A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

New for Summer, the already popular TreacleMoon lineup is expanding to include a new fragrance.

Lovely Mint Story promises to be a cool, refreshing mint fragrance that takes you back to minty mojitos and tropical times with its skin-tingling zing.

Me?  I just want something zingy to replace the tropical coconut-y phase that I’m currently going through!

Treaclemoon bath and shower gels are available exclusive to Tesco (larger stores only) and carry a very reasonable price tag of £2.89!

Have you checked out any of the other fragrances?

Last week, when I was talking about the new Bare Escentuals Boutique on Neal Street I proclaimed: “I wish I had a picture to show you…”

Well this week, I’ve got several!

I couldn’t resist popping back in there on Tuesday!

On the downside…. they still didn’t have Grace in stock…

…But on the upside, I got to swatch to my heart’s content and discovered at least another 4 shades to add to my wishlist!

I was desperate to try one of the make-unders.  They’re specialising in the “Roxie look” at the moment due to their makeup partnership with the West End show Chicago.  But alas, I was too pressed for time and had to continue on my merry way without a sexy smoky eye/red lip combo.

In my experience… the staff in there are super friendly, and once again… I had them all searching for the non-existent Grace eye shadow that is becoming harder to pin down than an eel swathed in grease.  I’ve left my number and they’ve promised me a phone call when it’s back in stock.

All in all, well worth a visit!

Bare Escentuals Boutiue, 40 Neal Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9PS

Woah… neon lip & face paint.

I wasn’t quite sure what to do with this when it popped through my letterbox courtesy of Models Own last week.

Once I had re-read the pot and realised that I could use it on my lips, I set straight to work!

I really didn’t expect very much from this product… languishing in the knowledge that in general, multi-use cosmetics are pretty cruddy, I was expecting to have a total fail of a product on my hands.

Not so.

This is smoooooooth and lends itself beautifully to a lip product.  I’m not gonna tell you if this works well on your face ‘cos I haven’t got a clue… I’m not a face painter and I have nothing to compare it to.  It’s one hell of a lip paint though.

Bright and true to it’s neon credentials, it applies more like a cream than a paint.  I think that’s what I was most impressed with… I really expected something quite dry and difficult to work with and got the opposite.

Combined with a flick of black liquid liner and not much else, Models Own Neon Pink Lip & Face Paint is a winner.  It dries matte on my lips and does leave them a touch drier which to be fair, I expected.  As with any matte lip product I’d make sure your lips were well exfoliated and possibly combine this with a slick of balm before applying.

I love how completley weightless the product feels on my lips, one thin layer gives great colour payoff and when it fades, it leaves a naturally bitten stain.

Priced at a bargainous £5, if only the other colours were more lip friendly!

Follow the Elemis Spa Bus on Twitter and Facebook to keep up to date with it’s whereabouts during Elemis’ 20th Anniversary nationwide tour.

Always fancied an Elemis treatment?  Well for a budget-friendly £10 you can enjoy one of 5 unique and luxurious 15 minute facial or body spa therapies performed by a professional “Elemis Angel”.  Instant relaxation and rejuvenation is promised with a maximum results in minimum time ethos.

Ensuring that it’s not only you who benefits from a bit of TLC, Elemis will be donating £1 from each treatment and skincare kit sold to charity Mothers4Children and they hope to raise well over £50,000 for the charity during the campaign.

I’m keeping my eye on the @elemisspabus updates and am trying to decide between a Skin Booster Facial, Chill-Out Shoulder and Scalp Massage, Sole Rescue Foot Treatment or Re-Charge Power Back Massage.

I think it’d have to be the facial.  What d’ya reckon ladies?

According to the latest consumer study from America anyway…

Market Force Information, a market survey company, presented a selection of US consumers with the question what do you love most about your favourite makeup line and surprisingly only a small number of respondents selected the option of loving it because they use humane testing/environmentally safe.

I’m curious about this survey… it appears that it was a “tick the box that applies” affair rather than “provide your own answers in the space below”, but what if the respondent was unsure of whether their favourite brand tests humanely.  That doesn’t really leave uses humane testing as a viable answer option regardless of their feelngs on animal testing.  Survey fail?

