A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

This striking pewter polish is from the Orly Birds of a Feather collection that was released for this Autumn/Winter.  It’s a beautiful grey with silver flecks that gives it a stunning metallic effect without the usual brushstroke issue that actual metallic polishes present.

Fully opaque in two coats with absolutely no application issues, this is a cracking polish for Autumn/Winter and one that I recommend you have in your collection.  Flawless.

Orly Sea Gurl is available to buy online at BeautyBay.com, priced at £6.95

* press sample

I’m not generally a fan of jelly nail polishes… they have to be quite special to turn my head. I like a nod to a jelly finish, infact, one of my favourite Butter London polishes has a slight jelly edge (Come to Bed Red) but in general, I’ll take a creme finish any day.

Orly Fowl Play from the Autumn/Winter Birds of a Feather collection contains a myriad of multi-colour flake, glitter and sparkle in a purple jelly base.  I love the razz but am just not digging that base which always looks kinda… unfinished to my eye.

The simple answer is to layer it over a cream polish, which is exactly what I’ve been doing… just one coat over a black looks incredible but for the sake of swatching, I’m showing it to you in it’s 3-coat glory over a bare nail.

Orly Fowl Play is available to buy online from BeautyBay.com, priced at £6.95

* press sample

What is it?

OPI and Lena White have released a new shade in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  OPI Pink of Hearts Pink Shatter Top Coat builds on the already popular shatter lineup with a new, pinked-up shade!

How much is it?

Individual bottles are priced at £10.50 each.

How much of our money goes to supporting PINK projects?

£1 from the sale of every bottle will be donated as a contribution to The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity for their ongoing research into cancer.

How do I get it?

Available from www.lenawhite.co.uk

This Thursday, I politely suggest that you don’t venture too far from your local John Lewis.  Trust me on this…

Luxury Haircare brand Ojon are offering a rather hair-raising product amnesty deal.

On the 29th September, for one day only (and while stocks last), venture instore at your local John Lewis where Ojon are offering customers the chance to take home a full sized Damage Reverse Shampoo and a full sized Damage Reverse Conditioner by simply trading in any empty shampoo or conditioner bottle, no purchase necessary*.

Yeah, I had to read it more than once too.

The Ojon Damage Reverse Shampoo and Conditioner is formulated with Ojon™ Oil and is designed to hydrate extremely dry, damaged hair and helps strengthen it to protect from future breakage.  Just what we need as the seasons change and we gradually enter the big freeze!

I’ve got my empty bottle of shampoo ready, now… where’s my elbow sharpener, ‘cos I predict this might be a wee bit popular.  If you’re keen to take advantage, I suggest you get to your local John Lewis store early.

* one per customer – don’t be GREEDY!  Stockist list is available here.

OCCO is one of those brands that had been on my radar for many, many months but was continually superseded by other products more demanding of my attention when presented with the opportunity to purchase.

With close inspirational links to the Dalmation Coast and Adriatic Sea, you might be surprised to learn that the products are formulated within the UK and are the brainchild of ex-Spa Director at Molton Brown, Anna Doyle.

I decided that I wanted a new candle for the bedroom last week whilst mooching around John Lewis. I wanted something with enough spice to be warming without being full-on “boudoir”. Not that there’s anything wrong with full-on boudoir, but I’ll save that headiness for when the weather is cooler.

I couldn’t find anything that tugged at my sleeve harder than this beauty from OCCO’s Raiyia range. The styling is a little retro with concentric circles and a 70s mustard theme but the scent is thoroughly modern. The 210g candle promises to contain a minimum of 95% natural ingredients and 100% natural fragrances.

A spicy citrus with Bergamot, Petitgrain (<3) and Nutmeg ensures that this walks the olfactory line between Summer and Autumn quite beautifully. It fills the room confidently without being blousey or demanding, I think that it would work well in most home environments as both a relaxing, and at the same time, uplifting scent.

I do wish the packaging were a little more luxe for the price (£35) but I can’t fault the quality of the candle which burns both evenly and cleanly. If I remember correctly, this is the candle that Danni Minogue tweeted a picture of as her favourite for burning in her X-Factor dressing room last year.

Now that I’ve finally taken the plunge into the OCCO family, I will keep the range in mind and return to investigate some of the other fragrances available. Most importantly, I may have to be quick about it — the range was heavily discounted, I’m wondering if it perhaps won’t be around for much longer.

OCCO Raiyia No6 Citrus Spice Candle is priced at £35 for 210g and available online at Occo or reduced both online and instore at John Lewis.

The OPI Miss Universe collection features four sparkling shades ranging from full-on glitterbomb (Crown Me Already) to a relatively more demure pink (Congeniality is my Middle Name).

From the collection, I’m wearing It’s My Year, an exquisite purple/gold shimmer (or is it a foil?) that stopped 3 people dead in their tracks today as they demanded to know what was on my nails!

It applies smoothly, if a little sheer thus needing 3 coats to reach opacity.  It gave me no application issues and simply SINGS when it catches the light.

I wish OPI would release a full collection of variations on this theme, that would make my year.

OPI Nail Polishes are priced at £10.50 each available from Lena White

* press sample

I liked this delicate combo of Beauty UK’s Smokey Lilac with OPI Golden Rainbow on top.  A dusting of holographic sparkle always goes a long way to brightening my day!

