A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

You may or may not remember that a few months ago, I bought a couple of wigs.  Infact, you probably shouldn’t remember this, I only mentioned it in passing and if you do happen to have some kind of superhuman power of recall, then quite frankly, I’d be a bit concerned about you.

Anyway, when my wigs arrived, I tried one on and didn’t really like it.  I mean, I loved the wig… the colour was so intensely rich and chocolatey brown with a hint of caramel, just delicious.  But on me?  It looked exceptionally daft.  It was curly and needed to be longer in order to not look immensely wiggy on my fat head.  I was immediately disheartened by it and so, when the other wig arrived… I didn’t actually get round to trying it on (a fool and her money etc. etc.).

Well you know what’s coming don’t you?

Boredom has struck this week in the most tedious of ways and so I did what I used to love doing in this situation, I went and had a play in my beauty cupboard.  Instead of dragging out the coloured eye liners, my hands happened upon the untried wig, cue some excitement and grappling for a bunch of kirby grips.

What do you think?  It’s not too bad is it?  I reckon that on bad fringe days it could see me right?!

It’s synthetic but doesn’t have too much shine to it… nothing that a bit of dry shampoo won’t tame.  Best of all, it was ridiculously cheap, much cheaper than the other one I bought and didn’t like.  Here’s a link to the one I purchased (although I bought from a different seller months ago), the picture in the auction makes it look far more highlighted and caramelly than it is in real life but dudes, it’s like £7.00 – for a play around with a new hairdo, it’s brilliant.

Can you tell how much weight I’ve put on?  You don’t need to be (too) kind… since I found out I was pregnant almost 4-months ago, I’ve used it as carte blanche to just eat all. the. things.  I had secretly hoped that having such revolting morning (afternoon, and evening) sickness would have kept the balance somewhat more fairly but no… that would be too much to ask for wouldn’t it?

Talking of babies, which I promise not to do too often, Leila’s latest name suggestions for her little brother/sister include: Marmalade, Margaret, Humphrey, and Zod.  No, I don’t think we’ll be entrusting her with the job either.

Back to the FOTD…

I was thinking about some of the “safe” colours that are always the first to sell out when a new collection appears.  When I was in my teens, it was always the “browns” that would be in short supply, except, that I’ve never really had much of a love affair with brown browns, generally favouring greys and taupes when it comes to getting my neutral fix.

To this end, I decided to embrace the season and go all out BROWN for a FOTD.  As always, I didn’t use 438 products… I’m just too lazy for that kind of dedication to the cause.  For colour, I grabbed at my Laura Mercier Bonne Mine palette which I knew would sort me out for eyes and cheeks, my Estee Lauder Blackened Cocoa* eye pencil, an almost-dried-out Estee Lauder Sumptuous Color mascara in, and my trusty Urban Decay Naked 24/7 Glide On Lip Pencil in Naked.

Thanks to the brush-free application, the look took only a few minutes to complete and gives a good amount of warmth and definition without looking massively made up, especially once the lips begin to fade a little.  The nature of the cream products mean that as the day goes on, the makeup wears gently and softens further, I’m no longer afraid of a little bit of creasing!

Brown still isn’t one of my favourite shades to wear, but I do love how it looks much less “try hard” than when I do a full face of makeup with a palette of greys.  There’s something much more informal about smudging earthy colours across the canvas, and there’s a lot to be said for that.

What colours are you favouring at the moment and are there any popular shades that you just don’t reach for?

* press sample

You know, in the world of internet acronyms I’m a bit of a fail.  I’m an expert LOLer, can tell my PMSL from my ROFL and do a good line in OMGWTFLOL (STFU).  Beyond that though, things get complicated.  Between the years of 2004 – 2008 I was in some kind of acronym void and when I emerged blinking into this new world, I remember firmly not having a clue what BFF meant.  It’s not really my fault, Mr L is my best friend and he doesn’t go around refering to me as his BFF, I was handicapped from the start.

Cacee is a brand I’d never heard of before seeing a selection of their polishes on a stand at Pro Beauty.  I picked up their BFF Nail Polish in Shaina for around £3.50, twirling it in my fingers and coo-ing at the scattered holo particles suspended in a pretty, chocolate brown base.  Excited!

It’s a two-coater and applies smoothly, sadly drying to a gritty finish – I guess those holographic particles just aren’t fine enough to sit nicely on the nail.  You also lose a lot of the holo effect once on the nail, it’s not an ugly polish by all means (two coats of Lumos sorted out the gritty finish) but it just could have/should have been better you know?

Have you tried any Cacee polishes?

You can’t polish a turd but you can roll it in glitter…

Ta-da!!

Well, it’s not exactly subtle is it?  A warm brown base colour with a whole heap of chunky holo glitter embedded like sparkly shrapnel.  It needs a top coat to get rid of the grittiness and three overall coats to achieve full opacity.

