A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

In 1993, I turned 12. I was in my second year of secondary school and fully in love with Evan Dando. Prince changed his name to something unpronounceable, Myst was released on MAC OS, and Teletext launched on ITV & C4.

Aside from all that excitement, 1993 was also the year that Jean Paul Gaultier released his eponymous Classique fragrance… an iconic scent in an even-more-iconic bottle.

Roll forward 21-years and Prince is still rocking-out venues worldwide. Teletext, however, has since been banished to the sands of time (who else misses Bamboozle?). It seems the secret of longevity, may be reinvention… Prince knows it and you can be sure that Jean Paul Gaultier knows it too, which is why this Summer marks the launch of Jean Paul Gaultier Classique Intense.

Francis Kurkdjian is the nose behind this (re)creation, and with a belief that the original should be more than simply honoured, the perfumer has remained faithful to its precursor with an indisputable air of femininity, overwhelming sense of decadence, and signature sensuality. Infact, it is said that the new Jean Paul Gaultier Classique Intense musters 40% completely original composition. The remaining 60% injects the flanker with a little of Kurkdjian’s magic touch.

Perhaps it’s the OCD in me but I do so enjoy a themed collection.  A place for everything and everything in its place and all that.  No silly shade numbers o’ randomness that don’t mean anything to anyone.  Oh no! Revlon have got it very right with their geographically-themed latest product release.

The Revlon ColorStay Moisture Stain launch features a 12-strong collection of lip colours that embrace a gel-stain hybrid texture with a moisturising formula and a high-pigment finish.  The formula has been infused with Vitamin E and Aloe, those stalwart ingredients of the hydration team, making for comfortable day-long wear that leaves your lips feeling nourished.

Each shade claims its own playful colour personality, with shades named after some of the most iconic cities around the globe: Cannes Crush, Miami Fever, Rio Rush, and Parisian Passion to name but a few.

I’ve got my hands on the Hispanic delegate of the collection: Barcelona Nights – probably best described as a berry pink with slight purple undertones.

The packaging is great, in all its chunky squared-off glory.  There’s nothing pretentious here, it’s simply solid and tactile in a spiky kind of way.  As you draw the applicator wand out of the tube, there’s a certain degree of resistance… the sort of pause that makes you worry the applicator will release from the bottle-neck with a pop, spraying you with lip stain – like a badly-behaved yoghurt pot.  Infact, I’m still not convinced that it won’t, so take care when wriggling the wand free from its constraints.

Having said that, the tight-fit ensures that your applicator isn’t drowned in lip gloop – infact, it dispenses just about the perfect amount onto the tip of the sponge.

The shade is vibrant and semi-sheer (though buildable), allowing the natural texture of your lip to show through.  Application is smooth, definitely more like a lipgloss than a liquid lipstick.  It feels a touch “plasticky” when first applied but it’s light enough in texture, thankfully, not to bother me.

I suffer from a visible “line” where product often refuses to adhere toward the inner reaches of my bottom lip… and I experienced it with this, at least… until the product had been given a few moments to fuse/melt from the warmth of my lips.  You need to allow this for a more even finish.

Most importantly, there is no stickiness.  None, or should I say nada.

Wear was fine, not because it was magnificently lingering but because as the colour faded, the stain remained.  For my personal tastes, it’s a little more glossy than I like to wear so I tend to apply, then blot.  Once.  This removes the “slippy” feeling – which is one that I can’t stand and the main reason for my lipgloss aversion – without removing the colour.

Overall, I’ve found it an easy-to-wear, easy-to-apply product… haven’t we all got room for one of those in our makeup bags?

The Revlon Colorstay Moisture Stains are due to launch next month, priced at £7.99 each and available from Boots and Superdrug

* press sample

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Back in my early twenties, Anna Sui was one of the first brands to ignite my passion for make-up.  I remember my first Anna Sui lipstick clearly, a deep burgundy/wine shade that, if I’m honest, I loved more for the packaging than the colour.  You see, Anna has always known how to enchant beauty lovers with her exquisitely-presented products.  Rich colours, a theme of roses, and an eye for beautiful design captures both the heart and the wallet in an indisputable “I simply MUST HAVE IT” kind of way.

