‘cos Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.

Posted by Lipglossiping On April - 9 - 2011

For the love of all things shimmery, creme-y and smelling of solvent will someone PLEASE stock Diamond Cosmetics nail polishes in the UK again?

It was a dark, dark day when Flashy Nails closed and took with it the last (as far as I’m aware) of the UK stock.

Let’s have a quick recap of what we’re missing…

Yeah… we don’t really need much more convincing than that do we?  But just incase you do…

And some of the ones I haven’t gotten round to swatching yet…

Did I mention these used to retail at around $2.50 a bottle in the U.S.?  Don’t make me beg now…

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So, UK ladies – are you with me?  Who do we have to bribe with fudge to get our own way… and just how much fudge are we talking!?


SpaRitual – Truth Collection for Spring 2011

Posted by Lipglossiping On April - 8 - 2011

I’ve featured vegan, polish brand SpaRitual on the blog before and thought you might like to take a peek at their 2011 Spring Collection, Truth.

6 Spring shades, 6 pretty cremes (do I spy an uber trendy yellow?!)

Knowledge is Power: Hot Pink Creme
Reveal Yourself: Pastel Lilac Creme
Circle of Life: Vibrant Blue Creme
Enlightened Soul: Yellow Creme
Eye of the Beholder: Grassy Green Creme
Face of Destiny: Peach Creme

Are you liking the look of any of these?  I’ve got swatches of Knowledge is Power and Circle of Life coming up soon!

SpaRitual polishes are priced at £8.50 each and available to buy online.

To fringe or not to fringe?

Posted by Lipglossiping On April - 8 - 2011

Whilst this may not be the most important question we’ll ever ponder, for me… it was all I could think about a fortnight ago as I sat in the hair salon umm-ing and ahh-ing over this very dilemma.

In the end, I did what I always do in situations like this, I semi-commited.  I let the stylist cut me a hint of a fringe, a slight side sweep.  A fringe for wimps really.

I don’t like it. It’s bitty and it’s annoying… it says “Here stands a woman who has no faith in her own judgement!”

What I should have done, is bought one of these before visiting the salon.

The Cosmopolitan Collection Sexy Straight Fringe in Darkest Brown.  A clip-in fringe for commitment-phobes!

It’s the easiest thing in the world to attach, simply align wherever you want the end of your fringe to reach and press on the two clips that come attached.  Voila!

Instant fringe!

Now, whilst I am actually in love with my new fringe, it doesn’t come without issues.

1. It’s synthetic and therefore shiny.  If only my real hair were this shiny!  Now, don’t get me wrong… we’re not in doll’s hair territory, it’s not a horrible synthetic shine but it does contrast to my own hair and I need to fix this before I’d wear it out.  I’ve heard that some dry shampoo should do the trick.

2. If you have fine hair like mine, you need to play around with the back of the fringe (where it meets your hair) to ensure that the join is as well-hidden as possible.  Those with thicker locks will probably find this a doddle, I need a bit of careful placement and backcombing.

3.  Beware of relationships with partners, family and friends.  Mr. L and I are no longer on speaking terms since he called me Duane Dibley.

On the plus side, it provides instant gratification for a striking new look on nights out or when I want to confuse my 2 year old.  It’s well cut and heavy enough without being comedy-heavy and perhaps best of all, it covers my grey roots like a dream!

You can purchase The Cosmopolitan Collection Sexy Straight Fringe* online at HotHair, priced at £24.

* Press Sample

OPI Autumn / Fall 2011 – Touring America Collection

Posted by Lipglossiping On April - 7 - 2011

OK, enough with Spring/Summer… here’s my favourite season (in terms of colour – definitely NOT weather!).

OPI have previewed their Autumn/Fall collection, titled Touring America and it looks a little something like this:

It’s a large, 12-piece collection which can be split into the usual sophisticated yet dirgy, autumnal shades and rather awesomely, some fall-toned brights too!  From the bottle shots, the brights look like they may be metallics but I’m not 100% on this – I’ll have to wait to see some swatches before I can confirm!

