A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

I’m going for my fish pedicure at Aqua Sheko tomorrow… I know… I’ve taken my sweet time!  I’m excited and hope my cheesers don’t kill off too many fish.

Have a great evening lovely people of the internet. x

…or Gufic Biosciences Ltd. and Estee Lauder.

I remember reading about the case of an Indian manufacturer of a herbal based stretch mark cream a couple of years ago.

Since 1998, Gufic Biosciences Ltd. had been using the name SkinCliniq Stretch Nil for their popular lotion and when Estee Lauder brought their brand Clinique into the country some years later… Lauder were unimpressed by the brand’s use of the word “Cliniq”.

Lauder brought a succesful injunction against the Indian brand in 2008 which prevented Gufic from using the word Cliniq while selling its products.

Last month, Gufic Biosciences Ltd. won its legal battle against the cosmetic giant.

The judge ruled that Gufic’s use of the world ‘Cliniq’ in its product is not identical or deceptive to Estee Lauder’s ‘Clinique’.

It was also noted that the major price difference between the two brands ensures no potential for confused consumers when shopping.  Gufic’s SkinCliniq Stretch Nil retails at around $5 for 100ml of product.  Hardly high-end pricing.

And perhaps even more importantly… Estee Lauder didn’t even enter Clinique into the Indian market until 2007.  Nearly 10 years after Gufic Biosciences Ltd. began selling SkinCliniq Stretch Nil.

I do love it when a bit of good old-fashioned common sense reigns supreme.

…because it’s mine and Mr. L’s Wedding Anniversary!

He wants to know if bank robbers have to serve as many as 6 years (or um, 10 if you count the rest of it).

I want to know where the hell my eternity ring is and just how many children I need to pop out in order to get one.

I bought one!  I gots me a shiny new camera!

Look…

Not my hands, not my camera.  My nails are prettier and slightly more feminininine looking.

However, my 50D should be with me next Tuesday.  I’m counting down the hours, minutes and seconds.

I know…. who cares right?

But I wanted to say thanks for all the lovely melodramatic hand-wringing you did with me on Monday.  It was much appreciated mi amigos!

It’s 2.30am and I was just about to head to bed when I quickly logged onto ASOS to check out the ankle boots (as you do).  When horror upon horrors, my eyes alighted upon these.  I can’t call anyone at this indecent hour… so you’re gonna have to humour me and nod your head in all the right places instead.

Skechers Hyperto Shape Up Boots, apparently.

It’s that wonky bouncy seesaw sole innit, the one where you either get buns of steel or need to take a Stugeron before you go for a walk round the park.

I’m pretty tolerant of fashion, I don’t give a chuff what you wear… I only get a bit ranty when I see larger ladies with it all hanging out at the midriff.   Tunic tops have been my wardrobe staple for the last 12years.  Get acquainted with them.

But these… these… moonboots.

Wait, let me show you…

Really?

I mean… really, really?  You’d pay £110 to look like you’ve been drawn by a 3 year old?

I hear on the grapevine that Skechers are planning on making some Hyperto Shape Up Gloves next.

I’m off to have nightmares of giant footwear.  Sleep tight!

I am bereft.

I scrimped, I saved and I ignored my student loan to save all my pennies for my baby Canon back in 2007.

And on Saturday it went to the great big Crumpler  in the sky.

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I’m moping.  The skies are grey and the birds aren’t singing.  My shoulders are struggling to support the weight of my big fat, miserable head and Winter feels closer now than it ever has before.  I could catch beach balls on the shelf that my bottom lip has become and I’ve discovered the wonder of the monosyllable.

And yanowot really pisses me off?  These bloody cameras cost MORE now than they did 4 years ago!

*kicks something* (not a small child incase you had your phonebook open at Social Services).

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Um… So uh, how was your weekend?  Don’t tell me it was ggggggreat, ‘cos I don’t give a flying fstop.

Who knew that you could quite literally spend ALL FREAKING NIGHT trying to decide whether to organise your makeup collection by:

* colour

* high end/high street

* current favourites

* recently used/long-forgotten

* daytime/night time

* formula

* alphabetically (ok, I joke… no really – don’t even think about it or I’m calling in psychiatric backup!)

I settled for high end/high street… I bet that reveals a disturbing indication of my shallowness or something.

I have 2 foundation drawers (they’re small drawers honest!) – 1 with all my high end ‘only wear this shit when you’re going somewhere nice’ and 1 with all my ‘you can go to the post office in this’ stuff.

Do you organise?  And more importantly… does it stay that way?!

What do YOU do at 11pm?  Normal people go to bed, weird semi-insomniac types start pissing about with makeup.  They challenge themselves to use all the right products in all the wrong places.

And then they hope for the best!

Clearly not the best, but it was fun!

What the hell am I talking about?

