A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

Yeah, Christmas again!  Sorry!  Bite me.

Check out this Kabuki-inspired Bento Box Lip Set which will be on many a NARS’ fan’s Xmas wish list!

Inspired by the Japanese Kabuki theatre, the set comprises: 2 lip colours (Maiko and Sakura), 2 boxed dish thingies and a rather lovely lip brush. Will the lip colours be in the dishes?  I’m not sure… I got a bit confused at that point but it reminds me of a Japanese curio that Lisa Eldridge talked about.

The lip shades are pretty darn beautiful.  Look!

Heavily pigmented and smooth, a pair of beautifully bright shades that are sure to tantalise and tempt!

I adore this set, it’s a little bit quirky… a touch unusual but thoroughly useable.  What a wonderful Christmas gift this would make… for ourselves of course 😉

No price details or release dates yet, but I shall update as and when they become available.

Do you like it?

EDIT: I’ve now been reliably informed that this set is due to retail in the UK at £95 from November the 1st and will be available at Selfridges.

In Kabuki theater there is a style, Kumadori, which uses shades to represent different emotions and moods: red represents passion and vigor while pink represents cheerfulness and youthfulness. So it is no wonder that François chose to capture the majesty of the kabuki lip with these two colors for the elegant yet modern woman. Maiko, a vibrant red, is the Japanese word for dancing girl and is used to refer to apprentice geishas. Sakura, a hot pink, is Japanese for cherry blossom, the symbolic flowering cherry tree integral to Japanese culture.

Each cup has been hand-filled, weighs the same as a bullet of lipstick, and will provide around 150 uses. Similar to the NARS Yachiyo Kabuki Brush, the lip brush is hand-made and the handle is wrapped in Wisteria, a flowering plant native to East Asian states such as China, Korea and Japan. Only one thousand sets were created for sale in the United States, and just over two thousand in total were created worldwide.

Yes, £95 *jawdrop*.  It’s beautiful n’all… but erm… £95?  Am I going to have to sell both kidneys to fund this I wonder?

It’s been quite a year for luxury lipsticks!

Only just recovering from the Chanel Rouge Cocos and the Tom Ford purse breakers, we’re now faced with the new collection on the block… and it’s a biggie!

Rouge Dior Haute Couleur Voluptuous Care (£22) is a new collection of 32 (yes, 32!) mouth-watering shades.  Each shade has been inspired by (and named after) a vintage Dior Haute Couture dress.  Check out those two beauties in the background!

The range has been grouped into three colour families to make navigating through the line a little easier.  Red to Coral, Pink to Lilac and Beige to Brown, there’s a shade to suit every taste and skintone (if not budget!).

The Rouge Dior Haute Couleur Voluptuous Care collection also promises to plump your lips both in the short and long term using some fancy schmancy hyaluronic technology.  I can’t wait to see the rest of the line up, though I’m already totally drawn to the nude there *swoon*.

If you want to get your hands on one (or seven) of these babies, you need to take your lipstick-loving selves to Selfridges who hold the worldwide exclusive on the range.  Available from yesterday (28th July), these are sure to be hugely in demand throughout August!

C’mon, tell me!

Here’s (a virtual) £60.

The catch is, you can only buy one thing with it and it’s got to be a palette.

And NO(!) it’s not allowed to be the new Urban Decay Naked palette or we’d all just say that one (mostly!)

Here’s my pick:

The LORAC Private Affair palette ($38)

Look at those beautiful cool tones!  I’m not saying that I’m wishing Autumn/Winter upon us… but if I had this palette, it would make the inevitable seasonal shift much easier to bear!

Anyone else fancy a bit of virtual Sephora Sweep – link me up!

Whilst on holiday, I’m working on a shockingly bad laptop with a screwy backlight… in conjunction with an internet connection best suited to 1994, I’m struggling!

I hope that these images are at least somewhat colour accurate… If not, I’ll fix them when I get home – but for now I want to chat about the infamous and generally well regarded Boots 17 Mirror Shine lipsticks.  In particular, the popular shade Beehive.

Thanks to the UK blogging community, I heard about these lippies aaaaages ago… and have been trying to find Beehive in stock for a long time.  Somewhat ironically…. of all places, I finally found it on one of the busiest shopping streets in Britain.

