A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

“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!

Lash curling. I think it’s probably one of the most under-talked about subjects in the blog world. And you know why? Because it’s a hugely neglected step in the quest for makeup perfection.

Before you think I’m preaching, I’m guilty of this too. The number of times that I pass over my eyelash curlers and reach straight for the mascara is pretty shameful for someone blogging about the virtues of this crucial step in the process!

First things first, many women give up on the idea of lash-curling simply because they haven’t found a pair of curlers to suit their eye shape.  Some pinch, some force you to contort your wrist awkwardly, and some… well, some just don’t give any kind of curl at all.  If your lashes are stubbornly straight, you may be better off investing in a pair of heated lash curlers which promise to give super-strength and hold to your curl.

My lashes are fairly average, they curl nicely at the end but benefit from a bit of lift at the roots for a more wide-eyed look.  I’ve tried a few lash curlers in the past and my needs aren’t so demanding that I’ve struggled to find a tool that works (although I find the Shu Uemura ones a little too flat for me).  Having said that, I’m enjoying the effortless results that I’m getting from these Japonesque Power Curl Eyelash Curlers* (£20) from Cult Beauty.

I say “effortless” because these ones seem to catch each lash in one attempt.  I don’t have to faff around with placement and even though I’m using them extremely close to the root, I can squeeze them together safe in the knowledge that I’m not going to feel a pinch at the outer corners.  Something that I have experienced in the past when I curl close to the root.  I suppose you just know when you find a pair that suits your eye-shape and curling requirements, and these are pretty much spot-on for me.  There’s also the added bonus of the brand offering free replacement curler pads throughout the lifetime of the product!

So… lash-curling… for the uninitiated, let me give you a few quick tips that work for me:

1. Rest the curlers against your cheek, they should feel comfortable to work with

2. Look down as you get the curlers in position, this will help trap as many lashes as possible.

3. Hold still whilst curling and count to ten before releasing your grip, you don’t want to pull out any lashes!

4. If your lashes are super-straight, don’t be afraid to create another curl halfway along the lash… and even another at the very tip if needed!

5. Set your curl with mascara.  If your lashes are very curl-resistant, you may fare better with a waterproof mascara for extra-strength hold.

place and…

…squeeze!

worth the effort?

I did the above demonstration without a mirror (I was holding my camera!) and you can see that I had the curler a little too close to my nose, missing a couple of lashes at the outer corner.  This is actually quite useful because it means that you can see the “droop” my lashes would have had minus the curling step.

Do you curl your lashes every day?  Think it makes enough of a difference to warrant the additional step in your routine?

* press sample

The world is awash with lip crayons! Perhaps we’re all reverting back to our childhoods as an alternative to a rather gloomy reality but what is it with wanting to make our cosmetics look like crayola?

Well, whatever it is, I’m loving it.

Seventeen, the brand from Boots… one of the most accessible in the UK market, have firmly jumped aboard the lip crayon bandwagon and released their own version.  I had no idea what to expect.  Would they be sheer and balmy a la the original Clinique formula?  Would they be drying like the Revlon Just Bitten Stains?  Or perhaps they’ll be uber-glossy like the new No7 Lip Crayons?

Well, they actually strike a rather good balance… but with the added bonus of some proper pigment.  Hear that?  It’s a choir of colour-loving lips singing in celebration.

The two shades that I’m swatching today are Bold (orange) and Knockout (plum pink).  The packaging is functional and practical with a winder mechanism to wind the crayon up and down.  It’s bright… chunky and you’d be hard-pushed to lose it in your handbag.

The texture of these lip crayons are both very similar, so although I’ve only tried two from the five shades available, I’m expecting a consistent formula from a brand as well-established as Seventeen are.

Talking of the texture, I found it to be quite light considering the amount of pigment it provided.  You can see in the lip swatches below that there is no thick layer of product over my lips.  The furrows and creases are still fairly well-defined and not filled in with goop!  Despite this light layer of product, it punches well above its weight when it comes to coverage.  That is some pretty strong colour from a quick slick of crayon.

bare lips

Seventeen Lip Crayon in shade: Bold

Seventeen Lip Crayon in shade: Knockout

I didn’t notice any horrible smell during application (I’m looking at you Revlon), and the colour glided on with little effort.  I’d say that these aren’t quite as moisturising as the original Clinique formula but slightly more moisturising than their newer, intense formula.  Considering that we’re looking at nearly the same level of pigmentation, render me suitable impressed.

