A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

Superdrug, in dog years… let’s be honest, you’re dead.

The big Five Oh.  1964-….

It’s not a number to be sniffed at, especially in the kind of financial times that have proven too much for even the greatest of high-street institutions *cough* Woolworths pick n’ mix *cough*.

You must be doing something right.  And infact, I know you are… because even with the ridiculous amount of shopping opportunities available to me when I wander through town, I always pop in for a look at your best budget beauty, your splendiforous own-brand hair colourants, and fridges that burst at the seams with Appletiser.  I hope I’ve still got half of what it takes to remain relevant when I reach my half-century!

In honour of this milestone, a host of the world’s favourite beauty brands have created some rather special limited-edition Superdrug products for the birthday celebrations.  You may be noticing a bit of a colour theme going on, I’ll give you a clue… it ain’t blue.

The products available range from fragrance to cosmetics, skin-care to everyday essentials and include favourites such as: Astral’s iconic multipurpose moisturiser (£3.89), Lipcote (£3.69), BarryM Nail Paint (£3.99), Cacharel Amor Amor (£35), and Cocoa Brown One Hour Dark Tan (£6.99).

Alongside this barrage of pink produce, the celebrations take a more comprehensive turn with lots of instore and online promotions, including some nifty 50% off deals, and various Facebook/Twitter promotions.

They’ve even released a video on YouTube to showcase the changing face of the must-have party look over the past half-century:

If you want to wish the brand a happy twoscore and ten, simply use the hashtag #superdrug50 on to join in the celebrations on Twitter. 

And don’t forget to check out the Superdrug website for a chance to win a hamper packed full of exclusive Superdrug 50th Birthday products!

I haven’t really explored the B. range at Superdrug since its launch, to be honest… I just can’t say that any of the brand’s releases have inspired me to make the trip further-afield to a better-stocked Superdrug.  I saw a press release for their new B. Vibrant Lip & Cheek Colours, and for one moment… I thought I might well be converted by the look of these chubby lip crayons.  But was I?

Along with one of the new B. Vibrant Lip & Cheek Colours in Fandango* – a hot pink, I was sent the new B. Sculpted Contour Kit in shade Dark*.  I’ll start with the Lip & Cheek Colour first…

It’s packaged in a traditional, crayon-style format with a twist mechanism to raise and lower the waxy nib, perfect if like me, you hate having to sharpen anything!  It feels well-made and the colour glides over the lips effortlessly.

Perhaps a little too effortlessly, you see… it feels quite greasy and to achieve anything like the kind of vibrancy I was expecting, you need to layer up.  More layers = more grease.  It’s not a great combination.  I wasn’t expecting a matte formula but there’s just something about the way this feels that doesn’t appeal to me.  It’s not sticky and it’s not overly heavy, it’s just… not quite there.

Once I’ve built up the pigment to a medium-high finish (the swatch above shows about 5 swipes with the crayon), I tend to grab a tissue to blot.  That’s the only way I can enjoy wearing this shade on my lips.  To be fair, this doesn’t take down the pigment too much and possibly increases overall wear time but I just wanted something more instantly vibrant from a product that calls itself… vibrant.

As for my cheeks?  Perhaps the multi-use function of this product has something to do with why the formula feels the way it does… but you know about my distaste for sharing my lip products with my face and if I saw someone smearing their lip crayon around on their cheeks after I’d just watched them apply it to their mouth, I might be forced to spit on a tissue for them.

The B. Vibrant Lip & Cheek Colours come in five shades, ranging from a soft pink through to a rather striking mandarin.  I’ve only tried the one shade and would be interested to hear your thoughts on the others!

The other new release from the brand is a Sculpted Contour Kit that is available to buy in light, medium, and dark.  This is the “dark” shade choice.  The kit is split into two pans containing just over a total of 10g of product.

The powder, the contouring side of the pan feels finely-milled with a nice, soft texture and a good amount of pigment pay-off.  The cream highlight shade is an oddity.  When I first saw it in the pan, I angled it under the light, expecting to see some mica particles glimmer back at me.  But no, either mine is defective or it’s just a translucent white cream.  Much like a thin, theatrical greasepaint.  On my skin, it doesn’t do an awful lot other than look… greasy.

