A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

So, it’s the first of December…  Duhn, duhn, DUHN!

I would do pinch and a punch and all that crap but I’ll leave it for my tweets where you can unfollow me without it costing me ad revenue.

BUT, seeing as it IS the first day of the final month of the year… the month filled with fairy lights, gifts, booze, food, and tinsel – I’ve got one hell of a festive NOTD for you.  Infact, it’s SO festive that if you cross your eyes, turn off the overhead light and whistle the Colonel Bogey tune, you can make out the image of Baby Jesus on my pinkie.

Hallelujah!

China Glaze It’s A Trap-eze!* is a pretty cool (if not quite biblical) nail polish for the party season from the brand’s winter Cirque du Soleil collection.  It actually reminds me of speckled eggs… which in turn, reminds me of that speckled frogs song (…five little speckled frogs…), which in turn, reminds me of being a kid – and really, that’s no bad thing.  I know the world is going crazy for these glitters that play havoc with my OCD tendencies (…sat on a speckled log…) but have you ever tried to create symmetry with this polish genre?  It should have been one of Hercules 12 tasks.

The formula is pretty neat, the polish is packed with irregular-sized, multi-coloured glitter and the base colour – a very pale grey – is particularly runny yet doesn’t give me any pooling issues.  You can tell that this isn’t quite your standard formula (…eating some most delicious grubs *yum YUM!*…) and has been more or less engineered to compliment this particular polish format.  The above photo shows the coverage you achieve in three coats… it builds very quickly both in base pigment, and in the amount of glitter that accumulates on the nail bed.  I need two layers of top coat to stifle the cringy feeling I get from heavily glittered fingertips, or you could use something thicker like Gelous.

My OCD may not like it, but I do!

www.thebeautypartnership.co.uk

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I always write about lipsticks in my Red Lip Series that I love. So, here’s one that I don’t…

Make Up Forever #418 is a lipstick that I would happily send to room 101 without a second glance or moment of regret. There’s nothing particularly wrong with how it looks once on the lips, but it stinks like the inside of my Nannas old handbag and applies so roughly that I keep imagining squeaking sounds as it passes over my lips.  It’s a bastard of a lipstick, and being RED, is an absolute disgrace to its genre.

I even look slightly pained to be wearing it in the swatch photo don’t I?  This is what mediocre lipstick does to your soul.  It honestly sucks to find the words to express my discontent with below-average lipsticks, so I’m going to stop right here and play with some Burberry reds instead to make myself feel better.

What lipstick has disappointed you recently?

What with it being the season of goodwill and thinking of others, spare a thought for your BFF (best friend forever!) and invite them along to your local Smashbox counter for a no-holds barred, makeup play-date!  Whether you’re looking for advice on a cool smoky eye or hot tips to create the perfect statement lip, the beauty crew at Smashbox will demonstrate how to up the beauty ante this party season.

Whilst you’re there, register both your details with the Smashbox team and you’ll both be treated to a free Smashbox Try It Kit * containing some of the brands most talked-about products.

The Smashbox Try It Kit contains:

Photo Finish Foundation Primer 7.1ml
Photo Finish Lid Primer 0.5ml
Limitless Eye Liner in Onyx 0.8g
Hyperlash Mascara in Blackout 4ml
Lip Enhancing Gloss in Illume 4.2ml

…and is available on counter**, exclusively at Boots, from 1st – 31st December 2012

In London last week, I got my makeup done at a Smashbox event whilst catching up with blogging BFFs: @vexinthecity and @makeuptomakeout, the girls were on top form and Lina in particular was sporting a rather incredible hot pink lipstick from the LA brand. Check it out:

But for me, when it comes to Smashbox, it’s got to be all about the face – the brand are renowned for their primers and base products, so when I was offered the chance to be made over by the lovely Janine Bird, Smashbox’s National Make Up Coach, I was keen to see how their base products would perform on my dry skin.  Here I am… looking all “speshul”, consider it a before/after…

Janine used their HD foundation on me and it felt extremely comfortable on my skin, not at all heavy or drying, which is what I was expecting following dalliances with other HD foundations.  Having said that, I also felt that the lightest shade was too yellow-toned for my complexion, I got away with it… but the match was definitely not 100% for me.  Still, flawless skin ahoy and it did. not. budge. an. inch. all evening.

