A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

It was good to come home last night and sleep in my own bed after 2 days up in the ‘big smoke’.

I’m pleased to see that my post scheduler has been working well, unfortunately I’m all out of draft posts now!  My backups have been well and truly depleted by that little jaunt!  Best get writing then, I’m certainly not suffering from a lack of material (just a lack of sleep).

While I was away, I attended two blogging events, both of which were a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to sharing the details of them with you.

My break away from home was filled with everything I hoped it would be: fun, laughter, alcohol, makeup, good food, good company, christmas lights, iphone tweeting, shopping and eggnog lattes.  But more on all that later.

How have you lovely lot been? Any salacious gossip, life-changing events? A lot can happen in 48hrs you know!

As for me, baby L is off for a nap… and I think I might join her.

…to buy a Heat magazine… *does shoulder shimmy*

So, I wanna check out the big Westfield Shooping Centre (Inglots anyone?), drink some cocktails, maybe hit Selfridges, ooh I definitely want to find a Boots that has a Dior Counter (can any Londoners help me out with that one?), have another Eggnog Latte and eat some KFC (classy).

I’m staying over-night Thursday and will be leaving Leila in charge of Mr. L for the first time.  Nervewracking, but I’m sure he’ll behave himself.

I’m at a bit of a loose end on Friday afternoon, so if anyone wants to meet for a coffee, shout at me on Twitter!

My Advent Giveaway will be ongoing as long as my post scheduler behaves itself.

Keep your fingers crossed for me that the Dior Holiday Palette is still available!

Eeee… d’ya reckon if I sneak this up here at 3am no-one will notice?  It’s in them there Aussie rules that I’m to post it up on my blog.

It’s bad… it’s really rather horrific.  Car crash cosmetics.  The worst of it is… it took me bloody ages!

Oh god… ok… Today’s news is tomorrow’s fish wrap and all that.  I’ll post heavily afterwards to push it onto page 2.

Ta-Da!! *does a whirl*

So, inspiration… what was I thinking? WHAT WAS I THINKING?!

Well, the colours are representative of the Aussie Hair logo…  Purple and white is synonymous with the brand no?

One of the top things that springs to mind when I think of Aussie is fun-loving!! Combine that with it’s home territory and what is more fun loving than the annual Sydney Mardi Gras?

Which goes some way to explain why I went for something a little more ‘out there’!

The white parts are also meant to be like kangaroo tails as in the logo… but um, yeah…

Oh and the stars! Musn’t forget those… well they’re in the Aussie flag of course!!  Very important considering the amount of natural and native ingredients that can be found in some of our favourite Aussie Hair products!

So anyway, that’s my competition entry and despite my current embarrassment I had *so* much fun doing it.  Thanks Aussie for making me think outside of the box.

If you haven’t entered the competition yet, you’re running out of time!!  It’s open internationally (cos who says that it’s just us Brits who love a bit of Aussie?).  You have ’till Monday to get your entries in.  Just show me… what is Aussie all about to you?

On Saturday, I headed to London with my sister-in-law Helen and my cousin Angela.  We were excited to hit the shops, mainline some hazelnut lattes and experience some serious pampering Aussie Style!

By the time we arrived at Adee Phelan’s salon in Covent Garden we were shattered!  Within minutes of getting through the door we were sipping champagne and relaxing on comfy sofas.  A total oasis in a bustling area of central London.

The ladies (and Tom!) from 1000 heads were so friendly and welcoming, we arrived 15minutes late thanks to not being able to find a taxi after our Selfridges rampage and I was worried we’d get some disapproving looks, I needn’t have worried at all!

The lovely Emma & Lauren from 1000 heads – photo courtesy of 1000 heads

Adee Phelan’s salon has one funky interior, very french and beautifully baroque chic… stunning mirrors, gorgeous chandeliers and fab decor.  The ideal setting for a bit of spoiling!

I was a little nervous and as the taps were turned on at the sink, I could feel that I was tensing my neck…  Not for long!!  My lovely stylist had magic fingers!  Despite myself, I could feel my neck relaxing and my head feeling heavier as the gorgeous bubble-gummy scent of Aussie Miracle Moist enveloped me!

After *the* most amazing head massage I was led over to a mirror to let the styling begin!  My gorgeous stylist blow dried my hair using just the teeniest amount of smoothing serum.  Hand on heart, I’ve never seen it look so shiny without using straighteners.  She also rediscovered where my proper parting should be hoorah!  I thought I’d lost that forever LOL!

Once I was done, I was greeted with lots of oohs and ahhs from Angela & Helen which I returned with enthusiasm whilst admiring their glossy locks!

Angela & Helen lovin’ the new ‘dos!

