A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

I have a few: Debbie Harry, Anna Karina & Edie Sedgwick but here’s my fav:

Jean Seberg is incredibly beautiful with her trademark pixie cut and simple eyeliner-oriented makeup – just lovely!

Who’s your beauty icons, past or present?

I’m exhausted!  Leila has managed to maintain a constant whinge since Thursday when she had her second round of immunisations.  I’m gonna submit her to the Guiness World Record people if she doesn’t pack it in soon.

So yesterday, I went and got my hair cut.  I’ll preface this by confessing that I haven’t visited a hair salon in about 9 years.  There wasn’t any need.  My hair has been down to the middle of my back for what seems like forever and whenever it started to look scraggy I called on my trusty Mum to cut as straight a line as she could possibly manage.  I’m not precious about my hair… infact, I considered it a high-end haircut if my Mum bothered to wear her specs whilst chopping.

 When I was pregnant, my hair was thick and glossy… I was a walking Pantene advert (that whole ‘pregnancy glow’ thing really IS true by the way!).  Unfortunately, since the arrival of The Grizzler, (or Leila, as I try to remember to call her in public) my hair has changed.  The thickness fell out within weeks and the glossiness faded along with the last contraction.

In recent weeks, I’ve noticed a strange smell lingering about my person.  To my shame, I realised 2 days ago that my hair stunk of drool.  Leila loves nothing more than to suck on her fingers… I use the word ‘fingers’ loosely as she spends most of the day attempting to get the whole fist wedged in there.  These copious amounts of ‘gob’ are then transferred to my hair whenever I am within 50 yards of her.  It’s not like I don’t wash it… don’t underestimate the magnetic powers of saliva.

So… long story short (if this is a short story, I don’t know what a long one is) I finally made that long awaited, much needed hairdresser’s appointment.  And here’s the outcome!

It’s a layered chin-length bob with a side swept fringe and I have no idea how I’m going to stop it looking like an explosion in a mattress factory come the first hair wash.  I don’t own straighteners *shock, horror!* and I only use my hairdryer if I’m going somewhere posh.  This could get ugly – wish me luck!

p.s. My sincere apologies as I have been much neglecting reading and commenting.  My google reader is full of unreads that I’m itching to catch up on.  Hopefully little miss grizzle guts will settle down next week and I can resume my usual parenting routine of sitting at the computer whilst poking her with my foot if she gets a bit bored.  She likes that.

The lovely Michelle over @ LipstickRules tagged me, so here goes:

1). Photography

I love photography and dream that one day I may become talented enough for it to keep me in the manner to which I plan to become accustomed!  I love that I always discover a different way to see things when I’m looking through the lens.  I strive to take images that tell a story and I get so much pleasure from learning about and developing my art.

2). Watching back to back episodes of The Avengers

Avenger-thon!  I could easily spend a whole day cooched up on the sofa with my husband, curtains drawn getting lost in tales of espionage.

3). Reminding myself how tiny my little girl was and how much she’s grown!

4). Beating my husband to the latest geocache find!

Competitive much?  If you don’t know what geocaching is… you probably wouldn’t be interested anyway!

5).  eBay Sniping!

I’m such a muppet.

6). Good Manners

Love seeing people going about their day to day lives displaying good manners. Giving their seats up for people less able to stand, saying thank you to public service workers… warms my heart even more if they’re under the age of 25.

7). Fairy Lights

I love Christmas in all it’s sparkly, cheery, food obsessing loveliness… and nothing epitomises Christmas more in my house than fairy lights.  I can’t get enough of them… I don’t do tasteful when it comes to these things.  I don’t even do co-ordinated.  If it’s twinkly and colourful I’m on it!

8). Achieving the perfect flick!

Mine are still wonky.

9).  Cinnamon Rolls

No explanation needed!

10). Believing in Myself

It doesn’t happen too often, but occasionally I can pull this one off!  Best example was when I gave up smoking.  I had my last cigarette on January 16th 2008 which marked the end of a 20-a-day habit.  I started smoking when I was 14 so in my heart I knew I’d had a good run of it (nearly 13 years) and I didn’t want to be entering my 30s as a smoker.  I had been putting it off for ages as I was sure I would fail… and rather than face failure, I just buried my head in the sand and didn’t even attempt it!  When I finally did give it a go, it was hard… but after the initial few weeks had passed, I started to believe that “YES, I can do this!” – and whatd’yaknow, I did!

