A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

Historically, you lovely lot have swept the board with Urban Retreat Beautique’s fun and games and once again, I’m expecting some great sleuthing from you guys, don’t bleedin’ let me down!

Haven’t got a clue what I’m going on about?  Please allow me to explain…

Urban Retreat Beautique will be releasing a total of nine naughty bunny wabbits at 1pm TODAY.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to scour the pages of the Urban Retreat Beautique website and track down those elusive bunnies!  They could be hiding on any product page but once you find one, add it to your basket and go through the checkout process as normal to claim your prize!  The bunny will cost 1p but the prize, will be worth much more!

To ensure you have the fastest fingers, a little preparation is key.  You’ll need to register in order to play (and checkout those prizes), so head over to this page in advance of 1pm today to get signed up.

I wish all you lovely hunters the best of luck and hope an unexpected prize brings you a very happy Easter weekend!

Still on the theme of warming things up a bit in hopeful anticipation of a glorious Summer, I’ve got another lovely bright lip to show you.  This one comes with a difference though, it’s a liqui-gel formula that can also be used as a long-lasting cheek stain.

Beauté Cosmetics hail from Canada, brainchild of makeup artist Beau Nelson.  The range includes lip cremes, glosses, brushes and these lovely liqui-gel stains.  I already own a lip creme (which I don’t believe I’ve ever blogged about) but knew that I wanted to buy one of the liqui-gel stains after reading about them a couple of years ago on LondonMakeupGirl’s blog.

How ridiculous(ly cool) does it look in the tube?  I think, if I’m honest, it’s probably what attracted me in the first place.  Super-neon coral with a cool pink flash?  Awesome.  Don’t worry though, it doesn’t apply anywhere near as scarily as it suggests it will!  Once applied and blended on the lips or cheeks, it’s a really wearable warm pink – perhaps a little vibrant for some, but so very beautiful.

As far as application goes, it’s pretty forgiving once you get used to the texture.  It doesn’t set immediately and gives a fair amount of playtime to get things right before you’re stuck with clown cheeks for the entire day.  Buildability is the key to success with this one, don’t apply a load in one go, especially on the lips or you’ll struggle getting the formula to sit well.  Once the stain has set (after about a minute) you’ll be rewarded with some delicious colour that won’t budge for hours.

The above photo shows Fluoron worn alone on bare lips with a little on my cheeks, I should have applied a touch more for the sake of the camera but I was wary of overdoing it.  Hopefully, you can still make out the colour well enough.  I don’t generally enjoy wearing stains too much but I’m making an exception for this one, or should I say… it’s made an exception for me.

Beauté Liqui-Gel Lip and Cheek Stain in Fluoron is available to buy online in the UK from GuruMakeupEmporium and CocoBeau priced at £23.50

What’s your favourite lip and cheek stain?

There’s been a distinct lack of good nationwide beauty deals from Groupon recently but this one is making up for it!  Spend £20 today and receive £50 credit to spend online at Murad.co.uk

There’s £5.50 postage to pay on every order under £75 but the Murad brand has a great reputation, which is more than can be said for some group-buying beauty deal websites!  If you’ve got a bit more cash to splash, you might be interested in the other deal option which is £125 Murad credit for £50 spend on the Groupon website.

All credit expires on the 5th June 2012.

If you take advantage, let me know what you get!

It’s Earth Month once again, and so far I’ve been doing my bit by making a conscious effort to preserve water.  It’s not been easy and although I love gin, I do miss the odd cup of tea.

Being slightly more eco-conscientious than me this month, are beauty brand Origins who are continuing their partnership with Global ReLeaf in an effort to plant trees in areas that have been damaged by wildfire.  For every product purchased within the Origins A Perfect World franchise between 15th – 28th April 2012, Origins will plant a tree on your behalf.  It doesn’t get a name tag or anything, you just get to feel momentarily smug before jumping in your 4×4.

Perhaps even more exciting than tree planting, is the return of the Origins Trade-In Day!  For one day only, head to your nearest Origins counter and trade in any empty skincare product (from any brand) to receive a complimentary full size of either Starting Over Age-Erasing Moisturiser with Mimosa (value £36!) or A Perfect World SPF25 Age-Defense Moisturizer with White Tea (value £32!).

When?  Saturday 21st April 2012. 

Available on a first come, first serve basis with 5,000 nationwide.

Get it in your diaries ladies and get using up that blah skincare that you’ve been ekeing out for what seems like an eternity.

What will you be trading in?

