A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

If you always struggle to buy the man who has everything, something… then I might be able to help you out.

Whether it’s a partner, a brother, a son, or a father… there’s always one fella in the family who leaves you scratching your head when it comes to accommodating him in your annual Christmas shop.  You may not think that fragrance is the most original gift choice in the world but if you get it right… you’re on to a bonafide winner.

Over the years, I’ve managed to grind down Mr. L’s resolve to the point where he is finally, a fully-fledged fragrance fiend.  His tastes vary but he’s not too particular… if it smells great, offers long-lasting wear and isn’t too extreme, he appreciates a well-crafted scent whatever the notes.

I’ve picked out two from his collection that I think would appeal to most men on your gift lists… and perhaps even more excitingly, you can pick them up for less than £16 each!  Yes, I’m talking about some of my favourite kind of fragrances, those mainstream buys that slip under the radar, punching well above their weight!

The Dad/Husband Choice: Pour Homme – Van Cleef & Arpels (from £12.15 – link)

Of the two fragrances that I’ve selected as “great buys”, this is the one that would be better suited to an older gentleman.  It has a 70s vibe that might not appeal to the younger, Paco Rabanne 1 Million-wearing crowd.  It was revealed by VC&A a couple of years ago, that Pour Homme was one of Serge Gainsbourg’s favourite scents and if you know me, you won’t be surprised that this fact alone made me RUN for the nearest stockist.

Pour Homme opens with a vintage blast of green, a combination of aromatics that include basil, juniper, and bergamot.  It’s a pungent beginning, herbaceous and dated – though depending on your personal tastes, that last adjective is not meant as a criticism – merely a caution.

The heavyweight bottle hints at the darkness of the juice inside, I like to imagine the contents swirling around in there like some kind of twilight-zone vortex because I do believe that the dark arts were afoot during its creation.  I simply cannot envision how it is possible to blend so many different discernible notes without creating a complete hash of a fragrance.  From the freshness to the spiciness, the leather to the wood, the soapiness to the magnificent rose – it’s all in there, managed like a military operation.

Though I have mentioned the Serge Gainsbourg connection, I find it quite hard to associate the two personalities, myself.  Pour Homme is the epitome of a formal fragrance, it’s perfectly styled to sit beautifully against the backdrop of a dark suit, buttoned up to the hilt.  I can only amalgamate the personalities by unbuttoning that collar a few inches and adding 20 Gitanes into the mix.  Ahh yes, there you go.

As the fragrance dries down on my skin, the soft rose notes blossom into a bouquet against a somewhat-soapy backdrop… on my husband’s skin the rose whips against leather and patchouli, darkening the shadows further and stretching them into a bygone age.  The projection and longevity is equal to nothing else in his collection of fragrance, it can only be described in a cliche, as a powerhouse.  I can still smell this on my husband’s collar when doing the laundry, days later.

Talk about getting some serious bang for your buck.  Oui, Je T’aime.

The Son/Boyfriend Choice: 24 Gold Eau de Toilette (from £15.00 – link)

If you can get past having Twentieth Century Fox logos emblazoned across the outer packaging, you’d be extremely wise to give this one a chance.  24 Gold is indeed a spin-off fragrance, paying homage to TV’s Jack Bauer.  On paper… it’s about as gimmicky as they come, Mr L’s bottle even arrived with a 24-emblazoned ipod armband… presumably so he can listen to his favourite tunes while taking down the world’s baddest baddies.  Frankly, it should be shit.  But it isn’t, it’s about as far away from shit as you can get, it’s amazing.

24 Gold has an alltogether younger feel than Pour Homme, with gourmand chocolate box qualities and a boozy heart of amber.  From the off, it delivers up a beautiful and striking blend of powerful oud and vanilla – remaining forever sweet and better suited to the cooler weather.  It’s an atomic blast of a fragrance, lasting for hours and hours on both mine and Mr. L’s skin, projecting itself into a room long after we’ve left its walled confines.

