A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

Woo-hoo!

Welcome to Christmas in my head!

Tomorrow marks Day 1 of my 25-Day Advent giveaway extravaganza, and here’s the deal…

1. Log on every day between 0:01GMT and 23:59GMT to check out what’s on offer and leave a comment for that particular giveaway saying “please enter me” or “you suck” or something simillar… just mark your territory.

I can’t promise that if you do *actually* write “you suck” that I won’t *accidentally* forget to put your entry into random.org.  Unfortunately, despite the laws of equilibrium… If you tell me that my “hair is awesum” your entry won’t shoot to the top of the pile.  Although I may purr.  Inwardly.

2. Giveaway is open internationally.  I will be posting all prizes out by standard mail/air mail – I can’t afford to send them registered or signed for, I’m sorry.  If anything goes missing along the way I’ll be very sad – but please understand that I won’t be able to replace.

3. From experience, giveaways like this often get posted on competition forums, with die-hard compers clambering for a bit of the action… I have no control over whether or not this happens and all I can do is respectfully state that this giveaway is intended for my readers – past, present and future and that if you don’t find yourself in that category, please have a heart and don’t treat it as the 187th comp you’ve entered today.  Please leave it for another die-hard beauty fanatic who might really love the prize rather than treat it as something to be slung on eBay or wrapped up as a gift for someone you dont’ like.

4. The winner’s names will be posted up at the end of the competition, be sure to check back sometime in the lull between Christmas and New Year for the full list.  If you see your name listed, email me with your details so I can get your prize(s) out to you.

5. You are eligible to win more than once.  You can enter everyday if you wish (and remember!)

6. This is a bit of fun and a thank you from me to you.  Let’s keep it light and fluffy yes?

Clear as mud – good job!

I introduce to you… 6 fabulous ladies & 6 fabulous entries!

I have looked long and hard at these.  I deliberated, umm-ed, ahh-ed and threw some hmmm-ing in there for a bit of added drama.  Mr L was useless, he agreed to have a look whilst stuffing his face with Coco Pops at about 2am last night.

“What am I supposed to do?” says he… “Help me judge the competition.” says I…

“You just pick whichever one you like and I’ll agree”.  I’m sure I heard him mutter “like we usually do” at the end there, but he looked all innocent with milk dribbling down his chin when I spun around to throw my death-ray glare.

Onto Plan B then… (not that I had one until a lightbulb moment half an hour later)

But before that, let me show you the fab candidates…

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Six wonderful entries I’m sure you’ll agree!

So anyway where was I?

Oh yes, being the super cool networker that I am, I worked my magic on Twitter (all Social Media stylee) and persuaded an ultra-hip Make Up Artist from Las Vegas to judge your entries…

Oh ok… so I asked my mate @PinkySpanish to have a look.  But she is a bona fide MUA (some say she’s ultra-hip too) anddddddd she is from Las Vegas… which sounds terribly exotic and edgey to me sat in my front room in Hampshire.

So there we have it!

She’s been looking over your entries and has chosen a winner!

But um, I can’t tell you who it is yet.

I know, I know!! I’ve just made you read this huge post before leaving you sitting there on the edges of your seats.  It’s like I’ve run away with the biscuit tin after filling it with all-butter shortbread right?

The thing is… I don’t know what the prize is.  I was hoping Aussie would let me know today, what with it being THE END OF THE COMPETITION AND ALL but no… so you’ll have to cool your heels for one more night (as will I) and I promise all will be revealed as soon as I hear from them!

So fellow beauty addicts, it’s THAT time of the year again.

Our loved ones begin to quake at the thought of choosing us suitable pressies and our partners become more forgetful about where they keep their wallets… don’t tell me that’s just mine?

Christmas… it’s a time for families and reflection.  Thankfully it’s also a time for stuffing one’s face, getting presents and leaving the washing up to pile sky high.

With the more commercial materialistic angle in mind… I present to you (and Mr. L) my Christmas Wishlist 2009.

1. Alex Monroe Sterling Silver Reed Warbler in Heart Necklace – £89.95

soooo pretty, I love so many Alex Monroe pieces, but this one really stood out to me being so delicate and feminine.

2. Dior 5-Colour Iridescent Eyeshadow – Smoky Crystal – £36.00

The most beautifully cool-toned, shimmery, highly pigmented, smooth like buttah palette in the existence of all palettes that were ever made ever, in the whole wide world.  ’till I find another one.

But right now, I love this one so much that it’s gonna be my Christmas present to myself for being such an amazingly cool person.  I’m so nice.