I’m curious about how savvy people really are when it comes to humane testing and environmental issues – could you take a moment to answer my poll please?

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I have to remember that a lot of you guys are probably more makeup savvy than your ordinary consumer which may make a difference, but it’ll be interesting to see the results nonetheless!

Do you think that the original survey was wrong to draw the conclusion that humane testing isn’t an important consideration for US consumers?

I was starting to run out of things to spend my £5 No7 vouchers on when I spied these unassuming little tubes on the No7 counter.  I’m a total sucker for cream eyeshadows and when I swatched these, I knew I had to have them!

They’re a very light mousse formula and although the tubes are teeny tiny, a little goes a very long way.  I keep squeezing out too much!  Easy to apply and blend, I usually use my finger before running a brush over the edges just to make sure that they’re softened.

I bought them without doing any blog research and was concerned that they’d last approximately 5 seconds before creasing on me.  In general, I’m not a HUGE No7 makeup fan… there’s definitely some real stand outs from the line, but it’s not usually a brand I purchase from without doing a bit of research beforehand.

I have to say though, I made a good choice with these!  They last a decent 5/6 hours when used with no base before they begin to travel upwards… combine with a slick of UDPP and I can get about 7/8 hours wear out of them.  I haven’t tried setting them with a light dusting of complementary eyeshadow… but I think that would prolong wear even further.

Not too shabby really.

The colours are beautiful and what attracted me to them in the first place, there’s one more (a bronzey shade) that I like the look of aswell, but I’ll wait ’till the £5 off No7 till spit comes round again before adding it to my collection.

£8.75 each from Boots instore or online.

Have you tried these?

Ohhh I do like this model image Clinique… it’s how my makeup would look everyday in a world unhindered by problematic issues such as not being able to find my pencil sharpener when I need it or not knowing exactly where I’m supposed to apply my damn blush.

Anyway, the Clinique Autumn 2010 collection consists of three brand new products and a bunch of what d’ya call ’em… existing stock that kinda gets pushed to the front of the counter in a “don’t forget about me, look how nice I am for Autumn” kinda way… um… repromotes?

Anyway, let’s take a look at what’s new:

NEW Limited Edition High Impact Mascara
RRP: £14.50 €19.00
Clinically proven to make eyes appear three times brighter, this limited edition deep black shade creates the necessary contrast against the whites of the eyes to create a youthful, vibrant look.

Available in:
Brightening Black

NEW Limited Edition Quickliner for Eyes Intense
RRP: £13.00 €17.50
A more dramatic version of our best-selling eyeliner, this extra creamy new formulation glides on smooth, while the rich new shades provide a more vivid colour payoff to intensify the eyes for up to 12 hours.

Available in:
Intense Black
Intense Plum
Intense Chocolate
Intense Coffee

NEW Vitamin C Lip Smoothie Antioxidant Lip Colour
RRP: £13.50 €19.00
These delicious lip smoothies are a healthy dose of luscious colour in six NEW juicy shades rich in moisture and shine.  Think of it as an antioxidant fruit smoothie for the lips.

Available in:
Guava Good
Pear-Fection
Running Latte
Strawberry Bliss
Pome-Greatness
Blackberry Nirvana

I know it’s a teeny bit early to be talking about Autumn collections when I’ve barely seen anything Summer-y hit the counters yet… (hurry up, hurry up, hurry up!) – but I liked the natural but sultry promo image too much to care.

I wish there was a touch more to the release… some new eye colours would have been nice in a collection that purports to be all about the eyes.   I’m definitely interested in the sound of some of those new eyeliners… extra dramatic smudgeability is nearly always a good thing in my book and an eye-brightening mascara?  Woohoo! Are we guessing at some clever blue/black pigment in there somewhere ladies?

After this scorcher of a weekend, I bet some of you are nursing your sore bits and will happily indulge in a little bit of early Autumnal cosmetic goodness, just so long as we’re talking September and not November right? Brrrr.

Clinique Autumn 2010 – Bigger, Brighter Eyes in an Instant will be available on counters nationwide from 1st August.

