LipsNspritz of the Week 10/04/2016

I have been parted from my favourite lipsticks for far too long* now, and have spent this week doing a random kind of "lucky dip" with my pot of "second favourite" lipsticks, which I keep stored in a lego storage case as compensation.  Truly, I am one of the coolest people on earth, let's face it.  I love my lego-head storage though ...

Monday morning after a full house move meant I wanted to wear something light and fun, not in the slightest bit serious, but still lovely, and Ananas Fizz from L'Artisan Perfumer fit the brief perfectly, as it smells of pineapple chunks in their juice.  Fizzy, fruity, fun, and completely discontinued, alas.  I wore it with Clinique's All Heart, which isn't really a second-best lipstick, but I do have two of them ...

Tuesday I was in a springy Tom Ford kind of mood, so I dug out  Ombre de Hyacinth, a soapy-green and clean floral, that is a breath of fresh air, after the long, long winter we've had. I found my long-misplaced Tainted Love lip and cheek stain this week, do determined to wear this lovely sheer wine shade as I move (slightly) away from winter opaques.

Wednesday I went to a perfume launch in the evening, so wanted something lovely, that doesn't draw too much attention to itself, so I chose Clair de Musc by Serge Lutens, because I love it a great deal, it smells of warm skin, talcum powder, loving hugs and just a hint of nostalgia.  Because I'm irrational, however, I paired it with Rouge Orage from Chanel, a medium-neutral red.

On Thursday, I wore a fragrance from the launch I'd attended the night before - something that very rarely happens - as I fell totally in love at first sniff with this one. Safran Rare by Amouroud, a buttery-soft chamois-leather fragrance, with hints of oud and spices won't be released until July (at Harrods) and I'll have a full review for you in a week or so.  I recommend you check the brand out even if you're an oud-hater, or are "over" the oud "trend", the whole range is that good, even for the oud-phobic.  Also, the price-point for a new niche brand is a good one, these big bottles will be £145, which when you consider that even the dreckiest department store brand is coming in around £70 these days, looks incredibly well-thought out. Lipstick was Chanel Passion, a bright red, because I felt like it.

On Friday I had some big meetings, and wanted not to look or smell threatening or disturbing, so I picked out one of my favourite colognes: Andy Tauer's Cologne du Maghreb, a citrus with good lasting power.  I paired it up with History by No7, which was from the limited edition collection Boots did with Poppy King a couple of years ago.  A sheer soft red, this is just lovely.

And finally, on Saturday I was just opening and unpacking cardboard box after cardboard box after cardboard box, so I wore just a bit of lip balm (my favourite Nuxe de Miel) and a spritz or two of Aqua Manda which is a lovely reminder of years gone by.  I love the retro-style packaging too, the orange and brown reminds me of the seventies so much!

What've you been wearing? 

 *About a week, in actuality

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Skincare of the Week 10/04/2016

It's taken me a while, but I've finally managed to get my broadband connected, and unpack some skincare!  Moving to a new house is always stressful, but I had somehow managed to schedule my move for the beginning of a new financial year, and the end of my probationary period at work.  As I'm an accountant, April is a pretty busy month anyway, but ... anyway.  Never again.

Skincare-wise, I've been using pretty much everything in my day-to-day collection this week, as I've been happy to be reunited with it - we've been living out of boxes for so long now, it's felt a bit like emerging from a cardboard forest!  - but the two products I've used most are the Zelens Best Defence Antioxidant serum, and the Omorovicza Omoressence.  I'm a big fan of the Antioxidant Serum anyway - as you can probably tell from the amount left in the bottle - and I use this a minimum of three times a week, and it's great for slightly sensitised skin, and feels very protecting.  It has been really cold this week, and I really do find this protecting.

The Omorovicza Omoressence, I love.  I was initially sceptical - I do find Omorovicza can overclaim somewhat on their product descriptions - but I do love the velvety-feeling I get after using this, and it does seem to keep my face calm.  I'll be doing a full review of this soon, but I genuinely really like it.  No a huge fan of the glass bottle - it has a shaker, and it can get slippery, but a great product inside.