11). My Marriage

Awww….

I tag Sophie, Rhamnousia, Stephanie, Nicola & Tali – if you decide to do the tag ladies, let me know so I can have a look!

I hope this isn’t too deep for a Sunday evening/Monday morning, but it’s something that’s been playing on my mind for a few days.

I’ve noticed that disclosing my love for all things cosmetic to a colleague, friend or even family member often has a profound affect on the way I’m perceived by this person.  I’m not completely discounting the possibility that I may be a little hyper-sensitive to this, but generally, I notice a shift in attitude.  This usually involves them expressing a flicker of surprise followed by puzzlement and if they particularly care about me, there’s a genuine sense of disappointment that I don’t choose to invest my energies into something more worthwhile.

I wonder if it’s because I don’t conform to how people prejudiciously imagine fashionistas and their beauty equivalents should look, think and behave?

~ I’m above the age of 22
~ I don’t ‘air kiss’
~ I’m someone’s mother and wife
~ I don’t say ‘awwww bless’ lots
~ I run my own business
~ I can hold a relatively intelligent conversation on a variety of subjects (go me!)
~ I don’t have the *ahem* ideal body shape for displaying fashion
~ I don’t have a complete meltdown if I break a nail (just a mini one)

Don’t get me wrong… there are definitely some women that seem to revel in the stereotype.  My Space-Cadet-O-Meter usually registers the vacuumed in cheekbones/overly ambitious pouting action displayed in some profile pictures.  In general though, since discovering beauty blogs I’ve realised just how diverse the beauty blogging community is, and most bloggers don’t appear to conform to the stereotypes.

I feel sad that our hobby is often regarded with such disdain.  It’s thought of as frivolous, trivial and altogether rather pointless.  Your appearance, rightly or wrongly (that’s a WHOLE other debate!) has a huge impact on your daily life and surely it makes us sensible rather than senseless to invest time and gain pleasure from making the best of what we started life with?

Even my husband (who is completely tolerant) will roll his eyes and gently tease me about going to ‘play’ with my makeup.  I asked him curiously if he could think of another word to replace ‘play’ that didn’t make me sound like an 11 year old about to raid my mother’s vanity case.  He couldn’t, and neither could I.  I don’t mind the expression, I use it myself – but I do think it’s indicative of the attitude that prevails when it comes to beauty.

Either way, I can live with it up until the moment that people I hold in high regard look at me as if I should know better.

Do you have anyone in your life that understands YOU, but just can’t seem to grasp your love for this ‘superficial’ hobby of ours?  And perhaps more importantly, do you notice it having any impact on your perceived credibility?

IN

~ Blog sales, can’t wait to get my hands on my goodies from Louise @ Makeuploveer
~ Inspired by Jenn @ Mizz Worthy, I went a-hunting for makeup storage and landed the obvious choices of Fira and Anordna – can’t wait to get them setup.
~ HQ Hair honouring a discount code I wanted to use post expiry date.  I wasn’t able to use it in time thanks to the product I wanted being out of stock.
~ Discovering a 2nd cousin on Genes Reunited – the world is getting smaller everyday!
~ Finding our first family geocache with Leila (yes, I am a total nerd).
~ Car Boot finds (the most beautiful gently worn baby clothes from Zara)

OUT

~ Leila deciding that she’d quite like to start her day at 4.30am from now on thankyouverymuch.
~ Shopping for cookers… yawn.
~ Having fab skin ruined by 2 ugly insect bites on my chin.
~ Not having a spare moment in which to hot-foot it to Superdrug for my Curious and Safari Sleek palettes.
~ Selfish clients who call for help, then aren’t at home at the arranged meeting time.

In
~ Discovering my local CCS/CCO in Portsmouth, total kid in a sweet shop moment.
~ Garnier Hydralock, picked some of this up on offer in Superdrug – and so far I’m loving it!
~ Shu Uemura Painting Liners, once set – this stuff does not budge!
~ Tickling the back of Leila’s neck and watching her go all squiggly.
~ Food shopping in Lidl.
~ Holding my pregnancy weight loss (yes, I’m weird and bizzarely lost weight whilst pregnant).

