A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

After promising myself that I would attempt the next Red Lip with a bit more complementary colour on my eyes instead of a rudimentary streak of liquid liner, I failed.

Revlon Fire & Ice is a re-release of a shade that first saw light of day in 1952… this makes it an absolute perfect option for those wanting to recreate a retro red look!  Fire & Ice has that hint of orange that places it firmly in the 50s.

I’m looking forward to doing the swatch comparisons for the last 7 offerings because this one will contrast nicely to the cool-toned reds that I favour without being in the same ‘orange’ family as shades like Chanel Coromandel.

The formula is creamy and glossy, I tend to apply and blot before slicking on another layer.  Not hugely long-wearing but it fades cleanly.  This is a great shade if you want to dip your toe into warmer reds without going all out.

Plus, at £7.49… it makes for a good budget choice!

Weekends were made for slovenliness – the respite before the manic new week ahead.  I use the time to treat my skin to a bit of makeup-free pampering, I also like to spoil the family with a treat or two…

Yesterday was all about the rhubarb!

Seeing as I’m still on my diet (but getting there slowly!), I had to gaze at the crumble from a distance.  Check out the whipped cream/crumble ratio… that’s how we roll around these here parts.

Not *quite* as delicious but tasty nonetheless is Lanolips Rhubarb Lip Ointment… a sheer, moisturising balm with a hint of colour and sparkle.

The more I’m getting into wearing strong lip colours, the less use I have for these sheer coloured tubes.  I apply my Lanolips 101 before bed at night anyway so don’t need the daytime moisturisation these provide.  But if you’re more of a natural lip girl, these are definitely worth checking out.

My favourites from the coloured range are: Rhubarb, Apples and Dark Honey but definitely check out Sunshine too if you like warmer colours.

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♦ 1 large tin of rhubarb (unless fresh is in season!)
♦ Brown Sugar to taste depending on how tart you like it! (I use about 2 tbsp sprinkled over the rhubarb and 1 over the top of the crumble before baking)
♦ Ready made crumble topping (what? it *is* the weekend!)
♦ 1 tsp of ground cinammon
♦ 1 1/2 tsp of mixed spice

That’s it!

Drain the rhubarb and lay in an ovenproof dish ♦ Add a sprinkle of brown sugar and the spices ♦ Cover with the crumble topping and press down to compact with your fingers (or back of a spoon if you’re a hygiene freak!) ♦ Sprinkle the remaining brown sugar ontop and lightly scratch the surface with a fork to ‘rough’ it up a bit!

Put it in a pre-heated oven (200°c) for 40-45 minutes and pray to the Gods of crispiness that yours comes out with a crunchy top!

Serve with cream or custard… I nearly always use whipping cream just ‘cos that’s how my Nan done did it!

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Lanolips Lip Ointment in Rhubarb with SPF15 is priced at £7.99 and available online from Victoria Health or instore at Boots.

Whenever I buy from Boots No7, I feel like I’m taking a bit of a gamble.  Each purchase I make tends to polarise my opinion and I either end up LOVING the product… big LOVE, not just fleeting love (lip liners, exceptional definition mascara, eye mousse) or out and out hating it (most no7 foundations, shower oil).

I just don’t seem to occupy much middle ground where this brand is concerned.  With that in mind, I was curious to see how I’d like the bits I was recently sent from the range.

From left to right – Amazing Eyes Liner in black, Blush tint in 15 Blossom and Stay Perfect lipstick in 45 Tranquil Rose.

Let’s start with the liner…

Not my favourite type of application brush but perfect for thinner lines and precise flicks.  I’m a touch clumsy so generally fare better with felt tip type brushes.  Having said that, the formula is inky black, true and long-lasting.  The brush holds together beautifully to achieve dainty flicks with relative ease.

No7 Amazing Eyes Liquid Eye Liner is priced at £8.75 and available in black or brown online.

Blush sticks are always a temptation for me, they’re so portable and quick to apply.  The No7 Blush Tint in 15 Blossom is no exception, infact… it’s particularly foolproof.  It’s sheer with a non-greasy feel and applies well over both liquid and powder foundation thanks to a non-sticky, powder-finish.  I swipe this across my cheek back and forward about 5 times to build up the intensity before blending the edges with my fingers.

If you struggle with blush I can’t emphasise enough how well I think you’d get on with this product.  I’ve popped this one in my handbag because it gives me a really natural flush that I can touch up without even needing a mirror.  Really delighted with it’s performance.  I’d like to see No7 release this in more shades.