Other things I've tried this week include the Murad Colour Correcting Moisturiser.  I'm very pink-toned naturally, and this light  green moisturiser helps tone that down slightly.  In conjunction with a slightly yellow-toned powder, it works really well.  I'm not entirely sure it's moisturising enough, but a few more uses should help me figure that out.

Reviews will remain a bit patchy whilst I get myself - and the new flat - organised, but I'm BACK!  For more regular updates, you can find me at least three times a day over on Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/get_lippie/

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Guerlain Meteorites Base and Meteorites Perles Primer comparison

Guerlain recently reissued their Meteorites Perles Light Diffusing Perfecting Primer as Meteorites Base. I just happen to have a bottle of each, so I thought a comparison might be useful.  In the picture above, the bottle on the left is the original and on the right is the new version.  Both bottles contain 30mls.

On first sight, the major difference is the colour of the perles, in the original (left) they are a little greyer, and the new perles seem both bigger and a brighter pink.  Both look stunning in the bottle though, and I have to say that I much prefer the sleeker bottle of the new formulation.

The new formula (right), seems a little runnier, and just a little lighter on the skin.  But, once outside of the bottle, the differences in the perles almost entirely disappear.

Again, on swatching the differences in the perles aren't that obvious, and the formulation for both seems very "wet" (and I do find this to be a quite hydrating primer, even though it's sold more on its brightening properties), and the new formulation is the one that sinks in more easily.

Once blended in, skin seems softer, plumped up, and yes, more glowy.

In all honesty, I can't really tell the difference outside of the bottles - which is no bad thing, really, I hate when reformulations really muck about with what you liked about a product in the first place! - it's still a good, hydrating, and lightly glow-giving primer that gives just a little oomph to the skin without being sticky, or giving you a sparkly, or slightly metallic finish.  Particularly if you're a pale-skinned person, you'll like this one.

I don't find either formulation gives that much of a longevity boost to your foundation, but it will make it glide on better.

The new Guerlain Meteorites Base is available in-store now, and costs £46.

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Diptyque Rosaviola Candle and Solid Fragrance

Good grief I fell hard for Rosaviola!  I didn't intend to, it's pink, it's girly, and it's very, very, very sweet.  But I have, and what's done is done.  I went to the Diptyque store in St Germain (I think I may have mentioned that I've been in Paris recently?) fully intending to buy something super-exclusive and incredibly French (not to mention achingly chic), and I came back with ... pink.

Balls.

Rosaviola is, essentially, a blend of rose and violet, and it smells like lipstick.  There's not much more to it than that, to be honest, but it's so pretty, and so friendly and good-natured that I couldn't really help myself.  Violet fragrances speak to me these days in a pretty visceral way, that they never used to before my nose got brain damage, and so this is a lovely and easy to wear perfume for me.  The violet also tempers the rose to my nose - roses still occasionally smell dusty or burned - so it's a light and fresh, and yes, girly and friendly smell.

I hate myself.  But it's got lips on, so it's okay.  The lasting time can be measure in literally minutes, but I don't really care.  It's lovely.

I think I need help.  If anyone wants me, I'll be drowing myself in a bucket of Muscs Kubla Khan by Serge Lutens until this phase passes ...

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Guerlain Honey

  
Yeah, I'm not much of a honey fan normally, but I was encourage to taste this during my visit to the Guerlain flagship on the Champs Elysees recently, and  fell in love.  I had no idea Guerlain made honey, and this one is *amazing*.  

I've always thought honey is honey is honey, to be honest (possibly because I usually buy the cheapest honey in the shop, and then just use it in lieu of sugar in hot drinks), but this jar really opened my eyes to how different honey can taste.  Extracted from Guerlain hives in France, the bees feed on the flowers that Guerlain grow for the their fragrances, and the herbs in the area too, and you can really taste in the honey itself, which has a depth and intensity of taste I've not personally encountered before.  I'm going to be breaking into this jar with some friends later this week, and hopefully they'll enjoy it as much as I have been doing.

Guerlain only make a few hundred jars of this a year, and it's only available at the Champs Elysees store, too.  I'll be disappointed when this is gone!  On the brighter side though, at fifteen euros, it was by some margin the cheapest thing in the shop ....

