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?