A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

Estee Lauder’s Sensuous Noir is the original’s sexier, sassier and more mature sister… it was released this Summer as a rich, seductive and ‘after dark’ version of the already popular Sensuous.

After reading that description, I was expecting something heady, dark and sophisticated… and it very nearly is.

I received my bottle from the press officers at EL after attending their Christmas Launch (of which I’ll have more detail on v. soon!).

First, let’s take a look at the packgaing because we all know how influential the bottle can be.  Who wants an ugly bottle on their dressing table right?

The bottle (lightened here by the fact that I photographed it in the window!) is basically the same design as the original fragrance except that it’s been vamped up with a midnight blue colour change.  It’s simple… nothing extravagant or particularly memorable but the ripples make it quite tactile and nice to hold.

The embossed lid is a nice touch but I found it quite hard to remove, I had to clutch the bottle to my chest and really pull to expose the spray nozzle.

The scent is initially as heady as I expected.  With my amateur nose, I can detect a spice that seems almost oriental and immediately disappointed me.  So many ‘night-time’ versions of day-time scents fall back on the old oriental/vanilla trick that I was worried this would be heading in the same direction.

But then the patchouli hit me squarely on the nose!  I’m not usually a fan of patchouli-heavy scents, but this one isn’t really earthy at all.  It’s much woodier, fresher… cleaner.

If I had to describe this in the shortest way possible… I’d describe it as a perfect Autumnal mid-evening scent.  It has notes of Amber which always remind me of Autumn and when mixed with the spice, vanilla and patchouli – I can almost taste the crisp, cool evenings.

After an hour of wear, the Amber really takes over and it becomes a far softer, more feminine affair without being too powdery.  I think that this is where it excels.  On my skin, those lovely, soft and hugely feminine tones linger for hours.  I would reach for this whenever I wanted to simply smell great without attracting too much attention to the perfume.

It’s not a “knock your socks off” sexy, “sensuous” fragrance by any stretch of the imagination, it’s just not exciting enough for me… but that won’t stop it from having broad mass-market appeal.

Estee Lauder Sensuous Noir is available on counter and online now, priced at £32 for 30ml.

I’m so late with this, I mean who cares now right?  We’re all onto the Christmas releases!

I care though!  I cracked this bottle open for my recent jolly up to London and although it didn’t turn as many heads as Essie’s Sew Psyched did… I felt all sophisticated a grown up in this shade!

Please excuse the photo, have finally managed to borrow a point & shoot that doesn’t hate my computer… but, it’s not fabulously colour-accurate.  In real life, Merino Cool is a touch more mauve.

3 coater and a touch slow drying.  I had a duvet imprint on my thumb all weekend despite a quick dry top coat and reasonable length of time before throwing myself in my pit after painting!

This photo has also prompted a nail chop!  Whilst I do love my nails being long… the above is a touch too long for practicality!  The number of times I’ve caught them on something and literally HELD MY BREATH as I glance down expecting to see that I’ve torn one right down to the cuticle… that’s when I know that they’re just not manageable anymore!

Anyway… I haven’t forgotten that I promised a comparison of my mauvey toned greige shades.  I will do one v. soon, I’ve just had another camera knock-back this morning from a company that I wouldn’t recommend to my worst enemy (SimplyElectronics).

Thanks for sticking with me, I can see why proper ‘togs have camera backups now!  Alas, for me… I’m just a dabbler and Mr. L would infact kill me if I even contemplated the word ‘backup’ when talking about cameras.

Crappy Monday everyone! xx

The comparisons have to be made don’t they?  At just £3.50 for the pale gold E.L.F Gotta Glow compared to £19.50 for NARS iconic Albatross highlighting powder… who isn’t hoping for a remarkable dupe?

The NARS on the left.. E.L.F’s Gotta Glow, on the right.

I’m not gonna talk about the differences in packaging.  They’re there… NARS is annoying and icky sticky, E.L.F’s is sleeker but hella cheaper looking.  Do you *really* care?  I don’t.

But what about the product?

