A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

I’ve only been in to a Kiko store a couple of times but when I do, I tend to do some serious damage in an effort to make-up for the fact I can’t ever just “pop in”. Truthfully, I haven’t been hugely blown away by the things I’ve bought, with the exception of a couple of matte eyeshadows, they’ve mostly been neither here nor there in terms of eliciting any major makeup-excitement.

Having said that, I am rather fond of this softly muted sage green. I’m not actually sure if it’s still available to buy… huge apologies if it isn’t. It should be, it’s lovely.

#349 (I hate numbers for names!) is a soft green in a greyed out base, it’s perfect for year-round wear and always looks beautiful when topped off with glittery tips… you can imagine how lovely gold-flakies look applied to the tips, no?

The formula is ok. It’s not completely smooth and as time’s passed, my bottle has thickened slightly. The above shows three coats but two would probably cover it if you were careful during application.

KIKO Cosmetics can be found online at kikocosmetics.co.uk

Well, I should probably start this review by saying that I have never been a big fan of Issey Miyake’s scents. I’d even go so far as to say that I have been completely bewildered over the years by the brand’s following and their flanker after flanker release strategy that would have even the most ardent fan spinning with confusion.

Pleats Please is the designer’s latest fragrance launch that celebrates his iconic 80s fashion line of the same name.  The Japanese designer’s interpretation of East meets West has had many women flailing over his knife-edge pleats, created by specialist pleating techniques (no, really!) that make his designs both ready-to-wear and long-lasting.

Both of those descriptions could equally be applied to the brand’s new scent.

At first spritz, I felt a huge sense of deja vu.  The initial note of Asian Nashi pear (an apple/pear hybrid) instantly put me in mind of a hugely generic synthetic, clean and fruity opening.  It’s sweet and thoroughly 2D, nothing like the designer’s wonderfully structured catwalk creations.  I was disappointed but not surprised.

And then I went about my day.

It was about 30-minutes later that I found myself tentatively sniffing at my wrist again.  The sweetness was still there but it had blossomed into a big floral.  Big in an unabashed 80s way (can I have some shoulder pads to go with my pleats?).  I’ll admit that I have a soft spot for big florals, giant bouquets that envelop you in their heady bosoms.  The kind that you wouldn’t want to escape from even if you could.  My use of the word “bosom” isn’t accidental… there’s a skin warmth in there among the flowers, unwashed but definitely not unpleasant.  Undoubtedly all this “scent” will prove too much for some but I’m rather taken by the way Pleats Please deceived me.

I hate the bottle, I think it’s a monstrous creation… but I will admit that it feels gorgeous in the hand.  Modelled on Miyake’s famous Bao Bao bag with a “pleated” white plastic top, it reminds me of a feminine Marc Jacobs Bang (without the toppling over issues).  As far as longevity and silage are concerned, providing you’re a fan of how this creation actually smells… you should be pleased with its performance on both counts.  Lingering enough to last the day, excellent for an EdT and conspicuous enough in its presence to elicit an “I can still smell you” from my husband as we lay in bed that night.

Issey, you have won me over.  Well, almost.  I still really dislike the opening… but I will persevere just so that I may appreciate the addictive, powerhouse of a dry-down.

Issey Miyake Pleats Please is priced from £33 for 30ml and available to buy instore or online at Boots, Superdrug, Debenhams, and online (from £28) at escentual.com

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If you’re starting to feel some early Autumnal blues creeping in (where did the Summer go?), you’re not alone.  I’m already hyperventilating at the thought of losing my beautiful long evenings… aren’t they just the best thing about summer?  I love being able to take blog photos at eight in the evening, sit on the balcony after Leila has gone to bed, and enjoy the thought that, at lunchtime, I have more than three-hours of light left in my day.

Winter, you suck.

Well… let’s push those gloomy thoughts to the back of our minds and concentrate instead on this rather cheerful hue.

Headline Colors (used to be Killer Colors – remember the name dramas?) released this beautiful shade as part of their Spring/Summer 13 collection.  Poolside Party is a crystal clear blue with excellent opacity and a smooth formula that will bring a smile to your face in just two coats.

It’s simply cheerful.  Would look fabulous on toes (while you’re still brave enough to bare them) and makes me wish that Summer could go on forever.