I wouldn’t describe the finish as a high-gloss one, it’s fairly low-key (which I personally prefer) and the colour lasts nicely for about 4-5 hours (less if you’re eating/drinking).  It doesn’t leave a stain behind but it does fade pretty evenly.

All in all, at only £4.99 a-piece (also currently on buy-one-get-2nd-half-price), the new Seventeen Lip Crayons* are a bleedin’ steal.  Have you tried any of the shades yet?

* press sample

How many times have you made yourself look like a bit of an idiot trying to make the most of your fully-featured phone in public?  If you’re anything like me, the answer would be “more times than I care to divulge”.

Whether you’re trying to talk to Siri in hushed-tones, sneak an Instagram of the person sitting opposite you, or just cackling a little too loudly at the latest retweet… there are a number of opportunities to look a bit of a div in the name of technology.

And just incase you needed another one, Burberry have launched their latest digital innovation: Burberry Kisses.  The “kiss recognition technology” – which you can use with a desktop camera or direct lip contact on a touch screen device – will capture your kiss in real time and can then be attached to a personalised message before being sent into the ether in search of your intended target.

You can even customise your kiss with your preferred Burberry Lip shade (Union Red all the way for me!).  So what do you think of the idea?  They do say that nothing is more articulate than a kiss!

Now that I’ve sullied my screen in an attempt to create a perfect not-too-thin-lipped snog, I think the brand would do well to follow up with some Burberry Body-scented screen wipes, no?

To create and send your own, personalised Burberry Kiss… pucker up and log on to kisses.burberry.com.  Go on, send me your snogs!

* the software has been made in partnership with Google, you made need Google Chrome installed for this to work!

You know, I’ve been “pretty” faithful to my true mascara love since I fell head-over-heels in love with it a couple of years ago.  I say “pretty” faithful (complete with irritating quotation marks) because it’s fair to say that I do throw a tantrum every now and then when it dries up too quickly.

I mean, when you find something that works in the makeup world… the heavens generally open and angels throw down rose-scented petals in celebration, it’s kind of a big thing.  I’ve since toyed with a few high street alternatives (mostly from Boots No7) that I quite like… but I do find myself returning to my original love for my lashes-that-flutter fix.

Except, there’s a new contender in town and she’s all gold n’ shiny n’ stuff.

Actually, I don’t like the limited-edition packaging.  I don’t like the word “Baby Doll” either… especially when used in the context of makeup and allluring lashes, whilst being scrawled in a Jordan-esque style font across the packaging of a brand that generally represents more class than that.  But maybe that’s just me…

What I do like, however… is the fan-bloody-tastic contents inside the tube.  But let me tell you a little bit about why I like this mascara and what it delivers that places this one firmly in the same camp as most of my other mascara-loves.

The thing that this mascara has in common with my other top-3 mascaras is the wand.  They all share the same plastic-bristled heads.  In all honesty, this is something that I’ve only recently noticed… and I’m thoroughly delighted to have found a common factor.  Any excuse to pee my pants in excitement at a mascara wand can only be a good thing… but seriously, it’s always nice for a bit of tangible vindication when you find an obvious similarity to an otherwise, rather abstract love.

I find that this type of brush delivers a lengthening formula that defines and coats beautifully in a single sweep.  It works really well on my naturally long but fair lashes that look like little wisps of nothingness when bare.  If you have the kind of short, stubby lash that needs a good few coats of product or you really dig the spidery look… this one may not be for you.

The beauty of a plastic-bristled wand is in its ability to comb through the lashes and give great definition which really makes the most of each and every lash… obviously something which is generally more appreciated by those of us with a good lash count to begin with.  I do wish that this wand had a couple of bristles on the very tip to help reach the inner/outermost corners with precision but otherwise, I’m really happy with the design.

The formula is inky black and a great consistency to deliver an even coat whilst drying to a non-crispy finish that doesn’t flake, smudge or migrate to my eyelid hood as the day progresses.

The only downside?  The price.  An eye-watering £24.50 makes this an expensive choice for anyone except the most die-hard of mascara freaks (I know you’re out there).  YSL mascaras also have a bit of a reputation for drying out sooner rather than later, though in fairness… it’s too early for me to comment on this one’s longevity.

All in all, a bloody great mascara with a horrible price.  If you can stomach the price-tag and like a bit o’ bling, buy it… otherwise, give the Boots No7 Exceptional Definition Mascara a try for a more purse-friendly £11.00

YSL Baby Doll Mascara is available to buy instore on counter or online from yslbeauty.co.uk priced at £24.50

* press sample

I’m all for spending a little extra time in bed, I can clearly remember my early morning pleas of “just five more minutes Dad?” each morning before school.  How heavenly it is to know that you have full permission to hit the snooze button.