24 Gold describes itself as a unisex fragrance, and I agree… it has some feminine qualities and a sweet oriental heaviness that would undoubtedly frighten off most Davidoff Cool Water-loving men, so do have a precursory sniff at some of the other scents in your intended target’s collection before jumping in with a blind buy.  Certainly, if most of his collection is light and airy… steer well clear, 24 Gold is decadent, rich, and very, very dense.

If you think you might have the green light on a bolder choice of fragrance, 24 Gold genuinely wouldn’t be wildly out of place in a designer’s private blends collection – exclusively available to only the world’s most revered department stores.  In conclusion, it belies its frankly ridiculous price tag.

Taken at face value, it would be easily forgivable to overlook this one in your local perfume store’s bargain bin.  But do so at your peril!

These two fragrances prove that it’s simply not necessary to drop £££ to find an incredible fragrance and although fragrance buying is a very personal experience, I believe you’ll be hard-pushed to find better quality for the money this Christmas.

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It’s been a while since I tried a new mascara, the truth is that I’ve fallen into an extremely comfortable relationship with Clinique High Lengths mascara (the one with the brush that looks like a praying mantis).  Considering I first reviewed that particular mascara over 4-years ago now, it’s pretty good going for it to remain in my top-5 mascara list, no?

Anyway, as comfortable as our relationship is… I’m a terrible flirt and the latest mascara from Avon, which promises 24-hour volume with a buildable, clump-free formula, had me batting my eyelashes from 50-paces.

I usually get on well with lengthening mascaras as my lashes are fair, particularly at the tips where they disappear against my skintone.  I could apply boot polish and I’d still get an initial wow factor at uncovering those lost tips!  Having said that, my lashes, particularly post pregnancy, are a little sparse and volume and thickness is something I crave.

The Avon Big & Daring Volume mascara presents a large, curved brush… densely packed with bristles of varying lengths.  The idea behind this brush is the usual “capture as many lashes as possible in one go” remit, and it works well.  Obviously, the more lashes you can capture (per sweep), the less you’ll need to layer and the chances of clumping will reduce.

I hate clumpy lashes, with a passion.  I struggle to leave the house if I’ve had a mascara melt-down and have overdone it.  As a result, I generally dislike any “wet” mascaras or ones that apply too much product, too quickly.  Instant bin fodder.

Although the Avon mascara captures a lot of product on those many, many bristles… the packaging has an effective inner narrowing of the neck that ensures excess product remains inside as you draw the wand out of the tube.  The curve of the brush matches well with my eye-shape and allows me to get down into the root of the lashes without too much effort or wrangling.

The overall result is great for an “every day” look, the before/after picture shows how my lashes look with two coats of the Avon Big & Daring Volume mascara applied.  I could have gone for one more coat without clumping but in all honesty, I don’t have the luxury of time to keep building my mascara in the mornings.  It’s probably not quite dramatic enough for a night out but it’s perfect for the daytime, especially as I want something a little more impactful than “natural” without going overboard.  It strikes the balance just right for my tastes.

I don’t experience any flaking or smuding with this formula, infact… if anything, it’s a little too resilient as it does take some effort to remove it in the evening.

All in all, for a sub-£10 mascara, I’m really pleased with how it works.  It’s an effective choice for those on a budget and offers a generous 10ml of product for your pennies.

Avon Big & Daring Volume mascara is currently on offer at £7 (usual price £8.50), it’s available online from avonshop.co.uk

* press sample

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Remember when I got all excited about Layla Hologram Nail Polishes? It was a while ago, so I’ll forgive you if your memory is kinda rusty. You can remind yourself by clicking through to my post here which contains a few swatches, alternatively… fire up Google Images and prepare to part ways with your pennies.

You see, as I scoured Amazon late last night for nothing in particular, I noticed that the Layla nail polishes appear to be prettily heavily discounted to the tune of 50% or more.  Whereas I originally paid over £11 a polish, you can now pick them up for under a fiver in some cases!  The only catch is that stock appears to be a little on the short side, so if you wanted to snag a couple, don’t leave it too long!

Here’s what I just picked up for my collection, please don’t tell my husband… I’m supposed to be saving for the “baby”.

There’s also a couple of rather beautiful flakies that nearly found their way into my basket… but I was determined to keep my total in the £20s and not go any higher!