Headline Colors Poolside Party is priced at £9 and is available to buy online from headlinecolors.com

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An oldie but a goodie today with Misa’s Toxic Seduction. When I first started blogging 4+ years ago, Misa were a brand that I’d see pop up on blogs across the Atlantic all the time. Nowadays, not so much…

Still, when I attended Pro Beauty in London a couple of years ago, I raced for the Misa stand which was part of a bigger NSI stall… it had already been half-emptied! It’s not hard to see why…

Misa’s Toxic Seduction is a blast from the past, Fall 2008 to be exact… it’s a rich forest green, somewhat muted in anything but direct sunlight and yet it has a certain depth to it that I find really appealing.  The silvery shimmer gives it a really great glow to battle through the vampy, blackened edges that have historically made Autumn collections such a thrill for me.

Yum.

Application on this one is great, nothing noteworthy to report.  If you’re a fan of green polishes and don’t have this classic in your collection… you’re doing it wrong.

Misa Toxic Seduction is currently available to buy online at amazon.co.uk (yeah, I know) priced at £3.02 not inc. shipping.

Beauty is such a personal experience, it’s subjective… it’s intimate… but as a blogger, I know and appreciate the importance of sharing a connection with others over something that many of us feel shouldn’t be quite so laced with mysticism.  Making oneself feel more beautiful shouldn’t be a cloak and dagger operation but often, it’s treated that way.  Whatever makes me feel more beautiful, I want to share with you and I never stop hoping that you’ll enjoy the same experiences that I have with a fresh technique, or a new product.

Launching today is Estee Lauder’s latest contribution to the world of beauty, a global campaign aimed at connecting women through personal experiences.  It’s called The Beauty of the Night and it invites you to upload a personal thought, story or experience relating to the night-time in an effort to connect, across the globe, with another woman simultaneously sharing their experience.

In doing so, both participants will also receive instruction on how to get their hands on a sample of Estee Lauder’s new Advanced Night Repair Synchronized Recovery Complex II.  You’ll also be able to read and rate other people’s shares and discover exactly what it is that makes everyone’s nights that little bit more beautiful!

Go ahead and spread those messages of night-time beauty!

I promised a proper review of the Boots No7 Stay Perfect Foundation* that I’ve been practically living in all Summer. I also mentioned about how I’d never in my wildest dreams actually imagined that it would work well on my skintype.

I don’t know about you but there are certain preconceptions I have when I hear the marketing blurb about products. To me, something that is touted as “stay perfect” or “long-lasting” inevitably puts me in mind of a foundation designed for oilier skintypes. At the very least, something that my dry/combination skin would fail to tolerate.

In this instance, I was wrong.

No7 Stay Perfect foundation comes in an impressive range of 17 shades and I, somewhat predictably, was matched to the lightest of these: Calico.  I find Calico to be quite neutral in terms of hue, leaning neither too pink nor too yellow.

The finish is semi-matte and I’m unsure at this moment in time how my skin will tolerate this foundation when Winter comes around.  I’d hypothesise that we may not be quite such good buddies once the dry-flakes settle in for the season but at the moment, whilst my skin is very much “combination”, the No7 Stay Perfect is ticking all the right boxes.

One of the reasons I’m getting on so well with this foundation is down to a slightly unusual reason, the packaging.  In terms of how much product the pump dispenses, for me… it’s perfect.  Now, I don’t know about you… but unless a pump dispenses a ridiculous amount of product, I generally just apply the lot without really thinking about it.  This one dispenses slightly less than the average pump’s worth, but isn’t so meagre that it makes you want to dispense another pump.  For some reason, this makes me really work the product into the skin… stroking and buffing the liquid formula until I achieve what is, quite literally, the perfect amount of coverage for me.

I know that it seems such a strange reason to love a foundation but it wasn’t until I used this that I realised just how much I tend to simply (over)apply whatever is dispensed onto the back of my hand without thinking.

The Boots No7 Stay Perfect foundation gives me enough coverage (I’d class it as sheer/medium) to tone down the redness around my nose without obliterating my natural skin-texture, it evens out most areas without masking natural radiance and most of all, it lasts almost all day without slipping from my nose or chin.  My only caveat with this product is I feel that it has a problem with oxidisation, something I can just about get away with because I’m not particularly heavy-handed during application.

