A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

You would be forgiven for not having heard of Aroma Therapeutics before… I stumbled across them when I was at The Vitality Show last month.  They were doing an offer on their bath and body oils and being the sucker oil lover that I am, I couldn’t resist parting with my pennies for a few.

In the bottle, they smell incredible.  Easily as good as offerings from the more well-known brands such as Aromatherapy Associates, Tisserand and NEOM… but sadly, this is pretty much where the similarities end.

Once dispensed into water… the scent dissipates far too quickly, we’re talking gone in a matter of 30 seconds.  Frankly, a fart would linger for longer.  I’m guessing that although exquisitely blended… there just isn’t enough of the potent stuff in these bottles to carry the aroma for a decent length of time.  I’ve also tried applying to my skin before jumping in the shower… but again, as soon as the water hits it, sayonara good stuff.

It truly is a bit of a tragedy because the Recharger scent (Rosemary, Ginger, Rosewood, Nutmeg and Orange) in particular is divine.  I haven’t tried any of the other products in the same scent lineup which includes massage oils and spray concentrates, perhaps I should limit the use of these purely on my skin rather than as part of my bathing routine but damn it, I bought these as bath treats!

Aroma Therapeutics are available to buy online from Fragrant Earth and are currently on BOGOF and are £26.65 for 50ml.

What are your favourite bath-time treats?

I’ve written previously about my love for Gielly Green’s Argan Rescue Oil that I use a few times a week to perk up my over-processed hair.  I recently took delivery of a couple of samples from the Gielly Green body range which included a hand & body lotion and a hand & body wash.

At 300ml a-piece, these understated but elegant bottles will last a fair length of time which is reassuring when you take into account that the ‘wash’ and ‘lotion’ are priced at £12 and £18 respectively.  These are luxury prices for products squarely aimed at the luxury market.

Now, whilst I don’t bat an eyelid at paying nearly £20 for a hair treatment, lipstick or facial moisturiser… I get more frugalistic stirrings when it comes to the kind of purchase that generally needs to be replaced more frequently.  This would include hand washes.

Having said that… I can’t actually fault the deliciousness of these products.  The Lemon and Muguet (Lily of the Valley) scent is fresh and airy.  It delivers a sparkling citrusy zing without skimping on a more grounding floral that lingers for a few hours after application and the scent conveys an overall carefree lightness without being too ‘young’, fruity or sweet.

The formula of the hand and body lotion is blissfully light, not great for those requiring more intense moisturisation but I’ve been using this on my hands (and lower arms) after washing and whilst not moisturising enough to keep my cuticles in check, it’s doing a sterling job on the rest, including my rough elbows!

The hand and body wash smells a little zestier than the lotion and delivers a non-drying formula thanks to the addition of Argan Oil (not too far down the ingredients list either!) and a welcome lack of SLS and alcohol in the formulation.

Overall, if your purse can stomach the price tag – you could do far worse than treating yourself to these bathroom gems.  Gielly Green have delivered a perfect pair of body essentials that bring a touch of luxury to a normally mundane task.

Gielly Green Hand & Body Wash and Hand & Body Lotion in Lemon & Muguet are available to buy online from the Gielly Green website.

This week’s question of the week…

What’s your favorite and least favorite thing about blogging?

My favourite thing about blogging is having an outlet.  Don’t get me wrong… I’m no great writer and I don’t feel a compulsion to express myself “creatively”.  I just enjoy cataloguing products I encounter (like a nerdy list-maker really), chatting to like-minded people and chewing the cud on a subject that doesn’t interest anyone I know in my day-to-day life.

I’ve met some really good eggs, had some great experiences that I wouldn’t have been fortunate enough to enjoy otherwise and I can look back through my archives with a sense of achievement that I’ve managed to write so much about such a shallow, frivolous subject instead of doing proper work instead.

My least favourite thing about blogging is having an amazing hobby that doesn’t pay the bills.  If I could, I’d spend 3x the time on site but my husband would divorce me first.  I already have major guilts about how much time I dedicate to it… finding work/life/blog balance is always an issue for me.  I wish I could throw myself into it completely.

This week’s links…

Orange to LA – has been sick for a few days but that didn’t stop her from testing out Giorgio Armani ‘Eyes To Kill’ #10 Airy Jade. See swatches, and find out if this color was a hit or miss.

Pink Sith – Joeybunny shows you one of the NARS Spring eyeshadow duos and why you NEED to own this DOGON duo!

Phyrra – debuts the Tokidoki Devil Girl Cromatico Palette & shows you swatches and looks. It’s hot for summer!

