A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

I had a little shop-my-stash session and pulled out some things that haven’t seen as much love recently as they should, namely my Face Atelier foundation which is a touch too silicone-heavy for my skin when it’s at its driest in the Winter.  My skin is back in a good place at the moment and I couldn’t wait to see if I still loved it as much as I did last Summer when I bought it.  The answer is a resounding YES!  I’ll do a proper review with before/after shots later in the week, kick me if I don’t ‘cos it makes a great spring/summer foundation for those who aren’t ready to give up ‘propah’ coverage just yet.

My NARS Lhasa got some extra love with a sparkly pairing courtesy of Avon’s Glimmerstick Diamonds Eye Liner in Sugar Plum – it’s a nice way to supercharge a much-loved taupe with a bit of additional colour.  My beautiful Maison Lancome blush* is still pleasing me muchly, especially if I give the brush a good swirl in the darker shades first before building up a little more luminosity courtesy of the pale pink.

Hmm, what else…

Ahh, a Fyrinnae Lip Lustre in Ryo Pinko!  I wasn’t sure if this would still be usable… it’s been a while!  However, it smells and tastes perfectly fine, it’s not quite ready for the cosmetics graveyard just yet!  I love the colour and the metallic finish is a little bit retro (in a good way!).  It inspired me to give today’s FOTD a silly little name though, so it’s all good.

Finally, I layered up two mascaras that I’ve recently been sent and got some epic lashes as a result, I’ll blog them as part of my mascara series shortly.  The Clinique Lash Power Mascara* has a small brush that works well at getting product right into the roots of the lashes before a coat of Clinique High Impact Curling Mascara* ontop sends them skyward.

What’s on your fizzog today and when was the last time you shopped your stash for some forgotten treasures?

* press sample

I’m aware that I’ve been showing you the individual products from the Lancome Fall collection with their corresponding swatches without showing a FOTD to go alongside.  It’s always useful to see product put into context, lip swatches can mean little without being able to see how the shade marries up to the wearer’s colouring etc…

But rather than repeat the same image throughout the posts (you’d be throwing things at your monitor by the time I’d gotten round to the eyeshadow palette), I thought I’d post up the FOTD at the end so you can see how the products harmonise together.

And a reminder of the products used:

Face
Lancome Maison Lancome Blush

Eyes
Lancome Les Oeillades in Blondette Fatale
Lancome Hypnose Drama in Gris Fatal

Lips
Lancome French Touch Absolu Lipstick in #102 Rouge St Honore

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I thought it was going to be the blush that would steal my heart from this collection but I’m afraid I’ve reverted to type.  For me, it’s all about the lips and that beautiful vintage-styled lipstick casing.  I’ll be checking out the other two shades available when the collection is released tomorrow.

Will you be heading to your local counter for a closer look at Lancome’s 29, Saint Honore Fall Collection?

To complete the Fall collection, Lancome will release two new nail polishes in classic red and edgy black.

The red – #22 Rouge St Honore is a classic, vixen red creme with great single-coat opacity and a high gloss finish.  The brush on these polishes is wide and allows for 3-stroke coverage, meaning that I was completely done with the red in less than 5 minutes from start to finish (not allowing for drying time of course).

The black – #29 Noir is a little more unusual in that the inky base  is infused with mini, multi-coloured flecks.  Sadly, these don’t quite translate as vividly on the nail as they do in the bottle.  Also a little sheerer than the red, this one took a respectable 2 coats to achieve opacity.

See below for swatches…

Lancome’s Le Vernis in #22 Rouge Saint Honore & #29 Noir 29 are priced at £12.50 each and available at Lancome counters nationwide from 1st September 2011

Grey eyeliner, I’m a fan… grey mascara?  I knew I was gonna need some convincing…

Lancome’s Fall 2011 collection, which I’ve been previewing this week includes the popular Hypnose Drama mascara in a new shade: Gris Fatal.

