Bobbi Brown Smokey Nudes Eye Palette

Being rather cool-toned, most "nude" palettes are too brown for me.  I'm pink (and red) and white, mostly, and shades of beige and tan just look orange on my exceedingly pale face. Urban Decay Naked, for example, lovely though it is, might as well be neon orange for all the use I get out of it.

However, when a nice, slightly greyed "nude" palette turns up, that isn't too brown, I'm ecstatic.  So say hello to Bobbi Brown's Smokey Nudes palette, which has been the only thing I've wanted to wear lately:

Housed in the brands distinctive two layer compact palettes, this is a pale-cool girls dream:

Top layer, clockwise from top left:
Cream (matte) creamy white base shade
Nude (matte) cool flesh tone
Silver Brown (sparkle) sparkling cool brown
Woodrose (matte) greyed mauve nude (my favourite!)

Bottom layer, clockwise from top left:
Watercolour Pink (sparkle) love the shade of this almost holographic pink in the palette
Nude Beach (sparkle) slightly taupe flesh shade
Smoked (matte) dark blue-grey liner colour.
Smokey Brown (metallic) metallic taupe.

The shades are all on the cool side, and the payoff isn't bad at all:

top layer: Cream, Nude, Silver Brown, Woodrose

 You can see on my hand that the cream swatch just disappears into my skin, and the nude shade doesn't look orange at all.  Yes, Silver Brown (bottom right) is a little gritty with sparkle, but it's nice for adding a little depth to a "makeup free" look.

Bottom layer: Watercolour Pink, Nude Beach, Smoked, Smokey Brown

 

The two very pale sparkly shades here I won't get too much use out of, to be honest, but they are both very pretty, and if you like a bit of sparkle (and many of you reading this do), then you'll love these, as they aren't just a gritty powder with a hint of glitter in there, they're actually fairly pigmented in their own right too,  The taupe and dark grey-blue though, I adore, and they're great all-round shades you can either apply lightly for a more natural look, or apply with a little more abandon for a smokier effect.

It's a versatile, multi-use palette suitable for a variety of skin-tones, but us cooler-toned peeps will love it more.  It's a limited edition, due off counter very soon, so go snap one up if you see it.

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Guerlain Christmas 2014 - L’Ecrin 2 Couleurs in Cygne Noir

And so we reach the Black Swan section of Guerlain Christmas 2014, with the release of the L'Ecrin 2 Couleurs eyeshadow palette in Cygne Noir, and very pretty it is too.  I rarely expect much from the eyeshadow duos from Guerlain (I've never bought one, for example), but this one did make me do a little "ooooh" of joy when I opened it:

Black and purple.  Shimmering black and purple. Actually, it is a slightly glittering black, flecked with gold sparkle, and a softly shimmering deep purple.  This set is perfect for releasing your inner goth.

I was delighted, and surprised at the level of pigmentation in the palette - for some reason, I'd been expecting the shadows to be hard and patchy in application,  I have no idea where I got this idea from, but I was more than happy to be proved wrong!

I'll be taking a closer look at Guerlain's two colour palettes from now on ..,

The Fine Print: Products featured this week have been a mixture of PR samples and private purchases. My bank manager is spending Christmas in the Bahamas.  That's not really a surprise.

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Guerlain Christmas 2014 - Gloss d’Enfer in Rouge Parade & L’oiseau de Feu

Alongside the Rouge G in Rouge Parade, and topcoat for nails in L'Oiseau de Feau, Guerlain have also released matching Gloss d'Enfers for Christmas.  The Gloss d'Enfers are hugely pigmented glosses, almost liquid lipsticks traditionally, so it's interesting to see a clear gloss in the formulation too,

Here you can see that Rouge Parade is an opaque bright fire-engine red, and L'Oiseau de Feu is clear gloss with a shimmering golden micro-sparkle whirled within.  L'Oiseau de Feu, like its namesake nail polish is intended for use as a top-coat for coloured lipsticks.

