A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

I received a press release a few days ago alerting me to a store called ToxicFreeBoutique.

To be honest, I didn’t pay much attention to the email.  As soon as I saw the name of the store I was all “yeah, yeah… organic… dull… where did I put the biscuits…”

It was only a few days later at about 2 in the morning, when any normal person would be tucked up in their bed that I remembered the email and opened it up to have a look at what ToxicFreeBoutique was all about.

As it happens, it’s far more interesting than I initially gave it credit for.

They have bath tea bags! Tea Bags! For your bath!  I love it, it’s quirky and cute and I want one.  I love all things ginger (except cats), therefore “phew” has my name written all over it.

The website is kinda sucky (sorry, but it is) but I was well and truly snared when I read the following…

Mezaya water-based nail colours are an innovative concept to traditional polish. If you are used to traditional polishes you will immediately notice some differences.  Mezaya polishes do not have the potent smell usually associated with nail polish.

Wait.. what? Non-stinky polishes? Admittedly, I’m not hugely knowledgeable about nail polishes… I love ’em in a very shallow un-learned way.  But this is news to me!  Not only that, but the day Mr L. doesn’t nag me about the smell painting my nails creates, is the day the world will fall of it’s axis.  This sounds like it would give my ears a welcome rest from his “GOD, that stinks!” declarations.

Of course, I’m sure there are other “health” type benefits from toxic-free nail polish… but meh, whatever… just stop the nagging already.

My 3 favourites from the collection: L-R: Pink Tea, Navy Angel, Big Kisses

They also have some transluscents… but they just annoy me.  If I wanna see my nails, I just won’t wear polish.

I also have to give the company props for the images… it’s nice to see “swatches” of shades next to the product information.  How many times have we been disappointed when a colour has applied NOTHING like how it looks in the bottle?  Too many, that’s how many.

Also… for the love of God.  Tell us!  Is it a cream? is it a sheer? metallic?  There’s honestly not many things that annoy me more than getting home a gorgeous opaque (in the bottle) shade only for it to take about 12 coats to achieve opacity on the nail.  So thank you for including the finishes in the description Mezaya. Kudos.

Something had to go and spoil it though didn’t it… I looked at the price.  £12.95 for a 10ml (not even your standard 15ml) bottle of toxic free polish.  And then they want £3 to post it to you.  £16… for a 10ml bottle.  That’s 26 of your US Dollars… for a bottle of nail polish.  That doesn’t even smell of nail polish 😉

They’re a bit too rich for me, even if they would work better than earplugs.

Back in the days of stumpgate, the wonderful Sirvinya kindly offered to send me a spare pack of her Nailene false nails that she’d received for review purposes.

I was tragically distraught at the state of my tips and would have ripped the packet out of her hands given half the chance.  Living a good many miles away from her she was saved that fate and I had to sit on my nails instead, waiting (impatiently) until the postman dropped them through my letterbox.

I’m not used to false nails, I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve donned a set of these.  I remember one occasion, I’d not long met my soon-to-be husband… we were young and cavalier back then.  He lived over 300 miles away from me and we’d sneak weekends together whenever we got the chance.  My 19yr old self obviously wanted to look my best, and I invested in a set of falsies (nails not tits) from Superdrug.  I remember they were red. *roarrrr*

They kept falling off.  Before my coach had even arrived in County Durham, I’d re-stuck them on about 50 times.  The weekend was wonderful… we laughed, played Super Mario, drunk Lambrini and ate many slices of Salami pizza (you’ll be pleased to hear I’ve retained my classiness).  I was demure, elegant and altogether rather swishy.  That is until his mother told me a few years later that she’d found at least 6 of my stick-on red nails tangled in his bed sheets and thought her son had developed a “thing” for ladies of the night.

So, that was my very short lived affair with false nails… it was over as quickly as it had begun and I haven’t even considered them since.  Until now.

These sounded as if they’d be easy to apply… but judging from the instructions, I could tell that removal was gonna be a pain in the backside.

I was right on both counts!  I had no problems with application, no air bubbles, no visible glue, and boy do these buggers stick!  I couldn’t resist doing that thing before removing them… yano, the ‘lifting’ thing.. seeing how much strain I could put on them, waiting for that satisying popping sound as they broke free from my nail bed.  In hindsight, I’m freaking grateful it never came.  I mean, what the hell was I thinking?  It’s like spot-picking… you know you shouldn’t, but that doesn’t stop you.

