New Year, Old Me

By Tindara:

Happy New Year! If you’re anything like me you will be utterly bored with all the "New Year New Me" nonsense and be wanting to shove anything "detoxing" up the jacksie with a rolling pin. At least, I think that’s what they’re recommending; I tend to switch off after someone mentions a detox. Instead, I’ve decided to do the exact opposite and track down some of my old, and hopefully classic, beauty and fragrance favourites; Thierry Mugler’s Angel,  Mac Spice lip pencil, and Chanel’s Rouge Noir.

I have been longing to try Angel again, ever since I realised it’s in the Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez top ten Classic Fragrances. I felt simultaneously very pleased with myself that it was my signature scent for years, and irritated that I had pretentiously let it go when it became ubiquitous and much copied. Well I started my first Angel day off in a haze of gourmand nostalgia, but after a couple of hours the spicier notes came through and I fell in love with it all over again, more than twenty years later. I had remembered it as a sweet but fresh fragrance with a certain something unusual about it. Maybe that was where I was at with my perfume appreciation at that stage; I certainly feel I have learnt a lot since, not least due to hanging around with other fumeheads and lippie-aficionados. 

This is an amazing scent – the fresh zesty peel notes that appear after the initial sweetness give way and turn into a deep spiciness with a hint of church incense and patchouli. It’s like wandering into a shop that sells crystals and tarot cards whilst wearing a diamond tiara. I suppose it’s no coincidence that I wore this in my grungiest years, but I was a rubbish grebo; my standard issue German army boots were contrasted with little black dresses and deep red lipstick. I always wanted that touch of glamour. Angel now feels elegant and sparkly but with an earthy depth that’s just perfect. I think it might be my new [old] favourite.

I'm sure you’re all familiar with Mac Spice and all its dupes. Like Angel, it was launched in the nineties and quickly gained cult status as the perfect nude shade. It’s a long time since I wore it, or even lip liner at all; I tend to just go straight for the bullet these days. In red, OBVS, as the children say. But the odd cool neutral has made it into my everyday routine so I thought I’d give it another go. Pixiwoo in particular are lip liner devotees and they inspired me to get back on point, so to speak. 

Unable to get hold of a Mac Spice when I needed it, though, I hunted out a Bourjois dupe recommended by them, Crayon Contour Des Lèvres in 12 Facétieuse. It is a perfect nude, and I’d forgotten how great a toffee coloured lip liner can be at giving you a brilliant bee-stung pout. I used to push the edge to the very limit, (not over though, never over…) filling from the outside in, then topping with some lip balm. More recently, I've been using Laura Mercier Lip Glacé in Blush on top, which looks great with a smudgy smoky eye. I've now resurrected the few lip liners I have and am using them more and more as a result. They’re really long lasting and I love the fact that you can use them as a stain of colour not having to reapply as much throughout the day.

I was so excited when I finally got hold of some Chanel Rouge Noir back in the day – I had to go on a waiting list for it. Crazy, but we all wanted the shade that Uma Thurman wore in Pulp Fiction. I had to have it. It also reminded me of Shirley MacLaine in the 1988 film Madame Sousatzka. I was a strange teenager; there was something about the strands of beads, short dark nails and beautiful decorative fabrics in her costume that I adored. So as soon as the short dark nail thing happened I was there, and I don’t think it’s ever really gone away for me. 

I haven’t worn actual Rouge Noir for years though, until my friend got me some as a present a few months back. I still really love the rich bloody-black sheen of it, I couldn't stop looking at my hands. I feel like it goes with anything too, hold it against denim or black lace and it will look fantastic. It is straight up elegance with a touch of bohemian gothic and suits everyone in my opinion. My old [young] self wasn't so bad really; quite a stylish girl. 

What are your old favourites?

The Fine Print: Angel starts at £48, Mac Lip Pencils are £12.50, Bourjois Crayon Contour Des Lèvres are £5.49, Chanel Rouge Nail Polish is £18. All were bought by me, except the Chanel Rouge Noir which was gift from a friend.

The Even Finer Print: We're not featuring full fragrance reviews on Get Lippie at the moment owing to illness - please see The Parosmia Diaries for more.


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Laura Mercier Flawless Contouring Palette

First things first, let's get some pedantry out of the way:

Discrete means: Separate.  Apart.  Individual. Distinct.

Discreet means: Subtle.  Unobtrusive. Private.

