A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

With both a 5-year old and a 12-week old baby, time to myself is the most precious commodity in my life. When Leila was born, I treasured my daughter’s nap-times and would use them to invest in some quality pampering time. I knew that I could have been spending those precious hours catching up on lost sleep but to this day, I believe that taking the time to spoil myself was the key to preserving some normality in a newly-changed life.

This time around, my time is even more compressed. If Joe is napping, I tend to spend any spare moments with Leila. I miss not being able to spend so much one-on-one time with her and we’ve developed a new-found addiction to making loom-bands!

That being said, I have sorely missed the time to myself and I won’t deny that it’s taken its toll on my well-being. I’m sure that I’m not the only Mum to experience this but honestly? I feel less attractive, scruffier and not so well “put together” without my usual beauty routine. Superficial as this may seem on the surface, it really impacts on my confidence daily.

When I first saw Sali Hughes’ new videos for Clarins, I was inspired. I’ve been around the beauty scene long enough to know how to do a 5, 10, or 15-minute look… but it was only when I saw how beautifully polished she looked in such a short amount of time, that I realised I needed to get back into the game!

I decided to sit down and work out exactly which parts of my beauty routine were most important to me. What did I need to focus my limited amount of time on perfecting? My complexion? Concealing my tiredness? Or perhaps just introducing some much-need colour to my face? For me, it’s all about good skin and luminosity… I’ve always been crazy for a glowy, radiant look but without compromising on a decent base upon which to build it.

Clarins sent me a few products to see if I could use Sali’s videos as a starting point and tailor my own time-saving routine.

I separated the “essentials”… the items I knew I couldn’t leave the house without. Mascara, eyeliner (liquid is my preferred choice), and a base product. Then I got to work on the luminosity aspect of my look.

I ended up with a stripped-back list of products, nine in total. A routine that I hoped would balance the time I had available without compromising on creating a polished “me” that would improve my confidence at the school gates in the morning.

I also had one more set of criteria up my sleeve. No brushes. In the mornings, I don’t have time to spot-clean brushes, that kind of luxury is a weekend-only deal. Could I do it with only the tools provided and my fingers? I had about 10-minutes to find out!

On a freshly-moisturised face, I started with a small amount of Clarins Instant Smooth Perfecting Touch, a pore-filling primer that gives your make-up a headstart. If your base is right, you’ll be surprised at the much-improved performance of your subsequent products. I dotted the primer onto my troublesome areas, around my nose and across my cheeks before blending with a clean finger.

Next up, faking some luminosity. I turned to the brand’s new Instant Light Radiance Boosting Complexion Base in 02 Champagne for some help. The yellow tone neutralized the ruddiness in my complexion whilst simultaneously illuminating and brightening. I concentrated my application across my t-zone for a more natural glow.

BB Creams are a firm favourite of mine and the Clarins BB Skin Perfecting Cream also delivers a generous SPF25, plenty of protection for a standard day spent running the odd errand. I found the formula non-greasy without accentuating any dry patches and it worked well to unify my skin-tone. It also applied nicely using just my fingers.

Finally, in my quest for complexion perfection, I turned to Clarins Instant Concealer … more out of necessity than choice. My under-eye circles have packed their bags and they’re ready to move out! This concealer blends beautifully with a light texture that doesn’t sacrifice great camouflage or sit in my fine lines.

Base done… next, on to colour.

Clarins Multi-Blush in 04 Rosewood is a product I was already familiar with. It’s a cream blush that blends better than most with a slightly drier texture that melts into the skin, imparting a natural flush without mattifying my cheeks.

I was unsure about what to do with my eyes… I knew that in 10-minutes, I’d be limited to a single shade and was tempted to go without eye-shadow altogether. In the end, I opted for a quick sweep of Ombre Minérale Eyeshadow in 08 Taupe, you know I can never resist a taupe! Using the sponge-tipped applicator provided, it barely added 20-seconds to my routine.

To define my eyes, I pressed the brand’s innovative 3-Dot Liner into my lashes and because I wasn’t concentrating on creating a flick or drawing a hard, graphic line, I didn’t need to go back in with a damp q-tip to correct mistakes. There weren’t any!

The final product for the eyes was mascara, I can’t leave home without it! Clarins Be Long Mascara increases length and creates further definition with an easy-to-use small brush that reaches every lash.

The final flourish to complete the look was a quick swipe of Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector in 05 Candy Shimmer. This gave a gentle flush of low-maintenance pink that reflects light and further served to brighten my complexion.

And the final result?

