Postcards from Paris

 Just a few - a very few - snapshots of my weekend in Paris:

Joan of Arc

 Normal posting will resume tomorrow ...


This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.

Lipstick of the Week ...

 It's been a while, but it's back, back, b a c k!

Here's what I've been wearing on me mush over the last seven days: 

From left to right we have:

Lanolips Lemonaid (love this stuff, particularly when my lips are really dry and hard in the cold weather, this softens them up a treat.
Dior Lip Polish, shade No 2. Similar to the above, but leaves a slight milky pink colour behind
By Terry: Terrybly 302 Fanatic Red - you'll be able to read more about this lipstick later on in the week.
Chantecaille Lip Chic - Tea Rose.  One of my default lip shades, there is barely a week that goes by that I don't reach for this one.
Poppy King for No7 lipgloss in Glamour.  Lovely light pink shade that perks up my lips a treat.
Clinique Lip Smoothie in Strawberry Bliss - this came as part of a GWP recently, but it's a shimmering My Lips But Better shade, that I wore more or less the entire time I was in Paris this weekend.
Tom Ford - Indian Rose.  As with the Chantecaille above, this is a shade I reach for again and again and again.  I'm going to need a backup.

No Flash

With Flash

 It's been - with one notable exception, a neutral kind of week.

Here are some (blurry - sorry!) swatches: 

What've you been wearing?

This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.

Gay Paree Part Deux

No real post today, for as you read this, I'm in Paris.  I shall be eating, drinking, getting a facial, hitting the Christmas markets, and - of course! - doing a little shopping.  I'll be back next week with some (edited) highlights for you.  In the meantime, here's a little something to look at:

  This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.

Benefit They're Real Vs Dior Diorshow Iconic

Perfume aside, I don't think there is a beauty product that is as dependent upon personal preference as mascara.  We all have our particular requirements, and personal favourites, and we tend to stick with them, no matter how many new mascaras are released in a particular year.  Last year I was addicted to Trish McEvoy's mascara, but discovered that the formula had changed - making it wetter, and less volumising - when I bought a replacement, so I spent quite some time this year looking for a new one that would replace it in my affections.

I like long, fat "dolly" lashes - verging on the drag queen effect - from my mascaras, none of this natural look thing, thank you.  I'm a fan of Armani Eyes to Kill, but it is pricey, and I can't always be bothered heading to either Selfridges and Harrods to pick one up.  Ditto Makeup Forever's Smokey Lash, but the only place I've found that is Paris, really, so even less easy to pick up.  So, I thought I'd try a couple of mascaras that were easier to get hold of in department stores, Benefit They're Real, and DiorShow Iconic.  Both have had a lot of love from my fellow beauty bloggers lately, so which one would win for me?

The Tubes:

I have to say that the hands down winner of the battle of the tubes is Benefit, I love the shiny pewter finish, and the fat tube.  In all honesty, the embossed finish of the Dior tube makes it look a bit sticky.  It's not, but I don't like it, all the same.

The Brushes:

These are both plastic brushes, as opposed to bristles, and they're both slightly unusual twists on a normal brush in their own right:

Benefit:

This always reminds me of a mace, for some reason.  We have short spiky bristles, and these bristles continue onto the tip of the brush.  I'll be honest, I do find the bristles a little too spiky at times, and if you accidentally blink when applying, well, it's not nice.

DiorShow:

A little wider than the Benefit, the bristles on Iconic are arrayed in a spiral pattern, and they're a little longer and rounder than the Benefit bristles.  Personally, I find that the brush on the Diorshow Iconic suits my lashes better, leaving my lashes looking more "groomed" after using.

The Formulas:

I find that the Benefit They're Real formula is very wet in comparison to the DiorShow Iconic, and that it requires more coats to give a "finished" look than the Dior.  The Dior is dryer, and gives a fuller effect with a lot less effort. Both are very black, and I've not noticed any flaking with either formulation. Dior wins. Anything that can help a lazybones like me look good quicker has to be good.

The Lashes:

They're not upside down, I'm just looking up.  A bit too much.

It is, in fact, almost a dead heat.  Both lengthen, and both volumise, but the Dior just has the edge on volumising, and, I noticed, it curls the lashes more.  Pic shows two coats of each on uncurled lashes.  I suspect though, that if I were to apply more than two coats, that the Dior would clump a bit more than the Benefit.  I only ever apply two coats though - life is too short for three coats of mascara, if you ask me.

