A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

…. Ceona!

This traumatic episode in Ceona’s life had me and Mr. L wiping tears from our eyes.  Sorry Ceona, we were laughing WITH you.

14 year old me: Muuuuum. I want a perm. Muuuuum, I really want a perm. Pleeeeeaseeeeeeeee!

Mum after years of my begging: Ok, we’ll speak to the hairdresser.

Hairdresser: No. No no no. It won’t work. Your hair is too thick, it will fall out. No.

Me: Hairdresser, I want a perm. Oh please, please, pretty please. I won’t blame you if it falls out.

Hairdresser: Oh fine. I’ll do it.

Hairdresser gives me a trendy spiral perm. Hairdresser repeats through the whole thing that it will fall out. Hairdresser uses extra perming solution.

Result: I end up with the tightest spiral perm you have ever seen. I am, in fact, Spuggie from Byker Grove (google it youngsters). I am mortified. The hairdresser is delighted and thinks it’s fabulous. I retreat home and burst into tears.

My sister, bless her, does me a french plait. And I wait for the perm to drop. All my friends have bad home perms that drop into cute waves.

Mine does not. Mine grows out very, very slowly. I use industrial quanitites of mousse to control it. I have crispy hair too. At one point I have straight hair to the tops of my ears and tight curls underneath. I do a home dye. I neglect to read the bit about permed hair taking dye more strongly. I have two tone hair.

Eventually, I get a bob.

You’ve won some lovely Aussie products, please can you email me your details so that I may pass them on to the lovely bods at Aussie?

Thanks for sharing everyone xx

I picked this little set up at IMATS (I gave up on the collective haul post – they’ll be coming at you one by one I’m afraid!) from Guru Makeup Emporium who were offering a very decent discount!

5 mini versions of the very popular Aqua Eyes Pencils housed in a litle collector’s tin.

Colours included are: Matte Black (0L), Pearly Brown (2L), Blue with Green Highlights (12L), Shimmering Plum (4L) and Champagne (23L).

The pencils are heavily pigmented and apply smoothly on the waterline.  The champagne will make a lovely eye-brightener, and the blue is simply to die for.  They don’t budge from my lashline and sick to the waterline for a good few hours.

These are my first ‘pencil purchase’ since I went through my stash binning everything that wasn’t GOSH. I won’t be binning these 😉

Do you wear coloured pencils?

I paid £10 for the set.  MUFE Aqua Eyes Pencils retail in the UK for around £11.95 each.

If you like your purples, get ready to put a padlock on your purse.

NARS Purple Rain is such a beautiful, beautiful colour.  A warm-toned purple that has that ethereal ‘lit from within’ quality with it’s blackened edges and glowing centres.  Packed full of grown up shimmer (I can see red and blue in there).  2 coats for full opacity with no formula issues at all.  I’m deducting one point for the handle.  I had to do some major q-tip clean up because I found that huge chunky square handle a nightmare to wield with any accuracy.

Longevity is great so far… 3 days with barely any tip wear and not a chip in sight.  I guess I should be going for some lighter more spring-like shades now…. too bad I still have loads of dark polishes I haven’t played with yet!

…apologies for this break in regular post scheduling but a couple of things…

1). I’ve noticed I’ve been missing a couple of questions by you lovely lot, I’ll be going back through comments this evening and answering any that I’ve missed!

2). It seems that my international ladies are finally receiving their Advent Giveaway prizes – wahoo! Hope you like them!

3). I’m going to London Fashion Week, please tell me that it doesn’t matter what I wear right?

4). Not only have I been missing questions, but my emails have been haywire too!  My hosting company has switched my account to a new server in the hopes that the problems settle down.  Either that, or just to shut me up… If you’ve emailed and I haven’t replied, I probably didn’t get it.  Please resend!

5). I’ve got another giveaway coming up, don’t get too excited.. it’s nice but not amazing… however, free stuff is free stuff right?

6). Was there a 6?

7). Oh yeah! My hair mare post… thank you for all your jeering, sniggering and downright bitchiness 😉  I have loved reading your stories and will be re-reading them tonight with Mr. L.  Together we’ll pick the worst (or is that best?) and get in touch with the lovely Aussie ladies. If you’ve yet to confess your hair shame… do it now, or forever wear a hat!

8). Leila is poorly, the little mite caught my cold.  It’s all my fault, but babies shouldn’t be allowed to catch colds until they’re old enough to know how to blow their noses.  My baby-nose-picking finger is getting a work out!

She’s doing her ‘monkey face’ but you can see her eyes are a bit watery. Can I get an “awwww”?  She’s 9 months old on Tuesday… I can’t believe how quickly time has flown!