Over the years, the brand’s cosmetic “branch” has been in and out of production but each time the line has been reintroduced, a new generation of beauty geeks have fallen in love with its unrivaled femininity.

With that in mind, I’m not entirely sure that these two palettes* – currently on sale at Escentual – need much in the way of further introduction.  Look at them, they’re bloomin’ gorgeous!

The Anna Sui Eye Color Palette features ten 1.5g pans of colour that range from the glitzy to the more demure.  The shades develop in intensity as you work your way through the palette starting with a frosty white and culminating in a super-sparkly black.

The texture on most of these is quite soft, easily blendable and prone to a little dustiness when loading a brush from the palette.  The pigmentation varies across the ten pans, I’ve tried to keep the swatches below as accurate as possible in terms of colour payoff from a single swipe with a fingertip.

With a primer, the shades wear well but without a sticky base, the sheerer shades do fade quite quickly.  If I had to pick one thing, my favourite aspect of this palette is the delicate smattering of sparkle found in a few of the colours – it’s understated, grown-up glitz that remains nicely on the lid, without any fall-out when combined with the aforementioned eye primer.

Now, onto my personal favourite… the Anna Sui Lip Color Palette!

I mean, who doesn’t need ten different shades of lip colours in one portable package?

The ten shades punch well above their weight with a glossy, almost balm-like formula.  Don’t mistake these for a traditional lipstick texture, I’ve included the photo above to display the “softness” of the formula, which leans more toward a solid lipgloss texture than a liquid lipstick texture.  That last sentence makes more sense in my head than it does on the screen, sorry!

Either way, the colour applied on the lips is fully recognisable from the shade in the palette – it transfers well with the kind of opacity that you’d expect from a well-pigmented gloss and lasts easily to mid-morning.

The Anna Sui Lip & Eye Color Palettes are currently on sale at escentual.com, priced at £14 each instead of the usual £28!  At this price, they represent a true bargain.

* press sample

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Question of the Week: You can only wear one shade of lipstick for the rest of your life – name it.

Answer: A year ago, I’d have thought this an impossible question to answer.  Today, I can do it…

If I could only wear one shade of lipstick for the rest of my life…. it would be Clarins Joli Rouge Brillant in #20 Coral Tulip.  The absolute irony of me choosing this particular lipstick is that it combines the two things that I claim not to like in lipsticks.  One, it’s sheer and two… it’s coral.  Whoulda fucking thunk it.

My Beauty Bunny – If your skin could use some moisture and pampering, you need to check out Onsen’s Milk Lotion Cleanser. Based on the skin rejuvenating powers of Japanese hot springs, this gentle wash does both beautifully!

Pink Sith – reviews the BVLGARI Omnia Coral EdT and is offering a full size one as a giveaway thanks to the folks from ShopAtHome.com. Enter Today! (US only)

Prime Beauty – loves the budget friendly Japonesque makeup brushes but did you know they have a fabulous line of color cosmetics too? Check it out!

Phyrra – shares her best Summer Hair Care Tips!

we heart this – is giving away the BPAL Pretty Deadly perfume oil collection; seven gorgeously kick ass bottles!

Clumps of Mascara – is in love with black eyeliners. Like…a lot. Here’s a list of some of her favorites.

EauMG – has a new favorite “beach” scent. Now she just needs a beach vacation to go with the fragrance!

Gouldylox Reviews – Makeup Wars is all about the best black liner. Waterlines, smudging, liquid – you name it, we’ve got the right liner!

(Wondering what the Lipstick League is? Find out here.)

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Between my daughter and I, we own almost 3ft of hair.  Not including the stuff on my top lip, which would take us into double figures… just the hair on our heads.  Mine is grey dark and fine in texture with a tendency toward dryness and some breakage at the ends.  Hers is blonde with an average texture that is neither especially fine, nor magnificently thick.  Her hair sheds like a mo’fo though and she seems to replace it twice as quickly.

