A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

My name is Charlotte and I’m a mascara-a-holic.  And a khol-a-holic… and an eyeshadow-a-holic.  You get the picture right?

The day I leave the house without mascara as a bare minimum, is the day I leave the house in 6×2 box.

Again, I’m painting it vividly for ya.

This means that come bedtime… I need my cleansing oils and I need them to work.  They generally work well, but I still keep a bottle of eye makeup remover in my arsenal to swipe over any leftovers.

Since my Bioderma Sensibio ran out, I’ve been using the Boots Botanics dual phase one that is generally adored and worshipped across the blogosphere.  It’s good… I’ll give it that, but it leaves a residue… a film.  The last thing I want post-cleansing is a film of oil on my eyelids.

I was sent the Amie Bright Eyes Gentle Eye Make-up Remover a little while ago and it’s well and truly taken up residence as my go-to remover ever since.

It has a water-like texture, similar to my beloved Sensibio.  Unlike the Bioderma, this is scented… and will sting if you get it in your eyes.

Unlike the Bioderma, it’s easily accessible in the UK.

I dispense a good few shakes onto a cotton pad, giving it a liberal soaking and then simply hold against my closed eyelid for around 30 seconds.  I apply a bit of pressure with my fingertips to ensure that the product is making contact with the makeup.  Once I get bored (which, let’s face it… is probably far less than 30 seconds) I give a few gentle downward swipes and stare in amazement at it’s effectiveness.

I should, at this point… tell you that I don’t wear waterproof mascara.  Waterproof cream eyeshadows?  Yes.  Mascara… no.  This may make a huge difference to it’s effectiveness for you.  For me?  I’m happy to recommend it.

The above shows removal of khol eyeliner and a good dose of mascara.  Notice that there aren’t any ‘swipe’ tracks because the product had already dissolved everything before I’d gotten that far!

I feel that after such a glowing review, I want to redress the balance a touch and simply reiterate 2 things.

1. This does sting if you get it in your eyes.  If you have very sensitive eyes, this may not be for you, I really recommend getting your hands on some Bioderma Sensibio if sensitivity is your major concern.

2. I don’t own a waterproof mascara to trial this on.  I don’t have watery eyes and I hate swimming pools and sad films.

I’ll be picking up another bottle when this one runs out.  Until I can beg, steal or borrow some more Sensibio that is 😉

Amie Bright Eyes Very Gentle Eye Makeup Remover (£4.75) is available from John Lewis, Waitrose and online at Amie Skincare

Stay Pout… Stay Put… get it?

I didn’t… It took Mr. L almost 3 minutes of explaining to make me realise that there was a play on words in effect here.  In the end… to save face, I told him to shut up and stop playing with my lipsticks.  He shut up.

I received samples of the new Barbara Daly range last week and have been putting their claims of longevity to the test.  But first, let me show you a few shades…

Diva is a slightly cool-toned red that I’m finding very wearable.  It’s not OHMYGODYOU’REWEARINGREDLIPSTICK red.  More, OOHLALAYOUHASREDLIPS red.  Subtle nuances are really crucial.  On my lips, In The Pink is a warm-toned creamy medium pink.  Very nice.

Perfect is a dark nude… a light swipe gives a ‘my lips but better’ appearance.  Finally, Autumn is a medium brown toned shade which leans slightly more to rose than bronze.  It’s a good shade if you fancy dipping your toes into the whole ‘brown lipstick’ thing which seems to be a bit of an Autumn trend.

I know I look tired, that’s ‘cos I’m wearing no makeup from the lips up!  Got home yesterday, took it all off and then remembered that I hadn’t lip swatched any of the shades!  Above, I’m wearing In The Pink and I’m surprised at how much deeper it looks on my lips than it does in the swatch.  I think it would be worth making use of those instore testers on the back of your hands ladies!