Everyone loves a good gift with purchase but the problem with them is that once you’ve got the freebie in your hot little hands, the offering can be somewhat… underwhelming.  I should point out that this isn’t the general rule, infact I’d go so far as to say that GWPs are far better nowadays than they were just five years ago.  But, there’s still more than enough disappointing ones out there to go around, which is why I’m pleased to be talking about a particularly well-made and generous GWP that’s available this month from Versace Parfums.

The Versace Tote Bag.

Now we’re not talking fold-up magazine freebie here, this is a serious bag for serious perfumistas!  This Versace gift with purchase* (exclusively at Boots btw) is so well-constructed that I’m properly appreciative of the effort that’s gone into putting out a worthwhile GWP.  As an aside, and because it’s somewhat relevant – Lancome often do great makeup bags for their GWPs, keep an eye out for them.

Anyway, back to the Versace Tote Bag… here’s some detail shots…

It has reinforced corners, a base board, a studded bottom and is fully lined.  It’s also huge.

You can nab one of these limited Versace Tote Bags with the purchase of any Versace pefume over £50.  This includes: Crystal Noir, Yellow Diamond,  Bright Crystal, Vanitas, Pour Femme, and my favourite Versace Versense… a beautifully crisp Spring scent that’s been on my wishlist for over a year.  The GWP is running exclusively instore at Boots, while stocks last.

Do you have a favourite Versace fragrance?  What’s the best GWP you’ve ever received?

* press sample

Ok, I promise – enough with the holiday photos after this and back to the regular beauty stuff.  I’ve got to pull myself out of my post-holiday hangover anyway and get back into my usual routine, why is it always so hard to get going again?

Some of the other highlights of our week included a visit to a working glass & games factory called The House of Marbles, comparing the two distinctly different coastlines of North and South Devon, eating fish and chips on the quayside in Brixham, and climbing up Haytor for a magnificent view over Dartmoor!

“Have you taken it yet? I’m getting some strange looks up here!”

Brixham’s replica of The Golden Hind

A very ropey-looking sandcastle!

It could almost be Santorini right?

Yeah, I know you’re cute.

Torquay Harbour

fishing stuffs

life preserver at Babbacombe

next time, I’d like some tea in my tea please?

who else loves paperweights? just me then…

all cafes/restaurants should provide colouring books and crayons, amen.

heart-shaped cream tea!

doing her ‘work’

banister baubles!

glassworks

funny mirrors, I’m gonna have nightmares about that arm

house of marbles!

Haytor

view from the top (love this one)

yeah, I know… sad.  I COULDN’T STOP MYSELF!

pretty sand at Croyde Bay

Just wanna say a big thanks again for the tips and suggestions you gave me on places to visit, you’ve probably recognised most of them from the photos – talk about a holiday leech!  If you’re ever planning on visiting Winchester/Portsmouth/Southampton/New Forest – I’m your girl to reciprocate the favour!

Are you going anywhere for Easter Weekend?

I took the most ridiculous amount of photos.  Before we left, Mr. L challenged me to put down my iPhone and pick up my camera… and as much as I love the convenience and instant gratification of instagram – there’s nothing quite like the control that a proper camera allows you to have over a photograph.  With over 30gb of images recorded, I think it’s safe to say that I’ve fallen back in love a bit.  I’ve only edited a couple for facebook so far but here’s what the first half of our holiday in Devon looked like…

mint choc chip – is there any better flavour?

lots and lots of seaweed! (or salad as Leila called it)

the sweet spot

red sand!

beautiful tiles in Goodrington

Greedy gulls

A place to call our own (wish!)

A quiet church and beautiful light in Cockington

The first ever sandcastle at Paignton!

Lush textures in Cockington

Cute beach huts in Paignton

A hazy morning in Torquay

Torquay Harbour

My (far-too-grown-up) girl thinking she owns the world

We were so lucky with the weather, every morning we opened the curtains expecting to see an overcast day… not daring to push our luck, but we were greeted with blue skies and gentle breezes from the day we arrived right through to the day we packed up to head home.  Thank you so much for your suggestions on places to visit, I think we probably did most of them!

I want to write a little more about our first proper holiday in what seems like forever, and show you some of the other cool places we visited, but it’s very late and this will do for now!

What I lack in eyeshadow bravery, I like to think I make up for when it comes to choosing lip colours.  Not one to shy away from a bright lip, I first saw Don’t Blink Pink featured on the lovely Clumps of Mascara blog and within five minutes, I had checked out my eBay basket on Paypal containing the luridly bright pink and another, lesser-spotted (on my lips) shade, orange – in the guise of Purty Persimmon.