Both the packaging and press release for this Laura Mercier Flawless Contouring palette promises you, (over and over): "DISCRETE" contouring.  This word they keep using, it does not mean what they think it means.  It has caused a couple of head-desk interfaces at Lippie Mansions recently. Luxury brands really need to check these things.

Right, now I've got that off my chest, on with the review!  Contouring is the one beauty trend that WILL NOT DIE.  I've lost count, literally, of the beautiful young girls I've seen recently with what can only be described as tidemarks all around their overpowdered dusty faces.  Coupled with the current (mystifying) craze for multiple sets of false eyelashes for day time use, they look like Miss Havershams who have been attacked by tarantulas.

Yes, my name is Get Lippie, and today I'm mainly channelling your mum.  Because, your mum.

All that said, there are times and places for DISCREET contouring, I'm just not sure the number 319 bus at 7am is it.  Photo-shoots for example.  Wedding makeup.  Big nights out.  Events, in other words.  I have no desire to look like Kim Kardashian, not really (although it appears that she stole my "having a really, really, really,  gigantic arse" idea wholesale, apparently), but sometimes, you just do want to look a little more chiselled than you normally do.

 The Laura Mercier Flawless Contouring palette is a set of three creams in neutral browns, coupled with both a dark and pale highlighter, intended to make contourng both simple and discreet.  It's simple to use - you can mix and match the three main shades to complement your skin tone best - and just apply directly to either your bare skin, or over your foundation before you powder.

 Best places for contouring are the hollows of your cheeks, the sides of your nose - if you have a wide one - around the temples, and you can even contour out a double chin.  You can apply with either brushes or fingers, which is good, I think it's easy to overapply powders when you're using brushes.  Fingers will give a more subtle effect.

The highlighters are rather lovely - but I suggest you don't mix these with the browns to create shadows, it'll just look odd.

The palette comes complete with some handy cards to best illustrate how they intend for you to use the palette, and I can confirm that they are very handy.  I like how they slide out from behind the mirror to be seen alongside, which will make it easier to follow the instructions as you use the palette.

For me, I had a hilarious makeup lesson from Sasha at Harrods recently, where we confirmed that - possibly - contouring isn't going to be a daily essential for me.  I can see the difference when it has been done professionally, and discreetly, but as no one else could, I'll save it for special events only.

This is a very nicely done palette, and hopefully the fact that it is creams means my bus ride will be a bit less dusty from now on ...

The palette is currently available exclusively at Harrods and Selfridges until mid-February when it will go on sale nation-wide.  It costs £35.

The Fine Print: PR Sample

The Even Finer Print: We're not featuring full fragrance reviews on Get Lippie at the moment owing to illness - please see The Parosmia Diaries for more.

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Lipstick Queen - Bete Noire Collection

I always love starting off the new year with a new collection from Lipstick Queen, and luckily the collections from Poppy King rarely disappoint.  When I found out there was a new "dark" collection coming, my little heart went pitty-pat, for Saint Wine is one of my all-time favourite lipsticks of all time, as regular readers might remember ...

Housed in a pretty purple square, case - hinting at the shades of blackberry within - the Bete Noire collection comes in a dark-leopard skin box, both things setting them slightly apart from the other collections. The shades are:

(L-R) Possessed Intense, Possessed Metal, and Possessed Sheer.  Essentially, you have one shade in three different formats, a deeper, more opaque shade, a shimmering metallic, and a sheer, but still pigmented colour too.

Seriously, is there anything nicer than a collection of untouched lipstick bullets?

Let's take a look at how they swatch:

Intense is a rich dark purple.  Metallic has a slightly browner cast, and Sheer is a less dark purple version of Intense, much as you would expect.

I'd say that they were a slightly bluer version of Wine, blackberries, and black cherries rather than black grape juice.  Wine is slightly browner on the skin to me, but I'll do a comparison post on these soon.

Here's how they look on the lips:

Intense:

It covers well, and is glossy on the lips, not as matte as the Sinner formulation for Lipstick Queen.  It lasts well, but you will get the ring of doom.  There's no staining though!

Metallic:

Slightly more matte than the Intense version, this has slightly better lasting powers too.  But the drier formulation means that you can get a bit of staining.  I didn't find this too sparkly in wear, but it is a bit darker than Intense.

Sheer:

Probably my favourite of the three, Sheer is great for adding a bit of colour, and a slight hint of drama without looking like fancy dress.  Cooler than Saint Wine, it's perfect for winter.

Lipstick Queen Bete Noire launches at SpaceNK very soon, and the lipsticks will cost £28 each.