They say…

In just one stroke, lash volume is magnified, customisable and offers women intenseley expressive eyes.  Hypnose Drama in Gris Fatal dresses lashes in this season’s it-shade, defining and sculpting lashes without looking hevaily “made-up”.

I’m a sucker for lashes.  Blessed with decent natural length and curl, I like my mascara to take things to the next level and always opt for the blackest of the black to tint them.  I have to say, the new shade doesn’t float my boat but it has opened my eyes (har har) to a previously untested formula!

Gris Fatal is a flat, darker than mid-toned grey that would suit anyone who finds that black mascara makes them look a bit ‘doll-i-fied’ (nice madeup word there).  Infact, my mother has stolen this from me and it looks fabulous on her.  For reference, she’s blond with sparse lashes, heavily hooded eyelids and piercing blue eyes, single-handedly – this shade has given her back an interest in cosmetics.  God help me.

So, while I won’t recommend this one for anyone who likes BIG lashes, it’s perfect for women (especially older women) who want a more natural, polished look.

And the formula?  Well, it’s lovely!  Nicely balanced, lengthening and volumising with zero clumps.  I do believe this is VexInTheCity‘s favourite mascara of all time (we were having a conflab about the merits of this vs. my newly beloved Benefit They’re Real just the other day!), so I will have to put my money where her big gob is and plump for it in black very soon!

Have you tried Lancome Hypnose Drama?  How about grey mascara – reckon you could rock it?

Lancome’s Hypnose Drama in Gris Fatal Mascara is priced at £20.50 and available at Lancome counters nationwide from 1st September 2011

* press sample

The second piece from this year’s Lancome Fall collection that I wanted to show you was the new eyeshadow palette, Les Oeillades in Blondette Fatale, featuring an array of wearable neutrals and multi-tasking eyeliner/brow shades.

This beautifully designed brown and taupe palette can be used to create a beautiful smoky eye effect.  It can also be used for subtle shading and for softer, more natural definition, you can use the metallic shades to illuminate the lids and the matte shades to define and sculpt the eye area.

Shown top left, is the dark liner/brow shade which is an ash-toned dark brown matte with a firm texture.  Next along is a mid-toned brown matte shade which leans slightly warm and can also be used for filling in fair brows.  The two bottom spaces are taken up by a pair of metallic shadows, one cool and one warm.  The bottom left works beautifully toward the inner corner to inject a hint of light without being ‘highlighter-y’.  The bronzier shade (bottom right) is nice to wear dabbed over the base in the centre of the lid.

Aaron de Mey, Lancome’s Global Make-Up Director suggests…

The eye shadow can also be used wet with a small brush on the eye area if you wish a more intense result or dry with small soft brushes to shade and sculpt, always remembering that darkness makes areas recede and lighter shades bring features ‘forward’.

The pigmentation on these is nicely build-able, with the mattes requiring a couple of swipes to achieve the payoff shown above.  The metallics are, as usual, the most strongly pigmented in the palette.  The colour-combination and texture shows this palette to be a more grown-up version of a neutral work palette.  The build-ability ensures that Les Oeillades in Blondette Fatale can be put to use in both day and night-time situations depending on the intensity required.

I tend to wear these higher-end shadows without primer and these held up very well indeed.  I’m sure using the mattes as a base increases the longevity of the shimmers successfully.  I also want to mention the little ‘tools’ included with the palette which I would usually either ignore (at best) or ridicule.  The ones included with this palette are actually brilliant for travel.  A completely useable angled brush for brows, the usual application sponge (ignore that one) and a pointy, thin sponge that works brilliantly to line the eyes.  Colour me impressed.

Overall, I would describe Les Oeillades in Blondette Fatale as an incredibly versatile palette.  It may well be that you, like me, already have 101 neutrals in your collection in which case, I’d say this is great for travel thanks to the inclusion of genuinely useful brow/liners shades and tools but is otherwise a non-essential.

