A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

“How much actual wtf-ery can you design into one bottle of fragrance?” thought the bods at Balenciaga one day over a plate of ham and pickle sandwiches.  Wait, wrong country…  chorizo an patatas bravas (not in a sandwich obvs).

That boardroom statement is the only logical explanation I can come up with for the awesomeness that is the packaging for the new Balenciaga fragrance which is patiently awaiting its nationwide release next week.

It’s like the Mad Hatter joined forces with Captain Beefheart, dropping an acid-infused sugar cube in a secret garden before letting rip on the design front.  I love it.  I love how it looks so spiky and unfriendly (not unlike the celebrity fronting the campaign then) and the ensemble left me properly breathless in anticipation and hope that the juice inside would live up to the initial impression.

And it is indeed, somewhat spiky at first sniff.  There’s a sharpness that cuts through the ether and prickles at your nose (not the classic piquante tickle) before mellowing as the “experimental” (no less) rose takes form and softens the edges, bringing to the forefront the flora that the name Florabotanica promises t0 deliver.

The notes declare: mint, carnation, hybrid rose, caladium leaves, amber and vetiver – I don’t detect much straight-up mint, nor amber but they play their roles in helping to chameleonize some of the more traditional florals into something that definitely feels far too modern to simply describe as floral.

Perhaps one of my favourite aspects of Florabotanica is simply in its resilience.  Here is a mainstream fragrance, aimed at a younger market that smells different. It’s void of pinkness and it wears on my skin like a captivating veil with just the perfect amount of sillage to draw attention without commanding it.  It’s perhaps a little Summery for an Autumn release but there’s probably just enough mossiness and strength to ground the fragrance in a cooler climate.

Adore.

Balenciaga Florabotanica (from £40 for 30ml EdP) is available exclusively at Harvey Nichols until the 19th September.  A nationwide launch follows this date. 

* press sample

I don’t really know what it is that I like so much about these rich browns that look like absolutely nothing in the bottle, and tbh, not that spectacular in my swatch… but there’s something so rich, almost decadent about them when the light hits them in a certain way.  They make me feel slightly edgy amongst the yummy mummies in the nursery playground, but not in a “look at me” kinda way, which is, let’s face it – how I like it.

Plus, the shine on this one was a dream… as you can see – super high gloss  in two coats which made my talons look effortlessly polished to within an inch of their badly manicured lives.

Do you like brown nail polishes?

China Glaze Call of the Wild is available to buy online at BeautyBay.com, priced at £6.95

* press sample

Picking the right scent to match your mood is something many of us do every day – just like choosing the perfect coat to wrap up your outfit. There are timeless classics like Chanel No 5, the perfume equivalent to slipping on a crisp white shirt. Fun and flirty scents like Marc Jacobs Oh Lola! that are most definitely daywear only and darker, sultry little numbers, like Stella by Stella McCartney that work best for evenings out. So what’s new in fragrance?

Top perfumers Bell Flavors & Fragrances announced their scent predictions for 2012 late last year and it was all about the exotic and indulgent. After extensive research both consumer and industry-side, Bell found that ginger orchid, orange flower, tart guava, gold amber, green pear, spicy bergamot, root beer, pink pepper, tomato leaf and leather are all going to be hot perfumes for men and women this year.

In fact Bell calls its 2012 fragrance top ten ‘the Wild Luxury Consumer’ list, as it believes this shift towards expensive, haute couture perfumes is all part of a wider consumer trend of people seeking out luxury items in order to forget about the financial crisis.

Pink Pepper – the new ‘it’ scent

If you only choose one perfume, make it something that contains pink pepper. A key feature of Bell’s list, it’s a fragrance so hot right now that it is also Scentsy’s number one trend prediction for 2012.

Distilled from the rose-coloured berries of the Peruvian pepper tree, it has a spicy, refreshing scent. Luckily, you won’t have to look too hard to find it. Roberto Cavalli’s new women’s scent has pink pepper as a top note, whereas Gucci Guilty Pour Homme gives a more masculine slant to the bold fragrance.

