A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

It was the the Body Shop Summer Baked to Last bronzers that caught my eye in store before anything else when they were released at the start of the Summer.  They have that whole MAC MSF thing going on don’t they?  We were introduced to them more closely at a blogger event in the Summer…

Priced At £14 each, one could easily argue that they are aimed at the same kind of market as MAC.  So let’s see how they shape up shall we?

Warm Glow – £14

Warm Glow is the paler of the two shades and despite it’s name, isn’t actually too warm at all.  A hint of pinkness mixed in with the warmer brown tones keeps this from being too orange.

Well pigmented with a fine shimmer, the above shows a heavy swatch on the inside of my wrist.  You can see that I have to work quite lightly with this bronzer but to be honest… that’s the case for 99.9% of all bronzers I use anyway!

What I really like about this product is that unlike the MAC MSFs I’ve tried in the past, this doesn’t give my face any kind of metallic sheen.  The shimmer adds a glow without being too obvious.  I wouldn’t use this to contour, I prefer to use matte shades for that… but dusted lightly onto the cheeks?  It’s a really nice warm (without being too warm) bronzer.

Love it!

Golden Bronze – £14

A far deeper affair than Warm Glow.  Golden Bronze is clearly more suited to darker skintones or those looking for a more dramatic effect.

I found the texture of Golden Bronze to be a tiny bit harder than Warm Glow, it didn’t swatch quite as smoothly either.  You can see that I would struggle to use this shade as anything other than an eyeshadow but again, it benefits from a lovely sheen that isn’t too obvious.

Overall, I was impressed with both of these samples I was given and it’s not very often that I’ll say that a Body Shop makeup item is worth the asking price.  I ‘get’ why it’s more expensive than other high street offerings… products produced from ethically sourced base ingredients often are.  But judged purely on it’s quality as a cosmetic product?  These are worth the asking price.

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Also, isn’t it soon that The Body Shop start discounting their Summer cosmetics online?  Keep an eye out ladies because I see that the Autumn blushes are out online (and looking flippin’ gorgeous!)

You can purchase the Baked to last Bronzers online or instore priced at £14 each.

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…

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Ready to find out?

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Sure?

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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.

Next up doing their bit for Breast Cancer Awareness Month is…

What is it?

Three gorgeous shades of gloss from Clinique together on an exclusive handy key chain complete with a pink ribbon charm.

Long Last Glosswear SPF 15 provides long-lasting, high shine with the added benefit of SPF 15.  Thanks to powerful film-formers that create a “seal” holding the gloss to your lips throughout the day, the high moisturising gloss stays put for up to 8 hours!

Price

£15.00

Donation

For each UK sale, £2 will be donated to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation’s study at the UK Institute of Cancer Research.

Availability

Exclusive to Boots, both online and instore.

I think it’s about time for an update to this post.

It’s been a month and I’ve been sticking to the new routine, using The Body Shop’s Rainforest Haircare.  Infact, I’ve finished the bottles that I was given at their blogger event in the Summer.

I know it’s taken me a while to review, but not only did my hair need to get used to the new products, I needed to get used to the new routine too.  It’s a big difference going from normal detergents and condtioners and it takes a while to adjust.

So, I’ve been trialling The Body Shop Rainforest Moisture variety which is aimed at dry hair types.  My hair is coloured (frequently) and as a result, a little over-processed and dry.  It needs something that isn’t stripping.

My first impressions of this weren’t positive.  Within the 3rd use, my hair felt like straw.  It was unmanageable and bushy… rough and knotty.  I tried using more conditioner, but didn’t experience any improvements.  I nearly gave up on it completely.

Instead, I tried using it in conjunction with my normal conditioner.  I was worried that by using a normal conditioner, I’d be giving the sls-free shampoo too tough a job to clear my hair of build-up… but for me?  This is working well.

The shampoo takes a little getting used to, it doesn’t lather very well on the hair.  It’s recommended to rub it between your palms to build up a small amount of lather before applying to your hair and this does make a difference.

I simply found that the condtioner didn’t do enough to smooth the hair shaft.  Whilst I’m not in love with either of these products, I would purchase the shampoo again.  It left my hair feeling clean and since getting rid of my scalp issues (thanks Nizoral!) it hasn’t caused any further irritations.

Priced at £4 for 250ml, I think the range is pretty good value for money considering the natural and eco-friendly ingredients, but I’d need to see more moisture from the conditioner before I’d purchase again.

You can buy The Body Shop’s Rainforest Haircare range online or instore.

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?

Clinique are introducing three NEW products to their popular Redness Solutions lineup.

Clinique Redness Solutions Makeup SPF 15 – £20

Now this is exciting!  The first premium-brand to offer a foundation that not only promises to give redness specific coverage but also offer treatment benefits for mild to moderate facial redness.

Well, that’s me… I’m very curious to see if this makes any real difference in camouflaging compared to my normal foundations.  I’m not convinced on the SPF 15 though, I think that a foundation specifically aimed at sensitized skins would have benefited from a slightly higher protection rating.

