Back to Basics - Estee Lauder Invisible Fluid Makeup

Continuing with the Foundation Week theme, it's time to discuss what is the newest addition to my little* foundation family, Estee Lauder's Invisible Fluid makeup.  We're not allowed to call it "foundation", apparently, as it's specially formulated to be foundation for people who don't like foundation.

Personally, I don't understand this "not liking foundation" business, but that's probably because my ugly blotchy red mug regularly makes small children cry, nonetheless, I thought I'd give this a go anyway.

Packaging

Cute plastic bottle, with shiny, shiny blurple lid.  A little on the large size for carrying around with you, but it won't shatter if you drop it.

Formula

An exceptionally thin, runny liquid.  This is light, light, light!  The formula is both oil and emulsifier-free, meaning you need to shake the heck out of it when you first buy it (at least three minutes worth) in order to mix the pigment with the binding ingredients.  After the first use, you won't need to shake near as much to get the ingredients to blend, but this will need shaking every time you use it.  Again, this product contains a blend of silicones to get the pigment to meld with your skin.  This is virtually undetectable on the skin, either visually or physically.  It spreads easily, either with fingers or a brush.  I prefer fingers.

Shade Selection

 This is shade 2CN2.  There are sixteen shades in the range, arrayed into six colour groupings (1 = palest, 6 = darkest), and C = Cool, N= Neutral and W = Warm.  This should, in a perfect world, all make sense,  so my shade is second palest group, with both cool and neutral undertones, but not the palest shade in the group - that would be 2CN1.  I think.  It's great to see a brand like Lauder catering to a large range of skintones at last.  As a Lauder foundation-wearer of many years standing, I've often found it difficult to match my skin tone owing to the limited shades on offer, and it's great to see them expanding the range in both directions.

Coverage

Coverage is, as you might expect, on the light side.  Here's Maurice the Control Mole for our visual demonstration:

Coverage is light to medium, as you can see from the above, it won't hide blemishes completely, it will even out your skintone, and at least disguise the worst of your blotchiness.  The coverage is very buildable, and if you have stubborn redness, you can just add another layer or two over the worst affected areas, without it looking cakey.  As it's oil-free, it's great for oilier skins, if you're prone to dry patches, this will cling to them slightly, but keeping on top of your exfoliating will help.

Finish

Finish is matte, but not flat.  You can powder over this, but it will kind of defeat the whole "invisible" nature of the makeup.  I find using an illuminating primer underneath will give your skin a glow, but again, it's not necessary.


Wear

I've been very impressed with the wear of this.  I expected such a light formulation to wear off very very quickly, but this has stood up to even the hardest of wear over the last week or two, and I've not really noticed any problems with fading or needing reapplications during the day. I'd say I get about 8-10 hours before needing to touch up.
 
Price

Currently exclusively available from John Lewis, this costs £27 for 30ml.
 
Ingredients

Overall Thoughts

Wonderfully light on the skin, with buildable coverage which is virtually undetectable on the skin during  wear, in a great range of colours, this is a total win as far as I'm concerned.  I'm surprised at how much I like it, considering my redness problems, but since this turned up, I've found myself reaching for it over and over.  

 * Ha ha!


The Fine Print: PR Sample.


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

Back to Basics - Avon Ideal Flawless Foundation

It's been quite a while since I last did a week of foundations, and this one has been a while in the planning, so I thought I'd better get on with it!  This week I'll be reviewing five foundations, weightless ones, full coverage ones, invisible ones, and others ...

I'm starting off with Avon's latest foundation launch, Ideal Flawless, which is described as an "invisible coverage foundation".

Packaging: 

This is a heavyweight glass bottle, with a pump mechanism, not ideal for travel, but it's a handsome enough bottle for the dressing table.

Formula:

  
This is a rather thick liquid formulation, which just a hint of shimmer visible in the bottle (not visible on the skin, thank goodness), which spreads extremely easily over the skin, and feels feather light during wear. It's rather silicone-heavy, so unsuitable for skins who don't tolerate those easily, but it makes your skin feel gorgeously smooth and velvety whilst you're wearing it. Touchably soft, even!

Shade Selection

This is shade: "Creamy Natural".  Please bear in mind that the skin of my hands is considerably paler than that of my face for some reason, so these swatches will look a bit odd.  There's an amazing range of shades in this range, Avon offer 16 shades, from the very palest "Ivory" or "Light Pink" through to "Nutmeg" and  "Earth".  I've tried all 16, and, instead of being the second palest colour in the range - something I normally am, owing to being pale, but not that pale - I'm right in the middle of this shade range. I could probably get away with wearing "Nude" or "Medium Beige" as well, depending on the time of year, and the light I was going to be seen in, to be honest.  It's nice to see a range of shades that caters for both cool and warm tones, too.

Coverage:

Let me intoduce you to Maurice, the Control Mole, you're going to be seeing him a lot this week, so if skin blemishes offend you, I suggest you look away now:

 And here's how Maurice looks after a coat of Ideal Flawless:

Yup, that's some pretty good coverage right there, that is.  I'm impressed.  Maurice, not so much so.

