A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

When Joe was born, I received a couple of products from Childs Farm – a brand that specialises in toiletries for little ones. I wouldn’t usually blog about children’s products, I mean… I’m not entirely sure how many of you would appreciate a foray into mummy-blogging, I actually started Lipglossiping to get *away* from being a Mummy for five-minutes!  Having said that, and the reason that I’m even talking to you about this range is because, well… I’ve stolen something from the range for myself.

The first thing you’ll notice about Childs Farm products is the delightful packaging, full of playfulness and colour that gives a hint to what awaits you inside.  The labels depict real animals and ponies that actually live on Childs Farm,  the Hampshire home of the brand’s owner, Joanna.

The products have been formulated to be as natural as possible and are free from parabens, SLS, mineral oils, and artificial colours rendering them suitable from newborn-age upwards.  The scents are blended beautifully and elaborate on the brand’s styling with funky fusions: the strawberry mint shampoo is summer in a bottle.  And this is partially why I’ve stolen it for myself.

The other reason is that I’m now 3-months post-partum and that lovely pregnancy mane that took 9 months to thicken is shedding in tear-inducing handfuls.  Everytime I change a nappy, wipe a stinky fist, or unload the washing machine… I’m met with strands of my hair.  They get everywhere!  It’s with this in mind that I’ve been reaching for this gentler shampoo… and also the reason why, when I noticed the brand was currently on offer in Boots, I popped in to restock and grab the detangler spray!

Now, where’s that candy?  I feel like stealing something else from my babies…

Childs Farm products are currently on 3for2 and are available to purchase instore and online at boots.com, priced from £3.99 each.

* press sample

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French brand, Kure Bazaar claim to offer the next generation of nail lacquer with a range of shades that offer fashion-forward colour alongside the ethics of a natural formula.  The “4 free” range (no formaldehyde, no dibutyl phthalate, no synthetic camphor, and no toluene) indeed offers a full spectrum of shades from its library of 37 colours.

I’ve got three here to show you, and from this small selection* I have nothing but praise.  The trio of shades featured below gave me fuss-free application, rich pigment and high shine.

From left to right: Cappuccino (also featured by LondonMakeupGirl here), Hipster, and Rouge Flore.

Each bottle contains 10ml of product

The above swatch shows three coats, Cappuccino is a fairly neutral-toned nude shade which should suit many skintones and certainly doesn’t appear too orange-toned against my cool, pink skintone.  The formula is thin on this one but offers good coverage.  If you don’t mind a little VNL, you could be done in two coats but I prefer a fully opaque look, for which, you’ll need three.

Hipster is one of four shades in Kure Bazaar’s Jeans collection, it’s a dusty blue… darker than cornflower but with the same soft leanings.  It’s certainly not a primary type shade but makes a great year-round blue for those who prefer toned-down brights to pastels and neons.  Again, three coats are shown but two would probably be sufficient if you weren’t needing to swatch them for photos!

I have a huge fondness for clean reds, and Rouge Flore is indeed a beautiful red with a great very-nearly-one-coat formula.  The above swatch shows two coats.  Rouge Flore is a warm red with enough orange to deliver retro leanings but not enough to make it an obviously orange-toned red (this makes more sense in my head than it does once typed out!)

Each shade applied beautifully and was dry enough between coats within the 10 minute mark.  Each image shows a top coat applied for extra shine.  I don’t comment on longevity because most polishes stick to my nails like glue anyway, sorry I can’t offer advice on that score.  I feel the brush is a little on the small side (think old style Essie brushes), and that these are quite expensive at £14.95 a-piece (considering you only get 10ml of product) but I can’t fault the formula, pigment, or application on the ones I’ve tried.

Kure Bazaar polishes are available to buy instore and online at selfridges.com, also online at beingcontent.com.

* press sample

Remember Rimmel’s Hide The Blemish? Surely a handbag staple for teenagers around the world if ever we saw one?  Well, I have to admit… this is what I was reminded of when I received this concealer sample through the post.  I would call the packaging ‘charming’ but honestly, it just looks a little bit dated/only-three-kids-allowed-in-the-shop-at-the-same-time (our local chemist and Rimmel counter was on the school route home!)

