A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

I know, it’s horribly sacrilegious to mark such an occasion with a trip to the axis of capitalism but it had to be done, the thought of the new Christmas drinks had been robbing me of sleep!  We finished off our Bonfire Night celebrations with a trip up the road to Winchester which holds an annual torchlit procession through its ancient streets, followed by the biggest bonfire I’d ever seen!

Here’s some photos from Saturday night.

Incase you’re wondering… the new Praline Mocha drink is yumm-o, Leila’s stuck on the babyccinos like an old lush and Mr. L thinks that Toffee Nut Lattes are over-rated (insert gasps here).  Oh, and the cakes in the first photo?  Figment of your imagination 😉

Hope your Bonfire Nights went off with a bang!!

* what a difference a year makes!

There ain’t half some bloody odd names about for products aren’t there?  I always think that the weirdest are the ones that go onnnnnnnnnnnn forever.  By the time I’ve finished reading them, I’ve forgotten how they started.  In the name of all things catchy, surely that can’t be good for memorability?

Skincare is particularly notorious for rubbish names, I guess the brand often needs to name-check the technologies involved *cough* Estee Lauder Daywear Sheer Tint Release Advanced Multi-Protection Anti-Oxidant Moisturizer SPF15 *cough* but really… surely it’s more important not to have your customer standing at the counter scratching their heads.

I know there are women out there who refuse to buy certain products because of their names.  Mostly the sexually-oriented ones like: Orgasm & Deep Throat [NARS], Sexy Mother Pucker [Soap & Glory], MILF [Illamasqua] and the notoriously risque [Urban Decay] with shade names like: Jailbait, Gash & Fetish… or perhaps worse are the drug-loaded references in: Blow, Loaded, Baked, Yeyo, Narcotic and hell, don’t even get me started on [TooFaced’s] Pearl Necklace!

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Anyway, there’s not really much point to this post other than a ramble and to give props to the kooky names out there that never fail to put a smile on my face.  Here are some of my favourites…

01: Bliss – No ‘Zit’ Sherlock
02: Lush – Lovely Jubblies
03: Tanatomicals – Get A Tan Without Looking Like Your Gran (my personal favourite!)
04: Soap & Glory – Super-Colour-Fabu-Lipstick
05: Cowshed – Grumpy Cow Uplifting Bath & Massage Oil

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What are some of your best and worst product names?

We all know how it feels to sneak five minutes of our lunch break on the way back to the office with our sarnies.  Some people will spend that precious respite browsing the news-stands, others may glance over the cosmetic counters.  The very last thing you want to do when you only have minutes to spare?  Get into a conversation with the shop assistant over the latest launches.

Alternatively, you just may be an anti-social bitch like me and prefer to shop without assistance until you request it.  Or perhaps you love hearing about the technology in the latest serums on the market but can never find an SA willing to talk shop with you?

Clinique have been looking at the way us shoppers like to prowl the counters and have come up with a potential solution to this common problem.  Complimentary wrist bands.

Three different coloured wrist bands to be precise.

Which wrist band do you go for?  Well that depends on your mood!

Green = Chat me up and tell me whatchu got!

White = Help me/Serve me, QUICKLY – The boss is coming back any minute now!

Pink = Leave me the hell alone unless I ask otherwise.

How effective this scheme will be, remains to be seen.  I popped by the Clinique counter in Selfridges (Oxford Street) on Tuesday afternoon and although the billboard was up, advertising the new Service As You Like It concept — there wasn’t a wrist band to be seen.  I asked about them and a friendly (though slightly suspicious!) SA explained that they were waiting on more bands to come into stock before they put them out on display.  She kindly let me have a look at the display box and seemed keen on the idea when I asked about it.  It was clear however that there had already been some teething issues with ‘customers’ picking them up in handfuls and simply walking away with them without even attempting to have a look around the counter!  Dreadful.

I have to applaud Clinique for tackling such an age-old problem with this scheme.  Hopefully it will ultimately mean that time is spent more effectively on customers who require assistance and will generate better relationships between the SA and the customer.  A potential win-win situation for both brand and shopper.

Here’s hoping!  What do you think?

The Clinique Service As You Like It complimentary wrist bands are on counter from Selfridges Oxford Street, House of Fraser Meadowhall, House of Fraser Glasgow, Debenhams Leeds and Fenwick Newcastle.

I have been practising like a demon and have finally come up with a way to make a mean loaf (or two) of relatively healthy bread.  My ambition is to get it as low GI as possible without compromising on taste.  I’m still a long way off that goal but edging ever-closer.

