Elizabeth Arden Sunkissed Pearls Cream Eye Shadow Stylos

Now, if you had asked me recently what my favourite cream eyeshadow stick/wand/pencil/crayon/whatever was, I'd have answered the Laura Mercier Caviar Sticks I featured yesterday, but I was incredibly pleasantly surprised by these limited edition "stylos" from Elizabeth Arden when they arrived a little while ago.  These babies last.  And last, and last ... it is safe to say I definitely saved the best for last this time.

Available in three shades, (from L-R), Fresh Water Pearl: a gilded pink, Bronzed Pearl: a warm metallic brown, and Blue Pearl, a golden deep turquoise. these are part of the incredibly pretty summer collection from Elizabeth Arden.

Trying - and failing miserably - to capture the lovely holographic effect on the packaging

These are crazy pigmented, but can be blended out easily for a sheerer coverage. and the colours are well chosen for a summer look.  The cool Fresh Water Pearl is my particular favourite, as it blends well with my skintone, but Bronze Pearl works well with it, if you fancy wearing two shades together.  I like Blue Pearl as an eyeliner too.

They are very creamy, and soft, and there is no dragging whatsoever.  The creams spread easily, and blend together beautifully, and look good either together or alone.  The shades are gorgeously multi-dimensional, and not flat at all.

Oh, and when I say these last, these really last - this is a picture taken 24 hours after swatching (which encompassed showers and doing dishes):

They do remove easily with an oil-based cleanser though, don't worry!

The other thing that endears me to these is the sharpeners, not only do they come with the pencil, they're part of it, so you can't lose them, the base of each pencil detaches and forms the sharpener.  Cute and practical!

They're also probably the cheapest pencil I've featured in this series, at £19 each, but they're limited edition, so hurry, hurry, hurry, they're in store now ...


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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Laura Mercier Caviar Stick in Rose Gold

I'm still on an eye pencil kick I'm afraid, but I've saved my absolute favourites for this week.  This is Laura Mercier's Caviar Stick in Rose Gold.  I may be wrong, but I think these were the first "cult" shadow sticks on the blogging circuit, and I've always had a soft spot for them.

Rose Gold is a lovely easy to wear fleshy shade, perfect for a polished, but barely perceptible makeup look.

I like this paired with a simple smokey liner for a really easy and long-lasting (but not too glittery, unlike some of the others I've featured recently) daytime look.

It is a smooth and creamy formula, that glides on over the lids easily without any dragging.  I find it blends easily, and sets quite quickly, and it lasts for hours without creasing.

It's basically idiot-proof, and I'm just the idiot to prove it.  Laura Mercier Caviar Sticks cost £22 each from SpaceNK.

The Fine Print: GWP 

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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Charlotte Tilbury Colour Chameleon Eye Pencil in Amethyst Aphrodisiac

I'm on a lazy makeup roll this week, and a bit of a pencil kick too, which brings me to Charlotte Tilbury's cult range of "colour morphing" pencils, the Colour Chameleon range.  They are gorgeous pencils, but I did find the "colour morphing" claims a little incomprehensible until I figured out that the colours that were "morphing" were your eye colours, not the pencil shades.

My eyes are rather an unusual colour, being brown, green and yellow plus having hints of blue in the limbal ring, so first off picking the right colour of pencil for my eyes was difficult.  They're based on the colour wheel principle of complementary colours, and I couldn't figure out if you'd class my eyes as green, or brown or hazel, as there's a day and a night option of pencil for every eye colour (but not, it seems, for eyes of every colour).  Eventually I picked the purple Amethyst Aphrodisiac to play up the green in my eyes.

These are glitter city!  I must mention it, because they are the most glittery things I put on my eyes these days, and I can find glitter in the oddest places even after a very thorough cleanse!  Do not, under any circumstances, use these to line the inner rim of the eye, I think they could definitely scratch your cornea, and no one needs that.

It's a good and murky purple:

Creamy, and easy to blend, I apply this as a thick line of eyeliner, then blend it out towards the crease.  It sets after around 30 seconds or so, and is pretty hard to budge after that time.  I'm quite happy to wear it during the day, but for a more dramatic look, it is great with very black eyeliner too.  The colour lasts well, even on unprimed eyelids, I only experience creasing after a very long time in wear (after around ten hours or so), and on primed lids it will probably last even longer.  I rarely prime my lids if I'm in a hurry though.  The glitter will remain though, I warn you!

You will need a pencil sharpener for this as it is not retractable, and they are sold seperately.  Colour Chameleon pencils are available from Selfridges and Charlottetilbury.com and cost £19 each.


The Fine Print: Purchase

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 Lipliner in Plumberry

 

I'm not much of a one for lipliner, and I am definitely not much of a one for matching my lipliner to my lipstick, I much prefer to match my liner to my lips, after all, you're not supposed to see lipliner anyway, are you?  My lips are a pale rosy mauve naturally, but I do have a fairly strongly pigmented natural lipline (particularly on the top lip), which is just one of the reasons too pale or too sheer lipsticks aren't for me:

Plumberry Lip Pencil is, for me, a nude colour, being a slightly greyed pink/plum shade.

The pencil is slightly dry, so it is best to apply after using lip balm, but this does mean it provides a good, slightly grippy surface for applying lipstick over, particularly lipsticks with a very sheer slippery texture - it's good with YSL Rouge Couture, for example, a lipstick I can't stand wearing alone, because I swear the only thing that lipstick wants to do is COVER YOUR ENTIRE FACE, but I digress - but this will help with any lipsticks that have ideas above their station.

