A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

I wouldn’t go so far as to call myself a cleansing oil connoisseur, but I’ve been a fan of them for a little while now and have tried far more than my fair share in the quest for perfection.  The beauty of a cleansing oil, for lazy girls like me, is that they offer a perfectly quick solution to makeup removal AND cleansing.  In theory.  In reality, I often feel as though I need to cleanse with another product once I’ve removed my makeup with the cleansing oil.  It’s not how they’re supposed to work – but I find that many others feel the same way, advocating the double cleanse method.

Douvall’s All-in-one Argan Oil Cleanser is a 100% natural and 71.9% organic cleanser, enriched with almond, safflower seed and grapeseed oil as well as the all important Argan Oil from which the cleanser derives its name.  In-fact, a glance at the ingredient’s list reveals that Argania Spinosa Kernel Oil is indeed at the top of the bill, reassuring.

I’ve been enjoying trying out this 20ml travel-size sample of the Oil Cleanser over the last couple of weeks, you only need a tiny amount to melt away your makeup so even just a small amount lasts a significant while.  The oil is thinly-textured but sufficiently viscous enough to provide some great oily massage on the skin.  My favourite thing about the Douvall’s All-in-one Argan Oil Cleanser is the scent – some oil cleansers stink, even the really posh eones.  In general, I’ve found that the more “organic” the brand, the better the scent that’s derived from some of the natural oils.   The Douvall’s cleanser is an absolute citrus dream, tsharing top position for the best I’ve ever used in terms of scent (Nude Skincare’s is the other one).  It’s uplifting and really encourages me to linger with the oil on my face whilst I massage it into my skin, not a bad thing.

It doesn’t emulsify very well, so be prepared with your basin of warm water and make sure that you rinse completely – it will take a few passes until your skin feels oil-free.  It doesn’t leave my face feeling tight though I still need to moisturise afterward.  A lovely, pampering treat for a mundane daily task.

Douvall’s All-in-one Argan Oil Cleanser is priced at £28.00 for 150ml and is available to buy online at The Urban Retreat Beautique.

This past week has been an absolute horror for trying to get some blog photos taken, I’ve had to push a table directly in-front of a huge window in an attempt to capture at least, some light. Apologies if the photos seem a little grainier than usual, that’s me whacking the ISO up higher than I would want to. But anyway…

I told you about Bare Minerals new range of concealers a couple of weeks ago, and featured one of those brightening under-eye type pens that add luminosity to the more shadowy areas of the face. I also told you how, on me, it didn’t make a difference… thanks, in part, to not actually having too much in the way of under-eye discoloration and shadows. Yay me!

However, what I lack in the way of under-eye circles, I totally make up for in redness. Across my cheeks and my nose. It’s not full-blown rosacea or anything as serious as that, I just like vodka too much. I’m kidding!! In my case, it’s just the curse of a celtic complexion and general diffused capilliarires under the surface of the skin. Nothing a bit of makeup doesn’t tone down… but will Bare Mineral’s latest correcting concealer do the job?

I’m gonna get the comparison out of the way… texture-wish, it’s similar to Bobbi Brown’s Creamy Concealer, there’s a lot of slip in that there compact.  This makes it super-easy to apply with your fingers or a brush without dragging across your skin – perfect for under the eyes.  Another similarity is in the level of coverage, this provides very good, almost full coverage where it’s needed most and a little goes a long way.

It’s all good so far!

Colour-wise, this is Light 01, which is indeed pretty pale and cool-toned, the pink has a touch of peach to it in my opinion… bringing some great colour-correcting tones to the table.  Peach is great for concealing that bluish-grey hue that under-eye areas can often present.

You can see in the photo below that coverage is indeed, pretty impressive.  It all but cancels out the redness and gives me a more even complexion upon which I can apply my foundation.  Indeed, by the time my foundation had warmed upon my skin, there was literally no redness left.  My only negative with the Bare Minerals SPF20 Correcting Concealer is that despite its emollient texture, it clung a little to some flakes on my nose… flakes that I wouldn’t have even noticed before putting the product over them.  This is not a good thing, clearly.

Having said that, I think that I’m going to persevere and try some different application/prepping techniques.  The coverage is too good (whilst feeling so light) not to put some real effort into getting the very best from this product.  I can’t say how it would fare on oilier skin tones, but I would definitely recommend setting it after application if you are prone to watching your makeup slide off your face by lunchtime.

Bare Minerals SPF20 Correcting Concealer is available now, online and on counter – priced at £21 for 2g.

