Organic Wednesday - Organic Surge

The Background:

A couple of weeks ago, I was one of the lucky winners of a competition run by the lovely people at Organic Surge.  The prize was a girly night out at an exclusive screening of Sex and the City, and, alongside plying us with wine and popcorn, we also all received a goody bag filled with their range of skincare treats.

The Blurb:

I had a great time, it was lovely to meet some of the people behind the brand, and chat to them about how excited and positive they are about the company and what they're trying to do.  The competition was to celebrate Organic Surge's nationwide launch at Boots, which they're very happy about, rather unsurprisingly!   Founder Alan McKenzie told us that it was his dream to produce a range of ethical skincare products untouched by "harmful" chemicals at an affordable price, and that for every product sold a proportion of the proceeds are used to support the Kenya Children's Home and Watoto charities.

What really interested me was that this is a budget range, and yet every product is free of

• Parabens, SLS, sulphates
• Synthetic perfume
• Chemical antioxidants mineral oils, petroleum, propylene glycol
• Aggressive foaming agents

All of which is more than good enough for me to introduce them as my first review for my Organic Wednesday review!  And yes, I know it's not Wednesday, but there have been some refurbishment issues here at Lippie HQ ...

 

The Review:

In my goody bag, I received (full size!) samples of their Eye Gel and Daily Cleansing Wash alongside a jar of their Blissful Daily Moisturiser for Normal skin, which is what I'll be reviewing today.

For what is basically a cheaper brand, the packing of all their products is surprisingly sturdy, the moisturiser comes in a decent size glass jar, which was a pleasant surprise.  Once you open it up, you're greeted with the cheery and uplifting smells of rosemary and lemon oils which is a nice way to start your day.

The cream, in the pot, appears thick and rich, but on application it's actually pleasantly light and is very easily absorbed (in my case, possibly a little too easily absorbed, about which more later).  It disappears readily into the skin, and doesn't leave an oily residue, which is nice.  I also found it had a slight mattifying effect on my skin which I think will be welcomed by some oilier skinned people.  The scent doesn't linger too long after application, which is good, there's not a lot worse than being able to smell your skin care products all day.

The Rating: 7/10 

It's cheap (currently £7.99 at Boots), does what it says it will, and smells lovely.  As a basic moisturiser, albeit one without SPF, it's a very nice one.  I have quite dry and sensitive skin, so I found that it wasn't quite moisturising enough for me, but I'd very happily buy the Super-Intensive Daily Moisturiser version of it instead.  I've been using it now for three weeks, and haven't had any issues with sensitivity or spots, so I'm sold!

Lip of the Day - Studio Secrets 411

Today, I wore my new L'Oreal Studio Secrets 411 lipstick.  It's a lightly pink "nude" shade, and I bought it as part of my ongoing quest to find the perfect nude lipstick.  What I want is a lipstick that'll make it not look too obvious that I'm wearing it, yet give me a polished look.

Here's how it looked on:

L'Oreal have arranged their Studio secrets by hair and eye colour, which is a fad I thought went out in the late eighties.  I'm also bemused by the blurb on the stand that says "light brunettes" should go crazy with colour on the lips, then provide a selection of all nude shades to "go crazy" with.  It's a nice lipstick though, gave a good coverage after just one coat, and didn't wear off too quickly.  It lasted till lunchtime without really needing touching up, even though the transfer onto cups was dreadful. It feels moisturising when you're applying it, but I think after a few hours of it totally wearing off, my lips feel slightly drier than they did this morning.  The colour doesn't quite work for me, I don't think, but it doesn't make me look dead, which is a nice change for a nude.

But we really have to talk about the packaging.  I like the idea of the clear central section - so you can see what colour the lipstick is without taking the lid off- but this packaging just doesn't work for me.  It looks cheap.  In fact, it's beyond cheap-looking, it is cheap.  The plastic feels flimsy and brittle in the hand, and the top just barely snaps into place, so it doesn't feel very secure.  It's a shame, as this isn't cheap lipstick, it's currently £8.99 at Boots, many of the budget ranges do better packaging than this, it's the sort of plastic that will shatter if it gets left at the bottom of your handbag.

