A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

Aveda have launched the Passion Flower Collection, a limited-edition, petal-inspired makeup collection comprising: three nourish-mint smoothing lip colours, three nourish-mint rehydrating lip glazes, two nourish-mint lip liners, and six petal essence single eye colours.

The shades pack a greater punch than you would expect from the botanically-based formulas, and ultimately deliver a pleasant surprise when it comes to the end result.

I’ve been wearing one of the three nourish-mint smoothing lip colours which promises to smooth the appearance of fine lines and increase moisture.  Sounds good to me…

In the bullet, Rare Orchid is a dark, blackened plum/cherry shade, I’d class it as equidistant between red and plum… but in the swatch and on my unpigmented lips, the plum is far more apparent, with more than just a nod to some violet-infusion which delivers a seasonal, vampy look.

The texture is not quite balmy but definitely softer than the average lipstick, pigmentation is buildable and I went all out for the swatch photo, you won’t build more colour than this – but I doubt you’d need to.

The packaging… is not to my tastes.  I don’t care if it’s environmentally-friendly… well, I do – but c’mon, does it have to be so bloody ugly?  The shades and pigmentation blow my preconceptions out of the water so it’s a shame that the packaging didn’t do the same.  I know it’s not a biggie, but it’s something that detracts from the overall look and feel of the product, for me.

Another thing that I’m sure many won’t be keen on is the taste and scent of the lipstick.  In a word, mint.  It’s a little tingly upon application – there goes those fine lines it promises to smooth – and the taste does linger on your lips for a while.  I actually really like it, but I think opinion would be quite divided and it’s definitely something you need to be aware of before walking away from your nearest Aveda salon clutching it in your hot little hands.

The Passion Flower Collection is available in Aveda salons, spas, stores and on www.aveda.co.uk now, the Rare Orchid Smoothing Lip Colour is priced at £12.50

* press sample

The idea of a universal lipstick is ultimately, pretty appealing.  Now, I’m not one for gambling, mostly because I’m RUBBISH at it but I would be happy to put a punt on Lipstick Queen Jean Queen and agree with Poppy King that it should suit most ladies, regardless of their colouring.

Who wants to take me up on that bet and where can we get 4 billion lipsticks to test the theory?

The sheer, warm pink  in Jean Queen allows enough of your natural lip colour to reveal itself whilst cancelling out any patchiness or imperfections in your own lips.  It wears very nicely with most other makeup looks and outfits that you feel like pairing it with (hence the name) and also applies with plently of slip.  It’s effortless.  Ok, it’s not the most exciting or groundbreaking thing in the world – but it’s a true workhorse lipstick.

My lips are lacking in pigment and need some kind of lip-covering to avoid that freshly-dug-up look.  For me, Jean Queen provides more of a sheen than much in the way of boom-pow pigment, but what it does offer is polish and completeness to an otherwise unfinished-look.  It’s casual, it’s effortless.  For such a balmy-feeling formula, longevity isn’t too bad either – I can still feel the slip on my lips a few hours into the day and it wears quite comfortably over longer periods without giving any indication that it’s drying out my pout.

Lipstick Queen Jean Queen Lipstick is priced at £15, and available to buy instore and online at spacenk.co.uk

Do you have a favourite MLBB (my lips but better) lipstick?  Tell me about it!

Surely Illamasqua’s Magnetism from the latest Generation Q collection is the perfect lipstick to welcome the colder weather?  It’s like taking baby steps into the vamp.  Tiny little raspberry-pink coloured steps.  Now, I’m no great lover of Illamasqua lipsticks – I just don’t like the harder formula… of all the ones I’ve bought and tried in the past, I’ve only actually held on to Sangers (bit dry but beautiful colour), Atomic (the violet flash slays me), and Eurydice (because everyone needs a bit of pink neon don’t they?).

But… what I’m trying to say is that… when it comes to lipstick, I don’t go to Illamasqua for their amazing, lip-friendly formulas.  Well, not until now…

I mean jeez, dare I say it… it’s almost… almost… buttery.

I don’t think I’ve raved about an Illamasqua product for a while (well, except their eyebrow cake in Gaze, eternal HG) but this… you needs this in your life.  I’d stopped looking to Illa to provide any lipstick-love for me, are there any other buttery-smooth Illa lip formulas I’ve missed the memo on?!