* press sample

Aveda have launched the Passion Flower Collection, a limited-edition, petal-inspired makeup collection comprising: three nourish-mint smoothing lip colours, three nourish-mint rehydrating lip glazes, two nourish-mint lip liners, and six petal essence single eye colours.

The shades pack a greater punch than you would expect from the botanically-based formulas, and ultimately deliver a pleasant surprise when it comes to the end result.

I’ve been wearing one of the three nourish-mint smoothing lip colours which promises to smooth the appearance of fine lines and increase moisture.  Sounds good to me…

In the bullet, Rare Orchid is a dark, blackened plum/cherry shade, I’d class it as equidistant between red and plum… but in the swatch and on my unpigmented lips, the plum is far more apparent, with more than just a nod to some violet-infusion which delivers a seasonal, vampy look.

The texture is not quite balmy but definitely softer than the average lipstick, pigmentation is buildable and I went all out for the swatch photo, you won’t build more colour than this – but I doubt you’d need to.

The packaging… is not to my tastes.  I don’t care if it’s environmentally-friendly… well, I do – but c’mon, does it have to be so bloody ugly?  The shades and pigmentation blow my preconceptions out of the water so it’s a shame that the packaging didn’t do the same.  I know it’s not a biggie, but it’s something that detracts from the overall look and feel of the product, for me.

Another thing that I’m sure many won’t be keen on is the taste and scent of the lipstick.  In a word, mint.  It’s a little tingly upon application – there goes those fine lines it promises to smooth – and the taste does linger on your lips for a while.  I actually really like it, but I think opinion would be quite divided and it’s definitely something you need to be aware of before walking away from your nearest Aveda salon clutching it in your hot little hands.

The Passion Flower Collection is available in Aveda salons, spas, stores and on www.aveda.co.uk now, the Rare Orchid Smoothing Lip Colour is priced at £12.50

* press sample

When I was growing up, I’m pretty sure that smelling like a stripper wasn’t one of my greatest desires in life. Having said that, there are strippers… and then there are strippers.  And if you are going to smell like a stripper*, well… there’s only one you want to smell like isn’t there?  Dita von Teese – not content with a cosmetic line – has also been making waves in the fragrance world since the launch of her debut scent: Dita Von Teese Eau de Parfum back in May.

Visually, it’s perfect isn’t it?  It’s got the Hollywood glamour thing going on, with a little (ok, a lot) of noir thrown in… accents of quirk and more than just a passing nod to vintage styling makes for a bottle that gels beautifully with Dita’s image in the media.  And the tassle?  Ohhhhhh… the tassle!

Having said that, I’m not a fan of atomisers… they’re cute n’ all but they’re just not very practical are they?  Add in the fact that they contribute to quicker evaporation of the contents inside and they’re a bit of a nuisance.  Just make sure that you don’t throw away the regular “cap” that comes with the perfume for easy transporting and you should be alright.  Still… nuisance.

As for the perfume itself, well… it’s everything I imagined a DvT perfume to smell like.  It’s a well-rounded, smoky floral with a nose-nuzzling quality that emerges beautifully once the scent has had time to warm up on the skin.  The fragrance carries itself with poise and elegance, feeling well-suited to an evening of seduction, perhaps a little too dark to wear to the in-laws.  Although having said that, the combination is gentle… never brash nor loud and although it lingers, it remains close to the skin.

Top: peonies, bergamot, and bourbon pepper

Heart: Bulgarian rose, tiaré, and jasmine

Base: patchouli, musk, Gaiac wood, and sandalwood

Dita von Teese eau de parfum is avaialble nationwide at Boots, priced from £18 – easily the best “celeb” scent you’ll smell this year.

* sorry, burlesque artist

** press sample

When it comes to skincare, it can occasionally feel like I’m chasing my tail, fixing one problem only to be faced with another… but if there’s one aspect of looking after my face that I seem to have gotten the hang of, it’s caring for my lips.  This time of year reminds me of the miserable winters I used to spend with constantly sore and painful lips.  If I wasn’t licking at them like a dog attempting to heal its wounds, I was picking… or even worse, peeling.

Lip condition can deteriorate rapidly, we put the central heating on on Sunday for the first time (we didn’t make it to November!) and last night, lying in bed, I could feel that tell-tale tingle around the edges of my lipline.  It’s time to up my game and put my winter plan of action into… well… action!  Without further ado, here are my hints and tips for winter lips!