However, on swatching, we can see that the golden shimmer (being rather sparse, and very, very micro) of L'Oiseau is ... disappointing, so I tried it from another angle:

I couldn't see it on my lips either, so I gave up trying to photograph it.  A shame really, as it really was a clever way to incorporate both the yellow gold and lacquered red theme of the Coque D'or collection into the glosses,

Rouge Parade is a nice copy of the same Rouge G shade in gloss format, however.  If the Rouge G doesn't float your boat (what are you, dead?) then the Gloss d'Enfer, being lighter (and, of course, somewhat cheaper), might do the trick ...

The Fine Print: Products featured this week are a mixture of stuff I've bought myself, and items I was sent by the PR.

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Guerlain Christmas 2014 - L’Oiseau de Feu Topcoat for nails

There's been a nail polish in the last couple of Christmas collections from Guerlain, and this year is no exception.  Last year we had the sublime Sulfurous which might just be one of my favourite nail polish colours ever.  This year, there is a pale gold polish in Coque D'or, and this, a gold-leaf topcoat L'oiseau de Feu.

Now, straight off the bat, I'm going to come right out and say that I'm not really a fan of chunky polishes, or even glittery polishes at all come to that (bar glitter especially makes me feel a bit sick), and this is no real exception to that rule. However, if you're a fan of this kind of thing, then it's very nice.

You have to dab the polish on thickly, then re-arrange the gold to your liking once it's on the nail.  I find it a bit rough, but the gold is a nice shade, and it dries quite quickly.

Not a must-have for me, but it is pretty.

What do you think of chunky polishes and glitter?

The Fine Print: This week's features are a mixture of personal purchases and PR Samples.

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Guerlain Christmas 2014 - Rouge G "Rouge Parade"

I absolutely cannot resist a limited edition Rouge G. I've tried.  I swear I have, but every new collection, another one comes out, and bingo! My handbag gets ever heavier ...

This year's Christmas Rouge G is ... perfect.  Coated in glossy red lacquer, this is a gloriously bright and seasonally appropriate shade of poinsetta-red.

I think I got a bit carried away taking pictures of the untouched bullet, but there you go.  This is a striking, London-bus red shade, but it's the sort of red you can wear with literally no other makeup on your face and instantly look polished and pulled together.  That's the joy of red lipstick, they do all the hard work for you!

It's the usual Rouge G formula of intense pigmentation, a slightly glossy and deeply comfortable to wear lipstick, but this one is so pigmented, you do need a liner (as you'll no doubt be able to tell from the lip swatch below:

Don't be like me, line your lips first - in my defence I was chasing the light on Sunday afternoon to get these pictures taken, but I'll update instagram soon.

And, just because I can't resist:

All the pretty.  ALL the pretty ...

The Fine Print: This week is a mixture of purchases and PR samples.

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Guerlain Christmas 2014 - Petrouchka Eye and Blush Palette

Inside the rather forbidding oversize lacquered black packaging of the Petrouchka Eye & Blush Palette sits an incredibly pretty compact:

Fastened with a red silk bow inspired by the ballerinas who in their turn inspired the scent of Coque D'or, the palette is very pretty indeed.  Again following the red and gold theme of this year's Guerlain Christmas even the accessories are themed:

Inside the palette are five shades of metallic eyeshadows and four shades of blush:

Firstly, a closer look at the shadows:

From the top we have a metallic wheat shade, a pale gold, a light copper, a deep bronze, and a chocolate brown. The bottom three are deeply pigmented and buttery soft - almost creamy - when applied, but the two lighter shades have a slightly lighter colour pay-off, and I found them a little scratchier (and patchier) to apply:

That said, if you're a warmer-toned individual than I am, this is an incredibly versatile and beautiful collection of shades.  Just be aware you'll need to work harder with the lighter colours when applying.

Below the eyedshadows, we have four blush shades, two warmer (at the bottom) and two cooler at the top.  They swatch quite well, I've generally found the Guerlain blush formula quite hard and difficult to work with, but these are a nice texture:

Clockwise from top left there's a pale pink, a deep rose, a versatile coral, and a tawny peach,  This should cover quite a variety of skin tones - personally, I tend to tone my blusher along the lines of whatever lipstick I'm wearing that day - cool cheeks with cool lips, and warm cheeks with warm lips, so this is quite versatile.

