A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

Renowned makeup artist Alex Box of Illamasqua fame is the latest fabulous addition to the IMATS London guest speaker line up!

She will be speaking at the event on Saturday 30th January and as someone who’s been lucky enough to hear this amazing lady talk about her craft before… I urge you not to miss it!

More details will be appearing on the IMATS London website very soon, so keep your eyes peeled!

Have you booked your tickets yet? Not long to go now!

I’m in the GRIM! (north, that is).  Apologies to all Northerners, I love you all, but seriously… your weather sucks.

Here’s what I had to drive through to get here… that was fun.

It may look like nothing thanks to Mr. L’s rubbish iPhone picture-taking abilities, but bear in mind… this is the M1, the major artery connecting North to South and I spent the majority of the time on it clenching my bum cheeks.  That’s one semi-clear lane people, of a 3 lane motorway… and this photo was taken while it was still good… I ended up following the tracks of a HGV that was up ahead.  Anyway, my bum cheeks… they’re still recovering as I type.

I understand that this white stuff has headed down South to my turf now too!  It’s also having the unfortunate effect of playing havoc with my mother-in-law’s TalkTalk internet connection which at best, is um intermittent.

I have posts scheduled, but I’m unable to approve comments as often as I’d like, let alone reply to them!  If you’ve been kind enough to comment, please don’t think I’m being rude not replying.

Are you sick of the white stuff too?  I wanna go shopping!

I’ve loved Annick Goutal fragrances ever since receiving samples of Eau de Camille and Eau de Charlotte, 2 fragrances created for her daughters.  Typically, I preferred Eau de Camille to Eau de Charlotte’s overly sweet scent, but my interest in her fragrances was piqued and I always get excited by new releases.

This isn’t new, but it is on sale… so if paying almost £40 for a candle is as much an alien concept to you as it is to me, take comfort from the fact that this beautifully scented candle is down from £37 to £28, still a stretch for me, although I do admit to being tempted thanks to some left-over Christmas cash.

What are your favourite luxury candles?  I have one Jo Malone that gets lit *very* occassionally (I’m talking about 6 times a year).  My Yankee tarts (that phrase might get me some weird hits!) get a far greater airing.

Annick Goutal La Rose Candle is on sale at Feel Unique

Happy New Year everyone, lets hope it’s the best yet!

…it’s the thought of the BIG Makeup Show coming to town in a month’s time!

IMATS stands for the International Make-Up Artist Trade Show and is produced by Make-Up Artist magazine.  It is held annually across 3 continents and 5 cities.

IMATS will be on at Alexandra Palace on Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st January 2010.

Some of the exhibitors I’m particularly excited to visit include:

Crown Brush, Eve Pearl, OCC, Embryolisse, Paris Berlin (love their liquid eyeliner), Yaby (dinky little shadows!) and PAM (who will be selling MUFE) oh no… now I’ve looked again, there’s more (like Fero Beauty for their Mavalas)… sigh… too many amazing exhibitors and a wishlist a mile long right?

There will also be some fab speakers on the day(s) including Terry Barber (M.A.C.’s director of make-up art for the U.K. and Europe) and Eve Pearl (an innovator of high-definition beauty and the Salmon Concealer®).

I’ve booked my hotel for Friday night, so I can get in when the doors open on Saturday morning – keen much?

Will you be going? You can purchase tickets from the Makeup Mag website here

Are you addicted to blogging your buys/looks/finds and thoughts?  Wanna link up with fellow addicts?

Go submit an application to join Beauty Blog Link Love right away and never be short of regularly updated blogs to read EVER again!

If you have any questions, leave ’em on the BBLL Blog or on here and I’ll wave them under Rae’s nose.

‘appy Tuesday to you x

I’m a terrible blogger… I’m being eaten up with guilt, and it’s got nothing to do with that little shopping trip I took to John Lewis beauty hall just before Christmas…

You’ve been leaving me some lovely comments and I’ve been devouring them all like me a fat kid with chocolate cake… and that’s where it’s ended, with me sitting greedily in the corner wiping the crumbs from my mouth and then running away as fast as my trotters can carry me to lie in wait for the next slice (enough with the cake analogy already) round of lovely comments.

