A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

~ The Lip Print gets the Smooth Infusion treament thanks to Aveda and Oscar Oscar salons.

~ The Pink Sith invites you to marvel at the Givenchy Prisme Yeux Quatour in Candide Garden, which is a nice departure from tired old Spring pastels.

~ Over at The Glamorous Gleam, Mz. More introduces a dupe for MAC’s Ripe Peach blush: Sleek’s Life’s a Peach!

~ Got a craving for something sweet? well, Krasey Beauty has swatches and a full look into the MAC Cosmetics Quite Cute collection!

~ LaaLaa may not have been wearing makeup so much as of late but that doesn’t mean her brushes have been neglected. Take a look on Dolce Vanity how she deep cleanses her brushes.

~ Tracy@Beauty Reflections got to try the new Sebastian Color Ignite Line and it whipped her hair into condition!

~ My Lips But Better put OPI Black Shatter to the test under various conditions – see the results!

~ L from Beautifully Addicted To re-discovers a favourite foundation in Bourjois 10hr Sleep Effect.

~ Jellyminx shares a super simple Nail Art tutorial.

~ Kimberly from KimmieKarmaLove learns to Bite the Bullet and to wear a black base!

~ Madame B Fatale has a tutorial on soft green and purple eyes.

~ Are you having problems with your foundation? Check out Spiced Beauty’s HDsecret.

~ Alyson at The Gloss Menagerie has some Inglot AMC lipgloss swatches to share with you!

~ At Music and Makeup Jo can’t stop raving about a £1.50 Accessorize eye dust bargain and features it in this face of the day.

~ Spring is here, so Mariella at Musing on Beauty reunites with her fake tan and reviews Clarins Delectable Self Tanning Mousse.

~ Daily Polish has teamed up with a top London salon to give away a FREE Minx or Shellac Manicure or Pedicure! Enter now!

~ theNotice is giving away two rather surprising products that’ll get your skin summer-ready in no time flat. Find out what they are!

Hold on to your retinas, this one’s a scorcher!  SpaRitual Knowledge is Power is a stunner.

Not only is it a stunner but I think it has special powers.  I wore this the other day at the gym and even though I was HALFWAY through a 5 minute run, looking down at this shade on my tips cheered me up.  Magic.

Very nearly neon but not quite.  This one needs a top coat to bring back the shine as it does dry semi-matte, something not uncommon with shades as bright as this.

Mr. L hates this shade on me but I love it.  I feel just like Barbie, minus the boobs.  Ok, with the boobs, minus the waist.

If you wanna play Barbie too, you can buy it online from SpaRitual priced at £8.50

This week’s, question of the week…

What’s your skin care routine?

At night, I always remove my makeup with either a cleansing oil, balm or gel before following up with a cream-based non-drying cleanser (currently loving the new Bare Escentuals Purifying Facial Cleanser helped along with my Clarisonic).

I only use toner in the Summer (never astringent) and depending on how my skin is behaving, I alternate between facial oils and cream moisturisers.  I love a good eye cream and serum, especially if it promises to calm sensitised skin (currently in love with SkinCeuticals Phyto Corrective) and once or twice a week, I’ll exfoliate with a chemical exfoliator like Alpha H Liquid Gold.

In the mornings, I’m much less high-maintenance.  I’ll splash some water on my face and a small amount of cleanser, pop on my Elemis Pro Collagen Marine Cream and sunscreen and I’m done!

EauMG – What flower makes you think of spring? Here’s a review of pretty British line’s Penhaligon’s Lily of the Valley.

Nouveau Cheap – Shows you exactly why the new Milani Baked Blushes live up to their hype.

Lipglossiping – wonders if O.P.I’s mini collection of flower-themed polishes will have you scrabbling to paint yourselves PINK this Summer?!

Orange to LA – Finds a new fun way to dye your hair with Clairol Nice n’ Easy Color Blend Foam. Shake it, Foam it, Love it!

Pink Sith – Joeybunny on the Pink Sith Blog gives you an Introduction to Concrete Minerals. Read at your own risk because after you do, you’ll be buying them too!

Phyrra – tells you about CandyLens.com & Geo Angel Circle Lenses! See if you like them!