Fragrance trends for men

If you’re in the market for a brand new cologne, you won’t go wrong with Tom Ford Noir, out this October. With top notes of bergamot, pink pepper and violet it’s exotic but still very masculine.

Yves Saint Laurent La Nuit De L’Homme Frozen Cologne hit the fragrance counters this March, and is the icy cold successor to La Nuit De L’Homme. It mixes sweet citrus notes of mandarin and lemon with tart spices like bergamot and black pepper. Intense and sensual, it’s one for the evening.

Fragrance trends for women

Blow the budget with Tom Ford’s Jardin Noir, a quartet of perfumes inspired by flowers in a midnight garden. Or try Lancome’s long-awaited La Vie Est Belle – with 63 ingredients and three years in the making, it uses exotics such as jasmine and orange blossom flowers to give it a sweet edge.

But any serious fragrance connoisseurs simply must add the latest Chanel perfume, Coco Noir, to their collection. Out this autumn, it combines fresh top notes of grapefuit with spicy pink peppercorn to create a blend fit to adorn the most fashionable wrists in town.

Browse best-selling fragrances, as well as top brand skincare, at www.johnlewis.com.

* this is a guest-blogged sponsored post on behalf of John Lewis for which I have received payment.

Shade-wise, this is the Dita Von Teese of vampy reds.  It’s not hugely unique or as spellbinding as Ms DvT (oh look, that spells “deep vein thrombosis!” *Beavis laugh*) but it is a rather lovely darker red creme that flatters cool skintones very nicely indeed.  If it were a lipstick, I’d probably marry it.

Adventure Red-y (yawn name) isn’t very adventurous but it does offer coverage like the canopy of the Amazonian rainforest, opaque in two coats, it’s an impenetrable fortress for those pesky VNLs.

Good but standard Autumn nail colour fodder.

China Glaze – On Safari Collection: Adventure Red-y is available to buy online at BeautyBay.com, priced at £6.75

* press sample

When was the last time you discovered a really good celebrity perfume?  I can tell you mine… it was such a relief to discover that it wasn’t completely shit and I will totally hold my hands up to totally buying it because of the celebrity it was associated with.  The fragrance was Covet, by SJP and I hugely appreciated the vintage, vegetal, and quite sharp opening that grabbed me, shook me violently and screamed “LOOK, I’M NOT YOUR USUAL CELEBRITY PERFUME!”

It’s true, I find Covet to be the least celebrity, celebrity perfume I’ve ever smelled and perhaps that’s why I hold it in such high regard.  It’s a love it or hate it scent and if I’m honest, the majority of people I’ve introduced to it, hate it.  But, it’s not the usual celebrity mainstay of vanilla, fruit, caramel, and air.  And that’s got to stand for something, reflecting the quirkiness that SJP posesses herself – you smell it, and you can see that there was some real thought put into its creation.

This is what I find so irritating about celebrity perfumes.  I’m not opposed to the idea of them, but I am opposed to the laziness and disregard for the people who might actually want to purchase them.  It’s a privilege to find yourself in a position where you can put your name to something that will represent you on the shelves of every high street in the land, why waste the opportunity? *cough* Lady Gaga *cough*.

Imagine if these celebrity fragrances really did reflect the (stereotyped – of course!) celebrity behind it?  How amazing would that actually be?  A Bear Grylls Cologne? (woody, animalic?), Stephen Fry (cherry tobacco (though I believe he gave up smoking a few years ago), whisky, books!), Julie Andrews (spoonful of sugar?), Meryl Streep (oooh that would be tricky!).

Who would you like to see represented in a fragrance?  And whose wouldn’t you buy?!  Do you have a favourite Celebrity fragrance?

One of the few benefits of being physically unable to tan is rarely finding it necessary to change my foundation shade… at most, I fluctuate between a NW15/20 and neither look too wrong on me at any given time.  If, however, you’re more prone to being ‘kissed’ by the sun, you might be on the lookout for a new foundation to complement your new, less-bronzed (cough *pasty* cough) skintone.