No7 Blush Tint Cream Blush is available online in Rosebud, Blossom and Clove, priced at £10.

Finally, No7 Stay Perfect lipstick in 45 Tranquil Rose.  First impressions are that it isn’t very ‘rose’ like… it’s far more vivid and corally than I’d expect for it’s name.  Second impression was a distinct “Woah!” when I applied and saw how pigmented it was… I ended up reaching for my lip brush to ensure a neat application.  If you go over the lines with this one, you’re gonna notice it!

For a long-lasting lipstick it’s remarkably creamy to apply but it will accentuate signs of lip dryness after a couple of hours.  And how about that wear?  Without eating… I achieved 5 hours of near-perfect wear but with eating… I needed to top up immediately afterward because the colour had still clung so well to the edges, it left a distinct ring!

I’m going to look into the other shades available as I do believe that Cherry might be calling my name!

No7 Stay Perfect Lipstick is available in 16 shades online, priced at £10 each.

Swatches from L-R: Amazing Eyes Liner, Stay Perfect Lipstick in Tranquil Rose and Blush Tint in Blossom.

A quick FOTD featuring the three products reviewed above.  How killer is that lipstick shade?!

Do you have any No7 staples that you return to time and time again?

*cue Barry White* duh duh duh duh duh… duh duh duh duhduh…

Give it up, ain’t no use… I can’t help myself if I wanted to…

I’m hung up, no doubt… I’m so in love with you, for me there’s no way out…

Cause deeper and deeper, In love with you, I’m falling…

I’m gonna love you, love you, love you just a little more, baby…

I’m gonna need you, need you, need you every day…

I’m gonna want you, want you, want you in every way, yeah…

Phew!

So, I got my first Tom Ford lipstick the other day.  I figured that Valentine’s Day was almost here and that you need to love yourself before you can love others right?

So… me and Tom.  Tom and I… it’s an expensive relationship.  Some men are just like that.

I picked up Pure Pink… I hovered for an indecent amount of time over Smoke Red but in the end, figured that I have some really lovely reds already.  What I don’t have is a pink that’s going to make me long for Summer.  I do now!

Pure Pink is a bright POP of colour on my lips, somehow it stops short of looking like one of my Mum’s fuchsia lipsticks from the 80s.  Thank god right?  That would have been an expensive alternative to vintage Constance Carroll by Christ!

It’s creamy but firm with a subtle shimmer and a hue that makes my teeth look whiter than they really are.  It doesn’t feather and fades evenly.  Not moisturising but comfortable.

It’s lovely.  It’s not £35 lovely of course… I haven’t taken complete leave of my senses.  But if you’re as daft to spend £35 on a lipstick as I was, then I hope you thoroughly enjoy it as much as I am too!

Tom Ford Private Blend Lip Color in Pure Pink is priced at £35 and available online and on counter.

Happy Valentine’s Day beautiful people, love your lipsticks especially hard today xxx

A couple of you eagle-eyed ladies spotted the lipstick that I was wearing in my Bateau Ivre FOTD from earlier in the week.  It’s very, very nude isn’t it?

The NARS shade is new for Spring and called Madère.

How do we pronounce that then?  I’m opting for ‘mah-daire’ – anyone wanna wade in with an infinitely more sensible suggestion?

For a matte… it’s fairly creamy to apply, though pretty unforgiving on very dry lips.  If you have deep furrows, you may need to think about some intense moisturisation and a plumping base before attempting this shade as it will highlight any areas of concern.

Many reviews from last year’s launch of these Pure Matte Lipsticks commented on how the formula of these were more moisturising than normal mattes.  Sadly, I can’t say that I’ve reached the same conclusion with Madère.  I felt that it was just as drying as any other matte lipstick that I wear.

Where Madère does excel is in the density of colour and it’s ability to truly blank out the lip when you want to concentrate attention on your smokey eye.  If you’re a fan of true nude lips (and I know many of you are), it’s probably a shade that you’ll want to add to your collection for nights out.  I feel that it would particularly suit women who feel that nudes often run too orange on their skintone.

NARS Pure Matte lipstick in Madère* is available now from NARS online, on counter and other stockists priced from £17.50

*press sample

Ok, I’m finishing up with the review of the bits that I was sent last month.  Click here to read my other posts on the brand.  I’m battling a bit of a backlog at the minute thanks to the frustrations of losing the site over Christmas.  Bear with me!

