m so happy with Xen-Tan and I’ve shocked myself by how good a job I’ve made of it (forgetting the hands for a moment) there are no streaks, blobs or any other tell tale signs of tanning fakery.  I may well become a bit of a tan addict, although I’m intrinsically LAZY, and self-tanning takes dedication.  Regardless, I’ll be buying a bottle of this for the summer!

Xen-Tan Transform LUXE is £23.95 for 236ml.

Xen-Tan is available from Selfridges, Harvey Nichols and House of Fraser stores or visit www.xen-tan.co.uk