A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

“It’s cold!”

“I’m putting the heating on!”

These are two sentences that I read on my Twitter timeline yesterday, truly signalling the advent of September and the end of Summer.  There are many things to feel gloomy about… the darker evenings and shorter days will always be at the top of my list but let’s not get too disheartened.  There is nothing that a chunky knit, leather boots, and an Autumnal lipstick can’t make better.

Seeing as I’m not a fashion blog, I’ll let you go elsewhere for your style fix but hang around for a little while longer while I show you a lovely transitional lipstick that should guide you gently from one season to the next.

Today, I’m looking at a lovely chunky lip pencil from Aussie brand Lipstick Queen.  You’d be forgiven for thinking that the brand have only recently joined the pencil love in, but oh no… The Chinatown Glossy Pencils are the forefathers of the trend, Poppy King released these back in 2009… long before you couldn’t move for chubby lip love.

There are eight shades available and of these, I’m showing you Thriller… the closest to a traditional red.

The package comes complete with an oversized pencil sharpener, I like to think that were these put into production today, Poppy would have designed them as twist-up crayons… having to sharpen pencils is an irritation.

The formula is soft but firm enough to apply withut any issues, the tip glides across the lips and delivers a sheer-but-buildable amount of colour.  Although glossy, the overall effect isn’t one of “gloss”… there’s no “wet-look” lips here and no stickiness either, thankfully.  The product wears comfortably over a decent-enough time period, around 3 hours, needing a topup after drinks or lunch.

The fomula doesn’t dry my lips out but leaves them in the same condition prior to application, a good choice for any dry-lips sufferers in the coming colder weather.

The colour is a sheer, berry red with a hint of pink.  It’s a really comfortable in-between shade for anyone who isn’t quite ready to go all out Autumnal vamp.  I know I always need a little bit of gentle easing into the season… and Thriller is a great shade choice for anyone who wants to explore a red lip without having to commit to full-blown colour.

Lipstick Queen Chinatown Glossy Lip Pencils are priced at £22 each and available to buy online from SpaceNK.com

* press sample

“I have found men who didn’t know how to kiss. I’ve always found time to teach them.” – Mae West

Whatever you forget to do this morning, don’t forget to brush your teeth.  Twice.

You see, today is National Kissing Day.  The one day of the year where I think it’s practically legal to demand kisses and if you don’t get enough?  Stand your ground, stamp your feet and demand some more!  Failing that, take a look at some of the lovely things below that practically guarantee to make your pout as irresistible as a sugar-coated crumb on National Doughnut Day.

There is a national doughnut day right?

01: BareMinerals Buxom Big & Healthy Lip Polish (£18, bareminerals.co.uk)

Take your pick from a total of over 20 shades of lip-boosting gloss.  From the sheerest of pinks to the sparkliest of corals, the tingling formula of BareMinerals Buxom Big & Healthy Lip Polish will ensure a knee-trembling rush of blood to the hea pout.

02: LUSH Bubblegum Lip Scrub (£5.35, lush.co.uk)

Smells and tastes so damn good you’ll be hard-pressed to divert your attention away from this little pot of lip-smoothing scrubbiness.  But divert you must!  You have 24-hours to secure a lip-smacking partner, don’t delay.

03: Carmex Strawberry Moisturising Lip Balm (£2.55, asos.com)

With Wimbledon just around the corner, how could you resist this strawberry-scented offering from Carmex?  If it’s a slightly less tremendous tingle you’re after, this cult classic balm with leave you feeling suitably nourished and prepped for a good ol’ smooching session.

04: L’Occitane Rose Aurore Radiant Lip Gloss (£8, uk.loccitane.com)

If subtlety is more your thing, L’Occitane have got your back with their Rose Aurore Radiant Lip Gloss.  Adorn your lips with a pink, delicate shimmer and let your natural radiance shine through while the moisturising formula ensures you’re well nourished enough to still be in a lips-locked position this time next year!

