A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

If you always struggle to buy the man who has everything, something… then I might be able to help you out.

Whether it’s a partner, a brother, a son, or a father… there’s always one fella in the family who leaves you scratching your head when it comes to accommodating him in your annual Christmas shop.  You may not think that fragrance is the most original gift choice in the world but if you get it right… you’re on to a bonafide winner.

Over the years, I’ve managed to grind down Mr. L’s resolve to the point where he is finally, a fully-fledged fragrance fiend.  His tastes vary but he’s not too particular… if it smells great, offers long-lasting wear and isn’t too extreme, he appreciates a well-crafted scent whatever the notes.

I’ve picked out two from his collection that I think would appeal to most men on your gift lists… and perhaps even more excitingly, you can pick them up for less than £16 each!  Yes, I’m talking about some of my favourite kind of fragrances, those mainstream buys that slip under the radar, punching well above their weight!

The Dad/Husband Choice: Pour Homme – Van Cleef & Arpels (from £12.15 – link)

Of the two fragrances that I’ve selected as “great buys”, this is the one that would be better suited to an older gentleman.  It has a 70s vibe that might not appeal to the younger, Paco Rabanne 1 Million-wearing crowd.  It was revealed by VC&A a couple of years ago, that Pour Homme was one of Serge Gainsbourg’s favourite scents and if you know me, you won’t be surprised that this fact alone made me RUN for the nearest stockist.

Pour Homme opens with a vintage blast of green, a combination of aromatics that include basil, juniper, and bergamot.  It’s a pungent beginning, herbaceous and dated – though depending on your personal tastes, that last adjective is not meant as a criticism – merely a caution.

The heavyweight bottle hints at the darkness of the juice inside, I like to imagine the contents swirling around in there like some kind of twilight-zone vortex because I do believe that the dark arts were afoot during its creation.  I simply cannot envision how it is possible to blend so many different discernible notes without creating a complete hash of a fragrance.  From the freshness to the spiciness, the leather to the wood, the soapiness to the magnificent rose – it’s all in there, managed like a military operation.

Though I have mentioned the Serge Gainsbourg connection, I find it quite hard to associate the two personalities, myself.  Pour Homme is the epitome of a formal fragrance, it’s perfectly styled to sit beautifully against the backdrop of a dark suit, buttoned up to the hilt.  I can only amalgamate the personalities by unbuttoning that collar a few inches and adding 20 Gitanes into the mix.  Ahh yes, there you go.

As the fragrance dries down on my skin, the soft rose notes blossom into a bouquet against a somewhat-soapy backdrop… on my husband’s skin the rose whips against leather and patchouli, darkening the shadows further and stretching them into a bygone age.  The projection and longevity is equal to nothing else in his collection of fragrance, it can only be described in a cliche, as a powerhouse.  I can still smell this on my husband’s collar when doing the laundry, days later.

Talk about getting some serious bang for your buck.  Oui, Je T’aime.

The Son/Boyfriend Choice: 24 Gold Eau de Toilette (from £15.00 – link)

If you can get past having Twentieth Century Fox logos emblazoned across the outer packaging, you’d be extremely wise to give this one a chance.  24 Gold is indeed a spin-off fragrance, paying homage to TV’s Jack Bauer.  On paper… it’s about as gimmicky as they come, Mr L’s bottle even arrived with a 24-emblazoned ipod armband… presumably so he can listen to his favourite tunes while taking down the world’s baddest baddies.  Frankly, it should be shit.  But it isn’t, it’s about as far away from shit as you can get, it’s amazing.

24 Gold has an alltogether younger feel than Pour Homme, with gourmand chocolate box qualities and a boozy heart of amber.  From the off, it delivers up a beautiful and striking blend of powerful oud and vanilla – remaining forever sweet and better suited to the cooler weather.  It’s an atomic blast of a fragrance, lasting for hours and hours on both mine and Mr. L’s skin, projecting itself into a room long after we’ve left its walled confines.

24 Gold describes itself as a unisex fragrance, and I agree… it has some feminine qualities and a sweet oriental heaviness that would undoubtedly frighten off most Davidoff Cool Water-loving men, so do have a precursory sniff at some of the other scents in your intended target’s collection before jumping in with a blind buy.  Certainly, if most of his collection is light and airy… steer well clear, 24 Gold is decadent, rich, and very, very dense.