All in all, I give it 6 out of 10.  Nice lippie, shame the packaging belies the price.

Makeover: Seona - The Return

This is Seona:

Some of you will have seen Seona on the blog before from when I did her wedding makeup.  Seona's a good friend, and was one of the first to volunteer for another makeover when I had the idea for this series a couple of months ago.

After sitting down and discussing what Seona wanted from this session, it was hard to decide, Seona wanted both a lesson on how to do a smokey eye, but ... wanted to use some "exotic" colours.  She's been using a lot of browns and bronzes lately, and thinks she's been stuck in a bit of a makeup rut.  In the end, we decided to do a bit of both.

Browns and bronzes really suit Seona, but we decided to use purple as an accent colour today, but first, we need to sort out the base:

Seona doesn't need much coverage at all, so we just smoothed in a light layer of Bobbi Brown Tinted Moisturising balm in Light, then followed that with a dusting of MAC Blot to remove shine.  Then, to even out the colour on Seona's eyelids, we added a thin layer of my (recently depotted) Urban Decay Primer potion to her eyelids:

Then, we applied a colourwash of Trish McEvoy eyeshadow in Cashmere (a lovely pinky-purply brown shade) all over the lid:

Then, to accentuate the crease, and add some definition, we added Trish McEvoy eyeshadow in Sugar Plum in a v-shape to the outer corners of her lids:

Once this was blended out, we added Trish McEvoy Definer shadow in Deep Amethyst as a liner to her upper lid:

And went back to Cashmere for her lower:

Again, we smudged that out, and added a layer of Max Factor Masterpiece Mascara, then added blush (MAC Blushbaby) and finished off the look with a slick of Bare Escentuals Buxom Lipgloss in Dolly:

And here's the finished look:

However, when we were finished, I didn't think this was "exotic" enough - it was a lovely daytime smokey eye, but I realised we could take it to a nighttime look very easily by adding a brightly coloured eyeliner, so out came my trusty bottle of Urban Decay liquid liner in Ecstasy:

And presto, the day look became a night-time one!  Here's the obligatory (and specifically requested by Seona) soft focus "glamour shot":

We had great fun, and I'd like to say a massive thank you to Sarah for acting as my photographer.

Lipstick haul

Last week, I may have gone a bit crazy buying lipsticks ... I really shouldn't buy any lipsticks whatsoever, the collection I have already numbers three figures as it is.  I went through my handbag the other day and realised there were 12 lip products in there: 8 lipsticks (including the five you see below), three glosses and a balm.  I guess you could say I'm a lip product junkie, but this is excessive,  even for me.

Here's are my latest haul (with flash):

Left to right we have Ruby & Millie lipsticks in Orange 360c, Nude 840m and Brown 910p  (all a snip at £2.75 each from Boots at the moment!).  I think I may have been having a brainstorm when I bought them though, as I appear to have picked up two of the brown, so look out for the spare in a giveaway soon! Then there are two L'Oreal Studio Secrets lipsticks in 411 and 460, as I'm still on my quest to find the perfect nude lip, after the GOSH disaster of the week before.

Here's how they swatched on my skin (without flash)

The 411 is slightly too pink for my lips, and the 460 is slightly too brown for a proper nude, but I'm planning on mixing these together in a palette, as I love the colour I get from using a mixture of both the colours.  Lip of the Day posts will follow every day from Monday, as I fully intend to wear each of these to work this week ... I'm really looking forward to seeing if anyone will comment on the orange, I think it's a fantastic colour!

How many lipsticks do you  have around at any one time?

Makeover Sunday will actually be Makeover Monday this week, I'm very sorry ... 

Gorgeous?

So, Gok Wan has launched his first body-care range at Boots.   In all honesty, I'm not sure what to make of this, it promises "sassy and seductive" products to make all women feel "gorgeous". Gok says "I feel passionate about my girls and believe you deserve to feel fabulous, no matter how much time you have or whatever your budget is".

