A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

When a company bodly declares their latest product as FUN.  Well, it had better be hadn’t it?

LUSH’s latest invention announces itself with the promise that this multi-tasking bar of playdough-esque sudsy stuff will bring a new dimension to bath-times, hand-washing times, and even washing-your-bike times.  You see, FUN is marketed as multi-tasking to the max – it’s basically the perfect present for bath-dodging sculptors everywhere.

I don’t have a bath-dodging sculptor in the house – it’s all I can do to keep both Mr. L and Leila out of the bathroom.  Infact, we have a self-administered timer system for baths and showers lest we prunify ourselves to death with the sheer amount of skin/water contact.

FUN comes in a range of FIVE colours, each offering a different scent to enhance the bathtime experience (descriptions below taken from the website):

Pink: Jam packed with the fruity, candy smells of childhood.
Red: Mandarin and orange essential oils will make you think of sunny orange groves and freshly squeezed juice. Brings a bit of summer sun to your bath and play time.
Blue: Relax and feel ready for sleep when you wash with this mix of lavender, Moroccan chamomile and chamomile blue essential oils. The perfect bedtime bath.
Green: A citrus burst of tangy lime and lemon essential oils will wake you up, keep you feeling fresh and focused and help you play for hours.
Yellow: Creamy vanilla tones evoke thoughts of seaside ice creams, granny’s baking and home comforts.

I set Mr. L the task of deciding whether Lush’s latest invention really was as fun as it ought to be…. let’s see how he did shall we?

“It keeps crumbling”, he grumbled as he tried to mould it into the Eiffel Tower.

“Baby steps.” I advised, “Try for something a little less ambitious…”

… to be honest, I think he could have tried a bit bloody harder.

We agreed that on the FUN scale, it scored a not overly impressive 6 but it did smell pretty delicious.  Ultimately, it was more fun than brushing your teeth but not as fun as eating a Boost bar (we had to eat a Boost bar just to check – we’re nothing if not scientific about these things).

We haven’t tried FUN wet yet… but we have a very willing (and slightly curious) test applicant at our disposal – but more on that tomorrow.

LUSH FUN is avaialable online and instore now, priced at £5.00 per bar – 10p from each sale of FUN goes to help children affected by the Fukushima disaster.

* press sample

Most people dream in black and white.  I dream in red holographic.  Or, at least… I dream OF red holographic.

This isn’t a bad attempt at it, but it’s doesn’t quite cut the mustard in the same way as Glitter Gal’s incarnation of red rainbows.  The holographic is there but it’s very sparse and subtle.  That’s not to say that this isn’t a very pretty red polish with a hint of holo, because that’s precisely what it is.

I bought this one a couple of months ago and sadly I’ve only gotten round to swatching it now that the weather is too overcast, dingy and downright depressing to get any holo effect to show up – but, you get the idea.

Catherine Arley polishes are best gotten hold of via an eBay search, they’re pretty inexpensive.

When it comes to setting your makeup, do you have a preference?

For me, I feel that there’s a certain sacrifice to be made when it comes to accepting the convenience of a pressed powder and the older I get (*cough* more wrinkly *cough*), the less I’m willing to compromise on the ultra-fine, light coverage that a loose powder can provide.

The two shown above are a couple of favourites in my stash (particularly the Becca – which is just so, SO, fine) but I can never make up my mind between them!

Pressed or powder?  Which do you prefer and why?

Question of the Week: – What product makes you happy each time you use it?

Answer:- Perfume. Any perfume. Instant mood lifter, even when I don’t have time to put makeup on in the morning a quick spritz of scent will always make me smile.

Vampy Varnish – Loves the new nail lacquers in the Zoya Winter/Holiday collection!

we heart this – takes a swatch-happy look, and embraces, their latest Vice (via enablers Urban Decay).

Beauty Junkies Unite – The name is Bond…James Bond! See the review and swatches of the new OPI Skyfall Collection for holiday 2012, inspired by 007 himself.

EauMG – Food & Fragrance: Victoria visited The Northwest Chocolate Festival. Here’s her “perfume pairings” for her favorite chocolates at the show.

