A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

Have you tried Ellis Faas yet? Rae’s reviewing a few of these super-luxe, super-chic products, starting with Ellis’ Milky Lips line!

Armani Blushing Fabric Second Skin Blushers have caught Louise’s eye.

No bruises here! Check out Maggie’s soft pink and purple face of the day over at The Polka-Dotted Apple.

When do Lego’s and cosmetics have something in common? When Jouer comes to town, that’s when. Watch Jeweled Thumb act 5 and play with a recent haul!

Butter LONDON has some fabulous new nail shades for Autumn 2010 – come check them out on Lipglossiping!

Lisamarie from Beauty Crazed gets up close and personal with the Burberry Beauty line!

Hell Candy attends the Edward Bess UK launch and is blown away by the beauty of everything (the make up AND the man!)

Jolie Laide Girl gets silky soft with Kiehls Lightweight Body Lotion.

Sarah from IHeartCosmetics shows you how to get rid of spots, simply and easily.

Dry skinned and on a budget? Eyelining thinks Boots may have a bargain solution!

Looking for a perfect red nail polish for summer? Take a look at Illamasqua’s Alarm at Makeup4All.

Lipgloss86 conquers all fears and grabs for the epilator in a bid for fuzz free legs.

The Lip Print discovers the sweetest nail shades for spring and has a chat with Orly’s Creative Director about what’s hot for nails!

There’s a new mascara in town! Check out Tsahi’s review on Revlon’s new Luscious Grow Mascara.

Madame B Fatale talks about a product that supports a great cause!

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Be sure to enter Phyrra’s Summer Giveaway! Two winners, great prizes, open worldwide!

It’s Pink Diva Beauty’s birthday and you receive the presents! Have you entered?

Ever wanted to try LA’s Prtty Peaushun? Now you can – Beautywoome is giving it away this month!

Reviva Labs wants to protect and prettify you with their Summer Skincare Giveaway on Prime Beauty.

The Pink Sith is celebrating her second Blog Anniversary with a Purple and Silver giveaway!

I’m 29, but I don’t look a day over 30.

The astute amongst you may have noticed that this isn’t my actual Birthday Cake (I’m sorry Evy… whoever you are).

This is because…

A).  Mr. L is a man

B).  Leila is too stupid to work out how to use a telephone to order me one

C).  I’m not *quite* sad enough to order my own makeup cake (just desecrate other people’s via Google Image search)

Still, as Mr L always says… “Don’t you already have enough makeup?”

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P.S.  I don’t know about you, but that MAC looks kinda fake to me.

After my rubbish experience trying to snaffle a bargain but effective gentle cleanser, BeautyBay.com generously stepped up to the plate and offered to send me something that they claimed was a personal hero product.

How could I resist?

Priori is a brand that’s new to me but I was interested to discover that the CEO behind the brand is more than just an expert in the field.  He actually developed and launched the world’s first glycolic acid (AHA) product in 1983 – frankly, that’s good enough for me.

Do we know what AHA’s are?  They’re generally considered as the slightly harsher big sister to Fruit Enzymes but essentially they’re doing the same job.  Exfoliation.  Obviously, I didn’t wanna use anything harsh on my skin that’s undergoing laser treatment… but at the same time, I’ve fallen for this method of exfoliation in a big way.

So that was my main concern when I was first reading into and looking at the Priori Gentle Facial Cleanser.  The clue however, is in the name.  Gentle.

I’ve been using this creamy cleanser nightly for over a month now and I’m pleased with it.  No tingling, no irritation, no hint that I’m being exfoliated other than that my skin that is remaining soft, supple and fresh day after day.

The formula is great, one pump dispenses the perfect amount of product with no waste and the cleansing cream glides over my skin without foaming.  It also rinses away instantly leaving no residue behind.  I’m not a huge fan of the scent which is practically impossible to describe (trust me, I’ve been sat here trying for the last 10 minutes).  It’s quite a clinical smell that stops short of being chemical if that makes any sense?  I think I might prefer my products to be a little more girly-scented, how tragic!

