Clarins Rouge Eclat Age Defying Lipstick Nude Rose & Pink Berry

It's a tough gig having a blog named after lipstick you know ... all those lipsticks and only one face to apply them to.  I mean, I've tried getting MrLippie to help out wearing all the stuff I don't have time for, but well, it's just not the same ...

Anyhoo,  These turned up last week, and they're rather nice.  A new formula from Clarins, designed to fight the signs of ageing on the lips, (something I'm not entirely convinced about, but that's by the by), but hey, let's forget about that, and look at the packaging!

Now that, my friends, is some fancy-ass lipstick packaging. I like it.  Like it rather a lot, actually.  As you're about to be able to tell:

This reminds me of Battersea Power Station for some strange reason.  I need to get out more.

 There's lipstick in here, as well.

I prefer the more neutral colours from the collection, my picks are Nude Rose, and Pink Berry, both of which will work with a variety of skintones, and are very nice everyday shades.

The formula is nice, moisturising and cushiony, it reminds me, a little of Chantecaille Lip Chics, but, is it anti-ageing?  Well, based on a couple of wears, I couldn't possibly answer that, but it doesn't dry your lips out, which is by far the most ageing thing you can do to your mush, frankly.

The Fine Print: PR Samples. Why was the sand wet? Because the sea weed!

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Lipstick Queen Look of Love vs Jean Queen Comparison

Last Lipstick Queen post for a while, I promise!  In my Look of Love review last week, I mentioned that  if you owned Jean Queen you might not need Look of Love too, and a reader (waves at Pink Sith) asked if I could compare them.  So here you go. 

Artificial Light

Daylight

 I was a bit surprised to see that Jean Queen, although brighter, is actually quite a bit cooler in tone than Look of Love, in my mind, I expected it to be the other way around for some reason.  Although, seeing as Jean Queen was, essentially, designed to go with blue denim it actually makes a bit of sense.

 
All rather neutral, all very wearable, and not quite as similar as I expected.  Funny how the memory plays tricks ...


Fine Print: Mixture of purchases and PR samples.  A magician was driving down the road, then he turned into a drive way. You're loving these jokes, aren't you? I'm not.

This post: Lipstick Queen Look of Love vs Jean Queen Comparison originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

Possible Wedding Manicure ...?

The wedding is now just over four weeks away.  The makeup trial has been done, the dress has been adjusted, the reception decisions are almost all made, I remain a blogger in search of a hairdo, however, and owing to budget constraints I'm going to have to do my nails myself.  Ah well, I've had fun over the last few weeks experimenting with nail colours to go with my dress.  However, I've been thinking that purple fingernails with a purple dress is just a bit too matchy-matchy for me.

After all, I have a tendency to paint my nails whatever colour I like on a Sunday evening and then just wear the hell out of it till it, basically, falls off.  As beauty bloggers go, I'm a lousy one when it comes to nails.  This combination though, happened by accident (I didn't like one of the shades, so was covering it up) but I rather like silver with purple, so at the moment, this is the front-runner for wedding-nails.  From left to right we have Out the Door topcoat in Northern Lights, which is a holographic fast-drying topcoat, OPI's Lucern-tenly Look Marvellous (which as most people call me Luce is apposite, at the least), and finally Deborah Lippman's Believe, which was created with Cher.  If you can't channel Cher on your wedding day, frankly, then I don't want to know.

The final product (two coats of Believe, one very thin coat of Lucerne, and a topcoat of Northern Lights) looks like this:

It's about four days old on my nails there, so forgive the state of it in the pictures.  It's silvery, and glittery without being too grey, and without screaming GLITTER.  What do you think?