The formula feels lightweight on the skin and pairs beautifully with a silicone-based primer, despite the included SPF.  Infact, this is the first foundation I’ve used that actually makes me want to reach for a primer.  I’ve worn it both with and without but for literally, the first time, I can see a difference in my skin texture when using a primer.  It glides over the top and gives a great impression of minimising some of the pores on my cheeks.  I’m all about cutting out the extra steps during makeup application but I genuinely get a little bit excited when I apply this foundation/primer combo (for the record, I’m using my DHC Velvet Skin Coat primer).

Anyway, enough gushing… I’ve taken my time with this review because I feel strongly about its value as a bloody great foundation.  For me, it’s a bloody great foundation.  It also helps that it doesn’t cost ££££, no?  Slightly bizarrely, I really seem to get on better with high-street foundations than expensive ones.  Good for me, I suppose!

The picture below shows the foundation with a full-face of makeup on top.  No highlighter or light-reflective blush, I’m loving the natural luminosity!  I just hope and pray I’ll still be able to wear this once the weather turns cooler.

Boots No7 Stay Perfect Foundation is available to buy online and instore at Boots, priced at £14.  Have you tried it?

* press sample

No, really!  You see, I’ve been taking mine for granted.

The weather has been lovely hasn’t it?  I’ve been blissfully ignoring the fact that in less than 6-months time, thanks to my Raynaud’s, I’ll be grimacing at the big freeze that numbs my toes… making each step ironically burn with the cold.

So, why have I been reminded of this so prematurely?  Well, a few weeks ago, I managed to do myself a mischief thanks to a pair of wholly unsuitable shoes and a streetful of cobbles.  I didn’t even know I’d done it… but as the week progressed, it became more and more painful to put one of my feet to the ground.

“What could it be?!”  I asked everyone around me…

Eventually, I spoke to a doctor who decided that it sounded like Plantar Fasciitis.  That’s easy for him to say… I can’t pronounce it!  What it meant was that I’d “angered” the band of connective tissue that runs between the ball of the foot and the heel.  Effectively, that bit under the arch.  It got me thinking about just how serious a podiatry problem can be, how fully it can impact your day-to-day life, and how we just don’t really like to talk about our feet!

Well, let’s break that taboo today.

Got bunions before your time?  Thought it was only your Mum who needed corn plasters?  Calluses best described as barnacles?

The thing is… foot problems are often associated with the elderly.  My local surgery has a visiting chiropodist who comes on a Wednesday afternoon… the waiting room is FULL of lovely nana’s queueing up to have their feet checked.  I don’t know anyone under the age of 70 who regularly visits a podiatrist to have treatment, but I know plenty of people who should.

Well, let’s change that.

If you have any foot-related questions, leave a comment below and I’ll send them to leading podiatrist, Dr. Tariq Khan who works with Carnation footcare.  Follow-up post coming soon!

Loves me a good duochrome I do!

The problem with some duochromes is that no matter how delightfully galactic they look in the bottle, once on the nail… they require about a billion coats before reaching full opacity.  I mean, I know that I’ll have some extra time on my hands once Leila starts school in September (oh God, I’m not ready) but, five fucking coats is pushing it somewhat, no?

And that my friends, is why you need this H&M cheapie in your lives…

H&M Wintersky is a swoon-worthy polish.  It looks like it’s majorly accentuating my nail ridges in the second photo… but it’s quite an unkind photo to this poor polish which applies beautifully in just. two. coats.  The brush has a tendency to overload so you do have to be careful to scrape the excess back into the bottle but the formula is one of the fastest-drying (without making any application sacrifices) that I’ve yet to encounter.  Fastest-drying yet.  It’s like pixie-pee or something.

You should be able to tell from the photos that the duochrome shifts from a silvery green/blue to pink/lilac gorgeousness.  I’m also not wearing a top-coat in these shots because I was having a major swatch-session.

H&M Wintersky is currently available in H&M stores… it’s also online (if you can navigate their abomination of a website).  Priced at £2.99, it’s worth picking up next time you’re instore.

If you follow my new tumblr account, you would have seen this particular beauty pop up on there last week. When I challenged you to guess the shade from the swatch most of you said China Glaze Ruby Pumps… well, you were wrong! Glitter Gal Hot Chilli is just as sparkle-tastic but with the added bonus of some major holographic loveliness.

Non-gritty and richly-pigmented, the warm slightly wine-y base will be perfect for autumn and has enough of a jelly type of quality to make it look all squishy and scrummy on the nails.

Application was a dream, two easy coats later and the colour is fully opaque with a strong holographic effect in sunlight. In my experience, the Aussie-based brand (now available in the UK exclusively at PowderRooms) has always made some of the most beautiful holographic reds available and this one is no exception.