I like that they've not wasted space in the palette itself for the (pretty but rather useless, as always) tools, every inch of the palette space is used for colour, and the tools are kept in the velvet slipcase, which fits both the palette and the tools very well.

If you're a Guerlain completist (and I freely admit I am), this isn't quite as good as the Liu collection from two years ago (which I'm still kicking myself for not picking up at the time, believe you me), but it's a million times better than the Crazy Paris eye palette of 2013.

Anything caught your eye?

The Fine Print: Products featured this week are a mixture of PR Samples and private purchases.

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Guerlain Christmas 2014 - Mereorites Perles D'Etoile

Christmas isn't Christmas (yes, I do know it's October, bear with me) without Guerlain's limited edition Meteorites.  After what was - for me - the relative disappointment with the design of 2013's Crazy Paris collection, this year's Coque d'Or collection is a return back to the beautiful design that I associate with Guerlain's Christmas collection.

The entire collection is themed around gold and red, and the Meteorites follow that right through from the gorgeous scalloped design around the tin, to the pretty red bow on the lid, this is a cute and pretty edition.

The bow is reflected again on the inside, on the red puff, which is an adorable touch.  The pearls are a bit different this year, however:

I can only see two colours instead of the usual five, and they're quite a bit warmer than the pearls in the last couple of editions, being heavily skewed towards the gold side:

There is, however, a surprising cranberry pink pearl in the tin this year:

I can see lilac, cranberry pink, bronze and white gold.  The perles are the regular size this year, but they are incredibly pigmented in comparison to previous years:

If you're worrying that this will make them unwearable, don't worry, the cranberry pink beads are few and far between, and the lilac and white gold/champagne shades are more in evidence in the tin than any other colour.  The coppery-bronze pearls add just a little shimmer to stop the powder from looking too flat or matte on the skin.

All in all this years perles are a winner for me, how about you?

Guerlain Meterorites Perles d'Etoile are available in-store right now at £37.50.

The Fine Print: Products shown this week are a mixture of purchases and PR samples.

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Coming this week ... Guerlain Christmas 2014!

... #It's the most wonderful time of the year ...

Nothing says Christmas in the Lippie household like the arrival of the Guerlain Christmas collection!  Over the course of this next week we'll be featuring all the picks of the beautiful, beautiful Coque d'Or collection.  Keep your eyes peeled!


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Urban Decay Black Eyeliner Collection

To say I like a bit of black eyeliner would be a mild understatement ... alongside my red lipsticks, I think a decent black liner would be my desert island item.  Well, alongside a full set of Zelens skincare, and a few bottles of Guerlain that is, but I digress ...

Anyhoo, I was superhappy when Urban Decay revamped their black eyeliner collection a few months ago,  Here we have 24/7 Velvet Liner in Black Velvet, a blacker version of their normal 24/7 eyeliner formula,  Ink for Eyes, a waterproof liquid liner, All Nighter, a deeply pigmented twist-up pencil, and a pot gel-liner.

Black Velvet is a sooty black liner, which is very soft and easily blendable.  Ink for Eyes isn't the blackest liquid liner that I have (that would be Illamasqua Abyss, which is unmissable), but it has a lovely thin felt-tip style applicator that is very easy to control.  All Nighter is probably my favourite of the four, being soft and incredibly black, and the nib is perfect for tightlining the upper lash line.  This simply does not budge once applied.  It's not quite as blendable as Black Velvet, but it's great for getting a strong graphic liner look, and it's excellent on the waterline.  It turns out that I'm not a massive fan of pot liners (they tend to dry out too quickly for my tastes, but this could be more of a reflection of the fact that I have about 30 eyeliners in regular rotation, lets face it) generally, but this is a good, highly pigmented and deeply black one.

All in all a fab and really very useful little collection of black liners. There's one for all tastes, and they all deliver.  I'll be backing up my All Nighter, I can tell you that ...

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In the Pink – with Bleach London DIY Dip Dye and Schwarzkopf Live Color XXL

By Tindara

Readers, I’m having a mid life crisis. As I write this there is a glinting sheaf of pink visible at the base of my Sunday morning top knot. Yes, in an effort to stave off middle-aged boredom I have dip-dyed my hair pink, and it took some doing. I have very dark hair, with little white or grey. Very lucky at 43, you might say, but since my somewhat failed teen experiments with bleaching, dyeing and straightening, I had resigned myself to my natural black-brown frizzy curls. Until earlier this year, when I started getting Keratin treatments on my hair.