Glowy and polished! Ok, so it’s not a cutting-edge look but… you know what? It’s exactly what Clarins promised.

It’s a “you, only better” look. And that’s just what this new Mum with no time for anything more adventurous ordered!

* sponsored post

With many of us investing so much effort and time in our “online” lives, it’s no wonder that we’re protective of our internet personas.  Just as in “real life”, it’s important to maintain and develop an online identity, especially when we lack the same in-person contact that we enjoy in our daily, family lives.

When you have a blog, you create a brand… a reflection of your identity and the “self” that you present to others on the internet.  It’s something that must be nurtured and cared-for, is just as fluid as your “real” self and under just as much, if not more, scrutiny.

Vigilance is an important part of protecting your identity online.  For example, I’m aware of another blogger who uses the term “lipglossiping” as a verb and a means of identifying with her blog and her brand.  This means that in Google searches, the term will include search results that link a reader to her website, directing traffic away from mine.  It’s not the most dastardly case of identity theft you’ll ever come across but it’s not entirely innocent either.

If I were so inclined, I could trademark the term “lipglossiping” and instruct my solicitor to send a stream of cease and desist letters.  It’s a costly but valid way of protecting an online identity.

But what about your “real-life you”?  How do you protect that when your identity falls into the wrong hands, one with more sinister intentions?

It can be extremely distressing, not to mention time-consuming… clawing back and unravelling the threads of this very personal crime.  Identity theft is sadly an all too common side-effect of internet use and in many cases, you’ll know nothing about it until it’s too late to stop it.

That’s where the People’s ID Bot Project can help.  Powered by Experian, the Facebook Page serves to alert its community of the latest security news and breaches, learning and growing from the marvels of (safe) social-sharing.  Users post about their own experiences of identity fraud while case-studies, infographics, and other word-spreading tools help fight the battle against online scammers.  It also serves as a feedback portal for the latest tool in identity protection: the IdentityProtect ID Bot.

Whether you fall foul of an internet virus, a security breach in one of your favourite websites, or even just find yourself sharing a little too much about yourself online, the IdentityProtect ID Bot works to scan the web in real time, alerting you instantly if your personal information is at risk of being illegally shared, stolen or sold online.

Whether it’s phone numbers, addresses, bank details or even usernames… IdentityProtect can monitor the lot, all you need to do is tell it what to search for and you’ll be instantly protected.  Isn’t that clever?

If you’d like to put to put IdentityProtect ID Bot to the test, I have 10 codes available for a FREE one-year subscription (worth £47.88) to the IdentityProtect ID Bot.  I will allocate these codes on a first-come-first-served basis.  If you would like a code, please leave a comment below or contact me via email.

* this is a sponsored post

I’m just about to disappear again on another little unplanned break away for a few days, Mr L suggested that we should perhaps make the most of this last month before Leila starts school so we’ve booked a ferry over to the Isle of Wight on Tuesday, somewhere that despite living on its doorstep for the last 32 years, I’ve only visited twice… both of which for work-related reasons!

We’ll be taking in the sights of the Island and I’ve booked a few nights in a guest house near Ventnor.  I’m hoping that this wonderful weather will continue for another week and not turn on us just as we jump on the ferry!

What is it about the beautiful weather that makes driving so much more pleasurable?  There’s nothing quite like driving through the countryside with the windows down, enjoying some of your most favourite tunes.  Moneysupermarket.com contacted me a couple of weeks ago with an opportunity to share my Ultimate Summer Driving Playlist and take part in their blogger competition for the chance to win a 32gb iPad.  To be honest, I was chomping at the bit for any excuse to fire up spotify and spend an evening arguing debating with Mr L over what constitutes a great driving song!

1. Elton John – Tiny Dancer
2. Beta Band – Dry The Rain
3. Sugababes – Freak Like Me
4. Primal Scream – Loaded
5. Belly – Now They’ll Sleep
6. Eels – Mr E’s Beautiful Blues
7. Teenage Fanclub – Sparky’s Dream
8. Blondie – Union City Blues
9. Garbage – I Think I’m Paranoid
10. Stranglers – Always The Sun

Unlike many compilation albums would have you believe, a good driving song has nothing to do with cheesy lyrics about hitting the road and everything to do with heavy bass-lines, anthemic choruses, and spirit-rousing sing-a-long bits!  The ten listed in the You Tube playlist above have been on my car stereo this Summer… but do you agree with any of them?

If you want to get involved in the conversation, the twitter hashtag is #UltimateDrivingPlaylist

C’mon… before the sun disappears for another year, gimme your top driving tunes!