Glitter Gal Hot Chilli is priced at £10 for 10ml and is available to buy online at powderrooms.com, this one’s a limited edition shade so if you want to get it in your collection in time for Autumn, be quick!

* press sample

A couple of months ago, Boots No7 asked me if I’d like to have a sneak peek at the creation of their new Autumn campaign. Different to most other campaigns from the beauty industry, No7 were keen to strengthen their pledge to ban the use of airbrushing and digital retouching in their campaigns.

The campaign is a two-parter… featuring both print and television. From Thursday, you’ll be able to see the finished TV ad on your screens. An ad which features real women, cast straight from the high-street. There are no professional models, no cheesy story-lines, and NO digital trickery. Just good makeup, great lighting, and some natural beauties relishing their Ta-Dah! moment. Trust me, I saw it all go down!

Creating the backdrops for the shoots – YES! They used actual No7 makeup!

Wardrobe department, who knew how hard it was to match your clothes to your makeup?!

Hello my pretties!

Got foundation?

I got the full experience too!

Sneaking a peek at the shots as they came straight off the camera

As you can imagine, when you’re shooting a campaign which celebrates the ability of makeup to enhance natural beauty without any digital intervention, it’s pretty important that your makeup artist is at the top of their game and Boots No7 enlisted the expert eye of Petros Petrohilos to safely steer them through the minefield of mascara smudges, lipstick-on-teeth disasters, and rogue blemishes. I was amazed at his meticulous attitude to creating the perfect red lip, it was quite something to behold!

Nails were looked after by Rock Beauty creative director (and he of Adele’s Louboutin manicure fame) Mike Pocock… while hair was teased into perfection by New Bond Street super-star, Neil Cornelius. Don’t let his destitute demeanour fool you, this man has bonafide magic fingers.

As for the man behind the camera, well… Boots No7 did something rather clever in their selection of who best to represent their idea of beauty. Abandoning the classic choice of a fashion photographer, the team behind the campaign took a braver route… calling up on the skills of eminent portrait photographer James Mollinson to interpret the essence of the women infront of the lens.

James is well-known for his travelling exploits (there’s a wonderful feature on him that you should watch, here), capturing subjects from across the globe and in this role, his aim was to portray each woman’s “Ta-Dah!” moment. That sense of satisfaction we all feel when our efforts at beautifying ourselves have been successful! Whether it’s the boost of confidence, the spring in our step, or just the knowledge that we won’t scare the children, the “ta-dah!” moment is something I think we can all empathise with.

I’ve got an exclusive preview on the print images below… how do you think James did with capturing these beautiful ladies?

Aren’t they stunning? What do you think? Do these shots speak “portrait” more than “beauty shoot” to you? I love how the backdrops tone perfectly with the makeup.

The second part of the campaign involved creating a TV ad. The creative agency called upon director Ian Bonhôte to translate the campaign to the moving image and once again, I was invited along to skulk around in the background, soaking up the atmosphere. The studios in North London were hot. Hotter than hell thanks to last month’s heatwave and although I didn’t arrive until mid-afternoon, the crew had been there since 6am with the day still stretching out well ahead of them.

I sneaked a peek of the storyboard which, as you can see (below), mirrors the print campaign in terms of “model” and backdrop… again, there’s nothing fancy here. Just great makeup on great faces. Continuity was key and with extreme closeups of eyes and lips, the camera had to be operated by remote control… even the tiniest of nudges would have ruined the focus and the entire shot!

Concentration was paramount and from an observer’s point of view, it looked like a well-oiled machine, capturing and arranging shots that would only later make sense once placed into the right sequences. Well-organised chaos would be another term for it!

I haven’t seen the finished advert yet (which will air from tomorrow on Boot’s Facebook page and on TV on Thursday) but I’m excited to see how it all comes together.

Part of the storyboard for the TV ad

On set

The cross-hairs ensure absolute continuity for the next scene

It looked HOT under those lights!

Behind the scenes

I did a lot of peeking over people’s shoulders!

The director checks over the shot

If you want to be one of the first to view the new ad campaign, be sure to check in on the No7 Facebook page later on today where they’ll be previewing it exclusively for fans.

Have I told you before that Urban Decay were one of the first brands that made me sit up and take a proper interest in nail polish? Remember some of those early polishes… I still have a bottle of Cult and O somewhere, such a gorgeous pink!