I’m finding the Priori Gentle Facial Cleanser non-drying (though I still always follow up with a moisturiser) and most essentially it hasn’t aggravated my skin or any areas of redness.  This really does appear to be as gentle as it promises.

This kind of exfoliation can increase your skin’s sensitivity to the sun so as with any product containing AHAs or Enzymes, I’m being careful to ensure that I’m using a facial sunblock of at least SPF30 every day.

Priori Advanced AHA Gentle Facial Cleanser 180ml is priced at £21 and available from BeautyBay.com.

I like the look of the retractable Brow Shaping Brush (plus I’d totally use it for my lashes too), I can’t even tell you the number of times I’ve caught sight of myself in a shop window only to see this staring back at me.

Have you seen any of these on your local counter yet?  What say you?

Check it!

For a limited time only, Illamasqua are offering a makeup amnesty!

Pop along to any one of the following counters between the 17th – 31st July:

Selfridges Oxford Street, Trafford Centre, Birmingham Bullring, Fenwick Newcastle, BT2 Grafton Street Dublin, Debenhams Glasgow, Belfast or Cardiff (phew!) and simply take your old makeup with you.

You can exchange any old tatty bits of used make-up for a rather fabulous 25% discount on the entire Illamasqua range.

What would you swap for?

With my fine hair, I’ll happily admit that I don’t always use conditioner.  I love how conditioner makes my hair feel smoother and softer, but I simply feel that with each extra product I use on my hair, the heavier my hair feels once dried.  With my current hairstyle (a bob) – it’s important to get a bit of root lift to stop my hair looking lank.

Pantene Pro-V’s new Aqualight Range is designed with one thing in mind.  Weightlessness.  It achieves this with some clever technology which I’ll try to summarise as well as I can.

1. Slimmed-Down Silicone. The Aqualight Range has re-evaluated the amount of silicone needed in products for those with finer hair.  Simple no?

2. Clean-Rinse Technology. Making the products as water-soluble as possible means that not only will the product rinse away faster, it will also leave less residue on the hair.

There were other sciencey things that involved molecules and the way in which they break apart, but I’m not gonna pretend to you that I understood it enough to explain it in layman’s terms!

There are 4 products in the range:

Pantene Pro-V Aqua Light Shampoo – New Clean-Rinse Technology allows the products to be rinsed fast meaning hair feels cleaner and lighter. RRP £2.19 (250ml), £3.69 (500ml)

Pantene Pro-V Aqua Light Conditioner – New “Liquid Conditioning” ingredients which stay liquid at room temperature and provide optimum conditioning levels without excess deposits.  RRP £2.19 (200ml), £3.69 (400ml)

Pantene Pro-C Aqua Light Spray Rinse-Off Treatment – A clever, ultra-light intensive hair treatment for extra nourishment without weighing hair down. RRP £3.99

Pantene Pro-V Aqua Light Leave-In Treatment Spray – A lightweight nourishing spray to style and refresh your hair between washes.  The clever “dual phase” formulation contains nourishing ingredients at the top and detangling refreshing ingredients at the bottom. RRP £3.99

First impressions from my samples are good.  Better than good!  After washing and conditioning, my hair feels gently nourished yet light.  But where I really notice it making a difference, is after styling.

I shampoo, condition and then style with a root lifting product and the lift seems to last far longer than normal.  My idea of ‘styling’ is the rather lame “pointing the hairdryer at my roots and hoping for the best” trick, but I’m delighted with the results all the same.

I’m in love with the Aqua Light Rinse-Off Treatment too which is seemingly doing wonders for my dry ends.  Ok, they’re still splitting (need a haircut STAT!)… but they feel smoother and less rough when I roll them between my fingers.  Completely unscientific testing going on here!  I’m a bit unsure about the Aqua Light Leave-In Treatment Spray though.  The whole range smells beautiful and this is no exception.. but I just can’t get it to ‘refresh’ my hair.  It gives it a touch of gloss… but at the moment, I’m not noticing much more than that.

Honestly, I’m always seduced by new hair products that work fabulously well for a couple of months before they simply stop working, so I’ll be sure to come back and update this post if anything changes as I work my way through the products.