E.L.F’s Gotta Glow is slightly more yellow toned in appearance and the gold shimmer is less refined looking in the pan… chunkier.  This is pretty much what I expected.  On close inspection, you can see a visual difference in quality.

The texture?  Again… this lives up to expectations.

NARS Albatross is smooth and very finely milled… there’s no flaking when you brush the surface of the pan and no fall out upon application.  The E.L.F version can’t claim the same.  It’s powdery and there is fall out if you don’t give your brush a tap off before applying.

But how about this?  Please look past the hairy arms… I have enough hair elsewhere on my body to frankly give a crap about hairy forearms.

That’s pretty simillar no?

Take a guess before reading on… which one costs £3.50 and which one costs £19.50?  I’d love for you to tell me if you got it right in the comments…

.

.

Ready to find out?

.

.

Sure?

.

.

Oh ok… Well… E.L.F’s Gotta Glow is on the left and NARS Albatross is on the right.  I think that I can tell the difference between the swatches… the E.L.F one looks slightly less pigmented and a bit ‘chunkier’.  But is that *really* a £16 difference?  Not when you take into consideration that once applied and blended… I truly struggle to tell the difference on my face at all.

Before I get really excited though… there is one point to note that although not an issue for my skintone, may make ALL the difference on someone else.  I see a slight ashiness with the E.L.F incarnation that I’m not seeing with the NARS original.  It’s only noticeable when I swatch on my fingertip… but I’m thinking that on a darker skintone, the E.L.F Gotta Glow may leave a slight white cast along with the golden sheen.

Has anyone tried it with a darker skintone than mine?  How are you finding E.L.F’s new Gotta Glow highlighting powder?

E.L.F Gotta Glow is available online and priced at £3.50 – a bargain if ever I saw one.

Another one from before my camera bit the dust…

ELF’s Rosy Raisin is another 3 coater that seems to ‘turn good’ on that final coat.  I had a dodgy brush with this bottle – splayed ends.  There’s a first time for everything and this was the first time for me that the price tag really shone through everything else when it comes to ELF.

Disappointing.

The colour is a great wintery shade for those among us who favour them.  Again, at £1.50 – there’s really only so much moaning about a product I can do.  If I hadn’t had such crapola quality issue with the packaging… I’d be happy to recommend but even at £1.50, a girl needs a brush that’s up to the job right?

Hardly apt for Autumn… but if you’re clinging on to the last remnants of Summer, these shades could be for you!

E.L.F – Mango Madness

E.L.F – Passion Pink

Both are *incredibly* bright and neither of the samples I was sent came without their application issues.  Streaky and thin… 4 coats were required for each to achieve an opaque finish.

As with most neons, these dry semi matte (and kinda ugly), they need a glossy top coat to bring out the shine.

Passion Pink, as I’m sure you can see… is far more coral than it appears in the bottle and Mango Madness somehow manages to look almost creamy despite being retina burningly bright!

As usual for E.L.F polishes, these are priced at £1.50 each and available online from the website.

I bought two polishes from the new Autumn/Fall Essie collection.  Sew Psyched and Merino Cool.  Merino Cool was a bit of a no-brainer for my dusty mauve/grey loving fingers… but Sew Psyched took a little leap of faith.

I was hoping that the grey tones in this would soften the green to something special.

And they do!

A two coater with a sprinkling of silver shimmer.  The shimmer is barely noticeable… but does lift the colour a little in direct sunlight.  I personally don’t think it benefits much from it’s inclusion and quite like my dusty colours to look flat anyway.

No problems with application and normal wear time make this a hit for me.

In UK mainstream outlets, Essie Sew Psyched is priced at around £8.50 and available online from BeautyBay

Sounding slightly more like a sex toy than one of E.L.F’s latest UK nail polish releases…. Purple Pleaser is a red-undertoned purple polish.  Just in time for winter!

My sample applied a little streaky, but nothing that a few coats didn”t deal with.  It could also benefit from a top coat to up the shine factor.

The colour isn’t particularly unique, but wear is pretty good with no chips for me until the 4th day.