Please Illamasqua, please remake all your other beautiful shades in this formula.

Illamasqua Magnetism Lipstick is priced at £16 and available to buy online and on counter from Illamasqua.

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If there’s one face in the over-populated world of celebdom who should know a thing or two about perfecting a great red lip, it’s Ms. Dita von Teese.  The American burlesque dancer, model and actress has made the red lip look her calling card over the years, always immaculate and always on the pin-up side of glam.  Who else would you trust with a fabulous retro red lip?

Well, that’s obviously what German cosmetics brand Artdeco thought to themselves when they collaborated with the dancer to create the Dita von Teese Classics Art Deco collection.  Of course, my little heart went all a-pitter-patter at the thought of the potential red lipsticks… and I have one to show you today…

This is #615, the Dita Von Teese Art Couture Lipstick in Muse Red.

I have to say, that if I have one major disappointment about this line… it’s the packaging.  There’s nothing wrong with it but it just feels a little like a missed opportunity to play up to Dita’s vintage styling, I know that when all is said and done, I’d be moaning far more if the contents of the packaging didn’t align themselves in a Dita-esque manner… but, I fancied a nit-pick.  Think Besame with a modern-twist… now that would have been something no?

But as things stand, the packaging is simple, elegant and understated – the only real nod to the co-collaborator comes in the form of a signature and a cameo-esque etching, it’s cute enough.

You can see from this photo (hopefully) that #415, 1 of 6 dita-inspired lipsticks, is a warm-toned orange red… not my most favourite reds to wear simply because of my uber-cool toned colouring but to my mind, the most authentically retro-looking of the lot.  The lipliner that you see peeking in the background is also part of the collection and is a much cooler-toned red (#10 Dame) – it works “ok” with the lipstick but it isn’t a perfect match and if you were looking to buy the two together, I’d say look elsewhere for a warm-toned lip liner.

Moans aside, the formula of the lipstick is a delight.  It’s firm enough to give you enough confidence that you’re not going to end up with colour transfer over your teeth (and I didn’t, at all – despite my BIG front teeth which always get in the way), but soft enough to apply without dragging too reluctantly over your lips.  It strikes a really good balance for a bold lip colour, and formula really is all important when you’re braving a lip colour with such potential to show you up or let you down.

The lip swatches show the colour with lip-liner underneath to help create sharp-edged definition but in all honesty, I think that this lipstick is “man” enough (last of the great feminists me!) to hold a decent edge by itself.  Obviously, for optimum definition it’s always best to line the contours first but most of the time, if I am using a lip-liner, I actually do it to extend the edge of my lips just at the outer corners where 10 years of smoking contributed to a loss of fullness – maybe I’ll take some photos of how I do that sometime if anyone’s interested?

It’s always hard when writing a red lip series post to perfectly demonstrate the tone of a red lipstick compared to others in the genre, so I’ve decided to start swatching them alongside MAC’s Russian Red, commonly thought of as a pretty good example of a neutral red – meaning that it leans neither too blue, nor too orange.  I hope it will be helpful.  Either way, as you can see – in the swatch below, Dita’s Muse Red is comparatively orange-toned when compared to the MAC neutral (it’s also much less draggy!)

Considering there was much room for disappointment (you don’t put out a “Dita von Teese” red lipstick without expecting it to be scrutinised!), #415 is a lovely, retro red that offers good, nay, great longevity… authentic colour and a lip-friendly formula.  What else do you need?

The Dita von Teese Classics Artdeco collection is out now and available to buy in person at larger Debenhams stores and online at debenhams.com

* press sample

Oh, my lovely fellow beauty addicts… oh, I think you’re going to like this lipstick.  It’s my first “non-wimpy” red of the season and I won’t lie to you, I felt like it wore me FAR better than I could wear it.  This baby needs taming ‘cos she’s wild and a little bit scary – even for someone like me who is finally fairly confident with braving a bold lip in public.