Now, I loved the first series of "How to Look Good Naked", I thought that what Gok was setting out to do was admirable, and he did it with such warmth and humour it was practically impossible - not to say churlish - to attempt any criticism of what he was doing.  Women do give themselves a hard time over how they look, holding themselves up to impossible standards, and always, but always finding themselves, and their bodies, wanting.

But ...

I'm finding his decision to launch this range in the wake of his TV series "Miss Naked Beauty" very ... odd. In that show, it required women to remove - and decry - their cosmetic accoutrements, and personally, I found his requirements of what could, and could not be considered beautiful in the context of the series just as prescriptive - and proscriptive - as any "normal" beauty contest.  To be honest, I found it more than a little offensive at times.

So, can you buy "gorgeous"?  Or does beauty come from within?  What's the answer?  I don't know, but I'm not sure a "sassy" body lotion is it ... what do you think?

Holdover Makeover and Foundation Review

Okay, it's a couple of days late, I apologise, but here's the latest pics of the FotW I promised you on Thursday.

First of all, the obligatory shot of me without makeup. I'm shiny, and my pores are ENORMOUS:

It is also 6.30 in the morning, hence the simplicity of this make up, and my dopey expression. First things first, this complexion needs foundation, and needs it quick! 

So, a layer of  L'Oreal Studio Secrets foundation in Gold Ivory, and a dab of Benefit Bluffdust later, here's what you get:

Nice and matte and even. Now, I quite like the L'Oreal foundation, it applies well - and easily - and you don't need to use a huge amount to get good coverage. Admittedly, I really only use it on my T-Zone and to cover up some of the redness I tend to get around my nose. The foundation has a built in brush, but I find the bristles are a little too short for it to be really useful for blending, and I worry about the hygiene issues of not having a separate applicator, but for makeup in a hurry, it's not a bad choice - as far as application goes, it's actually fairly foolproof!

That said, it's not very long lasting.  It gives good coverage for the first two hours or so, then wears off pretty quickly, especially around the nose - where skin tends to be oilier - and after four hours or so, I find it's pretty much entirely disappeared, and/or been absorbed into my skin.  I find this with a lot of High St foundations though, ranges like Rimmel and CoverGirl and the like are cheaper mainly because they use less pigment and setting agents.  However, this is being sold as a "Pro" range, and it's not, as the High Street goes, all that cheap (currently £15.99 at Boots, though I paid about a tenner for mine a few weeks ago), so this lack of durability is very galling. It's not something I see myself buying again, I'll be honest.

However, onto the rest of the makeover ...

After applying my foundation, I usually do my eyes first, and that's what I've done here.  As I'm going for a quick, office-suitable look, I apply UDPP, a colourwash of the Bare Escentuals Bravo, then line the upper waterline only with a smudge of MAC Feline eyeliner, and add a single layer of Lancome Hypnose Drama in Black:

I have hooded eyelids, and it's hard to get a shot of how the eyeshadow looks on my lids from directly in front, but it's a lovely soft, shimmering silvery-brown colour, with a but more depth than you'd expect from that.  It's a loose shadow though, so it really, really, really needs a primer underneath to "lock" it in place.

Once my eyes are done, I add blusher (Chanel Rose Defile - the colour of which I love, even as I HATE the texture of the powder. Chanel are only really getting their act together with regards to their powder cosmetics right now, and the way all their old products dry out, and harden so quickly and have a tendency to be rather under pigmented is infuriating) and Bare Escentuals Buxom lipgloss in Brandi.

Here's how the colours look together:

And here's how it looks from the front:

 Again, my stupid hooded eyelids make it difficult to see the shadow that's applied, but you can see a hint of greyness there. I think I've gone a little too heavy on the blusher there, but that's because the lighting in my room - there is NO natural light in my bedroom at 6.30am on a weekday morning at the moment, so I have a tendency to overapply in the mornings, so before taking this last shot, I blended it out a bit:

So there you go, a simple work look that takes - if you're not trying to photograph it in a dark room! - about 7-8 minutes to apply, start to finish.