But that’s where the similarities end.  Completely.

Essential Care’s Mineral Concealer is really hydrating and offers a lot of slip during application.  Infact, I was positively convinced that it would slide straight off any blemishes that it initially concealed, but it didn’t – at least not for the couple of hours that I was able to test it.  The shade was sadly a little too dark for me so I couldn’t leave the house with it on and had to reapply my usual liquid concealer before picking Leila up from the nursery.

Application is precise and full, you can blend out the edges with your ring finger, as I normally do but because this formula is so soft, I used a brush in this instance and it worked beautifully.  I’m very tempted to pick one of these up in “fair” for the winter as my usual bugbear with blemish concealers is that they cling to all my dry bits… ultimately rendering themselves less useful than a solar-powered torch in a black hole.

Ingredients

COCOS NUCIFERA OIL*, RICINIS COMMUNIS OIL*, CERA ALBA*, OLEA EUROPAEA OIL*, ZINC OXIDE, TAPIOCA STARCH*, CANDELILLA CERA*, HELIANTHUS ANNUUS SEED CERA, HIPPOPHAE RHAMNOIDES FRUIT EXTRACT*, CALENDULA OFFICINALIS FLOWER EXTRACT*, ROSMARINUS OFFICINALIS EXTRACT*. May contain +/- CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499, CI 77891, CI 77007, mica, silica *Organically grown/produced (minimum 76%).

It’s pricy (in my opinion) at £17.50 but I may try mixing it on the back of my hand to create a customised tinted moisturiser.  I’m really quite enthusiastic about how utterly non-drying it is.

Essential Care Mineral Concealer is available to buy online from essential-care.co.uk

Do you have a favourite hydrating concealer?

NEOM’s latest fragrance to join their impressive lineup of natural-wax candles is simply called Happiness* and strives to create an atmosphere of calm and contentment wherever it’s placed.  The North Yorkshire-based brand is stocked in hotels and spas nationwide and prides itself stripping products back, cutting out the chemicals and re-imagining the notions behind truly natural and organic brands.

Too many times, ‘natural’ means that we have to compromise on the things that make products so instantly appealable.  We sacrifice the wow-factor for the knowledge that we’re using products that are kinder to the Earth.  Rustic packaging is all well and good until you want to gift it, natural scents can often be uninspiring without a little help from the lab, and the overall impression leaves you wishing you could have your cake and eat it too.

This is where NEOM excels, it doesn’t overlook all the little things that allow a natural brand to feel as luxurious as your usual high-end alternatives.  Infact, I’ve just bought my mother-in-law’s Mother’s Day gift from them, so it’s just as well!

This three-wicked candle offers up to 55hrs of burn time, the wax melts evenly across the surface and burns cleanly, creating no soot to darken the heavy-glass container (or indeed your ceiling!)

The scent is a little hard to describe.  It’s a fresh, floral scent which ultimately gives an impression of space.  White space, open airiness with a touch of sweetness.  Like standing in a gallery that’s had its windows opened for the morning, letting the freshness breathe through without actually being out there, in it.  This clean scent is bolstered with a hint of lemon, sweet – not tart.  I sometimes struggle with white flower scents, I’m not the world’s biggest fan of jasmine and yet when done right, it can barely be beaten.

The scent lingers impressively… walking back into a room, I noticed it staunchly clinging to the ether a good couple of hours after extinguishing the flames.

This would make a wonderful house-warming gift for a loved one, it’s perfect for communal areas and entrance halls to lighten the atmosphere and give a home that freshly-aired feeling.

NEOM Luxury Organics Happiness Home Candle is priced at £37.50 (single-wick 75g versions – £13.00) and available to buy online from neomorganics.com

What are you scenting your home with at the moment?

* press sample

Originally intended for my red lip series, Inika Mineral Lipstick in Electric Red is formulated with natural shea butter and jojoba oil and prides itself on being a completely natural and vegan lipstick.

I say ‘originally intended’ because once I applied it to my lips, I could see that it wasn’t really a fit for my red lip series what with it not really being red n’all.