I shower in the evenings, and the first step in my annual plan for luscious winter lips involves the most basic of cosmetic tools, the washcloth (£3 for 10).  Whilst I’m waiting for my hair conditioner to turn my locks into mermaid-hair, I grab my hot flannel and gently rub back and forth across my lips.  Be gentle mind, you’re not trying to remove a wine-stain!  Doing this every day will soften any flakes that are ready to come away whilst encouraging blood flow and regeneration.

Once I’ve left the shower, my first port of call is to reach for my moisturisers and my lips don’t get left out here.  My night-time ritual (and I do this everyday) is to apply a layer of Lanolips 101 (£11) before bed – this rich, lanolin-based balm provides the best barrier for locking in moisture through the night.  When I wake up in the morning, it’s still there and my lips are plumpity soft underneath – this stuff has been a lifesaver for me over the last couple of years.

During the day, I opt for something a little lighter in texture, which brings me on to Jack Black Intense Therapy Lip Balm (£7.25).  Whilst not as nourishing as the Lanolips, the formula is more comfortable to wear during the day and the added SPF is a bonus.  It’s a compromise that I’m really happy with for now – plus the flavours are lush!  I reapply this over the top of my lipstick whenever I feel that my lips need it.

Talking of lipstick, it can be tricky to provide your favourite shades with a great base and The Body Shop’s Lipscuff (£8) is a cult classic for priming your pout in preparation for every shade.  Swipe the bullet over your lips in the morning, massage in the formula with your fingertip and wipe the excess away with a tissue (or the back of your hand if you’re a bit of a grot like me).  The Lipscuff leaves just enough coconut oil behind to provide moisture without slip and the exfoliating granules ensure that your lipstick won’t emphasise any dry bits.

Lips shrivelled up in the cold?  I’m just joking… we’ll leave the shrivelling up thing for men to deal with.  But if you do need a little extra plumping – particularly lovely for when you’re rocking a nude lip – I still swear by the original (and the best), Du Wop Lip Venom (£11.85) – it’s delightfully tingly (IT’S BURNING, IT’S BURNING!) and leaves my top lip almost matching the stature of my bottom lip, almost.  Thanks for the genetic un-eveness parents…

Finally, you literally shouldn’t leave the house without a little bit of lip highlighting.  Don’t know where to do it?  I stick to the cupids bow, using a subtle highlighter like YSL’s Touche Eclat (£25) which makes for quick and easy blendability.  If you’re wanting to go for a full-on pout, you can also add a highlight along the centre edge of the lower lip line to give the illusion of fuller, more lifted lips.  The Touche Eclat is subtle enough for daytime but if you’re wanting to highlight for a “going out” look, choose a highlighter with a little more shimmer for added wow-factor.

What are your favourite products for keeping your lips soft and full in the colder weather?

My fondness for mineral powder foundations seems so at odds with my complaints about the pesky flaky bits that my combo/dry skin enjoys tormenting me with but as-long as I don’t go overboard, I nearly always get good results from them.  Having said that, I’m quite particular about how I apply them…

I prefer to use them to “boost” coverage over a light liquid base.  I rarely apply mineral power foundation onto bare skin. I’m sure that’s probably quite unusual… but I find that I get really good lighter-looking, full-coverage results doing it this way.

Clarins have released a new mineral powder foundation, Skin Illusion Mineral Powder Foundation.  The packaging although as luxurious-looking as you’d expect from the brand, is a little bit of a pain to work with in reality.  After grappling with the brush a few times, I’ve now ditched it – not because of quality issues, but just because it’s easier to treat the pot as a generic container rather than an entire application system.

The shade shown is #105 Nude – the lightest shade available in the UK and two shades darker than the lightest available in the U.S.  The fact that this shade even works on my skintone should give some idea about the versatility of the product.  I’d say that it’s a touch too yellow for my very pale, cool skin-tone but as you’ll see at the end of the post, it doesn’t make an awful lot of difference.

The powder is finely milled, velvety in texture and once applied, I’d describe it as medium to full coverage.  The overall finish appears matte but not completely flat, I’m assuming that this is down to the pink opal powder which promises to deliver luminance to the skin.

In the before/after picture below you’ll see that my skin was pretty red and blotchy – definitely a full-coverage day.  As I’ve said already, if I want a full-coverage base, I’d usually start off with a tinted moisturiser rather than build up layer after layer of powder foundation but for the purposes of this review, I applied just a single layer of the new Clarins Skin Illusion Mineral Powder Foundation onto bare skin instead.  I’d also usually finish off the application with a light spritz of toner to ensure that the product fuses with my skin and removes any powdery residue – but again, I haven’t done that on this occasion.