Lipglossiping – gets spicy with Clinique’s new Chubby Stick Intense in Chunkiest Chili. It’s certainly chunky, but is it as pigmented as they promise?

Gouldylox Reviews – Best laid plans lead to odd adventures. Once again, nothing goes as planned, but at least my hair looked good. Want gorgeous movement and body for yourself, here is the trick I learned at Dry Bar!

Nouveau Cheap – Attention lip balm lovers: here’s an exclusive sneak peek at the Limited Edition Holiday 2012 flavors from Softlips. (Spoiler: yum!)

Pink Sith – Is giving away a WEI to Go Sleep Over Kit in Light. Enter for your chance to win!

Prime Beauty – her never ending quest for BIG hair may have come to an end with her latest Splurge vs. Steal Hair Powder Edition.

Phyrra – Fyrinnae Samhain 2012 is here and Phyrra has swatches, video, looks and a review!

Guest Post of the Week, as chosen by Vampy Varnish – Jeanette from The Swatchaholic does her first ever Galaxy Water Marble look and it’s incredible!

What product makes you happy each time you use it?

Morning!

Hope you’re reading this from the comfort of your beds, I intend to still be fully tucked up when this post goes live – probably with one eye on Franny’s Feet, Mike the Knight or whatever else is showing on TinyPop that will grant us an extra half hour in bed in the morning.  Sweet, sweet children’s T.V.  Once that’s over and done with I’ll be heading to my parent’s house to eat my Dad’s birthday cake celebrate my Dad’s birthday.  Possibly with a little trip to the supermarket on the way back.  Not the most exciting of Saturdays is it?

Whatever you’re doing today, I thought I’d give you a little heads up to a rather tasty free delivery offer that’s gone live over at Illamasqua.com.

The deal lasts until Monday morning and is valid on both domestic and international orders with NO MINIMUM SPEND.

If you’re interested in checking out some of my favourite (and not so well liked) Illamasqua goodies, click here for an archive of Illamasqua-inspired posts.   Also worth checking out is the Illamasqua Perfect Pout bundle; The Retractable Lip Brush, any colour in Medium Pencil and any colour in Lipstick for the price of just £38.00, originally £47.50.

What are your plans for the weekend?

When I made my first online Yves Rocher order a couple of weeks ago, they were offering a couple of free gifts and one of them was this mascara: Sexy Pulp, which to be honest makes me think more about Jarvis Cocker busting a Common People move than anything mascara-related.  And yes, I am not ashamed to admit that I had a soft spot for Jarvis growing up… go listen to Babies/Pink Glove/She’s A Lady and tell me they aren’t some of the best tunes of the 90s!

But less about my taste in music and back to the makeup…

Yves Rocher Sexy Pulp mascara has one of those brushes that curves inward in the middle.  I don’t think I’ve ever used one before and they do work quite efficiently, mimicking the natural curve of the lashes to ensure that you can achieve an even distribution of product across the lash-line without bending your arms into awkward angles.

The formula is neither too wet nor too dry but the packaging doesn’t provide much in the way of a seal when you slide the brush in/out of the tube so I don’t expect the formula to remain wet for very long.  The mascara is nicely rich in pigment and has an elastic quality to it that lengthened my lashes considerably, stretching them out to their full reach without weighing them down.

Two coats are shown above.  I didn’t experience any flaking or smudging and removal was easy enough with some warm water and my usual cleanser.  Yves Rocher Sexy Pulp Mascara doesn’t blow me away but it’s better than I expected from a free gift, no complaints here!

Yves Rocher Sexy Pulp Mascara is available to buy online, currently priced at £8.45 (but do look around for free gift codes!)

If you’re looking for an Autumn-warmer that’s both versatile and nutritious, then you need look no further than good ol’ fashioned home-made soup.  It’s the kind of meal (yes, you CAN have soup for a main meal) that practically cooks itself and tastes even better the second time around.   I usually cook a batch of soup late at night, let it cool, then pop it in the fridge in the morning – we rarely have soup on the same day that I cook it, I generally feel that a good soup needs a day or two to mellow and intensify in flavour before it’s ready for serving.