Anyway, reminiscing aside… Urban Decay have been lightly dabbling with the (re)creation of nail polishes via some lovely mini-sets these past few years but this Autumn sees the return of full-size bottles.

Well, I say Autumn… they’re actually live on BeautyBay.com and the Debenhams website as I type.  The brand will be looking to release two limited edition shades each season, and I’ve got one of Autumn’s offerings on the blog today for your swatch-swooning pleasure!

Vice, one of the two limited edition shades available with their skull-topped bottles, is a rich purple with a not-so-hidden red/blue shimmer.  It’s not as duochrome as the stock images might have you believe but it is a deeply sexy royal purple with that inner glow of gorgeousness that darkens at the edges.  I’ve included a macro shot below to give you a better idea of how the polish reflects the light.

The 3-three formula is bloody faultless, practically a one coater though I always do two when my nails are under swatch-scrutiny!  The polish glides on smoothly and dries quickly to a high shine, I’m not wearing a top coat in the above pictures.

If you’re in the market for a stunning purple, you’d be hard pushed to find better on the market at the moment.

Urban Decay Nail Colour in Vice is priced at £10 and available to buy online from beautybay.com and instore/online at debenhams.com

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I love wearing warm colours on my cool skintone.  They impart a sense of vitality and freshness that I just don’t get from my more traditional cool-toned favourites.  It can be tricky to paint a “cool” face with “warm” colours and unless you’re also blessed with plenty of freckles and red hair, there can be an immediate juxtaposition between face and hair/face and makeup.  I must admit that I generally only go for a warm face when I’m having a good skin day (which I wasn’t!).  The creamier my complexion (read: less ruddy), the more success I have with painting a warmer canvas.

When I first started wearing makeup, I adored all warm-toned eyeshadows… gold being the pinnacle of that adoration.  Infact, I still have so many beautiful gilded shades that just don’t see much love because as I’ve gotten older, the redness in my complexion has increased and I’m less concerned about making my blue/green eyes “pop” against the shadow and more concerned about not looking like I have a drinking problem.

I find that nowadays, if I do go for a wamer look, I tend to stick to soft peaches (never apricot), guavas, and rose-gold.  Anything that has a slightly pink base is a winner… it can be shot through with a ton of golden sparkle just so long as it has that complimentary base.  Orange and brown-toned golds rarely wear well though I love a good champagne-gold (think NARS Albatross/MAC Femme-Fi).

I’m completely in love with Boots No7 Stay Perfect Foundation* (I’m shade Calico – link) at the moment.  I’m a late-comer to this one and assumed that it would be too drying on my combo/dry and dehydrated skin… most things that claim any kind of longevity, usually are.  I find that aslong as I’m well-moisturised (which I always am anyway), I can wear this one without exacerbating any flakiness.  I haven’t tried it in the Winter yet… but I’ve been wearing this around 70% of the time since mid-June and it delivers a confidence-boosting super-smooth look if I wear it with a primer underneath. I didn’t wear a primer in the photos below because it was ridiculously hot yesterday and I just wasn’t up for all those layers!

One of the reasons that I’m loving it (and it seems like the faintest of praise) is down to the simple fact that the pump dispenses exactly the perfect amount.  Do not underestimate the power that getting the right amount of coverage can have.  Although I love my lovely Bourjois Healthy Mix, it dispenses far too much and I always have to physically restrain myself from applying the entire pump’s worth.  I’ll try to remember to do a before/after foundation and primer routine with the Stay Perfect soon because it really has been one of those rare “ohhhh SKIN LOOKS GOOOOOOD!” revelations.

Other products included in the FOTD run with the rose-gold theme…

Dainty Doll Cream Blusher 002 – link (or try NARS Deep Throat or Sleek Rose Gold)
MAC Rubenesque Paint Pot – link (or try Laura Mercier Caviar Stick in Rose Gold or Benefit Slippin’ n’ Dippin’)
Laqa & Co Fairyblood Lip Pencil* – link (or try MUA Shade 7 or Avon Ultra Colour Rich Lipstick in Sparkling Warm Rose)
Estee Lauder Intense Kajal Eye Crayon* – discontinued (any black liner will do)
No7 Exceptional Definition Mascara – link (any mascara will do)

Also…. only six products, check me out being all minimalist n’ stuff!  Or that other word for it… lazy.

Are you a Rose Gold fan?

* press sample