If you think you might have the green light on a bolder choice of fragrance, 24 Gold genuinely wouldn’t be wildly out of place in a designer’s private blends collection – exclusively available to only the world’s most revered department stores.  In conclusion, it belies its frankly ridiculous price tag.

Taken at face value, it would be easily forgivable to overlook this one in your local perfume store’s bargain bin.  But do so at your peril!

These two fragrances prove that it’s simply not necessary to drop £££ to find an incredible fragrance and although fragrance buying is a very personal experience, I believe you’ll be hard-pushed to find better quality for the money this Christmas.

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I don’t know if this is an unusual blogger trait, I’m willing to bet that it isn’t.  But I have a confessionary secret stash and it’s not of makeup.

Oh no, it’s far sadder than that… it’s a secret stash of photographs of makeup.  You see, the thing about us hard-boiled bloggers is that we often struggle to physically open and use makeup before we’ve documented it for prosperity.  I’ve bought some true beauties in the past that have sat for months, untouched… pristine… my fingers aching to prise open the casing and daub the contents over my face.  But I’ve resisted.  All because I haven’t gotten around to photographing it for the blog.

And so today, I’m delving into my stash of photographs for an oldie-but-goodie.  The other problem with hoarding makeup (and photographs of makeup) is that by the time you get around to blogging about them, they’re often discontinued.

But in today’s case… this may be no bad thing, because it also means…

BARGAIN.  When was the last time you saw an Edward Bess eyeshadow for £6.99 inc. postage?  Let me tell you, as happy as I am for your bank account… I’m crying for mine.

Edward Bess Ultra Luminous Eye Shadow in Storm is a silvery taupe.  I like to call them “ghostly” taupes and they’re my favourite kind!

A pretty neutral with a shot of ethereal silver flashing through its veins.  It applies as smoothly as you’d expect from the premium U.S. brand and works beautifully as an allover one-shade choice for fraught Monday mornings.

Where did I spot this bargain of bargains?  Well, on the ‘bay of course!  Don’t feel too sorry for me paying full whack, I’ve spotted that the same seller also has another EB shadow that I’ve got my eye on, I may yet make it up to myself!

Are you happy to buy discontinued products from eBay (with a bit of homework) or are you too scared of fakes and fungal infections from out of date cosmetics?

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If you’re anything like me, you’ll recognise the reality of logging onto eBayUK “for a quick look” before losing hours of time, clicking through from item to item… a shopping black hole, genuinely one of the hardest sites on the internet to escape from once you start browsing.

You’ll also be familiar with the triumphant feeling of snagging a hard-fought bargain, waiting until the timer ticks down, heart-rate increasing as the counter gets closer to zero.  Wait, wait… ok… BID!  HOORAY!

I’ve been shopping on eBay for beauty-related items for many years, it’s my number one source for hard-to-find products that may have only been available on counter for a couple of weeks.  It’s also my number one source for buying high-tech cleansing lotions and quirky cheek tints from the Far East.  It’s a veritable treasure-trove for beauty hunters, especially those of us who may be looking for a little saving on the RRP.

This month, eBay UK have introduced a new and exciting way to browse for some brilliant items.  eBay Collections lets YOU take control and publicly share the items that catch your eye.  Create themed boards of items that inspire you, styling them beautifully into carefully curated collections that range from homeware to beauty, fashion to sport – the possibilities are indeed, limitless!

I’ve been working with eBay to create some beauty-inspired collections that feature some of my favourite finds and fantastic themes including: Rainbow Nails, Nuts About Neutrals, and The Miracle of the Micellar!

I’ll be updating the collections and refreshing the items over the next few months and hope that you’ll follow my lead and get curating some collections of your own!

If you find yourself feeling inspired to get creating, leave a comment below so I can hook up with you on eBay and follow your collections as you build and grow them.  Also, if you have any ideas for themes that you’d like to see me create, give me a shout and I’ll give it a go!