I’m an advocate for simple, unfussy food.  I like cooking, no… I love cooking just so long as I don’t have to do anything that requires the patience of a saint.  The same with baking… as soon as I see any mention of meticulous decorating or sugarcraft, I close the cover on the book – the finesse of cooking, just doesn’t appeal to me.

With that in mind, today’s recipe is a hearty, if not meaty soup that has been really popular in our household lately.  Except with Leila.  It’s green you see, and Leila doesn’t trust anything that’s green.

One of the best things about this particular soup is that you only need a handful of ingredients to prepare it.  And trust me, despite the lack of content, there is a surfeit of flavour.

Broccoli & Blue Cheese Soup (makes around 3L, serves 8 – enough for freezing)

Olive Oil for frying
5/6 small onions (3 medium ones)
2 heads of broccoli (about 700g worth)
1 large potato (killer jacket sized)
2L of vegetable stock (I use a Bouillon)
100g blue cheese and a little more for crumbling (1 normal sized packet will do it)

1. Chop and fry the onions in a little olive oil (use a stockpot) for this.

2. Peel and dice the potatoes, make up the stock and add to the stockpot (I used 8tsp of bouillon to 2L of boiling water).  Simmer for around 10/15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.

3. Roughly chop the broccoli (the smaller you chop, the easier it will be to blend later) and add it to the simmering mixture.  Allow to cook for a further ten minutes.

4. Crumble the blue cheese into the soup and stir gently until melted.

5. Grab your hand blender and whizz the mixture until smooth.

6. That’s it!  How unfathomably easy is that?

Some pictures of the process…

Sooooo good with fresh bread (homemade of course!).

Especially good with more fresh bread than you know is healthy for you and a little swirl of double cream – but that’s between you, me and the carbs.

What’s your favourite Autumn soup?

My makeup collection is currently languishing, looking slightly-unloved in a 6-drawer Ikea Malm chest with a heap of those little boxy drawer dividers playing referee to stop the lipsticks beating up the mascaras.  It’s anarchy in there.  I miss my beautifully organised Helmers that I could reach into without even leaving my computer chair.  Sure, I guess it’s now all in my bedroom, which makes better sense for morning application – but I do miss play swatching with a random beauty while I’m waiting for my emails to download.

But most of all… I miss the order that I had.  I was in charge, and now it looks as though my collection is the boss once again.

As a result, I’m thinking that perhaps it might be time to have another pare down.  Out with the old and in with the new, ok maybe not in with the new for now – it’s not like I need any more.  Unless, you know… I just have to have something.  I’ve been playing this week with a few bits and bobs that I probably haven’t touched for a year or more – shutup hygiene freaks, I haven’t died from contaminating myself with my own germs yet.

From the picture above, the rediscovered products would be NARS Barbuda – a beautiful (and discontinued) purple-y taupe, MAC Femme-Fi, Bourjois Lilas d’Or Blusher, Clinique Even Better Makeup in 01 Alabaster, and my Guerlain Rouge G in Georgia.  The rest have been in more frequent use over the past 4-6 months anyway.

And here’s the FOTD that resulted…

It’s made me realise that I very, very much still like NARS Barbuda and that I might make the more frequent effort to give my Bourjois blushes a quick scour with a toothbrush (they always go hard and in-penetrable after a bit).

Have you been reacquainting yourself with any lost makeup loves recently?

BareMinerals have launched some new “retouching” products to their lineup of mineral-based cosmetics.  One of their latest introductions to the range is their Stroke of Light Eye Brightener which, to put it simply, is supposed to work in the same way as something like the legendary YSL Touche Eclat – it’s not a traditional concealer folks, it’s a brightener.  And years of disappointment (Y U NO CONCEAL?!) has led me to understand the importance this subtle nuance makes.

The Stroke of Light Eye Brighteners are available in 4 shades ranging from the very lightest – which I have here, through to a level 4… described as “luminous dark”, whether or not that’s dark enough to cover the full spectrum of skin-tones, I don’t know.  The packaging is a doe-foot style applicator in a simple tube – I always appreciate being able to see how much product I have left in the tube, so the unfussy design works for me.