Vampy Varnish – Channel your inner child with Crayola Scented Nail Polish!

we heart this – There’s something gorgeous blooming at MAC, and it’s called Fashionflower…

Beauty Junkies Unite – puts Tarte’s new emphasEYES Amazonian Clay Waterproof Cream Eyeshadows to the test, find out how they fared!

EauMG – What is your favorite spring floral? EauMG reviews Guerlain Champs-Elysees and there is a sample draw!

Nouveau Cheap – Get your first look at the gorgeous new Wet n Wild limited edition Summer 2011 collections (rumor has it there are some fantastic dupes here).

Do you have a blog?  What are your loves and hates about blogging?

…that got your attention didn’t it?

I’ve been using the Lumos High Speed Top Coat (and base coat) for a few months now, it’s a product that I hadn’t heard much about before.  It’s not cheap but I’m confident that you’re going to need it.

To be honest with you, it’s been *killing* me that I haven’t been able to blog about this sooner but I wanted to make absolutely sure that I didn’t go ahead and rave about this top coat only to watch it go the same way as my numerous bottles of Seche Vite a few months down the line – i.e. gloopy and unusable.

The Lumos High Speed Top Coat hails from a company called Famous Names LLC and a little bit of digging reveals that this company is owned by none other than Jim and Linda Nordstrom of Creative Nail Design fame.  These are people who quite frankly, know what they’re doing when it comes to nails.

So… why do you need it?

Because it appears to be the top coat we’ve all been waiting for.

~ It dries solidly in a couple of minutes… touchproof, smudgeproof.  It’s equally as good as Seche Vite in providing a quick-dry finish.

~ It applies effortlessly, floating over the nail bed without pooling and it doesn’t complain and drag if you need to ‘go over’ it to spread it a little thinner.

~ I haven’t noticed any shrinkage or colour change to my polish after application.

~ It doesn’t go gloopy after a couple of months (3 months of frequent use, still perfect).

~ It seems to last and last and last!

How about some cons to even things up a bit?

Well.. it’s a bit expensive at around £10/£11 a bottle… but considering the image above shows 3 months usage (yes, really – there’s barely a dent in it!), I think it still represents great value for money.

I’ve also been using the Lumos Instant Impact Bottom Coat which promises to increase polish longevity but in all honesty, I’m just not the best placed to comment on its effectiveness simply because I don’t suffer from chips and I rarely want to wear my polishes for longer than 4/5 days at most anyway.  I can say that I haven’t experienced nail staining from my blue polishes (a.k.a smurf nails) since using this, so on that score – it’s a good base coat.

The UK distributor for LUMOS are Sweet Squared, a professional-only distributor.  I bought my duo set from eBay in January (£19.50 for both) but a quick google search also reveals a few other stockists that will sell directly to consumers.

Be quick guys, this really might be your last chance to nab one of these beauties now that the brand have pulled out of Boots.

The Urban Decay Naked Palette is priced on the Debenhams website at £28.80, a 10% saving on the RRP of £32.00 – I’ve had a quick scoot around the web and can’t find any additional codes to bring that price lower but SHD1 still appears to work for free delivery.

Last time around, stock lasted for less than 24 hours.  Get it quick!

Another one of my IMATS purchases from earlier in the year was this Yaby Freestyle palette… ‘freestyle’ because it holds any shape of pan in the same way the more well-known z-palettes do.

Being a Yaby palette, it’s not exactly large… at around 15cm (longest side), it’s smaller than MAC, Z-Palette, Unii and MUFE palettes but as my end goal is to fill it with Yaby products (which are teeny tiny too), I don’t have a problem with the compact sizing.

Mine is currently filled with a few randoms (5 Yaby eyeshadows, a Yaby brow powder, 1 MAC eyeshadow, a Yaby blusher and a Stila eyeshadow to be precise!).

The palette is well-constructed with solid hinges, strong magnets and sturdy housing.  The mirror is large and without any obvious distortions.

It’s pretty much a delight to take away on holiday and I can’t wait to fill it with more baby Yaby goodies!

I bought my Yaby Freestyle Palette from The Makeup Artist Boutique (who were exhibiting at IMATS).  It is priced at £10.99 from their web store.

Despite the moniker, lip glosses aren’t really my bag.  I find them gloopy, sticky, uncomfortable to wear and unless careful not to overapply, can make you look like an extra from Saturday Night Beaver.

Admittedly, they’re less high maintenance than lipsticks and are undoubtedly nifty for quick touch ups when your lippie has all but been eaten away.  However, for me… they come a poor second to my faithful lipstick devotion.

So, how about a hybrid?

