A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

I’ve written previously about my love for Gielly Green’s Argan Rescue Oil that I use a few times a week to perk up my over-processed hair.  I recently took delivery of a couple of samples from the Gielly Green body range which included a hand & body lotion and a hand & body wash.

At 300ml a-piece, these understated but elegant bottles will last a fair length of time which is reassuring when you take into account that the ‘wash’ and ‘lotion’ are priced at £12 and £18 respectively.  These are luxury prices for products squarely aimed at the luxury market.

Now, whilst I don’t bat an eyelid at paying nearly £20 for a hair treatment, lipstick or facial moisturiser… I get more frugalistic stirrings when it comes to the kind of purchase that generally needs to be replaced more frequently.  This would include hand washes.

Having said that… I can’t actually fault the deliciousness of these products.  The Lemon and Muguet (Lily of the Valley) scent is fresh and airy.  It delivers a sparkling citrusy zing without skimping on a more grounding floral that lingers for a few hours after application and the scent conveys an overall carefree lightness without being too ‘young’, fruity or sweet.

The formula of the hand and body lotion is blissfully light, not great for those requiring more intense moisturisation but I’ve been using this on my hands (and lower arms) after washing and whilst not moisturising enough to keep my cuticles in check, it’s doing a sterling job on the rest, including my rough elbows!

The hand and body wash smells a little zestier than the lotion and delivers a non-drying formula thanks to the addition of Argan Oil (not too far down the ingredients list either!) and a welcome lack of SLS and alcohol in the formulation.

Overall, if your purse can stomach the price tag – you could do far worse than treating yourself to these bathroom gems.  Gielly Green have delivered a perfect pair of body essentials that bring a touch of luxury to a normally mundane task.

Gielly Green Hand & Body Wash and Hand & Body Lotion in Lemon & Muguet are available to buy online from the Gielly Green website.

…that got your attention didn’t it?

I’ve been using the Lumos High Speed Top Coat (and base coat) for a few months now, it’s a product that I hadn’t heard much about before.  It’s not cheap but I’m confident that you’re going to need it.

To be honest with you, it’s been *killing* me that I haven’t been able to blog about this sooner but I wanted to make absolutely sure that I didn’t go ahead and rave about this top coat only to watch it go the same way as my numerous bottles of Seche Vite a few months down the line – i.e. gloopy and unusable.

The Lumos High Speed Top Coat hails from a company called Famous Names LLC and a little bit of digging reveals that this company is owned by none other than Jim and Linda Nordstrom of Creative Nail Design fame.  These are people who quite frankly, know what they’re doing when it comes to nails.

So… why do you need it?

Because it appears to be the top coat we’ve all been waiting for.

~ It dries solidly in a couple of minutes… touchproof, smudgeproof.  It’s equally as good as Seche Vite in providing a quick-dry finish.

~ It applies effortlessly, floating over the nail bed without pooling and it doesn’t complain and drag if you need to ‘go over’ it to spread it a little thinner.

~ I haven’t noticed any shrinkage or colour change to my polish after application.

~ It doesn’t go gloopy after a couple of months (3 months of frequent use, still perfect).

~ It seems to last and last and last!

How about some cons to even things up a bit?

Well.. it’s a bit expensive at around £10/£11 a bottle… but considering the image above shows 3 months usage (yes, really – there’s barely a dent in it!), I think it still represents great value for money.

I’ve also been using the Lumos Instant Impact Bottom Coat which promises to increase polish longevity but in all honesty, I’m just not the best placed to comment on its effectiveness simply because I don’t suffer from chips and I rarely want to wear my polishes for longer than 4/5 days at most anyway.  I can say that I haven’t experienced nail staining from my blue polishes (a.k.a smurf nails) since using this, so on that score – it’s a good base coat.

The UK distributor for LUMOS are Sweet Squared, a professional-only distributor.  I bought my duo set from eBay in January (£19.50 for both) but a quick google search also reveals a few other stockists that will sell directly to consumers.

Be quick guys, this really might be your last chance to nab one of these beauties now that the brand have pulled out of Boots.