Here they are in action:

They look… false, don’t they? Mannequin hands…  I didn’t like how they looked on me.  I have quite narrow nails, and these made my hands look pretty chunky and squat.  Sizing was the issue, I couldn’t find one narrow enough to fit my index fingers properly.  Can you tell?  In the first picture I think it’s obvious that the index fingernail is too big.  Not only that, but although it seemed to just about fit on the nail bed, I noticed that it started to hurt the cuticles about 12hrs later, so it was definitely too large.

Removal was… tedious.  Worse than tedious.  I soaked as instructed.  What I failed to realise was that my Sally Hansen Nail Polish Remover was coloured blue.  10 minutes of soaking later, I emerged from my dip bowl with blue fingers up the knuckles.  And they stayed that way for a couple of days.  I think I preferred stumpgate.

What can you take away from this review other than the fact that I’m an idiot who was once mistaken for a prostitute?

Well, the nails are fine… if you like the look of them.  They’re easy to apply, a bitch to remove and might not suit you if you have narrow nails.  Look… I could have just saved myself about 3204 words right there.

Nailene So Real False Nails are available… actually, I’m not sure where they’re available in the UK… Boots? Superdrug? If you’ve seen ’em let me know so I can update!

Can’t. stop. buying. these. lipsticks.

Seriously, at under £2 a pop you can afford to experiment, and although the Cherry Culture swatches are pretty naff… Google is your friend.

I bought 3 more with my last haul.  Actually, I think I bought 5… but 2 were Ronald McDonald reds so I gave them to someone who would look less like a serial killer in them.

These are the 3 I kept:

And here’s what they look like swatched “ON MAH FACE!”:

NYX Paris is my favourite, it’s a perfect pink for me… not too warm, not too cool.  Love it!  It’s glossy and smooth and doesn’t highlight my sore bits.

NYX B52 is a touch warm for me, but it’s not too bad.  Doesn’t look much like I expected it to, it’s a little darker on my skintone than I thought it would be.  Texture is great though.

I don’t understand this pout… is it even a pout?  What AM I doing?  Anyway… ignoring the stupid expression, NYX Power is akin to Revlon’s Pink Pout but without the dryness.  It’s not a total dupe, but it’s the nearest I’ve found for my skintone (yes, I know MAC Angel is a well-known dupe, but not on me).

Well… I hope I am.

This post has been scheduled from earlier in the week… and by the time it pops up on your blogger page or in your google reader I’ll hopefully be hammering down the doors to Alexandra Palace shouting “Lemme in!”

Hey! Interesting fact… did you know that the world’s first public broadcasts of television were made from Alexandra Palace in 1936?  No… see, never feel guilty lurking about on Lipglossiping.com… it’s not just about the makeup.  You get an educashon here too 😉

So anyway, IMATS!

Word on the grapevine is that IMATS London 2010 has outsold any other show in IMATS history.  It’s gonna be busy!  Which is why I’m there when the doors open, ‘cos heaven forbid OCC runs out of lip tars before I get my snout to the counter.  I will not be held accountable for my actions I tell thee!

I’ll be tweeting ‘live’ from the show like the sad git I am, so if you wanna read what I’m getting up to and see some shoddily taken iPhone photos along the way, then make sure you’re following my twitter feed!

Much love, me xx

I bought some Bobbi Brown Metallic Long-Wear Cream Shadows a couple of months ago and thought I’d share my thoughts on them…

The packaging is lovely, nice heavyweight glass jars…. they feel substantial and chunky!

Brown Metal

Starry Purple

Starry Night

Goldstone

Antique Gold

The swatches…

Disappointed is my feeling on these.  They look beautiful in the jar, truly.  But they’re *so* sheer… the swatches show a good number of swipes to get them pigmented enough to photograph.

I love the idea behind them, and I do wear them… I wear them underneath simillar toned powder shades and the only purpose they really serve is to add a bit of sparkle.  You also have to be really careful not to end up with glitter all over your face when applying these.  My  favourite is Goldstone, which unfortunately, is the biggest glitter dropper of all of them.

I’m simply left with the feeling that they could have been so much more.

Do you own any of these?  How do you wear them? Any tips to make me love them?

Earlier in the week, I posted a Day Look with the new Urban Decay Alice in Wonderland Palette.

Here’s my “Evening Look” to complete the set.

Apologies for the graininess in the shadows of the image, it looks like I have the beginning of a green-tinged beard.  My flash kept crapping out on me ‘cos I was too lazy to find a new set of rechargeables, so it was pretty underexposed and then lightened when I edited it.  And that’s never a good combo.