I don’t know if any of you are nifty with a bit of dough (and I don’t mean at the Chanel counter) but if you’ve got any tips, I’m all ears!

1. Reactivate your yeast by stirring the yeast and sugar into your measured water.  Make sure it’s not too hot… it should be slightly warmer than tepid.  Leave for around 10 minutes, the yeast should have made the surface foamy.

2.  Combine the flours and salt together in a large mixing bowl.

3.  Add the yeasty water to the dry mixture and combine well before pouring in the melted butter/olive oil.

4.  I use a hand mixer with two dough hooks attached at this stage and mix for 5 minutes on level 3.  If you’re a traditionalist, get kneading for a good 10 minutes.  I use the hand mixer because whenever I knead by hand, I always get tougher bread.  Infact, I just bought a new hand mixer, it’s this one and I thoroughly recommend it.  I paid £18 (not inc. p&p).  Usually when sellers bump the price up like that it means that it’s temporarily out of stock.  The price should drop back down as soon as they get new stock.

6. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and place somewhere warm for ONE hour.  I put mine in the airing cupboard.

7. After an hour, turn the bowl onto a lightly floured surface and punch down to release the gas that’s built up inside the dough.

8. Give the dough a 1 minute knead/shape and place into a well-oiled bread tin.  There are lots of videos about on how to ‘shape’ a loaf.  I’m AWFUL at it.  At this stage, sprinkle in the additional seeds that you may want to add.

9. Cover again and return to warm place for no longer than 30 minutes.  I find this bread is prone to over-proofing and getting a flat top in the oven if I leave it any longer for the 2nd rise.

10.  Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees celsius (fan oven) and whack it on the middle shelf for 45/50 minutes.

11.  Once cooked, you should hear a hollow sound when you tap the bottom of the loaf.  Allow to cool before cutting, no really… as tempting as warm bread is – cutting it too soon is death to a home-baked loaf.

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I usually double up the quantities and make two loaves at once.  Although it sounds laborious, the actual time spent with the dough is minimal (especially if you use a hand-mixer).  This isn’t the kind of recipe you have to stand over watching, stirring etc…

The recipe above works out at around £1.04 a loaf – less if you stick to only wholemeal flour (up the quantity to 450g) and do without the seeds.  There is something very special about turning out a freshly cooked loaf of bread and watching your family come to the conclusion that they never realised that ‘proper’ bread could taste so good.

As usual, my version is kinda lazy and a little bit cheat-y.  It’s not massively low GI but the use of wholemeal/spelt and the addition of seeds means that I ‘fill up’ quicker on smaller portions and it doesn’t spike my blood sugar *quite* as rapidly as plain old white supermarket bread does.  I’m genuinely the kind of girl who could eat bread all day long and this loaf cuts very finely without disintegrating… I really get better portion control without feeling like I’m missing out.  It also tastes a 100x better.

Do you bake your own bread?

My dislike for all things Midnight Cowboy is well-documented.  I don’t have a problem with the colours, au contraire (Rodney), I love the peach-champagne-y goodness that MC, MCRA and its coven of glitter-witches bring.  It’s just, well… a bit of a pain innit?

Now imagine an entire palette based around Midnight Cowboy and it’s equally glitter-tastic night-time shades…

Oh HAI Urban Decay Midnight Emergency Kit*!!  I need an emergency GLITTER cleanup!

The styling reminds me of those “Keep Calm and Carry On” posters you see in billions of guises everywhere nowadays but the silver wallet is hugely resilient to being thrown in the bottom of a bag.  It is a touch chunky considering the fairly slimline contents, I’ve sized it up against my Nintendo DS below…

…it’s very well protected and I can see the whole shebang lasting and lasting without so much as a scratch on it.

The contents of the Midnight Emergency Kit include:

 4 Eyeshadows (Midnight Cowboy, Midnight Sin, Midnight Rodeo and AC/DC)
 1 Lip Junkie Lipgloss (Midnight Cowboy)
 1  Travel-Sized Eyeshadow Brush

I’m not sure how many variants of Champagne a girl needs for a night-time look… something a little blacker wouldn’t have gone a-miss in this palette but I can’t deny that there are four very pretty shades included.

Here’s the rub.  All four will produce major fall out, either during application or after.  Eschew your beloved Urban Decay Primer Potion and use something like Fyrinnae’s Pixie Epoxy to get them to stay stuck well into the night and for the love of God, don’t do your foundation before applying these shades.  Make use of those two tips and you’ll be able to give yourself up to the glitter monster and save your curses for something else.

Pretty yes?