I’m pretty impressed with the coverage (for a single layer) and it definitely doesn’t look too matte.  Longevity was fine and actually, it’s only now that I’m writing the review that I’m appreciating how well it manages to control oil as my nose rarely shows signs of losing coverage halfway through the day when I’m wearing this.

Clarins Skin Illusion Mineral Powder Foundation is priced at £28 and available to buy on counter and online at clarins.co.uk (but I’d recommend checking Escentual.com for a MUCH better price first!)

* press sample

Boots contacted me a couple of weeks ago and asked if I’d like to take part in a challenge which involved styling a look using a pair of glasses from the latest Boots Opticians range.  Being a bit of a reluctant specs-wearer, I thought that it might be a cool idea to have a play and have a go at getting my eye makeup looking polished behind a pair of frames.  It helps that I stand a chance at winning a pair of glasses worth £450 for one of my readers too!

I also got to choose a new pair of frames from the latest Boots Opticians Autumn range for the occasion, there were six frames to choose from:

As tempted as I was to go with the fifties retro frames (red lip, black liner anyone?), I know from experience that the 50s cat-eye style really doesn’t suit the shape of my face – so instead, I opted for a pair of Caytlins, the “stylish secretary” look!

It was only a couple of days later, late at night when I suddenly realised… “how do you style a “secretary” look without looking overtly err… sexy?”.  I submitted this question to the folks on Twitter, who agreed that the sexy secretary thing was so damn entwined with the look that it might be tricky to pull it off without looking a little bit porny.  I was mildly horrified and immediately googled “non-sexy secretary”.  Google returned two hits.  OUT OF THE ENTIRE INTERNET.  Apparently such a thing doesn’t exist.

Well, do you know what?  I’m fairly pleased with myself for managing to keep the smut on the down-low whilst still retaining a bit of style (if I do say so myself).  Hopefully it looks secretary-ish, seeing as that was the brief but I think I might have a bit of librarian creeping in there too…

I kept the look as warm-toned as possible, not only as a nod to the season but also to help accentuate the warmth in the classic tortoiseshell frames.  I tried to bring as much light to the eye area as possible with copious amounts of highlighter and luminizer. Glasses can cast unflattering shadows under the eyes, so I avoided lining the lower lashes with anything other than a flesh-toned pencil but endeavoured to continue the colour theme with a pop of bronze shadow toward the outer corners.  I also kept the lid area as light as possible, blending the crease colour higher than usual to compensate.

Well-groomed eyebrows are important when sporting a pair of specs (don’t think you can hide them behind the frames!) and finally, cheeks and lips were kept fairly neutral but warm-toned to complement the whole look.

You can’t be a “stylish secretary” without a pussybow jumper can  you?!

I’m looking forward to seeing some of the other looks that get posted on the Boots facebook page.  I must admit that when I’m going to be wearing my glasses for longer than a short trip in the car, I’ll usually revert to a bold lip/simple eye look instead so it was really refreshing to push myself to try something different.

Do you wear glasses and bother with eye makeup?  Do you have a favourite from the new Boots Autumn glasses range?

* the Caytlin frames were provided free of charge, perma-sticker included 😉

Argan Oil (and the like) has done for leave-in hair serums what the Hummingbird Bakery did for cupcakes.  I have spoken to plenty of women who class these serums as game-changers for taming unruly locks and I too, use them on wet hair before blow-drying and on the ends of my dry hair to seal the cuticle and give the impression of sleeker locks.

The problem that many women find with these products is that it’s very easy to go overboard when applying them.  Too close to the roots or a little too much on fine hair and you’re never going to be happy with a head that looks like the overspill from your chip pan.

I can probably count on more than one hand the number of times I’ve had to dart back into the bathroom to re-wash my fringe after getting a little too trigger-happy with the serums and it’s the kind of faux-pas that I, at least, haven’t been able to break with practise alone.

The thing that struck me so intensely about the new Charles Worthington Miracle Repair Elixir Oil is how different it feels in texture to many of the others.  It’s a lot lighter, a lot runnier and doesn’t seem to stay stuck to my palms for the rest of eternity.  Having said that, it still delivers the same manageability to my hair that I’ve grown to expect from using these serums.