Out
~ The weather, it’s the height of summer for gawd’s sake!
~ Wiping baby bottoms and sterilising bottles, ’nuff said
~ My local superdrug not stocking Sleek
~ Having to give up breastfeeding *sob*
~ Still not being able to achieve a decent eyeliner flick – damn it.

My enjoyment at admiring my latest Body Shop haul was short lived when…

…to my horror, I opened up my Oui, Oui, Oui lip butter only to discover that the lip butter goblin had swiped the lot.

The greedy little bastard had even somehow managed to get the plastic wrap back on the pot ensuring it was hygenically resealed (just to mess with my mind some more you understand).

Um, do you think The Body Shop will believe me?  Or will they think I’m some kind of sick desperado who goes around buying Oui, Oui, Oui lip butters… painstakingly scraping out the contents, washing up the pots and returning them for a new one?

I wouldn’t mind SO much, but sods law dictates that I didn’t haul from my local Body Shop… oh no, I had to get this from the store 15 miles away didn’t I.

Anyway, onto the rest of my haul…

Olive Glossing Shampoo & Conditioner: Have heard such good things about this.  My scalp is a mess at the minute, I always suffer from soreness this time of year so I’m hoping something a little more natural than my usual products will help.

Mandarin Orchid Shower Gel: Love my bathing products to smell fruity or tropical and citrusy scents are at the top of my list!

Vitamin E Face Mist: Replacing my last bottle which I find essential for giving my mineral foundation a more dewy appearance.

Rich Plum handwash: This was in the sale, and now that I’m a full time nappy changer – I’m always washing my hands, so thought I’d indulge in something a little more luxurious than Carex!

Almond Home Fragrance Oil: I already own this one (I collect them), but it’s one of my favs so grabbed another bottle while I saw it.

Chamomile Essential Oil: My super bargain of the day, I usually drip a little of this into some milk and add to the bath, it’s normally over £11 a bottle, this was reduced to £1.75 – very happy!

Simply Purify Rejuvenating Bath Soak: Another sale item, contains wasabi extract… love wasabi!

Was sorely tempted by the Coconut Body Scrub too, but I’ve still got a Nirvana Spa one I bought at The Vitality Show to use up.

What are your Body Shop favs?

…confession time.

Looking back through my posts over the last couple of months, my skin has improved 110% since I started making an effort to not go to bed with my makeup still on.

Told you I was a scab.

So, here’s £150 (around $245)…

…it’s burning a hole in your pocket, what would you be rushing out to spend it on?

I love a bit of virtual shopping me!

Cargo – Catalina Blush (lovely ballerina matte pink) – £16

Dior – Capture Totale Foundation (I have half a bottle left, the best liquid foundation I’ve used) – £59

Nars – Angelika Blush (I’m over Orgasm since I’ve discovered that peaches and warm pinks are never gonna look as good as cool toned blushes on me) – £18.50

Ruby & Millie – I-Writer in Purple. (read my HG Liquid Liner) – £10.50 (ea)

MAC – Creme d’Nude Cremesheen Lipstick (gorgeous creamy nude I’ve been wanting for a while) – £12.00

MAC – Mineralize Blush in Gentle (love this cool toned raspberry shade) – £16.50

Korres – Cherry Gloss in Beige Pink – £11.00

Jurlique – Lemon Body Oil (I adore anything lemon scented in body products, so I’ve been lusting after this for a little while!) – £21.00

Total: £153.50

*scrabbles around the back of the sofa for the extra £3.50!*

Anything you’re craving at the moment?  Please feel free to carry this idea onto your blog, would love to hear what you’re getting excited about!

Apologies for this post, it’s random, pic heavy and barely touches on makeup at all *shock horror*

I’m sharing this pseudo-post ‘cos I still can’t be arsed to formulate a proper review on ANYTHING.  My recent hauls are scattered around the house and I’m too lazy to get off my fat bum and round them up for a group photo and I keep forgetting to write down what I used when I do a FOTD which makes it about as useful as a chocolate teapot to anyone but me.