* this is a sponsored post in conjunction with eBayUK

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My little haul of cheap Layla Cosmetics Nail Polishes arrived from Amazon on Saturday morning, and like a kid in a multi-coloured, holographic candy store, I couldn’t wait to paint myself up.  We’ve been especially blessed with the weather this weekend too… isn’t it the warmest it’s been since last October or something?  Anyway… ultimately, this meant sunshine… and nothing appreciates a bit of sunshine more than a holographic nail polish.

Eeny, meeny, miney, mo… went I…

…I settled for Layla Cosmetics Misty Blush as my first NOTD.

Isn’t she a beauty?  If my cuticles weren’t so ravaged at the moment, I’d have given you a close-up of the holographic intensity with my Canon point & shoot but I’m afraid this was as close as my vanity would allow me to get.  Application wasn’t brilliant, but it wasn’t too dreadful… the polish is pretty thin and had a tendency to “flick” specks about during application – perhaps more the fault of my virus-ridden, shaking body – but please don’t apply this anywhere near a white carpet just incase.  It took three coats to reach full opacity and definitely needs a top-coat as it dries pretty matte.

Wear also isn’t amazing… I have a tiny chip one day later, I don’t usually get any chips though… I’m a tip-wear girl, chips… barely ever.

Ultimately, I still love it.  I can’t help it.  Perhaps I’m a bit seduced by the sunshine, by how it sparkles… I think I’m willing to forgive it more than most just because it’s so damn beautiful.

Layla Cosmetics Misty Blush NOTD is available to buy online at amazon.co.uk, priced at £5.21

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Remember when I got all excited about Layla Hologram Nail Polishes? It was a while ago, so I’ll forgive you if your memory is kinda rusty. You can remind yourself by clicking through to my post here which contains a few swatches, alternatively… fire up Google Images and prepare to part ways with your pennies.

You see, as I scoured Amazon late last night for nothing in particular, I noticed that the Layla nail polishes appear to be prettily heavily discounted to the tune of 50% or more.  Whereas I originally paid over £11 a polish, you can now pick them up for under a fiver in some cases!  The only catch is that stock appears to be a little on the short side, so if you wanted to snag a couple, don’t leave it too long!

Here’s what I just picked up for my collection, please don’t tell my husband… I’m supposed to be saving for the “baby”.

There’s also a couple of rather beautiful flakies that nearly found their way into my basket… but I was determined to keep my total in the £20s and not go any higher!

Are you tempted?  If you buy any… please tell me which ones caught your eye!

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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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Launching in February are a duo of bright hair chalks from The Body Shop…. perhaps not the usual release you’d expect from the British brand but an interesting one nonetheless!  The chalks promise to provide bright, temporary colour and wash out easily with a spot of shampoo.  The two shades available, Tickle Me Pink and Falling For Blue look brilliantly bright in their pots but need do take a little effort to transfer this brilliance onto the hair.

The Body Shop recommend that blondes use the pink, whilst brunettes might like to opt for the blue… but where’s the fun in that?  Colour for all I say!  Blondes shouldn’t have any problems rocking both shades and Leila loved the blue… especially when I did her a hidden streak that she could wear to school this week.  On darker hair, you may find it beneficial to dampen the strand before applying, this will ramp up the intensity of the colour.

You do need to get your fingers dirty during application as the best method is to place a finger or thumb over the hair to trap it in place on-top of the chalk before sliding the pot down the strand.  You can also twist the piece of hair before applying to create a brighter effect.  Once you’ve finished, spritz a little hairspray on the coloured strands to lock the shading in place.

The Body Shop Hair Chalks will retail at £5.00 each and will be available instore and online at thebodyshop.co.uk

* press sample

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You see, what the magazines don’t tell you is that every woman should own a blood-red eyeliner.  Ever since the day I got creative with an eyeshadow, owning a red liquid eyeliner has been high up on my list of life’s priorities.  I’ve scoured high and low for the perfect shade… and I’m yet to find it.  I thought I may have struck lucky with my latest purchase, Clio’s Kill Blood Eyeliner but alas, it just doesn’t quite hit the mark.

Let me show it to you anyway, just incase it’s your next purchase.

The eyeliner comes simply packaged in a cardboard box and the lid clicks off to reveal a firm, felt-tip style nib.  The nib is sharply tapered to allow you to draw a thin, precise line or indeed, you can angle the pen as you draw for a thicker, heavier sweep.