Longevity is pretty impressive… I munched my way through a bowl of ice cream and a cup of tea.  Despite leaving some lipstick stains on the spoon, I still had plenty of coverage on my lips.  The texture is a little varied throughout the shades I tried.  Diva is quite hard and drags when applying but Perfect is really very creamy indeed.  They smell pretty cheap, that old lady lipstick smell that makes you grateful for MAC’s vanilla scented offerings.  Still… you can’t smell them once they’re applied.

As a long-lasting lipstick… these aren’t hydrating and after a couple of hours will accentuate the furrows on your lips.  I’ve tried applying over a thin layer of balm and that makes all the difference to negating any dryness.

My final criticism of these is that they don’t wear so evenly.  On most shades, it’s not a problem… but wearing Diva began to leave me with a heavier outline of red after a few hours.  Easily remedied by smooshing my lips together to redistribute… but kinda uncool if someone else catches you before you get the chance to notice.  I’m gonna nickname this phenomenon, the RROD (Red Ring of Death)… Xbox fans take cover.  Having said that, the last time I wore my True Red Revlon Colorburst, I was so embarrassed to realise that half of it had transferred to my gnashers.  I had absolutely no transfer to my big bunny-like front teeth with any of these lipsticks.

Competitively priced at £5 each and available from Tesco, the Barbara Daly Stay Pout lipsticks should be available instore now.  My pick of the bunch is Perfect.

I received these two boxes of E.L.F’s new Mineral Booster through the post the other day courtesy of PR and my interest was piqued.  I do love my mineral makeup.

I will however, always hate the mess from playing with… what are essentially, little pots of dust.

I already own the original version of the Mineral Booster which I bought about a year ago to use as an alternative to Bare Escentual’s Mineral Veil (it got superceded by my love for E.L.F’s HD Powder though).  These new incarnations are pretty much the same thing as the original… but on steroids!

Since I’ve become spoiled by Bare Escentuals new Click Lock Go packaging, I’m taking a point away from the E.L.F Mineral Booster ‘cos frankly, it’s a nightmare to transport.

E.L.F Mineral Booster in Shimmer is an ivory toned powder with a healthy does of sparkle.  Sneeze over this baby and you’ll be seeing stars for the foreseeable future!  I was surprised at how creamy the powder felt to the touch.  Obviously very finely milled… E.L.F never fail to impress me with the texture of their mineral products.

E.L.F Mineral Booster in Tinted is a warmer chocolate latté kinda colour… not quite dark enough to terrify me, but certainly deep enough to give me pause about applying it to my pale skin tone.  Again, texture is great with no lumps or areas of heavier pigmentation.

When I swatched both products, I felt a little disappointed.  Not hugely inspiring are they?  The Shimmer is pretty subtle on the back of my hand and the Tinted is just kinda Ovaltine-y.  I wasn’t actually sure what I was gonna be able to do with them by way of demonstration to show you how they work.

Faced with this… a lack of any technical skills whatsoever and my 10hr old makeup, I decided to just go for it.  I grabbed a big powder brush and went for the Tinted version first.  I chose a powder brush over my kabuki as I wanted something that wouldn’t deposit too much product.  I needn’t have worried, Tinted is quite sheer when applied with a brush, it definitely gives you the opportunity to build without flooding your face with pigment.  I applied a light layer allover, then built up the shading along my invisible cheekbones.  I wasn’t too bothered about whether I was ‘contouring’ or ‘blushing’ – I was just slapping it on.

Reaching for Shimmer, I focused on the high points on my face.  Those imaginary cheekbones got a dusting, as did my nose and chin.  Watching the sparkles float on the air I was expecting to see a beacon of glitter reveal itself to me when I looked in the mirror, but the effect was pretty subtle.  Infact… I couldn’t really see any difference at all.

I took an ‘after’ photo anyway and figured that I’d leave the review at swatches and the fact that I thought it was too subtle.