3. Daniele de Winter – Choc Beauté – €17.94

From the site:

“Choc Beauté are delicious chocolates designed to make your skin more beautiful”

I don’t really need to elaborate on that do I? 4 boxes please… oh go on then, 5.

4. Mason Pearson Bristle & Nylon Hairbrush – £49.90

I’ve had my Mason Pearson Hair Brush in “Handy” size since I was 3 years old… so that’s um *counts* 25 years… 25 years of daily use.  It needs replacing desperately, but considering how old and battered it is – it still does the job every morning.

5. Shu Uemura Art of Hair Essence Absolue – £37.50

A worldwide sellout.  A protective treamtent oil from the masters of hair containing Camellia essence.  Can’t find it anywhere… but since when has that stopped me wanting something?

6. LUSH 12 Days of Christmas Gift Box – £34.95

Winter is all about LUSH for me, I don’t know why… but I get a bit LUSH crazed come December.  I blame Ruby Red Slippers which can be found in The 12 Days of Christmas Box Set (along with a whole lot more!).

7. USLU Airlines Nail Polish in BIV & GRZ – €21 each

I first heard about USLU over at the delightful BeautyWooMe

How can you not love a company who names it’s products after airports?  Here’s 2 for the plane spotter in all of us.

Oh, and incase you’re curious… GRZ stands for Thalerhof Airport in Graz, Austria and BIV is Bria Airport in the Central African Republic.  Don’t say you don’t get no educashion on this here blog!

8. Silk Sleep Silk Blanket – £135

Yes, it’s decadent. No, I don’t care.  It’s 100% Silk and me and Leila need it for cooching in now.  But only if she promises not to pee on it.

9. Nana DeBary – Green – $98

Top notes: bergamot, citron
Heart notes: basil, cardamom
Base notes: thyme, musk, vetiver

Yum! Gotta love a fresh, easy going, green scent.  Reminds me of summer when it um isn’t.

10. Blitz Gold Leaf Shadow by Belmacz – £26

They say:

Belmacz Blitz is a creamy gold eyeshadow that doubles as a brow and cheekbone highlighter. Each pot contains two leaves of pure 24-carat gold and the cream glides on to give a smooth, sheer finish. Layer it on to create a dramatic solid gold effect. As with all Belmacz products, the beauty of Blitz is how well it blends, giving you a flattering, golden shimmer without looking artificially glittery.

Lipglossiping says:

It’s Christmas, why the hell not?

So that’s my top ten Chrimbo Crushes. *wistful sigh*

Just so that you know… in reality, I’ll get…

Lipglossiping, keepin’ it real this (and every) Christmas 😉 x

Tomorrow signals the last day of November.

From there on… it’s downhill all the way, no time to catch our breath with too many presents to buy, cakes to prepare, cards to write and family to dodge.  Come Christmas Eve we may allow ourselves a teeny moment of respite… just enough time to stop, take a breath (and a big glug of Baileys) before hurtling headfirst into the main event.

Don’t even think that you’re going to be able to go anywhere throughout December without someone, somewhere mentioning the C word (no, not that one!)

I’ve been a grumpy old Scrooge about Christmas throughout November.

I genuinely do object to hearing Christmas carols, dodging mechanical Father Christmases and averting my eyes from selection boxes when I’ve only just gotten over the death of summer.  It takes away from the magic of Christmas for me… heck, by the time Christmas Day finally arrives I’m sick to the back teeth of hearing about it.

Now I’ve gotten all that off my chest… let me elaborate on the purpose of this post.

My lovely readers… In an attempt to gear myself up for some genuine festive cheer… I do hereby summon you to come visit my little corner of the internet every day throughout December.

“For Why?” I hear you cry…

Because, my little elves… I have an awesome Christmas Present to give away to one lucky reader every day from December 1st right up to and including Christmas Day itself!

Yes, I’ve been buying and collecting up lots of little bits and pieces since I started blogging this year and have been looking forward to treating you.  I’ve just passed the 200 follower mark, which means a lot to me as I’ve never given incentives for anyone to follow and hope that you have chosen to do so as a way to remember to check in occassionally.

Anyway, enough of all this mush!  How about the goodies?

Well… they range from low-end to high-end… from Revlon to Benefit, from The Body Shop to Shu Uemura. It’s a real mixed bag.

The giveaway will be open internationally, and as always you do not need to be a follower.  If I weren’t a blogger myself, I wouldn’t have a clue how to follow another blog.

Check back on the 1st December to see what treats I have in store for you!

I’m struggling! I need your help!

My lips are getting drier by the day and I’m at a loss as to how to restore them.

I’ve tried all the products you see in the picture below, I’ve applied religiously and thickly.  So thickly infact, I swear down I’ve put on 3lbs thanks to my newly formed lipbalm-licking habits.