  
The Fine Print: Purchases.  What do you call it when a dinosaur crashes his car? Tyrannosaurus Wrecks


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Lipstick Queen Saint & Sinner Wine Comparison

I was so happy with Lipstick Queen Saint Wine recently, that I immediately went out and bought the same shade in the Sinner formulation:

I own a lot of lipsticks, and, well, let's face it, if I never bought another one ever again, I'd still have enough lipstick to last me the rest of my life, even if I sprouted another face.  Or three, frankly.  Does that stop me buying it though?  Of course not. Especially when I love the shade.  And I do love this:

 A warm red, unusual for such a dark shade not to read as having orange or brown undertones, I like it because it is actually still a red on the lips.  It's a dark, dramatic shade, but not one that someone is likely to mistake you for an elderly goth when you're wearing it.  Which is nice.  I thought a comparion to the Saint formulation might be handy too, though, so if you're not that confident about wearing dark lips, you can see how both variations of Wine work for you:

You can see from the bullets that Sinner (on the left) is a little redder, and Saint has a hint of brown, making the sheerer shade appear a little more purple in the bullet.  This becomes even more apparent on swatching:

Saint will allow some of your natural lip colour through, however, making it appear less brown in wear, as you can see in the lipswatches below:

  
I find both formulations very comfortable in wear - whilst the Sinner formula is obviously less moisturising than Saint (it contains 90% pigment versus the 10% in Saint), it's not drying at all, and lasts very well, unless you're eating something greasy.  It lacks a little of the slip of Saint, but it's a matte formulation I'm happy to wear and forget about.

The Lipstick Queen Saints & Sinners range now comprises 20 shades in each formulation, up from the ten that have been around for a long time now. Which are your favourites?

The Fine Print: Mixture of PR samples and purchases.  I'm nice like that.  Why couldn't Dracula's wife get to sleep? Because of the coffin.


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MAC Stereo Rose vs New CiD Coral Crush Comparison

 I once read a tweet - or possibly a blog post - about a girl who had hysterics when she discovered that MAC had sold out of their Stereo Rose Mineralize Skinfinish almost at the exact instant it was first released a couple of years ago.  I've been boggling about both the product, and the state of mind of that poor girl ever since.

On hearing that MAC had recently re-released this cult item, a blusher capable of making grown women weep, I naturally picked one up.  I think the hype has died down a bit on this one now, as I bought this from the Covent Garden store well after the release hit the shops, and they still had them in-store.  I have seen people tweeting about stocking up on it though, so ... who knows?

Well, it's a very nice blusher, a pink-coral, highly pigmented, and the gold veining is very nice indeed.  It's a highly shimmery (not glittery) finish, so you won't need a highlighter with it as well.  Can I figure out why it's a heartbreaker?  Well, not really.  It's lovely - genuinely - not hard and prone to glazing as a lot of MAC powders can be, it's soft and easy to blend, but if I didn't have it, I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

I'll show you why:

I appear to already have it!  On the right there is Coral Crush by New CiD,  don't let the picture fool you, my camera is making it look pinker than it actually is, for some reason, but these two products are actually very similar in shade, so much so that if you're not a makeup obsessive like myself (and even I'm distancing myself from the crying girl I opened this post with, let's face it),  then you won't need both.

MAC Stereo Rose is actually a little more pigmented than New CiD as you can tell in the unblended swatch above, which, if you don't own the right brush could be a little problem, you need a very light hand in application, whereas the lighter pigmentation in the New CiD enables it to be a bit more buildable, which, for a cack-handed muppet like myself, is a blessing.

 
On blending the differences are even less obvious. Both give a gorgeous glow to the skin, and, it has to be said that New CiD is one of my most used cosmetic products of all time because of this.  So, do I need both?  No!  Am I glad to have both? Yes.  Have either of them made me cry? No!  

MAC Stereo Rose is a limited edition product, so stock up on tissues just in case you can't fnd it.  If you're of a more sensible bent, New CiD Coral Crush is a permanent part of their lineup.  No tissues required. 

The Fine Print: Mixture of PR samples and purchases. Q: Why did the rubber chicken cross the road? A: She wanted to stretch her legs.

This post: MAC Stereo Rose vs New CiD Coral Crush Comparison originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

Lipstick Queen Oxymoron in Minor Crisis and Honest Politician Comparison

 

It's not often that a product goes straight from a goody-bag into my everyday makeup bag, but Lipstick Queen Oxymoron in Minor Crisis has managed it.  A nude-mauve (I'm a bit obsessed with mauve) rather pigmented cream, you can use this as either a cheek or a lip-shade.  

I like the packaging (for the purposes of that statement, I'm ignoring the rather rubbish brush), I like that you can see the the shade even from underneath.