Beehive is a creamy, shiny and almost balm-like lipstick.  The formula is soft and as a result, prone to snapping halfway down the bullet.  Apply with a gentle hand and don’t store anywhere it might get warm to preserve it for as long as possible.  These are quality issues that need looking into, but the sad truth is that if they’re addressed… the lipstick probably wouldn’t feel half as siky as it does in both application and once on the lips.

If you’re looking for a pigmented lipstick, these aren’t for you.  Glossy and sheer are the key words to remember here, but this makes the range light, easy to wear and comfortable with just a hint of colour.  Beehive (£4.49) is a pinky nude shade that evens out the tone on my lips and adds a degree of shine.  It doesn’t blow me away, I don’t think it deserves it’s place on the pedestal it occupies (especially considering it’s quality flaws) but I’m happy to own it and I reach for it when I want a quick polished finish to a natural look.

Let me set the scene…

I’ve just handed over £4.99 for a lipstick.  Ok, it’s no Tom Ford… but then, at £4.99 it wouldn’t be would it?

It’s sellotaped up like a 1950s Tupolev.

It takes me no less than 10 minutes to remove this mummified lipstick from it’s tomb of sticky tape.

Each time I scrape an end up with my nail, it starts to tear diagonally leaving me with about 3mm of tape between my nails and 8394839473892 metres left on the tube.

Finally… it’s removed.

Leaving behind a tacky, sticky, dirty-looking residue that manages to attract approximately 7lbs of fluff and dust in the 2 minutes that I leave it on the desk.

I KNOW why retailers have to do it and I guess I’d rather have my lipstick taped up than ground down to a nub against some pre-pubescent’s cracked lips.  But still…. surely, there’s a better way?  That surgical tape-y stuff… that peels off cleanly doesn’t it?

It’s not sodding rocket science!

Am I being pedantic?  Maybe… but so would you be if you’d just spent 20 minutes unravelling and then cleaning your lipstick.

2 eyes, 83 eyelashes (or thereabouts) and 2 mascaras.

On one eye, I’ve applied £21.50 worth of mascara (DiorShow Iconic)

On the other eye… £5.99 worth of mascara (Boots 17 Wild Curls)

There’s undoubtedly a difference, and the expensive mascara (on the left as you look at it) has done it’s job well.

But is the difference really worth £15.51?

Hand on heart, for me… I think it’s worth it.  My husband thinks I’m a sucker.

What do you think?

One of my favourites, it’s a sheer… which meant that I didn’t like it for about a week when I got it.  Until I discovered how easily it layered… and THEN discovered how easily I could use it as a crease colour without giving myself Panda eyes!

A cool toned violet/brown taupe with a hint of shimmer.  Urgh, even just describing it makes me wanna take it out and wear it right now (it’s 2am and I’ve washed my face already).

It’s my versatile friend that makes it possible for me to do subtle smoky daytime looks.  Without it, I’d be screwed.  I’m not being melodramatic, stop looking at me like that.

Thanks Francois, you’re the best.  No, really.

I like the look of the retractable Brow Shaping Brush (plus I’d totally use it for my lashes too), I can’t even tell you the number of times I’ve caught sight of myself in a shop window only to see this staring back at me.

Have you seen any of these on your local counter yet?  What say you?

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?

Illamasqua Sob is one of my favourite blushes… the creme texture is a delight and practically blends itself.  The colour is a cool, frivolous candy pink and once on, it doesn’t budge.  Not even in this heat!

Too hot for much makeup…

Face
Bare Escentuals Mineral Foundation in Fairly Light
Illamasqua Cream Blush in Sob

Eyes
MUFE Aqua Eyes Pencil in Black
Bourjois 1001 Cils Mascara in Black

Lips
Guerlain Kiss Kiss Maxi Shine in Lychee Shine

The Smashbox Muse palette is from the 2009 Spring Collection.

10 positively creamy shades… pastels on top, stronger shades on the bottom.

The brush that it comes with is surprisingly soft and useable… the top row shades are gentle and spring-like, whilst the others comple the more dramatic pairing.

I’m delighted that I picked up this palette and right now, it’s an absolute steal over at Just Beauty Direct priced at £13.74

Do you wear pastels?