Without further ado…

Look!  Gratuitous pics of my baby girl!

She’s 10 weeks old now and learnt how to grasp and hold onto things this weekend – Einstein I’m telling ya.  Still not giggling though.  I suspect she thinks her parents aren’t very funny, well not ha-ha funny anyway…

Ooh, I’ve also turned into Fanny Cradock and can’t stop baking – maybe it’s a long repressed maternal thing.   Here’s my latest success:

Apple and Cinnamon Cake (with a little bit of ginger thrown in aswell!) – I’m planning on doing a Banana and Baileys one tomorrow (a chopped up Mars bar might fall in to the mixture too!).

What else have I been up to?  A random makeup tidbit, I wore a red lipstick today for the first time ever, well… not the first time ever, but the first time I’ve ever worn it outside the house.

Revlon’s new Colorstay liquid last forever thingamibob in Top Tomato (incase you’re interested) which may be a bit warm for my skintone.

That’s all folks, hope you’re still awake and indeed haven’t died of boredom after reading the post of random capriciousness*

‘Till next time xxxx

*attn. grammar police – Do those two words make sense together? I just wanted an excuse to say ‘capricious’ really…

I’ve never understood cleansing in the traditional cotton wool pad and white cream sense…

I just don’t feel like my face is clean unless it has come into contact with water at some point during my getting up/going to bed routine.

Being a confirmed ‘washer’ doesn’t stop me from being tempted by lovely smelling cleansing lotions and equally fresh smelling bottles of toner – but in general, I just don’t get it?

It seems to me that ‘cleansing’:

a) takes longer
b) involves wiping chemicals on your face and then not washing them off
c) is more expensive
d) involves more waste (cotton wool pads)
e) is less ‘portable’ when travelling

I don’t even own a bottle of make-up remover… although, wait… does cleansing oil count? No, I’m discounting it because it doesn’t involve cotton wool pads and you still need water to use it.

Any of you ‘cleansers’? If so, tell me why! Has no-one let me in on the big secret? I know it’s a personal preference thing and that there are no right or wrong choices, but I would love to undrstand the motivation behind it!

So, I’ve been thinking…

My latest FOTD was quite bright (for me), it’s my 28th birthday today and I’m someone’s Mum.

Should I start being more aware of my age when it comes to cosmetics?

I currently don’t give it much thought.  It’s just not something that inhabits my radar when shopping. 

Perhaps it should be?  I mean, loads of factors influence my purchasing decisions: skintone, seasonal trends, cost, if something is work appropriate/occasion appropriate etc…  But I have never questioned myself on whether I might perhaps be a little too mature to wear that sparkle infused lip gloss.

I’m not the kind of person to bathe myself in glitter, but I do find myself more drawn to shimmer than matte.  It might not have the sophistication of matte, but ooh look! pretty!…

I also spent most of my childhood rubbing my eyes.  Why my eyes always itched and why no-one took me to a doctor to get drops I’ll never know but anyway, I digress, where was I?  Oh yes, Consequently, my eyelids aren’t particularly smooth.  They’re quite creased, which probably isn’t going to look good combined with increasing wrinkles.   Throw in some shimmer eyeshadows and it’s probably not the best look past the age of 30.  That’s not to say it’ll look THAT bad, but it’s just not going to be the best way to draw attention to my features.

I have a confession.  I own a rather pretty NYX dark red glitter polish.  When it came in the post, I ooh’ed and ahh’ed over it, twirling the bottle between my fingers and making my husband agree with me at least 5 times a day that it was the sparkliest, prettiest polish he had ever seen…

I wore it once, and honestly… it made me feel massively self-conscious.  I took Leila to the surgery to get weighed and I hid my nails convinced they’d snatch my daughter off me citing the reason that I obviously wasn’t emotionally mature enough to care for a baby if at the age of 28, I was still painting my nails with red glitter.

Please tell me that I’m not the only one who occasionally thinks this when indulging in a bit of sparkle or a lovely bright colour?

The whole thought of having to consider age as a factor when shopping for cosmetics is quite frankly, depressing.

Youth, as they say – is most definitely wasted on the young.

Now please excuse me, I’m off to play with my Dazzle Dusts and Opi Brights.