Big thanks to the lovely Shifa from Get Gawjus for guest reviewing this for me, go check the lovely lady out!

I am probably the best guinea pig to test Lip Balms on, as even besides exam stress I have this annoying habit of constantly biting my lip – Yikes!  But for some reason they do seem to recover somehow depending on which Lip Balm I use.

Here we have a super cute Balm ‘to the rescue’ which also happens to be a vegan lip treatment.  It contains some interesting ingredients such as Jojoba, Shea Butter,  Castor Seed Oil, Cocoa, Olive Oil and Peppermint Oil.
Hence it does smell of peppermint but only on a sniff!  Nothing strong as such.

Another unusual thing I found with this is due to some contents, maybe Castor Oil, it does freeze at slightly lower temperature and becomes rock solid enough to be able to scrape product out of it.  Also on a ‘hot’ London day I dipped my finger into it and it was literally  of an oil-like consistency.

So you have to be careful with storing this and keep it away from extreme climates.  I haven’t noticed such changes in consistency with other drugstore lip products like Carmex and Vaseline though.

Coming to the moisturizing effect, to me it delivers almost nothing!  It is just as ordinary as any other lip balm in the market.  It does not mend my lips like the Body Shop Lip Butter used to in a couple of hours.  It sinks in unlike just sitting on the lips like Vaseline.  The effect disappears within a few hours but it does leave me with soft and supple lips.
The packaging is a winner all the way.  A huge compact with a full sized mirror is quite refreshing for a lip balm.  I love to carry this with me and apply it throughout the day as I don’t tend to wear any other lip products.

Overall, I don’t hate the product but haven’t developed a profound love for it either.  I would not recommend it to those with extremely dry, flaky lips as it won’t mend them as well.  But I can definitely see this work with those with normal-dry lips or if you don’t mind splurging on high end lip products.

You can get this for £10 from Zuneta and all net proceeds from this product are donated to Pug Rescue, so this is a great cause you will indulge in but I can’t guarantee if it will ‘rescue’ your lips for sure.

Now that Models Own have expanded into Boots stores nationwide, their legendary polishes are a whole lot easier to get your hands on!

The range is simply quite mind boggling, with a shade for every occassion.  They also sell other cosmetics including eye and lip products and I have a particularly lovely neon pink lip product to show you very soon!

I was sent this Models Own shade in Fuzzy Peach and it’s a touch more neon in real life than my photo shows… the colour is pretty spot on, but it’s a little more vibrant in person.  Application was….interesting.

First 2 coats were streaksville.  Worse than Eyeko’s streakiness…. I laid down the first coat… waited 10 minutes and despite feeling pretty dry to the touch, I got some crappy cuticle drag on the second coat.  Thankfully the third coat evened everything out enough for me to be satisfied with the finish but I made sure to top everything off with a quick dry top coat.

Put it this way, I was a bit disappointed with the formula.

However, there’s no denying it’s one helluva colour for summer!  Someone with a tan and warmer skin would knock ’em dead with this on their tips.

Models Own Fuzzy Peach is £5 and available online and instore at Boots.

So you’ve probably all heard by now about the new Make Up Store which has recently opened on Carnaby Street in London.  Make Up Store are a swedish brand, though interestingly the products that I bought state that they are made in Canada.  They also operate out of Westfield in west London and last time I was in the city, I couldn’t resist trying a few products out!

Nice, sleek packaging!

Orion (£15.00) is a cream highlighter with a punch of colour.  It actually reminds me a little of what NARS Orgasm Illuminator could have been if they’d upped the amp on the pigmentation.  Perhaps a touch more peach though…

It’s shimmery, but not too glittery.  As I was browsing through the High Tech Lighters instore, I noticed that many contained enough glitter to render them unsuitable for daytime wear which was a big shame ‘cos some of the shades were magnificent!  I struggled to work out how best to apply it at first and in a fit of WHATEVER I just grabbed a synthetic Kabuki, tapped it on the surface of the cream and buffed into my cheeks.  I’m pleased with the effect!  I think it would be especially lovely ontop of bronzer.