Purple Pleaser (£1.50) can be bought online from E.L.F

This one goes out to Charlie from LadyoftheLane.

Eyeko Chi Chi is a rosy pink which leans slightly toward gold.  The glitter particles are chunky and suspended in a sheer pink base.  3 coats to achieve the opacity shown above though you could also layer this over a pink creme to achieve the same effect in less glitter coats.  It’s girlie, but the rosiness (rather than pink) stops it from being too juvenile.

I must be into a bit of S&M with these 3 coats, my eyes are watering at the thought of the removal already (where’s my tin foil).

You’ll need a top coat to even out the rough finish from the glitter.  I did one layer and it’s still rough (though not scratchy) to the touch.  It reminds me a little of Butter London’s Rosie Lee although I don’t think the glitter is quite so dense or the finish so foiled.

Eyeko Chi Chi is priced at £3.50 from the Eyeko website who offer worldwide delivery.

I received these two boxes of E.L.F’s new Mineral Booster through the post the other day courtesy of PR and my interest was piqued.  I do love my mineral makeup.

I will however, always hate the mess from playing with… what are essentially, little pots of dust.

I already own the original version of the Mineral Booster which I bought about a year ago to use as an alternative to Bare Escentual’s Mineral Veil (it got superceded by my love for E.L.F’s HD Powder though).  These new incarnations are pretty much the same thing as the original… but on steroids!

Since I’ve become spoiled by Bare Escentuals new Click Lock Go packaging, I’m taking a point away from the E.L.F Mineral Booster ‘cos frankly, it’s a nightmare to transport.

E.L.F Mineral Booster in Shimmer is an ivory toned powder with a healthy does of sparkle.  Sneeze over this baby and you’ll be seeing stars for the foreseeable future!  I was surprised at how creamy the powder felt to the touch.  Obviously very finely milled… E.L.F never fail to impress me with the texture of their mineral products.

E.L.F Mineral Booster in Tinted is a warmer chocolate latté kinda colour… not quite dark enough to terrify me, but certainly deep enough to give me pause about applying it to my pale skin tone.  Again, texture is great with no lumps or areas of heavier pigmentation.

When I swatched both products, I felt a little disappointed.  Not hugely inspiring are they?  The Shimmer is pretty subtle on the back of my hand and the Tinted is just kinda Ovaltine-y.  I wasn’t actually sure what I was gonna be able to do with them by way of demonstration to show you how they work.

Faced with this… a lack of any technical skills whatsoever and my 10hr old makeup, I decided to just go for it.  I grabbed a big powder brush and went for the Tinted version first.  I chose a powder brush over my kabuki as I wanted something that wouldn’t deposit too much product.  I needn’t have worried, Tinted is quite sheer when applied with a brush, it definitely gives you the opportunity to build without flooding your face with pigment.  I applied a light layer allover, then built up the shading along my invisible cheekbones.  I wasn’t too bothered about whether I was ‘contouring’ or ‘blushing’ – I was just slapping it on.

Reaching for Shimmer, I focused on the high points on my face.  Those imaginary cheekbones got a dusting, as did my nose and chin.  Watching the sparkles float on the air I was expecting to see a beacon of glitter reveal itself to me when I looked in the mirror, but the effect was pretty subtle.  Infact… I couldn’t really see any difference at all.

I took an ‘after’ photo anyway and figured that I’d leave the review at swatches and the fact that I thought it was too subtle.

The photos disagree with me though:

Is it just ‘cos it’s mattified me or does the ‘after’ look smoother?  More polished?  I think it’s given me a hint of coverage (check the red nose)… but as a Mineral Booster, that’s not really it’s job description.

Wait… what IS it’s job description?

Achieve the ultimate, translucent “photo finishing touch” to your makeup, our Mineral Booster melts into your skin, infusing it with key vitamins A, B and E to promote healthier skin that’s noticeably silkier and smoother. Completely sheer and ideal for all skin tones, Mineral Booster gently absorbs oil and minimizes the appearance of wrinkles, fine lines and pores for a beautiful even finish. Wear alone or buff over our Mineral Concealer and Foundation to lend extra staying power and to achieve a professional and stunning porcelain matte look that will last all day.