If you’re curious about the line, now’s the time to head into your nearest participating Boots store and check it out.  Don’t forget to take a friend!

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**Customer registration required (including postal address) following a makeup session. One Try It Kit per customer, whilst stocks last. Closing date 31^st December 2012. Your Try It Kit will be delivered within 6 weeks of the closing date.

We live in a 2-bed flat… on the second floor, there’ll be no log fires ablaze this Winter and the only smoky smells will be drifting out of the toaster when I burn my muffins in the morning (not a euphemism).  But I’m cool with that, I hate roasted chestnuts and to be fair, wood-smoke plays havoc with my sinuses… still, it’s not very Christmassy is it?

To make up for this lack of festivity, I plumped for a new Winter candle this weekend: Diptyque’s Feu de Bois.  I was introduced to it just last week – massively behind the times of course – at an event I attended.  It’s not so much that it’s a great rendition of a roaring log fire, but that it reminds me completely and utterly of my parent’s house in La Vendee… a place I have a huge love/hate relationship with.  The house was a wreck in 1987 when my parent’s bought it and I had to spend every school holiday sitting in the ruins of this 500-yr old farmhouse while my friends holidayed on the beaches of Benidorm.  I know, first world problems and all that and I probably got off lightly, really… but still… it kinda sucked for a 12yr old to spend all. bloody. summer. so far away from real civilisation.

Some days, I only had the scare-o-pods to keep me company (don’t click that link, I mean it).

So anyway, Feu de Bois in all it’s unashamed smokiness (are you over that link yet?) has the most incredible, guttural quality of a good rip-roaring fire.  Not the sedate kind that posh people have in their petite chimineas… we’re talking full-blown inglenook with a pyromaniac 15yr-old (me) chucking on the spitting horse-chestnut logs while everyone else in the room kippers.  Delicious.  And when I’ve got the pennies, I’m going back in for the biggest size they do.  Although, having said that… Baies also made me go a little weak at the knees when I sniffed it… Houston bank manager, we have a problem.

Whilst I’m on the subject of Diptyque, a quick mention for their Christmas “Holiday Collection” which features a beautifully ornate trio of Arabian Nights-inspired candles that capture the festive spirit wonderfully.  I lucked out on the goody bag and took home a mini-version of the one that appealed to me the most on the evening: Sapin Doré – an artful representation of, what is basically, a freshly dug Christmas tree (without the foisty decorations).  It’s so beautifully green, with warming resinous qualities that neither detract from nor soften the freshness – usually, I’d actually want them to, but in the case of Sapin Doré, it needs that prickling camphor to bolster the absolute authenticity that I take from this scent.

The Holiday Collection, from left to right: Oliban, Amber Oud, Sapin Doré (priced from £25.00, available online)

The other candle that I’ve been burning like a heretic on a stake (and the award for most tasteless simile goes to…) is an outstanding creation from one of my favourite niche brands: Ancienne Ambiance.  Their Phoenicia (cedar) candle bears all the hallmarks of a scented masterpiece.  Funnily enough, my favourite tree (everyone has a favourite tree right?) is the candle’s inspiration, the Cedar of Lebanon, with it’s sprawling umbrella-like branches that used to protect me from the rain as I waited at the school gates for my friends to arrive.  If you don’t know it by name, google it… you’ll be like “ohhhh thoooose trees, yeah – they’re cool!”

Anyway, back to the candle… Phoenicia is a more aromatic take on the woody genre, less pine and more resin… the kind that you inhale deeply in an attempt to warm your soul as well as your nostrils.  Tempering the richness is a light herbal quality that injects a medicinal characteristic in the manner of an old apothecary.  Phoenicia is the ultimate “I’m warm and cosy in here… while outside, it’s shit” scent and whenever I light it, I come to the conclusion that Winter is no bad thing afterall.  Priced at £36, there’s also a rather striking Limited Edition black glass version currently available for a little more.

p.s. – incase you’re curious – the full lineup of wintery candles on display in the above images are: Ancienne Ambiance Romana, OCCO Raiya No6, Diptyque Feu de Bois, Ancienne Ambiance Phoenicia*, Annick Goutal La Rose, Diptyque Sapin Doré*

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If you didn’t manage to get your hands on a Selfridges Advent Calendar this year, dry your eyes and console yourselves with one of those horrible Poundland chocolate ones that bend in half when you blow on them.  And once you’ve done that, come back here because I think I’ve found a digital one that will put a smile on your face.