Are you tempted?  If you buy any… please tell me which ones caught your eye!

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You know the mosquito in Bugs Life?  The one who should know better and despite his mate’s warnings, flies toward the deadly bug zapper with those immortal (final) words: “I can’t help it, it’s so beautiful!”

That’s me that is.

You see, I didn’t get on with the Lime Crime Velvetines that I bought.  I appreciated their pigment, their glorious matteness, and the lovely packaging but the wear.  Oh. God, the hideously ugly wear that left me with the kind of ring of death that sends a shiver down the spines of XBox owners everywhere.

Well, I saw the pretty matte lip lacquers from MUA and flew toward them anyway.

My Superdrug was pretty low on stock and the only one I fancied (they didn’t have the red) was this hot pink, called Funk.  To all intents and purposes, these are decent dupes in terms of pigmentation and texture for the Lime Crime Velvetine ones I own… I really can’t see any reason to pay the extra monies for the Lime Crime ones.

With that revelation outta the way, I still don’t like how they wear on me.  They’re fine for about 35-40 minutes but then it all gets rather ugly.

During application, you still have to be careful not to slap your lips together until the lacquer has been given a moment to dry and I’d also recommend to apply lightly, going back for another coat if necessary.  While the lip lacquer remains in situ, I’d agree with the smudge-proof statement which makes it a great choice for a high-impact, albeit high-maintenance night out.

I’ll leave you with a (currently rather rare) FOTD of me wearing it, you can see how the matte texture looks on my lips.  It’s not too unflattering but bear in mind that my lips are back in good condition after a Lanolip repurchase!

Ultimately, I won’t be purchasing any of the other shades available despite the short-lived temptation, if you see me edging towards the MUA counter, someone please slap me with some bug spray.  I just can’t deal with the effort required to keep these looking good for longer than 10-minutes.

MUA Luxe Velvet Lip Lacquer in Funk is priced at £3.00 and available to buy instore at Superdrug and online from muacosmetics.co.uk

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Must-Have Monday.  Not a new feature on the blog, I’m just pretending like it’s always been there ok?  You probably won’t see it again… I’m not that organised.

But you need to know something.  This isn’t like all the other “must-haves” we all read about, the beauty essentials that are completely and utterly essential until the next. best. thing. comes along and takes its place.

The simple fact of the matter is that if you don’t swim the Channel immediately, drag yourself into the first E. Leclerc that you come across and buy this item, you might aswell not bother buying anything else ever again.

Are you hyperventilating yet?  Because you should be.

Le Petit Marseillais Huile Seche Sublimante is a dry body oil that has obviously been sent down from above.  Infact, it’s not just a dry oil… it’s the driest of dry oils.  I just tested that claim to the max by spritzing my arm, rubbing the oil in with my hand and then proceeding to wipe my hand all over my t-zone.  Not a single fuck did I give about wiping my oily hand all over my face, that’s how dry this oil is.

Yet despite this scientific anomaly of how oil is supposed to work, it still leaves the kind of healthy sheen on the skin that suggests you’ve just disembarked the yacht after your Summer tour of the Med.

And don’t even get me started on how it smells.  As I’ve previously hinted… this stuff has clearly been borne from the wings of angels.  Spritz it onto your skin and it smells as if you’ve walked through a tropical rainforest with that classic tiare monoi-esque smell.  Now, don’t get me wrong…. gushing as I am, you should know that this isn’t packed with the most beautiful natural oils on earth.  Here’s the ingredients list…

Isopropyl myristate, sesamum indicum oil, isopropyl palmitate, isopropyl laurate, PEG-40, sorbitanperoleate, argania oil, prunus amygdalus dulcis oil, butyrospermum parkii butter, BHT, propylparaben, parfum, hexyl cinamal, linalool.

Mineral oil, Sesame seed oil, palm oil… only a slight nod toward the argan, shea butter, and sweet almond oil emblazoned as if they were key ingredients on the front.  Basically, the ingredients list reads like a whos-who of “stuff that kills the environment and gives you pore cancer while it’s at it”.

But what can I tell you?  It softens even the most parched areas of my skin with the least amount of fuss and hassle on a cold, Autumnal morning whilst making me want to lick myself all the way to school.  I’ve also started spritzing it on the ends (only the very ends) of my hair post-wash.  I heart it.

Did I also mention that it only costs a fiver?  Oh, I didn’t?  My bad.

Le Petit Marseillais Huile Seche Sublimante is priced at around €6 and is available from most supermarkets… in err, France.  That stretch of water never seemed so wide as it does now.

Orange juice and toothpaste, a vegan at a BBQ, Miley Cyrus and a touch of class. Some things just don’t seem to want to go together do they?

Crabtree & Evelyn and nail polish?

Hmmm…

To be honest, I always think of Crabtree & Evelyn as a bit of a nanna-brand, aimed at garden potterers and people who use talc.  What are they doing with a new line of fashion-forward nail lacquers anyway?  Does it fit their target demographic?

Well, whatever they’re doing with it… it’s here. Launched this week into stores nationwide. Let’s have a look at them…

Not too shabby, I think you’ll agree.  Don’t underestimate those Crabtree & Evelyn shoppers, Nanna’s everywhere have their fingers firmly on the pulse it seems.

The range includes a total of 19 polishes, I’m missing a few from the pictures above… including a rather fabulous-looking olive green that I’d really like to check out sooner rather than later.  Also, in the lineup (but omitted from my picture) is a clear top/base coat, and a box of nail polish remover wipes that have been formulated with an environmentally friendly soy-based formula instead of your usual hydrocarbon solvents!  All rather innovative stuff from a brand that, to be honest, I didn’t think had it in them.

By now, you will be whooping with delight when I tell you that all of these lacquers are formulated without camphor, dibutyl phthalates, formaldehyde or toluene, and get this…

…each 15ml bottle is priced at only £6.00 each.

Available instore and online at crabtree-evelyn.co.uk now, made my weekend this has!

Radox. What are you playing at?

When I think of you, I think of relaxing in a blue-hued bath of wonder.  Sinking into realms of relaxation that I thought only existed in my pre-child lifetime. You don’t give me spendy guilts when I pop into Boots for a top-up and you don’t make me weep with sorrow when I discover that Mr. L has raided my bathroom cabinet.

So, what’s all this new nonsense about?

Don’t you dare try to revive, energise or uplift me! That’s not what I come to you for.

You might think that you need to compete with all those shower and bath products that set your sensitive bits alight and leave you feeling like you’ve been dragged through a polo mint backwards, but you don’t.

You’re perfect just the way you are.

However, if you do get a moment… how about more bath salts in some new and ever more relaxing scents and shades. Bath salts are set for a BIG come back don’tchano?

Radox. They’ve gone all modern n’ stuff with this new Citrus range.  £2.15 ish a bottle… but if I see you buying one, I’ll disown you.

I do love a cheap n’ cheerful polish pick-me-up. No guilty spend and the sense of satisfaction that you got something purdy for a few pennies… in this case, I think it was about 99 pennies.

Here’s a little something I dug out from the bottom of my stash, I think I bought it a couple of years ago on a trip to Beauty Base in Whiteleys at Queensway.  I still have a couple more LA Colors shades that I haven’t blog-swatched.  That’s the technical term for “worn” dontchano?

Morning Glory is a blue-toned purple with a strong electric-blue micro shimmer running through the base colour.  It has a fairly watery consistency, the kind you think will never reach full opacity… when all of a sudden, it does.  In this case, it took three coats to achieve the coverage you see above.  I didn’t think we were gonna make it after two but it came good in the end!

I’m not sure if this is still available to buy in-store but I’m pretty sure you’d be able to pick a bottle up from eBay for next to nothing…

What was your last inexpensive beauty find?

I promised a proper review of the Boots No7 Stay Perfect Foundation* that I’ve been practically living in all Summer. I also mentioned about how I’d never in my wildest dreams actually imagined that it would work well on my skintype.

I don’t know about you but there are certain preconceptions I have when I hear the marketing blurb about products. To me, something that is touted as “stay perfect” or “long-lasting” inevitably puts me in mind of a foundation designed for oilier skintypes. At the very least, something that my dry/combination skin would fail to tolerate.