I like it, but not as much as I thought I was going to.  Apologies for the no natural daylight photo – colour is accurate but the holo is obviously looking a little underwhelming.  You need proper sun for that kind of bling and we’re just not getting any at the moment.

What do you think?

China Glaze Mahoganie is priced at £7.99 and available online from RadiantBabe-Beauty.

The second piece from this year’s Lancome Fall collection that I wanted to show you was the new eyeshadow palette, Les Oeillades in Blondette Fatale, featuring an array of wearable neutrals and multi-tasking eyeliner/brow shades.

This beautifully designed brown and taupe palette can be used to create a beautiful smoky eye effect.  It can also be used for subtle shading and for softer, more natural definition, you can use the metallic shades to illuminate the lids and the matte shades to define and sculpt the eye area.

Shown top left, is the dark liner/brow shade which is an ash-toned dark brown matte with a firm texture.  Next along is a mid-toned brown matte shade which leans slightly warm and can also be used for filling in fair brows.  The two bottom spaces are taken up by a pair of metallic shadows, one cool and one warm.  The bottom left works beautifully toward the inner corner to inject a hint of light without being ‘highlighter-y’.  The bronzier shade (bottom right) is nice to wear dabbed over the base in the centre of the lid.

Aaron de Mey, Lancome’s Global Make-Up Director suggests…

The eye shadow can also be used wet with a small brush on the eye area if you wish a more intense result or dry with small soft brushes to shade and sculpt, always remembering that darkness makes areas recede and lighter shades bring features ‘forward’.

The pigmentation on these is nicely build-able, with the mattes requiring a couple of swipes to achieve the payoff shown above.  The metallics are, as usual, the most strongly pigmented in the palette.  The colour-combination and texture shows this palette to be a more grown-up version of a neutral work palette.  The build-ability ensures that Les Oeillades in Blondette Fatale can be put to use in both day and night-time situations depending on the intensity required.

I tend to wear these higher-end shadows without primer and these held up very well indeed.  I’m sure using the mattes as a base increases the longevity of the shimmers successfully.  I also want to mention the little ‘tools’ included with the palette which I would usually either ignore (at best) or ridicule.  The ones included with this palette are actually brilliant for travel.  A completely useable angled brush for brows, the usual application sponge (ignore that one) and a pointy, thin sponge that works brilliantly to line the eyes.  Colour me impressed.

Overall, I would describe Les Oeillades in Blondette Fatale as an incredibly versatile palette.  It may well be that you, like me, already have 101 neutrals in your collection in which case, I’d say this is great for travel thanks to the inclusion of genuinely useful brow/liners shades and tools but is otherwise a non-essential.

Lancome’s Les Oeillades in Blondette Fatale is priced at £33.00 and available at Lancome counters nationwide from 1st September 2011

* press sample

I’m already the proud owner of Sueded Brown’s little sister, Velvet Plumtones so I couldn’t help but pick this one up too when I saw it in the ‘sale’ box on counter in John Lewis.  I paid half price for this little palette.  A total snip a £12.50!

I love these Color Intrigue palettes… I mean, OK, they’re not hugely exciting in shade selection but they’re wearable, high quality shadows that are hard to screw up.  They blend beautifully, last forever on my lids and have a beautiful satin sheen without being too metallic.

4 shades ranging from a pale highlight through to a v. dark charcoal brown which I”m addicted to using as a liner.

Aren’t they rich?  The highlight shade *is* there by the way, it’s just pretty damn close to my skin tone as a colour match!

So, that leaves one palette left to collect…. the Neutral Cashmeres.  I know I can get it in the ‘ordinary’ packaging but I’d quite like to complete my set of 100th Anniversary ones!  I will have to keep my eyes peeled!

Do you own any Elizabeth Arden cosmetics?

Continuing with the Barielle A/W Style in Argyle collection, we’re just over halfway through and can you guess what today’s shade variation is?

Can you?

That’s right!  Brown!

Ohhhh how I long for a green.  Not that this isn’t a rather lovely brown…. look how glossy it is!  This is with a top coat, but that never guarantess super-gloss like this…. the polish underneath has to want to play ball to get this almost glass-like finish.

Barielle’s Unraveled Rust is described as a ‘burnt rust creme”…. though it’s not really all that rusty in my opinion.  More of a vampy chocolate.  Three coats again are needed to achieve that perfect finish.

Are you into your khakis?

Unless a man is wearing them… then, no.  Not really… though I’m getting sorely tempted by one of the new polishes from the Les Khakis de Chanel collection.

Going all out on the sludge, Chanel knows how to hit our purses hard when leading the trends.

I’m surprised by Khaki Brun… perhaps simply a clever trick to entice all those that missed out on Particuliere earlier in the year.  Khaki Rose *could* be lovely, though it’s a bit granny no?

Khaki Vert is my pick of the bunch…. look at all that grey blended with the green.  Like something from the bottom of a smelly swamp.  Just lovely 😉

Are any of these calling to you?  Bored of the grungey colours now?

