A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

I’m smitten.  My heart is won.

Move over, make room… I’ve finally discovered Fyrinnae Lip Lustres.

I only own 4… I’ve already remedied that little problem and have another 10 winging their way to me as I type.

Wanna see what I’m going so crazy for this week?

4 mini tubes, each one sample sized and priced at a ridiculously cheap $2.50.

A standard little doe foot wand with an unassuming looking substance…

…produces the most beautiful hybrid between a lip stain, lipstick and gloss that I’ve ever encountered.  The colour is pigmented and glossy yet it feels like I’m wearing nothing more irritating than a slick of water on my lips.

As the day progresses and the initial burst of colour fades, I’m left with a beautiful stain that remains even and true despite drinking and snacking.  Not only that, but I’m not finding these at all drying and I was almost positive that I would need to combine them with lip balm.

I just wasn’t expecting to be bowled over by these little lip lustres quite as much as I have been.

Here’s some swatches of the shades I own, I prefer to do full face shots simply because when searching for lipstick swatches I feel that I personally get a truer impression of the colour if it’s put into context of skintone etc rather than just a pair of lips on the screen!

~ Visual-Kei is my perfect pink….

~ Romantique is a stunning golden peach nude…

~ Lollipop-Pop is a punkier pink with blue flashes….

~ Type A is an almost metallic garnet that cries out for some heavy lashes and winged eyeliner.

.

They’re perfect.  Oh and they smell ah-mazing too.

Ok, I need to think of something I don’t like about them… this is so gushy, I’m gonna make myself vom.

*thinking*

Oh yeah, the lead time on the Fyrinnae website isn’t great for impatient types like me.  It took 3 weeks before I had them in my hot little hands and now I’ve got to cool my heels for the same time again to get my new order…

anything else, anything else?  Um… no, I really can’t think of anything I don’t like.

I feel like I need validation after such a sickening gush, if you have them… tell me I’m not a mental and that they really are this great?

Well… not really, but for the second Sunday in a row, you can find my post over at online beauty boutique Zuneta.

Today I’m talking about Japanese beauty brand Paul & Joe.

I’d be mighty grateful if you stopped by to have a read of my ramblings, there’s an Easter Egg in it for you!*

.

.

*unfortunately, I’ve actually eaten the Easter Egg… but I know you’ll be pleased to hear that it was very nice.

Happy Easter everyone!

Whatever you’re doing today, do it with a light heart and a bellyful of chocolate or um… God, that picture has totally put me off my dinner now.

Continuing my swatch series of Eyeko’s new nail polish offerings… this is Eyeko’s Nude Polish:

To my eye, this polish is more peach than nude… but to be fair, a lot of nude shades turn peach on my skintone, lipsticks being the worst culprits!

The formula wasn’t as smooth as the lilac shade, this required 4 coats before the streaking was disguised.  I do love how this and the lilac look and feel like true creme polishes, once applied they’re almost buttery in appearance.

Again, drying time was on the slow side and I wouldn’t want to touch these Eyeko polishes unless I had a quick-dry top coat ready to be put into use.   I’d probably give this shade a 5/10 for application, it was just a bit too streaky for my liking… but once on, it really is a pretty colour for Spring.

Eyeko nail polishes are available from the website, priced at £3.50 each.

Do you like?

IN

~ Finally getting Lipglossiping onto Facebook!
~ Being able to see the floor of my office again
~ Discovering some lovely bargainous Loew Cornell paint brushes, great for lining!
~ Meeting a lovely MUA and Twitter friend this week
~ My Fyrinnae order blowing my mind
~ Finally being over the sickness bug that plagued us all last week
~ Planning for our New York trip next year (all tips welcome!)
~ Guest blogging on Zuneta

OUT

~ Being disappointed by MAC Viva Glam IV (which looks poop on me!)
~ Re-cultivating my Diet Coke addiction without even noticing – oops.
~ Leila waking up at 3am every morning, need to fix this!
~ My Summer shoes tearing my feet to shreds – need to toughen up those trotters!
~ Jealousy – My brother and SIL are off to Japan for 12 days today… green much?

and just because…

How’s your Easter weekend shaping up?