Once blended, it reminds me of putting a slightly more-refined version of vaseline on the high points of my face… there’s nothing wrong with this, women have been using vaseline as a highlighting trick for years, it just wasn’t quite what I anticipated.  It’s best applied at the end of your makeup routine, otherwise any setting powder that you apply will ruin the effect.

All in all, I’m not excited or enthused about these two releases from the budget high-street brand.  In 2014, I expect better formulas for the not unsubstantial RRP price tags of these products.

B. Vibrant Lip & Cheek Colour in Fandango is priced at £7.99 but currently a third off at £5.32 for a limited time.  B. Sculpted Contour Kit in Dark is priced at £11.99 but currently a third off at £6.99 for a limited time.  Available to buy instore at Superdrug and online at superdrug.com

* press sample

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If you’re left feeling disappointed by the synthetic aftertaste from your el-cheapo Advent Calendars, never fear… I’ve got something here to perk up your taste-buds.  Some of our favourite stores and brands are running Advent promotions and competitions to get you back into the Christmas spirit, here’s a quick run-down of some of my favourites…

Clinique

Every day from the 2nd – 8th December, the brand will be unveiling a Christmas treat available with online purchases.  I’d love to give you a full run-down of what will be on offer but the bods at Clinique HQ are keeping their secret’s firmly under wraps until the morning of the offer.

They have, however, released a few teasers which include…

Monday 2nd December – The Christmas party must-have
Tuesday 3rd December – All you need is Comfort & Joy this season
Wednesday 4th December – Treats for everyone
Thursday 5th December – All you’ll want for Christmas is this
Friday 6th December – A Happy Friday it shall be
Saturday 7th December – A cracking treat
Sunday 8th December – You’ll wish it could be Christmas everyday

Log on to www.clinique.co.uk each morning to discover the latest treat….

Urban Retreat

If you’re feeling a bit bleary-eyed, you’d better reach for the Optrex.  Your peepers will need to be in top condition to scoop the prizes on offer at Urban Retreat’s Beautique.  Starting today, the company are relaunching their Great Christmas Quest campaign featuring a decadent array of prizes up for grabs!

Simply log-on to the site from 12pm daily this week and begin the treasure hunt, scouring the site for the standout present icon selling for only 1p.  When you find it, add it to your basket and checkout to claim the prize but be quick about it, you’re in a race to be the first to secure the item!

For more information and find out more about the prizes up for grabs, follow the brand on Twitter @URBeautique and keep an eye on the #XMASQUEST hashtag.  You can also find more details online at Urban Retreat.

Escentual.com

The beauty emporium are once again running their ever-popular #EscentualWish promotion on Twitter!  Hooray!  Starting this Thursday and running for one week, the company will be randomly selecting a winner each day on Twitter to receive their most wished-for Escentual product!

If you want to join in with the fun, simply get involved using the hashtag #EscentualWish and follow the brand on Twitter @escentual

Superdrug

For Facebookers everywhere, this one’s for you.  Head on over to the Superdrug fan page and jump on board with the high-street retailer’s 25-day Christmas extravaganza!

Every day from now until Christmas, open the virtual door and discover a new prize up for grabs.  Make sure you enter your details into the prize draw form which resets every night at midnight.  Good luck!

Big Green Smile

Last but not least, natural beauty experts Big Green Smile are running a 12 Days of Christmas promotion featuring a host of beauty bounty from some of the world’s best-loved brands.

To be in with a chance of winning, head on over to Big Green Smile and check out the entry form and T&C for this promotion.

Hope you’re feeling lucky folks!

In recent years, Superdrug have been ahead of the game with some great budget beauty launches. From MUA Cosmetics to FashionistA, Look Beauty to Accessorize, there’s always something new to check out with the confidence that our wallets won’t suffer too heavily as a result.