So, aside from volumising my waist line… this little lot has done nothing to improve the state of my lips.

I’m thinking that maybe it’s more about the routine than the product?

Should I be exfoliating? Should I be wearing balms with lipstick ontop? Should I buy a scarf to wrap around my mouth if it’s windy? (Dont’ think I can’t hear you muttering Mr. L…) Perhaps I need to apply a winning combo before bed?

They’re not so bad that they’re flaky or even sore.. but my lipsticks are looking like shit on me because of it – and that ladies and errr ladies, just won’t do.

Tell me, what can I do?

STOP PRESS!: Check out Janice’s review on the Eye Transformer too, her photographs demonstrate the whole ‘smoky eye thing’ better than mine and really give a good idea of what I was trying to explain (lamely!).

http://seekforbeauty.blogspot.com/2009/08/review-elf-studio-eye-transformer.html

The new (to the UK) ELF Eye Transformer is another product that was lurking at the bottom of my goody bag from a recent E.L.F event I attended.  It’s an unusual product, I’ve only ever seen one other like it and I think that it fits in very nicely with the rest of the E.L.F Studio lineup.

It has one main function.  Applied over a dark coloured eyeshadow base, it will have the effect on transforming the base into a new and wonderful shimmering iridescent shade.

Make sense?

Let’s look more closely…

Oh there you go, it says what it does on the back of the box… and for bonus points it gets straight to the point.  Unlike me.

Packaging is identical to the Shimmer Palette, it’s good stuff… solid and sleek.

There are four powder shades: Green, Orange, Pink and Blue.

The powders are quite dusty and I’d recommend giving your brush a quick shake or blow before applying the powder ontop of your base.

First, I laid down 4 black base swatches.  I used a black eye shadow from one of my Sleek Palettes, then I layered each Eye Transformer powder over the base…

Let’s see them in action…

As you can see, from left to right… the powders create green, bronze, purple and blue hues when layered ontop of black bases.  Very pretty and much more interesting than plain old black!

This by itself is pretty cool, but I’ve discovered an even better use for them!

I’m rubbish at true smoky eyes, I look like a panda, I find it hard to blend very strong colours.  It’s a shame then that smokey eyes are *everywhere* at the moment.  Hell, Sleek and GOSH have even brought out palettes in celebration…

Let me demonstrate my crapness…

That’s my best effort!  It’s harrrrrrrrrd!

The variations between the black in the crease and the grey on the lid are obvious to me… I just can’t get a smooth blend when I use black, which is why I usually shy away from the shade, favouring greys and browns for crease colours.

However, let’s go over the whole lot with the blue shade from the Eye Transformer Palette…

What do you think?

It’s not *so* visible in the photo as it was in person, but adding the Eye Transformer shade seems to bring the other shades in harmony with one another.

My blending isn’t the best, and I should have definitely gone over that outer edge with my blending brush.  But focusing on the actual lid, don’t the colours seem to flow better?  Am I imagining things?

Anyway, all I can say is…

The ELF Eye Transformer is not the best quality product in the world… the powders are pretty chalky and dusty.

Having said that, I’m a sucker for novelty products like this and usually a little disappointed when I try them.  But I’m really enjoying using this combined with the Sleek Graphite palette.  They simply work as they’re supposed to, opening up many more opportunities for colour.

What are your thoughts?  Have you tried the ELF Eye Transformer Palette? Want to?

Look! *sniff*

My thumbnail broke last night on a ring pull 🙁  It didn’t just break.  It fractured halfway down the nail bed.

I’m trying to be grown up about it, honest I am!  I mean, they’re nails for chrissake, and I was overdue a chop… but I didn’t wanna chop them down to my knuckles!

On the plus side…

~ I can now type without waking the neighbours
~ My iPhone actually responds when I tap it
~ I won’t be waking up with random claw marks on my cheeks
~ Leila doesn’t have to dodge the nails of doom mid-nappy change
~ I can scoop product out of jars without that horrible “loadsofshitstuckundermynailsgetitoff” feeling.
~ I can pick my nose without damaging my brain 😉

On the negative side…

~ I have stumpy nails.

See where the break began?  Stoopid ring pull.

Ok, I realise this post is *incredibly* self indulgent, but I did have more in mind than just to invite you all to my pity party.

….

See how yellow my nails are?  That’s from using copious amounts of nail polish.

You’re supposed to be able to avoid it by using a good basecoat.  Not sure on that one, I do use good basecoats and it doesn’t seem to matter which brand I use… I still get yellow nails.  Infact, as an ex-smoker… my nails have never been yellower than they are now.

