A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

When I was in London earlier in the month I headed over to the huge Westfield to throw myself on the makeup.

I was itching to check out the Inglot store that I remembered hearing about on some forums when Westfield first opened.  And here it is! (please excuse the mobile phone pics)

Check out the range of eyeshadows:

and nail polishes:

Not forgetting the lipsticks…

It’s like an explosion in a Skittles factory no?

Beautiful!

Anyway… after that colour overload, I proceeded to choose myself a trio of eyeshadows to fill a small Pro Freedom Palette.  I went for the safe option (I know, boring!)

But aren’t they beautiful?

They’re ultra pigmented… incredibly smooth and I’ve embarked on a full-on love affair with them.

I can’t remember exactly how much I paid (argh! – can anyone help me out?)  I think it was around £14 for all 3 inc. the palette.

It’s called the Freedom System and you choose which shades you want the SA to put in.

The way I understood it is this…

You can choose from a Large Pro Palette (which hold the square shaped shadows, blushes and face powders – you can see the square shadows in my picture above).

or

You can choose from a Small Pro Palette which will hold the smaller eyeshadows (like mine), lipsticks and concealers etc…

Once you’ve chosen small or large… you can choose how many pans you want the palette to hold (I’m not sure of all the available choices).

You can also purchase items individually if you wish.

Hope that makes sense?!

The small shadows (to my eye) are the same size as MAC 26mm pans, but you get 1.8g of product in each pan compared to MAC’s 1.5g.

The range of colours is mind boggling, each with different finishes… I love me a bit of shimmer though!

I also bought a couple of lipsticks and will be back shortly with a post on those.

Have you tried Inglot? What say you?

George at Asda I mean…

They must be? How else can they possibly be knocking out such awesome shades for £1.50 a bottle?

This is hmmm… how can I best describe.  A gilded olive?

I hate greens, but this I love.  So if you hate greens too, try it…. seriously – it’s beautiful!

It’s a metallic, so there is some evidence of brush stroke but no more than my higher end metallic polishes and even less than some.

It’s called Superstar and really is something special.

Application and longevity are in line with the rest of the George shades I’ve tried.

Unfortunately, this will go down in history as the “last shade”.  The “last shade” before stump-gate.  No matter, it’s beautiful.

I’ve been playing with Sleek MakeUP’s new Luminous Pressed Powder which I was sent just over a week ago.

It’s designed to be swept all over your face for a glowing, illuminated effect.

The powder, which is available in 4 shades is packed full of tiny light-reflecting mica pigments.  These are visible in the pan, and whilst very fine – are indeed pretty sparkly!  Unfortunately, the pigments are too fine for my camera to pick up on.  I did try!

I received shade 02, which is far too dark for me to use as an all-over powder – not that that stopped me from trying of course.

Unfortunately, the shade just looked unnaturally dark on my skin.  I can however say that the mica pigments are just about subtle enough to be used all over without looking like a disco ball.

It’s ok!  You can put the dancing shoes away!

I found that it absorbed oil effectively and didn’t clump down the side of my nose as some heavier powders will.

As it’s a golden tone, I am currently using it as a light bronzer just to warm up my skin a little where the sun (if we had any) would touch.  I was a little nervous about putting an illuminating powder on my nose fearing that it may be seen from out of space, but so far visibility is staying below the stratosphere.

Packaging is nice for a budget item, other budget cosmetic companies could learn a thing or two from Sleek MakeUP’s consistently good quality casings.

You can dispense with the silly little powder puff and just use a large fluffy powder brush to pick up the product.

If shimmer ain’t your bag (baby), then I’d refrain from applying it all over and use it more as you would a MAC MSF.  Ooh, actually… bet it would look lovely swept over your decolletage too, it’s a bit more subtle than some products designed to draw a bit of attention to the old boobies.  Make you look less like a slapper and more like a subtley shimmery ladee.  Innit.

It’s a nice addition to the Sleek MakeUP line, it fits right in and is fairly priced at £5.99.

So, after reading this kind comment from Ceona on my last FOTD post:

I love this palette and the way you’ve used it. So tempted to get one myself. I’m not sure about that blue though, how would you use it with the other colours? I am stuck in a brown/bronze/gold eyeshadow rut.

I realised that I too was mostly stuck in a bronze/gold shadow rut… but I’m loving it and don’t wanna leave, especially now Autumn is drawing near with all it’s bronzey shades! So, instead I thought I’d spice it up a little by using the blue in the palette foiled (wet) as a liner.

I *think* it works, although I’d probably use the same gold on the lower lashline as I did on the lids next time.

Used:

Kryolan Shades Palette in Santiago

Hope the shadows aren’t too distracting, I did this quite late at night and had to use my (bounced) flash to light my face.

Happy roast dinner day! (although I’ve got baked potato, so I dunno why I’m getting all excited..)

Green, not the best colour choice for me… typically one of my favourites – boo hoo!

I’m still showing the I-Divine Original palette some love…

Face:

Revlon Colorstay in Ivory
Silk Naturals Blush in Climax (Orgasm Dupe)

Eyes:

Sleek I-Divine Original Palette (Green and Gold shades)
Shu Uemura Painting Liner in M Brown
Ruby & Millie Metallic I-Writer in Green
GOSH Velvet Touch Eyeliner in Green Grass
Kanebo Kate Enamel Glow Waterproof Mascara in Black

Lips:
Avon Glazewear Lipstick in Pink Kiss (shade now discontinued)

Here’s a simple, summery one colour eye FOTD using BarryM Dazzle Dust in Bronze #44.