In this instance, I was wrong.

No7 Stay Perfect foundation comes in an impressive range of 17 shades and I, somewhat predictably, was matched to the lightest of these: Calico.  I find Calico to be quite neutral in terms of hue, leaning neither too pink nor too yellow.

The finish is semi-matte and I’m unsure at this moment in time how my skin will tolerate this foundation when Winter comes around.  I’d hypothesise that we may not be quite such good buddies once the dry-flakes settle in for the season but at the moment, whilst my skin is very much “combination”, the No7 Stay Perfect is ticking all the right boxes.

One of the reasons I’m getting on so well with this foundation is down to a slightly unusual reason, the packaging.  In terms of how much product the pump dispenses, for me… it’s perfect.  Now, I don’t know about you… but unless a pump dispenses a ridiculous amount of product, I generally just apply the lot without really thinking about it.  This one dispenses slightly less than the average pump’s worth, but isn’t so meagre that it makes you want to dispense another pump.  For some reason, this makes me really work the product into the skin… stroking and buffing the liquid formula until I achieve what is, quite literally, the perfect amount of coverage for me.

I know that it seems such a strange reason to love a foundation but it wasn’t until I used this that I realised just how much I tend to simply (over)apply whatever is dispensed onto the back of my hand without thinking.

The Boots No7 Stay Perfect foundation gives me enough coverage (I’d class it as sheer/medium) to tone down the redness around my nose without obliterating my natural skin-texture, it evens out most areas without masking natural radiance and most of all, it lasts almost all day without slipping from my nose or chin.  My only caveat with this product is I feel that it has a problem with oxidisation, something I can just about get away with because I’m not particularly heavy-handed during application.

The formula feels lightweight on the skin and pairs beautifully with a silicone-based primer, despite the included SPF.  Infact, this is the first foundation I’ve used that actually makes me want to reach for a primer.  I’ve worn it both with and without but for literally, the first time, I can see a difference in my skin texture when using a primer.  It glides over the top and gives a great impression of minimising some of the pores on my cheeks.  I’m all about cutting out the extra steps during makeup application but I genuinely get a little bit excited when I apply this foundation/primer combo (for the record, I’m using my DHC Velvet Skin Coat primer).

Anyway, enough gushing… I’ve taken my time with this review because I feel strongly about its value as a bloody great foundation.  For me, it’s a bloody great foundation.  It also helps that it doesn’t cost ££££, no?  Slightly bizarrely, I really seem to get on better with high-street foundations than expensive ones.  Good for me, I suppose!

The picture below shows the foundation with a full-face of makeup on top.  No highlighter or light-reflective blush, I’m loving the natural luminosity!  I just hope and pray I’ll still be able to wear this once the weather turns cooler.

Boots No7 Stay Perfect Foundation is available to buy online and instore at Boots, priced at £14.  Have you tried it?

* press sample

Loves me a good duochrome I do!

The problem with some duochromes is that no matter how delightfully galactic they look in the bottle, once on the nail… they require about a billion coats before reaching full opacity.  I mean, I know that I’ll have some extra time on my hands once Leila starts school in September (oh God, I’m not ready) but, five fucking coats is pushing it somewhat, no?

And that my friends, is why you need this H&M cheapie in your lives…

H&M Wintersky is a swoon-worthy polish.  It looks like it’s majorly accentuating my nail ridges in the second photo… but it’s quite an unkind photo to this poor polish which applies beautifully in just. two. coats.  The brush has a tendency to overload so you do have to be careful to scrape the excess back into the bottle but the formula is one of the fastest-drying (without making any application sacrifices) that I’ve yet to encounter.  Fastest-drying yet.  It’s like pixie-pee or something.

You should be able to tell from the photos that the duochrome shifts from a silvery green/blue to pink/lilac gorgeousness.  I’m also not wearing a top-coat in these shots because I was having a major swatch-session.

H&M Wintersky is currently available in H&M stores… it’s also online (if you can navigate their abomination of a website).  Priced at £2.99, it’s worth picking up next time you’re instore.

