A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

If the advent of this new year has inspired a fresh start when it comes to your skincare choices, you could save yourself a pretty penny by heading over to the Organic Surge website and indulging in their Skin and Body Mega Bundle which offers everything you need to turn over a new leaf.

The Mega Bundle, worth £60, is currently priced at an astonishingly good value of only £23.97 and contains many of Organic Surge’s bestselling products including:

Gentle Cleansing Lotion
Daily Care Face Wash
Skin Perfecting Polish
Overnight Sensation Night Cream
Super-Intensive Daily Moisturiser
Eye Gel
Kiss & Make-Up Wipes
Gentle Meadow Body Lotion
Sweet Blossom Shower Gel
Lemon & Honey Soap

This deal should be of particular appeal to those of you with sensitive skin and anyone concerned about the chemicals in their skincare, the entire range is 100% free of parabens and sodium lauryl sulphate with no artificial fragrances or colourants.

Beware, this is a limited edition bundle so go forth and shop!

Invisibility.  Now there’s a superhero trait I wouldn’t mind playing with for a couple of days.  The places you could go, the pranks you could pull, the high-end makeup you could steal… just thinking about it warms my kleptomaniac cockles.  Out of all the paranormal abilities available to supreme beings, I think that it must rank up there in the top 3 alongside x-ray vision (you know you would) and teleportation (Seychelles anyone?)

Seeing as I’m not going to be receiving my superpower anytime soon, I’ll turn my attention to this little pot of marvel (gettit? Marvel? Oh nevermind) instead.  Daniel Sandler’s Invisible Radiance Foundation and Concealer* is, like many superheroes, part of a duo crime-fighting team, fighting the evil that is, a rubbish complexion.  The duo consists of 30g of foundation and 3g of concealer, housed neatly in the lid.

Starting with the foundation, an incredibly light formula which moves around fluidly on the skin.  It’s thinly-textured and remains tacky to the touch for a good 15 minutes or so after application.  The colour match on my skintone for Porcelain (the lightest of four shades) is near-enough spot on, but the coverage is very sheer so I would imagine that the next shade up wouldn’t be too horrendous a mis-match once blended.  Talking of the coverage, I’d liken it to that of a tinted moisturiser but with more “set” once it does eventually dry down.

At no point will this foundation look powdery or cakey, I don’t want to say that it has a gel texture because, well, it doesn’t… but it reminds me of a gel texture in the way that it behaves on the skin.  It’s buildable but I have my doubts that you could ever build it enough to mask discolouration or rosacea, for that, you would need a little help from its skin-perfecting companion…

The concealer is neatly hidden under the flip-top lid of the bottle… cute it is, gimmicky it certainly isn’t.  The dual-packaging works extremely well and makes for perfect portability.  Having said that, I’m not a fan of the spoony-spatula inside the bottle, it doesn’t retrieve enough product and I managed to ping the flexible end, splattering foundation on myself.  I know… I should probably be more careful but I was dip-dipping to get more product and getting impatient!

With the Invisible Radiance Foundation and Concealer, I apply my foundation first… with a dampened brush (as Daniel suggests) before applying a second layer of foundation across my cheeks and nose.  Before this has set, I use the same foundation brush (I favour the paintbrush style with this foundation) to apply my concealer.  I won’t call the finished effect “airbrushed” but it does look naturally-improved rather than foundation-improved and the radiant effect definitely makes my skin look healthier, which is something I’ve never really expected from a foundation.

Overall, I’d say that this duo is perfect for more mature skin, particularly if you’re looking for lighter coverage.  It’s ideal for day-wear but will probably be a little too dewy for me in the heat of the Summer (chance would be a fine thing), although nothing that a dusting of powder over my t-zone won’t resolve.  Longevity is average, good for such a dewy-finish, I’d estimate that I was very happy with how this concealed for around 8 hours.

If you’re sick of seeing your foundation sitting in dilated pores, gathering around fine lines, or giving already dull skin a death-mask appearance – this is one for the shopping list.  My only caveat is whether coverage will be full enough for you, in which case, this product does respond well to a dusting of mineral foundation and you won’t lose too much of the luminosity aslong as you use one with light-reflecting particles.