The latest beauty launch at Superdrug is from a brand simply titled B., a name which I’m certain will ensure a total nightmare when it comes to searching the web for products and reviews.

The range is comprehensive and includes face products, nail polish, and skincare.  Don’t be fooled into thinking this is just a tween brand either… a quick look at some of the skincare products tells me that they’re casting a much, much wider net over their potential audience with products ranging from B. Quick 4-in-1 Cleansing Wipes to B. Flawless Targeted Wrinkle Filler which you choose according to your “skin phase”.

A small selection of the colour cosmetics currently available from B.

When it comes to colour, the brand are set to make an impact on our cosmetic bags.  Not afraid to keep up with the competition, the brand will be offering their own BB Cream, Colour Corrector, Pure Micellar Water, Gel Eyeliner, and a full range of foundation and primers.  Each store will have a trained point of sale personnel to advise consumers on making their choices from this new brand and I for one, cannot wait to see the feedback on this new high street addition.

Have you spotted anything from the new range that takes your fancy?

The new range lands instore at Superdrug from the 1st of February, is available to buy online now (and is also available to view online at bisforbeautiful.co.uk)

Superdrug have been raising the beauty stakes lately.  First with their new beauty card, some great new brand exclusives and now a new range of affordable makeup brushes designed for the more makeup-savvy among us.

The Superdrug PRO Make Up Brush range contains eight new brushes in total.  Each brush is hand-crafted with 100% natural hair and as you’ve come to expect from Superdrug, all are BUAV approved (bunny friendly).

I have a few of the brushes from the new range and have been putting them to the test over the past week or so.  My feelings on each brush vary, so I thought I’d do a quick speed-review of each one.  Let’s get started…

PRO: 02 POWDER BRUSH is a fluffy, domed brush with a softness that belies its price tag.  I would have liked to see a little more weight to it and there is a tiny hint of scratchiness but nothing that would particularly bother me.  It grabs product well and disperses evenly across the face.  The fibres are dense but fairly loosely packed ensuring a light but buildable application.  I didn’t experience much shedding either or on my face, or when washing.  Good stuff.   £9.99

PRO: 11 EYE SHADOW BRUSH – WIDE is a nice tool for applying a wash of colour over the lids.  Again, it’s not the most densely packed brush which means that you’ll be able to build pigmentation with this effectively but it may end up frustrating you if you like to pack colour on quickly.  It also works well to blend harsh lines in a pinch, easily soft enough not to irritate the delicate skin around the eye area.  I have quite small lids and did end up wishing that it were a touch smaller.  £7.99

PRO: 13 EYE SHADOW BRUSH – ROUND isn’t one of my preferred brushes.  It’s nicely shaped with an excellent taper that really allows for some precision work but I just found this one a little too scratchy to use comfortably.  A real shame  because it has some nice resistance to the fibres that will allow you to get right into the corner of the eye and underneath the lashline with confidence that the head won’t splay.  £6.99

PRO: 14 SLANTED EYE LINER BRUSH makes for the 2nd disappointment in the set.  I simply find it too large and soft to give enough precision to line my eyes.  As I draw the brush across my eyelids, it tries to find its own path of least resistance, buckling under the weight of the drag.  Not great.  £5.99

.

Overall, I think the range is a useful but not outstanding addition to the store.  It’s always nice to have more choices where budget brushes are concerned but none of the ones I’ve tried above hold a candle to my favourite ELF Studio brushes.

If you want to check these out for yourselves, you’ll be interested to learn that Superdrug are offering the entire collection at a special introductory price until 22nd November with prices starting from only £3.99 (concealer, lip) and ranging up to £8.49 for the most expensive (foundation, powder).

Have you tried the new Superdrug PRO Make Up Brushes yet?

* press sample

Strictly Come Dancing on Stars with Ice Factors in the Jungle makeup I can handle.  Especially when I got the opportunity to play and wasn’t completely horrified by the actual quality.  Plus they’d made the most of all the sequins, glitterballs, cutely packaged bits and bobs… it has that tack-tastic quality that you want from a Strictly Come Dancing makeup line.