Anyway – crap photography excused…

All shades blended like a dream.

Can you see spot any great evening combos in the palette?

I’ve never claimed to be particularly artful in my makeup application… my ‘skillz’ leave a lot to be desired, but I won’t feel like I’ve “done Alice to death” until I’ve posted a day and an evening look using the palette.

It’s also a little more intimidating now I appear to have picked up a fresh swathe of followers along the way – Hello! *waves*…  I promise it looked slightly more blended in real life than it does in the picture.

This was…

It’s a bit Autumnal but I liked it!

Have you spotted any great daytime combinations you’re itching to try out?

With my love for cleansing oils fairly well documented, I was keen to try another in my (quite possibly) never-ending quest for the ‘perfect’ cleansing oil.

I want my oil to do 3 things…

1). Cleanse my skin (like, duh!)

2). Rinse clean leaving no oily residue.

3). Not dry my skin out.

There’s other stuff too like “smell nice”, “not break the bank”, “easy to dispense”, “look pretty in my bathroom”… but they’re secondary to my 3 Commandments of Cleansing Oils.

I was sent a bottle of Nude Cleansing Facial Oil for potential review and immediately liked it’s sleek, minimalistic exterior.  I am a sucker for packaging, and this ticks all the boxes for me.

Detergent free? So that’s SLS and the like which are well known culprits for stripping skin of moisture… good stuff!

The ingredients are listed as:

INGREDIENTS: glycine soja (soybean) oil, polyglyceryl-4-oleate (vegetable oil), squalene (olive oil), tocopherol acetate (plant sources), natural fragrance (parfum), benzyl benzoate (essential oil), linalool (essential oil), eugenol (essential oil)

The first thing I noticed was the quality of the ingredients… At £28 a bottle, this stuff isn’t cheap.  But if I think back to my SK-II, (which came in at a hefty £32) it’s central ingredient was mineral oil.  I commented then on how mineral oil is one of the cheapest substances on Earth and I’m delighted to see that Nude Skincare have stayed true to their Organic ethos by keeping their ingredients as natural and pure as possible.

On their website, Nude assert that…

Up to 70% of what we put onto our skin is absorbed into the blood stream. Our remarkable products work with the skin, using active ingredients that face and body can understand and use without harm.

I can get on board with that..

Packaging is 40% recycled plastic apparently and I have no quality issues to report.  The bottle is great for travel… I carted this up to the North East with me and didn’t experience any spillages.

The blurb says to dispense 1 or 2 pumps.. I don’t wear huge amount of makeup, but I don’t find 1 pump to be enough.  It’s quite a thick oil and doesn’t spread *that* easily.  2 pumps makes it easier to guide over my face, and if I’m wearing a smoky eye… then it needs to be 3, which is quite a lot compared to other oils.

When using this, I actually feel like I’m experiencing a ‘treatment’ rather than simply cleansing my face.  One of the reasons is the scent.  Quite strong and pungent, it’s inescapable.  If you’re not a fan of strong scents in your skincare products, then I’d think really carefully before purchasing this cleansing oil.  I’m a huge fan of the smell… it reminds me of something quite specific which you’d probably all laugh at, but which turns the whole experience into something a little more special than simply washing my makeup off.

I can’t really say that without telling you what it makes me think of can I?

OK… it reminds me of being a teenager at my parent’s home in France.  It reminds me of Autumn and of damp horse chestnuts scattered over the lanes… It reminds me of woodburners and the wood from those horse chestnut trees spitting as the resin gets caught by the flames.

Silly and very personal to me but I can only review on my experiences.  What’s useful for you to take away from that is the fact that scent-wise, I think you’d either love it or hate it.  Have a sniff of it next time you’re in Space NK and let me know what you think!

Because the oil is of a thicker, more viscous consistency, I find myself massaging it into my skin in little circles.  I do this without any real thought – it’s almost a subconscious action, and one that probably benefits my skin more than I appreciate.

What about cleansing though? Does it budge mascara, foundation, eye liners?  Yes… apart from when I use a particularly hard to budge eyeliner, I have no problems removing my makeup with this cleansing oil and my eyes suffer no sensitivity from wiping this over my eyelids.

It doesn’t emulsify as completely as I would like.  I’m finding this to be my main annoyance with most of the cleansing oils I’ve tried.  It (like many others) leaves a slightly oily feeling on my hands and face.  I don’t think it leaves a proper ‘residue’ per se, but my skin doesn’t have that squeaky clean feeling after rinsing off.  I need to second cleanse with another product when using this cleansing oil.