I think the Aqua Light range has been out in parts of Europe for a little while but I’ve spotted the shampoo and conditioner online at Tesco last weekend, so I look forward to hearing what you guys think about the range too!

Before you go, I’m curious!  Would you lovely ladies mind letting me know if I’m alone in shunning conditioner in preference for more ‘swishable’ hair?

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After my disappointment with The Body Shop’s new eyeshadows, I was happy to discover just how wonderful the new Baked to Last blushers are!

Available in 2 shades: Petal (cool pink) and Coral (duh coral!)

Weighing in at 5g and costing £12 each, these can’t be described as high street bargain buys.  But, I guess you’re getting your highlighter thrown in too… and the price in this case justifies how great they look once applied.

Some swatches…

When both shades are swirled together, this cool-toned pink blush takes on a slightly more neutral yellow-pink hue.    I can see this being flattering on most skintones.

The coral is hot right?  A bit scary looking even?  Used with a light hand this gives a pretty warm flush to my cheeks, subtle but buildable to quite a bright coral (as you can see!):

Staying power on these is average, and despite being seemingly infused with sparkles, they stop short of making your cheeks look too glittery or metallic.  A great choice for everyday wear.  I’m particularly loving wearing these in conjunction with the new bronzers (well, one of them).  Review of those to follow.

If you had to, which would you go for?  Petal or Coral?

Eyeko Saucy polish, the other limited edition release alongside the new Rain polish.

Saucy is ONE HOT RED!

One of the thinnest formulas I’ve used in a long time, I was sure that it was gonna be a sheer streaky mess until I reached my third coat. I was wrong. Not only is it hot, but it’s a one-coater.

The above shows one coat.

This was gonna be a staple toenail colour for me, one coat means I only have to suck it in and stretch my self stupid for a single run through.

Thing is though, I said ‘was’. Saucy polish stains like a MoFo – and I’m not base coating my toenails.

Eyeko Saucy Polish is currently available as part of a set of three priced at £8.50

If you want to buy either Saucy polish or Rain polish individually, I’ve had confirmation that you will be able to do so from next week.

I’m looking for a guest reviewer please between the ages of 16 – 22 to trial and review a new range of skincare products for young skin.

The range is called Clean Start by Dermalogica.

The reviewer will receive the Clean Start Starter Kit (RRP: £22.50), a single use sachet of Hit The Spot and a full size sample of Smart Mouth Lip Shine (RRP £8.20) to trial and report back on!

If you’re up for the challenge, please register your interest below and remember to put your email address in the bit where it asks for it so that I can contact you!

I’d ideally like you to give the range a full 4 week test period before letting us know your thoughts…. so if you can commit to a new skincare routine for that period and are happy to share your thoughts with my readers then let me know in the comments below!  I’ll chose a reviewer on Friday 16th July.

Thanks ladies!

I’m so freaking excited to see Marrow put in an appearance!  It was custom mixed for Vena Cava back in February and here it is, hitting the main stage!

Four striking new shades to challenge and tempt our purses, a real mix with something to please everyone.

About the AW/2010 collection:

“Buzzwords in nail trend for Fall 2010 are texture, depth, and layering, says Creme. “At Alexander Wang we created a textured beige nail that was modern and sophisticated. Then the press went wild when I custom mixed Marrow at Vena Cava.  It’s a deep, murky purple that suits any skin tone.”

Of the rest of the collection Creme says, “I’ve had the idea for Bumster for ages. It’s an amazing twist on a neutral colour, and this ochre yellow looks INCREDIBLE on!” And finally, “Victoriana” is a deep, twinkling vintage blue that reminds me of all the wonderful historical interiors in London.  I’m having a nostalgic moment!”

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All Hail McQueen – An opaque, holographic beige.

Bumster – An opaque, ochre yellow.

Marrow – A dark, flat, murky & mysterious purple.

Victoriana – A textured, twinkling vintage blue.

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Ugh… Frankly, I’m drooling at the description of All Hail McQueen too… this collection is gonna be a sell out.  I can see Bumster looking particularly amazing on dark skin tones and twinkling vintage blue…. vintage blue? *dies*.