Now I don’t love poker straight hair at all, like most people these days I favour a natural looking wave and after a week or two this is exactly how my keratin treated hair behaves. There is less body, definitely, but it has a nice shiny easy wave to it. And even better, I don’t really have to do anything to it except comb it and put a tiny blob of serum on it every few days. So far, so easy. But then I kept seeing people with great colours on their hair, marshmallow and pomegranate and mermaid blues and minty greens. A close friend dip-dyed her blond bob deep pink and purples and I was introduced to Bleach London by a friend on a forum. So pretty soon, I was dreaming of rainbow tresses, mermaid stripes, blue tips, pink and apricot waves, I wanted pastel colour, dammit.

I was due to have a keratin treatment in a few weeks and had done some research and knew I had to bleach and dye before the treatment. When I bleached my hair, I realised that pastel was going to be a bit of a task. I used Bleach London’s DIY dip dye kit. It was really easy to use, I recommend it, the blending lotion that you apply before the bleach really helped get a gradual effect from lighter to dark. Since my hair is so dark though, my first attempt made the ends a lovely auburn. This look great on it’s own, but it didn’t satisfy my need for bright colour. And when I put Schwarzkopf Live Color XXL Purple Punk over the auburn, it turned the ends a bright but deep cherry red, which was lovely but not exactly what I wanted.

After a couple of weeks letting my hair rest, I used another Bleach London kit to bleach the ends again. They turned out slightly brassy and wouldn’t really take a pastel dye; I tried Bleach London’s Rose and it just went from candyfloss pink to light orange within a few hours. So I chose Schwarzkopf Live Color XXL Shocking Pink to go over the top. Hey presto, proper bright pink ends. Probably, too soon, I had my usual keratin treatment with Alterity Studio in Covent Garden, and now I have straight hair with pink ends. My dip-dyed ends are now soft and shiny, and considering how worried I was that my hair might break after all the bleaching and dyeing, I think it looks pretty good. Not the neatest dip dye in the world but good.

I will continue to use a deeper colour while this keratin treatment wears off as bleaching can remove the effect of the keratin, I understand. I was also told by the lovely Carmen at Alterity Studio that it’s not recommended to dye your hair within two weeks of a keratin treatment either, so be warned, if you’re going to get some colour in your life. I may head to Bleach London and get something more pastel done before my next keratin treatment. If you want to see the results follow @Tindara on Twitter or @tindaras on Instagram.

Bleach London DIY Dip Dye is £7 and Schwarzkopf Live Color XXL is £4.

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Autumnal Tones from Barry M A/W Collection

By Emily

I've given in. I will no longer shiver because of my bare ankles every morning, I will not shun my cosy coats and thick socks because I refuse to believe it is no longer summer. You know, October.

Now that I've accepted it, I am ready to embrace all things Autumnal and Wintery - fireworks! Matching gloves and scarves! Bobble hats!

Every time I pop to a well-know chemist, I take a trip to the Barry M section just to see what's new! A few weeks ago I picked up some colours from their new Autumn/Winter collection which has a distintly spicy feel. My favourites (and the ones that ended up in my basket) were Cardamom and Paprika. Paprika is a really unusual reddy-brown. Not unlike the colour of a brick. Cardamom is a beautiful warm green, the likes of which I've not seen before. They are good at their colours those Barry M chaps.

Now, I have just moved house (STRESS) and it's the busiest season at work (DOUBLE STRESS) so I haven't really had much time for my nails in the last few weeks. But last night I treated myself to two coats of Paprika...it goes in really thick and glossy (as do all Barry M Gelly Hi-Shine polishes) and then because I am incapable of having one-colour nails I went for a quick diagonal effect on one feature nail using the striping tape and the Cardomom colour. Finally I added a line of simple gold studs by IZ Beauty of London, because I can't resist!


Are you a fan of Barry M? What's your favourite colour from their collection?


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