Of course, the Beauty UK polish is a bargainous snip at only £2.49 a bottle, though I believe that OPI’s Golden Rainbow might be a little harder to come by I’m sure that the effect can be reproduced with something like Northern Lights Holographic Top Coat.

The above mani shows three coats of the Beauty UK and a single coat of OPI Golden Rainbow.  Pretty!

What are you wearing on your nails today?

Barbara Cartland is wearing this shade on her toes up in Heaven.

As flashy as a silver tiara and as pink as a poodle dipped in a vat of candyfloss.  Orly’s Flirty* is unashamedly girly and a sparkling pink for Summer.

The above swatch shows two coats finished with a quick dry because it was a touch slow-drying.

You can buy Orly online at BeautyBay.com but they’re currently out of this shade, so try somewhere like Beauty4Nails instead.

Are you a PINK girl?

* press sample

There’s a new toothpaste in town. It’s lean, mean and err not very minty as it happens.  Featuring the revolutionary bacteria-busting ingredient Stabilised Stannous Flouride, this supposed super-paste claims to be all you need to target the oral issues that affect us daily.

It’s taken 15 years of development and 70 scientific studies ahead of today’s launch because this volatile active ingredient has proven difficult to present in a stable, usable form.  That sounds like me before my morning cuppa.

Finally, the bods at Oral-B reckon they’ve nailed it in the form of the new Oral-B Pro-Expert toothpaste which goes on general sale today.  There’s more sciencey stuff behind it about how they managed to stabilise and tame this chemical but seeing as it involves words like polyphosphate, you will excuse me if I skim over those finer details this early in the morning?

The bottom line is that Oral-B Pro-Expert is proclaimed to be the toothpaste to put an end to forced compromises.  Oral-B say that you really can have your whitening, cavity protection, plaque reduction, tartar control, enamel strengthening, sensitivity repair, gum improving and breath freshening all in one tube.  Phew!

I used it for the first time last night and it’s really a little strange!  It feels slightly gritty on the teeth (although I have been promised that it’s 100% non-abrasive) and the taste!  Oh the taste!  It is EXACTLY like the rinse you get at the dentist.  It’s not bad, I actually really like it… but don’t expect that minty zing because this is something altogether quite different!

Oral-B Pro-Expert goes on sale today priced at £3.49 for 75ml

When a well-known skincare brand announces that it’s bringing out a professional line with professional results, it’s a point of interest.  When well-known skincare brand points out that its results are backed by a long-term, independent clinical study that’s been published in the British Journal of Dermatology – it’s a point of slightly more significant interest.

Introducing, Olay Professional.

You can keep your Thandie Newtons, show me the clinical studies!!!  Though to be fair, better dumb ’em down a bit, I only got a C in my GCSE Double Award Science.

The study involved a panel of women aged between 40-65 who tested the regime over a 6 month period against a leading anti-ageing prescription ingredient.  The study showed that the new Olay Professional range was as effective as the prescription ingredient, Retinoic Acid (the most powerful form of Vitamin A) at reducing the appearance of wrinkles.

If you want to find more about this study, there’s an article on cosmeticsdesign.com that you may be interested to read.

POP-UP SKIN CLINIC!

In celebration of the launch, Olay will be opening the doors to a temporary clinic where you’ll have the opportunity to pre-book for a free one to one consultation with a skin expert from the world of dermatology.

The Olay Professional Clinic will be open to the public for three days only (28-29 June and 1 July 2011) at 18 Maddox Street, Mayfair, London from 10am-5pm.  If you don’t want to pre-book, you can still drop by to receive a product demonstration by an expert beauty consultant, and relax in the lounge with an anti-ageing “mocktail”.

To book, call the Olay Professional Clinic booking hotline on tel: 0207 611 3770 and register your details.

Olay Professional went live on the Boots website today on a strictly limited pre-sale basis with only 300 Olay Professional Anti-Wrinkle Kits available for purchase and I hear that over 7000 women signed up for the pre-sale.  Scary stuff!

The full, nationwide launch is scheduled for August.

Do you feel like you’ve seen it all before or are you more likely to be interested by products marketed around the results of their clinical trials?

I know I’ve got a few ladies who like to hear the latest deals at Liberty so thought I’d share what’s happening this month with Hungarian skincare brand, Omorovicza.

Hailing from Budapest, the luxury brand (who centres their products around the health benefits of Hungary’s thermal waters) have sent their head therapists, Beata and Dominika to the UK for 10 days.  Until the 25th June, they’re available on counter in Liberty where they’re teaching Omorovicza facial massage techniques and providing personalised product recommendations.

In addition to this and in celebration of the refurbishment of the beauty hall at Liberty, you can take advantage of the following special offer.  Purchase any Omorovicza three product combination, and you’ll receive a free full size moisturizer of your choice and a travel size Queen of Hungary Mist.

If you’re interested, call 0207 573 9402 to book your free 30 minute one-to-one appointment with Beata or Dominika.

I shouldn’t really run with a post on a late-night whim but I was totally sucked in by the pretty visual in this newsletter mail out from British skincare brand, Oskia.  Look!

The 45 minute facial costs £45 but is fully redeemable against any Oskia products purchased on the day.

I thought it might be of interest to some of you London ladies!

Have you tried any Oskia products?