  Oxymoron are described as a "matte gloss", but they're essentially a pigmented cream, there's a slight satin finish, which isn't sticky, and the product is unscented.  I have both Minor Crisis, and if you were reading on Tuesday, you'll know that  I have Honest Politician too, I thought a comparison of both the shades might be helpful:

Honest Politician has a touch more brown in the formulation, but they're both very natural "nude" shades, which don't look at all concealer-like, and are perfect for that "my lips but better" look.

In slightly different lighting, which highlights the differences:
 

 
They are both actually quite pigmented, but it's easy to blend them out and get a sheerer effect:

 
Minor Crisis is a little brighter in use than Honest Politician, and probably makes a better lip colour as a result, whereas HP is that little but more of a skin-shade, which probably makes it better as a cheek colour.

 
The cream isn't so sticky that it's difficult to apply to your cheeks, but I do recommend that you use a loose-bristled synthetic brush, or your fingers, to apply.  Lasting power is about average on the lips, but I do recommend that you use a powder blush over the top to set if you want the blusher to last more than three or four hours on your cheeks.

I do love a multi-purpose product ...  

The Fine Print: PR Sample.
 
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A Curly Girl Survival Guide. Sorta ... with Label M Protein Spray

Suddenly finding myself back in curly hair has involved a massive learning curve.  After 12 years or so of daily dependence on hair straighteners and other - more chemical - aids, learning to live with curls has been ... interesting, to say the least.

Surprisingly, I've found that the best thing for my hair is to do as little as possible to it.  After years of daily styling, the concept of "leaving it alone" is a scary one!  But, I think it's necessary.  Whether your hair is naturally curly, or ... ahem ... chemically enhanced, here's some tips I've picked up along the way, and I'd love to hear yours too!

1) Leave it alone: excess touching, combing and brushing will make your curls fuzzy, frizzy and bushy.  The less you play with your hair, the better it will look.  I'm a hair-twirler, so this is surprisingly tough!  Still, hopefully it'll stop me getting my fingers stuck in it now ...

1a) Allied to that, I don't brush or comb my hair at all inbetween washings, now I only comb (wide-toothed, naturally) when my hair is wet and coated in conditioner - it's all my hair needs.

2) Curly hair is less shiny than straight hair because the curved surface of the hair doesn't reflect light in the same way.  It's also less shiny because the oils from your scalp find it more difficult to travel down the hair shaft, which means that the ends can be drier than the scalp.  To combat this, I find I want to use a hair mask more often,  but only on the lengths, I'm avoiding putting them on the scalp at all costs!

3) Don't rub: when shampooing and drying, try not to rub your hair in too many different directions,  it roughs up the cuticles on the surface of the hair, and makes it frizzy.

4) Apply serums, hair oils etc when your hair is sopping wet.  I squeeze excess moisture out of my hair then apply a squeeze (or two) of hair oil - currently using Paul Mitchell Awapuhi -  then squeeze out more moisture, and only then dab gently at my hair with a towel.  I usually add a bit more oil once I've dabbed. I no longer wander around the house for an hour with a towel wrapped around it before adding styling product, this leads to fuzzy, undefined curls.

5) Hair does get tangled up a bit between washes, so if there is a big knot that I need to  deal with, I break out the wide toothed comb, spray on a bit of detangling spray (Mark Hill and Lee Stafford both do good ones) and gently work away at the knot, from the bottom.  Spray on a bit more detangler after, and your curl should pop back.

6) Don't wash your hair every day - it can be stripping to the drier ends, and it can overstimulate your scalp leading to the dreaded flat (greasy) roots and straw-like ends.  Not a good look.  I was mine every two days, and every three if I can get away with it.

7) To "reactivate" your  curls between washes, styling sprays are your friends.  Personally, I'm currently addicted to this:

 Label M Protein Spray, which is a conditioning treatment, and also one of the nicest smelling hair products I've ever come across.  Full of wheat proteins, and scented with jasmine and sweetpea, it helps refresh curls that have gone a bit limp, and also has excellent conditioning properties.  Lovely stuff!

What are your top tips for dealing with curly hair?
 

This post: A Curly Girl Survival Guide. Sorta ... with Label M Protein Spray originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper