A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

Starting tomorrow morning and lasting for 48hrs only, receive a free D.J.V. Beautenizer Fiberwig LX Mascara (worth £18) with any CultBeauty order over £40.  Perhaps now’s the time to plump for the Face Atelier Ultra Foundation I talked about the other week?  Or… how about this 3 Custom Color Century in Red Lip Palette that has a permanent place on the Lipglossiping wishlist (alter-ego, can’t blame myself for these wishlists).

Whatever you choose, the D.J.V. Beautenizer Fiberwig LX Mascara has a cult following and even got me rightly told off by die-hard fans when I reviewed it without reading the instructions properly!

The offer ends at midnight on Monday, so be quick!

I don’t know how I feel about including this lipstick in my red lip series. I mean, it’s totally like the lipstick angels came down from heaven and stole all of the cherries to make it, but…

This isn’t a red lipstick and I’m sick of hearing it described as a blue-based red.  It’s pink.  Pink like Nicki Minaj can only f*cking dream of.  Although having said that, I’m gonna propagate the “this is a blue-based red lipstick” ’cause it’ll probably work better for my SEO.  Don’t tell me you haven’t been warned though.  It’s f*cking pink.

Colour dramas aside (the ones in my head), Revlon Cherries in the Snow is totally worthy of all the praise bestowed upon it, feeling more like a £20 lipstick than a £7.49 one.  It’s rich, luxurious, deeply-pigmented and long-lasting.  You can work it into the lips like a stain or wear it in all it’s full-bodied glory.  If you apply, blot, apply, blot (and I mean really blot) – it doesn’t transfer all over your glass and stays put for most of the day.

Frankly, every woman should own this – aslong as you like pink.  I found it really hard to get hold of, it was never in Boots and I’ve been looking casually for the best part of 4 years (seriously).  In the end I picked it up on eBay for way cheaper than the RRP anyway.  Go buy it.  Like now.

Do you own Cherries in the Snow?  Pink innit?

If you’re a fan of sheer formulas that give a hint of colour without the commitment of something too bold, you’ll probably already be aware of the Clinique Chubby Stick formula which achieves just this.  I like my lip colour to be a little more in your face, Stace! but I can appreciate that those of you wusses who still rely on stabilizers will probably come over all unecessary over the new shades.  I’ve got one here called Oversized Orange (sounds like me after I’ve fake tanned) and it’s actually a pretty nice way to wear a shade that I usually run away from.

It glides on smoothly and despite my attempts at laying it on an inch thick to build colour (old habits die hard), it builds pigmentation only moderately but impressively doesn’t go all claggy or yukky on the lips.  It feels moisturising enough and isn’t remotely sticky.

It doesn’t look like it’s made much difference at all in the lip swatch (which is why I always advocate full face shots when it comes to lipsticks!)… because, it actually packs enough colour to finish and polish a look.  At least, on my fairly unpigmented lips.  Please excuse the fringe, I struggled badly at flattening my cow-lick today!

Clinique Chubby Sticks are available to buy on counter and online, priced at £16 each.  The eight new shades (including Oversized Orange will be available from June).

Do you own any Clinique Chubby Sticks?  Like a sheerer, more balmy lipstick?

Browsing my local Debenhams last week, I came across this Color Intrigue Eyeshadow from Elizabeth Arden in shade, Smoke. Ohhh, the familiar beauty of a cool-toned taupe sucks me in almost immediately.

It was reduced down to £7-something, and as I hadn’t been able to find the jumper that I was in there to buy, I consoled myself with an eyeshadow instead.  You can imagine my tutting when I got home and found it for sale on DirectCosmetics for £3.49. Tut.

But nevertheless, I’m happy with my purchase – I adore the Elizabeth Arden eyeshadow formula which is so terribly underrated in the blogging world.  Smooth and creamy powder formulas with long-lasting wear and good pigmentation.

I’ll do a giant swatch comparison of all my taupey shades soon (if I remember), you’ll probably find that most of them look pretty much exactly like the one above.  For my shame.

What colour eyeshadow do you over-buy?

Finding the perfect mascara is much like finding the perfect killer heels.  You want something that makes your legs (lashes) look incredible without crippling the wearer.  Some mascaras sting, flake, smear, or generally flop halfway through the day.  The Clinique High Impact Curling Mascara* is a good choice for anyone who wants impressive lash scaffolding without too many side effects.

My lashes are naturally fairly curly and crave definition and impressive darkening to make the most of them.  Curling isn’t high on my list of priorities but even I could see how once this mascara sets, it holds a rock-solid shape throughout the day.