* this is a sponsored post on behalf of Moneysupermarket.com for which I have received payment.

We’ve been waiting a long time ladies, and summer is well and truly here – finally!  That means it’s time to hit the beach, get in the sea and have a well-deserved ice cream (or two). But if you can’t face pulling out your pasty pins on the sand, a sun tan is the way to go.

If you want a safer way of getting a tan than sunbathing for hours or using a sunbed (people who use sunbeds before the age of 30 increase their risk of skin cancer by 75 per cent), you should consider a spray tanning treatment at a beauty salon.

“Why at a beauty salon?” I hear you cry. Surely you can just use fake tan at home? Well yes, you can, but you may not get the same results.  This article, provided by beautician uniforms specialist SimonJersey.com looks at the pros and cons of each option, then offers preparation and aftercare advice.

self tan at home vs. spray tan at a salon

Self-tan at home
·    Inexpensive – a tub of Clarins Delicious Self Tanning Cream costs £22 for 125ml
·    Takes a little longer to apply yourself
·    Difficult to apply evenly and get a natural look
·    Can fall victim to streaking

Spray tan at a salon
·    You’re in the care of an experienced beauty therapist
·    Specialist equipment ensures a natural finish
·    Costs around £20 a session
·    It’s less time-consuming than rubbing a lotion all over your body
·    A spray tan dries faster than self-tanning products

Essentially, unless you’re on a really tight budget, it makes sense to go for a salon treatment so that you’re in the capable hands of the professionals for a flawless finish.

To ensure the best possible results, it’s important to correctly prepare your skin before a tanning treatment and to care for it properly afterwards.

Before having a tanning treatment (whether at a salon or at home), make sure you thoroughly exfoliate your skin. If you don’t, you’re at risk of only tanning the top layers of skin, which may soon rub off. Avoid any oil-based exfoliants as they could leave behind residue which could cause streaking. Make sure you moisturise afterwards to help to prolong your tan.

Arrange any other treatments, such as hair colouring, a manicure, waxing or shaving beforehand. If you need to shave your legs and underarms, you need to give your pores time to close afterwards (so shave the day before), but also all of these treatments can remove self-tanning lotion.

If you have a salon treatment on the day of your tan, refrain from wearing make-up (yes, really!), perfume, deodorant or lotions. They will only act as a barrier which will stop the tanning solution from fully penetrating the skin.
After tanning, air dry yourself and wait for at least 20 minutes before putting on any clothing. If you can you should wait until the following day to have a shower so that the solution can penetrate the skin. Avoid using any deodorants, perfumes or moisturisers for about eight hours after your treatment as again, these may stop the tan from developing.

To preserve your bronze tan, wash with a gentle cleanser and moisturise your skin regularly with a Zero-Oil lotion to keep it soft and supple. Don’t forget to slap on high factor sun cream when you’re out an about – just because you look brown it doesn’t mean you’re protected. Choose a broad spectrum (UVA and UVB) sunscreen with an SPF of at least 30.

Which do you prefer?  Are you a dab hand with the self-tan or do you leave your body-bronzing to the professionals?

* this is a guest-blogged sponsored post on behalf of Simon Jersey for which I have received payment.

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

After 26 years of pretty good vision, it came as quite a shock when I visited the opticians and was told that I’d need glasses.  Growing up, I’d had a lazy eye and was one of those poor kids that looked like an extra out of Pirates of the Caribbean with my NHS-issued patch.  Thankfully, I only had to wear it for a few hours a day… but I remember being assured repeatedly that it meant I wouldn’t need to wear glasses when I was older.  It’s funny how those things stick in your mind, as plainly untrue as it was, it did its job and I wore my patch dutifully.  Sometimes.

When I sat in the darkened optician’s cupboard 20 years later and read all the letters on the bottom line of the Snellen chart incorrectly, I knew I was done for.  I’d made a valiant attempt at guessing them, which made it look all the worse as he then encouraged me to repeat the next line up just in-case I’d gotten extremely lucky.  I eventually left the opticians clutching my prescription, hating all the glasses that I’d been shown by his assistant.

I found three pairs of frames online… even nabbing myself a cool vintage pair on the ‘bay, and sent them off to be fitted with my prescription lenses – the difference they made to my vision shocked me.  I guess you could say that I simply hadn’t noticed how much I’d been missing out on.  I remember the first couple of weeks wearing them, I’d keep lifting them to check out the difference between looking at things.  Sharp, blurry, sharp, blurry.  Simple things, simple minds and all that…

I now have three beautiful pairs of glasses.  And I rarely wear them.