The photos disagree with me though:

Is it just ‘cos it’s mattified me or does the ‘after’ look smoother?  More polished?  I think it’s given me a hint of coverage (check the red nose)… but as a Mineral Booster, that’s not really it’s job description.

Wait… what IS it’s job description?

Achieve the ultimate, translucent “photo finishing touch” to your makeup, our Mineral Booster melts into your skin, infusing it with key vitamins A, B and E to promote healthier skin that’s noticeably silkier and smoother. Completely sheer and ideal for all skin tones, Mineral Booster gently absorbs oil and minimizes the appearance of wrinkles, fine lines and pores for a beautiful even finish. Wear alone or buff over our Mineral Concealer and Foundation to lend extra staying power and to achieve a professional and stunning porcelain matte look that will last all day.

Oh right!  Well, I guess it’s up for promotion then ‘cos that’s what I’m seeing…. though they aren’t gonna last you all day unless your middle name is Dust Bowl.

Can you notice a difference?  I can’t put my finger on what else it’s done.  Considering the colour of ‘tinted’, it’s pretty subtle innit?

All I know is, I prefer the ‘after’.

At £3.50 a pot, these new E.L.F Mineral Boosters are getting the thumbs up from me.

Whilst dodging the weekly shop by loitering down the health and beauty aisles, I thought it might be high time to give the Barbara Daly range another once over after being so impressed by the nail polishes.

I was glad I did, because my eyes alighted on these:

Barbara Daly Easy-on-the-Eye Eye Shadow Pens!

I have to draw the comparison to the Ellis Faas eye pens don’t I?  I mean, c’mon… how could I not?

With the Barbara Daly eye shadow pens costing £5.62 in Tesco vs. Ellis Faas’s £22 only stocked at Liberty offering – there’s no prizes for guessing which is gonna win the price/accessibility war but let’s take a look at some of the colours and application shall we?

Let’s face it… these budget versions from Barbara Daly are never gonna win the “which is sexier” battle.  Take a look at the wonderful Witoxicity for an indepth view at the new Ellis Faas Eye Lights pens if you’re unfamiliar with the eyeshadow pen concept.

Pulling off the lid reveals a nylon brush…. pliable and soft with plenty of give (perhaps a little too much give).  The goal is to draw the creme eyeshadow into the chamber and down the middle of the brush head until it emerges onto the tip of the brush.  To do this, you twist the opposite end of the pen which clicks as it rotates and forces the creme up through the bristles… like so…

Out of the four products that I put to the test, each dispensed product accurately and smoothly.  None of this sudden gushing of eyeshadow that the Ellis Faas pens have been known to do.

There’s some beautiful shades in the range, all very wearable both as shadows or eye liners.  I think I saw another shade while I was on holiday too…. I may have imagined it though, a neutral called Hazel?  Anyway… I think you’ll agree, these look pretty pigmented and lovely no?

The cremes glide on (I use the brush pen to apply directly to the eyelid) and blend with my little finger or a separate brush.  Don’t even bother trying to blend these with the built-in brush… it’s only good for creating hard lines, you’ll be turning the air blue before you know it!

Here’s a quick FOTD with Otter as the main focus.  A great shade for bringing out any green lurking in your eyes!  I’m also currently addicted to wearing Airforce as a thick eyeliner (slightly blended along the edge with a smudger brush).

Wear is pretty decent, it sets fully within a couple of minutes and lasts without creasing for about 5 hours when worn with no base.  I know they’re not hugely sexy… I mean, for god’s sake – they have the words “make up” printed on them, but they’ve impressed me!

Check them out next time you’re in Tesco!

Have you tried the Barbara Daly Easy-on-the-Eye pens before?  Which shades are you liking the look of?

Forever on a quest for a kick-ass mascara, today I’m bringing you my thoughts on Jemma Kidd’s Lash Xtension Volume Mascara which I was sent a couple of weeks ago.

