Monday 29 September 2014
Sali Hughes - Pretty Honest: Beauty Book Review
By Get Lippie
I love beauty books, I've been collecting them for years now, and even have some that date back to the mid 1800's. There's a special joy in reading beauty regimes from days gone by, and if the book dates back far enough, they're a wonderful historical document, opening your eyes to just what life was like for women back in the day. On the flip-side of that coin, there's the special joy that comes from reading a mid-1980's beauty book, and laughing at all the pictures and wondering how the hell no one noticed just how INSANE they looked. I have a lot of books from the 80s for some reason ... funny that.
Traditionally, "modern" beauty books fall into two categories: the picture heavy "How To" tome, usually presented by a makeup artist, filled with impossible to follow "simple" instructions, which are usually dated the second they're sent out from the printer, and the second is a "lifestyle" kind of tome, filled with snippets of how the author (usually a "celebrity" of some kind) lives their "beautiful" life, replete with soft-focus heavily posed pictures of said celebrity in yoga positions, arranging flowers, diet tips, and a small interview with their hairdresser or makeup artist towards the back.
Delightfully, Pretty Honest by Sali Hughes doesn't fall into either of these categories, being on the text-heavy side, and providing more of a guide for people who fall into the "What the hell are they talking about now?" category when faced with a "helpful" sales assistant in Debenhams. We've all been there. I've actually been known to say it to them, which is why I had to move to London where no one recognises me in the department stores any more.
Pretty Honest is logically laid out, with discrete chapters on every aspect of skincare and make up, for all ages, and whether you like to where a little makeup or a lot. Sali (rightfully) avoids the trap of recommending specific products for specific uses. This can be a particular pitfall of so many books because, as we all know brands tend to discontinue things (or change the formulation) the very second people fall in love with them. Yes, I'm looking at you, Chanel India Pink lipstick.
Refreshingly candid, funny and down-to-earth, I enjoyed reading (and I do mean actually reading, as opposed to flicking through and admiring the pictures) Pretty Honest a great deal. It reminds me, in the very best of ways, of how beauty blogs used to be before the hidden sponsorship and "lifestyle" prettiness took over a year or so ago. I love the pretty blogs, actually, but I do genuinely prefer meaty content to beautiful pictures and Pretty Honest has that in spades.
It's actually a consumer guide on to how to use products (and avoid skincare problems), disguised as a beauty book and I, for one, am glad that it exists. Sali's a great bunch of lads, and whilst I think she's frankly insane on the issue of foundation primers, there's a lot of great information in here.
It'll make a fantastic beauty-related gift for anyone who's ever worn lipstick. It's £22 and available in all good bookstores now.
The Fine Print: PR Sample.
This post: Sali Hughes - Pretty Honest: Beauty Book Review originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper
Friday 26 September 2014
London Fashion Week: Emerging Trends
By Tindara
It’s been a
little while since I wrote anything for Get Lippie, and to get me
back in the writing saddle, and so I could atone for this appalling
neglect, our resident pro make-up artist Luke Stephens arranged a
ticket for me to attend the London Fashion Week Synergy event:
Emerging Trends. Luke was second in command to make-up supremo, Nicci
Jackson and the London Muse pro make-up team for Emerging Trends.
This is an annual European showcase of new designers and can be a
really important springboard into the industry for them. There was
certainly some interesting work in show, and I really enjoyed the
whole experience, especially getting a glimpse of what happens
backstage.
Obviously, it
all started with me panicking about what to wear on Facebook, as I’d
never been to anything
at London Fashion Week before! I dutifully went with black, as
everyone had told me to, with some killer Pavie
Gioelli chain earrings and my
faithful furry leopard ankle boots. When I got there I was welcomed
backstage by Luke and Nicci, and it was all remarkably calm. Models
were milling about in jewel encrusted and geometric patterned silk,
and the mother of all make-up collections was spread out on one side
of the room. I could pretend that I was like, totally cool, but the
reality was my mind was screaming “OHMIGOD, the girl from Tottenham
is backstage at London Fashion Week”. I know it sounds supremely
hackneyed, but everyone really was lovely, especially Nicci and her
London Muse Academy team who gave up their time to be there, who
didn’t seem to mind me nosing about while they worked away.
Luke and
Nicci had an impressive schedule with the corresponding series of
looks photographed, rehearsed and ready. As I was whisked away I got
to see the first few models ready to go for Naveda Couture (USA), the
diaphanous fabrics, shimmery beading, and olive, coral and cream
colour palette were set off by a gleaming metallic sheen on the skin
with fishtails plaits and natural curls.
Anya
Liesnick’s (Germany) slick cuts and Rorschach style patterned
fabrics were complemented by strong straight dark brows and
exaggerated winged black liner, and matt peach or red lips. Shefali
Couture’s (Dubai) satins, lace and shimmer, were accompanied by
more metallic sheen, white liner round the eyes and matt orange lips.