05: Lipstick Queen 3 Piece Lip Nouveau Collection (£30.96, qvcuk.com)

When is just one lipstick not enough?  Always!  Have your cake and eat it with this collection of colour from Lipstick Queen.  A classic high-voltage red, a shimmering pink and a sheer deep crimson, this trio will see your lips looked-after from dawn-to-dusk, prepped for every occasion with a variety of texture.

One final piece of advice from the lip queen herself, Poppy King: “Most importantly, smile!  It has been suggested that simply smiling increases endorphins which are the most flattering thing for natural glow ever.”

Have a great day lip-lovers, whoever you may be smooching!

Looking for a KAPOW! red?  Of course you are.

Of. course. you. are.

Lipstick Queen’s Scarlet Red* is as lusty as they come.  Richly pigmented with a long-lasting formula, it’s not one for the faint-hearted.

Sitting halfway between a matte and a satin finish, I find that once applied, it sticks extremely well… if you have trouble with bold lip colours feathering, you should add this to your “to try” list.  Infact, I think it’s fair to say that this kind of stickability appears to be quite the selling point throughout the Sinner range.

Unfortunately, and probably because of this… it’s not as moisturising as I’d like it to be.  There’s a sacrifice to be made, and although I wouldn’t go quite so far as to call it “drying”, you may not find it as comfortable on the lips as you’d like without a slick of balm underneath and then you’d probably lose the “sticks like sh*t to a blanket” factor that I’ve just bigged up so much.  Bloody cosmetic formulas.

Application is easy enough with or without a lip brush.  In the photo below, I used a brush because any slight wobbles always seem to show up far more in photos than they do in person.  However, the firmer texture will allow you to work some precision lip-lining direct from the bullet if you can’t be doing with any faffing around carrying brushes.

As for the actual shade?  Well, it’s heart-beat inducing.  A red that I’d say leans slightly toward the cooler side of the spectrum without being a full-bodied blue red.  It should suit most skintones as I think it’s one of those reds that will somehow allow your own natural colouring to impact on how it looks in the context of a full-face.  What I love most about the colour though is its brightness.  Scarlet Red delivers a vivid slash of colour and brightens my complexion thanks to its clarity and clean hue.

Lipstick Queen Sinner Scarlet Red is priced at £18, available instore and online at uk.spacenk.com

* press sample

I live in a little town on the South coast which is currently being inundated with politicians and media types thanks to a certain hotly-contended by-election taking place next week.  It’s become a bit of a silly hoo-haa and supplies are running rather low as I daren’t visit the supermarket out of genuine fear that Dave Cameron or Boris Johnson might pop up over the meat counter to canvass my opinion.  A frightening thought.

Infact, my sister-in-law was enjoying a quiet lunch in a local-to-her-school pub the other day when half of the BBC descended en-masse.  I’m just pleased that I elected to conduct my vote via the postal system and can barricade myself indoors until the circus has left town.

Which brings me rather nicely to today’s review of an intriguing product from Lipstick Queen…

Honest Politician is a shade from the brand’s Oxymoron Matte Gloss range.  Matte?  Gloss?  How can it be…  Well, the clue is in the title.  An oxymoron, it most definitely is.  Housed in a cheap-looking acrylic compact, Honest Politician is a neutral-based stain that can be applied to both the lips and the cheeks.  To all intents and purposes, it feels like a gloss during application yet dries to a (somewhat) matte finish once on the skin.

The formula is quite dry and since I’ve been recovering from being quite poorly over the last 10 days, neither my skin nor my lips are in the best condition to do it justice.  Both lips and skin need to be flake-free and my lips are in a state thanks to my complete disregard of doing anything to prevent dehydration.

As such, the FOTD below shows me wearing Honest Politician over a slathering of Lanolips.  You’ll have to Google Image search for a lip swatch of the product on bare lips, it does have a slightly less glossy finish than my FOTD would suggest.