For a “high street” name, at £14.99, you’re not paying a high-street price tag… but a quick look at the ingredients tells me that you’re not getting high-street quality either…

Unlike most mass-market “elixir oil” incarnations, the natural oils appear in the top half of the ingredient list, let me transcribe the (partial) list for those of you who might be interested, I’ll stop when things start getting tricky to spell 😉

Cyclopentasiloxane [stop now then shall I?], Dimethicanol, Cetyl Dimethicone, Argania Spinosa (Argan) Kernel Oil, Pentaclethra Macroloba (Pracaxi) Seed Oil, Camellia Sinensis (Camellia) Seed Oil, Triticum Vulgare (wheat) Germ Oil, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Tocopherol, Phytantriol, Cocoglycerides, Capryllic/Capric Triglyceride, Aminopropyl Phenyl Trimethicone… (and the list goes on…)

4th ingredient down the list and bingo – which isn’t bad considering that when reading the back of the the much-loved Moroccan Oil packet, you’ll get to the 6th ingredient in the list before seeing the magic “argan” word.

I’m inclined to think that it’s more to do with the blend of silicones they pack into these things that aid the smoothening of the locks far more than the blend of natural oils, but… still, it’s nice to see that CW isn’t skimping on the oils part of the “magic formula” isn’t it?

This is definitely worth a try if you’re finer-haired and have had trouble with the heavier formulas of other argan oil-inspired products in the past.

Charles Worthington Miracle Repair Elixir Oil is priced at £14.99 for 50ml and is part of the new Charles Worthington Salon at Home range, which is available to buy now in Boots instore and online – I have a couple of other bits from the range that promise all sorts of wonderous things for your barnet – should they impress (or catastrophically disgust me), you can be sure that I’ll tell you about it.

* press sample

If there’s one face in the over-populated world of celebdom who should know a thing or two about perfecting a great red lip, it’s Ms. Dita von Teese.  The American burlesque dancer, model and actress has made the red lip look her calling card over the years, always immaculate and always on the pin-up side of glam.  Who else would you trust with a fabulous retro red lip?

Well, that’s obviously what German cosmetics brand Artdeco thought to themselves when they collaborated with the dancer to create the Dita von Teese Classics Art Deco collection.  Of course, my little heart went all a-pitter-patter at the thought of the potential red lipsticks… and I have one to show you today…

This is #615, the Dita Von Teese Art Couture Lipstick in Muse Red.

I have to say, that if I have one major disappointment about this line… it’s the packaging.  There’s nothing wrong with it but it just feels a little like a missed opportunity to play up to Dita’s vintage styling, I know that when all is said and done, I’d be moaning far more if the contents of the packaging didn’t align themselves in a Dita-esque manner… but, I fancied a nit-pick.  Think Besame with a modern-twist… now that would have been something no?

But as things stand, the packaging is simple, elegant and understated – the only real nod to the co-collaborator comes in the form of a signature and a cameo-esque etching, it’s cute enough.

You can see from this photo (hopefully) that #415, 1 of 6 dita-inspired lipsticks, is a warm-toned orange red… not my most favourite reds to wear simply because of my uber-cool toned colouring but to my mind, the most authentically retro-looking of the lot.  The lipliner that you see peeking in the background is also part of the collection and is a much cooler-toned red (#10 Dame) – it works “ok” with the lipstick but it isn’t a perfect match and if you were looking to buy the two together, I’d say look elsewhere for a warm-toned lip liner.

Moans aside, the formula of the lipstick is a delight.  It’s firm enough to give you enough confidence that you’re not going to end up with colour transfer over your teeth (and I didn’t, at all – despite my BIG front teeth which always get in the way), but soft enough to apply without dragging too reluctantly over your lips.  It strikes a really good balance for a bold lip colour, and formula really is all important when you’re braving a lip colour with such potential to show you up or let you down.

The lip swatches show the colour with lip-liner underneath to help create sharp-edged definition but in all honesty, I think that this lipstick is “man” enough (last of the great feminists me!) to hold a decent edge by itself.  Obviously, for optimum definition it’s always best to line the contours first but most of the time, if I am using a lip-liner, I actually do it to extend the edge of my lips just at the outer corners where 10 years of smoking contributed to a loss of fullness – maybe I’ll take some photos of how I do that sometime if anyone’s interested?

It’s always hard when writing a red lip series post to perfectly demonstrate the tone of a red lipstick compared to others in the genre, so I’ve decided to start swatching them alongside MAC’s Russian Red, commonly thought of as a pretty good example of a neutral red – meaning that it leans neither too blue, nor too orange.  I hope it will be helpful.  Either way, as you can see – in the swatch below, Dita’s Muse Red is comparatively orange-toned when compared to the MAC neutral (it’s also much less draggy!)