The shade is a lovely match for my skintone and the formula feels very light indeed, with a lot of slip and a sheer consistency.  Don’t expect this thing to conceal darkness, blemishes, pigmentation or actually, anything at all.  You’ll be disappointed.  This is simply supposed to work as a luminosity-giver, delivering light into the shaded areas of your face that could do with ‘perking up’.  The main area, where most people use this type of brightener is under the eyes.  You apply directly from the doe-foot and then blend gently with your finger, ring-fingers are best – they apply less pressure and are less likely to blend the product into oblivion.

There’s not a huge amount of difference is there?  Infact, I’m struggling to see any.  Perhaps it’s because the photos were taken in such a well lit room (my dungeon was out of operation), perhaps it’s because I’m perfect and need no additional eye-brightening (unlikely), or perhaps the product simply doesn’t achieve anything.  The jury is out.  What I will say though is that for an under-eye product, it’s beautifully textured.  It sat on my skin without creasing or seeping into my fine lines and I feel that it gave the area some additional hydration.  Whether it’s supposed to actually do that, I’m not sure – but it felt almost skincare-y (totally a word) as opposed to makeup-y (also a word) when used in that delicate area.

BareMinerals Stroke of Light Eye Brightener is priced at £22 and available on counter and online from bareminerals.co.uk

What say you?  Eye Brighteners… do they work for you or are they simply a case of the Emperor’s new pants?

* press sample

** I should point out that, in fairness, I don’t see a hella lot of difference with any eye-brightening products.

I don’t know if I’m just naturally stupid or if it’s developed with age but I only realised this week that prunes… you know those wrinkly things that your Nan used to serve you with custard to keep you regular, are in fact, plums.  Dried plums.  Did you know this?!  Why didn’t anyone TELL me?  I mean… I never thought there were such things as prune trees but I didn’t make the connection either!

Anyway, huge tangent aside…

Clarins have released a new mascara for Autumn, and in their infinite wisdom, have decided not to call in Prune mascara.  No Sir!  This is Plum mascara – see how that sounds so much better?

Clarins Instant Definition mascara in Intense Plum is a hit of purple-y goodness that stays natural looking, there’s no electric violet lash injections going on here.  This is a mascara that won’t limit your choice of eyeshadow when you wear it and works nicely to jazz things up a little bit in the eye makeup department.

The formula is on the dry side – something I favour in a mascara for giving greater control during application and quicker va-va-voom results but these drier formulas do sometimes last a little less time before hardening in the tube – although the neck seal on this one does feel pretty tight.  The wand is interesting, quite rigid and small – making it great for stubby lashes with an even narrower tip to tickle even the tiniest of corner lashes with colour.

Overall, the results are pretty.  There is clumping on the second coat, but I don’t mind defining the above as pretty clumping.  I have enough lashes in the lash-line for a little bit of clumping to work for the effect rather than against it but if you crave total separation and flutter… you might not like.  I felt that this one gave me Bambi lashes that looked really nice from a distance of more than 3 foot – any closer and I was a little bit aware of da clump.  The colour was a nice touch that didn’t overpower but gave an added interest.  No problems with longevity/flaking/smudging etc. etc.

Clarins Instant Definition Mascara in Intense Plum is priced at £20.00 – it’s a Limited Edition release for Autumn and is unlikely to be available for much longer.

* press sample

Superdry aren’t a brand I know an awful lot about, they first came to my attention courtesy of David Beckham sporting a certain leather jacket that seemed to cement their status as a super-brand (no pun intended). I paid them no more mind (though continued to think a little about Mr. Beckham) until last year, when they released a range of nail polishes before once again, slipping from my radar.  It was only at the beginning of this football season that I was reminded of the brand when it seemed like 80% of the home crowd at St. Marys were sporting Superdry t-shirts of varying shades.  Girls wouldn’t stand for that, we’d look at each other (all 30,000 of us) and be like… “err, awkward”.

