Tom Ford Lipsticks: Smoke Red and Bruised Plum

I'm a very lucky woman, for Christmas this year I received not one, but two Tom Ford lipsticks!



Smoke Red on the left, Bruised Plum on the right there, excellent choices from MrLippie's mum!

But, before I go on to review them, can you see what I noticed about them?




Clue, one isn't closer to the camera, nor are they at an angle... Pretty though, ain't they?

Smashbox All in Bloom Palette

Pastels schmastels.  If there is anything I really don't like about spring, it's the insistence that we're all going to be prancing around in pastel shades on eyes, nails and lips and clothes.  I don't do pastels.  I think pastels only really suit six years olds.  There, I said it.

And ... breathe ...

Now I've got that off my chest, I've been made very happy that so many of this season's releases have been a little more ... muted.  Some might say dull, I say wearable, tomaytoes, tomartoes.  Smashbox isn't a brand I buy from very often, but I've been happy with this little palette.

It contains ten shades, of muted pinks, purples, peaches, greens and browns, which I, for one, find very wearable.  It's meant to be laid out in pairs so that you can wear the colours together.  There are no shade names available, so I've numbered them for you.  Shades 1, 2, 4, 9 & 10 are matte, and 3, 5, 6, 7 & 8 have shimmer.  Here are the swatches:

All were swatched on bare skin with a slightly damp brush.  Initial thoughts are that shades 3 & 4 are very similar, only number three is more shimmery than number 4 so it looks a little lighter in the swatch.  I think my favourites are 7 & 8, I'll be wearing them today.  I found that the paler matte shades (1 & 9) were a little chalky, especially the pink shade, so I urge a little caution when you're using those ones.

All in all, I think this is a great little multi-purpose palette suitable for a variety of skintones, and it's exceedingly versatile.  Shades are well-pigmented overall (ignoring the two pale chalky mattes), and it's a palette I expect to get a fair amount of use out of.

So tell me, how do you feel about pastels?

The Fine Print:  Palette was received as part of an event goodie bag, not sent for review purposes, I just liked it.

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

Nail of the Day - Essie: Sew Psyched

Utterly infatuated with green nail varnish, I am.  I went, last year, from not ever being able to imagine wearing it to owing more green nail polish shades than I do, say, pinks!  This colour, a delightfully greyed-out khaki is Essie Sew Psyched from their a/w 2010 collection.  It's a mini-bottle, I didn't suddenly sprout man-hands overnight!

It's wearable for the office - I think so, anyway, but your mileage may vary of course - and the pics show three coats with seche topcoat, as it's a little on the sheer side, I guess it could have done with four.

Wear was about average, two days for tipwear, and three days before any chips showed.  I like it a lot, and kind of wish I'd bought a full size bottle of this shade instead of a pack with all four colours in, three of which currently remain unworn.  I'm a bit funny like that.



 The Fine Print: Products were purchased at Pro-Beauty Olympia back in October.I should really dig out the others ....
 This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.

Project Perfume: Clinique Aromatics Elixir

The week before last, I announced the start of "Project Perfume", where I'm going to attempt to sniff about 10 new (to me) perfumes a month in an attempt to educate myself about scents, their composition, and to see if I can finally, once and for all, identify that particular ingredient in certain perfumes that makes me want to vomit.  I'm a one-woman perfume machine armed only with a fragrance A-Z, a nose and a desire not to throw up in any more department store perfume departments ....

But first I thought I'd cheat a little and write about what is, probably, my "signature scent", and that is Clinique's Aromatics Elixir.  Over the years since I first bought a bottle of this - aged around 15 - I've owned it in every format, perfume, shower gel, body lotion, solid perfume, talc, deodorant (what can I say, layering scents was big in the 80's), but I'm kicking myself at the moment as I missed buying it in scented candle form this year.  I think the only format that it's not appeared in is bath oil, and I'd adore a massive bottle of Bath Elixir, it'd be right at home in my tardis-bath!

Aromatics is a "big" scent, and it's instantly recognisable at even the merest whiff. It's classified as a "floral chypre", but I don't get even the faintest hint of flowers, at least not until the scent has been on my skin for several hours, and ironically, this is what I like about it.  On first spray, it's intensely smoky, and reminds me of a spicy incense, which is intensely evocative.  Because it's strong, I like to save it for winter (though I used to wear it year-round layered constantly over itself) , and as a result, I have a wardrobe full of scarves, coats and sweater which are impregnated delightfully with the stuff, it's a wonderful thing to be able to stick your nose into something you've not worn for a while, and be reminded of occasions where you've worn them before.

After a while on the skin, the smokiness fades, and there's a balsamic, almost medicinal, resinous scent, which lingers around for a while, reminding me of woods and the dense boskyness of walking on mulchy leaves in the autumn countryside.  Eventually, after about 8 hours on the skin I'm left with just the faintest hint of sandalwood and roses - maybe a hint of hippy-free patchouli - and I'm a happy woman.

When I first smelled Aromatics Elixir, I couldn't resist it, as it was so very "different" to everything else I'd smelled at that point, and it remains beautifully different to most of the perfumes you find in department stores today, and I revel in that very "differentness" to this day, nearly 25 years later.

What's your "signature scent"?
This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.

Travel Makeup - Trish McEvoy Beauty Charger

I'm away this weekend, having the family Christmas that had to be cancelled owing to the recent terrible weather, and I thought you might like to see what I normally take with me when I go "travelling".  This little baby is the veteran of many a trip - in fact you can tell how old it is by the old-style logo on the front, Trish McEvoy changed her font years ago!

I like the chargers, because they're essentially empty magnetic cases that you fill with products of your own choosing, here's what I have in mine:

Clockwise from top left we have: blush in Natural, Glaze in Sugar Plum, Eyeshadow in Cashmere, Definer in Bronze and Definer in Deep Amethyst.  I like the mix of natural and plummy shades, which means I can go from a barely there look to a full-on smokey eye, all from a small selection of shades.

But wait!  There's more:

There's a second layer in this card!  In here I have (L-R) Even Skin powder in No2 Bare, and Highlight in Blush (which has since been discontinued, sadly).

 I like Trish McEvoy because I find that the powder products are actually of a great quality, being softly silky and finely milled, and I love that you get to choose your own shades.  I've taken this all over the world, and it's done sterling service, I wonder where it'll end up next?

I'm also wondering what I should fill the gap on the top row with.  What'd you put in it?



This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved. Please do not reproduce without permission.