Considering there was much room for disappointment (you don’t put out a “Dita von Teese” red lipstick without expecting it to be scrutinised!), #415 is a lovely, retro red that offers good, nay, great longevity… authentic colour and a lip-friendly formula.  What else do you need?

The Dita von Teese Classics Artdeco collection is out now and available to buy in person at larger Debenhams stores and online at debenhams.com

* press sample

Well, I watched it and I’ll confess to a bit of a shiver.  I don’t even fancy Brad Pitt but it did gave me a little thrill down my spine – I think it’s the atmospheric lighting more than anything to be honest.  I watched it again… well, three times actually.  There’s nothing wrong with it per se…

But the thing is…

WHAT’S HE SAYIN’?????

Seriously, I’m transported back to the first time I tried to comprehend Ferdinand de Saussure’s system of sign analysis… and the second time, and then every time subsequently until I gave up and decided that only losers got first-class honours degrees anyway 😉

Can someone please translate for me*?  I’m not even joking.  Where’s the pretty ladies in pretty dresses?!

* if it takes you more than 15 seconds to explain it to me, we’ve all failed

Acqua Di Parma’s Iris Nobile was my first encounter with a high-end perfume and also, my first experience of the brand.  It was love at first sniff after a kindly lady working on the counters at House of Fraser saw me looking with an air of confuzzlement at the range before offering me a tester strip and a spritz.  She explained that it was her favourite from the line, that she hadn’t been working there very long and was still familiarising herself with the range.  That chink of vulnerability was all I needed to feel less of a fragrance-idiot and gave me enough confidence to ask her if she’d mind sharing what she knew, knowing that I was less likely to be overwhelmed with a barrage of information that my under-developed beauty brain would be unable to cope with.

I actually ended up walking away with a bottle of Colonia, because it was summertime and I knew that Mr. L would enjoy wearing it aswell.  Iris Nobile, henceforth became known (to me) as the one that got away.

Roll on a couple of summers and I discover that Acqua di Parma have released a flanker for the original Iris Nobile, Iris Nobile Sublime – well, as if the first one wasn’t sublime enough…

Iris Nobile Sublime takes up where the original left off, oozing refinement and class from the moment you lift the bottle from the packaging.  Despite the promise of mandarin and Italian bergamot, to me, it opens with a resolute hit of warm florals actually quite unlike the fresh, almost icy openings I remember from Prada’s Infusion d’Iris and Narciso Rodriguez’s Essence in Color – two iris scents that I appreciate but cannot quite fall in love with.  Iris Nobile Sublime is simply more inviting, more enticing and more sensual from the off.

Iris Nobile Sublime is an unashamedly feminine affair, brimming with smarts and confidence but elegantly keeping it on the down-low because, after all, no-one likes a show off.  She asserts no blousiness or arrogance, just a seemingly everlasting sense of suave, balance and harmony.  Iris Nobile Sublime is not a rollercoaster of a scent, you’ll know whether you’ll love it or leave it from your first impression, and be sure to trust in those impressions because this is a sure cert for many who have outgrown their love affairs with the candy popsicle scents of youth and are looking for a true signature scent.

As to the question that I asked myself when I first heard about the launch… “How does this differ from the original Iris Nobile?”  I still haven’t been able to answer it to my satisfaction… I also haven’t been able to get to a counter to remind myself of the original but if my instincts and memory serve me correctly, I’m feeling more femininity and powder from this one, a little less woods and musk and perhaps a little more respectful deference to the pretty purple floral itself.  My favourite fragrance release of the year so far.

Acqua di Parma Iris Nobile Sublime EdP is available to buy now on counter and online at John Lewis, priced at £82 for 75ml – it’s also currently available online at Escentual.com, priced at a slightly less painful £73.80 for 75ml.

* press sample

Most people dream in black and white.  I dream in red holographic.  Or, at least… I dream OF red holographic.

This isn’t a bad attempt at it, but it’s doesn’t quite cut the mustard in the same way as Glitter Gal’s incarnation of red rainbows.  The holographic is there but it’s very sparse and subtle.  That’s not to say that this isn’t a very pretty red polish with a hint of holo, because that’s precisely what it is.

I bought this one a couple of months ago and sadly I’ve only gotten round to swatching it now that the weather is too overcast, dingy and downright depressing to get any holo effect to show up – but, you get the idea.

Catherine Arley polishes are best gotten hold of via an eBay search, they’re pretty inexpensive.