The Urban Decay Naked Palette is priced on the Debenhams website at £28.80, a 10% saving on the RRP of £32.00 – I’ve had a quick scoot around the web and can’t find any additional codes to bring that price lower but SHD1 still appears to work for free delivery.

Last time around, stock lasted for less than 24 hours.  Get it quick!

Another one of my IMATS purchases from earlier in the year was this Yaby Freestyle palette… ‘freestyle’ because it holds any shape of pan in the same way the more well-known z-palettes do.

Being a Yaby palette, it’s not exactly large… at around 15cm (longest side), it’s smaller than MAC, Z-Palette, Unii and MUFE palettes but as my end goal is to fill it with Yaby products (which are teeny tiny too), I don’t have a problem with the compact sizing.

Mine is currently filled with a few randoms (5 Yaby eyeshadows, a Yaby brow powder, 1 MAC eyeshadow, a Yaby blusher and a Stila eyeshadow to be precise!).

The palette is well-constructed with solid hinges, strong magnets and sturdy housing.  The mirror is large and without any obvious distortions.

It’s pretty much a delight to take away on holiday and I can’t wait to fill it with more baby Yaby goodies!

I bought my Yaby Freestyle Palette from The Makeup Artist Boutique (who were exhibiting at IMATS).  It is priced at £10.99 from their web store.

Despite the moniker, lip glosses aren’t really my bag.  I find them gloopy, sticky, uncomfortable to wear and unless careful not to overapply, can make you look like an extra from Saturday Night Beaver.

Admittedly, they’re less high maintenance than lipsticks and are undoubtedly nifty for quick touch ups when your lippie has all but been eaten away.  However, for me… they come a poor second to my faithful lipstick devotion.

So, how about a hybrid?

NARS Velvet Gloss Lip Pencils are still fairly new additions to the market.  Launched in February, they promise the convenience of a pencil with the application of a lipstick in a jumbo-size crayon design.

Well, first things first… you can kiss the gloopiness issues goodbye.  Thanks to this delivery method, you can apply a thin, even layer of gloss over your lips without any thickness or pooling.  Yes, they’re still a touch tacky on the lips but there is no risk of those disgusting stringy gloss strands when you open your mouth… and we’ve all seen too many of those on over-enthusiastic gloss wearers right?

I was sent two shades from the lineup: Hopi (Honey Beige) and New Lover (Strawberry Pink laced with Gold).

New Lover on the left and Hopi on the right.

The texture is soft, really very soft… take care when sharpening these babies.  I would have preferred to have seen them in a twist-up form but alas, they are what they are.

Again, New Lover is on the left and Hopi on the right.  They’re well pigmented with great, natural colour.  I feared that their pencil form meant that they might go down faster than a fat kid on a seesaw but they’re holding up better than I expected on that score.

Because of their convenience, I keep New Lover in my bag for when my lipstick wears off and have been substituting it for quick fixes post-lunch.  I also have my eye on Baroque which seems more to my taste with its bolder, raspberry undertones.

Finally, a lip swatch of both so you can see how they look applied…

They’re pretty, understated shades that dodge my lipgloss-hating bullet well.

NARS Velvet Gloss Lip Pencils are priced at £17.50 a-piece and are available online and on counter now.

I’ll admit that when I first saw this shade in the bottle… I thought it looked a bit mauve/rose-granny-chic.  I’m still not sure it feels very Spring/Summer to me but it thankfully has enough raspberry in it to keep it looking modern.

Dahling *air kisses* is a pleasant enough shade.  It doesn’t knock my socks off but it does look good with most outfits and is conservative enough to wear whenever a red might be considered a touch too saucy!  It’s one of those shades that you’d reach for when you want a neat/polished look with little thought.

Application was solid with no issues to report… wear was average too… it’s an all round average kinda polish that will fulfil all your polish needs without blowing your mind.  And let’s be honest, we all need something we can depend on sometimes!

Dahling is available online from PowderRooms priced at £11.95.

Are there any polish shades that you can’t get excited over?