The brush is a curved affair, with a tapered tip to allow you to reach the tiniest of corner lashes.  It does offer good coverage with a single pass, which is just as well because the formula has a tendency to go a little spidery if you go back for too many coats.  I’d stick with two as a maximum.  The formula is a little wetter than some, so be aware of this when applying… I’m always a little heavy-handed which usually results in a couple of splodges of product on my eyelid when using wetter formulas.  Avoid this by removing any excess from the wand with a tissue, or wiping it against the edge of the tube opening.

The black is a true, inky black which coats my lashes evenly and offers great definition, curling and lengthening.  It also does well to volumise at the roots, but again… with the wetter formula, you do need to be precise here.  It’s a little bit ‘bitty’ as it builds, and these ‘bits’ will flake off throughout the day but it’s purely the excess which drops, so again, just take a little more care that you haven’t loaded your brush with too much product and you’ll avoid this.  Another issue is removal… you’ll need warm water to remove, so simply hold a wet flannel to your lashes momentarily and the formula will slide right off.  If you don’t?  This stuff is holding steady – making it a great choice for Summer holidays!  Basically, there’s a learning curve with this mascara that’s worth getting to grips with.

All in all, I think the Clinique High Impact Curling Mascara is a strong offering from the line.  It does what it says on the tube, and if you’re looking for supreme hold and curl with a long-lasting formula (albeit with a little work on your part to get the absolute best from it), you won’t go far wrong with this one.

Clinique High Impact Curling Mascara is available to buy on counter and online, priced at £16.00

* press sample

I’ve been trying out the ADesign Skincare Brush Set for just over a month now, and I wanted to see if this one set could ever possibly replace the various skin brushes that I’ve grown to love over the years.  I have to say, the set did fare better than I thought it would… but the ultimate answer is that nothing can replace many years of replacing rubbish brushes with marginally better ones until you reach brush nirvana!

But let me talk you through the brushes contained in the ADesign Skincare Brush Set*, with particular reference to my. new. favourite. brush.

I’ll begin by giving you a quick overview of the set, which is available to buy online from Cocktail Cosmetics, priced at £44.95.  Broken down, that works out at around £8.99 per brush – which for face brushes, makes it a very good value set.  You’d easily pay that on the high street for brushes that don’t come close to even 10% of the quality that these represent.

For your money, you get five brushes housed in a patent mock-croc bag that is fully-lined to prevent damage from spills.  The brushes (from left to right) are: Pointed Foundation Kabuki Brush, Flat Top Foundation Brush, Foundation Brush, Medium Concealer Brush, and Pointed Concealer Brush.

You may be asking yourself, why on Earth would you need three different foundation brushes?  If you are, get off my blog.

Moving on…

Yes.  It’s magnificent isn’t it?  Like a silver bullet sent to banish bad makeup application werewolves (or something *shrugs*).  I haven’t quite got the hang of how best to use the Adesign Pointed Foundation Kabuki Brush and I’m not keen on the stubby kabuki-handle – the pointed tip is obviously engineered to provide precision and having a longer-handle would complement this more effectively.  Of course, if you love the design, you could always opt for something like the Bdellium Tools Bambu Pointed Foundation Brush as an alternative.

The heavily tapered bristles on this brush allows for dual-motion blending… you can swipe both back and forward like a traditional painting motion or apply circular buffing strokes.  For me, I’ve found its forte when it comes to applying concealer over a larger area, particularly around the nose as the point gets right into the creases whilst the taper blends the edges seamlessly.  I’m not completely sold on it, but I do think I’ve not quite mastered the best technique for it yet.  If you have any suggestions, I’m all ears!

The Adesign Flat Top Foundation Brush, a.k.a. my new favourite brush.  It’s a masterpiece, so beautifully dense with tickle-me soft fibres.  It is not very pliable which allows for a really good buffing motion (rather than flopping about ineffectively on the face) and comes with a small head which I much prefer when compared to a larger size flat-top such as the ELF Powder Brush.  I’m going to photograph comparable brushes shortly and reiterate why I prefer this brush to the others.  For quick reference, comparable brushes would be: MAC 130 and Shiseido Perfect Foundation Brush (though this one isn’t cut at an angle).

I’ve been using this for applying foundation (all textures), applying cream blush and blending out any edges.  When my skin has been particularly dry and all my products have been cream or liquid-based, I haven’t even bothered to use a different brush.  This is the stand-out offering from the set.  The smaller head also means that it complements my stick products really well (things like NARS Multiples and my Shu Uemura Stick Foundation).  Perhaps the ultimate compliment I can pay it though is that it has enabled me to wear my MUFE HD Cream Blushes… those things played me up something chronic, I just couldn’t find the right tool to get the just-flushed blush from them.  Until now.