Finish:

Avon Ideal Flawless blends easily onto the skin, leaving it velvety and smooth, and is, as promised, more or less "invisible" on the skin.  It has a satin-matte finish, which isn't at all flat owing the aforementioned "shimmer" in the bottle, and doesn't leave skin too dewy either.  You can finish with powder should you need too - and if you are oily-skinned, I'd recommend it - but it isn't 100% necessary, I very rarely bother with powder, to be honest.

Wear:

Avon don't promise any particular long-wearing capabilities for this foundation, which is just as well, as the lasting time is about average, it'll see you through the average working day, but you will notice fade after around six - eight hours or so.  You'll need another application if you want it to take you from day to night though.

Price:

This is an absolute bargain, costing £12 at full price, but is currently on offer on the Avon Website for just £10 a bottle for 30ml. Online swatches are beyond dreadful though, so do a bit of searching around to find your shade.


Ingredients:

Overall Thoughts.


This is an excellently priced product, with great coverage, average lasting power, and a wonderfully light feel on the skin - highly recommended, even if the online swatches mean that finding your exact shade might be a little problematic.


The Fine Print: PR Sample.  I was not swayed in any way by the mention of Aleesha Dixon in the marketing of this product.  Sorry, Aleesha.

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

Nail of the Day - A-England Avalon

It's terribly hard work having a nail blogger as one of your best friends, you know.  I'd been seeing swatches all over the place for the recent A-England legend collection and thought they were very pretty, but it wasn't until I saw Helen's A-England post last week that I did what every good beauty blogger eventually does, and ripped my friend's idea off in its entirety.  In fact, I ordered the polishes within an hour of her post going live, and was delighted beyond belief that I had the polishes in my sticky little fingers around 24 hours later.  Astonishing service from A-England! And the postage was free, as well - amazing!

In fact, I bought five polishes (not all of them from the Legend collection):

I have Princess Tears, Avalon, Ascalon, Lady of the Lake, and St George.  They are all very, very beautiful:

I'll bring you swatches of the rest of the shades soon:

But first I wanted to concentrate on Avalon, which is a gorgeous, glowing, deep, deep jewelled purple.  Pictures of it don't really do it justice, it's almost a perfect dupe for the Cadbury purple, as you can see from the next couple of shots:

 Doesn't everyone buy chocolate as props these days?

These pictures make the nail colour look a bit different from the bottle, but the shade in the bottle is much nearer to what is on the nails, my shots pull a little of the warmth from the shade, and simply don't show the smoothly metallic glow that you get from this colour when you're wearing it.  The next shot, which is instagrammed to death (for which I apologise), is, ironically, the most colour accurate picture on this page:

This might just be the most beautiful nail varnish I've ever worn.


A-England polishes cost £9 each and are available from A-England's online store.
 
The Fine Print: Purchases.  Many, many, many sincere apologies to Helen from Just Nice Things for not having an original thought in my head.

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

Lipstick of the Week - 19 February 2012

Back to its normal slot from now on (somehow it just didn't feel "right" on a Monday), and back to random choices too, this week's Lipstick of the Week features some of my all-time favourites, a lipstick that drives me NUTS, something brand new, and what is possibly the lipstick I get most comments on whenever I wear it.

Shall we get on and take a closer look?

Natural Light:
 

Flash:

So what made the list this week?  Clockwise from top left, we have:

Chantecaille Lip Chic in Tea Rose - possibly my favourite lipstick texture ever for the winter months,  this is my perfect neutral lip shade, and one I'll have to get a back up for pretty soon.  Dammit.
Tarina Tarantino in Cameo - I hate this lipstick, but someone in the US (waves at Paula from Older Girl Beauty) went to a lot of trouble to get this for me, and so I doggedly continue wearing it, even though it looks like this after about six uses:

Gah!

 I mean, I know how to look after lipstick, but this is infuriating! Anyway  onto nicer things:

Chantecaille Lip Chic in Bourbon Rose - A lighter, pinker version of Tea Rose, I use this on the (increasingly rare) days when I'm trying not to look like I'm wearing makeup at all.

Tom Ford in Indian Rose -What was definitely my favourite lip shade of last year still makes it into heavy rotation this year, and I've just acquired a back up.  I've just heard it's the best selling shade in the relaunched line too, so good to know I'm not alone in my love of this one!

Tom Ford in Violet Fatale - a new acquisition.  Not quite a replacement for my beloved (and sadly discontinued) Pure Pink, but ... close.  Kinda. Expect an in-depth review of this one once I've had a chance to wear it in properly.  Not nearly as scary as it looks in the bullet, thank goodness!

Hurraw Balm in Chai Spice - If you're a long-term reader, you may remember me being devastated by the decision of Badger Balm to discontinue their Chai Rose Balm a couple of years ago.  This is the nearest I've found to a replacement, it's raw, vegan, organic, and as the label has it, "good".  It's a good conditioning balm, and I like wearing it a great deal. Cheap too, at less than £4 a stick.  Mine came from Content in Marylebone, one of my favourite shops in London.