Inika Cosmetics are an Australian brand boasting over 79 permanent products in their lineup.  All natural products are guaranteed to be completely free from petrochemicals, fillers, talc, bismuth oxychloride, GM ingredients, parabens, preservatives, mineral oils, phthalates and fragrances.  That’s quite a list… but usually consumers often find themselves making compromises in terms of pigmentation or wear when it comes to natural products….

Inika’s Electric Red* is indeed lacking in pigmentation.  While this will disappoint some, others will be delighted to find a more wearable version of a strong shade.  I can’t help but feel that with a name like “Electric Red”, I want something a little bolder to translate to my lips.

It has the prettiest metallic sheen… and in truth, I’m actually quite delighted to find such a wearable warm red that neither makes me look like a clown, nor a cheap tart.  It’s quite an unusual shade and perfect for summer.  Texture-wise, it’s quite hard but softens up as the warmth of your lips encourages the mix to spread.  Once on, it feels light and comfortable.  Despite the natural ingredients, I can’t say that I found it particularly moisturising but it definitely didn’t dry my lips out either.

If you’re looking for light, wearable shades to suit all skintones, take a closer look at the Inika Cosmetics range of highly wearable lipsticks.

Inika Mineral Lipstick in Electric Red is priced at £12.77 and available to buy online from the Inika Cosmetics website.

* press sample

Yes, really.  As a total gym bunny (I’ve been once) and because I’m possibly as horribly superficial as my blog would suggest, I think that one should really consider appropriate gym makeup so as not to frighten other attendees.

Or, to be more truthful, if like me… you’re all too aware that you’re not yet an equal member of the hard-bodied, tight-bummed gym community, you may just spend a little longer on your face in a fit of what is known as ‘over-compensation’.

And so it was that I found myself applying makeup on a day that I knew I had nothing to do other than work from home and visit the gym.  If you ever happen to find yourself in a similar situation, or perhaps just want makeup that makes you look a bit perkier without looking like you’re wearing an inappropriate amount of makeup… read on!

Face: Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation • Bare Escentuals Blush in Promise (in love with this… again) • Rouge Bunny Rouge Glide Concealer in Thalia

Eyes: Estee Lauder Pure Color Eyeshadow in Sugar Biscuit (adore this for brightening) • Avon SuperShock Gel Eyeliner Pencil in Black (under the top lashes to darken) • Maybelline The Colossal Volum’ Express Mascara (would probably use waterproof next time) • Suqqu Brow Powder in Nibiiro

Lips: Lanolips Lip Ointment in Rhubarb

Super quick and easy and left me feeling far more confident about huffing and puffing on the treadmill than without.  Having said that, most of that confidence fled when I broke into a jog and felt my arse begin to bounce along.  Next time, I’m picking the equipment that keeps my back to the wall!

Do you bother with makeup at the gym?

Considering that it’s something I’ve been doing since the age of 15, I’m a bit embarrassed to come to the realisation that I know practically nothing about the actual process of hair colouring.

I started going grey when I was 17 and I’ve now reached the point where unless I’m happy to embrace a more natural look (I’m not), I need to dye my hair every 6-8 weeks.

Thankfully, home hair dye technology has reached a stage where it’s pretty darn fantastic.  We can all go to our local chemist and pick up Salon quality products to take home with us at a fraction of the price.

Tints of Nature, based in the New Forest are a local brand to me.  Well, compared to many brands, they’re local to all of us as their products are manufactured within the UK.  Their niche is in the natural hair market where they provide colourants, shampoos and treatments designed to be as gentle on your hair as possible.

The colourants contain no ammonia, sulfates or resorcinol and are paraben free.

Divided into two clear groups: The Natural Colours & The Fashion Colours, both offer permanent coverage.  Sadly, only the Natural Colours are recommended for covering grey hair which for someone like me, rules out the more adventurous shades as I cannot compromise on complete coverage.

I was sent a pack of the Natural Colour permanent dye in shade 2N Natural Darkest Brown for review consideration and I was curious to see how well it would blend with the colour already present once my roots got to that “Oh my god, you ARE NOT leaving the house looking like that” stage.

