A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

Look what I got!

Check out my Q&A over at Eliza – Make Up Junkie – thanks for the award and very kind words Eliza!

It’s not often you can nab discounts on brands like NARS, Bare Escentuals and Benefit so make the most of it!

Enter code BUNNY15 at checkout for 15% off all orders at HQ Hair this weekend.  Code expires 29/03/2010.

A good citrusy scent is unbeatable for those mornings when you just can’t seem to muster the energy to lift your sleepy head from the pillow.  It’s an energising, invigorating and fresh smell and if combined with a hint of spice then it’s in my shopping basket quicker than a New York minute.

However, I’ve come to the conclusion that citrus is a tricky scent to capture… I’ve sniffed many ‘lemon’ products that quite frankly would be better kept under my kitchen sink than by the side of my bath.

The Body Shop have just launched their Sweet Lemon range, I was given two products from the range at their recent presentation and as a veritable grumpy connoisseur of all things lemon-y… they’re up against a tough nose.

Sweet Lemon Shower Gel – £6

A soap-free, non-drying cleansing gel with luscious lemon seed oil. Lathers to leave your skin feeling cleansed, refreshed, soft and subtly scented.

The Sweet Lemon Shower Gel is nice, it definitely isn’t too synthetic smelling – it’s sharp rather than sweet and lathers up nicely.  I’d like it to leave a little more scent on my skin, but for an “in shower experience” it does the job well.  I think it comes at quite a price though… between me and Mr. L we’d get through 2 bottles of this a month easily, and I wish I could justify £12 a month on Shower Gel, but I can’t.  If your skin isn’t sensitive to soap, I’d suggest trying out a bar of the Sweet Lemon Soap at a much more affordable £2 a pop.

Sweet Lemon Whip Body Lotion – £8

Light and fluffy, this quick-absorbing, non-greasy whipped cream lotion, with rich and velvety natural ingredients, smoothes easily over the skin, leaving it feeling well moisturised, soft and supple. Provides moisturisation that lasts up to 12 hours. Leaves skin scented with an uplifting and fresh lemon fragrance.

The scent of the Sweet Lemon Whip Body Lotion (which again is sharp rather than sweet) lingers beautifully without being overpowering.  The formula feels light and fluffy, sinking nicely into my skin without leaving any greasiness.  I’m not sure how much stock I’d put into their 12hr moisturisation claims for this product as I personally need something heavier to keep my skin supple for that length of time.  I’d give the scent of the range a 7/10 but it really appeals to Mr. L’s nose, and he never gives a crap about stuff like this… so it’s definitely a product I’ll be shopping for when my current one runs out.  As it spreads so smoothly, I don’t think I’d need to repurchase too often either… well, not unless I catch Mr. L at my bottle again *side eye*.

Have you tried the new Sweet Lemon range from the Body Shop?  What are your favourite smells to get you going in the mornings?  Bacon doesn’t count.

No, not that one!

…well you know it’s bad when I only do ONE post a day (sad git that I am).

I’ve either been kissing boys I shouldn’t have been (highly unlikely) or eating things I shouldn’t have been (sadly, far more likely). It’s a veritable vomit-fest here at Lipglossiping towers (or, yano…. end terrace).

This is the first time I’ve been near the internet since bemoaning my poorly status VERY early this morning via my trusty iPhone and Twitter.  Apologies if you’ve emailed and I haven’t replied and even bigger apologies for not replying to the lovely feel better soon tweets, that truly made me feel a lot better.

I have to give props to @tsunimee via twitter who helpfully reminded me:

@lipglossiping Nothing like a gastro-e to kick off a diet, leave a plateau. A pain in the butt literally, messy, but handy…in the long run ^_^

Someone who can look on the bright side of gastroenteritis is OK by me.

Leila seems to be showing symptoms already, and it’s like Christmas all over again (this isn’t a good thing).  But she’s still her chirpy little self and it doesn’t seem to be affecting how much fluid she’s taking on…. so maybe she’s a little more robust this time round.  I hope so.  Much love for Mr. L who hasn’t slept for 48hrs and is trying to keep the 2 girls in his life clean, unsmelly and entertained whilst feeling dodgy himself.

I hope you like my post about sickness and diahhrea,  I didn’t want to change the format from my normal drivel too much.  You’re used to reading all kinds of crap (ho ho ho) here.  I’ll try not to breathe on any of you, promise.

As promised, my pigment pressing method…

It’s a mammoth tutorial and rather picture heavy, so please click ‘read more’ to continue on the pigment pressing adventure!