Also included in the kit is a rather lovely lipgloss that doesn’t do too much on it’s own but applied over lipstick, turns your lips from daytime chic to night-time party in an instant.  The Midnight Cowboy shade is a sheer, glittery champagne that looks beautful worn over the top of a neutral lippie to give a bit of oomph and added sexiness.

The final inclusion comes in the form of a travel-sized eyeshadow brush…

It does what it says on the tin and it does it well.  Urban Decay brushes are some of the most under-rated synthetic brushes around.

A couple of FOTDs showing the kit in action…

At £28, I think it leans fairly expensive for what it is and will only really appeal to glitter demons and those under the age of 22.  Of course, there are plenty who will fall into that bracket and I can see this making a spectacular Christmas gift for those who would appreciate it.

However, in the face of some of Urban Decay’s other recent offerings… it’s a thumbs down from me.

Urban Decay Midnight Emergency Kit is priced at £28 and available on counter now and online from House of Fraser, HQ Hair, Debenhams and BeautyBay.

* press sample

The U.S. have always been big on their Christmas ad extravaganzas but historically, in the UK… the only way we could tell that it was Christmas in ad-land was when we heard the opening words…  “It’s a magical place, we’re on our way there…” Extra points if you can guess the ad.

Today, things have changed and some of my favourite ads of recent years have been the Christmas specials from companies including John Lewis, M&S, Sainsburys (maybe not Iceland though eh?)

Some of the cutest in recent years have come from Boots and this year’s is no exception.  I was treated to a sneak preview on Tuesday night and it gave me that teeny little thrill down the back of the neck that reminds you CHRISTMAS IS COMING!!

You can experience the same thrill TONIGHT when The Girls go undercover in an attempt to put Christmas on the map in a big way.  The brand new Boots Christmas 2011 ad will be debuting at 8.15pm with a sixty second slot on ITV and Channel 4 during Emmerdale and Beeny’s Restoration Nightmares.  My Dad fancies Beeny.  Sorry, not relevant.

Anyway, my lips have been sealed shut and I’m not allowed to reveal more about the ad but it is a Christmas cutie… don’t tell anyone I’ve shown you the still, I may have to kill you.  Or The Girls may have to kill me, either way, it wouldn’t be very Christmas-sy.

In the spirit of all things horribly commercial (geddit?), what are your favourite Christmas Ads?

Love the name of this cheeky little number!  Butter London’s Frilly Knickers is a definite contender for a super-cool Christmas polish.  It’s a low maintenance sparkler with more bling than your Christmas lights.

Please excuse my yellow nails (yuk).  Over bare nails, it doesn’t look that incredible, although it’s still a pretty touch for those that prefer a sheer sparkle.  However…

Layer a single coat over a black or dark base and you’re cooking on turbo-powered gas!  A multi-hued, multi-faceted gem of a polish that magically saves shitty manicures with a single stroke.

I heart my Frilly Knickers.

Butter London Frilly Knickers is priced at £11.95 and available online from Powder Rooms.

Last month saw the launch of a new highlighter from Benefit, a brand that have enjoyed great success in the past with their highlighting products that mimic how light and shadow play across the face.

Unlike liquid products like the brand’s previous highlighting options: Highbeam and Moonbeam, Watt’s Up! is a twist-up cream highlighting stick in the style of a NARS Multiple.

Packaged to be reminiscent of a light bulb, it’s cute, kitsch and all the things you’d expect from a brand like Benefit.  One end houses the product… the other, a sponge designed for blending.  Something, which in my opinion is a bit of a waste of time.

I find that the sponge does more to rub the product off than it does to blend it.  You’ll be fine just using your fingertips to get a smooth application though I do appreciate it’s existence as it could well come in handy in my makeup bag put to some other use!

On initial application, the product gives quite a warm champagne glow with a lot of reflection but once blended, it softens to a more natural, neutral hue that will flatter most skintones.  The cream has a lovely amount of slip and glides over my skin which ensures that it’s foundation friendly and blends seamlessly with whatever base I’ve already applied.

Once applied, it sets quite quickly to a powder finish and didn’t slide around on my normal/dry skin or slip during the day, oilier skins may struggle with this depending on how you usually fare with cream-to-powder formulas.

Once blended (the above photo shows unblended), I find the overall effect fairly subtle compared to some of the more pearlescent products that I’ve used in the past and I would happily wear this during both the day and for going out.

At £24.50, I think it’s quite pricey for what it is but I can’t actually find too much fault with the product – I would just like to see it about £6 cheaper.

Benefit Watt’s Up! is available to buy online or on counter from Benefit Cosmetics.