Jean Paul Gaultier is working some of his Eurotrash magic when it comes to Christmas this year, an alternative universe in which only the naughtiest of “children” will get the goodies!  The mischievous designer’s website is hosting a different take on the traditional advent calendar, where each day, you may open ANY three doors pockets you wish in a bid to win some fabulous Gaultier gifts.  There’s no following the rules here!

From plucking chickens, to spritzing reindeers… from eating logs to shaking the living daylights out of a poor elf, it makes for a wonderful timewaster with some lovely animations that left a smile on my face.

Play Jean Paul Gaultier’s Naughty Christmas Advent Calendar online at www.jeanpaulgaultier.com from now until the end of December.

You guys seemed to be quite taken with the trio of duochrome polishes I blogged about last week, so when I was in London, I picked up three of the Miss Sporty Metal Flip Duochromes to give away.  Ok, it’s not the most valuable competition I’ve ever held, but for those of you who can’t get your hands on these babies, well… it’s hopefully still enticing!

Aren’t they pretty?  They look like miniature galaxies swirling around the bottles!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck ladies!

T&C
1. Start date for this competition is 28th November 2012
2. Closing date for this competition is 5th December 2012
3. There is one prize to be won, a trio of Miss Sporty Metal Flip Duochrome Nail Polishes (worth £1.99 each). No cash alternatives.
4. Competition is open worldwide.
5. Lipglossiping.com is the sole promoter of this competition.
6. Only one entry per email address will be accepted.
7. Personal details will not be kept or forwarded and are only used in the context of this competition to inform the winner(s) of their prize status.
8. Three winners will be selected at random from all entries received.
9. Winners will be notified within 5 working days and will be expected to reply to an email sent to the address used to enter the competition within 5 working days or risk forfeiting the prize.

Lilac… Icicle… yeah, no I’m not sure what happened with my attempt at a post title either. The thing is, I love the combination of glitter tips and pastel nails – it’s probably my favourite nod to nail art, I only wish I could get a proper glitter gradient going, as opposed to just a splodge.  Having said that… doesn’t it look super wintery?  I feel a chill everytime I look at my fingers, and it’s got nothing to do with the hangnails looking back at me either!

The base colour is another Miss Sporty polish, Miss Sporty Lilac to be exact… look at me regressing back to my teens!  I’ll be loitering with intent in Claire’s Accessories next, eyeing up the Bieber head boppers.  Anyway, there’s not much to say about this polish other than the fact that it’s £1.99, has a nice brush, and is opaque in two coats.  It doesn’t give me a stress aneurism when I try to apply it.  Basically, it’s all good.

The glitter is courtesy of OPI’s Disco Ball Sparkle, an oldie from the Reflection Collection.

Do you wear pastel nails with glitter tips?  What are your favourite colour combinations?

Who says that history doesn’t repeat itself?  Starting next Monday, Clinique are hosting a repeat of last year’s frivolities with a week of Christmas treats and offering some particularly lovely gift with purchases to entice you into spending your pennies.

If you’ve been planning a beauty purchase or some gift shopping, it will pay dividends to log on to www.clinique.co.uk each morning to uncover the purchase qualifier and offer code.

Each offer is top secret until the grand reveal BUT I can divulge the teasers that have been released especially to whet our appetites!

Day 1 (Monday 3rd December): A treat to make the eyes flutter during the party season.

Day 2 (Tuesday 4th December): Let your eyes do the sparkling.

Day 3 (Wednesday 5th December): Treats all around.

Day 4 (Thursday 6th December): Everything you need for party perfection.

Day 5 (Friday 7th December): Get them before they’re gone.

If you’re struggling for inspiration, my Christmas pick would be the Limited Edition Taste of Honey set which incorporates four sheer lip shades, beautifully presented.  It’s the kind of gift that should please even the most difficult to buy for!