~ Rae just finished a four-week “photo diary” review series with the new L’Oreal Lash Boosting Serum. Check out her results and enter to win a tube for yourself!

~ Find out everything you want to know about Spring 2010 beauty trends at Makeup4all Online Beauty Magazine!

~ Vex in the City shares what On Location Tours have in store for SATC fans on the release date of SATC 2.

~ Makeup by Kim Porter teaches you the importance of cleaning your makeup brushes.

~ Betty’s got a sweet tooth for Sugarpill Cosmetics and has a candy inspired look with pink, silver and bright blue!

~ If you’re battling limp hair, Arianne of Glitter Geek has found the hair product that’s made for you.

~ GlossQueen tries the Olay Professional Pro-X Anti-Ageing Starter Kit and tells us all about it.

~ Hot Beauty Health shares 8 homemade hair conditioner recipes that truly work!

~ Madame B Fatale talks about her new hair saviour.

~ Sophie from melovemakeup talks about her experiences with Trilogy’s Everything Balm.

~ Check out Tsahi’s interpretation of Nicole Ritchie’s look at this year’s Academy Awards.

~ Krasey Beauty has exclusive images and swatches, plus a Sneak Peek of Make Up For Ever’s Holiday Metallic Collection.

~ Louise pops along to London Fashion Week and finds out what Alex Box really thinks of beauty bloggers.

~ Ever wondered how to press those pesky loose minerals? Wonder no more… Lipglossiping has the answer!

~ Lisamarie from Beauty Crazed enlists some Chanel to fight her dehydrated skin!

***

~ Retrodiva is giving away a Cle de Peau Beaute skincare sampler set!

~ Phyrra has an exciting Beauty of the Earth Sponsored Giveaway.

EVERYTHING!

But I can’t have it all…. so here’s a few key things that are currently making me go a bit weak at the knees:

Chanel Rouge Coco in Mademoiselle

It’s gonna make me look *just* like Vanessa Paradis. I know it. 😉

Figs & Rouge Rambling Rose Shower Wash

I am such a sucker for a prettily packaged product!

MUFE HD Blush in #5 Warm Pink.

Sephora needs to come back to the UK, right NOW!

Sephora Professionnel Mineral Powder Brush #45

Sephora, bloody Sephora – day trip to France anyone?

Beaute Weightless Lip Creme in Trace

I know, “baaahhhh” right? Don’t judge me!

Weleda Wild Rose Facial Toner

I’m really into my toners at the moment, find a good non-drying toner and it’s a fabulous partner to a cleansing oil routine.  I dunno if this is a good non-drying one… but I like Weleda and I like rose… so it’s on the list.

.

What are you lusting after this week?

I picked this Paris Berlin Eyeliner Pen up sometime late last year when I made an online Kryolan order.  I can’t remember where I bought it from, but I paid less than £5 for it.

I like to have a “felt tip” type eyeliner pen available to me as I find them my favourite to work with when I’m attempting a more structured look.  By structured, I mean one that usually involves a flick, lots of mascara and a bright lip!

The packaging is plain, simple and functional and the pen is solidly constructed with a standard, easy to hold barrel.  The tip is beautifully precise without being too sharp.  I love the way the fibres of the tip flex under pressure which avoids dragging or scratching over the eyelid.  However, they hold together with no splaying… keeping the line straight and true.

I think the formula could do with being just a touch darker, it’s so close to being a true oily black… but close isn’t quite good enough.

Pigmentation is pretty solid, I usually go over twice to build up colour to an optimum level.  I haven’t found a problem with this liner smudging at all – it fades quite evenly over time.

Overall, it’s a great liner for less than a fiver and better than any of the high-street branded versions that I’ve tried.  It’s a pro product which you should be able to find online with a quick google search.  I’ve had this about 6 months now and it’s showing no signs of drying out.

Do you have a favourite liquid liner pen?

I love this shade, it’s sweet without being overly sickly.  It’s pastel without being pappy.

3 coats.  The formula is a little uneven and prone to streaking which is a shame because it applies smoothly with a great brush.