I wish that I could point to a single technical aspect of this brush that suits my needs so well, but all I can tell you is that I’m in brush love.  For reals.

After the gushing over the previous brush, the Adesign Foundation Brush doesn’t get me nearly as excited.  Again, this is small-headed… comparable in size to the Giorgio Armani Designer Foundation Expert Shaping Brush but mega-bucks cheaper.  While the GA brush tapers away quickly, the ADesign brush provides greater density from the base up, which allows this brush to both paint and buff.  The fibres have a good amount of spring to them and are densely packed from root to tip.

The Adesign Medium Concealer Brush is another that didn’t give me an awful lot to flap about.  Again, it’s a good-looking brush without any flaws and applies under-eye concealer very gently but one the whole, I prefer my No7 Concealer brush when it comes to painting on the product with a flat edge like this offers.  But talking of flat edges…

…the Adesign Pointed Concealer Brush is without them!  This is a really good brush for concealing over blemishes.  It delivers the product with pin-point precision and blends without dislodging or removing any of the product you’ve just placed!  How many times have you applied concealer to a spot, blended and then realised that you’ve blended at least 50% of the product off?!  This has worked wonders for my concealer application skillz… now I has some!  Again, this is so densely packed, you would think you’d need something with a ‘lighter’ touch, but no… despite my initial scepticism, this really does the job magnificently well.  It’s a little too stiff-feeling to use in the delicate eye area, where something like a MAC 224 works well to both apply and blend concealer.

Without exception, each of these synthetic-fibre brushes are high-quality.  The ferrules are solid, the fibres are well-cut and dense.  Each is perfectly soft, washes well and keeps its shape as it dries.  Talking of drying, these do dry more slowly than natural hair fibres…. such is the downside to synthetic brushes but I haven’t experienced any shedding during washing or application at all.  Which is more than can be said for most brushes.  Whilst I haven’t fallen head-over-heels for every brush in the set, the two that have made an impression on me (Flat Top Foundation & Pointed Concealer) … have made an impression that I want to shout about.

As an aside, you may be wondering why this is called the ‘skincare’ set… well, if you watch the video below, you’ll see that this set was designed for both makeup application AND skincare application.  Call me old-school but I’m all about the fingers when it comes to skincare!

The ADesign Skincare Brush Set is available to buy online from Cocktail Cosmetics, priced at £44.95

* press sample

I promised you a full review of the Face Atelier foundation after last week’s FOTD and my recent re-discovering of it.  Face Atelier Liquid Foundation offers medium/high coverage without looking like a traditional, high-coverage foundation.  On my dry/combination skin, it takes about 20 minutes to warm up, at which point it begins to look less like a foundation and more like naturally good skin.  It’s one of those foundations where you look in the mirror part-way through the day and say “Woah, good skin day!”  Followed by a fist-pump.

However, I do have a caveat with this foundation.  To get the best from it, you need to apply it on well-moisturised, not-too-dry, not-too-oily skin.  If you’ve got good skin texture but with a little discolouration or redness, you should be chomping at the bit to purchase.  If you’re prone to dryness or oiliness, you’ll probably be in love with this 65% of the time.  Does that make sense?

The bottle comes with a great pump that dispenses the perfect amount for a full-face application with a single squeeze.  The brand state that you do not need to wear a primer underneath this and indeed you can feel the silicone in the fomula.  If you like your foundation to feel completely weightless, you may not enjoy the feel of this one (though in no way does this feel like a heavy foundation).

It also sets fast, so work quickly!

Personally, I ignore the brand’s recommendations on primer and mix it up with a blob of moisturising primer (non-silicone) or Maqpro Make Up Mixer to give me a sheer(er) finish that doesn’t set as quickly.  To combat the additional dewiness this pairing provides, I set the foundation on my t-zone with a touch of powder.  I don’t find that it wears any less well and have been surprised by how well it performs mixing it into all different kinds of bases!  I like to buff it in with a flat-top kabuki… working it in to the skin in light circular motions, both back and forward.

* my hair looks two different colours in the above photo – the sun had come out from behind the clouds in time for the 2nd shot!

The shade #2 Ivory is spot on for me, a little too yellow technically, but I like this because it tones down my redness more effectively.  If you’re just slightly darker or lighter than the official range, you can also purchase their 0-/0+ to lighten and darken any of their shades.

Overall, on good skin days (or if you’ve got skin prep down to a fine art), this is show-stealing foundation.  It’s pricey, but what price beautiful skin fakery?