Daniel Sandler Invisible Radiance Foundation and Concealer in Porcelain is priced at £28 and available to buy online from www.urbanretreat.co.uk

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** Kleptomania is bad.  Also, don’t do drugs.

On a cold November evening, I made my way through Covent Garden to attend the unveiling of a new fragrance collection set to hit the stores this March.  The edibly-named Sugar & Spice Collection from Jo Malone is anything but tasteless, decked out in pastel hues that remind me of a veritable rainbow of sugary macarons… and with good reason…

The collection features five new flavours scents to indulge the gourmandise out there, inspired by the art of the great British pudding.  Lemon Tart, Redcurrant & Cream, Elderflower & Gooseberry, Ginger Biscuit and Bitter Orange & Chocolate make up the quintet of tasty treats, each smelling just as described without the disappointing synthetic undertone that often plagues foody-scents.

In spite of the fact that these are so food-centric (and sugary food at that), the collection is surprisingly light.  Master perfumer Christine Nagel has done exceptionally well to create a fragrance wardrobe that doesn’t cloy with a surfeit of sugar or vanilla.  How they manage to keep any sophistication at all is probably the biggest triumph to celebrate.

Here are my rapid notes on each scent from the evening, complete with incoherence:

~ The Lemon Tart is sharp-but-sweet, you can almost smell the butter in the flaky pastry.

~ The Elderflower & Gooseberry* develops gently with a leafy freshness that renders it the least outright “foody” in the set.

~ Redcurrant & Cream = berries and cream, a classic combination done beautifully (but done often).

~ Ginger Biscuit brings all the digestives to the yard, such an amazing Winter/Christmas-time scent which may seem a little out of place come launch date, such a beautiful homely rendition of warming spices and immediately obvious ginger though.

~ Bitter Orange & Chocolate = Terry’s Chocolate Orange.  End of.  Not chocolate like TM Angel or cocoa-inspired, pure edible chocolate. Yum.

These are such a true interpretation of blindingly good baked treats that it begs the question… do I actually want to walk around smelling like a patisserie?

I’m sure the sensible answer would come quicker to most… but then again, I’m a bigger fan of cake than most.

Maybe.

Will you be checking these out in March?  On paper… which scent do you think will be your favourite?

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This year, The Body Shop are focusing their campaign efforts on supporting the UK charity Teenage Cancer Trust.  The partnership will see the two organisations working together to improve the lives of young people dealing with cancer age 13 to 24.  Fundraising is, as ever, an important part of the campaign but the partnership will also deliver a range of activities for young people with cancer including make-up workshops in the charity’s specialist cancer units across the UK, and work experience opportunities in The Body Shop® stores.

Simon Davies, CEO of Teenage Cancer Trust says:

“There are strong parallels between our two organisations and we’re looking forward to an exciting year ahead. Cancer and cancer treatment can impact appearance in many difficult ways, including losing hair, dramatically changing weight,  scarring, problems with sight or balance or even losing limbs. We know how hard these issues are for young people to cope with. Our vision is a future where young people’s lives don’t stop because they have cancer, and we want every young person with cancer to have access to our specialist care no matter where they live. The Body Shop’s support will be a powerful force for helping us achieve this.”

From April, customers at The Body Shop stores nationwide will also be given the opportunity to get involved by making a 10p donation at the end of their purchase and in total, The Body Shop aims to raise £250,000 for Teenage Cancer Trust  through a number of fundraising activities throughout the year.

The first of these activities will see The Body Shop release their first charity single!  Beauty With Heart, written and performed by British singer/songwriter Leddra Chapman is available to download now and all proceeds from sales of the single will go to Teenage Cancer Trust.

To download the single – priced at just 99p, go to www.fairsharemusic.com

Tired of all the glitz and sparkle that Christmas brought with it?  No, me neither (come back Christmas!)

Seeing as we have a whole year to get through before we can once again feel the warm glow induced by too many mince pies,Twiglets, and glasses of Baileys – let us all take a moment instead to bask in the glory that is this beast of a glitter polish from Butter London.