They look ok on me, I think they’re kinda fun to wear as they force me to change up my makeup and I can’t help but feel a little bit smarter in them(!) but you know, they just don’t feel like ME.  I feel like I’m playing dress-up in them.  I work on the computer A LOT and I wonder if I’m going to regret my lackadaisical attitude to my eye-wear when I’m older.  Please tell me I’m not the only one who doesn’t wear the glasses they’re supposed to, I’m sure that I should have grown out of this childish-ness back when I grew out of the eye-patch.

The obvious alternative is to become accustomed to contact lenses.  Out of my friends, I’d say that the glasses/contacts split is around 50/50 and I wondered whether that trend continues online?  Do you wear them and if you do… how did you make the transition?  I’m keen but apprehensive!

* this is a sponsored post

Picking the right scent to match your mood is something many of us do every day – just like choosing the perfect coat to wrap up your outfit. There are timeless classics like Chanel No 5, the perfume equivalent to slipping on a crisp white shirt. Fun and flirty scents like Marc Jacobs Oh Lola! that are most definitely daywear only and darker, sultry little numbers, like Stella by Stella McCartney that work best for evenings out. So what’s new in fragrance?

Top perfumers Bell Flavors & Fragrances announced their scent predictions for 2012 late last year and it was all about the exotic and indulgent. After extensive research both consumer and industry-side, Bell found that ginger orchid, orange flower, tart guava, gold amber, green pear, spicy bergamot, root beer, pink pepper, tomato leaf and leather are all going to be hot perfumes for men and women this year.

In fact Bell calls its 2012 fragrance top ten ‘the Wild Luxury Consumer’ list, as it believes this shift towards expensive, haute couture perfumes is all part of a wider consumer trend of people seeking out luxury items in order to forget about the financial crisis.

Pink Pepper – the new ‘it’ scent

If you only choose one perfume, make it something that contains pink pepper. A key feature of Bell’s list, it’s a fragrance so hot right now that it is also Scentsy’s number one trend prediction for 2012.

Distilled from the rose-coloured berries of the Peruvian pepper tree, it has a spicy, refreshing scent. Luckily, you won’t have to look too hard to find it. Roberto Cavalli’s new women’s scent has pink pepper as a top note, whereas Gucci Guilty Pour Homme gives a more masculine slant to the bold fragrance.

Fragrance trends for men

If you’re in the market for a brand new cologne, you won’t go wrong with Tom Ford Noir, out this October. With top notes of bergamot, pink pepper and violet it’s exotic but still very masculine.

Yves Saint Laurent La Nuit De L’Homme Frozen Cologne hit the fragrance counters this March, and is the icy cold successor to La Nuit De L’Homme. It mixes sweet citrus notes of mandarin and lemon with tart spices like bergamot and black pepper. Intense and sensual, it’s one for the evening.

Fragrance trends for women

Blow the budget with Tom Ford’s Jardin Noir, a quartet of perfumes inspired by flowers in a midnight garden. Or try Lancome’s long-awaited La Vie Est Belle – with 63 ingredients and three years in the making, it uses exotics such as jasmine and orange blossom flowers to give it a sweet edge.

But any serious fragrance connoisseurs simply must add the latest Chanel perfume, Coco Noir, to their collection. Out this autumn, it combines fresh top notes of grapefuit with spicy pink peppercorn to create a blend fit to adorn the most fashionable wrists in town.

Browse best-selling fragrances, as well as top brand skincare, at www.johnlewis.com.

* this is a guest-blogged sponsored post on behalf of John Lewis for which I have received payment.

There’s no getting around the fact that our mutual addiction to all things ‘beautiful’ is an expensive one.  In an industry driven by fashion, technology and innovation, there will always be new products vying for space on our wishlists but never enough money to tick them all off.

The concept of group-buying has been growing in popularity over the last couple of years and there are many websites out there that offer deals on the basis that they will be supplying a single offer to a group collective at a lower than RRP price. Many of the beauty-related deals focus on experiences rather than material goods: haircuts, spa treatments and manicures (fishy or otherwise) and I’ve enjoyed many of the above at a lower price thanks to these websites.

BuyaPowa.com is a brand new site that enables shoppers like you and me to engage in ‘collective-buying’ and demand the same bulk-buy discounts that retailers enjoy. On initial inspection, these ‘co-buys’ appear to operate from the same starting-point as the other group-buying websites.  But there are some important differences…

1. The final price of any product drops as more people join the ‘co-buys’ and the person who brings the most people into any given co-buy receives their product for free.  A genuine opportunity to drive prices down with the help of those social-networking tools we all spend too much time on.