The cast of characters:

I’ve provided links of where you might purchase supplies, feel free to shop around – the links are there as a convenience only!

1. Minimum 70% Rubbing Alcohol (also known as surgical spirit or iso-propyl alcohol)

2. 5ml Syringe

3. Biosilk Silk Therapy (the link I provided is a VERY good price for Biosilk, I paid more than this)

4. Orange Stick or any suitable mixing tool you have to hand

5. Empty Palette or Pans (Those 26mm pans will fit in an ELF empty palette although may not be magnetized – easily fixed with a self-adhesive magnetic sheet though)

6. BarryM Dazzle Dust or pigment of your choice (Not MAC)

7. Suitable mixing container

8. 10 pence piece (I think the US size equivalent is a quarter?)

9. Textured material/kitchen roll

Read the rest of this entry »

Incase you’ve been asleep for the past month…

OCC Lip Tars are now in stock and can be purchased from The Makeup Artist Boutique priced at £8.99 each.

Nice to see that the prices haven’t been jacked up to some kinda ridiculous, the new shades are also available!  I’m currently trying to fight off the temptation to pick up NSFW (I hardly even wear red!), Katricia (it’s purple baby!) and Plum.  I’m definitely going to be picking up a backup of Feathered, my most used lip tar by far!

If you’re on Twitter, give Kath and Emma from The Makeup Artist Boutique a little follow here to keep up with the latest news.  Personally, I’m ridiculously excited that another company are bringing Canadian brand Face Atelier to the UK.  Faster, faster!

…your Boots till spits I mean!

If you’re not a UK lady, let me quickly explain…

Boots have a rather fabulous promotional period every couple of months that goes something like this…

If you spend over £5 you get a voucher.  The voucher entitles the holder to £5 off Boots No7 or Ruby & Millie (a British cosmetic brand).

That’s it… no catches, nothing.  How lucky are we?

The current promotion runs out on the 28th March, which means that I have 4 days left to spend the 3 vouchers I’ve rescued from the bottom of my handbag.  Which brings me to my original question…

How do you spend yours?

As there’s nothing specific I want from either of the permitted ranges, I’m thinking of plumping for some of the following items – note, prices shown are after voucher redemption:

Boots No7 Eyeshadow Blend and Contour.

I have a few of these (ok, about 6) that I grab from my brush pot when I’m too lazy to go and wash my ‘good’ blending brushes but obviously don’t want to muddy my eye look.  They’re not the softest nor the most well constructed, but for £1.50, they’re pretty darn decent backups!

Boots No7 Quick Thinking 4 in 1 Wipes.

Love these wipes, they really do a stand up job at removing makeup.  I mostly use them to clean off swatched hands or if I’m playing with my makeup.  I prefer a proper face wash before bed!  These are great for travel too, but I wouldn’t pay the full price.

Boots No7 Ultimate File and Buffer.

You can’t get a better bargain than free!  I have one of these in the glove box incase of an emergency broken nail.  Don’t laugh at me, you’re not even a proper GIRL unless you have an emergency nail file set.  Go redeem yourself down at Boots immediately!

Boots No7 Eye Colour Brush.

I haven’t tried this one, but I used to pick up ones from the No7 range which looked simillar (except they had black bristles) and I swear by them for depositing a healthy amount of colour on my lids.  Unfortunately, they’ve been discontinued and I’m wondering if these are the replacement?  Anyone know the old ones I mean?  They used to come in little black cardboard boxes (usually found on the bottom shelf of the No7 stand), I think they were £5.75 each (before voucher redemption) so they worked out at 75p each after, total bargain!  Anyone tried these white bristled ones?

Ruby & Millie I-Liner Brush.

I haven’t been hugely impressed with much from the Ruby & Millie range and some of the brushes are (imho) pretty awful.  This one however, I like.  It’s great for pushing gel and cream liners right into the lashline slightly under the lashes.  Don’t try and line above the top lashes with it though… well, not unless you’re incredibly nifty with an eyeliner brush.

Boots No7 Radiance Boosting Hot Cloth Cleanser.

£3.75 for a Hot Cloth Cleanser and muslin cloth is a total bargain I reckon!  I’m currently trialling the original Liz Earle version (review coming soon) and I’ll be picking one of these up in the next few days for a bargainous comparison.  It’s worth noting too that this No7 version has clocked up no less than twenty 5 star reviews on the Boots website.  Having said that, if it’s anything like the Boots Time Delay Cleansing Balm (Eve Lom ‘replica’) then it’ll leave me in tears.  Literally.