I love this shade, and normally use a little on the centre of my eyelid to give a neutral eye a little bit of a pop. When I got up this morning, the weather was beautiful so I decided I was gonna go a little brighter on the eye makeup than usual:

I can’t decide if I look ‘glowy’ or just plain shiny.

Eyes:
BarryM Dazzle Dust #44 (Bronze)
GOSH Velvet Touch Eyeliner in Golden Cadillac
Rimmel Sexy Curves Mascara
Sleek Ink Pot Gel Liner in Dominatrix (Black)

Face:
Clarins Truly Matte Foundation
Earthen Glow Minerals Blush in Copala Beach (♥)
MAC MSF Natural in Light/Medium

Lips:
Burts Bees Super Shiny Gloss in Sheer Lemon

And just for shits and giggles, we all know that it’s not easy taking these FOTD photos… arms outstretched, trying to find the right buttons to press (even harder on a DSLR), searching out the best light in the house and all the while trying not to gurn.

So here’s an outtake, “My… what a big nose you have.”  And fan-fuckintastic, I’ve ALWAYS wanted to see what my nose blackheads looked like in full macro, technicolour glory.

You lot just need to thank God for small mercies.  I must have picked my nose at some point before taking this picture or it coulda been a hell of a lot uglier.

Mrs ‘Keepin’ it Real’ Lipglossiping xxxx

My bargainous baked bronzer turned up today, hoorah!  Bronzer is something that scares me.  Being so pale and uninteresting I screw it up on a regular basis.  This one seems really light and shimmery though (shade 01), perhaps a little too light actually judging by the swipe I just made on my fingertip.

First impression is that it seems as cheap as it was.  The lid nearly splintered into 2 halves trying to open the damn thing to take a picture.  Texture seems soft though, not gritty or particularly chalky.

Will let you know how I get on with it.  It’s pooh.  See below*:

Oh, *psst* – by the way, that Baked Bronzer I got… the one by La Femme with all the pretty gold and white veining… load of pooh, really.  I can’t get the product to show up on me.  It doesn’t bronze, brighten or even highlight.  I was hoping for subtle, but existent would have been nice.  Perhaps a darker shade would be more evident, but my opinion of it is so… *meh*… that I can’t be arsed to order another.

*taken from this post

So this is the liner referenced in this post, my super bargain from Deal Extreme priced at $3.75 with free worldwide shipping.

Texture is really creamy, slightly greasy – but this makes for a very smooth application.  I don’t own any MAC or Bobbi Brown gel liners ‘cos I’m a complete pauper so I can’t compare to the high end brands – but I have a fair few gel liners I’ve picked up on the cheap including Sleek, Smashbox, Go Cosmetics and Elizabeth Arden.

As I’ve said, the application is a dream, thanks in part to the slight greasiness that the liner imparts.  Pigmentation is really rather good, especially with a 2nd or 3rd sweep of the eyelid.  Thanks to spidery lashes, I usually really struggle getting a nice line with liners that can sometimes be a little clumpy or thick (especially the cheap ones that I keep insisting on trying!).  No such problems here as I was able to make single fluid sweeps across the eyelid without my lashes bunching up or getting in the way and transferring the product to the rest of my eyelid.

This was after 3 sweeps with the liner.

It’s a lovely shimmery colour with no chunks of glitter – I’d still say it was more gold than copper though.

That’s where the praise ends I’m afraid…  Thanks again (I’m sure) to the slightly greasy texture – it didn’t set solid and after a few blinks, I had a matching line just above my eyelid crease.  Super disappointing but really rather predictable from a $3.75 liner.

Not to be beaten, I grabbed a soft pencil brush and a neutral brown eyeshadow and gently traced the eyeliner almost patting it hoping that the powder may go some way to setting it.  Amazingly, my ingenious little plan worked, and not only that – but it also improved the colour, making it more wearable for during the day.  Hurrah!

Still going strong with no smearing or transfer!

I’m definitely stashing this, and going back for the other colour available on Deal Extreme: ‘Aquamarine’ which looks like a regular Jade-y green to me.

I should also mention that I haven’t noticed any irritation from this product at all, but if you’re particularly sensitive, please be cautious!

[starreview]

Always on the hunt for a bargain, I came across this eyeliner whilst making one of my regular orders of crap from Deal Extreme, I couldn’t really turn it down at $3.75 with free shipping could I?   It may well blister my eyelids but it’s a chance I’ll take in the search of cheap but fabulous beauty products.

I’d say that it’s more of a burnished gold than copper colour as described on Deal Extreme.  Consistency is nice and soft – haven’t tried it out yet, but shall report back on colour, ease of application, longevity and whether or not it transforms me into Quasimodo’s uglier sister in less than 30 seconds.  It comes in a pretty little mirrored cardboard box, but I ripped it into a million pieces in my excitement to check out the contents – patience is a virtue and all that…

Regardless of this product, if you haven’t checked out Deal Extreme yet, I urge you to.  You can get all manner of utter crap at ridiculously good prices – the most fun you can have with your Paypal Account!  Shipping is free and generally takes around 8 working days from ordering to reach the UK.