And finally, Smashbox Limitless Lipstain in Sangria - literally every time I wear this, people tell me how much they love it.  Which is an odd thing, because I wear red lipstick a lot, but there's something about this shade, and the velvety finish on the lips that draws peoples' eyes to it.  I love wearing it, and it's backup-worthy in my eyes. I'll be honest though, I mainly used to love it because it's called Sangria ...

You want swatches?  I got you swatches:

Natural Light:
 

Flash

And yes, I have swatched the balm at the end there too.

What've you been wearing? 

 Anything caught your eye?


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

Tom Ford Quad Comparison - Titanium Smoke and Silvered Topaz

Someone pointed out to me recently that the two Tom Ford Eyeshadow quads that I own look a little similar.  Well ... it can't be denied.  In fact, for a while, I was convinced that the top row of both palettes was identical, myself!  So, any excuse to get them out again, I thought I'd do some side-by-side swatches of each:

But first, a look (or two) at the palettes together:

 Look dang similar, those two top rows, eh?  Let's take a closer look:

So, just how similar are they?  Here's the swatches:

The glitter shades are indeed slightly different, the Titanium Smoke has a more "steely" grey appearance, and the Silvered Topaz is a very pale gold.  In reality though, they apply so sheerly that there's no way you'd be able to differentiate between the two of them on the eyes.

The grey shades in both are more different - Titanium Smoke is definitely greyer, and, on application, is both more pigmented and less powdery.  Silvered Topaz has a sheerer, slightly browner appearance.  I definitely prefer the Titanium Smoke out of these two.

For the bottom row, I simply had to swatch the matte shades together.  Out of these two, Silvered Topaz is very definitely the more pigmented out of the two - I barely had to touch my skin with the brush!  But, for me, the Titanium Smoke is the most versatile shade, as it makes a wonderful powder liner, and is particularly suitable for tightlining your upper lashes.  The Silvered Topaz is actually so pigmented that it's difficult to blend, and, the slightly red undertone makes it unsuitable for the inner rim of the eyes.

I'll say one thing, the bottom left shade from Silvered Topaz was damn near impossible to swatch, so much so that it really annoyed me.  The Titanium Smoke grey is glorious, but it is just that little bit  ... too sparkly.  That said, that hasn't stopped me wearing it practically every day for the last couple of weeks!

So, which one catches your eye? 

 The Fine Print: Purchases.  I am a mental.


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

Dior Skinflash Comparison - Shades - 001 and 002

I've somehow acquired two Dior Skinflash highlighters, in shades 001 and 002, and I thought it would be interesting to see them side by side.

Both housed in the signature silver with navy livery, Skinflash is a brush-pen style highlighter of the type that is commonly sold as a "concealer" by department store sales assistants.  What they actually do is spread reflective particles over the skin which bounce light off a particular area, diminishing the eyes' ability to see imperfections. That said, they're better used to draw light to areas in the same way you'd use a highlighter - on cheekbones, browbones etc - than use them to disguise dark circles and the like, because coverage can be very sheer, and the reflection effect can actually draw attention to the areas you're trying to hide, if you apply with too heavy a hand.  

Recall the "reverse panda" effect?

Yeah, don't apply too much, or that's you that is.

 Anyway, where was I?  Oh yes, there are two shades of Dior Skinflash:

L - 001 & R - 002

 As you can see from the above, 001 is more pink, and 002 has a more yellow cast, hopefully meaning that both cool and warm tones can use the products.  Here's how they look swatched heavily on skin:

L 002 - R 001 I'm a doofus and reversed the image - sorry!

 Swatched heavily, you can see the 001 (towards the bottom of the pic) looks a little more chalky on my neutral-toned skin, but the 002 (at the top), melts away a little more.  I'll be honest, I used 001 as an under eye concealer last week, and the pink tones did nothing to disguise anything, probably just made me look more knackered, if I'm being honest!

Blended, the differences are less apparent in this picture, but next time I use Skinflash, I'll ensure I'm using shade 002, as I think it suits my skin better:

 
 The Fine Print - one was a purchase, and one was in a goody bag at an event.  I no longer know which was which. Which is how it should be, if  you ask me.


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

Ren Love Clean Skin (or, would you like a bit of porn with your cleanser?)

Now, I'm a fan of Ren, their Rose Otto Bath Oil is one of my desert island products.  Last week they released their "first short film" (it is not an advert, allegedly) and here's the edited version:


 
It's safe for work, don't worry.

But, this is the longer version (it's less than two minutes long, but - and it's a BIG but - do not watch this if you're at work, I mean it, you will regret it and you'll likely get fired to boot) Youtube will ask you if you're over 18, and with very good reason:



Now, what I want to know, is any of this necessary?  This is basically soft porn, and what on earth it has to do with the products, I have no idea.  Yes, yes, it's beautifully shot, and the leads aren't hollywood-gorgeous, which is refreshing to see, but ... I don't see why they bothered.

Except ...

I suppose, for a brand, any publicity is good publicity - and I'm aware this blog post is just adding to that - but, I'll be honest, this has made me rethink how I feel about the brand.  It's not that I'm offended by the film - I'm not - but any brand that stoops to showing porn to get publicity, well ... I'm not so sure that's a brand I want to spend my money on.

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