Every morning when I brush her hair for school, we have a little chat about the “Tangle Fairy“.  A mischievous sprite who visits her nightly to play havoc and dance a jig in her locks.  To be fair to Leila, she’s a tough cookie and not a total squinny when it’s time to get the brush out… but just like every kid, she has her moments during a detangling session.

The worst of these is after a hair wash, I don’t condition her hair in the bath because regular conditioners weigh her hair down too much, instead we use the Boots Coconut & Almond Leave In Conditioner because we both love the smell and it saves the palava of an extra rinse at bath-time.  As much as it leaves her hair soft and deliciously-scented, it doesn’t do much in the way of detangling.  Usually, I can get away with it if I’ve remembered to brush her hair before the hair wash… but when I forget to detangle, I have a fight on my hands!

Enter, The Wet Brush.

Taking the world by storm, this is a hairbrush that has been designed with detangling in mind.

I’m no stranger to detangling brushes… infact, I’ve done a vs. comparison of the Tangle Teezer and the Michel Mercier on my blog before, where neither proved to be total solutions to the detangling problem.

So how does The Wet Brush fare?

Really well actually.

The rubber-coated body and well-designed handle ensures that, unlike the other leading detangler on the market, this one won’t fly out of your hands mid-brush.  It’s built like a “proper” brush, feeling more substantial and to be honest, as though it’s been finished to a higher standard.

The flexible plastic bristles reach through the hair to the root while the ball-tips on the end are a little gentler on the scalp.  It’s lightweight but feels substantial in the hand, a good combination that ensures that a). I don’t break a toe if I do drop it in the shower and b). Leila can use it on herself with confidence, without getting arm-ache.

Basically, if you’ve read my comparison review that I linked to earlier, you’ll see that The Wet Brush combines all the things I liked about both the Tangle Teezer and the Michel Mercier.  Into one brush.

I’m struggling to fault it… and although it doesn’t completely eliminate all tugging during a detangling session, it makes the experience far less traumatic.  You’ll also be pleased to discover that it’s less costly than the other detanglers on the market.

Don’t just take my word for it though, here’s a quick Instagram video of me trying out the brush on Leila for the first time.

So is it perfect?  Well… it’s definitely more than halfway there… the only thing I would say is that you have to be mindful of storage.  I chucked this into Leila’s “hair box” along with all her other bits and bobs and the next day, some of the bristles were bent because a can of dry shampoo had been pressed into the side of the brush.  To be fair though, they went back into shape with a little coaxing and I’ve just been more careful since.

Perhaps this isn’t one for throwing into your handbag… but then again, it wasn’t meant to be!

The Wet Brush is available in two different styles and a variety of colours, priced from £11.99 and available to buy online at www.cultbeauty.co.uk

* press sample

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Today, I’m stepping a little outside of my comfort zone to bring you a mobile phone review.  You see, when I was offered the opportunity to test the latest budget smartphone on the market, the Acer Liquid E3… my husband told me that if I didn’t accept it, he’d divorce me.  Infact, I think he also pointed in the general direction of my beauty cupboard (currently occupying what should be his wardrobe) and said “You owe me”.

So, lets crack on shall we?  Pay attention please, you wouldn’t want to be responsible for breaking-up a happy marriage, would you?

The thing about mobile phones is that since 1998, I haven’t been able to live without one.  I can totally remember my first, it was a Motorola, for which I needed to upgrade the size of my handbag to status: suitcase just to accommodate.

Oh, how times have changed.  Gone are the days of Snake, the ability to store a maximum of 100 numbers, and even “proper” buttons… today’s (smart)phones are required to organise, alert, entertain and inform.  Actual telecommunication is more or less an afterthought.