You can say that again! Well, unless you’re me and managed a stonking D at A Level French, and then… you probably can’t say that again.  You see I was top of the class in French all the way through “big” school, got a nice shiny A* in my GCSEs and then discovered that things were about to get serious at college.

All those verbs, tenses, and other stuff that I was pretty rubbish at meant that having a good vocabulary could only get me so far.  I still (genuinely) wake from nightmares about not having done my coursework, fifteen years later!

But just because I’m not the world’s best French communicator doesn’t mean that I can’t hold my own in a Super U! Le fromage, le vin, et le pain au chocolat!  I can sweep a French supermarket faster than Dale Winton in a beauty parlour.

My last attempt at clearing the shelves whilst on holiday was particularly fruitful and I came away with plenty of goodies, one of which was this bottle of makeup remover which I picked up from Monoprix.  Mixa appears to be your standard high-street brand with a bias toward sensitive and delicate skins.  The brand has an entire range of baby products and Leila is currently working her way through their hair and body wash as I type.  The brand have been around since 1924, obviously a French staple… so I can’t help wondering why I haven’t heard of this rather fabulous makeup remover before?!

Mixa Expert Peau Sensible Eau Nettoyante Apaisante is, to all intents and purposes, a micellar cleansing water, similar to the legendary Bioderma Crealine.  Both cleansers leave no trace of their use behind, no greasiness, residue or anything left on the skin that would make you think you’d used anything other than water to cleanse.

Unlike the Bioderma, this one may not be universally suitable for everyone with sensitive skin or eyes.  It contains a perfume and has a faint rose scent… something which I love and hasn’t caused me any irritation (remember the Mixa is formulated to suit sensitive, reactive skin) but it’s an important difference to note.

As for the performance, it’s on a par with Bioderma… perhaps even better.  You see, I buy the Bioderma because I sorta assumed it was the best of the best.  But it’s quite possibly not.  Make up artists swear by the stuff, stockpile it like it’s going out of fashion… and we (as normal beauty lovers) want in on that action!  But, our needs really aren’t the same, are they?  Professional makeup artists need a product that will do a sterling job on all their models, and while its performance is in-arguably awesome, I think its merits as a suit-all cleanser override everything else.

I put the two cleansers to a side-by-side test.

Both cleansers actually did a brilliant job at removing a combination of cream eyeshadow, mascara (non-waterproof), and tight-lined eyeliner… but to my eye, one fared slightly better than the other… just a wee bit… can you see a difference between the two eyes?

As you view the picture, I used Bioderma Crealine on the right eye (my left), and the Mixa Expert Peau Sensible Eau Nettoyante Apaisante on the left eye (my right).  I think that the Mixa outperformed the Bioderma at removing the eyeliner from the lash-line.

Neither product caused any irritation to my eye and neither left any residue behind.

The clincher for me is the fact that the Mixa Expert Peau Sensible Eau Nettoyante Apaisante costs around 4.50 € for 200ml (but comes in duo packs for 6.50 €) whereas the Bioderma Crealine costs 8.00 € for 250ml or 12.00 € for 500ml.  Of course, you have to think about availability and the fact that Bioderma is now readily available in the UK makes this a less appealing swap.  However, I’ve already instructed my parents to stock up on the Mixa for me when they return from France in the Autumn.

Who needs boxes of cheap wine when I can get them to bring back bottle upon bottle of makeup-remover? Err…

Mixa Expert Peau Sensible Eau Nettoyante Apaisante… bloody brilliant if you can get your hands on it!

Bury me in it.  For long after the blood has ceased to reach my vital organs, Pink Power surely has the might to defibrillate my weary heart back into action and bring me to life again.  Probably.

Ok, so maybe it’s more of a heart-stopping pink than a heart-starting one but either way, you see where I’m coming from with the over-dramatisation of a lipstick.  Basically, it’s a luverly pink with all the rage and sultriness that our Summer has yet to deliver.

It’s not too drying, lasts pretty well through anything except a monsoon (watch out August) or a doughnut (watch out fatty), and has a fairly light texture that belies its price tag.

As for that price tag?  Seventeen Pink Power is a mere snip at only £4.29 from boots.com

What’s your brightest pink and do you fancy owning this one?