So my point is, this gives me the perfect opportunity to trial 3 things that have been waiting for a test.

1). Bubble White Nail Cleaner (available at Sally Beauty)

I have a sachet of this hiding somewhere in my bathroom cabinet, I shall dig it out and give it a try.

2). Barielle Nail Brightener

One of the goodies Barielle sent me.  I was a bit disappointed when I saw it was a cosmetic product as opposed to a treatment.  But if the Bubble White doesn’t do it’s job, I’ll be very pleased to try it!

3. Nailene So Natural/Real/Couture Glue on Nails (I *think* you can get these in Boots – any confirmation gratefully received!)

It’s been many years since I’ve worn glue-on nails… I hope technology has improved since then, or these will last about 45 minutes on my fingers.

So um yeah… every cloud and all that… *sniff sniff*

PURE are a brand I know very little about although I’ve spied the mostly black packaging a few times whilst browsing in Boots.

The first products I noticed by the brand were the Kajal sticks, and I was tempted!  But to be honest, as an unknown quantity… I was loathe to part with any money ’till I’d read a bit more about the brand.

Well, of course that never happened… there’s simply too much makeup in the world worthy of spending my hard-earned cash on and something else equally tempting must have slipped into my line of vision and any thoughts of PURE were promptly dropped.

That is, until I was browsing the Debenhams website last week.

PURE was on sale (at 50% off the RRP) and I saw some eyeshadow duos that I liked the look of…

Pretty!

The packaging is sleek, compact and functional… it’s solidly built and nice to use.

I bought: Freedom, Nude Gold and Havana. (L-R)  I paid £4.25 each.

Nude Gold and Havana look somewhat simillar no?

Clockwise from TopLeft – Freedom, Nude Gold, Havana.

Nude Gold looks a little washed out in my swatch, but it’s equally as vibrant as Havana and Freedom.

I’m really pleased with my purchases, the shadows are smooth, well pigmented and contain a beautiful amount of shimmer without being too sparkly.

They last well without a base and blend easily.  There’s not much more you’d want is there?

My only disappointment is the shade selection, I think I’ve already bought all the ones I’d be interested in bar one – the others look pretty samey or just plain odd.

I’ll be much more willing to try the rest of the brand now though!

Are you a PURE fan?  What have you tried?  What do you want to try?

These are the first Xmas releases Illamasqua have put out, last year they were too busy being all shiny and ‘noo’ to get into the Christmas spirit, so I was interested to see what they had wrapped up for us this year!

Introducing…

Golden Goddess

Containing: Liquid Metal Solstice and Pure Pigment Furore with a Medium Pencil in Sophie and the fabulous false lashes 019.

Silver Seductress

Containing: Liquid Metal Phenomena and Pure Pigment Android with a Medium Pencil Sophie and false lashes 019.

The gift sets cost £54 each, saving £12 if you were to buy each product separately and can be purchased online.

Which is your favourite of the two?

Wahanda (the Spa and Wellness people) got in touch to let me (and you) know about this year’s Wahanda Advent Calendar Competition with over £10,000 worth of prizes to give away.

At least one lucky winner a day stands the chance of winning from a range of prizes including: Spa Breaks, Christmas Gift Sets, Spa Days and gift vouchers.

Log on to the site every morning from the 1st December to get your entry in.  If you’re a forgetful old soul like me, sign up for a daily email reminder.

I love advent competitions and have a little folder full of my favourites that I visit every day in the run up to Christmas.

…and talking of advent competitions….

keep an eye out over the next few days for the announcement of…

The Lipglossiping Xmas ’09 Advent Giveaway.

‘Citing!

Let’s make it an “of the day” day.  First the nails, now the mug.

I know a few of you have wanted to see how the Ben Nye Grand Lumiere Palette actually translates into everyday use.

Quite wonderfully is the answer (if I do say so myself!)

Eyes:

Ben Nye RL-14 (Amethyst)
Ben Nye RL-17 (Cosmic Violet)
Ben Nye RL-4 (Silver)

Check here for swatches

It’s completely wearable no?

For the girl who has everything, priced at £15 each.

Click the image to go to the Nails Inc Christmas Shop.

They Say:

For the girl who has everything. Collect all 3 of these irresistible new shades with gorgeously glitzy crystal caps. These are the perfect stocking fillers and are the ultimate accessory for your dressing table. Snap up all 3 and treat someone to an extra special gift this year.

The shades available are:

Warwick Avenue – Soft Pale Pink
Henrietta Street – Deep Pink Red
Bow – Dark Purpler Shimmer

Special note for Mr. L:

*The girl who has everything*