I think I need a fringe.

Face of the Week

I'm a very lazy person, and i appear to be addicted to routine at the moment, so whatever makeup I find myself wearing on a Monday is what I tend to find myself wearing for the next few days! Here's the products I've been wearing this week, it's very plain and simple, but quick, and pretty.







Organic Surge Blissful Daily Moisturiser (which I'm trialling for a blog post later this week)
Benefit Bluffdust - which I love for dealing with my red patches!
L'Oreal Studio Secrets foundation in Gold Ivory
Chanel blusher in Rose Defile
Urban Decay Primer Potion (depotted)
Bare Escentuals Glimpse e/s in Bravo
MAC kohl pencil in Feline (inner upper eyelid only - have I mentioned how much I love that look, and this eyeliner? Well, I do!)
Lancome Hypnose Drama in Black (of course!)
and the look is finished off with a tiny slick of Bare Escentuals Buxom lipgloss in Brandi.

Pictures of the finished look will appear tomorrow ...

Organics - A new series

Long gone are the days where I could slap just any old thing on my skin and pay no heed to the consequences.  Too many years of recklessly painting myself with the most chemical-laden and powerfully-perfumed old muck - then using the equivalent of paint stripper to take it off - has left me with a face that breaks out and flares up into welts and red scaly patches if I so much as look at certain skin care ranges these days.

I pay a lot of attention to the labels on my products now, and, chances are, if the label states it contains parabens (particularly in eye creams) or SLS (lauryl or laureth) then it's highly unlikely that I'll be able to give that product the time of day.   Cleansers in particular have been a mine-field, foaming ones burn my face and make me red and scaly, and creamy ones make me break out really, really badly. That's why I'm really happy at the moment that organic ranges of skin care are becoming a lot easier to find - and, as the organic revolution moves on, they're becoming a lot more affordable too.

With websites like Puresha making the more high end "cult" lines such as Pure and True or Pai (they are also the exclusive suppliers of Cargo's Plant Love range of organic make up - which is beautiful, and funkily packaged!) easier to get hold of, alongside a  proliferation of affordable ranges such as Organic Surge coming to the high street it's never been a better time to be a sensitive skinned soul.  So I'm planning on trying out a few products, and bringing you my reviews of them over the next couple of months.  Some of the brands you will have heard of, but some of them might be new to you, but it'll be fun trying them out, and letting you know what I think.  I've already written about Dr Bronner, which I adore, here

Since I moved to using more natural products, my skin has never been better. Instead of spots being a weekly (and multiple) occurrence, I now get maybe two or three a year. Them being more rare never stops it being a drama when they do pop up though, I have to say! And I only get red, scaly, itchy skin when I know I've been really neglecting my routine.  Welts are no longer a fact of life.  Of course, a large part of this is because I'm actually better at taking my make up off before I go to bed now, but, it can't be denied that when I go back to using the - expensive - ranges I was using before, my skin simply isn't as well-behaved as it is when I'm avoiding products with packed with cheap chemical fillers and heavy perfumes.

What are some organic products that you've used, and which really work for you?

Makeover: Kate

It's Sunday, so that means only one thing here at Get Lippie HQ, it's makeover day!  I love makeover days, the anticipation (and worry) about what kind of look I'm going to give my wonderful volunteer, and the satisfaction when my model disappears afterward looking pleased and happy with the results gives my heart a little lift.

I ask all my lovely volunteers to bring their make up bags with them and before we get started we have a chat over a cup of tea and a biscuit about what the model wants from the session, how they want to look afterward, and if they want to be able to replicate the looks for themselves after.  Every session is designed in it's entirety to meet the requirements of the person who's my sitter for the day.