These mini-computers have become an indispensable part of our lives…. I don’t mind admitting that I get the same uneasy feeling when I’ve left my phone behind that I used to experience when leaving the house without my cigarettes!  It’s a sad, sad fact that the last thing I do at night is put down my phone and the first thing I do upon waking is reach out and pick it back up.  Smartphone addiction, it’s totally a thing.

My first mobile phone cost around £75, my last mobile phone cost £599.  The Acer Liquid E3 promises many of the features of modern, high-end mobiles without the ridiculous price-tag.  Infact, this phone is firmly ensconced within the “budget” market, costing under £150.  But is it any good?

Let’s face it… I’m an Apple fan girl.  I hate myself for it.  I swore I’d never be one… but the truth is, the lure of the “App Store” has always been damn-near irresistible.  In the past, the Android O.S. just hasn’t been able to compete on the same level.  At least not for someone like me who just wants amazing-ness and ease of use straight out of the box.  I’m not interested in Android’s more complex features, I just want instant access to Candy Crush without feeling like I’m having to program the damn game myself.

But times have moved on and so has the Android O.S.  Nowadays, it’s far more intuitive and user-friendly.  To be frank, it’s far more… fun.

But enough about that, I’m not here to review the operating system but deliver a Liquid E3 review that doesn’t beat around the bush (too much)!

Lightweight, relatively thin, and sleek… my first impression of the Acer Liquid E3 is that it punches well above its weight.  It doesn’t look like a cheap phone, it doesn’t feel like a cheap phone.  My admiration is only compounded when the backlight turns on and I experience the 4.7-inch  screen in all its technicolour glory.  Bright, crisp, and easily viewable from tight angles… it single-handedly won me over before I’d even begun exploring any further features.  Compared to the iPhone 5’s 4-inch screen size, this one feels positively luxurious.

This generously-sized display is also perfect for streaming You Tube videos and viewing websites and you can see in the photo above just how well the screen handles my blog’s resolution.  The performance also delivers on all accounts, I haven’t experienced any major slowdown issues and response-time is good thanks to its 1.2 GHz quad-core Mediatek processor and 1GB of RAM.  To be fair though, I haven’t overloaded it with apps yet, unlike my other phone.

One of the Acer’s major selling-points are the cameras that deliver a giant (back) resolution of 13-megapixels and a (front) resolution of 2 megapixels, a selfie-taker’s dream that even offers flash capabilities on both cameras!  The quality of the images is also better than I had anticipated, even in low light.  You can see a (resized) example of the image quality from the back camera here.

Storage capabilities are somewhat limited by the phone’s 4GB of internal storage but there’s thankfully a microSD card slot that can be used to expand upon this.  The battery life of the Acer Liquid E3 is also nothing to write home about and drains after a day of only moderate use.  For me… this is a deal breaker.  It frustrates me how mobile phones have become so much more advanced over the years and yet their batteries… well, this important “feature” seems to be overlooked by most manufacturers nowadays. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not completely dire but it’s not something I’d put down as a “strength” for this model.  I should also note that there’s no 4G available on this model.

Ultimately, this is the first Acer mobile phone that I’ve used and despite some shortcomings, I won’t deny that it’s opened my eyes to a world outside of Apple.  I honestly thought that I had to pay top-dollar to get even remotely close to the kind of user experience delivered by my beloved iPhone.  I was wrong.

The Acer Liquid E3 is available on pay as you go from Three for just £134.99 or on contracts starting from only £14 per month!

* press sample

Getting to know you,
Getting to know all about you,
Getting to like you,
Getting to hope you like me.

The King and I

My heart, I think it might burst.

I don’t mind admitting that I was nervous of having another baby… an “intrusion” into our little world of three.

But, well… as you can see, with the help of someone special, he’s making a perfectly-proportioned, little Joe-shaped hole to squeeze his bum into.

♥  ♥  ♥

Made you look, made you stare, made you lose your underwear.

A product that’s too good?  Can this even be possible?  And if so, what the hell are you talking about woman?