Consistency is perfect, neither too thick nor too thin, so I’m not sure where the streaking issues are coming from… a slight lack in pigmentation perhaps?  Oh I’m not sure, all I know is that 3 coats will fix your problems and you’re left with one of the prettiest lilacs I’ve had the pleasure to wear on my nails.  One other thing though, I found drying time to be fairly slow… we’re definitely in speedy dry top coat territory!

I actually got asked by the Boots No7 lady (whilst I was buying No7 polishes no less!) what polish I was wearing.

Eyeko nail polishes are available from the website, priced at £3.50 each.  This is the first shade I’ve tried from the new Eyeko polish range that I was sent, so far so good – more to come!

What do you think?

Thanks to a heads up from lovely regular reader Julia, I can point you lot in the direction of a great competition.

Simply become a Lancome Paris fan on Facebook by Friday night to enter and win lots of Lancome goodies!

.

Whilst on the subject of The Book of Faces… yours truly has taken the plunge, jumped on the bandwagon and setup a ‘fan’ page thing.

I’ll be hosting my first ever Facebook competition VERY shortly, so if you wanna join in – come on over and keep a look out for updates!

…and not a pastel among them!

Orly – Pixy Stix (£8.75) – a gorgeous guava pink creme from the limited edition Orly Sweet collection – I need to make this mine, it’s got that coral flair going on without edging too much towards orange.  I adore guava-y shades.

Bloom – Marilyn (£8) – Australian brand Bloom present us with an alternative to the typical girly pink.  Described as a cloud pink that is pure whimsy, I’m loving the more muted tones.  Available at Superdrug.

Rococo Nail Apparel – Hot Pants (£11.50) – A medium pink creme with enough depth to make a statement, always a spring/summer staple.

Leighton Denny – Plush Pink (£10) – A lovely looking pink that keeps a definite feminine edge without being too bright or sugary!

OPI – Italian Love Affair (£9.95) – A princess pink with pearl, as romantic as it’s name and an OPI classic.

Butter London – Twee (£10) – From the new limited edition Jelly collection, a sheer buildable pink jelly described as lipgloss for your nails!

Are you a fan of any of these?  I don’t think pinks get enough love… a good pink is a classic shade that will never let you down!

Like many in the beauty blogging community, I’ve been trialling a few Liz Earle products over the last month or so and I’d like to offer my thoughts on how they’ve been working for me.

I’m gonna start with the Liz Earle Superskin Moisturiser.

Before I had been contacted by the PR for Liz Earle, I’d had a couple of ‘beauty’ friends on twitter comment to me that I should be trying this moisturiser for my combination/dry skin.  Now I can see why.

Superskin Moisturiser is a deceptively light-feeling cream that packs one hell of a moisturising punch.  Brimming with natural ingredients such as Borage Oil, Cranberry Seed Oil, Glycerin, Pomegranate Extract, Rosehip Oil, Shea Butter and Vitamin E, it’s marketed towards a more mature consumer with dry to very dry skin.  I have combination/dry skin with a slightly oily nose and I didn’t find Superskin moisturiser to be too heavy for my oily areas in the slightest.

It absorbs quickly, leaving my skin feeling supple and replenished.  I haven’t noticed it having any particular softening effects like some moisturisers I’ve tried, but I can happily attest to the fact that my skin no longer feels tight or dehydrated since I replaced my usual moisuriser with this a month ago.

There’s a slight scent that I would class as herbal, it’s not entirely to my liking… but it’s not unpleasant at all, it’s just one of those ‘natural’ smells.  I apply Superskin Moisturiser at night only, prefering a day cream with SPF in the mornings.  The packaging is darling, from the outer cardboard design to the heavy acrylic jar inside.

Liz Earle Superskin Moisturiser doesn’t come cheap at £32.50 for a 50ml jar… in all honesty, I balk a little at that price considering it has no specific anti-aging claims… but now I know how well the cream is suiting me, I think I’m probably forever ensnared into the cult of Liz.

I think this would particularly suit you if you would like a lighter, more easily absorbed product that gives the same level of moisturisation as a thicker, heavier and more uncomfortable cream.

Liz Earle Superskin Moisturiser is available from the Liz Earle website priced from £12.00