A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

Touted as the best priced cosmetics collection available in the country, Makeup Academy is set to launch exclusively at Superdrug this month!

The range includes lipsticks, glosses, eyeshadows, mascaras, eye liners, blush, powder and nail polish in shades from neutrals to brights and every shade in between.

I’m really excited to head down to Superdrug and pick some bits up… anything in the promo images caught your eye?

“What a snore!” I proclaimed, looking at Illamasqua’s latest collection, Body Electrics.

It’s not that it’s a bad looking collection… it’s just… not me.

I don’t really do bronzers…. I don’t want liquid metals (regardless of how lovely they look in their pans)… I don’t go anywhere to warrant slathering myself in sparkly body oils and I’m a bit blued and purpled out in the nail polish world too.

I actually really quite like the theory behind the collection…. the dynamics of movement and light reflecting… all great stuff, but I just felt disappointed seeing the theory put into practice.

I received a parcel from Illamasqua containing a couple of pieces from the new collection and to be blunt, I was expecting to give the products a “these are nice but ultimately dull” review based on how uninspiring I’d found them thus far.

I was wrong.

Initially, when I opened the parcel… my spirits weren’t lifted when I pulled out one of the new Nail Polishes in shade Prism.

“Oh… it’s not the purple” thought I… sounding far too much like a spoilt child to admi… oh

I twirled the bottle in my hands, watching the iridescence and blue flashes catch the light…. yeah, it’s pretty… but I kept thinking about my yellow stained nails and how ugly they’d look combined with this blatantly sheer polish I was holding.

Wanna see?

Admitedly, this is 4 coats… 1 coat was as horrible as I’d envisaged.  But this is beautiful.  After a year of solid, opaque polishes to cover up stains and dodgy ridged nails… this is delicate.  It’s like a veil…. it shrouds all the imperfections, but leaves a hint of nail tip and blue irridescence that simply says…. feminine.

Not only that, but the formula is stunning.  This is my first Illamasqua polish… drying time blew me away.  I was able to apply and finish 4 coats in 25 minutes.  Hand on heart, this is probably the greatest formula I’ve used so far.  Whether or not other Illamasqua polishes are the same, I don’t know.

Prism is perfect for weddings, french manicures… it’s one of those polishes for people that don’t like polishes.  If you don’t paint your nails often but want something for those times when you need to up your game… get this polish.  I imagine it would also look rather lovely layered over a dark base too… I shall have to experiment!

Thanks ever so much lovely Illamasqua makeup fairies, a genuinely lovely surprise that simply made a makeup addict’s week!

Available from counters nationwide or online at Illamasqua priced at £13.00

June was kinda slow… 10 posts, mostly discount codes (I don’t do those anymore… I should start huting again!).  One Leila post, but I’ll spare you it and pick this one as my favourite from June 2009.

NOTD – China Glaze – Ruby Pumps – Friday, June 19th, 2009

A gorgeous, vibrant shade shot through with a sophisticated glitter.

This polish is fantastic and would easily make it into my top 10 list.

It’s a lush cherry red that I can’t stop looking at!  It goes on smoothly and evenly.  The texture feels a little gritty thanks to the glitter, but it’s nothing that a sweep of top coat wouldn’t fix.

The above image shows 1 coat(!) after 4 days of wear.  There is very minimal and even tip wear.  This is my first experience with China Glaze polishes and I’m so impressed by the formula of this one, I’m looking for more!  Anyone care to share their favourite CG polishes?

Forgive me a little press release copy and pasting… but it’s certainly a worthy campaign to profile.

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Highland Spring is blushing pink as it launches an exclusive handbag size ‘hint of pink’ bottle in association with Breast Cancer Care to help raise valuable funds to support the 46,000 people diagnosed with breast cancer every year in the UK.

Available in a 6 x 500ml pack, the bottles will be sold in Tesco stores nationwide.

If you’re interested in finding out a little bit more about the kind of support Breast Cancer Care offers families and people in need, watch the video belowing detailing Win’s story.  She’s an inspiration!

Hope you’re having a great day so far x

My posts on the launch have been a touch hiccoughy – so here’s a little recap ‘cos I know there’s a lot of interest out there.