Lancome’s Les Oeillades in Blondette Fatale is priced at £33.00 and available at Lancome counters nationwide from 1st September 2011

* press sample

Perhaps one shouldn’t judge a collection on the sum of its smallest parts but damn, I like lipstick.  And I really like this lipstick.  Lancome’s French Touch Absolu is heavyweight, solid and beautifully designed to capture the attention of vintage-lipstick lovers everywhere.

You should take note of how small this is.  Possibly the one down-side to retaining that authentic, vintage styling.  It’s practically a stub.  A stub of beauty, but a stub nonetheless.  For the princely sum of £23.50, you get 3.7ml (not listed in grams) of product (EDIT: Rouge Deluxe has come to the rescue and confirmed that you get 3g of product, the same as a MAC lipstick – so, erm, ignore me).

It has a wonderful old-fashioned lipstick scent that evokes memories of playing with my Nan’s makeup when I was a little girl.  It’s thoroughly charming and despite the obvious absence of any value for money… my heart has been captured.

In 1945, Lancome redefined the codes of beauty by launching “Shaker”, its very first lipstick, in the ultimate shade of red.

In creating the latest French Touch Absolu, Aaron de Mey has once again drawn inspiration from Lancome’s heritage whilst adding a modern twist.  The sumptuous, creamy texture of French Touch Absolu guarantees a deliciously sensual velvet touch: a true silk cream enhanced with Pro-Xylane™ to give lips stunning contour and shape.

One swipe.  Perhaps there is a little more value for money there than I first anticipated…  The above swatch shows shade #102 Rouge St Honore, but there will be two other reds available (#100 Rouge 29 and #104 Rouge Faubourg).

Words can’t quite express how in love I am with this lipstick.  I mean, I know the collection is all about that blush, which is of course ridiculously pretty.  But I’m not just looking at it, I wanna use it and this lipstick would blow most products out of the water.  It’s creamy without being heavy, moisturising without being slippy and once blotted, it stays put for hours.  Love.

Lancome’s French Touch Absolu Lipstick in Rouge St Honoré is priced at £23.50 and available at Lancome counters nationwide from 1st September 2011

*press sample

I couldn’t keep this one under wraps any longer. I was going to save it ’til last but like a fat kid with a plate of biscuits, I’m licking the chocolate off the digestives.

With the charm of a vintage postcard, the very essence of Paris has been captured in this season’s blush palette. The silhouette of the Eiffel Tower, the typically Parisian Art Nouveau streetlamp lighting the cobbled pavement outside the historical House of Lancome at 29, rue du Faubourg Saint Honore makes this palette a true work of art.

Three soft shades combine to make up this palette which can be used either as a highlighter or a blusher depending on skin-tone. It contains a very fine golden shimmer beneath the overspray which lifts the matte formula and adds another dimension.

I personally wouldn’t recommend trying to use the shades independently of one another, they’re sheer and the small surface area would simply make that endeavour a giant pain the in backside. Instead, a fluffy brush will pick up plenty of product (it’s a touch powdery) and deposit a little more than a wash wherever desired.

As mentioned, this is sheer but build-able. Sheerer than I thought it would be so if you’re a darker skin-tone you may want to have an SA try this on you before purchasing. For fairer skins, you may have just found your ‘can’t overcook it’ blush of choice this Winter.

I’d describe the shade (all three colours combined) as a pale rose with a hint of sparkle. The above swatch was done with a finger (2 layers) and I found that the Maison Lancome blush nicely deposits luminosity aswell as colour, making this a good potential highlighter if your skin tone will allow it. It’s not at all metallic or shimmery so you don’t need to worry about it highlighting enlarged pores.

Aaron de Mey, Lancome’s Global Make-Up Director suggests…

Use as an overall cheek blush with a large, soft fluffy brush, keeping it high and central on the cheekbones. It adds soft, sheer colour and definition to the face by illuminating the cheekbones.