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So, that’s my ‘picks’ for your £5 “till spit”.  What do you rush to stock up on everytime the offer rolls around?  Don’t keep your bargains to yourselves, did your Mama never tell you it’s good to share?

I picked this up from the clearance shelves in Boots a couple of weeks ago for around £1.60.  Bright Blue is a super smarties shade, a proper bright blue cream.  Coverage was fab, I was done in two easy to apply coats.  I think it looks a little bit chalky but I am a fan of the shade.

Have you ever tried any Pure polishes? It’s a shame the brand is being discontinued, have a look in your local boots for any remaining stock – I love their Kajal liners too!

You have until the 31st March, promo code = TICKTOCK

Take advantage whilst you can!

Incidentally… I wonder what shade that Essie is supposed to be?  Imma on the hunt now!  Any ideas?

Yano, it’s not that often we get an exclusive this side of the pond, but check it out:

Givenchy’s Summer 2010 collection includes this beautiful turquoise addition to the popular Givenchy Phenomen’ Eyes lineup of mascaras.  Available in Europe only, it’s a gorgeous looking shade no?

Of course, if you were going to splash out on the blue mazzy… it’d be plain rude not to pick up the matching polish too…

Available from the 1st May exclusively at Harrods, with a nationwide roll out at counters everywhere from the 15th May – thanks to BBB for the release info.

So this afternoon… I was eating my lunch, sipping at my diet coke and doing my usual blog tour… checking out all my fav blogs when I nearly choked on my cheese and pickle sandwich.

Clicking over to Kiss&Makeup.tv, I did a double take when I read their latest post:

I have great tips!  It was a perfect opportunity for a typo… but tips are fab too.

Please excuse this obscene display of self-indulgence, as a long-time stalker of Kiss&Makeup.tv… I feel like I’ve been featured on Oprah.

How’s your day going?

I first heard of Aurifere when I saw their stand at IMATS back in January…

…I was on the hunt for a Shu Uemura foundation brush dupe at a bargain price, when my eyes alighted on this domed goat-hair blush brush (Series 150) from Aurifere (£11.99).  It has a slight taper and I umm-ed and ahh-ed that it could be a possible match.

But before I could make the purchase, I got sidetracked by this:

Aurifere’s Series 480 blending brush in squirrel (£8.99).  Soft doesn’t even begin to describe this brush.

It has a beautifully sharp taper that gets right into the socket line for precise blending with complete control.  I find that unless I’m very careful, my MAC 217 can spread the shadow a little too far above and below the crease for me.  I’m not hugely aufait with MAC brushes, but I’m thinking that the MAC equivalent to the Aurifere 480 would be a 224 (tapered blending brush).

I paid around £9 for the Aurifere blending brush and I’m absolutely delighted with it, though I have been lamenting not picking up the 150 ever since!

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Fast forward a couple of months and you may have noticed from my top photo that I do now have the Aurifere 150 in my grubby little hands!  Shall I tell you how?

Aurifere have opened a web store!

Hot off the press, the store only opened last week and I was their first customer – yay me! Desperate much?

Whilst making my order, I also added another blending brush to my collection:

The Aurifere Series 490 (£9.59) is a goat-hair blending brush which is nicely packed but definitely scratchier than my 480 or MAC 217.  What I do love about it though is it’s ‘springiness’.  That’s a terrible way to describe it… but it blends out harsh lines effortlessly when I hold it near the end of the shaft and do windscreen wiper motions across my socket line… something I appreciate because I kinda suck at doing those little blending circles with my 217.  How crap was that testimonial?  Way to make myself sound like I have no clue about makeup application… but I hope at least some of you appreciate what I’m trying to say!

My package also contained the Aurifere Sablinsky Series 330, a synthetic brush that is amazing for cream shadows like my Benefit creaseless creams.  Total bargain at £6.69!

I am so happy to have given Aurifere a try, I simply haven’t been disappointed with anything I’ve bought so far.

I want to give the Series 150 (blush brush) a full try before passing judgement, but so far I’m liking it ok as a foundation brush, but I’m freaking loving it as a blush brush.

I emailed Aurifere and asked if they’d consider passing along a discount code for my readers and they obliged!

I have 30 codes available (single use only).  If you try one and it appears to have expired, come back and give another one a go!

Enter one of the following codes at checkout to get 5% off your order (I may have ‘accidently’ already used that first one, sorry ;)) and remember all items have free delivery:

I just treated myself to a Series 180 Racoon Powder Brush. Vex has one, and it’s softer than Leila’s bum. FACT.

Have you heard of Aurifere?  Used any of their brushes?  Let me know if you make an order and tell me what you get, I’m hopelessly nosey.