Or perhaps you’re just looking for a more moisturising formula to see you through the colder months ahead?

YoungBlood Mineral Cosmetics have launched a customised Foundation Bar in the Beauty Workshop at Selfridges London and are challenging you and your regular foundation to the ultimate test.

Simply bring your current foundation (and of course, your lovely self!) along and experience, what they promise, is an unrivalled degree of colour matching from within their range of Loose, Liquid, Moisture Tint, Pressed and Crème formulas.

The new Beauty Workshop at Selfridges is an exciting and innovative beauty arena offering over 5000 square feet of space.  A veritable beauty playground in which to discover new brands, trends, and products. Instore at Selfridges, London now.

Do you change your foundation with the seasons?

China Glaze I Herd That is a densely packed copper glitter that reminds me of a shiny new penny, the kind that you pull out of your purse, only to drop it straight back in because it’s just too blinging to part with just yet.  That’s normal right?

The clear base and finer-than-usual glitter gives this polish a less “chunky” feel than you might imagine and the photo below shows three coats applied without a top coat.

I Herd That is the second glitter in the collection, and the warm-toned cousin to “I’m Not a Lion” which I reviewed yesterday.  A great Autumnal glitter if ever I saw one.

China Glaze I Herd That is available to buy online at BeautyBay.com, priced at £6.75

* press sample

In celebration of the full Liz Earle Colour Collection launch, the brand are inviting fans to come and take a closer look at the new range.  Enjoy a glass of fizz and sample the new products whilst being shown the best way to wear and incorporate them into your makeup bag.

If you want to get up close and personal with the new range, head into your nearest Liz Earle store (or Liz Earle John Lewis counter) on Friday 14th September and Saturday 15th September.

Liz Earle stores (and opening hours)

John Lewis stores (and opening hours)

The British brand are also offering the chance to win a professional makeover for you and a friend, enter before the end of the day on 16th September to stand a chance at winning.

Have you been tempted by anything in the new Liz Earle Colour Collection range yet?

Are you feeling Autumnal yet?  Where did the sun go?  Why is it getting dark so early?  Come back happiness and light, come back!!!!!

It’s not coming back.

So, like a flitty shape-shifter, I shall instead focus on the positives of the change of season.  Chunky knits, cardigans (oh, how I’ve missed a nice cardy!), 100 denier tights and solidly constructed boots.  How about a bit of glitter to go with that?

Oh go on then…

I keep thinking that I’m gonna have to bite the bullet and get myself a bottle of that uber-thick top coat to go with my glitter polishes… Gelous is it?  I do like a good glitter but I like to see it fully-trapped inside a smooth resin, like a prehistoric mozzie in an amber jewel.  Or something.

China Glaze’s I’m Not a Lion is a 2/3 coater – three coats should give you a practically solid finish.  The glitters are a pretty mixture of cool and warm, with a predominantly pale gold appearance from anything other than under a microscope.

China Glaze I’m Not a Lion is available to buy online at BeautyBay.com, priced at £6.95

* press sample

I know it can be a bit annoying when bloggers feature products that you can’t get your hands on anymore but the thing is, I don’t think I’ve ever told you about one of my favourite lipsticks EVER, have I?  Well, now’s the time to introduce you because I’ve just broken into my backup.

Now, according to Makeup Alley, Giorgio Armani Sheer Lipstick (#18) was a limited edition release for Autumn 2003!  Am I really that old that I was buying grown-up lipsticks THAT long ago?  Really, really?!  I thought it was more recent than that… but I can’t honestly remember.  What I can remember is how I fell in love with the shade in the tube.  And then fell in love even more when I applied it.

You see, I haven’t always loved bright lip colours… I’ve grown to love them, but I used to only wear sheer, slightly glossy shades.  As I twisted up the new, pristine Armani bullet the other day – I decided that I had to pay homage to this one before it went the same way as some of my other previous lipstick loves (YSL Rouge Pure Shine also had one that I used to live in (now long gone *sob*)).