NARS Velvet Gloss Lip Pencils are still fairly new additions to the market.  Launched in February, they promise the convenience of a pencil with the application of a lipstick in a jumbo-size crayon design.

Well, first things first… you can kiss the gloopiness issues goodbye.  Thanks to this delivery method, you can apply a thin, even layer of gloss over your lips without any thickness or pooling.  Yes, they’re still a touch tacky on the lips but there is no risk of those disgusting stringy gloss strands when you open your mouth… and we’ve all seen too many of those on over-enthusiastic gloss wearers right?

I was sent two shades from the lineup: Hopi (Honey Beige) and New Lover (Strawberry Pink laced with Gold).

New Lover on the left and Hopi on the right.

The texture is soft, really very soft… take care when sharpening these babies.  I would have preferred to have seen them in a twist-up form but alas, they are what they are.

Again, New Lover is on the left and Hopi on the right.  They’re well pigmented with great, natural colour.  I feared that their pencil form meant that they might go down faster than a fat kid on a seesaw but they’re holding up better than I expected on that score.

Because of their convenience, I keep New Lover in my bag for when my lipstick wears off and have been substituting it for quick fixes post-lunch.  I also have my eye on Baroque which seems more to my taste with its bolder, raspberry undertones.

Finally, a lip swatch of both so you can see how they look applied…

They’re pretty, understated shades that dodge my lipgloss-hating bullet well.

NARS Velvet Gloss Lip Pencils are priced at £17.50 a-piece and are available online and on counter now.

…but damn I can make a decent Hob Nob.

And now that I’ve blown my own trumpet so voraciously, it’s time to admit that these aren’t made from any recipe plucked from my brain.

These are what are known as Twinks Hob Nobs.  Twinks is a poster on MoneySavingExpert who one day, innocently unleashed her Hob Nob recipe on the world.  You can read her post and the resulting thread here.

The absolute trick to these is to not overcook them.  Take them out from the oven when they’re *just* golden and looking barely cooked.  They’ll be soft but will harden as they cool.  I usually half the original recipe and get around 15 chunky biscuits.  I turn into a total Gannet around these biccies so halving the quantity saves me from myself (sometimes).

4oz Self Raising Flour (113g)
4oz Sugar (113g)
4oz Porridge Oats (113g)
4oz Margarine/Butter (113g)
1/2 tbsp Golden Syrup
1/2 tbsp Hot Water
1/4 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

Mix the flour, oats and sugar together in a bowl.  Melt the marg/butter, syrup and water in a pan.  Stir in the bicarbonate of soda and add it to dry mix.

Mix well and mould/press into smallish balls (ping pong size!) which you then put on a greased tray and flatten slightly with a fork.  Put in the oven at 170 degrees C for 12/13 mins… and leave to cool on the tray.  The aim is to get them golden in the oven and not brown.

Do give them a go if you get a minute, they taste 100x better than shop bought Hob Nobs, there’s barely any washing up and they’re done and dusted in under 30 minutes!

Back to the makeup tomorrow!  What have you been cooking up this week?

I’ll admit that when I first saw this shade in the bottle… I thought it looked a bit mauve/rose-granny-chic.  I’m still not sure it feels very Spring/Summer to me but it thankfully has enough raspberry in it to keep it looking modern.

Dahling *air kisses* is a pleasant enough shade.  It doesn’t knock my socks off but it does look good with most outfits and is conservative enough to wear whenever a red might be considered a touch too saucy!  It’s one of those shades that you’d reach for when you want a neat/polished look with little thought.

Application was solid with no issues to report… wear was average too… it’s an all round average kinda polish that will fulfil all your polish needs without blowing your mind.  And let’s be honest, we all need something we can depend on sometimes!

Dahling is available online from PowderRooms priced at £11.95.

Are there any polish shades that you can’t get excited over?

The problem with being on holiday is the amount of catching up you have to do when you get home!  Apologies for the late posting of this week’s Lipstick League – hopefully I shall be back on track next week!

This week’s question of the week…

What’s your signature lip color?

Well, I guess it’s got to be red really hasn’t it?  There are many, many women that wear a red lip with far more confidence than me but I don’t personally know any of them which makes red seem like ‘my’ colour to lots of people around me.

Me?  I still feel a bit like I’m playing ‘dress up’ in it… but that’s probably half the reason I love it so much!

Lipglossiping – contemplates the best way to store her ever-growing collection of nail polish, thank flatpack for IKEA!

Orange to LA – has a Liquid Eyeliner Showdown between her 3 favorite liners, who won? See the results, was it high-end, drugstore, or Japanese?