It promises both volume and length with a formula designed to promote lash strength and healthiness thanks to the help of some added vitamin A and E.  As an aside (and something I can’t accurately test because my lashes are already being artificially ‘boosted’) this Jemma Kidd mascara contains something called “BioBoost Complex” to stimulate growth.  It really is all the rage at the moment isn’t it?

I like the Jemma Kidd packaging style and this is no exception… it has that matte/glossy juxtaposition going on and looks embroidered, neat!

“What a stumpy little brush!” I exclaimed when I pulled the wand from the tube…

You can see that compared to the DiorShow… it’s only 2/3rds of the length with a chunky, short head making it ideal for those of us with smaller eyes or hooded lids.  I can get right to the outer corner lashes without blobbing (technical term) product on the hooded part of my eyelid.

I’d call this a “natural” mascara.

Yeah, I don’t really get excited over that term either.

On my left eye (your right), I’m wearing 2 coats of it.  This mascara excels in it’s buildability.  After taking the photo I thought I’d keep going… another 2 coats left me with lashes that were thicker at the base without clumping at the ends.  I don’t have watery eyes… but I didn’t notice any problems with flaking or smudging.

It’s not the most exciting mascara I’ve tried and it sadly doesn’t leave my lashes reaching for the stars but it is pretty foolproof.

If you’re looking for an everyday natural mascara that would particularly suit mature eyes and give you a foolproof application I’d really recommend giving this a go.  Add in the whole “BioBoost complex” selling point and perhaps you’ve found your next mascara?

Light Pink my bum.

I picked up the LUSH Colour Supplement in shade Light Pink a few months ago.  In theory, I love the idea.  A simple product that can be used in multiple ways?  I’ll let LUSH explain:

…Just mix into your favourite moisturiser for a natural tint or use on its own as a foundation. You can also dot a little around unsightly blemishes for effective coverage.

With Summer nearly upon us, I wanted a tinted moisturiser.  Well, I *thought* I wanted a tinted moisturiser.  TM’s are an odd beast… we love them in principle, but in reality?  We often crave more coverage.  I envisaged that with LUSH’s Colour Supplement, I would be able to custom mix my tinted moisturiser… adding extra product on days when I wanted a more flawless finish.

LUSH currently offer 4 shades.  Light Pink, Dark Pink, Light Yellow, Dark Yellow.  It’s not rocket science… and I like it that way.

Except that Light Pink isn’t very light.  And it’s not very pink either.

If you go to the dictionary… and open the page at “light pink”, you’d see a picture of me.

Oooh look, tide marks!

Better, but no cigar.

Otherwise?  I like the product.  It’s too drying for me to use neat as a concealer or foundation as LUSH suggest, but I loved having the ability to self-mix my tinted moisturiser in the mornings.  But sadly, the shades just aren’t right for me.

LUSH Colour Supplements are priced at an incredibly reasonable £7.50 for 20g.  That small pot will make a hell of a lot of TM.

Are you a fan?

And why I can never find knee high boots that fit my comically huge calves.

I’m a few weeks in to my trial, and have used the Boots iPulse Smooth Skin a total of 3 times… I’m not noticing any difference in hair texture or growth rate between my two legs yet, but it’s early days.

Very excited to start seeing some results!  C’mon, c’mon!

When I was invited along for a complimentary cut and blow dry at Eleven Hair in central London –  I’ll be honest, I was totally expecting to leave with good hair.  Let’s be clear… You don’t generally occupy prime real estate in Mayfair with a naff hair and beauty salon.

I wasn’t disappointed.  I left with great hair.

But great hair was only the beginning.

My stylist Russell had me sussed in less than 30 seconds.  A few cleverly directed questions meant that I was at ease in his capable hands in less time than it took for a drink to appear in front of me.

I told him that I didn’t get much time to dedicate to styling my hair in the mornings and he asked me what length I thought my hair would be in a year’s time.  I told him that I wanted to grow it longer again and that I’d only chopped it short because sticky baby fingers kept slime-ing me.  He took a short while to assess the condition of my hair… I didn’t even realise he was doing it at first.  His subtle but direct approach was appreciated.