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LipsNSpritz of the Week March 06 2016

 This week was an incredibly busy one - I'm an accountant by day, and I'm currently preparing for year end, plus preparing to move house, at the same time, because I am an idiot), so LipsNspritz took an accidental back seat this week.  That said, I did manage to wear some lovely ones:

Monday was a Jo Malone London Vetiver Cologne day.  My (recovering!) parosmia still makes some perfume ingredients tricky for me, anything with a heavy vetiver or patchouli base still smells burned to my nose, and it's troublesome, because the only thing I can smell is whatever causes the reaction in that case, and nothing else in a formulation.  Jo Malone Vetiver is the very opposite of heavy vetiver, however, being a light and fresh, and citrussy take on what can be both smokey and grapefruity.  I enjoyed wearing this a great deal, and it may become my "go to" vetiver, whilst other vetiver-based fragrances remain waiting for my nose to recover more.  I wore it with Sephora Kiss Me balm in Soda Pop.

On Tuesday I wore Estee Lauder Amber Mystique, which is a woody amber, with clouds of oud in the base.  Someone in the office commented that I smelled "very Arabic", which I thought was hilarious, and very true.  I love Amber Mystique, but it appears to be discontinued now, which is a shame. I wore it with Sephora Kiss Me balm in Cherry.

Speaking of cherry, I finally managed to track down a hard-to-find bottle of Mary Greenwell Cherry, and I'm very glad that I had.  The demise of Mary's eponymous (and excellent) perfume range pains me greatly, but I'm happy that I finally have a full set of the fragrances now.  I've featured Plum before - indeed, it was very nearly my wedding fragrance - and Lemon and Fire will obviously feature in the weeks upcoming, but Cherry is quite a literal fragrance in comparison to the sophisticated and rather retro Plum, in that you can definitely pick out the fruit that inspired it.  It rather reminded me of a stick of Juicy Fruit at first, but I soon got over that.  It's sour cherry and blackberry leaves at the top, with licorice and vanilla in the base.  Fun, sunny and cheerful.  Such a shame its gone. Worn with Provocateur Lacquer balm from Revlon, because, what else?

I had a long and tiring day day minuting boards and committees on Thursday (and if you're ever wondering why my instagram isn't full of pictures of beauty launches and cupcakes and home offices with puppies staring soulfully at the viewer, there's the reason right there - no one wants to see pictures of my day, believe me), and in full business-woman mode (did I mention I'm an accountant?)  I wore Estee Lauder Private Collection - the original -  because it's a classic "don't f*ck with me" fragrance, bitter and green and grown up, and I love it very much.  I paired it up with the also classic Tom Ford Pure Pink lipstick (long discontinued, and much mourned), and wore black leather to the office.  Hey, I was around in the eighties, it's totally cool now.

And, what've you been wearing?



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Skincare of the Week 6th March 2016

I didn't really have a theme for skincare this week, except "get back on track", because, after a week away and a weekend in Paris my normal routines have gone a little to pot, I have to admit.  

On Monday I trialled used May Lindstrom's Honey Mud in the shower, as a protective mask against the shower water (I do find that water irritates my skin hugely), and it worked well, I think.  This might be the best way (for me, at least) to use it, because I find it very confusing as a "proper" cleanser.  It smells of chocolate though, and, if you do happen to get any in your mouth, it's possibly the nicest tasting cleanser on the planet.

I have also added in the new Vichy Liftactiv Serum 10 Supreme, which I find myself really liking, so you can expect a fuller review of this coming up - I'm a big fan of the Liftactiv range generally tbh, and, as it's one of the <ahem> more affordable ranges I like, it's high praise!  I'm also trialling the New Omorovicza Omoressence, which is another very likeable product, and again, more about that soon.

The rest of the week was me just re-acquainting myself with my favourites old and new, and re-introducing Alpha H Liquid Laser Cleansing Oil, which I had pipped into my stash basket for some reason.  It's well and truly out and with the everyday essentials now though! 

What's been on your face this week?  I'm so happy to be back into a routine - even though I'm moving house soon, and god knows what's going to happen then ...

 


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