2. Alternative group-buying deals are generally focused on regional areas served by a particular salon or establishment but because BuyaPowa.com is product-centric, they offer deals to a national audience.

3. BuyaPowa.com have integrated a system into the site that encourages users to submit their requests for products they would like to purchase through a BuyaPowa.com ‘co-buy’.  This request is visible to other members who can join in and offer support for your submission. If enough people give your request a virtual thumbs up, BuyaPowa will set the wheels in motion towards getting a co-buy together.

It’s this 3rd difference that really has me interested in the BuyaPowa.com concept and is what sets them apart from other group-buying websites.  Something that utilises a community’s shared opinion and buying power in a unique and more importantly, useful way strikes a chord with me and is what I want to focus on in the remainder of this post.

Watch this short video for more information on how the BuyaPowa.com concept works

For a current example of a beauty ‘co-buy’, they’ve got a Burts Bees one live right now which is on its way to finishing at a discount of up to 53%.

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Of course, it would be quite easy for them to go ahead and buy up a bunch of discontinued stock at a low price and flog it on like other online beauty discounters. Infact, I’ve quizzed them on how realistic it would be for them to approach high-end beauty brands and their response showed me that this is precisely the kind of feat they’re trying to achieve.  Of course, they can’t guarantee that every brand will be interested in our requests but to achieve this kind of shopping revolution, they’re going to need our help to convince the brands that WE would buy from them in this way.

Infact, can you imagine how cool this could be for the beauty community online?  Example…

Brand X releases uber new ‘multiple’ at £30 and within hours, some brilliant reader/blogger/you-tuber/twitterer has set up a request on BuyaPowa nagging them to provide a ‘co-buy’.  We all pile in (thanks to the power of social media) and within 24 hours the request receives enough support to elevate it to the attention of BuyaPowa who then approach Brand X to request 100 ‘uber multiples’ before passing on their retailer discount to us.  Get in!

BuyaPowa.com would like to hear our opinions and would love if you could answer one, two or all three of the below questions.

1). What type of proucts would YOU like to buy this way for less?

2). Are there any specific beauty products you love that are over-priced and particularly ripe for bulk-buy discounting?

3). Do you own any products which you now realise you could have bought for less if only something like this had previously been available?

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* this is a sponsored post

If I could pick only one lip colour to share the rest of eternity with, I would be faced with a decision-making crisis like no other.  I would find it preferable to contemplate chowing down on nothing but beans on toast for the remainder of my days than make an ultimate choice between my pinks, reds and nudes.

Having said that, the first step in the decision-reaching process would be the easiest.  Bold or neutral?  For me, it’s bold all the way.  I adore a bright lip, a pop of colour can work wonders to liven up a dull complexion, lifting weary expressions along the way.  Simply put, a new bright lipstick is one of the quickest, easiest and most affordable pick-me-ups known to (wo)mankind.

Some ladies wear their lip shades with an attitude that allows them to rock any colour they choose but the nervous among us have to be more cautious with our selections.  To play it safe, cooler-toned ladies generally look better in pinks and plums while warmer, olive-toned beauties sparkle in corals and fire-engine reds.  Of course, as with most things in life… rules are there to be broken but it’s always good to know the “rules” first in order to break them with confidence!

My favourite way to wear a bold lip is with good skin (hormones permitting), a slick of eyeliner, a hint of blush and nicely defined brows.  Bright lips can be quite draining so try to remember “fresh” face, not “freshly-dug-up” face when considering your overall look.  The key is to create a balance across the canvas that achieves a harmonious result, easier said than done but work on the basis that less = more and you’re halfway there.

My final consideration in the quest for lip perfection is upkeep.  Bold shades are the Mariah Carey of the lip world, they’re high maintenance and need careful care and attention to avoid a midday meltdown!  For long-lasting lustre, I recommend a liner to avoid bleeding, exfoliation and moisturisation to avoid the colour settling into furrows and the “apply, blot, reapply” technique to fortify dawn-to-dusk colour.  Failing that, just make sure you carry your lippie with you for mid-afternoon top ups!

I’m all about the lipstick but perhaps you’re more of a gloss girl?  The final decision lies with you but don’t forget to share your thoughts!

Tesco Magazine are running their latest campaign, Tesco Your Beauty Awards 2011 where you stand the chance to win lots of lovely beauty bits and if you’re very lucky, a trip to Antigua!

Head over there now and vote on your favourite beauty buys for unleashing the perfect pout!

* this is a sponsored post