~ Launch Announcment & Thoughts

~ Review and lip swatches of Countessa Fluorescent, No She Didn’t & My Beautiful Rocket

Fully launched now, you should be able to find the Lime Crime lipsticks in your local store…. if you do go and have a play with some of the colours, please come back and share your thoughts with me (and everyone else!).

It would be great to get lots of varied feedback because judging by some emails I’ve received… I’m beginning to get the impression that some of you are really interested and excited by the lipsticks but hesitant to display your excitement for fear of ‘going against the tide of opinion’.

That saddens me.

Getting excited about super-bright lipsticks is your prerogative and we should all be excited about beautiful colours and new launches!

The majority of you who come here aren’t beauty bloggers and don’t leave me comments and are infact interested in one thing and one thing only:  “…are they any good ‘cos I don’t wanna waste £14 on a crappy lipstick”.

I say… read my review and then go and try a few shades!  While you’re at it, please come back and let me know what Airborne Unicorn is like ‘cos my nearest Space NK is a shocking 25 miles away.  Yep… feel for me.

And that (you’ll be pleased to hear) is probably my last word on it.

I’m sorry… it’s not makeup related… but I couldn’t NOT consider this my favourite post of the month now could I?

Incidentally… how hardcore am I?  I scheduled this post to go live whilst I was screaming down the labour ward. Rock. On.  Oh, and check out the comedy lip to eye photo placement… Mr. L often returns to that post just to mock me.

Anyway, here’s my favourite from May 2009.

Introducing…. – Sunday, May 24th, 2009

My beautiful little girl Leila.  I’m in love!

She arrived on Saturday 16th May at 6.22am weighing a lovely 7lb 6oz.  She entered the world through the sunroof thanks to an emergency c-section after the induction went a bit wrong.  As you can see it appears that I have given birth to a little redhead, I didn’t see that one coming – hope it doesn’t change though… I adore it!   Her Daddy and I are massively in love with her and think we might just keep her.

As for me, my stitches itch and pull but I’m one for looking on the bright side – so at least my foof is intact!  I’ve only got about a weeks worth of posts lined up, so I need to get back into the swing of things!  I’ve got loads of lovely goodies to review and play with, I would do a FOTD except I’ve broken out in lovely hormonal spots – so, not a chance!

Forgive me if it goes a bit quiet round here at the end of the week.  You’ll probably find me crazy eyed, covered in a mix of vomit and shit, gently rocking myself in the dark corner over there K?

That’s it… that’s all that I have left of my current favourite fragrance after decanting myself a small amount and giving the rest to a friend.

Jo Malone White Jasmine and Mint reminds me of Summer.  It makes me think of cottage gardens and fresh linen catching the breeze on the washing line.

But Mr L doesn’t like it and in all fairness, he has to smell me 24/7 and it’s a scent that truly bothers him.

When I was 17, I bought myself a bottle of Dior’s Hypnotic Poison.  It had just been released and I sampled it in the Duty Free Store on the RoRo ferry to France.  I fell in love with it’s sweet and gentle scent.  Vanilla, almond and sugar… it’s everything a teenage girl would love.  I spent all of my holiday allowance on that one bottle before I’d even got halfway across the English Channel.

Back then, it was new and remained relatively undiscovered for a while.  It was the first perfume I’d ever worn that lasted for hours on my skin, I couldn’t leave the house without being complimented on how lovely I smelt.

I’m now 12 years older.  The oriental and intoxicating scent I used to cherish and adore reminds me a little bit of play-doh.  It’s cloying and childish and admitting this upsets me.

Shall I tell you why?

I met my husband wearing Hypnotic Poison.  I married my husband wearing Hypnotic Poison (along with the matching body lotion) and I gave birth to our child wearing Hypnotic Poison.  Everything about our life has been set against a backdrop of Bitter Almond, Caraway, Vanilla and Caramel.  It’s one of the most comforting scents we know.

The end of a love affair… it’s not tempestuous or exciting.  Like many endings, it’s just sad.

I know I’ll never be without a bottle stashed somewhere in the back of my wardrobe… but I need to find something new, something that will carry me through my 30s and beyond.  What if I fall in love with something else that Mr. L hates?  What if he can’t let go of my signature scent in the way I’m dying to and no other scent compares?