Let’s have a breakdown:

Are We There Yet?: Melon
I Eat Mainely Lobster: Luminous Coral
My Address is “Hollywood”: Vivid Rose
Color to Diner For: Iconic Red
Honk if You Love OPI: Rich Raisin
Road House Blues: Deep Sapphire

Suzi Takes the Wheel: Grey
French Quarter for Your Thoughts: Sexy Grey
Uh-oh Roll Down the Window: Chic Olive
A-taupe the Space Needle: Creamy-Rich Taupe
Get in the Expresso Lane: Amped-Up Dark Brown
I Brake for Manicures: Eggplant-Plum

I’m pretty divided on this Touring America collection.

Autumn is the pinnacle of nail polish collections for me, it rarely gets better and if this represents the best of what I have to look forward to from one of the biggest players in the polish world.  I’m just not sure I’m as excited as I hoped I would be.

Coming from someone who loves their grungy, dirty shades… I would have liked to see OPI mix things up a bit.  Get adventurous with the dirge!  Some different textures maybe?  I don’t know… as I said, I haven’t seen these in person so there may well be something about them that lifts from the standard cremes.  I hope so but at the moment I’m left with an overwhelming feeling of deja-vu.

Thinking back to last year’s Swiss Collection (of which I own the majority!), I’m just not getting the same buzz from this year’s offerings although I am pleased to see OPI carry over some Summer shades whilst giving them an interesting Autumn edge!

These will be available from LenaWhite, priced at £10.50 each.

What are your first impressions of OPI’s Touring America Collection?

Did you know that April is Earth Month?  Well it is, so listen up!

Now in its 12th year, Aveda created Earth Month in April 1999 to raise awareness and funds for critically important environmental issues around the world, and has since raised more than $18 million for organizations that directly affect environmental change.

This year, Aveda are focusing on helping to provide access to clean water and sanitation for children and families around the world.

Lisa Snowdon and Margherita Taylor join Aveda’s 2011 Walk for Water as part of 12th Earth Month Initiative

Last week, the brand successfully organised and completed a five mile “Walk for Water” campaign along London’s Southbank, raising funds for Wateraid along the way.

The company have also released a rather lovely, limited edition “Light The Way” candle.

The Aveda Light The Way candle features a French-inspired aroma made with 100 percent certifed organic ingredients, including lavender, lavandin and clary sage sourced from the Diois region of northern Provence, France.

Formulated from soy wax, which means that the candle burns cleanly and completely from first light through to final extinguish.

The candle retails in the UK for £16.

Of that purchase price, £12.80 per candle sold in the UK will go to Global Greengrants Fund (GGF) and their water-related projects.

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Origins have established a partnership with Global ReLeaf to plant trees and restore wildfire-damaged areas which means that for every Plantscription sold during 17th – 30th April 2011, Origins will plant a tree on the customer’s behalf.

What a good way to get green thumbs without getting dirty!

In addition to this, you need to know about their trade-in/amnesty deal!

For one day only on 22nd April 2011…

Customers can bring in any current skincare product (any brand, full or empty) and trade it in for a complimentary full size of either Checks and Balances Frothy Face Wash or A Perfect World Antioxidant Cleanser with White Tea.

That’s a deal worth £16/€23!  Yes, really!

To find your nearest Origins counter/store, check the Origins website and search for your postcode.

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Finally, French organic beauty brand Melvita are celebrating Earth Month and honouring their own bee-entwined roots by installing an apiary above their London flagship store in Covent Garden in an attempt to protect the declining bee population!

The apiary will be a permanent fixture on the roof of the Covent Garden store and also celebrates the launch of The Melvita Foundation which exists to protect the environment and bee populations around the world.

“We should not be scared of bees.  They are the guardians of the environment, they contribute to ecological biodiversity.  With the Melvita Foundation, you can act and protect them” Bernard Chevilliat, Melvita Founder.