The Clinque Sweet Treats promotion will run from December 3rd – December 7th, inclusive, only online at clinique.co.uk, while stocks last.

If you’re gonna get boozy with your afternoon tea this Christmas, ditch the standard champagne flutes and do it in style.  In conjunction with fine perfumer’s Penhaligon’s, the head bartender at Sofitel London St. James has created four exclusive cocktails, inspired by some of the british fragrance house’s best-selling perfumes: Endymion, Juniper Sling, Peoneve, and Artemisia.

The cleverly-concocted cocktails are infused with essential oils, spices and unusual liquers… ensuring they represent an innovative take on the key fragrances that inspired them.

Endymion Cologne: Spicy and fresh, Endymion is a fragrance of contrasts, sensual, light and dark, velvety, sweet and sharp.

Artemisia Eau de Parfum: Artemisia is both floral and fruity with a sensual powdery dry-down.  Caramel soft, sweet, powdery and silky.

Peoneve Eau de Parfum: An exquisite portrayal of an English garden, bursting with green foliage and the scent of blossoming flowers.

With our five senses so closely affiliated, I love the idea of playing with taste and smell in this way – what a fabulous idea and a great touch to what is becoming a staid tradition in London’s hotels.  In addition to the cocktails, head chef Vincent Menager has created an afternoon tea menu that also includes some real scentsations: scones with rose-scented jam, cardamom-scented creme brulee tartlets, and pear mousse snowballs with violet flakes.

The bespoke cocktail and afternoon tea menu will be available at the Sofitel London St. James from the 28th November 2012

Is it ever too early to start wearing holiday nail polishes?  The correct answer would be no.  Jack The Lad is from Butter London’s Holiday 2012 collection which features a range of pretty glitters.  Sitting in a forest-green base, suspended with a myriad of brighter sparkles that flash turquoise, gold and bright green, it’s a real stunner.

The swatch shot above shows three coats but you could get away with two if you’re in a hurry.  The finish is smooth to the touch but the shine is worth amping up with a top coat because it really brings out the Christmassy foil effect. Super pretty.

Butter London’s Jack The Lad is priced at £11.95 and available to buy online at www.powderrooms.com

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They say that the best things in life are free… rubbish.  When was the last time you didn’t pay for an apple turnover?  Having said that, I was recently sent this innocuous-looking tube of salve from a Swiss-based company called Selexir.  The brand only make the one product, and it’s this:

I’m gonna cut to the chase.  The Selexir Peace Balm is the most moisturising product that I’ve used on my skin.  Ever.  If you take all the good points from something like Elizabeth Arden’s 8hr cream and dispense with the greasiness, the stink, and the overwhelming feeling that you’re slathering your skin in something that you should be polishing your horse with instead… you come close to what Selexir have created.

If you’re aggravated by dry skin… and I don’t mean “mildly irritated”, but if extremely dry skin is something you have to deal with on a daily basis, then you need to go and buy yourself the travel-sized tube of this balm. Stat.

It’s free from parabens, paraffin, silicones, mineral oils, petroleum or synthetic dyes and fragrances.  The balm melts into the skin under the heat of your fingertips and you only need the smallest, smallest amount to see results.  You know that I particularly suffer from flaky skin this time of year which plays havoc with how my foundation looks and feels on my skin.  I’ve been adding just the tiniest amount of balm to the areas of my face that see these problems, this stuff literally transforms the texture of my skin in an instant, and it stays that way all day.

It’s also great for grazes, elbows, shins, knees blah blah blah but to be honest, I wouldn’t pay that much money for something I use on my body when I’m not a major sufferer of eczema, I usually only feel the temptation to splurge mega-bucks on products for my face.  I also wouldn’t get through the largest size tube in anything less than about three-years, so I am pleased that the brand have smaller, more affordable sizes available.

I rarely ga-ga-gush over a product unless it’s really made a difference for me and it’s so rare that a skincare product does have such a tangible, profound effect that can be experienced so rapidly.

I’m really excited by this and although I’m loathe to pass it on, I’m going to pay it forward and give my tube to my Dad who suffers from terrible eczema, usually (poorly) controlled by immunosuppressive meds and topical steroid creams.  Of course, I’m not in a position to medically assess how he gets on with it but I promise to come back and let you at least know how he feels it’s working for him.