Ain’t she pretty?  She’s much brighter and more popsicle orange in the tube than she is on the lips, I was a little bit intimidated by her at first but we soon became inseperable!   One of the things I liked most about this lipstick was the texture, which isn’t too soft, almost semi-matte without being at all drying on the lips.  Wear isn’t great but it’s such aneasylipstick to topup that it truly doesn’t matter.

Gah, I’ll miss you when you’re gone!

Can you remember your first lipstick love?  Tell me about it!

If Kalahari Kiss is a Caramac bar…. then Desert Sun (sticking with the confectionary theme) would be a… a radioactive Daim bar?  It’s like caramel, gone a bit nuclear.

Desert Sun is a dirtied orange, very Autumnal and kinder to us cool-toned skintones.  It reminds me a bit of those giant orange slugs!  You know the ones I mean!

Now that I’ve completely put you off the actual colour, I should say that the formula on this one was nice, opaque in two coats – none of that runny but thick crap, it’s just thick.  But in a good, spreadable way.  Two coats are shown without a top coat.  I know, glossy right?  I’m liking this formula.

China Glaze Desert Sun is available to buy online at BeautyBay.com, priced at £6.95

* press sample

I know many people think that chocolate brownies are one of the most over-hyped cake(y) substances known to man.  That and macarons.  And cupcakes.  Probably also whoopie pies.

Killjoys.

Although in fairness, I’m inclined to agree on the macaron front, I mean wtf are they all about anyway?  They’re like suped-up communion wafers that weld themselves to the backs of your teeth while simultaneously scouring your soft palette so fiercly, you can’t consume a hot drink for a month without whimpering.  Sure, they look pretty but I ain’t shallow.  Much.

But brownies… A good chocolate brownie is heavenly, and if you think they’re overrated, I’d hazard a guess that you’ve been buying yours from Costa Coffee for too long.

I’d also like it to be known that I’m squarely in the fudgy-is-best camp when it comes to brownies.  If I wanted a “cakey” brownie, I’d go buy a fucking cake.

Anyway, I found a jar of slightly-out-of-date Marshmallow Fluff that I’d bought purely for the novelty factor and promptly forgot to use, so I googled for some recipes but didn’t like the sound of anything that was coming up on the search.

Instead, I decided to make a batch of my favourite brownies, omit my usual chocolate/fudge pieces and marble some swirly Fluff into the baking tin instead.

For the Brownies (makes 12 – use a smaller tin or double the quantities for a 30cm long tin)

140g  butter, softened
190g caster sugar
3 medium eggs
50g cocoa powder
50g self-raising flour
1/2tsp baking powder

Chuck all of the ingredients (yes, all at once – another reason I love this recipe), into a bowl and mix until combined and smooth.  Don’t overmix, you just want to get everything together and looking glossy.

Spoon the mixture into a greased tin and use a spatula to spread it across the surface.

For the Fluff topping

50g Marshmallow Fluff
20g butter, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Add the topping ingredients into a bowl and beat with a whisk until combined, you can add a tsp of water to thin the consistency if needed.  It should be smooth, silky but not “runny”.

Spoon the topping over the (uncooked) brownie mixture in tsp-sized “blobs” and use a skewer (I only had a straw to hand) to “marble” the topping.

Bake in a pre-heated oven (180 degrees/160 fan) for around20/25 minutes.  Test with a knife to check if it’s done and if you’ve got any leftover “topping” mixture, you know what you need to do – don’t you?

Overall, they’re not my best experiment to be honest.  The brownie is definitely more fudgy than cakey and the Marshmallow Fluff, whilst it adds a teeny bit of chew to the topping… doesn’t add much else.  I’d suggest adding a crap-ton more than I did and to hell with whether it marbles or not.  Also, don’t leave out the chocolate and/or fudgy pieces… these are definitely more cakey than fudgy.  Bother.

Having said all that, they’re still nice.  They’re just not better than my usual recipe which I’ll post here sometime closer to Halloween.

Did you get your “bake” on last weekend?