Why don’t these Body Shop Eye Shadows get more love?  I’ve collected a beautiful array of neutral shades over the last few years (yes, years… hygiene freaks – bite me).

I don’t think I’ve ever paid full price (£8) for one though…. I usually pick them up off eBay or when they’re in the sale on the Body Shop website, which… btw…. has some of the best sales and discount codes of any beauty website.

You get 1.4g of product for your money and the shadows come in either matte or shimmer finish.  The shimmer ones are just beautiful…. they remind me of the MAC Veluxe Pearl finish, heavily pigmented and smooth like butter.

Next time you’re passing your local Body Shop, go check out #07 and come back and tell me it’s not gorgeous!

What underrated products would you happily sing the praises of?

So, last week… or was it the week before?  I’m getting old… they’re all starting to blur.

Anyway… I hit up The Makeup Artist Boutique mid sale and treated myself to a couple of Yaby bits that I’d had my beady eye on.  I’ve heard lots of (mostly positive) things about the makeupartist-designed brand and wanted to check it out for myself.

Here’s what I bought.

for swatches and some quick first impressions… read on…

Read the rest of this entry »

I awoke to a surprise parcel last Saturday…

Courtesy of a very sweet friend, this beautiful chocolate milk of a nail polish now holds pride of place in my collection.  I’d been lemming Zoya Pasha for the best part of a year and with such long-term longings inevitably comes a touch of pedestal placement!  I have to say, it didn’t disappoint.

3 coats for a smooth finish, Pasha is a silvery milk chocolate with a slight metallic sheen.  It applied beautifully with no dragging at the cuticles, my only slight issue was with a couple of bubbles which I think had more to do with my impatience at wanting to see it applied, like NAO! as opposed to any formula problems.

I’m so happy to finally have this in my hands, thank you liloo – your generosity delighted me and I may have been bitten by the Zoya bug!

My last foray into ELF’s eyeliners was not a successful one.  About a year ago, I picked up a couple of the liquid liners they do and HATED them.  Scratchy and lacking in pigmentation made them a huge fail for me so I was ready to be disappointed when I accepted the offer to try a liner from the new ELF Studio Cream Eyeliner range.

I chose Coffee, a medium brown shade.  There are currently 4 shades in the line up: Coffee (medium brown), Black, Midnight (dark blue) and Ivory (off white pearl)

The packaging fits in nicely with the rest of the Studio line, the jar is plastic with a solid, chunky feel.  The lid screws on with a satisfying click when it’s fully tightened.  Lightweight and portable, it’s not the sleekest eyeliner in the world, but it’s fully practical.

The texture of the liner is *incredibly* soft, perhaps a little too soft.  When I dip my brush, the fibres sink downward straight into the product which makes it a little hard to stroke across the surface without picking up too much product.  A couple of times, I’ve picked up a whole clump of eyeliner on the brush instead of an even coating.

You can see the tip of the brush sinking straight into the product in the shot above.  Whilst this might mean it takes a little more care to load your brush, it makes for the smoothest application of any liner I’ve ever used.  And I’ve used a lot.  Note, that this only applies to this particular shade as I know texture can vary between products in the same line.

Pigmentation is medium, I needed to go over the line twice to build it up to my desired strength, but when a liner glides as smoothly as this one does, it’s not a problem.

The above swatch shows 3 swipes of the liner.  It takes about a minute to set before becoming truly transfer proof.  Even on my hooded eyelid it stuck fast for hours, by bedtime the line had faded to about half it’s original intensity, but the fading was even.

I’ve also used it as a cream base which worked really well thanks to it’s super-soft texture.  Blending was a delight and I love wearing it under greens to create a more ‘old gold’ kinda shade.  I haven’t noticed it partcularly increasing longevity on eyeshadows though, so I still combine with a slick of eyeshadow primer underneath.

I’m amazed by the quality of my ELF Studio Cream Eyeliner, and at £3.50 you really can’t go wrong.

Can’t. stop. buying. these. lipsticks.

Seriously, at under £2 a pop you can afford to experiment, and although the Cherry Culture swatches are pretty naff… Google is your friend.

I bought 3 more with my last haul.  Actually, I think I bought 5… but 2 were Ronald McDonald reds so I gave them to someone who would look less like a serial killer in them.

These are the 3 I kept:

And here’s what they look like swatched “ON MAH FACE!”:

NYX Paris is my favourite, it’s a perfect pink for me… not too warm, not too cool.  Love it!  It’s glossy and smooth and doesn’t highlight my sore bits.

NYX B52 is a touch warm for me, but it’s not too bad.  Doesn’t look much like I expected it to, it’s a little darker on my skintone than I thought it would be.  Texture is great though.

I don’t understand this pout… is it even a pout?  What AM I doing?  Anyway… ignoring the stupid expression, NYX Power is akin to Revlon’s Pink Pout but without the dryness.  It’s not a total dupe, but it’s the nearest I’ve found for my skintone (yes, I know MAC Angel is a well-known dupe, but not on me).