Maison Lancome Blush is priced at £32.50 and will be available at Lancome counters nationwide from 1st September 2011

* press sample

This Autumn sees the launch of what I can honestly say is the first seasonal collection that’s had me properly excited in a long time.  I knew Autumn wouldn’t let me down.  A beautiful neutral eye palette?  Tick.  A visually tantalising and wearable blush palette?  Tick.  A vintage-styled red lipstick?  Tick.

Be still my heart, be still.  Lancome’s 29, Saint Honoré is coming to town.

Inspired by the Femme Fatale trend of the 1930s and 40s, Aaron De Mey celebrates the flamboyant style of the urban, daring and stylish woman of this time (that’s me! – ed) in his new collection for Lancome.  A woman who uses her make-up to define, enhance, strengthen and intensify her beauty.

French Touch Absolu Lipstick £23.50
Les Oeillades Eye Palette £33
Maison Lancome Blush £32.50
Le Vernis Nail Varnish £12.50
Hypnose Drama Mascara £20.50

Chic, Parisian styling from a brand celebrating its heritage, the “29, Saint Honoré” references the address of the Lancome Institute, the brand’s historic home since its creation in 1935.

Of the Fall collection, Aaron De Mey, Lancome’s Global Make-Up Director said…

“I really wanted to create an essential make-up collection that represents the staples of a chic, sophisticated women’s make-up arsenal: red lips, brown lined, sculpted, defined eyes, groomed brows and fluffy lashes… A neutral coloured make-up with metallic hints layered over matt sculpting, defining powders.  A return to simplicity and sophistication…

It allows me to show a glamourous, graphic, sophisticated make-up style: Brown lined eyes with shades of Taupe, red painted lips and red or sparkly black nails… Very Femme Fatale.”

As much as it physically pains me to spoil the pristine surface of that blush, I wasn’t sent it to look at from a distance.  I’ll be sticking my fingers in the palettes and bringing some swatches over the next few days.

Classic, elegant and understated.  Sadly not the three words I’d use to describe myself but at least this collection might help me fake it.

Lancome 29, Saint Honoré will be available at Lancome counters nationwide from 1st September 2011.

* press sample

Ahh a miracle… wouldn’t that be nice?  Let’s bottle some little miracles, tint them the same colour as our skintones and then buff ‘em all over our face in the morning when we’re looking a bit ropey.  Et voila, we go from Linda La Hughes to Linda Lusardi in under 50 seconds.

Pop!  There goes that bubble…

a).  Only about half of you will know who Linda Lusardi is and I should really set my sights a little higher than page 3.

b).  I’m not sure I believe in miracles and if I did, I wouldn’t find them in a bottle (unless it was 70% proof).

and

c).  Shut up and review the damn foundation already.

Lancome Teint Miracle is the company’s newest base which has, they say, been 10 years in the making.  It comes backed with some pretty flowery statements.  Stuff like…

Lancome decrypts the inner light of perfect skin and recreates it.

To that, I simply raise an eyebrow and say…

O Rly?

Teint Miracle is a medium/full coverage foundation that somehow manages to defy the laws of physics by retaining a light, fluid texture that blends as easily as my MAC F&B whilst offering coverage to almost rival something as potent as Estee Lauder Double Wear.  The more I think about how it could possibly achieve this, the more respect I gain for those 10 years in development.

I need to take a moment to marvel at the packaging because it’s not only rather attractive but also functional.  The pump is see-through which stops the “how many more pumps ’till it all comes out in a rush” guessing game we all know so well and for me, one full pump covers my face pretty much perfectly.  Your mileage may vary!

Lancome Teint Miracle in 010 Beige Porcelaine (the lightest shade) is a good match for my complexion.  I would class it as fairly neutral, neither leaning too much toward pink or yellow in the spectrum.  The formula also contains a light pearlessence, not Cullen-esque in the slightest but there is a sheen that almost makes the foundation look a shade too light for me when I first apply.  This fades as the foundation sets before becoming imperceptible but leaving behind a subtle glow.