Winner:

For me, it's the Dior, but they're both excellent.  Once the Benefit had a chance to dry out a bit (when I first used it, I hated it, but letting it dry out for a month or two has worked wonders for it, for me), I liked it a lot more, whereas the Dior was a winning formula straight out of the box.

The Fine Print: Benefit was a PR sample.  The Dior ... wasn't.

This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.

Chantecaille Lipgloss: Nectar, Guava, Taffy

Someone made me an absurdly generous gift recently, and, as I'm obsessed with Chantecaille lip products at the moment, I was delighted to receive these little pots of pretty.  I have three shades:

Like the Chantecaille Lip Chics, these are sheer, and packed with moisturising ingredients.  I don't find them at all drying, and they're a pleasure to wear, as they fuse the lip conditioning properties of a balm with a gloss.

The pictures have washed Guava out a bit, it's quite a lot redder than it appears in the pics, and is the one I've worn the most since it arrived.

So, Nectar is a nude, my lips but better shade, guava has a hint of shimmery pink, and taffy is a caramel-beige, (not the rusty brown I was afraid of when I opened the pot!), and they're very, very, very glossy:

Lasting power is minimal, they layer well over lipsticks, but you wouldn't wear them alone expecting them to last longer than, say an hour or two.

 So very, very pretty, and I'm very grateful to my benefactor ... 

This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.

Kate Somerville: Goat Milk Cream and Quench Serum

As the weather has got colder, I've found my skin needed a bit more hydration than what I was getting from my Darphin range alone, so I've added some Kate Somerville skincare to my routine.  I first found out about The Goat Milk Cream via BeautyMouth, and I was desperate to try it from that point onwards.  Whilst I'm not (these days) particularly acne-prone, my skin is sensitive and reddened quite a lot of the time, and I wanted to see if it would help.

Packaged in both air- and light-tight packaging, the cream is very rich, but feels extremely lightweight on the skin.  It does have a faint "creamy" scent, but it doesn't smell at all of goat.

In use, I find that it absorbs quickly, and doesn't leave a tacky feeling behind, and when my skin is having one of it's periodic "angry" phases, it is very cooling and soothing.  It doesn't clog my pores either.  My skin just drinks it up.

In addition to the Goat Milk Cream, I've been using Kate's Quench Serum, which I adore.  Seriously, adore it. My skin is dehydrated quite often, for a variety of reasons, but Quench solves that, and very quickly indeed.  In fact, it re-hydrates so well that my skin has been described as "beautifully normal" by a couple of makeup artists recently - that never happens, and it's entirely down to this beauty.

It's fairly silicone heavy (but it is dimethicone, one of the "good" 'cones - used by plastic surgeons to heal wounds after operations), but I haven't had any problems with clogging or acne as a result of using this. A little drop of this goes a very long way.  The instructions say to use a full pump morning and evening, but I find that half a pump is more than enough for both my face and neck.  Once I've applied this, my skin dfeels plump and smooth, and moisturised.  Dry patches are instantly soothed, and if your skin feels tight through dryness at all, this feeling just disappears.

I love it, and hey, if it's good enough to fool others into thinking I have normal (instead of dehydrated combination) skin, then it's good enough to have a permanent place in my routine.  I can't recommend this stuff enough.

Separately, these are good products, together, they're amazing.  Sadly, the Goat Milk Cream is hard to find at the moment, it is mainly stocked by Space NK, but it appears to be sold out right now, but keep an eye out for it.  Oh, and they're pricey, both coming in at around the £60 mark, but, what price "normal" (plump, moisturised, non-reddened and sore) skin?

The Fine Print: Samples, but they've both immediately gone onto the "must purchase" list.  They're essentials now.

This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.

Chanel Ombre Essentielle - 417 Beige Lame

I admit, I wasn't all that taken with the Chanel Christmas collection this year, it just didn't speak to me.  But, I did have to pick up this eyeshadow single, when I was in Debenhams recently. Packaged with Chanel's usual attention to detail, the eyeshadow single comes in a little velvet pouch:

So, what colour is it?  Well, for all of you who think I live in taupe, I have a little surprise for you - this one is beige:

 So far, so dull.  What I like about Chanel though, is that their neutrals come with a bit of an edge, and this shade caught my eye in store because it's packed full of glorious - and beautiful - microglitter (cue terrible photos):

Somehow, I just can't capture the glory of this eyeshadow on camera, which is infuriating.  Whilst the colour isn't that unique, it's something I'll get a lot of use out of, as it's a great - slightly warm - beige shade, perfect for when you're getting ready in a rush.

Heree you can see it swatched dry on the right, and over primer on the right.


What have you picked up from the Christmas collections?

This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.