We had (lots) more champagne, and caught up with the other lucky Angels enjoying Aussie’s hospitality.  Amongst us were the lovely Natalie and Yinka.  It was fab to be able to have a chat with Natalie, can you believe we barely mentioned football?! – the evening was far too glam for that.  Yinka, Natalie and I had a good natter about all the draaaahmas occuring in the Beauty community – Sunlove anyone?  Our guests looked suitably bemused “What the hell are they talking about? Geeks.”

Moi! photo courtesy of 1000 heads

Mr. L tried to psychoanalyse this photo and reckons I’m doing “nervous hand things” – I reckon he needs to shut up and make my tea.

1000 heads were very organised… even arranging the Angels in order of height…

After we’d been preened and pampered to within an inch of our lives, we were taken to the nearby Dial Bar to enjoy a cocktail or 2 (who’s counting) before stumbling heading back to the car in the hope of pointing it in the general direction of Southampton!  Thank goodness for designated drivers!

The three of us had a wonderful evening and were treated by Aussie in a manner to which our partner’s hope we don’t become *too* accustomed!

If you haven’t caught up with Project Angel, you can read more about it here – and don’t forget to have a look at my previous experiences here!

Here’s a few more photies of the evening…

Angela – photo courtesy of 1000 heads

Cheese! – photo courtesy of 1000 heads

glamming it up!

THANKS AUSSIE!!

Before being gifted some of these Color Sensational lippies at the recent Maybelline event, I’d heard about this range from other bloggers on t’internet and had rushed out to purchase #112 Ambre Rose.

My experiences with this “lippie du jour” had been really good. I didn’t expect to like it as much as I did (I thought the same about GOSH Darling too). Aside from the simple prettiness of the shade, I found it to be non-drying, easy to apply, nicely pigmented and carrying a gorgeous vanilla scent. Longevity is average for a high-street brand and I’m not ashamed to reapply in public thanks to the pretty case.

Now onto some swatches of just a few of the 26 available shades.

Out of the 7:

#730 (Golden Brown) and #420 (Coral Pop) are not flattering to my cool skintone.

#125 (Shimmer Pink) is beautiful, but a little too shimmery for me.

#148 (Summer Pink) is a little too bright for me to wear comfortably.

which leaves…

#112 (Ambre Rose), #165 (Pink Hurricane) & #240 (Galactic Mauve) as stand out shades for me.  These would really compliment any cool toned ladies out there.

I do wanna say though, #420 (Coral Pop) is a stonking shade for warmer skintones… I’m particularly grumpy about the fact that it doesn’t suit me very well.

Application and formula-wise, they’re consistently good.  If you want a lippie on a budget that you can tote around in your handbag for touch ups on the go, I recommend this line with complete conviction.

I haven’t tried any of the ‘stronger’ shades like #530 (Fatal Red) or #315 (Rich Plum) so I can’t comment on things like bleeding into the lip line, but if these 7 are indicative of the rest of the lineup, I can happily state that wear seems to be nice and even.

I’ll be hunting down a few more shades (especially whilst the 3for2 is still on at Boots) – #108 Pink Pearl (can’t find it and it isn’t even in stock on Boots.com), #132 Sweet Pink, #245 Magic Mauve (possibly) & #605 Precious Beige. 

There’s also a few US only shades that I’m scouring eBay for.

I wasn’t a massive fan of Maybelline’s other new release Pulse Perfection Mascara (although if you are, grab a £1.50 off coupon here) so I’m delighted to be able to enthuse about these!

Available from Boots, Superdrug et al and currently priced at £6.84ea.

I’m not going to give a blow by blow account of the evening as this will probably be the 27th recap of the event you’ve read on various blogs over the past 24hours, and they’d all be far better than mine.  Instead I will simply say that I had a lovely time, met lots of lovely people, got lots of lovely makeup and learnt a little bit more about one of the world’s biggest cosmetic brands.

What I want to do instead, is share a few pictures from the evening and finish off with a FOTD styled entirely with the Maybelline products I received and some very quick thoughts on each product.

haha! look at that saddo pointing at the L’oreal sign, what a mupp….oh.

One of the motivations for the blogger event was to demonstrate and promote 2 of Maybelline’s latest product releases: Pulse Perfection Mascara (new to me!) and Color Sensational Lipsticks (which I’m already a big fan of).  These deserve posts of their own, so you can expect some kind of review coming up in the next couple of weeks.

I also wanted to mention the friendliness of everyone involved in the organisation of the event.  It was heart-warming to see the Maybelline ladies so interested in our obsessive little world of beauty blogging, they seemed to be both fascinated and bemused by our community and how we all know one-another through the written medium, but meet up in real life and treat each other like long lost buds!  It was clear that they were enthusiastic for the brand and worked hard to explain and demonstrate the products.  Nothing was too much trouble.  So thanks Katie (x2 – one of which I baby bored to death, sorry!) and Charlotte (great name) for such an engaging brand experience.  Also, a big thanks to Natalie at HeadstreamPR for all her hard work, answering stupid questions and being a fab Saints fan (ok, so not relevant… but it SO is, shutup).