The glow doesn’t look at all greasy or shiny until after the foundation has worn in for many hours but if you fear the glow, I’d suggest looking for something that offers a fully matte finish.  Me?  I embrace any and every glow I can get my hands on and this is one of the better ones out there.

Excuse the nightie and the early morning “oh God, it’s another day” expression.

Before is on the left if you hadn’t already sussed that.

The Lancome Teint Miracle gives me great coverage over my redness and veiny bits without looking too heavy and I’m really happy that it still allows my natural skin texture to peek through.  I really dislike medium/full coverage foundations when they make it abundantly clear on my face that they are indeed medium/full coverage foundations.

If you have any larger blemishes (like I did on the side of my nose) you’ll still need concealer to disguise the blighters.

As for longevity, I achieved good all-day wear from this foundation albeit with a bit of slippage on the nose toward the end of the day.  If  you have particularly oily skin you will need to powder at lunchtime.

My only bugbear with this rather lovely product is transfer.  For some reason, I have issues when I wear this.  Dab my nose on a tissue?  More foundation on tissue than nose.  This is obviously a problem and one that I’m not used to experiencing, if anyone has any ideas… let me know!

I’d also like to point out that I prefer to apply this with a brush.  Sponges are a no, no… even when damp my beauty blender likes to EAT this foundation.  Oh also, I think that if you already have a primer you’re in love with… you probably need to try this foundation ASAP.  I tried it over MAC Prep+Prime and it made an already smooth finish, incredible.  And I don’t even really like Prep+Prime!

Hope that wasn’t too indepth… I do totally advise a little trip to your local Lancome counter to see if they’ll colour match you or part with a sample so you can try for yourself.  I may not be one for miracles but Lancome Teint Miracle does come pretty close!

Lancome Teint Miracle SPF15 Foundation is available to buy instore or online priced at £26.00

* press sample

I’m a bit late with this one… oooooh about… *counts on fingers*…  8 months late?  Anyway… this was really doing the blog rounds back when Spring had barely sprung.

And I have to say… I don’t really get it?

I was expecting to see some magnificent colour shifting between the teal and green and there was nothing.  Ok, so it was slightly more green in some light, but really?  You U.S girls didn’t miss that much.

A true blackened colour, Mr. L had a hard time believing it was infact anything other than black polish on my tips.  Sparkle was VERY well hidden and the whole manicure looked a lot flatter than I had hoped it would.

Application wasn’t too problematic… 2 coats with a brush that was a little too firm for me.  The streaking on the first coat shocked me, the brush practically drags the polish across the nail bed.  A thicker 2nd coat solved this though.

Wear on Lancome’s Pop Petrol has been decent enough, no chips until the third day and tip wear (despite the v. dark colour) has been negligible.

This is a polish that I picked up from a counter bargain bucket last week.  Lancome are obviously shifting the last of their Spring collection, so if you wanted to get your hands on a shade that would happily suit Autumn/Winter – now’s the time to do it!  Original price £14.50, I paid half that.

It’s glittery, gritty and a whole load of bling.

I just dunno…

Applied over the top of a bog standard dark base, 1 coat… this stuff is pretty dense.  One thing that annoys me about glitters is their often uneven application.  Yano, 2 pieces of glitter at the nail tip 43843243290 at the base.  The good thing about this polish is that it gives you long enough to ‘push’ the pieces around and ‘place’ them before it dries.  The bad thing?  Well, that also means that it taes a little while longer than I’d like to dry.  I know, contrary right?

This mixture of gold and silver glitter a.k.a BB Sands comes from the Lancome Spring 2010 collection though it kinda screams Christmas to me.  I’d love to layer this over a cream/nude base to see if I get a different look from it… but removal was such a pain in the backside that I’m honestly not sure I can be arsed.