The Fine Print: PR Sample

The Even Finer Print: We're not featuring full fragrance reviews on Get Lippie at the moment owing to illness - please see The Parosmia Diaries for more.


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New Post on The Parosmia Diaries!

Oddly enough, I've been really busy with writing over the last couple of weeks, but a lot of it won't see the light for a little while yet.  Priorities and the unexpandable nature of time being what they are, this means Get Lippie has had to take a bit of a back seat for a month or so, but I'm still here blogging away, don't worry!  A couple of nice posts coming up this week, starting with a new collection from Lipstick Queen!

In the meantime, here's the latest post on The Parosmia Diaries, which is chock-full of the tips and tricks I've picked up over the last few months on how I manage my condition on a day-to-day basis, which also explains why my handbag is just so DAMN HEAVY these days ... (contains many food reviews too.  Reviewing food with a smell disorder is ... random)

I'll be back tomorrow with some lipstick ...

The Even Finer Print: We're not featuring full fragrance reviews on Get Lippie at the moment owing to illness - please see The Parosmia Diaries for more.


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Hair Disaster recovery with Headmasters

We've all done it.  Had a fit of "fed-up-ness" with our hair and gone and got the lot chopped off on a whim.  Now, I HATE getting my hair cut, forever fearing the "bad cut", but nonetheless the week before Christmas, I did precisely what you shouldn't, and booked myself into my nearest hairdresser (a branch of Headmasters that I've been to before, but not for a cut, admittedly), and cajoled my  brand new stylist to cut the lot off.  I took along my pinterest board for reference:

 And begged for a slightly-shorter-in-back wavy dishevelled bob.

Well, it did not go to plan.  My stylist - who was adorable throughout, by the way, one of the nicest people to ever cut my hair - just didn't share my ideas for my new 'do, and - worse - couldn't cope with my wavy locks.  You know that scene in Steel Magnolias where Julia Roberts tells Dolly Parton just to make Sally Field's hair look like a big brown football helmet?  Well, it was just like that. Only bigger.

Not good.  I gave it a week, and couldn't cope with my hair being even bigger short than it ever was long.  I know there is a saying "The bigger the hair, the closer to God", but frankly, my hair already has ideas above its station, and doesn't need the encouragement, so I conceded defeat and contacted Headmasters direct to ask what they normally do in this situation.

The answer surprised - and delighted - me. Did you know that Headmasters offer an unconditional guarantee?  Don't worry, I didn't either.  I'd picked Headmasters because I've been a judge several times for the Creative Head magazine Most Wanted awards over the years, and Headmasters always do well in whichever category they're nominated in, but still I didn't know this.

Every customer who isn't delighted with their hair after a visit to Headmasters should get in touch with the salon and ask to speak to the manager, and explain their situation.  The manager will listen to your concerns and do everything in their power to fix the situation, whether that's arranging more training for your stylist or inviting you back to sort out your problem, and all without having to argy bargy over the details.  

makeup free - sorry.

I ended up going to the Putney branch of Headmasters to meet with Siobhan Jones, one of Headmasters' colour directors, to fix my disastrous cut on Christmas Eve and I am delighted.  Siobhan is a fellow curly-girl, so totally "got" my hair, and my concerns, and did her best to both fix the immediate problem, and cut my hair into a style designed to get better for my waves as it grows out.  I love a stylist who gives individual tips about specific hair concerns, and Siobhan's advice has been great, from showing me how to style my fringe in a way that makes my STUPID cowlicks behave themselves, to mentioning that I shouldn't get it cut again for three months, to getting rid of my "football helmet" just in time for the holidays, I couldn't be happier.

Thank you so much Headmasters for turning a disaster into a triumph.  I'm even happier that all your customers get the same service too.  

The Fine Print: I paid for the original haircut, but the follow-up appointment was arranged by the Headmasters PR team after I contacted them for help with this post.  Customer services will do the exact same for you though.

The Even Finer Print: We're not featuring full fragrance reviews on Get Lippie at the moment owing to illness - please see The Parosmia Diaries for more.


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Neom Perfect Peace Candle

Christmas, quite frankly, really isn't a proper Christmas without a Neom Christmas candle on the go.  Every year I buy and light a 3-wick  Christmas Wish, and that's how I know that the festive season is really underway.  I didn't finish last years Christmas Wish, so I still have that to look forward to this year.

