Guest Post - A Life in Lipstick

All my favourite people are called Louise, so I was very happy when Louise from LouLouMuses agreed to take a guest slot this time around.  She's only been blogging for a couple of months, but she's been on Twitter for a lot longer than that, and she's always a delight to chat to.  Take it away, LouLou!

 

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After the initial blog post mental block when Louise asked me what I wanted to blog about, I decided to go with an idea that I'd been considering for my own blog, inspired by Get Lippie’s own 'A Week in Lipstick' series: ‘A Life in Lipstick’.

My first lipstick was No 17's Clearly Carnation, a sheer rosy-pink. However, that’s long since been discontinued, so in my attempt to skip merrily down makeup memory lane I bought the nearest thing that I could find in Boots: Natural Collection's Moisture Shine lipstick in Berry Sorbet. 

This is slightly darker than 'Clearly Carnation' but it will give you an idea. There’s not really much to say about this lipstick to be honest, except that I was completely indifferent to it! I can only imagine that this was my teenage way of easing myself into makeup, but it just felt and looked like I wasn't wearing any makeup, and where's the fun in that?! 

From there I moved on to my 15-year old self’s favourite: Rimmel's 'Coffee Shimmer'. Back then it appeared that every other girl was wearing Rimmel lipstick, from 'Coffee Shimmer' to 'Heather Shimmer', to um, 'Coffee Shimmer'. Although these days I'm more likely to accessorise with a heels and a handbag than Dr Marten’s and a Body Shop cotton bag, in the interests of thorough blog research, I added this to my shopping basket.

Recently I've been wearing Revlon's matte 'Strawberry Suede' (an orange-red) and 'Eve' by Daniel Sandler for All for Eve (classic red), so this was certainly 'different'. My initial thought when I applied it was "I look like I’ve smeared chocolate over my lips!”, which is not the kind of look I would usually aim for. And I couldn't really see the shimmer in it, apart from when I wiped a swatch off the back of my hand, and was left with a trail of shimmer on my hand. When I applied it to my lips it just looked flat. My love affair with 'Coffee Shimmer' is definitely best left in the mid-1990s, together with my baggy jeans, shellsuit and Ryan Giggs poster. Yes I admit it, my name is Louise Hartrey and I owned a shellsuit. Although given recent developments, perhaps the last item on the list is the most embarrassing!

 
When I tried to think of what I wore after 'Coffee Shimmer,' my thoughts got bogged down in a giant slick of neutral pink lip-gloss. I stuck with that for years, much longer than any self-respecting beauty blogger should admit to I’m sure! The fact that I can't really remember any of the brands or the shades shows that none of them left a lasting impression on me or my lips. I still own a few from the tail-end of this period: light pink lip-glosses by Jemma Kidd, and No 7's Sheer Temptation lipstick in Excite (oh the irony given that it is perhaps one of the least exciting shades in my collection!)
 

L to R: Berry Sorbet; Coffee Shimmer; Jemma Kidd Candy

L to R: MAC Craving; All for Eve; Revlon Matte Strawberry Suede 

It’s only in the last 2 years that I’ve started experimenting with stronger and brighter colours. I’m not really sure why, but slowly but surely, the stronger colours in my makeup collection have become my 'go to' lipsticks of choice, and now my idea of a neutral is my MAC Viva Glam in Cyndi! It's safe to say that the 'Clearly Carnation' ship has well and truly sailed.
I hope you've enjoyed my trip down makeup memory lane. I'd love to know what shades other people wore, and their memories associated with them, because, well I'm just nosey naturally inquisitive.


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Get Lippie says: Is there anyone who doesn't have a secret Heather Shimmer in their lipstick cupboard full of skeletons?  I nicked mine from my mum!

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