Lovely Jubbly is indeed, rather lovely with a party-on-your-nails mixup of glitters.  I spy blue, magenta, red, gold… and you know the best of it?  Opaque in two coats… three if you’re being pernickity.  Of course, it’s an absolute arse to remove and needs a full layer of thick top coat to get rid of the gritty feeling.  Some of you may not mind the rough, glitter finish but it makes me want to take an industrial sander to my nail beds.  Don’t do that.

Butter London Lovely Jubbly is available to buy online at www.powderrooms.com, priced at £11.95

If you’re a regular reader of lipglossiping.com, you’ll know that I’m quite fond of the bareMinerals mineral foundations… I generally use them over a tinted moisturiser-esque base to achieve extra coverage without a heavy finish.  I find that the formula melts into my skin like no other powder, despite my dry skintype.  The only real issue I’ve ever had with the bareMinerals foundation is the fact that working with loose powders can be pretty messy.  Of course, there are also benefits: the main one being that you can generally achieve a lighter application when using powders in loose form… however…

bareMinerals have obviously come to the conclusion that they’re missing out on a major portion of the beauty-loving public’s coffers with things as they stand.  Over the past year, the brand have introduced many of their beloved products in pressed form.  And you know what?  Most reports have been complimentary.  I’ll hold my hands up and say that I was concerned that by making this shift in what seems like the brand’s USP would result in them dumbing down.  I expected eyeshadow pigments to become less impressive, formulas less… melty.  It appears (and I haven’t tried their eyeshadows myself yet) that I might be wrong.  Christine (from Temptalia), whose opinion I hold in high esteem, regularly includes her bareMineral READY eyeshadow compacts in her “top” lists of products.  And I have to admit, the swatches I’ve seen look plenty pigmented.

But… foundation?

Foundation is where the brand have really garnered legions of fans.  It’s a bold move.  I’m a little bit excited to be honest, I’m praying for the same formula.

It launched yesterday in the UK, time will tell… it’s available to buy online on www.qvcuk.com, currently priced at £20.00

British Fashion Designer, Bella Freud has taken a tentative step into the world of beauty with the launch of three candles, currently being sold exclusively at SpaceNK.  You may know of Bella’s work, via her army of celebrity fans who adore her playful slogans and signature caricatures or via her many collaborations with brands such as Christian Louboutin, Miss Selfridge and Biba.

The three candles in the collection marry Bella’s love of fashion with this new venture into the world of fragrancing by continuing her theme of working with simplistic, eye-catching designs.

One features the iconic “Ginsberg is God” slogan, the second is adorned with her “Je t’aime Jane” reference to Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg’s love affair, and the third and final candle displays her celebrated brand logo, complete with one very waggy tongue!

For this collection, I was pleased to hear that Bella Freud had teamed up with parfumeur Azzi Glasser of Agent Provocateur and Illamasqua fame.  If anyone could help guide a novice into crafting a great, individual smell – she’s the lady for the job.

I’ve been enjoying the rich, sensual, and downright exotic fragrance of her Incense Wood & Oud Candle, inspired by Bella’s first memories of a childhood in Morocco.  The scent offers a gentle incarnation of smoked incense, cedar wood, resinous amber, and myrrh.  It’s a little spicy but never peppery, calming and extremely well-rounded with a dry, smoky warmth and velvety aroma.

Incense Wood & Oud Candle* is available to buy online or instore at SpaceNK, priced at £38.00

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Alright glitter munchers, how’s 2013 treating you so far?  I’m coming to terms with taking down the decorations today (12th night and all that), to be honest… I started to take them down a couple of days ago after Louise told me that taking just a few down each day makes the process less soul-destroying…  Still, let’s all take comfort from the knowledge that it’s only 352 days until Christmas.

Last month (year), I treated myself to a new blusher… at least, I thought it was a blusher because I didn’t pay any attention to anything that I saw or read about it until after I’d bought it.  NARS Satellite of Love was released as part of the Andy Warhol collection a couple of months ago… an odd collection in my opinion, with exceptionally expensive eyeshadow palettes but rather tempting nail polishes.  What did you make of it?

Anyway, the one item that caught my eye immediately… I assumed (on sight) was a blusher.  Infact it’s a highlighter… or Highlighting Blush to give it its official name.