Fleur Kelinza
(UK) and Stefan Meuwissen’s (Belgium) beautiful brown, orange,
cream, black and gold geometric honeycomb silks were teamed with more
peach matt lips and a china blue shadow with a lovely sixties vibe.
The
real stars were Prieston (Noémi
Nagy
Hungary) and La Mo Designs (Leonora Asomanin UK). Prieston in
particular, featured beautifully cut dresses in innovative richly
coloured and textured fabrics, modern floral brocades with see
through elements, Russian influences and crystal-encrusted bling. One
dress in particular made me and my neighbour sigh. It was a grown up
princess dress with puffs at the shoulder, gathers at the waist and
discreet V-back coupled with a saucy red floral fabric with see
through areas. I loved the baby-pink gloss used on models, the
sunkissed look with long tousled braids was really playful with the
full on drama of the Prieston stuff.
Asomanin’s
work was also structurally impressive, influenced by Japanese
traditional kimonos, though brighter with beautifully colourful
fabrics, long trains attached to belts and shoulders. Make-up was
strong and dark and goth-inspired, with both black shadow and lips,
or heightened colour, like blue, pink and yellow on both eyes and
lips.
I
hadn’t appreciated how much hard work make-up for one of these
shows is before; Nicci, Luke and the rest of the team did a great
job. No wonder Luke said it was like a conveyor belt back there! The
amount of different looks and how they corresponded to each
designer’s work was a creative and organisational
feat. Tune in next LFW for more back-stage make-up stories,
meanwhile, I’m practicing sashaying in very high heels and triple
top knots with blue lipstick.
This post: originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper
Wednesday 24 September 2014
Tauer Perfumes: Sotta La Luna Gardenia Review
By Laurin
Spending one’s Saturday afternoons
poking around perfume blogs and websites brings one to a small and
perhaps completely obvious conclusion. Many perfumers and perfume
lovers alike are also gardeners. This makes sense when I think of it,
that a love of fragrance might be born out of a love of nature and
the bounty of odours within. Or perhaps having a living reference to
hand is useful when attempting to evoke through scent a childhood
memory of long summer nights and fragrant breezes. OR, maybe we’re
all just natural hedonists for whom the feel of one’s hands in wet
soil or the sun on bare skin is just as irresistible as any foray
into gluttony or lust.
All of the above?
I have neither a green thumb, nor a
garden in which to put it to work. My personal smellscape is limited
to the urban, the gourmet and the grotesque. To my knowledge, I have
never smelled a gardenia. So, when I sat down to write this piece, I
found myself at the mercy of the Royal Horticultural Society via
Google. On the subject of gardenia, they have this to say:
“(Gardenias are) grown for their attractive foliage and highly
scented showy flowers. (They are) often considered to be difficult.”
Attractive, highly scented and possibly
difficult could easily apply to Andy Tauer’s latest release,
Gardenia Sotto La Luna. To be fair, you could apply the same to most
of his fragrances and you wouldn’t be lying. They are not
fragrances for the faint of heart, nor do they make small talk. They
should only be sprayed when you’re in the mood to listen.
Gardenia gets
straight to the point as it takes the stage. This is a heady, intense
floral with no aldehydes or bergamot to soften its seductive message.
The flower is laid over a creamy base of tonka and vanilla, which
peek through its spicy facets of gingerbread and clove from start to
finish. But lest you thought you were getting a freshly baked
confection, warm from the over, you should also know that this
gardenia always keeps its feet planted firmly in the more earthly
scents of overripe banana and tiny mushrooms pushing through the
forest floor.
There is a telling scene in Ernest
Hemingway’s novel The Sun Also Rises in which Montoya, the
bullfighting aficionado and hotel proprietor, walks into a bar in
search of the young bullfighter Pedro Romero and finds him:
“with a
big glass of cognac in his hand, sitting between (Jake) and a woman
with bare shoulders, at a table full of drunks. He did not even nod.”
Sotto La Luna Gardenia is that
bare-shouldered woman, Lady Brett Ashley. Nominally an upstanding
fragrance that you could introduce to your grandmother, but ready
(and more importantly, willing) to fulfil your most carnal urges
behind closed doors. Or, as that noted 21st century
philosopher Usher noted in his 2004 treatise entitled Yeah!, “a
lady in the street but a freak in the bed!”
The Fine Print: Sample sourced from Les Senteurs
This post: Tauer Perfumes: Sotta La Luna Gardenia Review originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper
Monday 22 September 2014
My Little Box comes to the UK
I am somewhat sceptical (shut up at the back) about "beauty boxes". I'll be honest, I'm not really a fan. I think some of the Glossybox limited edition boxes have been great (fabulous, even), but ... yeah, £10 (+ p&p) or so a month for a couple of things you can usually get free from department store counters, plus a bonus "full size" product or two just doesn't really float my boat, especially when you can't pick and choose what you get. So when I heard about My Little Box, the subscription box service from the team behind "My Little Paris" I simply wasn't that excited about it.