I lined up my products and decided to use them where they ought not be used…

My mascara ended up on my eyebrows (as did my eyeliner)

My cream eyeshadow?  On my lips…

My Blusher?  On my eyes!

And my lipstick?  On my cheeks of course!

I did add a little normality… I used a touch of vaseline to help the cream eyeshadow turned lipstick not look quite so cakey.  My NYX Rust eyeshadow made a nice eyeliner and I still used mascara where mascara should be placed.

So what did I learn?

Not much really… except that my No7 Brown eyeliner is in NO WAY a good match to fill in the gaps in my brows.  Oh, and lipstick as blusher is a dream to blend but a bugger for that ‘orrible sticky feeling afterwards.

I also realised that I should probably get a hobby that doesn’t involve makeup.

And no jokes about my face looking like an arse please.

Have a good weekend good people of the internet!

I’m guest blogging over on Zuneta again today!

I try out the no makeup makeup look with a little help from a certain Mr. Bess…

Head on over there and don’t forget to leave a comment!

Not the catchiest post title in the world, but it gets the message across… eventually.

If I’d had the same kind of beauty budget back then as I do now, perhaps I would have killed off my obsession at a younger age… but I didn’t.

I had £5 a week and 20 Sovereign Lights used to cost £2.56 – sorry Mum, Dad… I’ve quit now though right?

This left me with approximately £2.44 a week to spend on EVERYTHING else… my makeup came off a market stall.  If I was feeling flush, I would hot-foot it down the chemist to grab a pressed powder that bared a closer resemblance to a tub of Johnson’s finest than anything else, both in formula and colour!

The things I’d tell my 14 year old self that she NEEDS to own aren’t ‘dupes’ of well known products… they’re close.  They would certainly have been close enough to satisfy my teenage wants.  Hell, I’ve bought them at my age haven’t I?

ELF Studio Blush in Gotta Glow (£3.50) is a fair match to NARS Albatross… it’s chalkier and less smooth-textured with a lot of fall out, but ELF have captured that pale gold highlighter thing very nicely indeed.  And all for £3.50!

Barbara Daly Easy on the Eye Shadow pens (£5.62) would have me twirling these things about like I’d just stepped off the Ellis Faas counter at Liberty.  Who knows, I might have even spray painted ’em silver.

Ruby & Millie I-Writer Liquid Eyeliner (£10.50) far too pricey for my teenage budget, but within reach with the help of one of those lovely Boots £5 off No7 and Ruby & Millie vouchers!  No dupes… but I just wish I’d owned one of these when I was struggling to create lovely smooth eyeliner lines.  Ok, so I still can’t do the flick… but I’m blaming my hooded eyelid for that one.

ELF Mineral Eyeshadow Primer (£3.00) for the love of God, I would scream at my younger self to buy an eye primer.  This one would do nicely, it’s not *quite* as long lasting as UDPP… but it’s also not *quite* £11.50 either.

Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy (£4.50ish) my 14yr old self would never have been savvy enough to know of this little miracle.  Sad really.

Lanacane Anti Chafing Gel (£5.99) You may scoff, but have you ever compared the ingredients between this and Smashbox’s cult Photo Finish primer?  No?  U.S. girls have been savvy to the wonders of Monistat Chafing Gel for years… and this is basically the same thing.  Though, to be fair.. both are pretty ineffectual for me.

Yaby Cosmetics Pearl Paints pp040 Cappuccino Dream (£2.50) a tiny little pan, but how often do we get through a whole shadow?  Plus… it’s got a tiny little price to match!  I’m also quite impressed between the similarities of Cappuccino Dream and the now discontinued MAC Style Snob.

Silk Naturals Mineral Blush in Climax (£4ish) unsubtly named for it’s similarities to a certain NARS Blush which holds true makeup cult status.  Orgasm of course!  This look-a-like packs a bit too much shimmer for my 29yr old self, but my 14yr old alter-ego would be all over it like a rash.  Probably a genital one if today’s teenagers are anything to go by *tsk, tsk and all that I’m getting old stuff*

17 Cosmetics Solo Eyeshadow in Mardi Gras (£3.49) I’m sure this was about 20p back when I bought it a few years ago.  The packaging has now been much fancified, but hopefully the shade remains the same.  This is a pretty good budget alternative to MAC Satin Taupe that I would have been very pleased to own.

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What things would you insist your younger and less financially frivolous self go out and buy immediately?

I’m a poet…

Anyway… I thought this was a bit of fun for a Thursday afternoon!

Heathrow airport are currently conducting a BIG vote – they wanna know what makes your checklist on travel must-haves?

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iPods, digital cameras and other gadgets will go head to head with handbags, books and perfume in September, as Heathrow launches its annual search for the most popular travel accessories.

Launched to highlight the products that make passengers’ journey better and which are available at Heathrow, the annual awards feature more than 140 items shortlisted by a panel of senior industry experts.