Sometimes I get a little bit guilty looking at all the lovely things that I’ve bought and haven’t gotten around to swatching for the blog and after a conversation on Twitter last night with @PinkSith, @LondonMUGirl and @Fauxlivia – it shamed me into grabbing my ‘waiting’ box and dragging the things out of it that I knew I should have gotten around to swatching a bazillion years ago.

7 lip tars (I didn’t bother with the less wearable shades I own) and a pair of slightly sore lips later…

L-R: Hush / Memento / Grandma / Trollop / Pageant / NSFW / Stalker

They all need to be applied with a lip brush and each gives great coverage with just a small amount.  I tend to use a little more than I’ve read *should* be needed but I always end up blotting after because they transfer to my great big front teeth like a total bitch if I don’t.

~ HUSH is the palest shade I own… it’s a beige nude which works well with a smokey eye and is *just* dark enough to avoid the corpse bride look.

~ MEMENTO is a darker, more wearable nude on my skintone thanks to a pinker hue than HUSH.

~ GRANDMA was a gamble for me when I bought it… I thought it would be far too warm for my skintone but it actually turns fairly neutral on my lips despite the tube colour.  One of my favourites for Summer and can be built up to a rich coral with a couple of coats.

~ TROLLOP was purchased purely on the basis of its awesome name so I’m really pleased that I love the colour too!  I’d describe TROLLOP as a warm pink… verging toward the guava territory but not as warm as GRANDMA gets after a couple of coats.

~ PAGEANT was my first Lip Tar… I wanted a hot pink that wasn’t quite neon and found it in this shade.  If you want something a touch bolder than this, go for ANIME (which I don’t have).

Ahhh… the reds…

~ NSFW is the classic neutral red and it really is one of the most bang-on reds I own.

~ Thinking that I didn’t need another OCC red when I was already in love with NSFW, I almost didn’t pick up STALKER.  But oh boy am I glad I did?  It’s a true vampy cool-toned red that works verynicelythankyouverymuch on my skintone.

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Now, I don’t really wear these as often as I should… they need a brush to apply, don’t be trying from the tube unless you have some serious skills.  They can also feather if you over-apply or generally suffer from this anyway… clear lip liners for the win!  I’ve also mentioned the transfer issue… a slight purse of my lips and my teeth get a nice coating too.

Does this mean that I regret buying them?  God, no.  I just regret being too lazy to take the extra little bit of time to ensure that I do these justice.   I hereby solemnly swear to break out my OCC pinks a little more this month!

OCC Lip Tars can be bought in the UK from sites: MakeupArtistBoutique, Cocktail Cosmetics, GenieCosmetics and LoveMakeup.

Do you own any OCC Lip Tars?  Which ones are on your wishlist?

From the upcoming Fall 2011 collection, Touring America…

Personally, I eat Mainely everything but if you want your nails to look like the inside of a ripe, juicy watermelon this Autumn, you’re gonna need a bit of OPI’s I Eat Mainely Lobster* in your life.

I Eat Mainely Lobster is a shimmering almost-neon coral with enough pink in it to keep it looking good on cool skin tones.  It has a pretty under-stated shimmer that catches beautifully in the sunlight.

The image above is underexposed so don’t trust it for shade depth but I wanted to be able to capture the almost molten shimmer particles in this polish… aren’t they pretty?

Formula is quite thin for OPI but it packs enough pigment to have your nailbed covered in two coats.  It dries quickly but lacks glossiness which I’m putting down to the intense brightness of the shade… a quick lick of top coat rectifies that issue.

Overall, I Eat Mainely Lobster is an unusual but winning choice for Autumn/Fall 2011 and I can envisage many toes catching the last few rays of Summer sunshine whilst flashing this shade!

O.P.I – I Eat Mainely Lobster will be available on our shores this August from LenaWhite.

* press sample

Courtesy of Cocktail Cosmetics, I’m delighted to be able to offer one of my lovely readers the chance to win a full 12 pan La Femme Blush palette complete with 12 amazingly pigmented blushes!