But first let me tell you about her, she’s a new girl and needs an introduction…

To complement their current lipstick range of Lip Mists and Lip Covers, Burberry Beauty have launched a range of Lip Velvets.  Matte in look but not in texture is the best way I can describe the new formula – admittedly, I have only tried one but if the range is as consistent as it ought to be, you should experience a deeply pigmented finish with minimal gloss and a completely NON-drying formula.

NON-drying?  Yes, completely.

Now, my lips are in good condition – I have no flakes, no peels… I don’t need to exfoliate them in the shower with my flannel and I don’t need to reapply lip balm 100x a day to keep them comfortable (thanks Lanolips).  I pretty much have the most ideal lip condition for someone who wants to wear a matte lip.  Stop throwing things at me.

I’m not saying this to be conceited, I’m giving you a benchmark that says, just because my lips are super comfortable with this formula, it doesn’t mean yours will be.  And I’m sorry I have to provide that caveat in this instance, because frankly, I’d like to sing the praises of the new Burberry Lip Velvets from the rooftops with absolutely no caveat whatsoever… but it would be remiss of me not to mention that I have wonderwoman lips right now.

The shade I have here is #310, Military Red.  And it is BOLD.  To my eye, there is the tiniest amount of warmth to it that doesn’t register enough to label this an orange-toned red but is enough to give it leanings toward the warm side of neutral.  The packaging is the same magnetic affair as the rest of the Burberry lipstick range but with a marked difference, matte casing = no more fingerprints ha!  Still sleek, still sexy… just a little more practical with it.

The other thing you need to know about the colour of this one is that it’s bright.  Very bright.  In the lip swatches below, I have applied this straight from the bullet with no lipliner but you do need to take care to be precise because any major wobbles will be instantly noticeable on a shade this vivid.  While the bullet is still in pristine condition, I had no problems with achieving sharp lines – I dream to be able to wear a “mussed-up” red, beautifully deconstructed and carefree.  Alas, whenever I smudge the edges to soften the look in an attempt to make it less formal, I look like I’ve been punched in the mouth, repeatedly.

Although Military Red is indeed, a matte finish lipstick – there’s (hopefully) no sign of old lady lips going on, because frankly, at 31 – I should be starting to think about more forgiving textures – but I’ll cross that bridge when people start pointing.

The formula has really impressed me, longevity was completely within what I’d expect from a high-end brand and a matte formula.  The lipstick wore down evenly throughout the day, only giving up to a darker edge after my evening meal but a few lip smacks infront of a mirror pulled enough colour back in to the centre to dismiss this as an issue.  I didn’t reapply once throughout the day and I didn’t feel that I needed to.  Of course, after 12 hours there was nowhere the same kind of vividness on display but a firm stain ensured that my lips didn’t pale into insignificance despite the late hour.

Burberry Beauty’s Lip Velvets are priced at £23 a-piece and available on counter and online at Harrods in a range of 12 shades.  Bright Poppy is on my Winter hit-list the next time I get a chance to make it into London!

Would you wear a shade this bright?

* press sample

In the most outrageous flirtation with alliteration that I’ve witnessed since I submitted my year 10 English coursework, Clinique have released a new line of Chubby Sticks, and this time… they’re intense.  Chubby Chunkiest Chili (oh, come on!) is one of 8 new shades to feature in the lineup of pigment-packed lip colours and it looks something like this…

You should know by now that while I feel there’s a time and a place for sheerer lip coverings, my heart lies with lip products that deliver COLOUR aswell as polish.  Well, I’m pleased to report that Chunkiest Chili does indeed deliver a bold brick-toned red to my unpigmented pout whilst managing to retain most of the glossy, slightly balmy finish of the original Chubby Sticks.

You’ve got to love a lip stick that doesn’t need sharpening… twist up, twist down.  No compromise on usability.

The swatch looks promising…

Ta-da!  Proper colour!  From a Chubby Stick!  *listens for angels*  Seriously though, if you’re a big fan of the Chubby Stick formula, ease-of-use… whatever but feel that they’ve been too sheer and balmy for you *puts hands up*, this is your answer, right here.

Clinique Chubby Stick Intense is available in 8 shades: Curviest Caramel, Chunkiest Chili, Heftiest Hibiscus, Mightiest Maraschino, Plushest Punch, Roomiest Rose, Broadest Berry, and Grandest Grape priced at £16 each.