During Earth Month, Melvita customers can help add more hives to the Melvita City Apiary through purchasing select Melvita products which contain honey.

•  Hydrastim – £22.00
•  Softening Hand Cream – £12.00
•  Apicosma Body Balm – £19.00
•  Softening Shower Gel – £9.50
•  Capiforce Hair Mask – £18.00

For each of these products purchased, Melvita will donate £1 to the Apiary fund, which will raise money to buy new hives and to further encourage the protection of the bees in and around London.

If you want to learn more about the Foundation, Melvita are holding a Bee Workshop on the 22nd April in the St Martin’s Courtyard store from 1pm – 4pm.  It’s open to all, so pop along to take a closer look at the bees and indulge in some free honey tasting!

Elemis launch FreshSkin, a new range for Teens to Twenties!

Posted by Lipglossiping On April - 6 - 2011

Featuring 9 skincare products with prices starting from just £8, Elemis are looking to plug a gap in the market and bring their reputation for great skincare to a younger audience.

Noella Gabriel, Director of Product & Treatment Development at Elemis describes the range as … “a girl’s first serious skincare regime using high performance ingredients with lightweight textures and beautiful essential oils.”

Products in the range include cleansing wipes, separate day and evening moisturisers, two types of face wash, eye cream, lip balm, face masks and a serum which appears to be missing from the website at the moment.

Make Up Away Cleansing Wipes (25) – £8
Peachy Perfect Gentle Face Wash 100ml – £12
Skin Glow Exfoliating Face Wash 100ml – £12
Softly Softly Daily Moisturiser 50ml – £20
Dreamy Sleep Night-Time Moisturiser 50ml – £22
Tired Eyes Soothing Eye Rescue 15ml – £15
Loving Lips Quenching Lip Balm 10ml – £8
Face Mask Duo deep clean and magical moisture 6 x 7ml – £15

Gemx is kindly going to be test-driving the products on her (more youthful!) skin for a month before giving us her thoughts on the formulations of the new range and how they work for her.

My first impressions are mostly positive with a few doubts thrown in…

I think it’s a shame that Elemis chose to target it so directly to a female audience, I would have preferred to see something more unisex.  Secondly, thinking back to how far my pennies stretched when I was at uni… there are a few products in the lineup that wouldn’t have impressed.  £8 for 25 wipes?  £15 for 6 face masks?  I’m not saying they’re not worth it (I haven’t tried them!) but at that price, I don’t think I would have been inclined to either.  A simple question of economics would have prevented me!

On the flip-side?  I think that £12 and £20(ish) for core skincare items (face wash, moisturisers) is pretty good going from a brand that, let’s remember, is synonymous with some of the most luxe skincare products on the market.

You can buy the range online now from TimeToSpa.co.uk (UK) and TimeToSpa.com (North/South America)

It’s an interesting one, what do you think?

Deal Alert: Beautique choose their winner and a DISCOUNT code!

Posted by Lipglossiping On April - 6 - 2011

A BIG thank you to everyone who took the time to enter my recent Beautique/Urban Retreat competition!

They were so pleased with the response (and super cool answers) that they wanted to offer everyone a 15% discount code to use online at Beautique.com


But who was the lucky winner of an amazing £100 Urban Retreat voucher and pamper hamper?  Well, turns out – it was this lady – congratulations Stephanie!

If you want to have a read of some of Beautique’s favourite entries, click here to see if yours made their top list!

OPI Nice Stems Collection for Summer 2011 – Think Pink!

Posted by Lipglossiping On April - 6 - 2011

It’s very pink isn’t it?

Play the Peonies: We’d put our money on this lovely soft-pink.
Come to Poppy: Surrender to shine with this shimmering coral-pink.
Be a Dahlia Won’t You?: Give the gift of fabulous fuchsia—to yourself!
I Lily Love You: Fall head over heels with this light pink sparkle.