Well, heads up!  Nivea have recently released an in-shower body moisturiser that should definitely go some way to granting your wish.  It’s an allover body conditioner in cream form that you apply whilst in the shower (although not whilst stood under running water, that would be stoop) and rinse off before grabbing your towel.  It’s not a novel idea, LUSH have already done the whole in-shower body moisturising thang with their Ro’s Argan Body Conditioner (one of my fav bodycare products, ever) and let’s face it… there are numerous in-shower body oils on the market already… but… and it’s a big but…

The Nivea In Shower Body Moisturiser is likely to be the most budget-friendly of any in-shower moisturising product you’ll come across this year.  They’ve taken a great idea and modified it for the masses.  And who doesn’t want a bit of that?

But the question is, is it any good?

Well… yes and no.

Yes, it’s convenient, saves a bit of time in the mornings and it smells comfortingly Nivea-ish.  At £2.56, it’s nice and cheap and comes in sensible packaging that doesn’t skimp on the quantity.  It’s a solid offering from a brand that regularly deliver good, no-nonsense bodycare products.

But, it’s just not moisturising enough on anything other than a superficial level (unlike the LUSH in-shower moisturiser).

When you apply the cream in the shower, it feels exactly like you’re rubbing in hair conditioner…. and you can feel it sitting on the surface of your skin, even after rinsing off.  I’m not saying the residue is a bad thing… it’s not.  It leaves skin feeling silky-smooth to the touch, even after drying.  You’ll likely purr to yourself as you stroke your legs.  But that’s as far as the moisturisation goes and as the day wears on, this superficial nourishment doesn’t hang around.

If you actually suffer from dry skin, in any way, shape or form… this is unlikely to be hydrating enough for your skin concerns.  In the winter, this simply wouldn’t last five-seconds on my scratchy shins.

But if you’re heading out for the evening, or simply want to feel all soft and silky for a limited time only… for the price-point, the Nivea option makes for a sound investment.

Nivea In Shower Body Moisturiser is priced at around £2.56 for 250ml and is available instore and online at Boots.com and Superdrug.com

* press sample

Look lively beauty-lovers, there’s a new holographic collection coming to town…

Leighton Denny is launching a trio of kaleidoscopic-dazzlers exclusively with The Urban Retreat Beautique and I’m delighted to have a genuine sneak peek* for you, so without further ado…

Hollo Rose

Hollo Skye

Hollo Silva

The new shades deliver a medium holographic effect from what is most interestingly, a matte nail.  Ignoring the press release (which describes these as high-gloss) the trio actually imparts a matte/suede finish that can be topped off with a top-coat should you require more shine.  The matte effect doesn’t do anything to downplay the light reflection and indeed, gives a really interesting twist on a tried and tested formula.

Talking of the formula, it’s an odd one although consistent across the three shades.  Laying down the first coat, the polish grabs to the surface of the nail almost too vigorously and has a tendency to leave bald patches.  I quickly surmised that the best way forward was a very thin bottom layer followed by a thicker second coat which helped smooth out any imperfections. The polish dries remarkably quickly and is touch dry within a couple of minutes.

Those of you who are familiar with matte nail formulas will understand the difficulties that can sometimes be had with these formulas, especially if your nails suffer with excessive ridging or chipping.  I would definitely consider pairing these with a ridge-filling base coat next time.  Either way by the third coat, you’re fully opaque and ready to go!

The Leighton Denny Holographic Collection will be coming online exclusively at The Urban Retreat Beautique in the next week or so priced at £13.25 each.

ETA: As of 12/06/13 – these polishes are now available via the above link.

* press sample

If you’ve been layering on the mascara, coat after coat (after coat, after coat) in the quest for lashes that sweep the floor.  Stop it.  You look like you’ve got spiders frantically trying to escape from your eyeballs.  I’ve even known girls who wait for their mascara to fully dry before adding more coats.  A surefire way to achieve lashes crispier than a KFC chicken wing.

Powder Rooms will be holding a Lilash/LiBrow Flash Sale tomorrow, Friday 7th June between 2-3PM BST.  This much-heralded wonder serum is known for strengthening, fortifying and boosting your lash power to the max.  But don’t take my word for it… check out Muhsine’s great post here with some impressive before/after pictures.

LiLash and LiBrow can be tricky to get hold outside of the U.S. and Powder Rooms is the UK’s only authorized online stockist, ensuring that you get fresh stock that won’t cost you a bomb in customs duty!