This year's addition to the Christmas collection is Perfect Peace, which is a lime and pine-centric piece of Christmas wonderfulness.  It smells gloriously sharp and fresh, which is unexpected in a Christmas candle, but the pine underneath the line is sappy and sharp, and rather lovely, without ever heading into disinfectant territory.  This might be my favourite Neom Christmas scent ever, as even to my damaged olfactory nerve, it still smells like Christmas, just in rather an unexpected direction.

The single wick Perfect Peace candle can still be had for £32 from Neom.  Sadly, the 3-wick edition has now sold out.  I really hope it'll be back next year!

The Fine Print: PR Sample

The Even Finer Print: We're not featuring full fragrance reviews on Get Lippie at the moment owing to illness - please see The Parosmia Diaries for more.


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Ormonde Jayne Etoile Candle

Housed in a handsome, but unexpectedly brown glass jar, the Ormonde Jayne Christmas candle this year is a creamy-smooth blend of cardamom, amber and tonka.  Slightly spicy, with a hint of smoke, Etoile is a gorgeously grown-up scent for Christmas.

It is smooth-burning, and comes with an incredibly high percentage of perfume oils in the formula, so this is one candle this will make your whole house smell good even after a relatively short burn.   It costs £68, and smells almost good enough to eat.

The Fine Print: PR Sample

The Even Finer Print: We're not featuring full fragrance reviews on Get Lippie at the moment owing to illness - please see The Parosmia Diaries for more.


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Jardins d'Ecrivains "Dickens" Christmas Candle

 Possibly the most "traditional" Christmas scent we're featuring this week, the Jardins D'Ecrivains Christmas Candle inspired by Charles Dickens is a gloriously spicy mandarin, pine, clove and ... oud(!) scent.  

Set up in 2012, and inspired by founder Anaïs Biguine's love of literature and fictional characters, Jardins d'Ecrivains is an unusual and lovely little niche fragrance house to keep an eye on over the next year or so.  Back in the "before", in the time when I could still smell properly, I was fascinated by the house, and was looking forward to smelling stuff from them. 

Alas, now I can't smell properly, but I can tell you that even with my nose woes, this smells wonderful, rich and citrussy, with hints of wood, spice and warmth, but mainly glorious oranges.  Oranges were one of the first scents to "come back" for me, and this is a lovely reminder that my nose does, on occasion, let me smell nice things too!

This candle is a WHOPPER, by the way, it weighs in at a hefty 500gms, and I estimate that you'd get at least a 40 hour burn time, even with the double wick.  You can find the candle here, and it costs just £60.  That's a long of burn for your buck!


The Fine Print: PR Sample

The Even Finer Print: We're not featuring full fragrance reviews on Get Lippie at the moment owing to illness - please see The Parosmia Diaries for more.


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Maison Francis Kurkdjian Scented Candle Set

If you're looking for a cute and pretty candle set, which is also well made, and will definitely give huge delight to the lucky recipient, this is the set for you.  Maison Francis Kurkdjian do lovely candles, and this box of little ones is no exception.

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Scented with a mix of powdery iris, spicy gingerbread, and with hints of peppery cedar - all of which, even to my damaged nose, smell pretty and sweet, with some spikiness from the wood -  the candles, which are decorated in gold with iconic Parisian landmarks are good-looking enough for the christmas table, and the scents won't overwhelm your Christmas dinner either.

The candles will burn for around 20 hours each, the entire set costs 65 euro, and is available from here. 

The Fine Print: PR Samples

The Even Finer Print: We're not featuring full fragrance reviews on Get Lippie at the moment owing to illness - please see The Parosmia Diaries for more.

This post: Maison Francis Kurkdjian Scented Candle Set 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

Miller Harris Rose en Noir Candle

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It's the first of December, and in Lippie-land, that means candles.  Christmas is coming, the nights are drawing in, the weather is getting colder, and tradition is all.  We don't bother with a tree, but we do have candles on every available surface in Lippie Mansions.  Over the next week or so we'll be bringing you our picks of the best candles for Christmas (old favourites and new contenders), all of which also make perfect Christmas gifts ...

Starting off with Miller Harris Rose en Noir "gifting" candle.  This is a glorious spicy rose fragrance, starting off green and bitter with a sweet rose heart, and a spicy warm, peppery base, it is beautifully packaged for the holiday season, with gold-etched glass, and a lovely pink and gold box:

Burn time is estimated at sixty+ hours for this one, (it's almost twice the size of a normal Miller Harris candle), and the cost is £70.  You can find it here.

The Fine Print: PR Sample

The Even Finer Print: Please note, these aren't full fragrance reviews owing to the current status of Get Lippie.  For more information on this, please take a look at The Parosmia Diaries. 

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