A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

Back in October, I posted about the return of the Olay Big British Beauty Poll which sampled an impressive 4,400 women via the brand’s facebook page.  The aim of the poll was to gather an up-to-date understanding on women’s thoughts about beauty, skincare and the industry in the current economic climate.

Read on, because it unveiled some interesting and rather surprising insights!

Figures reveal that women are spending LESS on beauty today than we were two years ago – understandable really, while the economic climate is still so vulnerable – but at 15% less, that’s a significant reduction!  What makes this all the more interesting is that the Olay Big British Beauty Poll revealed that despite the numbers proving otherwise, we still think that we’re spending more on beauty than we were in 2010!  Infact, a massive 41% of women said they felt that their spending had increased.  How strange!

Jasmine Birtles, broadcaster, financial expert and founder of Moneymagpie.com has an interesting take on this phenomenon: ’This perception gap shows how much tighter money is for most people and how our money isn’t going as far as it used to, women think they’re spending more on beauty but they’re actually spending less…’

However, there are still some products we’re not giving up without a fight…

Skincare is the main area in which we’re not so keen to tighten our belts.  Gone may be the days of splurging £100+ on anti-ageing creams, but women are fervidly searching for the biggest bang for their buck and investing heavily in high-street skincare like Olay Regenerist Wrinkle Relaxing Complex (£29.99), a not insignificant price point when you consider that 79% of women polled said that they wouldn’t be prepared to spend any more than £30 on an anti-wrinkle cream – even if they thought the product was working well!

When it comes to makeup, with 35% of the votes, the trusty mascara came out on top as the one make-up item we can’t live without, closely followed by foundation at 31%.  Shamefully only 11% of you voted for lipstick, and even worse, poor old nail polish was thoroughly dispensible with a paltry 2.8% of the vote!

Ludicrous, I’ll swap you a mascara for a nail polish anyday!  Ok, well maybe if you throw in a lipstick too…

What do you think about the perception that we’re spending more on beauty… when we’re actually spending less?!

* this is a P&G/Olay sponsored post

My makeup collection is currently languishing, looking slightly-unloved in a 6-drawer Ikea Malm chest with a heap of those little boxy drawer dividers playing referee to stop the lipsticks beating up the mascaras.  It’s anarchy in there.  I miss my beautifully organised Helmers that I could reach into without even leaving my computer chair.  Sure, I guess it’s now all in my bedroom, which makes better sense for morning application – but I do miss play swatching with a random beauty while I’m waiting for my emails to download.

But most of all… I miss the order that I had.  I was in charge, and now it looks as though my collection is the boss once again.

As a result, I’m thinking that perhaps it might be time to have another pare down.  Out with the old and in with the new, ok maybe not in with the new for now – it’s not like I need any more.  Unless, you know… I just have to have something.  I’ve been playing this week with a few bits and bobs that I probably haven’t touched for a year or more – shutup hygiene freaks, I haven’t died from contaminating myself with my own germs yet.

From the picture above, the rediscovered products would be NARS Barbuda – a beautiful (and discontinued) purple-y taupe, MAC Femme-Fi, Bourjois Lilas d’Or Blusher, Clinique Even Better Makeup in 01 Alabaster, and my Guerlain Rouge G in Georgia.  The rest have been in more frequent use over the past 4-6 months anyway.

And here’s the FOTD that resulted…

It’s made me realise that I very, very much still like NARS Barbuda and that I might make the more frequent effort to give my Bourjois blushes a quick scour with a toothbrush (they always go hard and in-penetrable after a bit).

Have you been reacquainting yourself with any lost makeup loves recently?

It’s been two years since the results of Olay’s first Big British Beauty Poll were published, and in beauty years, that’s practically forever!  Gauging public attitudes about how we view the notion of beauty revealed some fascinating insights: Audrey Hepburn was (perhaps unsurprisingly) named as the most iconic beauty of all time, while the poll also revealed that we might not be as keen to jump on the cosmetic injections bandwagon as we once were – a case of too many frozen foreheads on the telly?

Now it’s time to do it all over again!

Olay are launching the Big British Beauty Poll #2 to coincide with their 60th anniversary, and this time – it’s bigger than ever!  The brand want YOUR opinion on everything from skin-care to makeup, hair colour to hair-removal and everything in between. It’s time to have your say.

And this is how you do it….

1. If you’re female and aged over 18 years, simply visit www.facebook.com/beautyRecommendedUKandIreland and become a fan.

2. The Olay Regenerist Big British Beauty Poll will be open to entries from Thursday 4 October at midday to Thursday 1 November 2012.