Well, I’m talking about the new Benefit They’re Real Push-Up Liner.  You know, that one everyone and his eyeliner-wearing dog is talking about.  Or at least, they were… before we all moved on to the next latest release.  Us bloggers, we be so fickle.

So, what’s so right with it?  And more importantly, why is this a bad thing?

The new Benefit They’re Real Push-Up Eyeliner – usual twee Benefit marketing aside – is actually one of those genuinely innovative releases that we all crave.  It’s something that I’ve never seen done before, a truly delightful way of dispensing product that delivers on both the novelty-factor and the this-is-actually-quite-good factor.

Let me tell you about the technicalities of the eyeliner, in my own completely untechnical way.

You see that tip?  That nib up there?  It’s a rubberized doo-dah with a small opening through which oozes gel eyeliner when you twist the bottom of the pen mechanism.  The gel it dispenses is the kind that you usually get in a pot.  As for the mechanism, it doesn’t shoot out in an unusable stream of fast-moving black lava, it actually dispenses pretty slowly, playing nicely and stopping dead when you quit twisting the base of the pen.  That in itself is miraculous and something that most similar products have failed to achieve.

Sadly, any product remaining in or on the nib dries out pretty quickly once it’s left the airtight chamber.  Benefit have tried to counteract this by providing an odd little “plug” that you keep in the opening when the pen isn’t in use.  Sadly, for me, this idea falls short… replacing and removing the plug is the quickest way I’ve found to get your hands covered in smears of product.  I’ll talk more about that later…

Let’s talk about the formula first.

It’s inky and it’s very black, just as you’d hope.  As far as eyeliners go, this one has a pretty dry consistency… delivering a solid pigment with hardly any feathering or creep from a too-wet formula.  You’d expect this from any gel eyeliner, and this is a good one.

The downside to this precision is that, as with most drier textures, it has a tendency to flake.  Especially if you dare “go over” your drawn line once too often.  This is frustrating, especially for someone who isn’t naturally gifted at drawing impeccable edges the first time round.  I usually need to do the whole “thicken the line to neaten it” thing after the first application.

The upside is that when you get it right (the first or at a push, the second time), you’ll be rewarded with the darkest, matte-est, most gloriously lined eyes you could ever wish for.  Particularly if you’re wanting to throw a cheeky eye-flick into the mix.  The applicator nib positively excels at painting the product onto the skin.  It’s a joy to use.  An absolute bloody joy.

So, what the hell is wrong with it?!

Well, I can’t remove the damn stuff without a pan-scourer and half a litre of sugar soap.

The Benefit They’re Real Push-Up Liner, is infact, so stubborn that Benefit had to release a specially-formulated eye makeup remover to go with.  My regular cleansing methods just don’t cut the mustard.  I can usually tackle most waterproof formulas with something in my makeup-removing arsenal, but this one eludes me.  Perhaps because I don’t own any bi-phase products, I’ve read that they can help do the job… but my skin doesn’t tolerate them especially well.

This is all fine and dandy if you don’t mind spending £14.50 for 50ml of Benefit’s makeup remover but frankly, I do.

“But Charlotte… surely, that incredible longevity is worth paying for?!” I hear you hayfever sufferers screaming at me!

Well, yes… it would be but annoyingly, despite the liner’s reluctance to get. the. fuck. off. my. fingers. (see earlier note about plug removal/replacement) – the same stuff doesn’t mind migrating from my lashline to my hooded eyelids.  In fairness, we’re not talking panda proportions of transfer… but it’s enough to get my index finger rubbing at my droopy lids.

What about you? Have you tried Benefit’s latest release yet?

The Benefit They’re Real Push-Up Liner is priced at £18.50 and is available to buy on counter and online from Boots, ASOS, and Debenhams

* press sample

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Our lashes are longggggg, with many a curly end.  That leads us to who, knows what… what to use…

We want hold!  Long enough to last the day.

We don’t want heavy… just natural muh-scar-ruhhhhhhhhhhhhhs.