This?

I’m not so sure.

[stextbox id=”custom” caption=”They Say” ccolor=”ffffff” bcolor=”b0c4de” bgcolor=”e6e6fa” cbgcolor=”b0c4de”]Become the ultimate diva with this new show-stopping collection of Glee inspired cosmetics. The dazzling selection of nail colours, eye shadows, lip glosses and lip balms offers Glee fans the chance to create their own personal ‘Gleekover’.[/stextbox]

I’ll be honest… I’ve never watched Glee, but surely if you were going to capitalise on the whole Glee phenomena with a little sideline in makeup… you could put a bit more effort into it?

Picture the scene (and bear in mind I have no actual idea how this works.)   So… we’re in the Superdrug/Glee/Wholesale Cosmetics people’s boardroom.  Eating doughnuts… probably.

“Hey guyyyyyys!  How about some Glee Makeup for Christmas?!”

*audible gasp*

“Ah-mazing!”

“But how can we make it Glee makeup as opposed to any old generic cheap crap makeup?  We don’t want our customers to think that we’re taking advantage of an opportunity without putting any real thought into it.”

“Let’s stick some Glee stickers on it!”

*audible gasp*

“Genius! – If it’s good enough for MACs latest collection… it’s good enough for us.”

At least MAC’s stickers were printed in more than one colour.  Cheapskates.  How in the hell is this Glee-inspired makeup?  Once your Gleeky consumer has torn away the cardboard packaging… don’t you think they may be just a teeny bit disappointed with what’s left in the way of Glee-spiration? (ok, I’m stopping with the quips now).

You can go buy your *cough* Glee-inspired makeup which includes *cough* BeautyUK-esque eyeshadow palettes instore at Superdrug now.  With prices starting at £3, I’m not saying they won’t make excellent stocking fillers… but if I find one in mine?  Mr. L won’t have much to be “Gleeful” about.

I picked these Sue Moxley Famous bits up in Superdrug sometime this Summer, I’ve forgotten exactly when – sorry!

The eyeshadows were on offer because the range is being updated… the shimmer brick thing was full price… £7  I think.  It hardly breaks the bank, but the packaging isn’t exactly enticing is it?  Tack-tastic.  Thank god it’s being updated.

The eyeshadows aren’t my cup of tea at all.

They’re very frosty and have that slight oily feeling that reminds me of the Superdrug MUA ones.  The colours aren’t too bad.. but the frosty over-shimmer kills it for me.  This is coming from someone who doesn’t mind shimmer!

The Shimmer Brick in Pink (which has obviously been inspired by a certain Bobbi Brown version) accentuates my pores in a way that the Bobbi Brown shimmer bricks just don’t do.  The brown tone in this also creates a unnatural shade for my skintone when swirled together.

Finally, to add insult to injury… a great chunk of product broke away from the pan a couple of days later.  I don’t have a picture of how it looked after it crumbled… but flicking back through my shots from before I started using it, I came across the potential culprit.

If you’re browsing in store and want to pick one up.  Make sure that the edges are fully intact.  Along that top edge is where mine broke away.

Overall, not a very positive experience with the brand.

I hear that the new Superdrug MUA £1 range *should* be landing in around 80 of Superdrug’s brick and mortar stores on Thursday, I’m not sure which ones will be getting stock… but if you’re passing, pop in and let me know if yours is one of the lucky ones!

Mine doesn’t even have a Sleek MakeUP stand, so I’m not gonna hold my breath!

Also… the entire MUA range will be available to purchase online from Superdrug.com, perhaps this means that they will start adding the full ranges from other brands to the website… I live in hope!

…is my hair dye.

I’ve been using Superdrug’s Colour Performance for the best part of 5 years and simply haven’t found anything better for the price.

It’s a permanent dye which is gentle on my sensitive scalp.  A few others that I’ve used in the past *cough Excellence Creme cough Nutrisse* have irritated and left my scalp sore despite patch tests.  Colour Performance leaves me with no irritation at all.