Milky Lips in 602 (£4.44) is a pale cool-toned pink gloss that does what it says on the tin!

It’s a bit “Barbie” for me but I can imagine it being a hit among a younger crowd.  It’s tacky and long-lasting but prone to sinking into the furrows in your lips as these milky type glosses and pale lipsticks tend to do.

Moving on…

The Eyeshadow Trio Dancing Queen in 803 (£4.24) whilst nicely pigmented is frosty as hell.  It’s just too much for me though I was impressed at the texture which was a lot softer than I would have expected considering the amount of glitter these shades hold.  Fall-out is an issue when using these so be prepared to deal with it!

The darkest charcoal/blue shade in the trio is particularly nice but like I said, it’s all a bit too sparkly for me I’m afraid.

On with the next product…

I was VERY pleased with the Paese Pen Liner (£6.08) which I’ve been using daily ever since I received it.  So far (in over a month), it hasn’t dried out at all.  It could do with a little more pigment… as it stands, you do need to go over any lines you draw twice to get a solid, opaque finish.  So why am I holding it in such high esteem?

I love pen liners, I find them the quickest, easiest way to accomplish a simple black line along my upper lashline.  You can’t beat gel for pigmentation but I’m pretty cack-handed and keep falling back on these felt-tip type pens when I don’t have all day to get a perfect line.  The tip on this is a cracker.  Not even remotely scratchy and with a fine point that allows for a nice thin ‘flick’.  There’s a bit of bounce in the tip and it never skips as I draw along my lashline.  It’s solid and dependable… something I want in my eyeliner.

And finally…

Paese Blusher in 25 (£3.32) didn’t do anything to impress I’m afraid.  It’s a nice enough peachy/rose shade with a lovely, soft texture but it’s dusty as hell.  A real shame because it also happens to contain one of the nicest and most delicate shimmers I’ve ever seen in what is essentially a drugstore blush.

It’s very pigmented and a little goes a long way but if you take more than a couple of swipes during blending you’ll notice that you start to blend the blush into oblivion and will be left wondering where the hell it went.  One of those blush on, blush off blushers!

Final Thoughts on Paese Cosmetics

I have some concerns about the website which has those horrible block swatches that don’t give a great indication of the shades available.  There seems to be some mis-labelling amongst the categories and it all seems a bit like a work-in-progress rather than a finished consumer-ready website though I can’t emphasise enough how refreshing it is to see such reasonable shipping charges within the UK!

It’s a brand worth exploring with some little gems hidden among the standard less-impressive drugstore-esque fare.  In particular, I’d recommend the eyeliner and primer as well as the nail polish.  These are the products that I would personally re-purchase.

Are you planning to give Paese Cosmetics a try?

A rich, berry red with a small amount of shimmer… I’ve worn this beautiful shade plenty of times since I received it at a press event last year but never as ‘full on’ as this.

It’s pretty vampy!

I usually apply with my fingers and blot it down to a stain but in the image above, I’ve applied with a lip brush before blotting on a piece of tissue.

I would feel far too conspicuous to wear this so bold in the daytime but I reckon I could give it a go on an evening out?

Longevity was really good on this one… 4 hours of near perfect wear despite drinking and munching on a packet of crisps.  Plus, as it fades… I think I love it more as it gives a sexier, slightly smudgy round the edges look.

Extravagant Berry is a limited edition shade that was released for Christmas 2010… it’s still around, but won’t be for much longer!

One full week of Red Lips though it seems like much longer!

The full list of reds and a comparison swatch:

1. NYX Hot Red Jumbo Lip Pencil

2. MAC Cockney

3. MAC Russian Red

4. RMK Irresistible Lips in Red #29

5. Clarins Rouge Prodige Fusion Red

6. Chanel Rouge Allure Laque in Dragon

7. Urban Decay Revolution

Click on the links above to see each lipstick in it’s individual post with a shot of how it looks on my lips.

Incase you’re curious… when it came to wiping the swatches off my arm with a makeup remover wipe about 2 minutes after I’d applied… #1 and #5 left striking stains behind so I’d recommend these two for particularly long-wear.

Which red is your favourite so far – should we crack on with week 2 and some more red-lipped readers?

Sometimes, only good can come from being very bad.

£24 bad to be precise… but we’ll keep that between us ok?

The lovely Jessica from OutInAPout made me buy this.  I’d also like to blame her for the other shade I picked up aswell but I think that might be pushing my luck a bit.

