A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

I’ve always thought that The Body Shop Golden Pink blush (04) was considered as a reasonable dupe for NARS Orgasm?  But when I swatched the two… they were quite different.  TBS’ Golden Pink seemed a darker and far more intense.

Then I dug out my NARS Deep Throat blush and got a much better match!

What d’ya reckon ladies?  Dupe or Poop?

…this year are two great homegrown brands.  Both The Body Shop and LUSH have commissioned their own festive videos for interwebz consumption.

If you haven’t seen them already, you can check out their festive video offerings below:

But which is your favourite Christmas video?

In the words of Harry Hill’s TV Burp… The Body Shop vs. Lush?  FIGHT!

Five names have been drawn at random and I’m pleased to announce the lucky winners who will each receive a set of The Body Shop Originals products are….

1). Rose

2). Konni

3). Nicola Abbott

4). Viv

5). Suzanne

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Congratulations ladies, I’ll be getting in touch this evening to get your details so that I can have the prizes sent out to you ASAP.  Also, don’t forget that The Body Shop are running their own Originals competition which closes tomorrow!

Thanks for taking part everyone!

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The Lipglossiping annual Advent giveaway is starting this Wednesday!!

Be there, or miss out!

It’s FRIDAY!!!!  And if you ain’t spending the day pleading with MAC to sell you a lipstick, then you’re probably doing more important things like working… or picking your toes.

But stop what you’re doing right now!  Come and enter my giveaway…

I have sets of 6 Body Shop Originals products to give away to FIVE lucky readers… the image above is just me messing about in photoshop… I dunno what ones you’ll be getting, consider it a retro pick n’ mix!

To enter my giveaway, simply leave a comment and let me know… which is your favourite Body Shop Originals product?

Have a flippin’ lovely weekend chicas!

To celebrate the re-introduction of some long-lost favourites, The Body Shop are asking YOU to ‘Create an Original’.

If you could bottle a scent, what would it be?

Share the story behind your original scent and you could win the chance of turning that scent into a limited edition shower gel and get whisked off to the Body Shop’s ultra cool laboratory for three nights to watch your scent enter development!

Ice Blue Shampoo is still my total favourite from The Originals line up… but honourable mentions simply MUST go to the Fuzzy Peach and Dewberry scents.

If you want a crack at the competition, get a move on!  They’re accepting entries up until the 30th November.  Simply enter through the website here.

Stay tuned, ‘cos I’ve got a lovely Body Shop Originals Giveaway for FIVE lucky readers tomorrow!

Did you know that today, October 18th… marks the UK’s first Anti-Slavery Day?

I had the opportunity to put a few questions to Hannah Pearce from ECPAT (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes) to talk about why slavery is still an issue, what needs to be changed and how we go about making those changes.

How is slavery an issue in the UK today?

We were really pleased that the government decided, in part as a result of ECPAT UK’s lobbying, to introduce a national Anti-Slavery Day earlier this year.  The UK’s first ever Anti-Slavery Day will be marked on 18th October 2010.

Whilst slavery was officially abolished almost 200 hundred years ago a modern version of slavery exists in the form of child trafficking.  ECPAT UK is part of a global network of organisations campaigning against child trafficking.  ECPAT UK has carried out research over recent years which has found that children are trafficked to the UK from a wide range of countries.  These are children who have faced appalling experiences of exploitation; children who have been trafficked for sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, cannabis cultivation, forced criminal activities and benefit fraud.

It’s both sad and shocking to understand this, what would be the single most important thing the government could do to help?

Our campaign with the Body Shop is calling on the government to introduce a system of guardianship to be introduced for all trafficked children.  Children who have been trafficked do not have anyone to look after them and make decisions on their behalf as a parent would do.  Although many professionals can be involved in the care of a child who has been trafficked no one person has parental responsibility. We believe there are substantial gaps in the system of support for trafficked children who need guidance through the welfare, legal, asylum and immigration processes.  A guardian would ensure that these children receive the support they need.

What is it about The Body Shop (other than their High Street positioning) that ECPAT feels makes them the company to help with this campaign?

Anita Roddick was a truly inspirational woman and her commitment to social justice lives on in the Body Shop. Before she died she had decided that the Body Shop would launch a campaign against child trafficking and she made contact with ECPAT to discuss how we might be able to work together.

From ECPAT’s point of view we are really delighted to be working with a company that is renowned for its social values, and the campaign has given us an amazing opportunity to bring the issue of child trafficking into high streets not only across the UK, but across the world.

The Body Shop have been running an online petition to stop the sex trafficking of young people, how many signatures do you currently have and what’s the next step with this?