Follow Nonie Creme, co-founder of Butter LONDON as she shares her daily video diary from behind the scenes at New York Fashion Week Fall 2010.

Nonie is already setting trends for AW/10 fixing up the Vena Cava ladies with what has been described by Style.com as a “curious shade of cloudy, sparkly eggplant”.

Is it bad to be excited for Autumn when Spring is still in hiding?

I work from home and my workspace has been stupidly crowded for as long as I can remember.  You know the scene, papers piled high, things ‘filed’ under other things…

I finally got a new desk and have been able to get my priorities straight and move all my makeup RIGHT NEXT TO ME! OMG!

You have no idea how little proper work I’ve gotten done since I moved my makeup within playing distance.  Mr. Lipglossiping is wondering when the book-keeping is gonna get done.  Right after I finish playing with this lipstick dear…. (or like, NEVER! – mwuahahaha!!)

Ain’t it spacious? *spreads self across desk*

Those drawers on the right.  That’s proper grown up pay the bills work stuff.  The rest? MAKEUP and SKINCARE and NAIL POLISH and HAIR STUFF and all the other important things.  I better do some work, I can feel a *side eye* from Mr. L. burning a hole in the back of my skull.

So, 8 of you sealed my Aussie ‘Hair Mare’ fate.  But when I dug out the promised photo, it kinda didn’t look as bad as I remembered, you can see for yourself… it’s bad… but it’s not a patch on The Agassi is it?  I decided it was only fair to share a few more. Upping the ante as it were.

So… as promised… my shameful hair mares…

A). Honestly?  I’m too busy looking at how tight my necklace is to concentrate on the hair.

B). In my defence, I look about 7.  This is my MOTHER’S shame, I’m not carrying this one.  Who lets a 7yr old have a perm anyway?

C). OK, this is the spiral perm… but it’s hard to see.  So let’s concentrate on the bum head parting instead.  Not only that, so much mousse… those curls were crusty. and flammable.

D). Dec 31st 1999. Man I thought I looked cute. I was… um… *counts*… 18.  Old enough to know better.  That spidery hairpiece took about 3 hours to ‘attach’ too, so it’s not like I had made a rash decision.  Just a bad one.

Since my last post, Aussie got in touch… and want to send one of you lovely ladies some product to steer you back onto the path of hair righteousness.  If you’ve already commented to confess your secret hair embarrassments, you’re in.  If you’ve yet to share your secret barnet shame… better do so now, ‘cos only Aussie can help!*

*well… Aussie or a great big sombrero.

I’ve already told you about my triangle hair… and my spiral perm from 1992…

Now it’s your turn…

Aussie, Agassi and me want to hear about your hair mares!

Go on, tell me about your nightmare ‘dos!’

If I get five horror stories I’ll upload a pic of the spiral perm.  And let me tell ya, it makes Agassi look coiffured to perfection.

I don’t claim to be a fake tan expert.  Infact, I’m the opposite.  I’m your bonafide fake tan dunce.  I’m so pale that in certain light my skin takes on that blue/grey fishbelly tinge… blue/grey… fishbelly.  Sexy.

Bronzed is something I’ll never achieve naturally.  I went to Australia for 9 months and friends still dine out on the fact that I returned paler.  I have been endlessly fascinated by fake tan solutions, but infinitely frightened of waking up the next morning looking like a bad parody of a Ganguro girl.

Fears aside, my interest was piqued when I saw a press release for Fake Bake’s new Platinum Facial Self Tanner.  It describes itself as the next generation of self-tan.  “Why?” I hear you cry… (yes, I do!) …because my dear readers, it contains pioneering Apple Stem Cell Technology.

“What’s Apple Stem Cell Technology?” I hear you ask, mouth’s wide open in anticipation… (shut up, you’re practically on the edge of your seats innit).  Dunno… hands up if you know what Apple Stem Cell Technology is?  I take it we’re talking Granny Smith’s finest and not Steve Jobs right?

Oh no wait… *reads press release*… ok… check this:

Not just ANY Swiss apple. RARE Swiss apple.  They only fall from trees on a Tuesday in a month beginning with the letter J and only if it’s a full moon.  Of course, I jest… I’m really none the wiser though.  But it sounds good, and I think I might want some regardless.

Just think though, how mega young would we look if  we actually ATE this RARE Swiss apple instead of fake tanning with it?  Maybe that’s Demi’s secret? The apples are only rare ‘cos that greedy bitch is having them shipped by the container load direct to her breakfast table.

Wanna know how to get your hands on this RARE Swiss apple goodness, and get bronzed and gorgeous while you’re at it?

