Dear Mac...

Formidable nail polish is beautiful, but I'd like more than 36 hours wear, please:

Tresemme Naturals

I tell you, it's very annoying when - before you've even tried a product - you've already written half of the review in your head, then when you do go on to try it, you realise that you're going to have to eat half  the words you haven't yet actually written.

<sigh>

So ... I was introduced to Tresemme Naturals recently, the latest offering from the Tresemme range of shampoos, conditioners and styling products.  Now, I've always been a bit sniffy when it comes to high street shampoo, I can't deny it. Ever since I started colouring my hair (a very, very long time ago) I've always  used salon brands, and paid the most I can afford for my haircare because, after all, your hair is the accessory you wear every day, so - to me, at least - it's worth investing in. However, this range from Tresemme, promises no parabens, is silicone-free, is a third lower in sulfates than it's original range and contains organic extracts of orange, aloe vera and avocado.

Now, I do find the name "Naturals" a little misleading (which is where my "original review" started, to be honest), as the only natural things in the shampoo are the organic extracts - and they're there in very small amounts - and basically, all they've done to the formula is tweaked it slightly to make it sound trendy, and "natural", plus they can put organic on the label too.  Nothing makes me madder than this kind of green-washing, particularly when it's a cover for putting out a less effective product, as I've seen happen in some companies.

However...

(and this is where I hang my head in shame and admit to having been a bit closed-minded),

The shampoo and conditioner in question are actually a bit marvellous.  They smell good, a little citrussy, the shampoo lathers well, and you can barely tell the conditioner is silicone-free at all, as there's a good amount of slip.  I found that both used together leave my hair clean, soft and super-shiny.  Colour me very impressed, and less prepared to sneer next time.  Price is quite reasonable too, you get nearly a litre of each for less than five pounds.

If the ingredients actually were natural, and they were SLS-free (instead of "lower sulfate" than the original version) then I'd be happier, but at this price point, they're actually pretty difficult to beat.

The Worst Makeover I Ever Had

Was at the Estee Lauder counter in the Liverpool branch of Boots a few years ago.

I only really have myself to blame, I'd ignored a few of my own hard and fast rules about makeovers (namely the ones about ignoring advice from someone who has deliberately turned themselves tangerine, and - my bad - the one about women who willingly wear black lipliner in the middle of the day having no business with their hands near my face), and gone for it in spite of myself.

I have to say, the girl was a dab hand with the highlighter, I had it everywhere.  Cheekbones, upper lip, and on my brow bones.  The stuff on my brow-bones was, I kid you not, an inch thick!  Worse though, she'd used so many products on my face that the whole thing started slipping even as she was applying it, meaning she had to cake more and more and more powder over the top to keep the "look" in place.  It looked, and I kid you not, like crazy paving by the end of it. And she was so proud!  I went back to the office afterwards, and after listening to the insane giggling and dodging a volley of remarks referencing Danny La Rue (imagine the above picture with dark hair, that was me, that was), I vowed, there and then to never go to an Estee Lauder counter for a makeover again.

Well, today I'm eating my words, as I've been invited to a makeup lesson at one of Estee's flagship stores, and I'm actually really looking forward to it.  I think the Estee Lauder brand has really pulled itself out of the "old lady" rut with the advent of Tom Pecheaux this year, I adored his Blue Dahlia collection a few months ago, and his Christmas collection (which I'll be showing you soon) is beautiful too!  Plus, they've promised not to make me look like an elderly drag queen today, which is nice.   I'll be showing you the results in the morning, so they can't say they haven't been warned!

So, what was your worst makeover like?

Face of the Day - Berry Lips

Dark, gothic lipstick colours are very much the flavour of the day this season, so here's my take on the look:






I'm wearing Chanel tinted moisturiser, Edward Bess eyeshadow in Intimate, Dior purple eyeliner, and the lips are Daniel Sandler lipstick in Micro Berry. This shade, I've discovered, makes a really pretty stain too.

Will you be wearing dark lips this autumn?

Pride and Joy!

Get Lippie moved house over the weekend, and I thought you'd like to see the reason I chose my new abode:




In case you can't tell (and I won't be surprised if you can't) that's my new bath. It's also a jacuzzi, power shower, steam room, and ... er ... something else. Doubles as a disco too, as you can see! I still need to read the instructions, as me and MrLippie took twenty minutes just to figure out how to fill it with water yesterday, which was ... amusing. It also has a remote control for the built-in telly, natch!

Blog posts are going to be a bit sporadic for the next week or so until I get my broadband sorted, but I'll be posting from my iPhone in the meantime, which - you lucky things! - will probably mean shorter posts for a while!

Right, off to unpack my Ren, Shu Uemura, Aromatherapy Associates, Elemis Super Soak and various other bath oils, any recommendations?

So Annoying

I hate dodgy packaging:




Just went to apply my (lovely) Alpha H Age Delay treatment eye cream, and the nozzle has decided to stay in the lid!

Bye bye, eye cream, bye bye.

YSL Belle D'Opium

Launched in what must be one of the prettiest bottles I've seen all year, Belle D'Opium is the latest fragrance from Yves St Laurent.

A "sister" scent to the original Opium, this is lighter, and designed - I guess - to be more of a complement to the current trend for the fruity-musky-woody stews that are all you can smell in modern fragrance these days.

Which is a shame.  I loved the original Opium, my father used to buy it for my mum by the bucket load (in massive duty-free flacons), and the heavy, heady, spicy oriental scent of carnations and smoke perfumes many of my memories.  Belle D'Opium has, sadly, about as much in common with the original Opium as I do with Cindy Crawford.

It starts off well, not too sweet, slightly dry and a bit flowery, but not overly so, and for the first 15 minutes or so it's perfectly  ... pleasant.  Inoffensive. No spices, no headiness, no intense desire to keep sniffing, and work out what the notes are, as you get with some perfumes, just ... niceness. A little warmth, maybe, but it's hard to tell how this is supposed to remind you of Opium at all, outside of the name.

Then, on my skin, it simply  ... disappears.  Completely.  Totally.  Utterly. It disappears with such a total and abrupt thoroughness that upon occasion I've completely forgotten that I'd applied it in the first place and then an hour later I've applied something completely different. And, get this, when I have, the scents have never clashed, that's how thorough a nothingness is left behind once the top notes wear off.

It's a shame that such a beautiful bottle with such a historic name behind it smells so  ... gone.

The Fine Print: This was a PR sample I wanted to love.  Sorry peeps!