I plan to put this right straight away, so if you have left me any questions or comments that you were hoping for a reply to, check back over the next few days while I revisit all your lovely thoughts and add my nonsense in to the mix.

Look, I even scheduled it for 3pm! (edit: although for some reason it posted it at 6am LOL) Sorry, I couldn’t resist! *dons crown and robes*

I’m taking a short break to recharge my batteries and won’t be around so much until the New Year, but I’m hoping my trusty post scheduler holds out for a few updates here and there.

Looking back on the year, it’s been an epic one.

I became a Mother, a makeup connoisseur, a blogger… I learnt how to articulate a review (ish), I developed an expensive shopping habit and discovered how not to remove false nails.  I love that you guys walked with me on my journey through those life changing events… hell, you were even there when I discovered Twitter 😉

Have a wonderful Christmas, thanks for making this year so enjoyable – I’ve loved getting to know you all and have had more fun than I ever imagined possible at that start of this journey.  I hope that next year is as good as this one.  I hope to meet more of you lovely people… both in “real life” and through the written word.

I hope that Christmas brings you everything your hearts desire.  Both superficially and in a more grounded, important non-makeupy way as-well!

Have a good one…

…and try not to eat too many of these:

Charlotte (Lipglossiping) xxx

Hallo to my old readers, new readers, followers, passers by and those just in it for the goodies!

Hope you’re enjoying the run up to Christmas as much as I am?

Have you been good this year?  I have!

I’m heading to the in-laws over the festive period so I’m starting to wind my work down in preparation – hoorah!  Alas, I haven’t bothered with a pretty tree or decorations this year as we won’t be here and there’s surely nothing more depressing than coming home from holiday and having to take down the Christmas tree before you’ve even had chance to put the kettle on.

How are your Christmas preparations coming along?

Help, get me a Nanny!

My beautiful little girl was up at 5am this morning, team lark all the way.  I am exhausted, I have 5 million Christmas Cards to write and post, 7000 presents to purchase, approx 3000 posts to write and instead I’m playing with my Dior Holiday 2009 Collection.  At least I have my priorities straight right?

Thanks to the fact that it’s now DARK in England all the freakin’ time (who shifted Europe 500 miles closer to the North Pole without telling anyone) I have to rely on my flash gun more than I’d like.  Which makes for crappier, starker pictures and washes out the makeup a bit.

Also, thanks to my hooded eyelids… you can only actually see the eyeliner… *whistles and wonders why she bothered*

~ Lips are BarryM Lip Paint in Lavender
~ Cheeks are The Body Shop Trio in Cool Dusk
~ Eyelashes are Rimmel Sexy Curves & Mavala Double Lash I reckon

Gonna attempt a better photo of the eyeshadow quint/liner… this is rubbish for seeing what they actually look like!

The Boots Advantage Card… greatest invention since mascara… nearly.

I had a panic attack when I thought I’d lost mine a couple of months ago.  No, seriously… I actually hyperventilated and needed to sit down.

I’m a savvy Bootser!  I take advantage (no pun intended) of the offers that are available, splitting my purchases in all sorts of weird and wonderful ways to maximize the points I can get.  Nerdy? Yes. Dull? Mostly.. Worth It? Absolutely!

Every January I dive into my (2nd) nearest Boots and buy up the leftover Christmas presents that get reduced down to 70% off.  If they’re not too Christmassy themed, they make for great emergency birthday presents throughout the year and now I have Leila, it’s even easier to maximize Boots Advantage Card points on baby stuff: nappies, wipes and toiletries.  It all adds up!

Every year around this time I gleefully check out the latest Advantage Card Deals, most recently they’re offering 750pts (£7.50) when you buy 3 or more premium beauty products.

I’ve just emptied my Advantage card on the Dior Holiday Palette and a (soon to be in my hands) YSL Singulier Mascara, onwards and upwards – time to start saving them up again!

Are you good at saving your points?  Do you have a big blow out or spend them as you go along?

Not makeup related… apologies, but I saw this baby hat in H&M and had to have it!  I wish I’d bought two as Leila’s fat head is nearly too big for the 6-9months size 🙁

Now, where can I find an adult-sized one… me and the Leil’s would look *so* awesome in matching hats.. or um, maybe I’d find her scouring the Yellow Pages under ‘F’ for ‘Foster Care’.