Genuinely.
However, that lasted just until I received my first sample box, and then I realised that My Little Box was actually something quite, quite different. And rather wonderful to boot. And then, being the sceptical so-and-so that I am, I wondered if it was just that one first box that would be great, and the next box would be full of those department-store perfume sachets and "lifestyle" teabags that we've all begun to know and dread.
It wasn't:
Not a sad-looking perfume card, "bonus" chocolate, or "artisan" teabag in sight. These are the contents of the last three boxes, two of the French original boxes on the right, and the first UK-exclusive box bottom left (top left is a special one-off box I'll talk to you about a bit later on). What I hadn't realised about My Little Box at first is that it's not merely a beauty sampling service, it's actually a proper gift box sent to you from Paris. And they do it beautifully.
What you get every month is a proper magazine (not just a puff-piece for the brands in the box), a "lifestyle item" (these have included playing cards, jewellery, scarves and sarongs in the past), several beauty samples (usually three, at least one of which is always full size), and some other bonus items which fit with the theme of the box, because every single My Little Box has a theme, and it follows through on the theme both inside and out, through the magazine, to the lid of the box, to the actual contents of the box too, it's a joy to unpack.
In this months UK box we got a half-size Laura Mercier Foundation Primer, a travel-size bottle of Nuxe oil, and a full-size My Little Beauty Highlighter Pen, alongside a "My Little Carnet" notebook (which also contained this month's magazine), some "Parisian" stickers, and an iPad cover, which I was delighted with! (ETA it's actually a laptop cover, but it'll work for iPads too!)
Real thought and care goes into every box, and the house style (created by in-house designer Kanako) is cute without being too whimsical, and it all just adds that little something extra to every month's delivery. Unlike some boxes where all the thought apparently goes into the box itself, it feels like every single My Little Box is a limited edition. It's a lovely feeling.
The reason for this is that the My Little Paris team live and breathe the brand. Last month I was lucky enough to be invited along to their Paris offices which are in Montmarte, directly in the shadow of Sacre Cour, to see how they work. I came away with a new appreciation for the company (which started as a mailing list to 50 people every month, and now has 1 million subscribers across France, alongside 80,000 box subscribers every month too) where every member of the team seems to live and breathe beauty and lifestyle through everything that they do. We were treated to a view of their Paris, which was wonderful, and I now have a new list of places to go and things to do when I go back! Whilst we were there we were presented with a souvenir "Welcome to Paris" box, which is the one you saw in the group shot above, and now I've finally taken pictures of it, I can't wait to get stuck in! Here's a little photo-essay of my day in Paris with My Little Box:
Breakfast. Check out those Eiffel Tower biccies! |
You don't really get more Paris than this view from the roof garden. |
They have a book. Did I mention the book? There's a book. It's good. Get one. |
Reference books in the My Little Paris offices |
Emails from happy subcribers are hung everywhere around the building. |
I want this office. That is all. |
The ideas laboratory where the team get together to brainstorm. |
Sacre cour! |
Internet circa 1895 |
Boxes! Loads of them! |
Gorgeous work-spaces |
Art from the Quiet Gallery. I nearly bought this. Still regretting that I didn't. |
Lunch - a real hidden gem. |
BEEF! |
Notre Dame |
The Fine Print: Get Lippie was a guest of My Little Paris in Paris. Boxes have been sent as PR Samples. There was no expectation of review, but I've been so delighted and surprised, I just had to. Even sceptics get excited sometimes, you know.
This post: My Little Box comes to the UK originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper
Thursday 18 September 2014
No7 MatchMade Lipstick Service
My love of lipstick is fairly well-known, I think, after all, there's a reason this blog is called "Get Lippie"! Even before I started blogging my lip product collection numbered in the (low-ish) three figures, and now I am a fully-fledged five year plus blogger the only reason my lipsticks don't take over the entire house is because I'm fairly ruthless at editing my collection every once in a while and donating anything I haven't used in a month or three to charity. That said, there are lipsticks in every room of my house, and from the sofa where I'm sitting blogging right now, I can see around 100 lipsticks or so on the book case on the other side of the room ... oh well, everybody needs a hobby, right? And they are very decorative. THEY ARE.
But I can't be everywhere, sadly. So, when I heard about the new No7 Match Made Lipstick service, I was intrigued. Based on their foundation-matching technology, Boots No7 have now created 43 lipstick shades and grouped them according to how well they go with each individual No7 foundation shade. You go to your favourite Boots store (we've all got one), ask them to scan your skin tone, and you'll come away with a little card that groups your best shades of pink, coral, red, plums and natural lipsticks, in a variety of moisturising and matte finishes. It's painless, and really good fun!
This is Soft Paprika |
Not constipated. POUTING. |
The Fine Print: This is a sponsored post, however, Boots No7 products photographed in this piece were purchased at the author's own expense.
This post: No7 MatchMade Lipstick Service originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper
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