Selexir Peace Balm is available to buy online, priced from £20 for 15ml

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When it comes to makeup, things can get pretty personal. One person’s dream product is another person’s nightmare and nowhere is this more keenly felt than when trialling a new foundation. Liz Earle’s long-awaited venture into the world of “proper” foundation comes in the form of the Liz Earle Signature Foundation. I’m glad that it wasn’t rushed out with the initial launch, the brand have obviously taken the time to create something that they’re happy represents their approach to cosmetics.

The classically-packaged foundation offers a heavyweight glass bottle with a well-designed pump, allowing complete control over how much product dispenses from the bottle. You only want half a pump? You got it. This obviously ensures no product wastage, and so it should because unlike most foundations, the Liz Earle Signature Foundation comes in a little under the average volume count at 25ml.

The silicone-rich formula offers a lightweight texture that skims over pores and primes the skin as it goes. As with similar formulas, I feel that a primer underneath makes wear a lot heavier and less comfortable than it should be. Having said that, the little pamphlet that comes in the box recommends using their Perfect Canvas primer underneath… but then, it would… wouldn’t it? It’s also worth noting that the Liz Earle Signature Foundation provides no sun-protection as part of its formula – and I don’t know about you but I’m not a massive fan of: moisturiser, sun protection, primer, foundation, makeup. That’s TOO much product for an everyday face. Personally, I’d skip the primer unless you have a real problem with your makeup sliding off by lunchtime.

The foundation comes in nine shades, ranging from Porcelain (which I have), through to Mocha (which promises to suit medium-dark Asian skintones). It’s obviously not the full spectrum, so hopefully the brand are working on increasing the palette next year. I usually opt for the 2nd lightest shade in a range because I favour a hint of warmth to counteract the redness in my skintone but in this case, the 2nd lightest (Ivory) would definitely prove too dark for me. Something to think about as I know that some of you consider yourselves to be paler than me.

I’m not a huge fan of the scent in this foundation, it reminds me a little of my old Dior foundations but thankfully, it doesn’t linger once it’s on the skin. I know that other reviewers have commented that they like the scent, so again, this is just another example of how personal an experience choosing a new foundation can be.

Liz Earle Signature Foundation applies well with both fingers and a brush. I’ve never been able to use paddle-style foundation brushes with much success, so you’ll have to make do with my experience at using a buffing-style brush, which I think provides a lighter, more natural, coverage. I’d agree with the brand that the texture is lightweight, it also strikes a nice balance between dewy and matte, though it becomes more matte as it sets on the skin. Ideally, you’d have a normal/combination skintype for this one – very dry skins may find it a little too matte to be completely comfortable in this weather. I’m dry/combination and I can just about get away with it…

You can see that coverage is pretty good, I’d describe it as a solid medium, leaning toward the full but without the weightiness that full-coverage provides. If anyone tries to tell you that this is a sheer/medium formula – you need to ask yourself what brand of polyfilla they usually use on their faces because this is about as full as I’d want to go without classing it as a “night out” foundation.

I didn’t find the foundation getting pernickity about being layered either, it let me go back for another pass around the centre of my face (with half a pump) and didn’t start clumping or creating any skin dramas but at the same time, I wouldn’t call it a “buildable” foundation either.

Some skin swatches on the inside of my wrist… look how blue I am! I think the shade variation between 01 and 02 is quite a jump… especially when compared to the variation between 02 and 03 – definitely try and get colour matched on counter for this one because I have a feeling that you’ll suffer from oxidisation and potential patchiness if you go too dark.

The picture above is a jawline swatch, stupidly in reverse order – sorry about that. You see the big leap between 01 and 02?

Longevity on my skin was fine, even without a primer it felt as though it held up admirably throughout the day and kept my redness toned down until the middle of the evening. Ultimately, I’ve been pretty happy with Liz Earle’s new Signature Foundation but I think I would have been a tiny bit happier with a little less matte-ness (totally a word). But then again, if you’re oilier than me – you should be chomping at the bit to get yourselves colour-matched on counter.

Liz Earle Signature Foundation is available to buy on counter, and online, priced at £21 for 25ml

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