I also picked up an eye pencil.  I’ve been looking for a dark navy with a touch of shimmer… and Deep Blue Sea (£8.50) fits the bill nicely!

It’s nice and dark with a heavy black base, so doesn’t scream “coloured eyeliner”… but there’s more than enough colour there to add a bit of interest to a smoky eye!

Texture is creamy but surprisingly long-lasting.  I didn’t need to warm the pencil up before using (one of my pet hates) so this gets a thumbs up from me!

I also picked up a nice peach blusher that looked true to colour without being too coral hued.

Passion (£14.00) is a fairly neutral peach that my cool toned skin can just about get away with.  It’s far more pigmented than I imagined it would be so I do have to apply with a light hand.

It’s shimmery but perfectly suitable for daywear.

I’m pleased with the pieces I bought and the staff in the store were helpful without being overbearing.  I’ll definitely be popping back next time I’m in town.

Here’s a quick FOTD showing Make Up Store’s Passion blush on the cheeks… I’m not sure why I look quite so crazy-eyed!

Scary lady!

Have you tried any Make Up Store goodies yet?

Kudos, that is a pretty cute video!

Matte (incase you haven’t guessed already) is a new mineral foundation from Bare Escentuals which claims a breakthrough formula designed to minimise pores, absorb excess shine without drying skin and keep your skin looking flawless and matte all day long.

Is it sad that I’m actually most excited about the new Click, Lock, Go™ sifter that promises to make spillages a thing of the past?

Bare Escentuals Matte SPF15 Foundation will be available from August exclusively to Selfridges before being rolled out across other counters and concessions nationwide in September.

Despite the ill-thought out blog name… I’m not actually a big fan of lip gloss.  There, I’ve said it.

For one… is there anything more irritating in life than battling the sticky gloss/errant flyaway hair pairing from hell when you’re doing your utmost to look nonchalant and breezy?

No.

What about when you see a hawt lipgloss shade and apply it only to see ABSOLUTELY NO DIFFERENCE WHATSOEVER.

So it was with curiosity that I accepted this Jemma Kidd Lip Gloss Trio from their PR recently.  I mean, not everything I get sent ends up on here… I like to have an opinion about a product one way or another if I’m going to feature it on Lipglossiping.  We all know that there are many, many ‘meh’ products out there…. and if something is so utterly ‘meh’ that I can barely bring myself to photograph it… then I don’t.

And in my world… lipgloss is kinda ‘meh’.

But wait!  This Jemma Kidd Air Kiss Gloss Trio is kinda caaaa-ute!  It’s a trio of mini lipglosses that snap into a handbag-sized holder.  I’m not sure why you’d need to carry 3 lipglosses around with you… but shush, I don’t like to be caught up in practical details when I’m presented with cute cosmetic presentation.

You slide the chosen gloss up and out of the holder…. no wait, I’m gonna call it a ‘holster’.  Like a gun… it sounds wayyyy cooler now right?

So, you slide the gloss up and out of the holster and it’s primed and ready for action!

Jemma Kidd have chosen three of their best-selling shades to include in the Air Kiss Gloss Trio and I like 2 of ’em.  I think the 3rd should have been a red… but that’s personal preference.  Do you like the colour combination?

The shades are sheer… not so sheer as to be un-noticeable, but they’re more for layering than wearing alone unless you’re going for a natural, simply polished look.  Which actually, is probably pretty apt for the Summer season no?

I’m wearing Rendezvous (on bare lips) in the above photo.  Once applied, the name makes sense… these glosses feel very lightweight on the lips.  They’re not gloopy and they’re not sticky, they’re just shiny with a hint of colour.  Oh and they smell ah-mazing too.

I’m also pretty impressed with the price too!  Ever since the Jemma Kidd line left the shelves of Boots many moons ago, it’s been a brand that has steadily risen in price.  So £9 for a trio of lip glosses makes pretty good financial sense.  Alsooooooo… they’re $19 in the US, so let’s celebrate in a very rare occurence.  Something’s cheaper over here! Woohoo!

Jemma Kidd Air Kiss Gloss Trio is priced at £9 and available from ASOS.