If you want to see the awesomeness of these blushes in action, check out my review here for some swatches.

To win the La Femme Blush Palette, simply answer the following question…

How many shades are available in the full range of La Femme Cosmetics Blush On Rouge Refill Pans?

Tip: You can find the answer at the bottom here

T&C
1. Entry open to UK & European residents by email only.
2. One winner will be picked at random from all entries.
3. One entry per email address.
4. Lipglossiping.com is the sole promoter of this competition.
5. Competition closes on Monday 2nd May 2011 at 23.59.
6. Winner will be notified by email within 5 days of the close of the competition.
7. No email addresses will be stored once the competition has closed and will only be used to contact the winner.

I’ve been wanting this discontinued China Glaze polish for the longest time and when I saw it on the ‘Bay, I had to jump on it!

Unfortunately, my swatch is pretty darn naff but just look at the bottle to see the gorgeousness that exists within those glass walls.  It’s like looking into a gilded nebula of awesomeness.  Or something.

I wore China Glaze Wagon Trail to destruction, literally.  I’ve just spent 14 days at the inlaws and it was still on my fingernails 12 days into the trip – ok, it looked pretty horrendous on most of my fingers by that time but to give you an idea of longevity, the above photo was taken on day 4 of wear (with my usual top coat).

It’s a two coater with a smooth, fluid consistency… a really great polish that I’m happy to cheat on my Spring/Summer shades with.

Smoky, boozy, warm and decadent.  Richly opulent with a vanilla that transcends all.  The vanilla is a true, gourmand vanille as opposed to anything too playful or overly sweet.  It harmonises and mellows the tobacco beautifully.

Tobacco Vanille* is a fragrance that oozes warmth, breathe it in deeply and you’ll feel the scent warm your belly like the sun.  This makes it quite a difficult fragrance for some to wear during Summer months where the headiness may become overwhelming… but for me, it’s the perfect accompaniment to sultry, Summer evenings.

At £118 for 50ml, a Tom Ford Private Blend fragrance isn’t a purchase to be entered into lightly but these exquisitely blended perfumes stand alone with personalities that cut through the myriad of other frags on the market.  Complex and deep, I’ve sniffed the 12 scents in the Private Blend collection and appreciate the quality of each one.  This doesn’t mean I love all of them but it stands out to me that I only dislike certain blends because the personality of the scent disagrees with my tastes and not because it lacks anything in terms of quality.

The line of Private Blends are described as unisex and this is definitely true for Tobacco Vanille that wears just as smoothly on my skin as it does on my husband’s thanks to the craftsmanship displayed in creating the perfect balance.  The spicy tobacco adds a bitterness to the creamy vanilla whilst the vanilla and honeyed tones smooth the rough edges from the tobacco leaf.  The feminine/masculine tones simply dance a tango in the bottle.

My one wish would be for a couple more hours wear from Tobacco Vanille which lasts around 6 hours on my skin whilst my husband manages to achieve around 16 hours from a coupe of sprays!

If you like sweet, rich scents but feel that the majority of mass scents on the market smell a little too young or fruity… you must visit your local Tom Ford counter to experience Tobacco Vanille on your own skin, then make your partner fall in love with it too, there’s nothing like going Dutch 😉

Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille is available from Selfridges, Harvey Nichols and Harrods and priced from £118

* press sample

I walked up Primrose Hill once and it is most definitely a perfect spot for a picnic (just be sure to dodge all the yummy mummies and their icandy prams).

See?

But perhaps even better than that view, is the view I get when I look down at my nails and spy Butter London’s version of a Primrose Hill Picnic.

A gorgeous summery pink that instantly makes me think “fruit salad”.   Though, in fairness, it doesn’t take much to make me think of food.

The formula was a touch thick and a little draggy which made it one of those “comes good on the 3rd coat” polishes.  Not at all unworkable (less thick than BarryM polishes) but worth a mention incase you can’t stand a hint of gloop!

Wear was fine for me, 3 days before I noticed any real tip wear and no chipping.

Butter London Primrose Hill Picnic is available online from PowderRooms and priced at 9.75