As much as I assert that it’s MY scent, on MY body… it’s not.  It’s ours… and I’m not sure I’d be ready for him to fall out of love with his signature fragrance either.

Perhaps I’m being melodramatic… I usually am.  But of the traditional 5 senses, the sense of smell is a hugely important and often subconscious one.

Do you have a signature scent?  How would you go about finding a new one?

Regular reader Julia couldn’t resist emailing me this link after she saw my January feature on the Chanel tattoo sensation that was “Les Trompe L’œil de Chanel”.

The original Chanel set was priced at £49 and I’m not sure if they’re still available?

The looky-likes (they also have swallows and other what-nots) from ‘Ink Wear’ are a less eye-watering £6.99

I haven’t bought from Ink Wear, so can’t personally recommend them… I’m actually surprised it’s taken this long for “inspired by” versions to put in an appearance!

What do you reckon? Thrifty Alternatives or Tacky El-Fake-O’s?

Edit: credit to the lovely Lisa Eldridge who first featured the inspired-by alternatives here!

Further to my post last week discussing the launch of Lime Crime at SpaceNK stores this month, I want to share with you my thoughts on the lipsticks that I was sent by SpaceNK.

I wrote the initial post because whilst not wanting to ignore the contentious issues surrounding the brand, I want to keep that separate to my review of the products.

If you’re interested in purchasing the lipsticks from SpaceNK, please have a read and check out my thoughts on how they worked for me.

First of all… the packaging.

A lot has been said about the packaging.  It generally tends to polarise opinion between two camps.  I have to say…. I like it a lot.  Admittedly, so would my 11 month old given another couple of years.

I like the holographic unicorns…. no, I LOVE the unicorns.  I don’t however like the overall colour choice, but only because I think those unicorns would have looked stunning against a shiny black background.

The packaging up to this point feels sturdy and I’m impressed by the quality.

I was sent three which you can see above.

Lime Crime have based the credibility of their entire range on the phrase: “So bright, it’s illegal.”  And I have no qualms about the brightness of the shades I received.

Are they brighter than lipsticks that you can purchase from brands such as MAC, BarryM or even clubber’s fav Stargazer?  Possibly not… Infact, I’ve already found a fair colour dupe of Countessa Fluorescent in my BarryM 146.  But you would have to be a fairly brand-savvy makeup shopper to find these dupes, and this collection just makes it easier.

Before I move on to swatches, wear etc… I do have one quality issue.  My Countessa Flourescent arrived ‘wonky’.  When I wind it up and down, it ‘drags’ on the inside of the tube leaving not only a streak of pink behind, but a groove dug out of the lipstick.  I wouldn’t expect nor accept this from a £14 product.

As you can see, on the back of my hand… they swatch beautifully and true to tube colour.  They achieve full opacity very quickly and are just as vibrant as they promise.

I’m going back to front from the hand swatches… but I’ll start with…

My Beautiful Rocket.

It applied well and I found it fairly creamy.  It’s no YSL Rouge Volupte, but I will happily reach for it whenever the situation demands an orange!  And what a shade it is!  Vibrant in colour and packing a nice sheen.  I would recommend this as a great summer shade.

No She Didn’t.

A horrible chalky lipstick.  It drags across my lips and the colour it deposits sinks instantly into the furrows meaning that I have to go over a number of times to achieve any real opacity.  The result of having to apply it so heavily is bleeding around the edges and a caked-on feeling.  I’ve read reports of staining, but I couldn’t bear to keep this on my lips for long enough to test that theory out.

I wouldn’t recommend this lipstick at all, and think the formula needs adjusting to make it work.

Countessa Fluorescent.

Colour-wise for me, this was my favourite.  I love this bright dolly pink which achieves a fabulous opacity without too much effort on my part.  It’s more drying than My Beautiful Rocket and it left a stain around the contour of my lips which I wasn’t delighted about.

I can’t decide whether to forgive it for those niggles.  Perhaps if the price were lower… but at £14, I want a damn good lipstick.  And this doesn’t qualify.

I wouldn’t describe any of these lipsticks as moisturising, but of the three… My Beautiful Rocket came the closest to leaving my lips in the same condition as before I had applied the product.  To be fair, I’ve just spent 3 hours in a Chanel Rouge Coco…. and that’s left my lips feeling pretty dehydrated too.