Due to be launched on QVC on the 10th July (that’s just a few days away!), Matte is the latest foundation to be released by mineral foundation pioneers Bare Escentuals.

Available in 15 shades to suit every skintone, I purchased my pot of Bare Escentuals Matte SPF15 (shade: Fair) in a blog sale a little while ago and have been putting it to good use in the warm weather we’ve recently been enjoying.

Just as finely milled as the original version, the foundation feels silky and light to the touch.  I’m starting to realise there’s a bit of a love/hate vibe around mineral foundation.  I will happily swear by the coverage it gives and I rarely get a cakey finish when wearing it.  Infact, I’ve often (ok, twice) been asked what foundation I’m wearing when shopping on beauty counters and both times when I’ve replied with the answer ‘mineral’ – the look of shock from the SA’s has been in “kodak moment” territory.

As with the original Bare Escentuals SPF15 foundation, I’d call this medium coverage.  You *can* build, but that’s when you begin to run the risk of it looking more obvious, especially on dryer skin.  You can purchase fuller and more sheer mineral foundations, it all depends on the ratio of the minerals, but Bare Escentuals in my opinion, offers straight down the line medium coverage.

An irritation with mineral anything, is packaging and portability.  In the past, Bare Escentuals foundations have been fine sitting on your dressing table… but take it anywhere without sellotaping up the holes in the sifter?  BIG MESS!  The new Bare Escentuals Matte foundation offers a very simple solution that quite frankly, should have been implemented years ago…

A little rotating lid like you’d find on your pepper pots covers the holes in the sifter and stops excess product leaking during transportation.  I told you it was simple!

Application is the same for the new Bare Escentuals Matte foundation as it is for the original.  Swirl, Tap, Buff!

Mineral still affords me the quickest and most forgiving of foundation applications.  I have a few great brushes for application: My Body Shop kabuki, my MAC Flat Top 180 or my Bare Escentuals Full Flawless Face Brush.  They all work equally well to provide an even finish, though flat top brushes tend to give a fuller coverage.

I’ve talked about application, packaging and my experiences with mineral foundation in general… let me tell you how I find the new Matte version in comparison to the Bare Escentuals original formula.

On initial application, it is indeed a completely matte finish (thanks to additional oil-absorbing minerals)… it wipes out all traces of shine and oil from my skin, leaving a wonderfully even surface.  The original leaves me with a touch of…. not sparkle, that’s comletely the wrong word.  Natural luminosity?  I would say that if you have more mature skin, you may prefer the more forgiving finish of the original formula.  If your skin is younger and more prone to oil… the Matte formula is something you should definitely try.  Alternatively, something I’ve had success with is wearing my original formula lightly all over before buffing a little Matte into my T-Zone.

I’ll share a little tip that SJ (Bare Escentuals National MUA) told me when I was introduced to the new foundation.  If, in the middle of the day… you think you need a little foundation touch up, grab a brush and simply buff your face with it (no product).  It re-distributes the minerals that are already on your face from the initial application and simply recharges your foundation.  It totally works and is something that I’ve always done with minerals anyway… but it seemed funny to hear a proper MUA confirm something that I do without any thought as to why or how it works.  Silly anecdote, but a tip is a tip!

Here’s a before/after application with the new Matte foundation (no concealer):

Longevity?  Well… that’s my other bugbear with mineral foundations.  It’s a shame that I have to take a brush and buff my face in the middle of the day… but I do.  Bare Escentuals Matte foundation is no different and generally lasts about 5 hours on me before I need a pitstop to the Ladies with my brush in hand to ‘redistribute’ the powder.  Then, I probably get another 3/4 hours out of that before I wanna apply more product.

The nature of the product however, means that it doesn’t matter if I apply a bit more over the top of the rest of my makeup.  It has no ill-effect at all and now that Bare Escentuals has made it portable… well, it’s just not much of an issue for me anymore.  Worth mentioning though.

Overall, it’s not an improvement on the Bare Escentuals Original foundation (bar the new sifter)… but it does sit very nicely alongside, offering an additional choice which may or may not be for you depending on your skin type.

Bare Escentuals Matte SPF15 Foundation will launch on 10th July exclusively on QVC priced at £19.50.

Are you a mineral foundation lover?