Unusually for me, the only one that’s *really* calling to me is Come To Poppy, though I’d be willing to bet my dinner on I Lily Love You being a sell-out!

Will any of the offerings from OPI‘s upcoming Nice Stems collection be gracing your nails this Summer?

Illamasqua’s Distinction in Make-up Artistry Awards

Posted by Lipglossiping On April - 5 - 2011

Illamasqua are launching the ‘Distinction in Make-up Artistry Awards’ to recognise true artistry in makeup and as someone who posesses absolutely no artistry whatsoever, it’s something that I always appreciate!

The awards are open to all Illamasqua Professional Members and celebrate up and coming British make-up and beauty students and professionals.

There is just too much information to take in and process, so if this is something you think you’d be interested in hearing more about, take a look at the image above and read more on the Illamasqua blog.

 

Elizabeth Arden – Sueded Browns Palette

Posted by Lipglossiping On April - 5 - 2011

I’m already the proud owner of Sueded Brown’s little sister, Velvet Plumtones so I couldn’t help but pick this one up too when I saw it in the ‘sale’ box on counter in John Lewis.  I paid half price for this little palette.  A total snip a £12.50!

I love these Color Intrigue palettes… I mean, OK, they’re not hugely exciting in shade selection but they’re wearable, high quality shadows that are hard to screw up.  They blend beautifully, last forever on my lids and have a beautiful satin sheen without being too metallic.

4 shades ranging from a pale highlight through to a v. dark charcoal brown which I”m addicted to using as a liner.

Aren’t they rich?  The highlight shade *is* there by the way, it’s just pretty damn close to my skin tone as a colour match!

So, that leaves one palette left to collect…. the Neutral Cashmeres.  I know I can get it in the ‘ordinary’ packaging but I’d quite like to complete my set of 100th Anniversary ones!  I will have to keep my eyes peeled!

Do you own any Elizabeth Arden cosmetics?

The Anti Ageing Beauty Bible and its winners…

Posted by Lipglossiping On April - 4 - 2011

So, The Anti-ageing Beauty Bible may have only been on the shelves for a couple of weeks but Beauty gurus Josephine Fairley and Sarah Stacey’s new book is already ensuring brands are making an effort to capitalize on their mentions from withing the Bible’s hallowed pages.

I don’t have a copy of the book yet, so I had a crafty ‘google’ to see which brands had already publicized their awards and mentions!

Liz Earle have released an Anti-ageing Beauty Bible collection (£25) to coincide with the book release.  This kit features 4 of their best-selling products that were featured within the pages of the book.

Monu are making sure we all know that their Skin Perfector (£16.25) got a big thumbs up in the book.

Nutritional skincare purveyors Oskia are keen to tell us why their Micro-Exfoliating Balm (£46) was an Anti-ageing Beauty Bible award winner!

Finally, NUDE Skincare are so proud of their award that they’re shipping their Replenishing Night Oil BUNDLED with a copy of the book!

Will you be picking up a copy of the new Anti-ageing Beauty Bible or checking out any of the brands that feel the Beauty Bible love?

It’s gonna be a mellow yellow Summer!

Posted by Lipglossiping On April - 4 - 2011

So, who’s for yellow nails this Summer?

Every year, the celebs get their banana polishes out of storage to threaten us with canary tips but this year… we’re in for some serious yellow fever!

image credit: MTV Style

We all knew we were in for a trend when we saw Chanel’s upcoming Mimosa polish set to launch next month but Mimosa is just the tip of the yellow-coloured iceberg!

image credit: Polish Police & Fashion Fame

1.  From NARS upcoming Summer collection, Kismet polish, described as a “shimmering sunflower”

2. Deborah Lippmann will be showing us which path to take… the jelly Yellow Brick Road of course!

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Will you be taking the plunge into the IT shade of the season or are you a bit yellow-bellied *groan* like me?

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