Pigmentation is fair but if you want a truly opaque burgundy red, you’ll need to wait a couple of minutes and go-over your initial line to strengthen the depth of colour.  I find this to be the case with many coloured eyeliners, even the browns… so it’s not a huge surprise.

One thing that is a little bit of a bore is the bleeding that I get from this eyeliner.  It’s not as bad as I’ve experienced with some liquid eyeliners in the past, but unless I gently hold the skin taut across the eyelid, I don’t get the sharpest of edges.  This wouldn’t be a problem except that I need to allow the eye area to relax in order to achieve even flicks, so I’m having to go back with a dampened cotton bud to tidy-up each time.

Longevity is pretty good, with wear appearing on the flicks by the end of the day.  The line across the lid stayed pretty solid but it does benefit from a bit of primer if you’re applying it over a bare eyelid.

All in all, and for the price I paid… the Clio Kill Blood Pen Eyeliner is fine.  It just doesn’t match up with the high hopes I had for it, but to be fair, expectations can be a bugger to live up to.

Clio Kill Blood Pen Eyeliner is priced at around £8.70 and available to buy online from eBay.co.uk (where you can also pick up a black and brown version)

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You know the mosquito in Bugs Life?  The one who should know better and despite his mate’s warnings, flies toward the deadly bug zapper with those immortal (final) words: “I can’t help it, it’s so beautiful!”

That’s me that is.

You see, I didn’t get on with the Lime Crime Velvetines that I bought.  I appreciated their pigment, their glorious matteness, and the lovely packaging but the wear.  Oh. God, the hideously ugly wear that left me with the kind of ring of death that sends a shiver down the spines of XBox owners everywhere.

Well, I saw the pretty matte lip lacquers from MUA and flew toward them anyway.

My Superdrug was pretty low on stock and the only one I fancied (they didn’t have the red) was this hot pink, called Funk.  To all intents and purposes, these are decent dupes in terms of pigmentation and texture for the Lime Crime Velvetine ones I own… I really can’t see any reason to pay the extra monies for the Lime Crime ones.

With that revelation outta the way, I still don’t like how they wear on me.  They’re fine for about 35-40 minutes but then it all gets rather ugly.

During application, you still have to be careful not to slap your lips together until the lacquer has been given a moment to dry and I’d also recommend to apply lightly, going back for another coat if necessary.  While the lip lacquer remains in situ, I’d agree with the smudge-proof statement which makes it a great choice for a high-impact, albeit high-maintenance night out.

I’ll leave you with a (currently rather rare) FOTD of me wearing it, you can see how the matte texture looks on my lips.  It’s not too unflattering but bear in mind that my lips are back in good condition after a Lanolip repurchase!

Ultimately, I won’t be purchasing any of the other shades available despite the short-lived temptation, if you see me edging towards the MUA counter, someone please slap me with some bug spray.  I just can’t deal with the effort required to keep these looking good for longer than 10-minutes.

MUA Luxe Velvet Lip Lacquer in Funk is priced at £3.00 and available to buy instore at Superdrug and online from muacosmetics.co.uk

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When I first reviewed the L’Oreal Color Infallible range a couple of years back, I was impressed with the amount of pigment these little pots delivered.  They were obviously hot on the heels of Armani’s Eyes to Kill Intense/Chanel Illusion D’Ombre high-end releases and presented an inexpensive way to jump on the is-it-cream-or-is-it-powder bandwagon.

My only issue with them back then was with their staying power as I found them sliding around on my lids after a few hours, both with or without a primed base.

However, I’m a sucker for my purples and the limited edition Metallic Lilac release had been haunting me ever since I saw swatches a while back.  Still not quite enthused enough to hot-foot it down to Boots (how many purples does one woman actually need?) I held off until I was reminded of its existence during a late-night eBay browse.

The particular beauty of this shade for me lies in its irridescence.  It has a delicate sparkle that remains on your lids without too much migration and injects the area with reflected light… something that I’m particularly partial to when I drag my sorry bones out of bed in time for the school run.

The flashes of pink in the powder prevent the shade from being too icy, and there’s a subtle greyed-out quality that will appeal to those of us who don’t want our eyeshadows to scream too loudly at passers-by.