Rather than just review, I thought I’d compare it to my super-beloved highlighter from NARS, the only (powder) one that I really reach for, a product that can transform your look in seconds: NARS Albatross.  Albatross is a cult product in the NARS catalogue and it’s easy to see why.  It imparts a smooth, champagne-gold shimmer that both lifts and illuminates the complexion without dusting your face in glitter or an odd pinky/white highlight.  It’s a wonderful product to use at anytime, night or day – just use a light hand and a loosely packed brush for optimum effect.

NARS Satellite of Love is… different.

Now, don’t be assuming that I don’t like it, because I do… but it’s a completely different animal, and that’s probably for the best because what would be the point of it otherwise?  Satellite of Love is a warm-toned peach/nude/orange shade with gold glitter.  Gold glitter like Super Orgasm glitter, chunky knock-it-off-the-brush-before-that-shit-comes-near-my-face glitter.  Again, not necessarily a bad thing, I own and love Super Orgasm… but you just have to pay deference to its bling.

I treat super-glittery blushes in the same way that I treat McDonald’s hamburgers.  The glitter – like the gherkin/pickle – is optional.  You’re in complete control and the only time any kind of issue arises is when you take your eye off the ball and dive in without paying attention.  When it comes to NARS blushes/highlighters… all you need to do is swirl (gently) and then tap the handle of your brush against your forearm to rid yourself of the chunkiest pieces of glitter.  Infact, it’s far less hassle than removing gherkins from burgers, and you don’t get the nasty surprise of a second hidden pickle in your blusher*.

I am disappointed that Satellite of Love isn’t as nude as I expected it to be, there’s a lot of warmth in that there pan and whilst this is a minus for me… I can only imagine how beautiful this would look highlighting richer-toned girls who suit warmer blush.  Can you imagine?  With all that gold sparkle in the summertime (when the weather is fine)?  Lush.

In the face swatch below, I’ll apologise for the placement – I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to wear it as a bronzer, blusher, or highlighter… so I just sort of put it in a really weird place on my cheeks.  I’ll call it the brunzlighter placement.

NARS Satellite of Love and NARS Albatross are available to buy online from narscosmetics.co.uk priced at £21.00 (and if you could pick me up NARS Dragon Girl VMLP while you’re there? Cheers!)

Do you own either of these blush/highlighters?

* this is all bullshit, I actually LOVE the gherkins in burgers.  I’m the original give-me-all-your-gherkins girl.

Hair perfume. Hair what?! Hair perfume!

I’m sure you’re familliar with the idea of spraying your perfume onto your hair for a scent that follows you around like a haunting?

Well, this inventive conditioner from LUSH works on the same premise and uses your hair as the carrier for its wonderful scent.  And wonderful it is, a positively uplifting blend of neroli, rose, grapefruit, rosewood, orange flower absolute and benzoin that works really well now, but will work even better in Summer’s warmth.

It’s not cheap… priced at £18 for 250g (which is about the size of a standard bottle of conditioner) but I fear that once you try it, you might be as hooked as I am. Unfortunately, it will be a habit that is ultimately too expensive for me to maintain – for one reason, and one reason only.  I have to wash my hair daily/once every 2 days at the least, I literally dream of being one of those women who wash and straighten their hair only once a week.  DREAM.  If you’re one, please tell me your secrets!

So, you see… I would need to purchase this fairly often… and I just can’t justify it.

Conditioning properties? Well, it’s neither here nor there, it does the job – though not as well as some of my intensive conditioners… mind, this isn’t supposed to be an intensive conditioner – just an incredibly well-scented one.

I have found a cheeky solution though via the LUSH reviews on their website… the consistency of the conditioner is rather thin and after using my regular conditioner, I have been using just a little of the LUSH Happy Happy Joy Joy as a leave-in conditioner on the ends (I KNOW I PROBABLY SHOULDN’T!)  but my hair doesn’t seem to have suffered as a result and I get to use far less product.  If you hair is very fine, you may find that it weighs your locks down too much to do this.

Try and get a sample instore and see how it works for you.