I’m no chemist, but the main problems I see with these lipsticks is the thickness of the formula.  They’re just so heavy.  I guess the whole “I’m so bright, I’m illegal” ethos demands this heavy pigmentation and perhaps this is the flipside to trying to achieve such an opaque range of products.

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I think that at £14 each, the price is too high for the quality of the product.  The shades are awesome and the staying power is pretty darn effective.  I think they’re a fabulous idea and I would love to see some adjustments to the formula that would make them kinder to the wearer’s lips.

Would I buy them?  I would buy My Beautiful Rocket. I would bin No She Didn’t.

Still…

Next week marks my one year ‘blogiversary”.  Wahoo!

Here’s a lookback through the archives, some of my favourite posts from each month… starting with April 2009.  These could be embarrassing!

Bourjois So Laque! Nail Polish Review – Monday, April 27th, 2009

I was browsing the shelves of my local Boots looking for something to spend my latest ‘£2 off’ till spit on, when I spotted Bourjois’ So Laque! Nail Polish claiming to last up to 7 days thanks to the extra vinyl – woohoo!

I plumped for the Beige Glamour colourway, thinking I should go for something a little more conservative than the teal I was sporting that day…

So Laque! is currently on offer in Boots down to £3.37 from £5.37, so now is a great time to try out some new shades and if you’re organised enough not to have dumped the ‘£2 off’ till spit from last month, you can pick one of these varnishes up for a super purse friendly £1.37!

There weren’t that many shades available in my local store, but the Boots website claims to have 11 shades on offer:

I’m really liking Bleu Mysterieux and Rouge Diva in particular for my pale pink-toned skin (although those weren’t available in my little Boots).

Consistency of Beige Glamour is very thick but smooth and not at all gloopy, there’s no sheerness about this polish and you could easily get enough coverage from a single coat to achieve a nice opaque finish.

The downside is that it’s pretty unforgiving to any mistakes that you may make with applying.  I actually preferred the colour I achieved from one coat as the 2nd turned the beige finish a deeper brown but my application skills demanded a second coat to achieve the glass-like finish I was after.  Definitely not one to apply whilst making the morning commute by train!

Drying time was perfectly acceptable and there’s not a hint of streakiness, super matt perfection!

I’m not sure I’d pay the RRP of £5.37 for Bourjois So Laque!, not when there’s so many other great brands out there vying for my attention – this polish hasn’t wowed me, but if it lives up to it’s 7 day wear promise then I’ll definitely be picking up some more shades while they’re still available at £3.37 each.

Check out those teeny tiny nails!  I kinda like ’em!  And that polish is pretty glossy looking… bit of a granny shade, but I might dig it out next week for a second outing!.

I found it, I found it!

I thought I’d add a swatch to my collection of Creaseless Cream swatches… you can find the rest here.

Flatter Me is described as a ‘Toasted Mauve’… which basically means it’s a strange mix of mauve, taupe and brown.  It’s quite, quite beautiful.

As with the other Creaseless Creams, this is budgeproof on my eyelids.  More, more.. I must have more!  I think I’m going after Stiletto or Pre Nup next!

Do you like this one or are they all a bit too neutral for you?

I picked up two Besame lipsticks a couple of weeks ago from a discounter on eBay and managed to get both for around £12.

They’re the older style lipsticks with the retro shaped tips that help you get a beautifully sharp line.  I believe they’ve since reformulated.

The packaging is just beautiful.  Twirling the case between your fingers actually feels like you’re holding something special… even Mr. L wanted to have a look (and that NEVER happens!)

These little lippies are teeny tiny… 1.8g compared to a 3g MAC lipstick and the casing is about 2/3of the height.  But look how beautiful they are!

I picked up two pinks.  Exotic Pink (a bright true hot pink) and Portrait Pink (a subdued ‘nuder’ pink).

Exotic Pink is densely pigmented and absolutely rich with colour.  You can see from my swatch… it’s very opaque and glides on beautifully.

Portrait Pink is sheerer, but still builds to an opaque glossy finish with a bit of work.

I adore both of these lipsticks and I’m really happy to add them to my collection.  They’re not the most moisturising lipsticks I’ve worn, but staying power is great and both shades are completely adorable.

Are you a Besame fan?