So, on to my Maybelline FOTD!

I’m not naked, honest.

She definitely wasn’t born with it *cough*.

Here’s the products used:

Face:
~ Maybelline Dream Satin Liquid Foundation in Light Porcelain (Really love the feel of this on the skin & a nice skintone match – average longevity… finish was beautifully soft and smooth and I can’t stop touching my face – spots for me tomorrow!) 
~ Maybelline Pure Cover Mineral Concealer (Nice match for my skin, works under eye without creasing – doesn’t give amazing blemish coverage though.)
~ Maybelline Expertwear Blush in Rose (Ha! Nearly didn’t bother opening this as I thought it would totally suck and I was really rather surprised.. shade was lovely on, a great matte blush which builds pigmentation nicely on my ultra pale skin for a subtle sweep of colour).

Eyes:
~ Maybelline Eyecolour Express in Vintage Rose (I REALLY like this, so easy for on the go.. it’s something I would normally totally turn my nose up, so I’m very happy to have received this to try.)
~ Maybelline Eyestudio Mono in Black Metal (blends much more easily than I thought it would, great with a swipe of UDPP underneath)
~ Maybelline Line Definer (well pigmented with a lovely firm but non-scratchy applicator.  Unfortunately, my pen is leaking  badly, so I’ve had to bin it.)
~ Maybelline Kohl Express (very soft, beautifully pigmented, average longevity)
~ Maybelline The Colossal Volum’ Express Mascara (hate the packaging; love, love the product!)

Lips:
~ Maybelline Superstay Color in Red Passion (Sian already told me I’d love this, she was RIGHT!) Awesome pigmentation, look at that glossy red! As long lasting as you’d want without fading unevenly.  It is still drying though… benchmarks: Less drying than Revlon Colorstay Ultimate Liquid Lipstick, more drying than GOSH Everlasting Lips.

I shall definitely be adding The Colossal Volum’ Express Mascara to my mascara series for further review and I’ll be testing the foundation more before passing final judgement.  I also have another Superstay Lip Colour in my stash and I really want to try some of the more pinky or nude shades (26 shades in total!).. so stand by for further posts on those too!

OK, so about my FOTD (or perhaps FOTN is more apt.) I chose a slightly more dramatic FOTD (for me, anyway) because I’ve been noticing that Maybelline products are pushing the envelope more than ever in terms of their reputation as just another high street/drugstore brand for cosmephobes* (that word is in the dictionary, go look it up if you don’t believe me). 

You only need to look at some of the recent releases to draw this conclusion, which is why I tried for something that would not be particularly work or school-safe… in essence, a look that you’d usually use your ‘best’ makeup to achieve instead of the high-street brands.  Well, looksee… this high street brand is keeping up admirably!

None of the products gave me application difficulties (unless you count my leaky eyeliner) and all powders blended seamlessly.  The effect is slightly more smoky than the photos suggest and I’m still wondering what the postman thought of me rocking this look as I opened the door early this morning burp cloth in one hand, baby in the other… pair of fluffy slippers completing the ensemble.

I lastly want to give a quick shout out to the lovely ladies who went shopping with me yesterday afternoon… we had a neat time in Charles Fox, MAC, Shu Uemura, Space NK et al… perfect enablers… each and every one of them!  Sian, Sophie, Lydia and Leanne – thank you for being so much fun!

* cosmephobe – ok, I lied,  Did you really try look it up? Go on, tell me! Did you really? I would be so embarrassed if I was you right now…

I received a curious invitation a few weeks ago inviting me to take part in a 3 part Aussie event, the first involving a “Secret Silos Treasure Hunt”.  I was left feeling slightly confused by the invitation – but as a nerdy geocacher, there was simply no way I was going to be able to resist a ‘treasure hunt’.

Roll forward a couple of weeks and I received a strange purple envelope in the mail… upon opening it, I saw this:

There was also a solitary silver key rattling about in the bottom of the envelope… hmm, curiouser and curiouser!

Come Saturday morning, there was I, eager eyed and bushy tailed.  I dragged my husband and daughter down to the train station to come along with me for the day.  She’d never been to the “big smoke” before.

Here she is, looking like a little troll waiting for the train:

Upon arrival, I knew exactly where I was headed to find the Secret Silo.  A couple of years ago I’d had to make my way to The Strand to get a last minute visa for a trip to Sydney… so when we got off the train at Victoria, we marched straight to Australia House!