Clinique Redness Solutions Corrector – £15

A yellow-toned stick concealer that promises to neutralise and conceal areas of redness.  I’m wary of these… in the past I’ve tried Benefit’s You’re Bluffing yellow-toned stick concealer and it just didn’t do much for me.  I won’t discount this one yet… but it’s not something I’d buy without being shown exactly how to use it for best effect on counter.

Redness Solutions Instant Relief Mineral Pressed Powder – £24

This powder can be used alone, under or over makeup and claims to make visible redness and broken capillaries virtually disappear.

If this is anything like Clinique’s loose mineral powders… it’s gonna be gorgeous.  I find them to be super-fine and invisible whilst doing the job they’re designed for.

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The new redness solutions additions will be available on counter from the 15th October.  I for one, will be checking them out!

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.

If you find yourself a little flush this Autumn, then you may want to check out the new limited edition Tom Ford Black Orchid collection.

Comprising of 3 pieces:

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~ The revamped Black Orchid lipstick (in black casing instead of white)

~ The new Black Orchid Nail Colour – a new venure for the Tom Ford beauty lineup

~ The new Black Orchid Pressed Perfume – the piece that captures my interest… look at that beautifully sexy slimline packaging!

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The new collection will be available in Harvey Nichols from the 4th October 2010 and elsewhere from 1st December 2010.

Price?  An eye-watering £90.  Did you expect anything less?

I’ve got an exclusive 20% off discount code for my lovely readers to take advantage of Barielle’s brand new Holiday Hustle Nail Collection!

If you want to take advantage of the promotion, simply use code lipglossiping (lower case) at checkout.

The code is good for 2 weeks from today and when I checked a few days ago (I’m on holiday now), it was working store-wide!

Let me know if you succumb to temptation!  I’m a nosey sod!

Witt-Woo! (that’s a wolfwhistle btw!)

Barielle have done it again, that thing I love ’em for… the twist on the normal.  The eclecticness of collections that ensure there’s something for everyone.

Taking a generic creme and adding something special to it… they give their shades an edge.  Something that makes you want to own them regardless of how many dupable colours you have.  MY. ONE. DOESN’T. HAVE. FUCHSIA. GLITTER. IN. IT. etc.. etc..

Woah right?

Elle’s Spell looks positively enchanting…. Gelt Me To The Party looks like it may be the goldiest gold ever and Coalest Day of the Year is a new take on the Winter charcoal/black shades no?

Wrap me in Ribbon… again, I don’t think I have a pink *quite* like this, it makes me think of Christmas baubles!  If there’s one shade that I’m DEFINITELY lemming this Christmas… it’ll be Jess’ Champagne Toast.  I love it when Barielle do the contrasting glitter like that!  Snow Day… probably not so much, a pale green metallic?  Nah… not for me thanks.

5 out of 6 eh?  That’s pretty good going!

Come on Christmas, come on Christmas!

P.S – I’ve got a special 20% off code for you tomorrow, so if you fancied purchasing a few of these shades… that’ll be the time to do it!

I don’t know about you… but when I think of ‘natural’ or ‘organic’ makeup… it’s all I can do to stifle the yawns that try desperately to escape from my body and expose my feelings.

So when I opened an email and was greeted with this London Fashion Week image…

…I was a little surprised to learn that it came from Louise Amstrup’s SS11 show, where the makeup was represented by none other than natural brand Dr. Hauschka.

Known more for their iconic Rose Day Cream than their colour palettes, I couldn’t resist having a closer look at some of their pieces when I found myself in Whole Foods this week.

I was particularly taken with this palette:

Part of this year’s Summer Impressions collection, the Cool Breeze palette is creamy, pigmented and interesting.  Quite frankly… pretty much all the things I didn’t expect it to be.  Though, I will never like having my lip products in the same palette as powders and all this loveliness comes at a price.  £40 to be exact.

Do you have any preconceptions about all-natural makeup lines – are my sterotypes out of date?

Do you remember when you were a kid and your cousins came round?  They were in YOUR domain… you were in charge.  Let’s face it… only you knew where the biscuit barrel was hidden.

The afternoon would be progressing nicely… a little bit of bossiness on your part (it IS your house afterall)… perhaps inching towards a small amount of rowdiness… which may or may not have included biscuit hogging…

then… BAM!  “Stop showing off!” my your Mum would shout.

Stop. Showing. Off.

Those three words would have me beetroot red for the next 6 hours and reduce me to a whimpering, sullen shadow of my former custard cream party leader self.

Someone needs to tell this H&M polish to stop showing off.

Enough.  Too much.  Simmer down now.  Get to bed.

I get that it’s clearly striking… it’s purdy and it’s bright.  It does things that no £3 nail polish should really be able to do.  The shimmer is complex and the hue so vivid, my retinas are screaming for salvation.

But it’s too much.  It just doesn’t know when to stop.

Some of you will disagree with me… and that’s cool… but in the bottle (and I still don’t have my new camera so can’t actually SHOW you)… it doesn’t look so obnoxious.  It looked all midnight blue with an incredible glow – I wanted what you can see above to be apparent, but subtle.

And this ain’t subtle.

As for all that other stuff? Application… wear… I can’t remember, this mani is about 3 weeks old now and I didn’t write it down – sorry!

On a completely unrelated note… this is my 1000th post! Oh my… *fans self* – I’m not sure whether to be proud or embarrassed!