Perhaps not the most stylish or eye-catching packaging design, what the product lacks in kerb appeal it makes up for in eco-credentials as all components are recycled and recyclable.

You apply as you would any other dye, so it thankfully wasn’t too much for my puny brain to cope with on a Monday evening.

The results were good, natural and all grey was covered well as promised.  I’m not the neatest home hair-dyer in the world and one thing this product excelled at was the oh-so-important “will it come off your ear lobes” test!  It was also  less fumey than my usual Superdrug dye.

At £8.99 a pack, it’s also heading towards being twice the price of my regular product.  I think it’s something I would make the effort to pick up whenever I felt that my hair needed a break from the harsher products on the market.  Do you ever get hair dyers guilt?  When you know that your ends are feeling a bit frazzled but you HAVE to fix those roots?  This is when I’d call on the Tints of Nature range to help me out of a jam.

Tints of Nature products are available to buy online and in certain stockists.  Check the website for details.

I don’t know about you… but when I think of ‘natural’ or ‘organic’ makeup… it’s all I can do to stifle the yawns that try desperately to escape from my body and expose my feelings.

So when I opened an email and was greeted with this London Fashion Week image…

…I was a little surprised to learn that it came from Louise Amstrup’s SS11 show, where the makeup was represented by none other than natural brand Dr. Hauschka.

Known more for their iconic Rose Day Cream than their colour palettes, I couldn’t resist having a closer look at some of their pieces when I found myself in Whole Foods this week.

I was particularly taken with this palette:

Part of this year’s Summer Impressions collection, the Cool Breeze palette is creamy, pigmented and interesting.  Quite frankly… pretty much all the things I didn’t expect it to be.  Though, I will never like having my lip products in the same palette as powders and all this loveliness comes at a price.  £40 to be exact.

Do you have any preconceptions about all-natural makeup lines – are my sterotypes out of date?

I picked up this Caudalie Lip Conditioner whilst I was on holiday a few weeks ago… I’d left my Lanolips at home and was after something fairly inexpensive and easy to apply.

I can’t detect a strong scent nor taste from this rather minimalistic-looking balm, it displays an impressive list of ingredients including beeswax, shea butter and grapeseed extract topped of with an SPF of 8.

Caudalie is a French brand that I’m not hugely familiar with  but I know that they place an emphasis on natural beauty and this product is no exception having been formulated with 99.5% naturally-derived ingredients.

It keeps my lips in check under normal circumstances, but I haven’t needed to put it to any serious dryness tests as my lips are in OK condition thanks to my Lanolips.  I do love how convenient and solid the Caudalie Lip Conditioner is… it makes for super quick on-the-go application with no risks of looking like you’ve dipped your mouth in goosefat.

I think I paid around £6 for my Caudalie Lip Conditioner, but you can buy it online for £5.50

Recommended!

Yesterday I went along to the Bourjois Press Office in central London to have a look at a new line of cosmetics that have been launched exclusively to Boots in the UK.

Une Natural Beauty is a new brand backed by Bourjois. The main focus of the brand is on it’s natural and eco-credentials.  The brand’s formulas are 98% – 100% derived from natural origin, contain no oils from petrochemistry and are paraben and silicone free.  14 out of the 20 products carry the French ECOCERT label which means that the products adhere to strict ecological and environmental regulations and standards.  You can find out more about the ECOCERT label here.

Une Natural Beauty is a brand for those who take a keen interest in ingredients and the environmental impact their cosmetics may carry with them and simply want to discover a more natural way to wear makeup.

This is all great stuff and frankly an exciting concept for a new high street brand, but only if the products are as good as the philosophy behind them right?  I chose a few products from the range to bring home with me to have a play with and I’ll share my thoughts on them (and some of the products I didn’t choose) later in the week.

For now, I thought you might like to see some photos from the unveiling.

Beware… it’s image intensive beyond this point!

Read the rest of this entry »

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

My favourite brand for natural skin/hair/bodycare products is currently offering a fantastic discount!

You can get 50% off all orders online at Naked Bodycare until the 14th June (exc. p&p)

Just enter the code: tweet09 at checkout to activate the discount.

Click the link to be taken to the Naked Bodycare website.