A huge plus point in it’s favour is that I’m not noticing this oil drying my skin out at all.  Compared to all the others I’ve tried and reviewed (DHC, Shiseido, SK-II, Smashbox) – this one leaves my skin feeling as soft and supple as promised.  I’m putting that down to those carefully selected ingredients.

So, Nude Cleansing Oil… are you my Holy Grail?  You *are* lovely and I have thoroughly enjoyed using you…. I love the feelings your scent invokes and the way you’ve quite unexpectedly turned my cleansing routine into a mini spa.  I just wish that you emulsified completely and were a little more affordable.

Pros: Beautifully Scented, Removes makeup well, Quality Ingredients, Great Packaging, Non-Drying & Luxurious to use

Cons: Doesn’t emulsify completely, Expensive

Seeing as I’m in London for the tail end of the week… a fitting Wordless Wednesday.

Why?!  Just why?

Some of us may look like we apply our makeup in the dark, we don’t.  It’s just a polite expression…

If someone, gently ribbing me happens to say: “Bless, you look like you’ve applied your makeup in the dark!”  They’re not telling me to go and purchase a light up mascara wand or lip gloss.  They’re telling me to either a). Go get some makeup lessons or b). Put the blue eyeshadow down.

I don’t want LEDs on my cosmetics and I certainly don’t want to pay more for the privilege.

I-Gloss from New <ID Cosmetics…

Lashlight from Too Faced… <tongue in cheek>The mascara that blinds you with light whilst you’re holding a pointy stick 4mm from your eyeball</tongue in cheek>

Nothing says… “Are you 4 or 24?” better than a disco in your lip gloss.

This is Part 3 of a triple post on the Urban Decay Alice in Wonderland Palette.  Check out Part 1 and Part 2.

Whew!  I’ve been on a marathon swatching session for you to feast your eyes upon!  I hope the photos are clear enough.  I’ve worked hard to keep the swatches as close to real life as possible and I’m confident I’ve achieved it.

Slightly less importantly, I’ve added a commentary of my thoughts on each of the shadows.  I think eye shadow preferences are a particularly personal affair, so please be aware that these are my personal likes and dislikes.

There still seems to be a lot of (mis)information flying around.  To clarify, the Alice in Wonderland Book of Shadows will be released exclusively at Debenhams.  It appears that *some* stores won’t be receiving stock, so do check with your local store in advance to save disappointment.  If your store won’t be selling it, you will be able to order it online from Debenhams.com (and there’s usually a free delivery code floating around on t’internet to save you a few pennies).

The palette will be priced at £28 (UK) / €37 (Ireland) and the rumours that there are only 2000 palettes allocated for our shores are untrue.  There will be many more than that, but it IS limited edition and it WILL sell out quickly as sales in the US have proven.

Ok, that aside… let’s get started shall we?

Key:

S = Shimmer
SG = Shimmer Glitter
UGBCGGIOM = Ugh! Great Bit Chunks o’Glitter, GET IT OFF ME!

UNDERLAND (flash) (S) – A true violet.  It’s buildable to a strong intensity with 3 strokes… definitely leaning towards the cool tones –

ALICE (painkiller) (S) – Beautiful aqua turquoise.  Highly pigmented, one firm stroke gives solid opacity on the lid.  Not a shade for shy, retiring types! –

CHESSUR (chopper) (SG) – A gold that leans towards brown.  This would be great for a pop of intensity to an otherwise neutral eye.  It’s gold, but not gaudy –

WHITE RABBIT (polyester bride) (UGBCGGIOM) – More commonly known as “Polyester Bride”.  It’s a white with silver reflects.  Gritty in the pan, the large chunks of glitter are more likely to end up on your cheeks than stay on your lids.  Be prepared to apply your eyeshadow with your head tilted toward the ceiling in an attempt to minimise fall out –

ORACULUM (baked) (S) – A true intense yellow gold.  Blends like buttah and I fear that I’m already making a very slight dip in the pan on this one –

QUEEN (last call) (S) – One of the nicest cranberry shades I’ve ever worn.  Most make me look like I’ve been rubbing my eyes, this one has enough purple in it to avoid that.  Texture is simillar to UNDERLAND –