Hundreds of thousands of people across the UK have already signed the petition either in Body Shop stores or on the website, which is absolutely fantastic.  We will continue to collect signatures until next March.  Then later in 2011 we will be presenting, what we hope will be one of the biggest petitions ever collected, to the Prime Minister.  We will be asking the Prime Minister to acknowledged the massive groundswell of support for trafficked children by asking him to take action and introduce a system of guardianship.

Sounds great, how can we help?

It would be brilliant if you could sign the petition and even better if you could ask ten friends to sign the petition as well.  You can sign the petition in Body Shop stores or by going to the campaign website www.thebodyshop.com/stop

As well as supporting our campaign by signing the petition you can buy the special campaign hand cream, Soft hands, Kind heart.  The hand cream costs £3.50 and all the profits (£2.36 per bottle) are donated to ECPAT.

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Special thanks to Hannah for taking the time to help us understand more about a subject that should be frontpage news today and every day until it’s an issue no longer plaguing our society.

Come on ladies, no matter where you are in the world… if you haven’t signed the petition – please do it now, to mark Anti-Slavery Day.  It will only take a minute of your time.

Click the button below to select your country and SIGN!

It was the the Body Shop Summer Baked to Last bronzers that caught my eye in store before anything else when they were released at the start of the Summer.  They have that whole MAC MSF thing going on don’t they?  We were introduced to them more closely at a blogger event in the Summer…

Priced At £14 each, one could easily argue that they are aimed at the same kind of market as MAC.  So let’s see how they shape up shall we?

Warm Glow – £14

Warm Glow is the paler of the two shades and despite it’s name, isn’t actually too warm at all.  A hint of pinkness mixed in with the warmer brown tones keeps this from being too orange.

Well pigmented with a fine shimmer, the above shows a heavy swatch on the inside of my wrist.  You can see that I have to work quite lightly with this bronzer but to be honest… that’s the case for 99.9% of all bronzers I use anyway!

What I really like about this product is that unlike the MAC MSFs I’ve tried in the past, this doesn’t give my face any kind of metallic sheen.  The shimmer adds a glow without being too obvious.  I wouldn’t use this to contour, I prefer to use matte shades for that… but dusted lightly onto the cheeks?  It’s a really nice warm (without being too warm) bronzer.

Love it!

Golden Bronze – £14

A far deeper affair than Warm Glow.  Golden Bronze is clearly more suited to darker skintones or those looking for a more dramatic effect.

I found the texture of Golden Bronze to be a tiny bit harder than Warm Glow, it didn’t swatch quite as smoothly either.  You can see that I would struggle to use this shade as anything other than an eyeshadow but again, it benefits from a lovely sheen that isn’t too obvious.

Overall, I was impressed with both of these samples I was given and it’s not very often that I’ll say that a Body Shop makeup item is worth the asking price.  I ‘get’ why it’s more expensive than other high street offerings… products produced from ethically sourced base ingredients often are.  But judged purely on it’s quality as a cosmetic product?  These are worth the asking price.

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Also, isn’t it soon that The Body Shop start discounting their Summer cosmetics online?  Keep an eye out ladies because I see that the Autumn blushes are out online (and looking flippin’ gorgeous!)

You can purchase the Baked to last Bronzers online or instore priced at £14 each.

I think it’s about time for an update to this post.

It’s been a month and I’ve been sticking to the new routine, using The Body Shop’s Rainforest Haircare.  Infact, I’ve finished the bottles that I was given at their blogger event in the Summer.

I know it’s taken me a while to review, but not only did my hair need to get used to the new products, I needed to get used to the new routine too.  It’s a big difference going from normal detergents and condtioners and it takes a while to adjust.

So, I’ve been trialling The Body Shop Rainforest Moisture variety which is aimed at dry hair types.  My hair is coloured (frequently) and as a result, a little over-processed and dry.  It needs something that isn’t stripping.

My first impressions of this weren’t positive.  Within the 3rd use, my hair felt like straw.  It was unmanageable and bushy… rough and knotty.  I tried using more conditioner, but didn’t experience any improvements.  I nearly gave up on it completely.

Instead, I tried using it in conjunction with my normal conditioner.  I was worried that by using a normal conditioner, I’d be giving the sls-free shampoo too tough a job to clear my hair of build-up… but for me?  This is working well.

The shampoo takes a little getting used to, it doesn’t lather very well on the hair.  It’s recommended to rub it between your palms to build up a small amount of lather before applying to your hair and this does make a difference.

I simply found that the condtioner didn’t do enough to smooth the hair shaft.  Whilst I’m not in love with either of these products, I would purchase the shampoo again.  It left my hair feeling clean and since getting rid of my scalp issues (thanks Nizoral!) it hasn’t caused any further irritations.

Priced at £4 for 250ml, I think the range is pretty good value for money considering the natural and eco-friendly ingredients, but I’d need to see more moisture from the conditioner before I’d purchase again.

You can buy The Body Shop’s Rainforest Haircare range online or instore.