Vampy Varnish – MAC Primed for Perfection Are you primed and ready?

we heart this – we ask “how cute?” MAC answers – “quite!” Our MAC Quite Cute photos, swatches and review

Beauty Junkies Unite – reviews the newest mascara from Too Faced, Size Queen Mascara. Look at that brush!

Clumps of Mascara – is absolutely loving E.L.F.’s makeup brushes. $3 for a skunk for a skunk brush? Wowsers!

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How about you ladies?  I’d love to hear how in depth your skincare routines go!

Aside from being completely in love with the name, I’ve fallen pretty heavily for the polish too!

Ciate Velvet Tuxedo is a lovely gunmetal grey with some rather special multi-coloured micro shimmer!  Sadly, the shimmer is pretty much undetectable in my photo so you’ll have to trust me that it’s there if you look closely enough!

The formula on this one was a delight and practically opaque in a single coat.  I did two coats more out of habit than necessity.  So, it’s not a very Spring/Summer shade… but do keep this one in mind next Winter because I can’t see you  being disappointed by its performance!

Ciate Velvet Tuxedo is priced at £9.00 and available to buy online from PowderRooms.

Are you a gunmetal fan?

For the love of all things shimmery, creme-y and smelling of solvent will someone PLEASE stock Diamond Cosmetics nail polishes in the UK again?

It was a dark, dark day when Flashy Nails closed and took with it the last (as far as I’m aware) of the UK stock.

Let’s have a quick recap of what we’re missing…

Yeah… we don’t really need much more convincing than that do we?  But just incase you do…

And some of the ones I haven’t gotten round to swatching yet…

Did I mention these used to retail at around $2.50 a bottle in the U.S.?  Don’t make me beg now…

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So, UK ladies – are you with me?  Who do we have to bribe with fudge to get our own way… and just how much fudge are we talking!?

…please read this.

Picture the scene, you’ve spent the last two years growing and shaping a blog that shares your passion with hundreds of thousands of people around the world.  You started with nothing and poured long days and late nights into developing a brilliant blog that becomes your livelihood.

One day, some non-entity wakes up and decides they need a catchy name for their business.  They come across your well-established blog, like the name and think “I want a bit of that!”.  Instead of putting in even 1% of the effort you have, they decide to ride your coat-tails and appropriate your branding for their website, blog and other social media outlets.

As if that wasn’t bad enough… they begin the proceedings to trademark this name they have no right to using.  Which means that if they are successful, you won’t be allowed to continue using your blog name.  You lose your internet identity.  For good.

This is exactly what’s happening to Amber at Shoeperwoman – a blog I’ve lusted over for many years.

Please head over to Shoeperwoman and have a read of the story, it’s both eye-opening and sad.  Bloggers generally don’t have the means to protect their identities through the formal channels… we don’t start our endeavours with our business heads on but by God we should fight for what is ours.

Please RT, link to and help spread the word about Amber’s story.  You can follow Shoeperwoman on twitter, here.

I’ve featured vegan, polish brand SpaRitual on the blog before and thought you might like to take a peek at their 2011 Spring Collection, Truth.

6 Spring shades, 6 pretty cremes (do I spy an uber trendy yellow?!)

Knowledge is Power: Hot Pink Creme
Reveal Yourself: Pastel Lilac Creme
Circle of Life: Vibrant Blue Creme
Enlightened Soul: Yellow Creme
Eye of the Beholder: Grassy Green Creme
Face of Destiny: Peach Creme

Are you liking the look of any of these?  I’ve got swatches of Knowledge is Power and Circle of Life coming up soon!

SpaRitual polishes are priced at £8.50 each and available to buy online.

Whilst this may not be the most important question we’ll ever ponder, for me… it was all I could think about a fortnight ago as I sat in the hair salon umm-ing and ahh-ing over this very dilemma.

In the end, I did what I always do in situations like this, I semi-commited.  I let the stylist cut me a hint of a fringe, a slight side sweep.  A fringe for wimps really.

I don’t like it. It’s bitty and it’s annoying… it says “Here stands a woman who has no faith in her own judgement!”

What I should have done, is bought one of these before visiting the salon.

The Cosmopolitan Collection Sexy Straight Fringe in Darkest Brown.  A clip-in fringe for commitment-phobes!

It’s the easiest thing in the world to attach, simply align wherever you want the end of your fringe to reach and press on the two clips that come attached.  Voila!