The only problem is, you’re gonna have to wait until mid-November to get your hands on them!  Cool those heels ladies!

* press sample

So, one of the most well-known names in British skincare releases a line of makeup.  Women everywhere go crazy.  This lipstick-loving chick gets a bit twitchy over the thought of a Liz Earle lipstick… but I don’t mind admitting that I’d been having preconceptions about how it would feel/look.  I imagined that it would be sheer, moisturising… a bit balmy.  Manna from heaven to some, but not to me.

I was wrong though, it’s basically the complete opposite.  Aren’t you glad to be following the blog of someone who clearly has absolutely no beauty foresight whatsoever.  It’s like when I get emailed to give my opinion on future trends.  I usually look behind me to see if there’s someone else in the room the email was directed to.  Then I say “coral”.

But I digress…

The Liz Earle Signature Lipstick in 01 Rosehip is a natty little bullet of pigmentation with a satin finish.  But I don’t love it.

The shade is very pretty, a muted red which makes for a great pop of colour on pale skin but it draaaaaaags on my lips like a fat dog resisting its daily walk.  You can even see the drag marks on the back of my hand!  It needs more slip, it needs more glide!  Sure it gets better once you’ve spent five minutes drawing it over your lips warming it up but I don’t have time in the morning to resuscitate my lipstick before applying it and I can only imagine the texture getting worse as the temperature drops further.

All in all, this has to be a no from me.  Pretty colour, class packaging and lovely embossing on the bullet that gives it the elegance you’d expect from the brand but the formula doesn’t do it for me.

Liz Earle Signature Lipstick in 01 Rosehip is priced at £14 and available on counter or online at lizearle.com

* I should say that after writing my review and googling to see if anyone had a similar experience, I’m the lone voice of dissent which is making me wonder if I got a bad one.

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I know it can be a bit annoying when bloggers feature products that you can’t get your hands on anymore but the thing is, I don’t think I’ve ever told you about one of my favourite lipsticks EVER, have I?  Well, now’s the time to introduce you because I’ve just broken into my backup.

Now, according to Makeup Alley, Giorgio Armani Sheer Lipstick (#18) was a limited edition release for Autumn 2003!  Am I really that old that I was buying grown-up lipsticks THAT long ago?  Really, really?!  I thought it was more recent than that… but I can’t honestly remember.  What I can remember is how I fell in love with the shade in the tube.  And then fell in love even more when I applied it.

You see, I haven’t always loved bright lip colours… I’ve grown to love them, but I used to only wear sheer, slightly glossy shades.  As I twisted up the new, pristine Armani bullet the other day – I decided that I had to pay homage to this one before it went the same way as some of my other previous lipstick loves (YSL Rouge Pure Shine also had one that I used to live in (now long gone *sob*)).

Ain’t she pretty?  She’s much brighter and more popsicle orange in the tube than she is on the lips, I was a little bit intimidated by her at first but we soon became inseperable!   One of the things I liked most about this lipstick was the texture, which isn’t too soft, almost semi-matte without being at all drying on the lips.  Wear isn’t great but it’s such aneasylipstick to topup that it truly doesn’t matter.

Gah, I’ll miss you when you’re gone!

Can you remember your first lipstick love?  Tell me about it!

I don’t usually post information straight from press releases unless I find something to capture my imagnation and I think it’s safe to say, what with me being a tad red-lip obsessed and all, that not one two three four five but six new (and reformulated) red lip shades from Chanel was enough to turn my head!

So, you want to know more about these reds?

INCANDESCENTE (shown above): a flamboyant red with insolent radiance.
COROMANDEL: a luminous and precious orange-red.
PIRATE: an ultimate, slightly bluish red.
PALPITANTE: an exquisite shade of raspberry red.
PASSION (reformulated): a dazzling and absolutely glamorous red.
INIMITABLE: an intense, irresistible red with pearly reflections.

Be still my rapidly-beating heart.  But, where’s Dragon eh?

Of course, it’s not ALL about the reds (though when Chanel release six in one collection, you know you’re gonna be seeing a lot of RED this season), for swatches and more information – may I please point you in the direction of the inimitable Cafe Makeup who can make me drool over a swatch on a piece of paper like no other.  Go on, you know you want a new lip lemming to ease you into Autumn.