First things first, these lippies are cheap.  Cheep cheap!  I paid around £6 including shipping from the U.S. for both – they also feel cheap.  They wobble about in their housing like brightly-coloured mini Pisa replicas and you’ll struggle to get a neat edge without the help of a lip brush because the formula is so, so hard.  They do warm up a little on the lips but overall, there is no luxury or even any attempts at luxury in these bullets.  What you will find though, is colour.  And plenty of it.

They’re practically neon on the lips, albeit a wearable neon.  They scream summer and make me feel supremely happy when I catch sight of my lips in the mirror.  Honestly? They make me wanna do a duckface.  Living up to their name, they offer great longevity and although they’re somewhat drying, I didn’t suffer any real problems or discomfort on well-prepped lips.

I’ll admit that I haven’t quite mastered the courage to wear the orange outside of the house just yet but I did get compliments on the pink last week.  If nothing else, this is a really good jump into the deep end for those of you who want to get to grips with some bright shades but don’t want to be spending all of your pennies on something you may not get much wear from.  I bought these from seller: senoritadelsol.

What do you think?  Are you going to be rocking some bright lip shades this year?

Hafsa Issa-Salwe is a 20-something International Business student from London.  She counts the feel of a good body lotion, the glitter of an eyeshadow and the smell of a Lush bath bomb as one of life’s little delights.  The following article is a guest submission, you can read more from Hafsa at Muslimah Beauty.

I have a tonne of make-up and even though I’m in possession of an unhealthy amount of it, it’s quite easy for me to get bored of it all so I love switching things up a little and experiment with what I already have than to buy something else.  Add a squirt of illuminator to your foundation and you’ll get a gorgeous slow, foundation plus blush equals cheek and lip tint, a dab of Vaseline to your bronzer and you’ve got a gel-like bronzer, mix an eye pigment with some water to create eyeliner and you can create a cream shadow with a hint of lotion.

Liquid Blush

Daniel Sandler was a genius when he created his infamous Watercolour Blush.  I’d never used a liquid blush before and I was quite sceptical to use one for fear of it just looking wrong once applied but, I was proven wrong and now I consider liquid blush and I the best of friends!

Powder blush can look too aging on a person, can highlight dry skin and is just downright boring at times whereas liquid and cream blushes make it seem like you’re glowing within and they’re the perfect texture for all you ladies with dry skin.

To mix up my own liquid blush I’ll squeeze a pea sized amount of moisturiser that’s not too thick and creamy as it’ll be quite hard to spread and blend otherwise. Once you’ve mixed the lotion and blush together, you’ve got yourself a very pigmented blush and it’ll set so it won’t budge for ages.

Gel Bronzer

When my beloved MAC Bronzing Powder crumbled to pieces on my holiday in Egypt, I was in the middle of Cairo without a clue of the nearest MAC so I just improvised and created myself a gel bronzer with the help of some Vaseline and the rest is history.

Depending on how dark you want to go, add less or more of the bronzer.  For general reference, it should always be two parts Vaseline to one part bronzer.  For added shimmer if your bronzer isn’t already shimmery, add a liquid illuminator like NARS’ Laguna and you’ll be glowing like you’ve spent two weeks in Barbados instead of grey old Britain!

Other ideas include:

~ Mixing together a little moisturiser, primer and foundation for a long lasting, matte/dewy (this’ll depend on the primer you’re using) for tinted moisturiser.

~ To get a great gel liner, Vaseline and black eyeshadow will do the trick.

~ Go crazy with spring’s colourful eyes trend and swirl together the brightest eyeshadow you have with the tiniest amount of water to make the shadows pop. I love this trick because it leaves the shadow super easy to blend, so this one is ideal for beginners.

~ For a nod to the S/S 2012 marine trend, mix gold glitter into loose silver eyeshadow and swoop across your lids for a gorgeous iridescent finish.

~ Lipbalms on top of lipsticks, and lipsticks on top of lipbalms! Or you could go arts and crafts by melting down a lip moisturiser with a little lipstick for your own homemade tinted lipbalm.

So girls, have fun with the contents of your cosmetics bag by playing with textures to get the most from your make up.

X

Hafsa from Muslimah Beauty

If you would like to submit a non-commercial post to be considered for inclusion on Lipglossiping.com, please email for more details.

Jen is from London and works in PR/Social Media.  She’s a bonafide beauty junkie with a self-confessed “mild” shopping problem!  The following article is a guest submission, you can read more from Jen at A Beauty Junkie in London.

Hello!  Jen from A beauty junkie in London here!  Whilst Charlotte is away on her holidays (not that I’m jealous at all) I’m doing a little guest post for you!

Here’s a little look at the new Khol & Contour Shadow and Light Pencils* from Bourjois.  These pencils each include a light and dark liner shade that compliment each other.  The light shade in each of the pencils has a metallic sheen to it whilst the darker one is matte.