If you do one thing today, do this.  Please.

It would be wonderful if you could take a moment to sign this petition to the UK Government.  It asks for a first name, surname and that’s it.  It will literally take you less than 20 seconds to click through and sign.

It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but the simple fact is that children are trafficked and exploited daily within the UK.

ECPAT say:

While trafficking for sexual exploitation remains the most common form of child trafficking in the UK, children are also trafficked to the country for other types of abuse including labour exploitation, forced participation in criminal activities, forced marriage, illegal adoption and domestic servitude. Even children who are not trafficked for the explicit purpose of sexual exploitation are vulnerable to rape and sexual abuse because of the dangerous and hidden circumstances in which they are kept.

The petition calls for greater care and protection for child victims of trafficking by ensuring every child is provided with a guardian to look after them.  Over half of all children that are put under local authority care whilst their cases are investigated go missing.  These vulnerable children are in dire need of protection and your signature is a significant way to make a difference.

The Body Shop have released a Soft Hands Kind Heart Hand Cream priced at £3.50.  Released in association with ECPAT UK, £2.36 from each purchase is donated directly to ECPAT to help fund their campaigns and projects.

For more information on ECPAT and their campaigns, log on to their website and check out their facebook page or twitter.

After my disappointment with The Body Shop’s new eyeshadows, I was happy to discover just how wonderful the new Baked to Last blushers are!

Available in 2 shades: Petal (cool pink) and Coral (duh coral!)

Weighing in at 5g and costing £12 each, these can’t be described as high street bargain buys.  But, I guess you’re getting your highlighter thrown in too… and the price in this case justifies how great they look once applied.

Some swatches…

When both shades are swirled together, this cool-toned pink blush takes on a slightly more neutral yellow-pink hue.    I can see this being flattering on most skintones.

The coral is hot right?  A bit scary looking even?  Used with a light hand this gives a pretty warm flush to my cheeks, subtle but buildable to quite a bright coral (as you can see!):

Staying power on these is average, and despite being seemingly infused with sparkles, they stop short of making your cheeks look too glittery or metallic.  A great choice for everyday wear.  I’m particularly loving wearing these in conjunction with the new bronzers (well, one of them).  Review of those to follow.

If you had to, which would you go for?  Petal or Coral?

Let me give you a quick rundown of The Body Shop event I attended a couple of weeks ago… I’ll point out a few new product highlights, but the full reviews will come soon!

Cupcakes and makeup, it doesn’t get much better than this!  8 eye colours, 4 face products… all baked and very pretty indeed!

Superfluous… but look what Cosmetic-Candy made me!

She presented it to me really sweetly, but then turned nasty.  “Eat it then”… “Go on, I MADE IT for you”.  Proper sinister like….

I didn’t want to stuff my face with cake it infront of all my blogging peers!  Can you SEE how many Smarties the bitch piled on it?  It’s totally clear to me that she just wanted to sabotage my street cred and watch me throw smarties all over myself and the floor whilst looking like a greedy fat bitch infront of everyone.

When she wasn’t looking, I hid it behind a bottle of shampoo.

Chase Aston worked his magic on two delightfully beautiful models.  Here he is, demonstrating one of the new Bronzers from the Baked to Last summer collection.

Such amazing skin!

The Baked to Last Lineup…

I’ve already vented my spleen on the new Body Shop Baked to Last Eye Colours…. they don’t do it for me at all.

But the blushes and bronzers?  A different story altogether.  I’m really enjoying using them.  I’m writing my review now, but it’s still in draft… watch this space!

New Haircare!

Yes!  The Body Shop’s beloved haircare range is getting a revamp with a view to being more ECO Friendly… this means, no silicones, colourants or parabens – thereby protecting aquatic life from our toxic haircare that we flush down the drains daily.  Also coming soon will be new Hair Butters, intense nourishment built along the same lines as their current top sellers, the Body Butters!

The ever-popular Vitamin C range will have to squeeze up and make some room for these new inclusions!

New additions include: Eye Reviver Duo (double ended wand for instant pick-me-ups!), Skin Radiance Capsules, Skin Radiance Powder Mix (super innovative) and Microdermabrasion.

It was a lovely afternoon and good to hear about and discover all the new things that The Body Shop are planning to roll out over the next few months.  I’ll be back with further reviews on the products very soon!

Have you been lemming the new mineralize shadows from MAC’s In The Groove collection but can’t quite stretch to £15 a piece?

I’d like to tell you to get theeselves down to The Body Shop to check out their new Baked Eye Colours.  But at £9.50 a piece, they’re no bargain alternative.

Here’s a swatchfest on the samples I received from The Body Shop.

It’s a picture-intensive post, so if you wanna check out more swatches from The Body Shops new Baked Eye Colour range…. read on…  (W = Applied Wet, D = Applied Dry)

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