Brownie points if you recognise the song I couldn’t stop myself from butchering.  I’m sorry.

Clinique Lash Power Feathering Mascara is a relatively new release, having launched only a few months ago.  It promises a softer, more natural look without compromising on hold and an overall fluttery effect.

The key thing to remember with this mascara is that it places a lot of stock in being a buildable product with a formula geared toward the application of more than one coat.  Of course, if you really only want a touch of darkness and gloss added to your lashes, by all means… stop after a single coat.

If, however, you want a little more va-va-voom, you will need to apply a couple of additional coats to get the finish you require.

The wand delivers a fine application of product, well-distributed almong the fluttery bristles which really comb-through the lashes as you sweep the brush from root to tip.  The formula never clumps and neither does it leave behind blobs of product at the tips, regardless of whether you’re on your first or third coat.  Longevity is good and I don’t suffer from flakes or smudges as the day progresses.

Ultimately, whilst I recognise and admire the strengths of this latest “natural” mascara from Clinique, I don’t really like it.

The tube contains only 5.5ml of product, a few ml less than Clinique’s other offerings while retailing at a few ££s more.  I’m quite happy with the finished result – as shown above – but to achieve this, I need to apply 3-coats.  That could get expensive, quickly.

In a classic, “it’s not you, it’s me” scenario… I’m not a good target market here.  I don’t want natural, barely mascara’ed lashes.  I want floor-sweeping doe eyes.

Thanks Clinique, but I’ll stick to your High Impact mascara for now.

Clinique Lash Power Feathering Mascara is priced at £18.00 and available to buy on counter and online from clinique.co.uk

* press sample

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Who hasn’t dreamed of creating some makeups of their very own?  Leila and I sometimes spend an afternoon making lipglosses together from vaseline and food dye.  When we’re not doing that, we’re mixing up nail polishes to create some vile frankenpolish, inevitably throwing half a ton of glitter into the mix… just to make sure that it’s completely unwearable.  But boy, it sure is pretty to look at!

Last year, GOSH gave two customers the chance to create their own cosmetics in a competition held over on the brand’s instagram feed.  The two winners were delighted with the opportunity, and who can blame them?  One got to create a lipstick colour, the other… a nail polish shade.

Danielle Graves from Leeds, the nail polish creator, took colour inspiration from one of her son’s toys and transformed the eventual shade into a pretty blue with a subtle shimmer.  Danielle said:

“I was so shocked when I won, I love GOSH and I love Superdrug so to be able to create a make-up colour with them is incredible.  I’m so happy.  It’s great to think that other people liked the colour I picked enough to vote for it, my son loves Monsters Inc. and the picture I submitted is actually a close up of the fur on his favourite teddy bear.  It just screamed summer and bright and wow to me but at the same time reminds me of my little boy.”

It is indeed, a very pretty shade.  The flecks of shimmer give the polish the effect of sunlight on water, like a glistening tropical ocean.  Very summery indeed!  The formula on the shade is good, with two coats delivering adequate coverage and I had no issues with application or a shorter-than-average wear time.

Danielle’s nail polish is priced at £3.99 and is available instore at Superdrug

* press sample

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With many of us investing so much effort and time in our “online” lives, it’s no wonder that we’re protective of our internet personas.  Just as in “real life”, it’s important to maintain and develop an online identity, especially when we lack the same in-person contact that we enjoy in our daily, family lives.

When you have a blog, you create a brand… a reflection of your identity and the “self” that you present to others on the internet.  It’s something that must be nurtured and cared-for, is just as fluid as your “real” self and under just as much, if not more, scrutiny.

Vigilance is an important part of protecting your identity online.  For example, I’m aware of another blogger who uses the term “lipglossiping” as a verb and a means of identifying with her blog and her brand.  This means that in Google searches, the term will include search results that link a reader to her website, directing traffic away from mine.  It’s not the most dastardly case of identity theft you’ll ever come across but it’s not entirely innocent either.