Bourjois Khol & Contour Shadow and Light Pencils

Natural Light

With Flash

Shade wise, the dark shades are all consistently pigmented and feel creamy when used.  Of all of them, the navy blue is the weakest in colour pay off.  The paler shades on the other hard really vary, of course as they are the paler shades the colour pay off naturally contrasts with the darker ones… but when looked at alongside each other the ‘dragee’ shade (the one with the blue) is a bit lame.  So overall, the marine/dragee shade is my least favourite.

I also found that the texture of the lighter shade was a little crumbly, with the tip of the pencil breaking off of when I went to swatch them – because of this I’d definitely swatch them before first use as you don’t’ really want it going in your eye.

The two stand out colour pairings are the khaki and the champagne gold and the brown and the ‘caramel’ purely on the strength of the pigment and how the colour combinations are safe and neutral – but still slightly more unusual. If I was to choose one, I’d go with the khaki/champagne!

* press samples

If you would like to submit a non-commercial post to be considered for inclusion on Lipglossiping.com, please email for more details.

Cigdem is a 22 year old Journalism graduate from London with an obsession for all things fashion and beauty!  The following article is a guest submission, you can read more from Cigdem at It’s Cigdem.

I think I speak for most women when I say that my mission to find the perfect red lipstick is never over. Unlike 10 years ago, we’re now so spoilt for choice it can be a little overwhelming – there are just so many brands selling so many different shades of red!

Miners Lip Colour in Seduction is probably the lipstick with the lowest price point, as it retails at only £3.99, but (thankfully) that’s where the ‘cheapness’ ends.

Seduction is described as ‘a velvety smooth deep red’, and that’s exactly what it is. The colour is the perfect shade for creating a ‘sexy’ pout, as it has hints of blue undertones – so I wouldn’t recommend this if you want to create a bright, retro red lip. I think it’s a good colour if you want to create an edgy, almost gothic look.

Applying it in different way can certainly alter the colour. I found that it was slightly too dark for me when I applied the lipstick straight from the bullet, but with a lip brush (as in the photo) the colour blended in with the pink tones in my lip, creating a colour that looked much better.

I wore this lipstick for about 5 hours and the colour did not wear off at all. It lasted through cups of tea and only came off because I wiped it off with a wipe, and by the end of the day my lips still felt smooth, meaning the long lasting colour didn’t try my lips out.

This lipstick definitely ticks a lot the boxes: it provides strong, long lasting colour, which doesn’t dry out over time. Is it my perfect red lipstick? I’m going to say no, only because I feel like I could find a shade of red that would suit my colouring much better. But apart from the colour, Miners Lip Colour is definitely great value for money!

Miners Lip Colour in Seduction is available online from www.minerscosmetics.co.uk and throughout selected pharmacies for £3.99 (online postage is £1.99).

If you would like to submit a non-commercial post to be considered for inclusion on Lipglossiping.com, please email for more details.

One of my biggest passions after makeup and photography is geography.  I’m an avid consumer of guide books, atlases, and street maps.  I buy an A-Z of nearly every UK town I visit, bought Leila her first globe last year and can spend literally hours poring over google maps.  Despite never having lived there, I can navigate London as well as a native and will always rate exploring a city above lazing on a beach.  I’m crazy about culture (nothing too high-brow mind!), buildings and places.  I geocache in my spare time and go on guided walks in my local area just so that I can see it through the eyes of a tourist.  How many cool points have I lost?

Without getting all cultural about it, and heaven forbid – stereotypical, I’ve been trying to think of how where we live affects our lives from a beauty perspective.  I couldn’t come up with too much in the way of trends without reverting to cultural stereotypes but then I got to thinking about the kinds of products that certain areas of the world seem to produce very, very well.

When I think of skincare, I often think firstly of France with it’s Parisian skincare, therapies and more classic approaches to anti-aging.  Moving across the globe to Australia and it becomes more about the natural approach with tea tree oils, aromatherapy and herbalism.  Heading north to Asia and it’s all about sun protection and masks to promote collagen, a mixture of hi-tech science with traditional ingredients.  Tanning?  Go on… guess.  Brazil!

I would look to the Middle East and India for insights into promoting healthy hair, with natural oils and remedies coming top of the list.  South Asia for treatments… massages, exfoliations, all that body-beautiful stuff.  The U.S.?  Probably surgical cosmetic procedures!

The world really is our oyster when it comes to picking and choosing products, techniques and knowledge.

Where do some of your biggest associations come from?  Which countries or regions do you align with your beauty routine?