It takes around 3 months to see the full results from a course of LiLash, though some have reported dramatic effects after only 3/4 weeks.  If you’re interested in receiving 15% off the standard price, be sure to log on to Powder Rooms tomorrow between 2-3PM BST (ships worldwide) and make a rare saving on this cult product with the all important code: lashflash

Why are some nail polishes so damn hard to capture on screen? In real life, they can be as pretty as a flower… but through my camera lens? We be talking cauliflower.

Powder Rooms sent me this polish to photograph for their site late last year, back in the murky depths of dark nights and well, even darker days.  It made for a frustrating assignment.  Butter London’s Trustafarian basically only sings in the sun, it needs strong daylight like I need intravenously feeding Pepsi Max.

Check it out.

indoors

outdoors

Ahhh, you beauty. You pain in the arse beauty.

It applies with three smooth coats and dries quickly enough not to give me any major application issues. You can see that the holographic effect, although fairly subtle, is still super-pretty in a pixie-esque, twinkly kind of way.

Do you need this in your life? Possibly, particularly if you live in a country whose weather patterns consist of more than just perma-drizzle.

Butter London Trustafarian holographic nail polish is priced at £11.95 and available to buy online from powderrooms.com

I do love a bit of eyeliner, I mean… it’s only taken me approximately 15 years to get the hang of applying it, so I feel entirely justified in my urge to play around with it a bit.

Enter YSL’s latest release in the form of their Rose Baby Doll Eyeliner, launched as part of their Baby Doll collection and currently on counters now.  Rose Baby Doll isn’t actually as pink as the name might have you believe. It’s a rosy-copper shade with more shine than a new penny and works really nicely on green eyes. Even if I do say so myself!

It applies with one of those spindly, super-fine brushes that gives utmost precision but tends to get tangled up in my lashes, resulting in an ocassional “splodge” of colour just where I didn’t want it as the brush flicks back, untangling itself as it sweeps across the lashline.

I will always prefer felt-tip style nibs for liquid eyeliner but when you’re crafting colour with as much shimmer and depth as this one delivers, this is the only style of brush that really cuts the mustard.

Whenever I wear a coloured eyeliner, I almost always pair it with a black line… doubling up, so to speak.  My eyes need the added definition that a slick of black brings, and I love the contrast which almost always evokes a compliment from someone at some point through the day.  Not about me, just my eyeliner you understand!

I often find that with this style of highly-foiled eyeliner, I suffer from flaking.  Illamasqua Precision Inks, Urban Decay 24/7 Waterproof Liquid (some of them), and the old-style Guerlain Divinoras do this to me and by the end of the day, I’ll look into the mirror and see chasms of emptiness across my lashline where the coloured liner has simply peeled off in sections as the day has progressed.

Which makes me rather pleased to state that I had absolutely no problems with this one.  Infact, it lasted so well… that even the flicks were still intact 8 hours later.

This particular shade is selling out fast, and is already out of stock at many of the major retailers so if you want to jump on the rose-gold eyeliner bandwagon, do it quickly!

Do you wear coloured eyeliner?

YSL Rose Baby Doll Eyeliner is available to buy on counter and online now, priced at £24.00

* press sample

So, Rimmel… and their “apocaliptic” hybrid gloss/lipstick.  Available in eight shades of lip-smacking colour from vampy plum through to pale nude, has been setting the blogging world alight from day one.  Except, I can’t for the life of me work out why.

First things first, they smell bad.  I’m not the kind of blogger that harps on about scented products being the root of all evil, I couldn’t normally give a chuff about scented/flavoured products but these are so horribly synthetic, I find them almost offensive.  Smell and taste are so closely linked, that if something smells bad… it often tastes bad too and I just don’t want this genetically-modified Jolly Rancher crap on my lips with it’s faux fruit salad gooeyness mere centimeters from my nostrils.

When it comes to application, the wand – complete with product dip/well – doesn’t work properly.  There’s no real give to the sponge, the product contained within the well is staying there.  For all eternity.  It’s not coating your lips, you’re just double dipping it back into the container each time you use it.  Give it up.

When I headed down to Boots, finally giving into the hype I was reading everywhere, I umm’ed and ahh’ed over the shades… in the end, I settled for Celestial, and the colour is indeed very, very, pretty.  That neutral kind of pink that goes with everything… looking good on practically every skin-tone.  But my love for the shade just cannot overcome.  Let me tell you what else I hate about this product.