But I digress…

The Superdry brand have released a range of female fragrances under the NEON umbrella: Neon Purple, Neon Pink, Neon Orange and Neon Blue.  The Neon Pink is touted to combine amber, jasmine, vanilla, sandalwood and rose.  I definitely get rose and a hit of sandalwood (which gives a bit of a masculine/clean blast) but not much else.  It remains fairly sharp throughout the dry-down with just the very edges softened by a hint of vanilla the more it warms against my skin – I would like to have gotten more amber from this, considering it is, after all, described as an oriental amber.

And now for the packaging, which… in my opinion, is where the brand has concentrated the majority of its efforts.

For girls everywhere who want their perfume to be mistaken for an oversized, camp, Zippo lighter.  This one’s got your name all over it.

Overall, I didn’t really enjoy the scent which feels jumbled and doesn’t do my skin chemistry any favours – the best way I can describe this one is as slightly confused and somewhat jarring.  However, it definitely works well within the brand’s styling and will no doubt appeal to many Superdry customers out there – let’s face it, you can’t deny that it won’t catch your attention on the shelf!

Superdry’s Neon Pink Fragrance is priced at £35 for 40ml, available instore and online at Boots.com

* press sample

When it comes to BB Creams, I remain unconvinced of their reinterpretations within the Western market.  In the past year, I’ve experienced attempts ranging from uninspiring tinted moisturisers with little skin protection to re-badged HD foundation to glow-givers with great SPF that wouldn’t cover a tea stain on a teabag.  I’ve found that in the majority of cases, I’ve ended up reviewing them on the basis of their efforts as a foundation which probably says a lot about how much they’ve achieved when it comes down to the skin benefits side of the equation.  Not a lot.

The first thing I really noticed when I applied Yves Rocher’s Peau Parfaite 6in1 BB Cream was the instant boost of hydration.  I mean, I actually looked down at my fingers to check that it was indeed a tinted cream and not just a moisturiser, thinking that perhaps, I’d misread the box.  But no, looking back up at me, were indeed, skin-coloured fingertips with skin-coloured gloop all over them.

The Yves Rocher incarnation of BB Cream loveliness comes in only two shades and the lightest version, imaginatively named light is a spot-on match for a NW15/20 skin-tone.  It’s extremely pink-toned which I have almost no doubt will cause problems for pale ladies with yellow or olive-toned skins.  For the rest of us, it makes a nice change.

Now, before you get all excited – as I did – as far as I’m concerned, the Yves Rocher Peau Parfaite BB Cream is an immediate BB Cream fail on account of having absolutely no sun-protection rating.  None, nada.  The skincare benefits listed are also pretty vague… as you can see for yourself…

It’s very easy to say revives, restores, smooths and unifies without actually saying much at all in terms that can be tangibly judged.

But just because I’m writing it off as a BB Cream, that’s not to say that I’m writing it off completely… my skin felt very comfortable whilst wearing it throughout the day, it caused no aggravations or flakiness and I was pleased with how my skin looked everytime I looked in the mirror.  My nose did need blotting a couple of times throughout the day but I always experience that whenever I wear a moisturising base, which is what I believe this to be and where, I feel, its greatest strength lies.

I do have to laugh at the packaging which claims that from a satisfaction test on 26 women, 85% thought that their skin was visibly more beautiful.  Basically, that’s a bit of a crap claim isn’t it?  Talk about damning oneself with faint praise.

A perfect skin-tone match though eh what?

I’m aware that a lot of my foundation before/afters aren’t the most mind-blowing examples of WOAH, WHAT A DIFFERENCE!  But that’s probably because I favour (and get more excited about) base products that give a natural, flawless finish rather than a mask-like one.  I probably wouldn’t be happy with my nose redness completely obliterated, what can I say… it matches my eyes!

Yves Rocher Peau Parfaite BB Creme is currently priced at £9 (usual price £18) and is available to buy online at YvesRocher.co.uk – please do a quick google search for discount/free gift codes before buying – my latest order came with a lovely bounty of freebies after spending over a certain amount.

* press sample