Fake Bake Platinum Face Self-Tan is launching into Salons and retailers nationwide this month priced at £29.95.

Baahhhh!

Like the sheep I am, I knew I had to have this after reading about it on the fabulous LionLovingTiger‘s blog.

LUSH Mint Julips is a sugar-rich scrub for your lips, housed in a fully unsanitary little black glass pot.  It’s possibly the most travel unfriendly item I own, and yet I tote it around with me everywhere, sneaking it out of my handbag whenever I’m in a semi-private place to give my lips a quick rub.  I did tell you they were mega dry!  Mint Julips works well, it scours them giving my lips a smoother surface for applying lipstick whilst leaving a little oil behind to moisturise.  I do find myself applying some balm ontop for extra hydration though.

It’s not a clever product, as many bloggers before me have poined out, you could easily make it yourself at home.  But I’m as lazy as I am flakey-lipped.

The new LUSH Lip Scrubs come in three flavours: Mint Julips (After Eights!), Bubblegum (Bubblegum durr) and Sweet Lips (Chocolate).  They taste far too nice for cosmetic products and it’s a struggle to keep them on your lips and off your tongue.  Or is that just me?

I love the product and hate the packaging, alhough I’m not sure how they could have improved it.  Have you tried these?

LUSH Mint Julips Lip Scrub – £4.50 available online and instore.

Whilst up in London for IMATS, I had lots of trouble dragging myself away from Inglot in Westfield.  I was in there searching through the lipsticks for AGES!  Such a variety, but despite this… nothing was really catching my eye.  And then I spotted a small group of maybe 12 lipsticks off to one side, and immediately, 2 shades popped out at me.

I asked the SA to tell me about these taller, thinner lipsticks that bear more than a passing resemblance to the MAC Slimshines.  The SA explained that these were their new Slim Gel Lipsticks which have a lighter, more moisturising feel to them whilst still retaining a good colour payoff.

Sold to the lady with the mega dry lips!

I purchased #61 (left) which I would describe as a mauve pink… it’s a medium toned pinky nude on my skin, proper nude… not concealer nude.  I also purchased #41 which is a brighter, more vivid shade bordering on the coral *eek!*

I love both of them, they are moisturising… they’re also a teeny bit sticky, which does wonders for their longevity.  One application of these happily lasts me through to lunch time.  They have a glossy, shiny finish and I love the hardwearing metal packaging that houses all of Inglot’s lipsticks.

I do have one concern though… they don’t seem that steady in the tube.  If you do buy one of these, make sure you don’t wind the product up too high when applying.  I really think that unless you take considerable care, these would be prone to snapping.

Left: #61, Right: #41

I’ve also noticed that I seem to be going through the tubes at a rate of knots!  You only get 1.8g of product per tube, compared to 2.3g in a MAC Slimshine or 3g in a standard MAC Lipstick.  I threw away the receipt but I think I paid around £9 each for these.  So quite expensive gram for gram I think.

I shall forgive Inglot this time , these are beautifully easy to wear lipsticks and I’m very pleased I made the purchase.

So, Tsunimee and I were bitching on twitter that we didn’t really like metallic finishes to our polishes, and of course… that same day one of THE MOST BEAUTIFUL metallic nail polishes EVER showed up in my little ASOS haul.

It has that Quality Street wrapper quality doesn’t it?

Of course I had to apply it immediately…

I love it. And this photo… does not do it justice.  In real life, it looks like someone has foiled my nails with this glorious jeweled ruby red.  It’s perfect.  It looks like there are brush strokes in the image… which is hugely unfair, because I’m squinting at my fingertips now and I just can’t see any.

You pop off the clunky square ‘lid’ with a sharp tug and it reveals an altogether easier to manipulate round handle for application purposes.  Unfortunately, the brush is a STUPID thin thing, like in my Orly polishes… but other than meaning it needed about 5 strokes to cover the nail bed, it didn’t cause me any issues.

Application was *nearly* spot on.  Opaque in the first coat, I needed to go back in for a second just to tidy it up…. however, I did experience a couple of bubbles on 2 nails, which sucked especially as I know I wasn’t applying it too thickly.  Still, it’s so beautiful I don’t really care.  Plus, when the polish had dried (very quickly I might add) I could barely see these two bubbles… but I needed to mention it as bubbling isn’t something I usually experience with polishes.  Longevity is amazing for a metallic, I’m on my 3rd day (with no top coat) and it looks as good as new.

This was my first Butter London and I’m smitten.  They’re not cheap at around £10 each, but I want more…

What are your Butter London favs?