Shamelessly pinched from one of Karen’s old polls…

1. Mood

Submerged.  I’ve pencilled in today as tax return day.  Dread, dread… dread it.  I hate being surrounded by paper, receipts, invoices.  Frazzles my mind very rapidly.

2. Highlight of Last Weekend

Spending time with my niece Mildred.  She’s 6 and is 100x more fun than me.

3. What are three staple makeup items you usually have in your makeup bag?

One of those smudgy Kajal cone liners, they’re so easy to run along the waterline and never need sharpening!
Illamasqua Eye Brow Cake in Gaze, the perfect dark ashy colour for my brows.
Urban Decay Primer Potion – doesn’t need justification!

4. If you could raid one person’s closet, whose would it be?

Oh, this is hard… I’m just not a fashionable chick.  Hmmm…. America Ferrera ALWAYS looks really well turned out on the red carpet. So, I’ll go with her.

5. Your life described in a song?

If only my life were worth writing a song about!  Dunno, Mr. L always says Stone Roses – Waterfall reminds him of me, but I’m gonna say Roxy Music – More Than This seeing as I spend half my life trying to remind myself to live in the moment!

6. How would you describe your ideal Friday night?

Dinner by the harbour with Mr. L, a quiet stroll through empty streets and a goodnight kiss from Leila.

7. Breakfast?

Never remember to have it until lunchtime :/

8. Worst movie you’ve seen this year so far?

Haven’t seen any!

9. Outfit?

Sundress and bare feet

10. Weekly goals?

Finish and submit my taxes, get the fam up to London midweek and keep all my appointments!  I’d like to enjoy my birthday on Saturday too!   I’ve been known to be a bit of a birthday grump.

How is your week shaping up so far?

I’ve admitted to being a bit clueless when it comes to fragrances but having said that, I love to smell good and there’s nothing quite like placing a brand new pristine bottle of beautifully packaged perfume on your dressing table.

My family has one of those family folklores going on… apparently, my Aunt was bought a large bottle of Jean Patou’s Joy in the early 1960s as a gift from a very rich Jordanian in-law.  A ‘welcome to the family’ gift if you will.  It was hugely expensive, more because of the bottle than the scent I believe but my mother describes it as being many, many months wages.

My Aunt didn’t like it much… and over the following months used it to freshen the toilet bowl in the bathroom!

I wonder if she at least kept the bottle?

I guess the moral of the story is never to spend more than £7.64 on a bottle of perfume for my Aunt.

Personally, I’ve never spent more than £80 on a bottle, it’s not a hard and fast rule that I’ve introduced… I just try to be sensible and avoid the counters where I might be tempted to part with more than that.  Frankly, I’m a good girl and 98.7% of the time I live within my means.

Admittedly, there is one ‘name’ that consistently tempts me.  Initials A.G. and it all started with a pair of perfumes created for her daughters.  No prizes for guessing, but do any of you fragrance heads know the perfumes I’m talking about?

Anyway…

I thought I’d introduce you to some new scents that have landed in my email inbox this week:

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Dior’s new Hypnotic Poision Eau Sensuelle.

This, I am hugely excited about.  If you’ve read this, you’ll understand why!  Will this new incarnation of Hypnotic Poison be enough to make me fall in love again?  Due to be released in September priced around £48 for 50ml.

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Sisley Eau du Soir is previewing this month with two very limited ediiton bottles simply named “Black and White” inspired by Anish Kapoor’s exhibition at The Royal Academy.  The fragrance includes notes of fresh mandarin, grapefruit and patchouli with deep pepper, oakmoss, musk and amber.

Priced at £162 each.  They can be previewed instore at Selfridges from today.

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Fronting Calvin Klein’s new fragrance Beauty is German actress Diane Kruger.  It’s already set to be a favourite this Christmas with that beautifully elegant bottle.  Those with a nose for fragrances expect this to be a big hit with more mature consumers.  Available from the 25th August at Debenhams..

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Lastly, Armani Privé Oud Royale is a Selfridges exclusive. Heavily influenced by the powerful, earthy scents of Arabian oils it will be available instore and online from the 18th July priced at £175.

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