If I were so inclined, I could trademark the term “lipglossiping” and instruct my solicitor to send a stream of cease and desist letters.  It’s a costly but valid way of protecting an online identity.

But what about your “real-life you”?  How do you protect that when your identity falls into the wrong hands, one with more sinister intentions?

It can be extremely distressing, not to mention time-consuming… clawing back and unravelling the threads of this very personal crime.  Identity theft is sadly an all too common side-effect of internet use and in many cases, you’ll know nothing about it until it’s too late to stop it.

That’s where the People’s ID Bot Project can help.  Powered by Experian, the Facebook Page serves to alert its community of the latest security news and breaches, learning and growing from the marvels of (safe) social-sharing.  Users post about their own experiences of identity fraud while case-studies, infographics, and other word-spreading tools help fight the battle against online scammers.  It also serves as a feedback portal for the latest tool in identity protection: the IdentityProtect ID Bot.

Whether you fall foul of an internet virus, a security breach in one of your favourite websites, or even just find yourself sharing a little too much about yourself online, the IdentityProtect ID Bot works to scan the web in real time, alerting you instantly if your personal information is at risk of being illegally shared, stolen or sold online.

Whether it’s phone numbers, addresses, bank details or even usernames… IdentityProtect can monitor the lot, all you need to do is tell it what to search for and you’ll be instantly protected.  Isn’t that clever?

If you’d like to put to put IdentityProtect ID Bot to the test, I have 10 codes available for a FREE one-year subscription (worth £47.88) to the IdentityProtect ID Bot.  I will allocate these codes on a first-come-first-served basis.  If you would like a code, please leave a comment below or contact me via email.

* this is a sponsored post

…but you can roll it in glitter.  Beautiful, beautiful, glittery glitter.

I know I’m too old for this, I mean seriously.  When your 5-year old daughter is so massively into your press sample, it’s time to retire your own love for the shiny stuff.  At least in public.

Or is it?

The rather brilliant thing about Urban Decay’s Heavy Metal Loose Glitter release isn’t really the glitter at all.  No, indeed… it’s actually the far less obvious Bondage Weightless Make up Adhesive that was released alongside the it!

Unfortunately, that also appears to have been a limited edition product and I can’t find it on the Debenhams website anymore.  Damn you Urban Decay, don’t you dare go the way of MAC with your blink-and-you’ll-miss-it collections.

The Heavy Metal Loose Glitter is of the particularly chunky variety.  More like the kind of glitter you’d find in your nail polish than in your eyeshadow drawer.  They’re available in six shades: Catfight, Pyrotechnics, Loaded, ACDC, Goldmine, and Reverb.  Pyrotechnics, the opalescent white, is actually lovelier than I would have dared imagine.

The sifter containers are just plain annoying but I truly doubt that there is any convenient and fuss-free way to store and dispense glitter.  Whomever comes up with one will surely also rule the world.

But as I mentioned, it’s the adhesive that really won me over.  It holds the glitter tight and resists water effectively.  I’ve since used the adhesive on my stash of slightly-less-glittery loose eyeshadows and it works very well in a Pixie Epoxy way.  It’s somewhat overkill to use this as an eye primer but I can’t deny that it does a good job.

When it comes to application, it’s best to work both of these products onto the skin in thin layers.  I’ve been stroking the adhesive onto the skin before patting gently with a finger to spread and refine the initial sweep of product.  The glitter is best applied with a finger, there’s no denying that it’s a messy affair but I guess that if you’re into making-up with glitter, this won’t come as a huge shock!

Im not the biggest fan of using chunky glitter like this… I really can’t see how I could fit it in to a “look” without looking like an aging raver, but if you’re wanting something to turn heads during festival season, perhaps you could be persuaded?!

The Urban Decay Heavy Metal Loose Glitters and Bondage Weightless Makeup Adhesive are available to buy online from UrbanDecay.com, priced at $12.00 & $14.00 respecitvely.  If they ever come back into stock on Debenhams.com, they’re available for £10-a-piece.

* press sample

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