I generally either plump for the shade shown (3:0 – Natural Rich Darkest Brown) which is a very dark brown or (4:0 – Natural Dark Brown).

One of the reasons I give these hair dyes so much love is because the browns are ashy in tone.  Red or mahogony based browns tend to clash with the pink tones in my skin, so I’m happier with these ashier shades which are surprisingly hard to find on the high street.

Dying my hair is a chore I hate the thought of, but once I’m done… I’m always left wondering why I left it so long.  This dye is foolproof and has consistently returned great results for me *whispers* even over my dodgy grey roots… I’ve unfortunately been going grey since I was 19 *sniff*.

And then there’s the price… I usually buy 2 of these at a time when they’re on offer. 2 for £5.  I think individually, they’re around £3.20.  Amazing.

I actually had a mini panic attack when I saw these new packs on the shelf:

Colour Radiance 10. I emailed Superdrug, worried that it meant they were discontinuing my beloved Colour Performance.  “Of course not”, was the reply… “they’re very popular!” Phew!

Have you ever tried Superdrug Colour Performance or Superdrug Colour Radiance 10?

For someone who can’t be bothered to find the time to moisturise… I’m doing an awful lot of moisturising recently.

My skin is DRY DRY DRY… and nothing is making it better.  Not even tried and tested solutions that have kept my skin in good condition over the years.  Infact, not even my trusty body oils are providing long-term relief.

I re-discovered this Lula Bloom Body Butter in the parcel that housed the GOSH smoky eyes palette I was sent by Superdrug PR.  I was in two minds about it, remember?  I hope this fares better.  I have a bit of a backlog I need to work through…

I wasn’t gonna crack it open, ‘cos it looks like one of those all style-no substance products doesn’t it?  Plus I wasn’t sure if it was aimed at teenage skin… it just has that look…  I was gonna give it to a younger family member, except I forgot.

After having a quick look at the ingredients and noticing that one of my favourite moisturising bases (Cocoa Butter) is right up there near the top of the list, I decided that I’d give it a go.

Lula Bloom Body Butter (stupid name) is housed in a satisfyingly heavy glass jar.  This won’t appeal to half of you, but I’m not wanting to carry it about anywhere other than to and from my bathroom shelf so I’m not bothered.  I like it.  I’ve already mentioned that the artwork on the packaging gives me the impression that this is aimed at a younger audience, but the price tag doesn’t really match those impressions.

£6.99 for 250ml.  That’s quite pricey.  I know as a teenager I wouldn’t have been able to afford something like this.  I had more important things like 20 Lambert & Butler and 3 litres of White Lightning to spend my pocket money on.

Ignoring my misspent youth for a moment, I was truly surprised by how creamy and smooth the texture proved to be.  The consistency is very thick and a small amount spreads a long way.  I can see a pot of this easily lasting me at least a month of daily use.  Yet, despite being thick, it feels quite light once it’s on the skin.  A winning combination.

The scent is overpowering… it’s nice, but it’s too “in your face” for me.  Again, it makes me think that the product is aimed at a younger audience.  It’s fruity, tropical… everything that a 14yr old girl would want to saturate herself with.  It reminds me of my younger self stood at The BodyShop’s perfume oil carousel display.  God, I’d come out of that store with a dewberry/fuzzy peach induced headache.

Overall, I really like the product… but it suffers from some kind of Body Butter schizophrenia.  It’s a top quality moisturisier, leaving my skin soft and conditioned for many hours… but it’s as if some prat in the development team (probably a bloke) has come along and ruined the delicate balance by chucking half a ton of tropical pot pourri in the mixing vat.  What gives Lula Bloom?

It needs to either ditch the overpowering smell and horrible artwork…. or shave about £3 off the price.  Have you tried this?  Am I too harsh?

I’ll tell you what though… if you happen to know a 12-17yr old you fancy treating… *points at the body butter* you wouldn’t go wrong with this.

Superdrug has a whole Lula Bloom range going (the body scrub is decent too! Lurid pink packaging though…).  Check out the range on the website here