People can vote for their travel must-haves at www.heathrowairport.com/vote.  Voting will take place during September, and the winners will be announced in early October.

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Every person who votes will automatically be entered into an exclusive prize draw with a chance to win a selection of the winning products up to the value of £5,000.

And of course there’s the Best Travel Beauty Product, category… be sure to pay particular attention to THAT one!

I’ve been sitting on this post since the beginning of the year.  My draft folder has it dated from February!  Why haven’t I posted it?

Well… whenever I read it, it makes me wonder if I sound like a bit of a know-all to be honest.  But, the truth is… I’m running short on posts following my holiday (you didn’t even know I was gone did ya?!) and I haven’t really done a rant for AGES!

So, here goes…

Brands have been taking Social Media seriously for the last couple of years and have been implementing techniques to jump on the bandwagon left, right and centre… sometimes, without really thinking it through.

I have tons of random thoughts on brand involvement with Social Media outlets (inc. blogs) in general but I’m curious on how you guys feel they’ve impacted on arenas like Twitter and Facebook?

Ultimately, I think it’s a great advancement and would love to see all brands employ a mouthpiece for these channels.  It often makes a faceless corporation accessible to their customers in a way that’s relevant and current.  Though, when it goes wrong… it’s like the best car crash telly ever.

Here’s my 10 top tips for brands wanting to engage with Twitter and Facebook

1. Serve your customers!

If a brand takes on Twitter or Facebook, they need to be prepared for Customer Service duties… don’t ignore followers/readers with complaints.  By all means, direct them to an appropriate email address (though that does feel a little like ‘fobbing’ off).  If you can address issues directly… top marks.

2. Don’t dabble… commit!

I see lots of brands engage in Social Media half-heartedly.  Big No No!   There’s nothing worse than asking a question through an ‘instant’ medium (during working hours) to receive a reply a week later!  Sort it out!

3. Don’t use Twitter/Facebook as a holding page for links to other social media channels.

It irks me so much to click on a Twitter link only to be taken to the Brand’s Facebook page which contains nothing but a link to the Brand’s blog or website.  Thanks for the wasted clicks.  I’ll just click off.

4. It’s OK to have personality!

Allow a little personality through.  We love seeing you make a mistake and tweet the wrong person the wrong thing and then fluster as you try to correct.  FUN!  It’s also nice if you let us into your world… tell us about your ah-mazing chocolate croissant you picked up on the way into work.  After all, it’s all that banal stuff that makes the Twitter-verse go round!

5. Know when to draw the line.

This one’s tricky… at what point does personality edge into inappropriateness?  Would love to hear your thoughts on this.  It happens and it makes me cringe… if you wanna share last night’s shenanigans with @bestbud then THAT’S what DMs are for!

Unless you know me personally, I’d rather you didn’t call me ‘hun’ either.

6. Give us twitter/facebook specific discounts or offers.

Make us feel like a special part of your family.  If we like you enough to follow/add you… then we’re listening.  Reward that.

7. Showcase your brand and let us tell you what WE think!

Let us in, we’re nosey buggers.  Tweet us a pic of your desk, the R&D dept (though maybe not Accounts eh?), what are you guys working on?  What can we expect from you next?  Twitter and Facebook are such great venues for gauging consumers opinions and feedback, you’d be silly not to utilise the potential.  Plus, we love to feel all important, so give us the opportunity to help you (and possibly shape you as a company!)

8. Make sure your Social Media mouthpiece has a grasp of netiquette.

Do they ‘follow’ anyone back on Twitter?  In an environment that’s all about the flow of information… this communication needs to be 2-way.  If you aren’t following any relevant users or commenters back, what’s the point?  You’ll be asking us to sleep in the wet patch next.

9. You scratch our back, we’ll scratch yours…

Word of Mouth is obviously a hugely significant part of modern marketing and in this age, information is King (and Queen).  If you want your followers to talk about you… engage, engage, engage.

10. Relish the prospect of getting closer to your consumer.

Yeah, we’re scary.  We call you names on Twitter and the same rules of professionalism don’t apply to @badassmomma543 on Twitter as they do to you.  Life sucks.

However, as with all Social Media (blogs included), the rewards can be so much more fulfilling when you loosen that iron-fist and relinquish some of that control.  Take the step that brings you closer to the people who are out there actually BUYING your stuff.

Last year, I listened to an owner of a well-known beauty brand tell a group of people (without any PR prompting!) that (social media) was the purest form of feedback a brand could receive.  I can’t even tell you how much the sincerity in those words raised my spirits as a consumer.  Some brands really do ‘get it’.

Does yours?

What do you guys think?  I know loads of you are on Facebook and Twitter… are there any specific brands that are getting it right or (gasp) wrong?!  Is there anything I’ve missed out… anything you don’t agree with?