3. If you complete the poll, you will automatically be entered into a free prize draw to win one of three x £1,000 cash prizes plus a set of Olay Regenerist’s three “hero” products: 3 Point Treatment Cream, 3 Point
Super Serum and Night Renewal Elixir (regardless of the responses).

4. If you then go on to share the poll with a friend on Facebook, you will also be automatically entered into a further prize draw to win one of three x £500 cash prizes.

For full terms and conditions and to read about the competition disclaimer, please visit www.facebook.com/beautyRecommendedUKandIreland

* this is a P&G/Olay sponsored post

When a well-known skincare brand announces that it’s bringing out a professional line with professional results, it’s a point of interest.  When well-known skincare brand points out that its results are backed by a long-term, independent clinical study that’s been published in the British Journal of Dermatology – it’s a point of slightly more significant interest.

Introducing, Olay Professional.

You can keep your Thandie Newtons, show me the clinical studies!!!  Though to be fair, better dumb ’em down a bit, I only got a C in my GCSE Double Award Science.

The study involved a panel of women aged between 40-65 who tested the regime over a 6 month period against a leading anti-ageing prescription ingredient.  The study showed that the new Olay Professional range was as effective as the prescription ingredient, Retinoic Acid (the most powerful form of Vitamin A) at reducing the appearance of wrinkles.

If you want to find more about this study, there’s an article on cosmeticsdesign.com that you may be interested to read.

POP-UP SKIN CLINIC!

In celebration of the launch, Olay will be opening the doors to a temporary clinic where you’ll have the opportunity to pre-book for a free one to one consultation with a skin expert from the world of dermatology.

The Olay Professional Clinic will be open to the public for three days only (28-29 June and 1 July 2011) at 18 Maddox Street, Mayfair, London from 10am-5pm.  If you don’t want to pre-book, you can still drop by to receive a product demonstration by an expert beauty consultant, and relax in the lounge with an anti-ageing “mocktail”.

To book, call the Olay Professional Clinic booking hotline on tel: 0207 611 3770 and register your details.

Olay Professional went live on the Boots website today on a strictly limited pre-sale basis with only 300 Olay Professional Anti-Wrinkle Kits available for purchase and I hear that over 7000 women signed up for the pre-sale.  Scary stuff!

The full, nationwide launch is scheduled for August.

Do you feel like you’ve seen it all before or are you more likely to be interested by products marketed around the results of their clinical trials?

…if you had any to begin with.

So, Proctor & Gamble endured a wrist slap recently with their Olay Definity Eye Illuminator advert catching the attention of the Advertising Standards Agency in the UK.

The advert features the iconic Twiggy, now in her 60s…

It contained a testimonial from Twiggy stating: “Olay is my secret to brighter-looking eyes”.

Proctor & Gamble had already withdrawn the ad before it came under scrutiny, stating that they’d reviewed the post-production techniques that had been used in the creation of the ad and had found the “minor retouching” around the model’s eyes to be inconsistent with their policies which led them to replace the original ad.

I do hope the digital artist got bitch slapped by P&G, I mean seriously… that’s not even good retouching.  If you’re gonna exagerrate the effectiveness of your product, fine… but at least stay within some realms of reality.

Olay Definity’s latest Anti-Aging Night Cream Ad…

Wait!  There’s too much character in that face, back to the graphics tablet retoucher man and erase those wrinkles, pores… infact, remove all skin texture completely while you’re at it! *whip crack*

On the whole, I don’t have a problem with digital retouching. I feel that I’m enlightened enough to appreciate that a retouched image represents a distorted reality and I don’t mind looking at idealised photographs appreciating society’s desire for aesthetics.  I mean, let’s face it… Twiggy (as beautiful as she is) in her natural state is gonna sell as many eye-brightening products as I am diet pills – she’s 60 years old for chrissakes.  I don’t feel conned by a little airbrushing… but where’s the god-damn subtlety gone?

Just because we’re all used to seeing these altered images, ain’t no reason for you to get all complacent about it Mr. Digital Artist…

Use it to make models/celebrities look their best, not to transform them into freakish parodies of the media’s eternal quest for unattainable cartoonish perfection.

Ahhh… the lovely Demi, looking younger than Leila.

Hahhhahahaa!  Dude, Digital Retouching for Dummies… a book with your name on it.

As an advertising tool, I dig it… but 2009 saw it getting kinda out of control and almost self-referential in it’s absurdness.

What are your thoughts on airbrushing? Against it? A necessary evil?