Face Atelier Ultra Foundation is priced at £32 and available to buy online from Cult Beauty

Good morning, this is your captain speaking.

On behalf of my crew today, I’d like to welcome you aboard flight number L1P6L0551P1N6 from Heathrow to Antigua.  We are currently flying at an altitude of 35,000 Boots points midway across the Atlantic.  If you look out of the windows on the starboard side, you should get a great reflection for reapplying your lipsticks – alternatively, please await the cabin crew’s further instructions as we have a rather special purchase to show you today.

Virgin Atlantic have teamed up with bareMinerals to create a mile-high red lip that’s worth a swoon or two.  Upper Class Red* is taking off in style with the signature Pretty Amazing Lipcolor formula combining the coverage you’d expect from a lipstick with the high-shine of a gloss.  The scarlet shade is synonymous with the cabin crew’s glamourous image as seen in the airline’s latest advert.

Having been adopted as an official piece of uniform for the Virgin Atlantic cabin crew, you can imagine that this formula really needs to live up to the demands that will be placed upon it in a working environment and none is more important 35,000 feet up than longevity.  While not completely bullet-proof, the colour wears very evenly and transforms from an opaque, glossy covering to a pigmented stain after a couple of hours that lasts throughout the day.  I actually prefer the slightly more subdued stain to the pow-pow in your face-ness of this particular red.

The applicator has a flexible, rounded tip that helps to apply such a strong colour with the kind of precision required for the task.  The texture is thick and I’d suggest wiping any excess product back into the neck of the tube as a little will go a long way.  Once applied, the finish is super-shiny and I prefer to blot it once on a tissue to get rid of  that sticky gloss feeling without losing any of the incredible pigmentation.

To my eye it’s a warm-toned red… not enough to actually be classed as a “warm red”, but you should be able to see that it leans away from the cool end of the spectrum with my pinky colouring as a backdrop.

You can check-in (groan) with ‘Upper Class Red’ exclusively at Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse Spas before it’s made available for pre-order on board Virgin Atlantic flights.  Later in the year, it will become available to purchase from selected bareMinerals stockists.

If you can’t wait until then, check out some of the other Pretty Amazing LipColors available to purchase online at BeautyBay.com

* press sample

I love a bit of alliteration in the mornings and the ECOTools Bamboo Bronzer Brush is just the kind of tongue twister that my beauty routine was waiting for.  I’ll start my review by pointing out that this little big brush has amassed an amazing 4.8 (out of 5) average rating over on makeupalley.  No great shakes you might think, except when you take into consideration that it’s been rated almost 300 times.  That’s a lot of very happy brush owners.

Although sold as a bronzing brush, this thing is so large, I have to assume that ECOTools intended this to be used as a body-brozing brush or simply an all-over face bronzing (as in tanning) brush.  There’s no way you’d wanna reach for this daily to “sunkiss” your face in specific areas, it’s mahoosive!  Where this baby excels is in its ability to buff – buff, buff and buff again.  It’s a wonderful long-handled kabuki for mineral foundation and an even more awesome applicator for the kind of liquid foundations that would normally give you an armache as you try to blend them before they quickly set.

This particular brush pairs up wonderfully with all manner of foundations including powders, creams and liquids and if you love the ELF Powder Brush for buffing in your foundation, I’m willing to bet that you’re going to love this even more.  The synthetic bristles are kitten-paw soft, keeping dry skin happy while you buff away to your hearts content.  I’m not gonna call the finished results ‘airbrushed’ (because it’s a naff expression) but I did get a lovely sheen to prove that the product had been worked well into the skin before any excess was buffed away by the densely-packed fibres.  I don’t find the large handle cumbersome to use, neither have I experienced any problems with shedding.

I’ve since bought another one to keep as a finishing brush and I use it to apply an illuminating/setting powder and ensure that everything is fully blended with a non-powdery finish – something I can struggle with when my skin is on the dry side.  The only negatives about this brush is that it’s a bugger to clean, takes an age to dry and isn’t very-travel friendly.

The ECOTools brush range is available to buy instore in Boots, priced at £9.99.  It’s also available online from cutecosmetics, priced at £8.99

Still on the theme of warming things up a bit in hopeful anticipation of a glorious Summer, I’ve got another lovely bright lip to show you.  This one comes with a difference though, it’s a liqui-gel formula that can also be used as a long-lasting cheek stain.