Dare you.

Shade from the new Chanel Rouge Allure collection are priced at £25 each and are available to buy online and on counter nationwide.

Over the last couple of months, I’ve come to rely on a handful of products to see me through the times when the majority of my makeup and skincare have been inaccessible, buried deep in the depths of a cardboard box.  A mis-labeled cardboard box as it happens.  I didn’t take much time over thinking about which cosmetics I’d like to keep close by me during the moving process.  To be honest, I thought that I would have everything unpacked within the week.  Naive.

If I’d thought more about which products I was going to keep available, I probably wouldn’t have chosen this one.  I assumed that it would be far too sheer for me, too much like an insipid lipgloss.

I was wrong.

Pixi Succulent Lip Twin in Poppy, as it turns out, is a rather wearable red that doubles-up as both a lip and cheek product.  It packs a decent amount of pigment whilst remaining a long-way from being an in your face red.  The Lip Twin comprises a squeezy tube of sheer-to-medium pigmented ‘goop’, suspended in a jojoba oil-infused formula that doesn’t feel sticky.  You could wear the ‘gloss’ part alone, adding just a hint of colour to your lips – but I prefer to use the balm initially to amp-up the pigmentation.

When it comes to cheek application, I actually prefer to use the ‘gloss’ part on my cheeks, the balm delivers a little too much pigmentation for my fair skin.

The trouble with a great red lipstick will always lie with the upkeep, the most difficult colour to maintain and once it starts looking bad, it lookds *really* bad.  The Pixi Succulent Lip Twin in Poppy Red makes a great multi-tasking casual red to tote around in your handbag, making on-the-go maintenance a doddle, which is just as well because longevity (at around 2/3 hours) isn’t its strong point.

Pixi Succulent Lip Twin in Poppy Red is available to buy online at pixibeauty.co.uk, priced at £12.00

* press sample

I spotted these Diego Dalla Palma Antiage Lipsticks on Tesco Direct last night, normal price £14, currently reduced to £7 each.  There are four shades available in the classic “my lip but better” shades.

The formula promises a moisturising finish with olive and jojoba oils offering hydration and hyaluronic acid spheres to work as a filler to give the appearance of fuller lips.

Have you tried the Diego Dalla Palma Antiage range before?

Contrary to popular belief (bloody blog name), I don’t much like lipgloss – I tolerate it because it’s so damn easy to apply and wear without any maintenance but I only wear it when I’ve got my hair tied back and even then, only in nude shades.  I’d like to tell you that this is the lipgloss that changed my entire opinion on the product genre, I mean… if any brand could do it, it would be a gloss that comes from the Kevyn Aucoin line right?

Wrong.  I still don’t like lipgloss, but don’t let that put me off telling you lipgloss lovers about a very pretty one from the U.S brand that has recently returned to our shores.

Lilium is a sparkle-packed nude pink which flashes silver reflects on the lips.  It’s packaged in a nicely-weighted, square tube with a wider-than-usual doefoot applicator and would look sleek in any makeup bag.  The formula is tacky but not super-sticky, though I still wouldn’t recommend you go out on a windy day without a pair of tweezers to pick off all the leaves/grit/small children that may become stuck to your face, it is still lipgloss afterall.

There’s no discernible scent and the product applies nicely without doing that jizz-lips thing.  Sorry, but you totally know what I’m talking about, lipgloss can look pretty rank when badly formulated or over-applied.  This one won’t leave you shame-faced.

It’s actually pretty hard-wearing for a gloss formula, the colour fades after a couple of hours but the pale reflects linger on to give some natural shine and depth to your lips in an illusory lip-plumping way.  My only caveat with this particular shade is that the sparkle does feel the tiniest bit gritty on the lips… it’s not uncomfortable, but I can feel something there if that makes sense.

Kevyn Aucoin The Lipgloss in Lilium is priced at £23 and available to buy instore and online at SpaceNK*

* who need their butts kicked for such an awful swatch on the shade – can you remember when there weren’t beauty blogs and all our online purchases had to be based on those little damn circles?!

** press sample

*** I bought the Sensual Skin Enhancer in another shade before my no-buy, I’m gonna make it love me.