He suggested to me that next time I get my hair dyed… I should ensure that I only have the regrowth taken care of and he delicately held the ends of my hair against my roots, showing me they were now about 5 shades darker thanks to being over-processed.

I was shocked.  How had I not noticed?  Thinking back, I’m sure I should have felt embarrassed at this… but I didn’t feel judged.  I just felt that I wanted to learn more about how to get my hair back to it’s former good condition and this was the man that had all the answers.

We chatted about my hatred for the dreaded ‘triangle hair‘ and how I loved walking out of the hairdresser’s with razored ends and he explained to me that it was precisely this constant “thinning out” that was giving me a fluffier hairdo several weeks down the line.  I felt as if my eyes were being opened and things were dropping into place, especially the reasons behind why I had felt the condition of my hair had been (quite unfairly!) deteriorating over the last six months.

I could go on, telling you about all the simple little tricks he showed me to get the most out of styling my hair but I’d be here all day.  They were personal to me and felt completely tailored to my hair issues.  I was shown how to easily and quickly achieve a little more volume to my flat bob (one of the tips was as simple as flipping my parting to the other side… it worked amazingly well!)

If you want more than just a good haircut, I can recommend Russell Stevens at Eleven Hair.  Straight talking and no flannel but thoughtful to his client’s feelings and most importantly, intuitive.

Look how chuffed I am with my new (slightly windswept) hair!

I left Eleven Hair feeling lighter in my step, doing the whole swish thing and checking out every shop window I walked past.  Not for clothes you understand… just my reflection.

You can find Eleven Hair…

Eleven Hair
11 Blenheim Street,
Mayfair
London W1S 1LL

Tel: 0207 4912390

Email: info@eleven-hair.com

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?

A new limited edition polish release from Eyeko…

Rain Polish is a rather delicate smoky blue/grey amalgamation.  It’s instantly clear that a lot of thought has been put into the colour selection by the addition of a subtle amount of shimmer that really lifts the shade and stops it falling into the familiar pale blue trap of looking flat and chalky.

Application was a touch tricky, the formula felt fine…. nicely balanced, but on application it dragged a bit unless I was super quick.  The best way I found to prevent this was by applying thicker coats than I would normally… which then has the knock on effect of taking longer to dry, so I probably wouldn’t wear this without the addition of a quick dry top coat.

It reminds me of Essie’s Sag Harbor from last year’s North Fork collection but with less shimmer.

Do you like it?

Looking on the Eyeko website, I’m only seeing it available as part of a set of 3 (priced at £8.50).  Hopefully they’ll make it available as an invidual shade ‘cos it’s a fairly unique one.

Last year, they were everywhere and they divided opinion.  Some loved ’em, some hated ’em.

What am I talking about?  Matte Nails of course!

17 Nails Xtras Matte Top Coat Polish 8ml (£3.99) from Boots is due to be released in September and I’ve got a sneaky peek for you!

Well… finally!  A really, thoroughly decent matte top coat with great availability and a price tag to match!

It may a little late to the mass market to be considered the height of fashion, but this budget matte top coat from 17 Cosmetics is gonna be a hugely popular seller in my humble opinion.

It applies a true matte finish, none of this satin semi-matte nonsense.  So far, I haven’t noticed it accentuating any ridges or imperfections in the polish application underneath and it dries fully in minutes.  Actually, that’s my one caveat… you need to apply the top coat quickly as it will dry rapidly.  Once you realise this, it’s not a problem as the polish glides on smoothly anyway.

After wearing for a couple of days, the matte finish does get slightly shinier… more satiny.  But I haven’t noticed an increase in chipping or tip wear as a result of topping up my standard manicure with this little gem.

£3.99?  You’ll want to get this!  Hurry up September!