Pink Sith – Gets nostalgic about lip color and her old flute teacher while telling you all about Giorgio Arman Rouge d’Armani Lipstick # 516.

Phyrra – tells you about an awesome new hair product, Redken’s Radiant Sea Spray.

we heart this – Ready to be blinded with hair science? Living Proof No Frizz shampoo and conditioner makes hair look scientifically better!

Beauty Junkies Unite – gives you a sneak peek at the new OPI Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Collection that launches in May!

Clumps of Mascara – shows the beauty behind one of the greatest places on Earth, Disney World!

EauMG – reviews natural fragrances for Earth Week. Check out this “flapper” jasmine by LUSH.

Nouveau Cheap – shows you five more shades of the amazing new Milani Baked Blushes and each one is prettier than the next.

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What’s YOUR signature lip colour?

Sometimes I get a little bit guilty looking at all the lovely things that I’ve bought and haven’t gotten around to swatching for the blog and after a conversation on Twitter last night with @PinkSith, @LondonMUGirl and @Fauxlivia – it shamed me into grabbing my ‘waiting’ box and dragging the things out of it that I knew I should have gotten around to swatching a bazillion years ago.

7 lip tars (I didn’t bother with the less wearable shades I own) and a pair of slightly sore lips later…

L-R: Hush / Memento / Grandma / Trollop / Pageant / NSFW / Stalker

They all need to be applied with a lip brush and each gives great coverage with just a small amount.  I tend to use a little more than I’ve read *should* be needed but I always end up blotting after because they transfer to my great big front teeth like a total bitch if I don’t.

~ HUSH is the palest shade I own… it’s a beige nude which works well with a smokey eye and is *just* dark enough to avoid the corpse bride look.

~ MEMENTO is a darker, more wearable nude on my skintone thanks to a pinker hue than HUSH.

~ GRANDMA was a gamble for me when I bought it… I thought it would be far too warm for my skintone but it actually turns fairly neutral on my lips despite the tube colour.  One of my favourites for Summer and can be built up to a rich coral with a couple of coats.

~ TROLLOP was purchased purely on the basis of its awesome name so I’m really pleased that I love the colour too!  I’d describe TROLLOP as a warm pink… verging toward the guava territory but not as warm as GRANDMA gets after a couple of coats.

~ PAGEANT was my first Lip Tar… I wanted a hot pink that wasn’t quite neon and found it in this shade.  If you want something a touch bolder than this, go for ANIME (which I don’t have).

Ahhh… the reds…

~ NSFW is the classic neutral red and it really is one of the most bang-on reds I own.

~ Thinking that I didn’t need another OCC red when I was already in love with NSFW, I almost didn’t pick up STALKER.  But oh boy am I glad I did?  It’s a true vampy cool-toned red that works verynicelythankyouverymuch on my skintone.

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Now, I don’t really wear these as often as I should… they need a brush to apply, don’t be trying from the tube unless you have some serious skills.  They can also feather if you over-apply or generally suffer from this anyway… clear lip liners for the win!  I’ve also mentioned the transfer issue… a slight purse of my lips and my teeth get a nice coating too.

Does this mean that I regret buying them?  God, no.  I just regret being too lazy to take the extra little bit of time to ensure that I do these justice.   I hereby solemnly swear to break out my OCC pinks a little more this month!

OCC Lip Tars can be bought in the UK from sites: MakeupArtistBoutique, Cocktail Cosmetics, GenieCosmetics and LoveMakeup.

Do you own any OCC Lip Tars?  Which ones are on your wishlist?

From the upcoming Fall 2011 collection, Touring America…

Personally, I eat Mainely everything but if you want your nails to look like the inside of a ripe, juicy watermelon this Autumn, you’re gonna need a bit of OPI’s I Eat Mainely Lobster* in your life.

I Eat Mainely Lobster is a shimmering almost-neon coral with enough pink in it to keep it looking good on cool skin tones.  It has a pretty under-stated shimmer that catches beautifully in the sunlight.

The image above is underexposed so don’t trust it for shade depth but I wanted to be able to capture the almost molten shimmer particles in this polish… aren’t they pretty?

Formula is quite thin for OPI but it packs enough pigment to have your nailbed covered in two coats.  It dries quickly but lacks glossiness which I’m putting down to the intense brightness of the shade… a quick lick of top coat rectifies that issue.

Overall, I Eat Mainely Lobster is an unusual but winning choice for Autumn/Fall 2011 and I can envisage many toes catching the last few rays of Summer sunshine whilst flashing this shade!

O.P.I – I Eat Mainely Lobster will be available on our shores this August from LenaWhite.

* press sample