Beauté Cosmetics hail from Canada, brainchild of makeup artist Beau Nelson.  The range includes lip cremes, glosses, brushes and these lovely liqui-gel stains.  I already own a lip creme (which I don’t believe I’ve ever blogged about) but knew that I wanted to buy one of the liqui-gel stains after reading about them a couple of years ago on LondonMakeupGirl’s blog.

How ridiculous(ly cool) does it look in the tube?  I think, if I’m honest, it’s probably what attracted me in the first place.  Super-neon coral with a cool pink flash?  Awesome.  Don’t worry though, it doesn’t apply anywhere near as scarily as it suggests it will!  Once applied and blended on the lips or cheeks, it’s a really wearable warm pink – perhaps a little vibrant for some, but so very beautiful.

As far as application goes, it’s pretty forgiving once you get used to the texture.  It doesn’t set immediately and gives a fair amount of playtime to get things right before you’re stuck with clown cheeks for the entire day.  Buildability is the key to success with this one, don’t apply a load in one go, especially on the lips or you’ll struggle getting the formula to sit well.  Once the stain has set (after about a minute) you’ll be rewarded with some delicious colour that won’t budge for hours.

The above photo shows Fluoron worn alone on bare lips with a little on my cheeks, I should have applied a touch more for the sake of the camera but I was wary of overdoing it.  Hopefully, you can still make out the colour well enough.  I don’t generally enjoy wearing stains too much but I’m making an exception for this one, or should I say… it’s made an exception for me.

Beauté Liqui-Gel Lip and Cheek Stain in Fluoron is available to buy online in the UK from GuruMakeupEmporium and CocoBeau priced at £23.50

What’s your favourite lip and cheek stain?

What I lack in eyeshadow bravery, I like to think I make up for when it comes to choosing lip colours.  Not one to shy away from a bright lip, I first saw Don’t Blink Pink featured on the lovely Clumps of Mascara blog and within five minutes, I had checked out my eBay basket on Paypal containing the luridly bright pink and another, lesser-spotted (on my lips) shade, orange – in the guise of Purty Persimmon.

First things first, these lippies are cheap.  Cheep cheap!  I paid around £6 including shipping from the U.S. for both – they also feel cheap.  They wobble about in their housing like brightly-coloured mini Pisa replicas and you’ll struggle to get a neat edge without the help of a lip brush because the formula is so, so hard.  They do warm up a little on the lips but overall, there is no luxury or even any attempts at luxury in these bullets.  What you will find though, is colour.  And plenty of it.

They’re practically neon on the lips, albeit a wearable neon.  They scream summer and make me feel supremely happy when I catch sight of my lips in the mirror.  Honestly? They make me wanna do a duckface.  Living up to their name, they offer great longevity and although they’re somewhat drying, I didn’t suffer any real problems or discomfort on well-prepped lips.

I’ll admit that I haven’t quite mastered the courage to wear the orange outside of the house just yet but I did get compliments on the pink last week.  If nothing else, this is a really good jump into the deep end for those of you who want to get to grips with some bright shades but don’t want to be spending all of your pennies on something you may not get much wear from.  I bought these from seller: senoritadelsol.

What do you think?  Are you going to be rocking some bright lip shades this year?

Jen is from London and works in PR/Social Media.  She’s a bonafide beauty junkie with a self-confessed “mild” shopping problem!  The following article is a guest submission, you can read more from Jen at A Beauty Junkie in London.

Hello!  Jen from A beauty junkie in London here!  Whilst Charlotte is away on her holidays (not that I’m jealous at all) I’m doing a little guest post for you!

Here’s a little look at the new Khol & Contour Shadow and Light Pencils* from Bourjois.  These pencils each include a light and dark liner shade that compliment each other.  The light shade in each of the pencils has a metallic sheen to it whilst the darker one is matte.

Bourjois Khol & Contour Shadow and Light Pencils

Natural Light

With Flash

Shade wise, the dark shades are all consistently pigmented and feel creamy when used.  Of all of them, the navy blue is the weakest in colour pay off.  The paler shades on the other hard really vary, of course as they are the paler shades the colour pay off naturally contrasts with the darker ones… but when looked at alongside each other the ‘dragee’ shade (the one with the blue) is a bit lame.  So overall, the marine/dragee shade is my least favourite.

I also found that the texture of the lighter shade was a little crumbly, with the tip of the pencil breaking off of when I went to swatch them – because of this I’d definitely swatch them before first use as you don’t’ really want it going in your eye.

The two stand out colour pairings are the khaki and the champagne gold and the brown and the ‘caramel’ purely on the strength of the pigment and how the colour combinations are safe and neutral – but still slightly more unusual. If I was to choose one, I’d go with the khaki/champagne!

* press samples

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