Instant fringe!

Now, whilst I am actually in love with my new fringe, it doesn’t come without issues.

1. It’s synthetic and therefore shiny.  If only my real hair were this shiny!  Now, don’t get me wrong… we’re not in doll’s hair territory, it’s not a horrible synthetic shine but it does contrast to my own hair and I need to fix this before I’d wear it out.  I’ve heard that some dry shampoo should do the trick.

2. If you have fine hair like mine, you need to play around with the back of the fringe (where it meets your hair) to ensure that the join is as well-hidden as possible.  Those with thicker locks will probably find this a doddle, I need a bit of careful placement and backcombing.

3.  Beware of relationships with partners, family and friends.  Mr. L and I are no longer on speaking terms since he called me Duane Dibley.

On the plus side, it provides instant gratification for a striking new look on nights out or when I want to confuse my 2 year old.  It’s well cut and heavy enough without being comedy-heavy and perhaps best of all, it covers my grey roots like a dream!

You can purchase The Cosmopolitan Collection Sexy Straight Fringe* online at HotHair, priced at £24.

* Press Sample

OK, enough with Spring/Summer… here’s my favourite season (in terms of colour – definitely NOT weather!).

OPI have previewed their Autumn/Fall collection, titled Touring America and it looks a little something like this:

It’s a large, 12-piece collection which can be split into the usual sophisticated yet dirgy, autumnal shades and rather awesomely, some fall-toned brights too!  From the bottle shots, the brights look like they may be metallics but I’m not 100% on this – I’ll have to wait to see some swatches before I can confirm!

Let’s have a breakdown:

Are We There Yet?: Melon
I Eat Mainely Lobster: Luminous Coral
My Address is “Hollywood”: Vivid Rose
Color to Diner For: Iconic Red
Honk if You Love OPI: Rich Raisin
Road House Blues: Deep Sapphire

Suzi Takes the Wheel: Grey
French Quarter for Your Thoughts: Sexy Grey
Uh-oh Roll Down the Window: Chic Olive
A-taupe the Space Needle: Creamy-Rich Taupe
Get in the Expresso Lane: Amped-Up Dark Brown
I Brake for Manicures: Eggplant-Plum

I’m pretty divided on this Touring America collection.

Autumn is the pinnacle of nail polish collections for me, it rarely gets better and if this represents the best of what I have to look forward to from one of the biggest players in the polish world.  I’m just not sure I’m as excited as I hoped I would be.

Coming from someone who loves their grungy, dirty shades… I would have liked to see OPI mix things up a bit.  Get adventurous with the dirge!  Some different textures maybe?  I don’t know… as I said, I haven’t seen these in person so there may well be something about them that lifts from the standard cremes.  I hope so but at the moment I’m left with an overwhelming feeling of deja-vu.

Thinking back to last year’s Swiss Collection (of which I own the majority!), I’m just not getting the same buzz from this year’s offerings although I am pleased to see OPI carry over some Summer shades whilst giving them an interesting Autumn edge!

These will be available from LenaWhite, priced at £10.50 each.

What are your first impressions of OPI’s Touring America Collection?

Did you know that April is Earth Month?  Well it is, so listen up!

Now in its 12th year, Aveda created Earth Month in April 1999 to raise awareness and funds for critically important environmental issues around the world, and has since raised more than $18 million for organizations that directly affect environmental change.

This year, Aveda are focusing on helping to provide access to clean water and sanitation for children and families around the world.

Lisa Snowdon and Margherita Taylor join Aveda’s 2011 Walk for Water as part of 12th Earth Month Initiative

Last week, the brand successfully organised and completed a five mile “Walk for Water” campaign along London’s Southbank, raising funds for Wateraid along the way.

The company have also released a rather lovely, limited edition “Light The Way” candle.

The Aveda Light The Way candle features a French-inspired aroma made with 100 percent certifed organic ingredients, including lavender, lavandin and clary sage sourced from the Diois region of northern Provence, France.

Formulated from soy wax, which means that the candle burns cleanly and completely from first light through to final extinguish.

The candle retails in the UK for £16.

Of that purchase price, £12.80 per candle sold in the UK will go to Global Greengrants Fund (GGF) and their water-related projects.