Oh right!  Well, I guess it’s up for promotion then ‘cos that’s what I’m seeing…. though they aren’t gonna last you all day unless your middle name is Dust Bowl.

Can you notice a difference?  I can’t put my finger on what else it’s done.  Considering the colour of ‘tinted’, it’s pretty subtle innit?

All I know is, I prefer the ‘after’.

At £3.50 a pot, these new E.L.F Mineral Boosters are getting the thumbs up from me.

Beige, Grunge, Greige, Taupe, Shit Fingers… whatever you want to call it.  There’s a love/hate vibe around the shade that hasn’t venured far from the spotlight for the last year or so…

Here’s a run down of a few of the shades I own.

My perfect “greige” needs to be the right mix of grey and brown.  If it has just a hint of mauve, all the better…

Orly Prince Charming and BarryM Mushroom are quite chocolatey in appearance… I prefer a little more grey to my greiges.  Boots No7’s Beanie and O.P.I’s You Don’t Know Jacques are both beautiful but quite dark.

This leaves the mega bargainous E.L.F’s Smoky Brown as my pick of the colour crop.  On price alone (£1.50) it wins hands down.

If you haven’t done so already, you can check the E.L.F polishes out here.

…you kinda need this:

Estee Lauder’s Surreal Violet Nail Polish from the new Blue Dahlia collection is now available to purchase.  It’s a limited edition shade and a beautiful late summer/fall companion to Chanel’s eagerly anticipated Paradoxal.

Surreal Violet is priced at £12, and I’m just as in love with it today as I was back in June.  A cracking shade.

With the new Edward Bess range firmly settled into it’s new UK home at Zuneta, I thought it was time to bring you some product shots from the launch I attended a few weeks ago.

A busy swatch table at the launch.  Makeup, check.  Cameras, check.  Tissues, check.

Edward Bess Blush Imperiale (£36) – L,R – Soft Orchid, Desert Bloom, Moroccan Rose

Edward Bess Blush Imperiale swatches – L,R – Soft Orchid, Desert Bloom, Moroccan Rose

Edward Bess Eyeshadow Trios (£44) – L,R – Island Escape, Soft Smoke

Edward Bess Lip Wardrobe (£310)

Edward Bess Compact Rouge (£30) L,R – After Sunset, Love Affair, Island Rose.

The Compact Rouge pots are something rather special… smooth, silky and pigmented.  My heart has been stolen by more products than I can afford.  To be blunt, this is an expensive range.  For me, it’s an aspirational range.  The packaging is plain but sleek with quality casings… some will admire it’s simplicity, others may regard it as lacking in personality.

Edward Bess Midnight Sun Set (£136)

Before seeing the products in person, I was particularly keen to check out the Daydream bronzer and it didn’t disappoint.  Soft, creamy and natural – even on my pink hard-to-please skintone.

Edward Bess Ultra Luminous Eyeshadow (£22) – L,R – Intimate, Escape, Dusk, Mystery.

I was surprised by how much I fell in love with the Ultra Luminous Eyeshadow in Intimate.  I don’t do greens… but this khaki is something quite special.  Texture wise, I slightly favour the Rouge Bunny Rouge formula which blows me away… but I’m smitten by Intimate and Dusk and am in the process of working out how many excuses I can invent to part with the £44 needed to purchase.

.

I will definitely be purchasing the Ultra Luminous Eyeshadow in Intimate.  I aspire to own the Daydream bronzer… but not until I finish the equally lovely Guerlain Teracotta Light Sheer Bronzer in Blondes.  I will also spend the next few months lusting after a compact rouge… but knowing that I would only use it as a cream blusher, I know that I can spend less and fall in love with other cream blushers to the same degree.

This is a line for women who want to enhance with quality cosmetics.  Subtle enhancement with luxury products is (for me) the epitome of what I want to see in my makeup bag.  If you’re looking for a compact collection of beautiful products to achieve subtle but effective enhancements, Edward Bess is worth exploring further.