Shade-wise, I’d describe Honest Politician as being a pinky mauve-brown, rendering it thoroughly useful in an arsenal of office-appropriate tones.  It’s not the most exciting product in the world and I can’t bring myself to raise my heart-rate much beyond that of a brisk walk over it… but if I were in the market for a work-horse lip/cheek combo that I could hit pan on again and again, Honest Politician should not be ignored.

Worn on the cheeks, I found it a little difficult to blend without reaching for my foundation brush (which still had a little product on it).  I tried with my fingers and it was hard work.  Frustrating but testament to the fact that it isn’t going anywhere once you’ve got it applied.  Again, a work-horse.  Worn below on the lips and cheeks.

Lipstick Queen Honest Politician is available to buy online and instore from SpaceNK, priced at £20

* press sample

Do you know what I like in a lipstick?  90% pigment.  Precisely what you get from the lipstick that I’m showing you today.

In the Lipstick Queen core lineup, the brand delivers two major formulations, Saint and Sinner.  Saint offers wearable shades, optimum moisture and 10% pigment.  Sinner presents all colour no filler, a formula that grabs you by the balls and says, “Hey, if you don’t wear me… you ain’t got none.” Oh, and 90% pigment.

You see, it’s not that I don’t like sheer lipsticks, it’s just that if I go to the trouble of wearing one, I do like to be able to see it from 400 paces.

Housed in devilish red and black card-backed packaging, the lipstick appears quite unassuming in the tube.  Sure the colour is there but we all know that appearances can be deceptive and that it’s hit or miss as to whether what you see in the bullet translates to the lips.

The Lipstick Queen Sinner line endows a what-you-see-is-what-you- get philosophy… take Bright Rose* for example….

and on the lips…

No shimmer, no gloss, just pure almost-matte colour that belies its creamy formula. The beauty of this formula is that you don’t need to grind the bullet into your lips or apply coat after coat to achieve head-turning pigmentation, it’s just there from the start. Sure, it’s not the most moisturising lipstick in the world but I certainly wouldn’t class it as a lip-cracker, I own (literally) a hundred lipsticks that are less comfortable to wear, it’s just not hydrating than this one.

Longevity is good, around 4/5 hours before it needs a little touch up, sooner if you eat… fade can be a little unflattering, as with most bright lipsticks and is worth keeping in mind.  A beautiful lipstick from an inspiring lipstick designer.

Lipstick Queen Sinner in Bright Rose is available instore and online at SpaceNK, £18.00

* press sample

The idea of a universal lipstick is ultimately, pretty appealing.  Now, I’m not one for gambling, mostly because I’m RUBBISH at it but I would be happy to put a punt on Lipstick Queen Jean Queen and agree with Poppy King that it should suit most ladies, regardless of their colouring.

Who wants to take me up on that bet and where can we get 4 billion lipsticks to test the theory?

The sheer, warm pink  in Jean Queen allows enough of your natural lip colour to reveal itself whilst cancelling out any patchiness or imperfections in your own lips.  It wears very nicely with most other makeup looks and outfits that you feel like pairing it with (hence the name) and also applies with plently of slip.  It’s effortless.  Ok, it’s not the most exciting or groundbreaking thing in the world – but it’s a true workhorse lipstick.

My lips are lacking in pigment and need some kind of lip-covering to avoid that freshly-dug-up look.  For me, Jean Queen provides more of a sheen than much in the way of boom-pow pigment, but what it does offer is polish and completeness to an otherwise unfinished-look.  It’s casual, it’s effortless.  For such a balmy-feeling formula, longevity isn’t too bad either – I can still feel the slip on my lips a few hours into the day and it wears quite comfortably over longer periods without giving any indication that it’s drying out my pout.

Lipstick Queen Jean Queen Lipstick is priced at £15, and available to buy instore and online at spacenk.co.uk

Do you have a favourite MLBB (my lips but better) lipstick?  Tell me about it!