It does spread easily, and the point doesn't wear down too quickly, but it gives excellent coverage, and evens out lips beautifully:

I only wear lipliner once or twice a week at most, but regardless of the lip colour I'm wearing, this is the lipliner I reach for.  If I'm feeling lazy, I can just throw a bit of sheer gloss over the top, and hey presto, "nude" lips.

Laura Mercier Anti-Feathering Lip Pencil in Plumberry is available nationwide and costs £18.50.  It comes complete with a sharpener too.

The Fine Print: Purchase.

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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ByTerry Ombre Blackstar eyeshadow sticks

I mentioned yesterday that my makeup routine takes me around five minutes, and it does.  Some days, I can barely be bothered applying makeup at all, and so a little liquid liner and a bright, bright lipstick is all I do, over a CC cream, or something. On the days when I want a stronger look, I increasingly find myself reaching for eyeshadow sticks, as they're pretty foolproof, and I am both lazy and a cackhanded muppet.

Here we have ByTerry's cult favourite Ombre Blackstar eyeshadow sticks in Midnight Forest, a deep, deep blackened green, plus Ombre Mercure, a greyish taupe, and Black Pearl a shimmering softly glittering black.

Closeup of Ombre Mercure

I like these because they give a multi-dimensional glow to the eyelids, making it look like you've spent a lot more time on your eyeshadow than you actually have done, and, whilst I might be lazy, I don't want to look sloppy.

Here you can see there are subtle hints of bronze in the green, but the taupe is pretty much a universal shade.  I like to use Black Pearl and Midnight Forest as thick liners, applying close to the lashes, then smudging out over the mobile lid.  Ombre Mercure I use more as a traditional eyeshadow, and wear with a separate liner.

They're gloriously smudgy, and blend beautifully, but they do eventually set, and will stay in place most of the day.  I do experience some creasing after a particularly long day, but that is easily rectified by just re-blending with a fingertip.  You can wear them over primer too, which increases their opacity, and decreases smudging, but I rarely bother.

However, they are glittery, especially Black Pearl.  You will end up with glittery lids. I normally abhor glitter - especially on nails for some reason, and bar glitter actually makes me feel a bit sick - but eye crayons like this are about the one thing I'll make an exception for, convenience trumps sparkle!

byTerry Ombre Blackstar eyeshadows are £29 each and are available from SpaceNK. I am just miffed they never EVER have the purple one in stock whenever I visit ...


The Fine Print: Purchases.  Look there was a sale on, okay?  And I had a voucher.  Any rumours that I had to sell a kidney to buy these are completely unfounded.

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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Clinique Sculptionary Cheek Contouring Palette - 02 Defining Berries

Contouring is the trend that just will not die, isn't it?  Here's yet another ostensibly "contouring" product, the Clinique Sculptionary Cheek Contouring Palette in 02 Defining Berries, which is actually just a (very) beautiful blusher, and is all the more useful for it not being another pan of brown goop. Since it turned up, I've not wanted to use any other cheek product at all...

A set of three colours, one a deep "contour" shade, a medium blush, and a light highlighter, the intention is to use the shades separately to create sculpted cheeks in a more natural way than the tans and taupes you usually see in a contouring kit.

In reality, I find the sections are a little too small to do this with a normal blusher brush, but then I should really admit that I do not contour.  Life is simply too short for some beauty routines (all over at home fake tan, I'm looking at you), and contouring on a daily basis is just one thing too many for me. My makeup routine takes me five minutes or so on most days, my skincare routine takes a lot longer, admittedly, but that's the way I like it.

The shades in Defining Berries have a beautiful sheen to them without being sparkly or glittery, and they produce a sophisticated, barely perceptible glow when blended and used as a blush rather than a contour kit.  Defining Berries is a perfect blush colour for me, having a little depth to the pink, and not being too warm.  There are three other shades available in-store: Defining Nectars/Nudes and Roses alongside the Berries in this post, but there are two more shades available as online exclusives, Defining Sugars and Pinks.

Whilst I'm in love with Defining Berries, I am SO OVER contouring ...

Clinique's catchily-named Sculptionary Cheek Contouring Palettes are available now, and cost £28. I'll be getting a backup.


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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Alpha H Liquid Laser Cleansing Oil

As well as being on a bit of a lipstick kick at the moment, I'm currently obsessed - and I do mean obsessed - by cleansers.  Having recently discovered, and loved, Oskia Renaissance Cleansing Gel, I am currently using that and this Liquid Laser Cleansing Oil in semi-permanent rotation.

Another oil-gel-based product, the Liquid Laser range is suitable for older, or duller skins, but is mainly targeted at the surgery-shy over-45s.  Despite not being quite in that bracket yet, this is still a joy to use.

Lightly reminscent of lavender with a hint of citrus in smell, this is a sticky gel that melts on contact with skin to form an oil. This lends itself incredibly well to a bit of facial massage on application. It's a great nighttime cleanser, but I'd use it after you've done your makeup removal, now I come to think of it.  It will remove makeup, but it's a bit of a waste of a lovely product, actually.

Designed to lighten pigmentation, the formula contains white mulberry, cucumber and hibiscus to soothe, and I find it doesn't redden or irritate my sensitive skin.  It emulsifies beautifully, requiring only a few drops of water to form a milky cleanser that is easy to remove from your skin, however you prefer (I prefer to emulsify and then use a hot cloth personally, but it is whatever works for you):

All in all, a bit of a winner.  I'm a bit in love with the Liquid Laser range generally at the moment, but I'll tell you more about the rest of the products another time.

What are you cleansing with these days?

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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