Here’s one for the fact fans, Australia House was the setting for Gringotts Bank in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – ooh! Didn’t know that did you?

As we rounded the corner, I saw a couple of silver trunks and a solitary figure suspiciously hanging about under the “Australia House” sign that you can see in the above pic.  I approached him cautiously incase I had got the location completely wrong, but when I saw the Aussie Roo logo on one of the trunks I gave him a big smile and waved my key about under his nose!

The suspicious man turned out to be a rather nice fellow called Tim, who chatted to me about the event whilst Leila tried to work her charms on him.

Using my mysterious silver key to open up the trunk, he pulled out this rather lovely (and big!) box which he said was full of some lovely goodies – woo hoo!

Before leaving, he took a piccie of me holding my ‘goodie box’ under the “Australia House” sign (I looked a complete state!)  Paul and Leila ran away when the camera was produced – scaredy cats!

After all that excitement and adventure we scooted off to Soho to get a coffee and do some window shopping before a very weary trio headed back home to Southampton on the train.

Once home, I was barely through the door before I was pulling off the cover and opening my Aussie goody box!

Ooh…

Aah… look!

Lovely things!

Lots of Miracle Moist (I already have a bottle of the shampoo, so know I lurve this stuff!), A mini bottle of the 3 Minute Miracle – I know this is cult, but I am ashamed to admit that I’ve never tried it – can’t wait to give it a go and you can expect a review soon! I also got a huge bottle of 3 Minute Miracle Frizz Remedy (will it tame my flyaways I wonder?)

Now, as if that weren’t enough.  There was also a £25 Topshop gift card lurking in the bottom of the box! Wowee!  I’ve already planned my shopping spree – thanks Aussie!  I believe some ladies were also lucky enough to get a £50 spa voucher!  But my box didn’t have one of those (boo!) so I’m not sure if they were prizes for being ‘first finders!’ I should have got my brood up earlier!

Last but not least, there were some little cards for me to hand out… so here we go, a virtual handing out!

YES, that means YOU! Go check it out!

Thanks for a super and VERY original afternoon Aussie!

It was a real treat to be invited to tonight’s Dystopia preview event at Kettners in the heart of Soho, a fab venue which perfectly complemented the informality of the evening ahead.

There were around 30 bloggers present (Tali counted. Real Slow. She had to use her fingers once she got past 10.) and we were treated to delicious cocktails and a Guinness/champagne medley which was surprisingly delicious!

OK, enough about the booze already!  On to the makeup!

Illamasqua are still a very young brand, and it’s clear that they’re having to evolve and grow very rapidly thanks to the huge global success that they’re currently enjoying.  Since their launch nearly a year ago, they’ve become synonymous with bucking the mainstream trends.  They have strived to create a brand intent on celebrating and encouraging one’s alter ego.  But how does this translate for mere mortals like me living in Bobbi Brown land?

I will be truly honest and say that I went to this event with certain preconceptions.  I believed that whilst being very beautiful to look at, the brand and collection would hold little for me that I would consider wearable in my safe little world of boring neutrals.

Hands up, I was wrong.

Dystopia has something for everyone regardless of your attitude toward what (on the surface at least) seems to be a brand and collection that caters to a niche market.  Hand on heart, out of the 6 products I had the opportunity to play with and swatch, 4 of them are now on my shopping list (and 1 of them I received in my goodie bag).  Not bad going from a brand that I thought would have minimal appeal to me in the flesh.

My Must Haves: (I don’t know the names of most of these products but will update when the collection is released on Illa’s website)

~ Pure Pigment – Static – a beautiful iridescent lilac/pink which was met with “oohs and ahhs” from everyone who swatched it.  A real Christmassy affair for the little girl in all of us!

~ Nail Polish – Velocity an on-trend muted purple

~ Eyeshadow in Synth, a beautiful shimmery pale pink shade – gorgeous for highlighting.

~ Intense Lipgloss in Galactic – the most awesomely pigmented silver lipgloss that scared the crap out of me in the tube.  On the lips, it’s pure love.

Here’s a couple of images:

Intense Lipgloss in Galactic – how beautiful is this?  Non sticky and blends out so well that I will be finding more uses for this aside from being a lipgloss. 

Eyeshadow in Machine, a soft nicely pigmented black with a little sparkle.

A huge thank you to Illamasqua for hosting the evening and an even bigger thanks to the whole team for being so approachable and friendly!  It was really lovely to witness how genuinely passionate and proud the Illamasqua team are about their company and to hear how all our feedback (both good and bad!) is being taken on board and used to improve the brand for our future enjoyment.

I had a lovely evening (despite not getting home ’till nearly gone midnight thanks to a signal failure!) and it was great to meet some of my fellow makeup addicts, you’re all fab and I can’t wait to see you all again soon!