I look quite washed out in the picture below as it was taken before bed and most of my makeup had long since faded… I had just re-applied the lipstick to take a piccie before heading off to wash my face!

The most Christmassy red on the planet.  Possibly.  On me, it wears like a real jewel-toned red… ruby-esque but without the pink undertones.  Not hugely blue either, which surprised me.

Dragon is stark against my pale skin, it’s not a shade that I’ll be able to wear without drawing attention to my lips which means that they need to be in tip top condition to get away with it!  Despite the liquid lipstick formula of the Chanel Rouge Allure Laques, I don’t find this to be too drying… at least not compared to the high street versions I’ve tried in the past.

It transfers like a bitch mind… I’ve stained about 7 cups already today.  Whatever, I’m not washing up.

Wear is great, mostly thanks to it’s incredible pigmentation rather than formula as it does fade a little faster in the centre for me.  It’s not the most high maintenance lipstick I’ve ever worn… but it’s not effortless either.  Through a work day, I’d need 2 touch ups… that’s not really bad for a red is it?

Application however, was incredibly foolproof.  A few strokes of lipliner for insurance and I was able to apply straight from the wand – marvellously easy!

I love both of the ones that I picked up and want to try more of the Rouge Allure Laque range now… any other recs for me ladies?

Here’s some of your gorgeous selves rocking a festive red lip look!

1. Check out Julie from TheBeautyHooligan who’s totally rocking Revlon Colorburst in True Red!

2. Katie from MyLipsButBetter is looking very lovely in NYX Snow White.

3. Sara from Sarasarebel is making me whimper with jealousy in a red that I want but can’t have.  MAC Port Red to be precise *swoon*.

4. And another lovely Sara!  Who is looking fabulously festive in Rimmel’s Red Fever – thanks lovely!

5. Last but not least, Krystal is showing us her favourite drugstore red: Revlon’s Super Lustrous Lipstick in Wine With Everything.

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Gosh, has it really been nearly a week since I did a Red Lips day?  Time is currently moving far too quickly… that’s what happens when you still have a Christmas tree to put up.

Day 5 is one of Clarins’ new Rouge Prodige long-lasting lipsticks in Fusion Red.  If you don’t like your products to be scented… steer clear of this range as that tell-tale lipstick smell has been heavily masked with a lovely (if a bit strong) scent of fig.

Fusion Red is a glossy creme with a texture that grips.  It has a little less slip during application because of this and takes me longer to apply with a brush than some of the other reds I own but once it’s on, you can wear with the confidence that only a long-lasting lipstick brings.

On me, Fusion Red lasted a good 6 hours before fading but when it did eventually begin to fade, It lost colour in the centre first leaving me that tell tale red ring.  It wasn’t too apparent thanks to filling in with my lip liner but still…

Having said that, I had less teeth transfer issues with Fusion Red than with any other.  Is there anything worse than smiling seductively at yourself in the mirror only to notice that it looks like you’ve been chowing down on a couple of wild gazelles during your lunchbreak?

Clarins Fusion Red (£16) is a good, solid… long-lasting choice that is particularly unfussy but does need to be kept nearby for a quick touch up when it eventually fades.

I was a bit naughty… I bought my first red for the series.  I’ve been wanting an RMK lippie for ages and you know what it’s like when you want something… any old excuse right?

I’m very pleased I did buy it though!

RMK Irresistible Lips in 29 Red is a vibrant, slightly pink red.  I actually expected it to be a little sheerer than it is… I’m used to Asian lipsticks coming out less pigmented but this is a cracker and a really balanced lipstick in terms of texture being neither too matte nor too glossy.

One swipe (as with most lipsticks) will give an uneven finish but if I blend the colour with my finger I get one of the best deep pink/red lip stains I’ve worn.   A couple more swipes and you get a finish as in the photo above.

I find pink/reds quite hard to wear as they often clash with my skintone… they have to be spot on or they just look “off”.  This one is pretty good, it’s neither too guava nor raspberry leaning… neutral.

RMK Irresistible Lips also gave me great wear and faded evenly after a few hours…. because it wasn’t completely matte, I was also able to smoosh my lips together to replenish the colour a couple of times before reapplying.

RMK Irresistible Lips in 29 Red (£15) is available to purchase online from LookFantastic

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If anyone wants to join me on my red lip crusade, please email me a photo of your lovely selves rocking your favourite red lip – I’d love to post a collage with your photos!

Please keep your photos coming in – perhaps we can inspire one other to carry on rocking the reds over Christmas!