LUSH Happy Happy Joy Joy Conditioning Hair Perfume is available to buy instore and online at lush.co.uk, priced from £9.00

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Awesome, red nail polishes rock my world – especially when they’re squishy jelly-cremes like this one.  China Glaze’s Igniting Love is on the warm side of neutral with those retro-leanings that can make or break a red – in this case, the shade has a strange combination of tomato-tones with a hint of pink, I think my photo picks this up quite well and it ensures that Igniting Love works really beautifully (if I do say so myself!) with my cool skintone.

The formula on this one was great, it applied smoothly and two coats was the perfect amount for an opaque finish.  The photo above shows the polish without a top-coat (hence the small amount of nail ridge that you can see on my middle finger), and although this polish doesn’t *need* a top coat per se, it really sings if you treat it to one.

China Glaze Igniting Love* is a perfect example of a super-bright red polish, the kind that will stop traffic.  Especially if you hold a stop sign in your hand whilst wearing it.  Um.

Available online, priced  from £6.95 at BeautyBay.com and www.thebeautypartnership.co.uk

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There’s nothing like an impulse purchase to get your blood pumping. And this was nothing like an impulse purchase.

I umm’ed and ahh’ed over the Guerlain Rouge G L’Extrait(s) for a good few weeks before taking the plunge. As much as I adore a wonderful red lipstick, I wanted something a bit different to the usual red.

Once I saw a swatch of Orgueil worn by the beautiful Christine from Temptalia, I knew that I’d found my next prey!

The packaging is as beautiful as you’d expect from something in the Guerlain Rouge G range. Sleekly-housed in a heavyweight silver case that works in a similar way to the Rouge G lipstick range, the mirror serves a genuinely useful purpose when it comes to applying product on the go.

The formula is light and the pigment rich. It’s a fairly traditional liquid lipstick with a velvety texture and a softly matte finish once dry.

Longevity is good and transfer fairly minimal, especially if blotted softly a few minutes after applying. I was able to wear this through multiple drinks, and only needed to reapply a little in the centre if the lips after a meal.

As the day wore on, it began to feel slightly less comfortable so I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this for those with extremely dry lips – but you probably know to steer clear of liquid lipstick formulas anyway…

The colour is beautiful. It’s rich, sumptuous, and velveteen with a luxurious depth. Vampy without crossing the line into gothic. A winter must-have.

Guerlains Rouge G L’Extrait in Orgueil is available to buy on counter (or cheaper online) at Escentual.com, priced at £26.55

It’s not like you need an excuse to wear red lipstick, but sometimes it’s nice to fall back on the whole “Oh, well… it’s Christmas isn’t it?  It’s practically illegal NOT TO wear red lipstick this time of year” thing…

I don’t know about you but when I started wearing red lipstick as part of my day-to-day look, people (women) were genuinely curious about it and I felt that I had to defend my choice, as if I’d purposefully set out to make myself more conspicuous for a reason via my red lips.  ATTENTION WHORE!  Which is strange, because I’m hugely uncomfortable being the focus participant in any situation.  So cheers Christmas!  You make red lips a-ok.

You know what else makes red lips a-ok?  A kickass red lipstick, that’s what.  And today’s red lip is kicking some serious butt.

Daniel Sandler’s Luxury Matte Lipstick in Red Carpet is my idea of a heaven-sent formula.  It doesn’t have the dryness that I associate with some matte lipsticks *cough* MAC *cough*, thanks to an infusion of hyaluronic acid, yet it retains the essential simplicity that a matte red lip brings to your look.  It’s creamy and applies smoothly without too much slip, ensuring that you can get a neat line straight from the bullet.

Finally, it packs the kind of pigmentation and stickability that gives you confidence that a couple of lip stains on your coffee mug won’t even make a dent in its appearance.  Shade-wise, Red Carpet is a true red that leans neither too orange nor blue, I’d imagine that this teeth-flattering shade will suit most skin-tones as it has enough depth not to look garish.

To hammer home what should be obvious by now, this is one sassy red lipstick that easily makes it into my top ten.  And that my friends – from a horrible hoarder woman with over 50 red lipsticks – is no mean feat.

Daniel Sandler Luxury Matte Lipstick in Red Carpet is available to buy online priced at £13.50 from danielsandler.com

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