With that in mind, meet Kate:

Kate normally has a very simple make up routine: powder, mascara, a touch of blusher and some lip balm.  Kate actually owns quite a lot of very lovely makeup, but isn't sure how to use it, so today's session is all about learning how to maximise the potential of make up she already owns.  Kate has asked to look very different, and wants a look that will work well for the evenings, but will be easy to apply herself later.

Let's start by having  a look at Kate's makeup collection:

 

(please ignore the Calvin Klein palette there, it's mine, not Kates's)

 

That's a LOT of Laura Mercier there.  It's a lovely collection, and one Kate could get a lot of use out of.  So, let's get cracking.

Kate has lovely skin, but it's quite prone to redness, so the first thing we're going to do is apply a good base.  After concealing to particular areas, then applying LM mineral primer and foundation, this is how Kate looks:

Her skin is a lot more even, and we've toned down the shine a little.  I didn't really think there was a need for any heavy coverage, as I think a nice dewy finish is always slightly more flattering than a fully matte one.

Then, again using Laura Mercier, we primed the eyelids - Kate has very thin skin around the eyes, and the blood vessels near the surface can show through.  Using a shadow primer will even out this colouration, and also give the loose powder shadow we're about to use something to cling to:

Okay, we have our base in place, and we're primed and ready to go, so let's start applying some colour now.  Kate brought her LM "Steel Shining" shadow with her, so we're going to start with that, and apply a light colourwash across the whole eyelid, like so:

Now that's in place, we need a little more definition along the socket line with a slightly darker grey - here we used Calvin Klein shadow in Graphite.  Kate was unsure how to find her socket line, so I showed her how to use an upright shadow brush and a mirror below the chin to help out when she's applying this look for herself.  I did the first eye, and Kate did the second:

 

And here's the result of the team effort:

 

I love how pleases she looks with the results here!

We then used the same Graphite shadow to line and define Kate's lovely grey/green eyes, and popped on a little mascara (Laura Mercier Long Lash):

 

 To finish the look, we added just a tiny dusting of blusher (LM Pink Spark) and finished off with a coat of Clinique Tender Mauve on the lips.  Here's the finished article:

It's a soft version of a smokey eye.  Kate really enjoyed being shown how to use the products she owns and is really looking forward to getting stuck into creating some more dramatic looks for herself.

Dr Bronner

Alongside roses as a favourite scent, I adore the smell of peppermint, so upon stumbling across a display of Dr Bronner's "magic soap" in the shop nearest my office, my choice of which one to pick was actually pretty easy!

Dr Bronner's soap is vegan, organic, packed with essential oils and it's a fairtrade product too. Simply put, it couldn't tick any more trendy and/or politically correct boxes if it wanted to. However, although the fairtrade certification is new, the soap has been produced in more or less the same way it has been since the company was founded in 1948.


It's available in a liquid or bar form, but I prefer the heft of a decent bar of soap sometimes - that, and I'm currently over-run with bottles of shower gel for some unknown reason - so I decided to try a bar of the peppermint and see what I made of it.

It has a gloriously cool scent, with none of the sugary tones you get in some of the more recent minty products that have been released. Some of them make you smell like a packet of Softmints for some reason. Anyway, it lathers beautifully, and doesn't leave the skin taut or dry at all after using.  The scent, sadly, doesn't linger long on the skin, but that's likely not a bad thing, as it means any perfumes you apply later are less likely to clash.

Dr Bronner say you can use the soaps in around 18 different ways, including as a shampoo, as a laundry soap, and even as a toothpaste! I wouldn't go that far, but I did use the lather as a shaving cream and was delighted with the smooth and silky results! And no scaliness afterward, either.

I really liked it, I'd been put off the product slightly by reading some of the more, er, evangelical reviews about the product that are out there, but as a cheap bathroom treat (my bar cost about £2.79), it's a difficult one to beat.  And any soap that doesn't give me scaly shins after shaving them in the shower is a winner in my book.  I was also sorely tempted by the rose, or lavender, or the almond (smells just like marzipan!) varieties, and I think I might have to invest in a couple of those ones too ...