I use a flat brush to apply this to the center of my primed lid before buffing out the edges for a softer finish.  I’m wearing it today on the lower lashline, a little heavier than I would across the lid and it adds a look-twice amount of colour without being over the top.  Longevity still isn’t the greatest on the lids for me but I’m a little more lenient nowadays, less demanding of staying power in my old age… perhaps I just don’t need all-day-long wear anymore.

That being said, I still get around 5 hours with a primer, so it’s not too bad.  I also should point out that I do believe that I’m in the minority with grumbling about wear issues with this range of eyeshadow.  Most bloggers tend to find that this gives great all-day wear with a primed base.

You can pick the L’Oreal Color Infallible Eyeshadow in Metallic Lilac up on eBay from £2.25 with free postage.  Or you can go to Subway and buy a bacon sub with a drink for £2.00 – I won’t hold it against you if you choose the bacon, there’s no easy answer to this one.

I know that I’m not alone in announcing a mild disappointment with the post-Xmas beauty sales, I usually clean up and feel the inevitable spending guilts for weeks afterwards.  This year, not so much.  Infact, in my quest to add some new blood to my beauty cabinet, I’ve all but failed.

All but…

Thank God for Fragrance Direct and their bounty of Becca goodies that have seen me through this extremely dry patch.

There are still many Becca products available on the website, infact… most of the items that I purchased on Boxing Day are still available so I’ll just get some pictures up with their corresponding swatches in an effort to siren-song you into some lemmings.  Do we still use that word?  Oh, I’m so 2008.

my haul

Becca Sheer Stick Foundation (sherbet), Becca Radiance Primer, Becca Luminous Skin Colour (porcelain)

Becca sheer stick foundation in Sherbet

Swatch of Becca Sheer Stick Foundation in Sherbet

Swatch of Becca Radiance Primer

Becca Luminous Skin Colour (porcelain)

Swatch of Becca Luminous Skin Colour (porcelain)

Becca Eye Tint Water Resistant Colour in Vicuna

Swatch of Becca Eye Tint Water Resistant Colour in Vicuna

Becca Professional Polishing Brush 57

Becca Sheer Tint Lip Colour in Valentina

Swatch of Becca Sheer Tint Lip Colour in Valentina

The Becca stock on the Fragrance Direct website starts from around £2.99 and whilst I haven’t had long enough to provide defnitive reviews of everything, I’d really recommend picking up some of the Sheer Tint Lip Colours and a Luminous Skin Colour as a matter of urgency!

As far as freshness goes, considering that these will be old stock… I haven’t got any complaints.  Even the Eye Tint is showing no signs of oil/pigment separation and everything still smells fresh to me.

Are you going to be taking a look at what’s on offer?

Orange juice and toothpaste, a vegan at a BBQ, Miley Cyrus and a touch of class. Some things just don’t seem to want to go together do they?

Crabtree & Evelyn and nail polish?

Hmmm…

To be honest, I always think of Crabtree & Evelyn as a bit of a nanna-brand, aimed at garden potterers and people who use talc.  What are they doing with a new line of fashion-forward nail lacquers anyway?  Does it fit their target demographic?

Well, whatever they’re doing with it… it’s here. Launched this week into stores nationwide. Let’s have a look at them…

Not too shabby, I think you’ll agree.  Don’t underestimate those Crabtree & Evelyn shoppers, Nanna’s everywhere have their fingers firmly on the pulse it seems.

The range includes a total of 19 polishes, I’m missing a few from the pictures above… including a rather fabulous-looking olive green that I’d really like to check out sooner rather than later.  Also, in the lineup (but omitted from my picture) is a clear top/base coat, and a box of nail polish remover wipes that have been formulated with an environmentally friendly soy-based formula instead of your usual hydrocarbon solvents!  All rather innovative stuff from a brand that, to be honest, I didn’t think had it in them.

By now, you will be whooping with delight when I tell you that all of these lacquers are formulated without camphor, dibutyl phthalates, formaldehyde or toluene, and get this…

…each 15ml bottle is priced at only £6.00 each.

Available instore and online at crabtree-evelyn.co.uk now, made my weekend this has!