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Origins have established a partnership with Global ReLeaf to plant trees and restore wildfire-damaged areas which means that for every Plantscription sold during 17th – 30th April 2011, Origins will plant a tree on the customer’s behalf.

What a good way to get green thumbs without getting dirty!

In addition to this, you need to know about their trade-in/amnesty deal!

For one day only on 22nd April 2011…

Customers can bring in any current skincare product (any brand, full or empty) and trade it in for a complimentary full size of either Checks and Balances Frothy Face Wash or A Perfect World Antioxidant Cleanser with White Tea.

That’s a deal worth £16/€23!  Yes, really!

To find your nearest Origins counter/store, check the Origins website and search for your postcode.

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Finally, French organic beauty brand Melvita are celebrating Earth Month and honouring their own bee-entwined roots by installing an apiary above their London flagship store in Covent Garden in an attempt to protect the declining bee population!

The apiary will be a permanent fixture on the roof of the Covent Garden store and also celebrates the launch of The Melvita Foundation which exists to protect the environment and bee populations around the world.

“We should not be scared of bees.  They are the guardians of the environment, they contribute to ecological biodiversity.  With the Melvita Foundation, you can act and protect them” Bernard Chevilliat, Melvita Founder.

During Earth Month, Melvita customers can help add more hives to the Melvita City Apiary through purchasing select Melvita products which contain honey.

•  Hydrastim – £22.00
•  Softening Hand Cream – £12.00
•  Apicosma Body Balm – £19.00
•  Softening Shower Gel – £9.50
•  Capiforce Hair Mask – £18.00

For each of these products purchased, Melvita will donate £1 to the Apiary fund, which will raise money to buy new hives and to further encourage the protection of the bees in and around London.

If you want to learn more about the Foundation, Melvita are holding a Bee Workshop on the 22nd April in the St Martin’s Courtyard store from 1pm – 4pm.  It’s open to all, so pop along to take a closer look at the bees and indulge in some free honey tasting!

Featuring 9 skincare products with prices starting from just £8, Elemis are looking to plug a gap in the market and bring their reputation for great skincare to a younger audience.

Noella Gabriel, Director of Product & Treatment Development at Elemis describes the range as … “a girl’s first serious skincare regime using high performance ingredients with lightweight textures and beautiful essential oils.”

Products in the range include cleansing wipes, separate day and evening moisturisers, two types of face wash, eye cream, lip balm, face masks and a serum which appears to be missing from the website at the moment.

Make Up Away Cleansing Wipes (25) – £8
Peachy Perfect Gentle Face Wash 100ml – £12
Skin Glow Exfoliating Face Wash 100ml – £12
Softly Softly Daily Moisturiser 50ml – £20
Dreamy Sleep Night-Time Moisturiser 50ml – £22
Tired Eyes Soothing Eye Rescue 15ml – £15
Loving Lips Quenching Lip Balm 10ml – £8
Face Mask Duo deep clean and magical moisture 6 x 7ml – £15

Gemx is kindly going to be test-driving the products on her (more youthful!) skin for a month before giving us her thoughts on the formulations of the new range and how they work for her.

My first impressions are mostly positive with a few doubts thrown in…

I think it’s a shame that Elemis chose to target it so directly to a female audience, I would have preferred to see something more unisex.  Secondly, thinking back to how far my pennies stretched when I was at uni… there are a few products in the lineup that wouldn’t have impressed.  £8 for 25 wipes?  £15 for 6 face masks?  I’m not saying they’re not worth it (I haven’t tried them!) but at that price, I don’t think I would have been inclined to either.  A simple question of economics would have prevented me!

On the flip-side?  I think that £12 and £20(ish) for core skincare items (face wash, moisturisers) is pretty good going from a brand that, let’s remember, is synonymous with some of the most luxe skincare products on the market.

You can buy the range online now from TimeToSpa.co.uk (UK) and TimeToSpa.com (North/South America)

It’s an interesting one, what do you think?

A BIG thank you to everyone who took the time to enter my recent Beautique/Urban Retreat competition!

They were so pleased with the response (and super cool answers) that they wanted to offer everyone a 15% discount code to use online at Beautique.com

But who was the lucky winner of an amazing £100 Urban Retreat voucher and pamper hamper?  Well, turns out – it was this lady – congratulations Stephanie!

If you want to have a read of some of Beautique’s favourite entries, click here to see if yours made their top list!