It feels heavy on the lips.  Like tar.  Like a new kind of tar that has been created from lead.  Spread over my lips and left to bake in the sun.  It’s 2013, lip products don’t feel like this anymore.  I crave lightweight textures that deliver strong pigment without making me feel like my lips have been glued together with eye bogies.  And because the product just kinda sits there… it travels.  Within the hour, I experienced the kind of feathering you’d expect from a siren-red lipstick that had been applied with a trowel.

At least you’d think with that kind of “creamy” coverage, your lips would stay well-nourished underneath?  No.  I found the formula drying and unforgiving to my “not even very dry” lips.  The product settled in the furrows and felt less and less comfortable with every passing minute.

And so, for its parting demonstration… did it stay on for long?  No… it lasted no more than a couple of hours before wearing away without leaving even a hint of a stain to see me through the afternoon.

I have basically been violated by a lipstick.  And that my friends, is a hugely disappointing sensation.

Rimmel Apocalips are priced at £4.49 each and are available to buy instore or online from boots.com, superdrug.com, and asos.com

I’ve long held the opinion that I wasn’t a great fan of floral fragrances… at least, that’s what I’ve always thought until I recently took another look at the perfumes I’ve gathered over the years.  You know, for someone who proclaims such nonsense, I own far too many rose, violet, and iris-based scents… and of the three, I think it’s the violet ones that I’m drawn to the most.

I thought that today, I’d share with you some of my favourite violet-based fragrances.  There are actually two missing from the list (PR Ultraviolet & Yardley(!) April Violets) because they’re still boxed up at my Mum’s house and writing this has now made me desperate to raid her garage for my long-lost loves!

The first thing I should say is that I don’t own any pure-violet fragrances, not the posh ones anyway and I’m still no fragrance expert but hopefully I’ve sniffed my way through enough perfume departments to form a coherent opinion!

My favourite thing about this note in particular is just how fickle it is, sometimes seeming greener than a freshly-mowed lawn and at other times, more powdery than your grandma’s old compacts.  It’s a chameleon of a note, beautifully suited to this changeable Spring season.

It’s also a note that pairs wonderfully with others, and infact (in my opinion) works far better when working as a flanker, as part of a well-structured accord rather than singing a solo chorus.

The first perfume in my list of four, is a great example of precisely, this.

Armani Prive Cuir Amethyste (£145, armanibeauty.co.uk) is not an easily-tamed fragrance.  For a scent that calls into play such a beautiful floral note, it’s a growling animal of contradictions.  From the opening headiness of the sticky, woody violet to the dirty leather, well-worn and battered into a masculine suppleness that shouldn’t work on female skin, but does.

The tenacity and indeed, audacity of this scent appeals to me for its unique take on the genre.  It’s an over the top indulgence complete with powdery nostalgia that makes me feel all the more a “lady”.  Albeit, a slightly sleazy one.

In stark contrast, YSL’s Paris Premieres Roses 2013* (£25.50, escentual.com) is a recent re-issue that puts the violet firmly in the back seat.  That’s not to say you won’t find it there because it’s confidently lurking, flanking the rose and smoothing the petals until they reach a state of velvety creaminess within the heart of the scent.

It’s the epitome of fragrant youthfulness without the pink-pepper, juicy-fruit explosion up your nostrils.  A refreshing and commendable take with mass-market appeal in an often tired genre.

For a greener, fresher take on the wonderful floral, look no further than Balenciaga Paris EDP* (£44, debenhams.com) for a new opinion.  You can see that I’m running low on my bottle and it’s not hard to understand why.  Paris is a perfect rendition of how Spring should be, with a clean opening that descends into a softer, sweeter heart and powdery base.  All the while, remaining light, airy and a little bit watery but never so sheer as to be unappreciated.

Floral-chypres can often be difficult to stomach for those under the age of 25, but Balenciaga’s Paris bucks this trend and delivers a grown-up yet flirty scent that takes you on a true violet journey from the sharp leaf, all the way to the sweetshop!

My final pick of the bunch (gettit?) is for Tom Ford’s Violet Blonde (£45, johnlewis.com) which I picked up not long after its release in 2011.  I immediately fell for its well-projected, prickly opening that blends a green violet with pink pepper before developing into a richly sueded base.

Despite being a wonderful choice for a sharply-dressed young professional woman (you know the type), I don’t mind admitting that my husband wears this with great skill.  His skin chemistry thrusts forward the spice and musk and conjures up something more masculine and vintage-feeling, tempered beautifully by the violet.

Do you like violet-based fragrances?  Please share your favourite!

* press sample