WONDERLAND (maui wowie) (SG) – Quite hard to describe… a neutral gold?  60% Gold/40% Silver?  It’s paler than the others in the palette and slightly more metallic.  Glitter is present, but mostly disappears with a couple of taps of my brush.  Other than being a beautiful shade in it’s own right, I love this one for it’s flexibility.  It pairs beautifully with most of the shades in the palette –

CURIOUSER (grifter) (SG) – Looks pink in the pan, applies lilac-y on my pale skintone.  Slightly less pigmented than the majority of shades in the box, but like UNDERLAND… it’s buildable.  Unlike UNDERLAND, it contains glitter which will build alongside the colour intensity –

MUCHNESS (x) (S) – Pretty peach with a golden sheen.  A lovely duotone that would look great set against blue eyes, but not such a great shade for my pale pink skin.  Texture however, is smooth as a baby’s bum and strongly pigmented –

MUSHROOM (mushroom) (S) – In my world, all taupes would look like this.  The perfect blend of grey/brown, a gorgeous crease colour –

ABSOLEM (homegrown) (S) – I’m not a fan of greens (which is one reason why I prefer this palette to the BOSII), but I’ll try my hardest to be impartial!  This is slightly sheerer than the pan would suggest… It’s buildable and safe to do so without ending up looking like a disco ball thanks to a lack of glitter.  A shimmering grassy green that would look fab paired with WONDERLAND –

DRINK ME EAT ME (sin) (S) – A fabulous champagne shade that makes a wonderful base for a neutral eye.  No glitter, smooth-textured and highly pigmented.  This is a winner! –

MIDNIGHT TEA PARTY (mcra) (UGBCGGIOM) – You knew it was coming… Midnight Cowboy Rides Again (and again, and again).  Why do Urban Decay keep insisting on putting it in my palettes! 😉  In seriousness, I know that there are lots of people out there who LOVE this shade… but for the life of me, I can’t think why.  You guys must love it *for* the glitter, ‘cos once that’s dropped onto my lashes and cheekbones (20 seconds after applying) all that’s left is a very sheer version of DRINK ME. EAT ME –

VORPAL (s&m) (S) – Stunning! Looks simillar to MUSHROOM in the pan.  Swatched, it’s a gorgeous platinum grey.  Smooth as buttah and blends beautifully.  I actually DARE you to dislike this shade –

MAD HATTER (twice baked) (S) – The least shimmery shadow in the palette.  MAD HATTER is a neutral dark brown which should get kudos for not leaning towards the red.  It’s slightly sheer on the first stroke, which I appreciate as it would be easy to go overboard otherwise.  I’m sure it’s an absolute staple neutral shade for many –

JABBERWOCKY (oil slick) (SG) – Underneath the glitter, this looks to be a matte black.  It’s highly pigmented… so use with a light touch!  I don’t really wear black shadows but I’ve discovered that I LOVE to use this wet as an eyeliner.  The glitter makes it a killer black liner for the evening!  Urban Decay even make a product that allows you to do this with ease (or, failing that, just wet your favourite eyeliner brush with a drop of good old H2O).  Don’t worry, Urban Decay eyeshadows can be used wet or dry! –

24/7 Pencil in ZERO – A basic strongly pigmented smooth matte black.  Glides on, doesn’t rub off easily.  A makeup staple! –

24/7 Pencil in FLIPSIDE – A super bright teal.  For me, FLIPSIDE is a wise inclusion.  The palette boasts a number of shadows that work well together to create a natural looking eye and FLIPSIDE is the perfect shade to lift that neutral looking eye out of the ordinary and into the extraordinary… straight into Alice’s world perhaps? –

That’s it!  That’s all I’ve got for you (barring a couple of dodgy looks I’ve done with the palette).  If you have any questions about the palette or swatches, I’ll do my best to answer them for you.

A lovely greyed-out lavender.  It’s one of them dirty colours… I love me a bit of grunge.

This is my first Orly polish and I’m torn.  I found the formula easy to work with… a little thin, but I don’t mind thin polishes as long as they dry quickly and evenly, which this did.  The above shows 4 coats… 1 more than I would have preferred… but it’s ok.

However, I dislike the brush intensly.  It’s super thin and bendy.  Maybe I’ve been spoiled by the OPI Wide Brush that covers a nail in 3 clean strokes… this took about 6/7.  I think I can live with it, but only because of the thin formula.  Painting thicker polish with a brush that weedy would be a nightmare.  Are most Orly polishes fairly thin?

Longevity has been fine… medium amount if tip wear, but no chips.

What do you think of the shade? Are you a fan of grungey colours?