Chafing? "Chub rub"? Blisters? Have I got a miracle cure for you ...

Hot weather is great, isn't it?  Sandals are wonderful, aren't they?  Skimpy clothes are simply marvellous, don't you think?

Well, not if you are prone to chafing, or have wobbly bits that like to rub together, or your sandals have eaten your feet. Sandals are evil.  I hate them.  They hate you, as well.

Last year I wrote about Bodyglide, and I think it's time to mention it again, and it is, quite frankly, the wonder product of the century if you've ever had chafing or blisters.

Go check out my original review here.  Then buy some.  You can thank me later.  G'wan ... you know you want to ...


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

Le Belle Natural Skincare - Oil Cleanser

I do love the Natural and Organic Product show, every year I visit and discover something that I fall a little bit in love with.  Last year it was Konjac Sponges, and this year it's a cleanser from le Belle natural skincare.

I'm naturally biased towards oil cleansers anyway, having been a sufferer from adult-onset acne for many years, and making the discovery that oil-based cleansers were by far the most effective way of keeping outbreaks at bay, and they have also helped with my sensitivity issues too.  I used to have angry, reddened, spotty skin with huge patches of scaly dry skin.  Sexy!  However, since I made the (permanent) shift from foaming cleansers or facial washes, my outbreaks are minimal, and my face doesn't burn as soon as I even look at a mirror these days either.

The le Belle oil cleanser is a thick, yellow viscous oil, which doesn't emulsify with water, so I use this mainly at night, for a deep, deep cleanse, and a massage.  I've found that it's also excellent for use with a Clarisonic as it provides plenty of slip, and doesn't just get absorbed into your skin as you do a thorough cleanse routine with it.  The citrussy scent, whilst refreshing, isn't so sharp that it'll wake you up completely, don't worry.  The cleanser is based on sunflower, sesame and castor oils, so it's good and nourishing.  All le Belle skincare products are 100% plant derived and free from parabens.

But, the main reason I feel in love with the le Belle range is the ingenious packaging system behind it.  The entire range is packaged in heavy, recycled, glass jars and bottles in a beautiful cerulean blue, making them a lovely addition to any bathroom.  However, all the packaging is refillable - a bottle for life, as the le Belle website refers to it -  and the refills are these handy pouches, cutting down on packaging and weight.  They are also really handy for travel, I've discovered!  They also cost 20% less than the original bottles and jars, which is a nice bonus too.

The Cleansing Oil in the bottle will cost you £24 - I've used mine a lot in the two months since it arrived, and I anticipate there is at least four months left in the bottle now - and the refill pouch will cost you £19.  

However, le Belle have been exceedingly generous, and have offered readers of Get Lippie a discount of 20% off all purchases up to 30th June 2012, just add the (case sensitive) word "LIPPIE" at the checkout stage on their website, and you'll automatically get 20% off your order.  What are you waiting for?  Please support an independent supplier today.

Links in the post are offered for informational purposes only - they are not affiliate links.  Get Lippie won't make any commission if you make a purchase from any links in this article.  Cleanser provided for review purposes by Le Belle Natural Skincare.
This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.

Bad Hair Memories ...

This picture is about ten years old, and it's from my ill-considered ginger "highlights" and a bob combo days.

It's awful, isn't it?

Tell me about your terrible hairdos to make me feel better, please ...


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

Makeup Storage

 People are always asking how I store my makeup, and, after spending a day piddling about with instagram a couple of weeks ago, I thought I'd share the pictures here too!  This is ... most ... (not all, sadly!) of my makeup collection, arranged in a Helmer from Ikea, and in the traincase I bought from Kryolan last year. There's also a sneaky peek at the bunch of palettes I keep in a Muji box at the bottom there too...


In the train case is the majority of the products I reach for on a daily basis, my makeup "bag", if you will, here's the products most in heavy rotation at the moment:

It's a melange of foundations, blushers, eyeshadows, mascaras and eyeliners.  No lip products to be seen!  I'm on a bit of a NARS kick at the moment, you might be able to tell ...


Into the Helmer proper, the first drawer is foundations, primers, powders and other base products:

The second drawer down is my eye drawer, shadows, liners, mascaras and primers:

Yeah, more NARS, I know ...


Third drawer down is LIPS:

You might have noticed there were no lip products in the train case, this is because what I like to do on a daily basis is just stick my hand in here and wear whatever my hand lands on.  A lip lucky dip, if you like...


Fourth drawer is, of course, cheeks (have you figured out the order I do my makeup in yet? You should have!) blushers, highlighters and contours galore ...

Just the odd one or two, you know.


And finally, the bottom two drawers contain nail varnish. Drawer five mainly houses my Chanel collection:

(And the Dior, the Deborah Lippman, the Rococo and the China Glaze collections)


Whilst drawer number six is:

OPI, Estee Lauder, (man I love those bottles!) and everything else ...


The rest of my makeup is in boxes around the flat (lots of boxes around the flat), and then there's The Cupboard.


One day, dear readers, I'll show you the cupboard, and you'll realise why it gives MrLippie nightmares ...

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

L'Oreal Hair Expertise EverPure Colour Care and Smoothing Hair Care

I can't even begin to tell you how much I didn't want to love this range.  I lack the words.  I have a bathroom full - FULL - of expensive shampoos and conditioners, and the last thing I wanted to fall in love with was some £5.99 shampoo and conditioner from L'Oreal.

But I have.  So there. 

Supposedly a "no suphate" range (but I noticed the little asterisk next to this claim on the tube, and it's actually "no sulphate surfectants", which is a bit of a cheat - naughty L'Oreal!),  I've used this alongside super-expensive salon ranges, and absurdly expensive "lifestyle" ranges, but, as you can probably tell from the state of the tubes, these are the products I keep coming back to, because, unlike a few other "free-from" ranges I've tried recently - and, by "recently", I actually mean, "this year", I get through shampoo very slowly - these have never, not once, irritated my notoriously sensitive and temperamental scalp.

The shampoo foams exceptionally well for an SLS-free formula, the conditioner gives plenty of slip, and my hair is its usual super-shiny self.  It's just my inner snob that's offended at the price.

Try them, they're brilliant. 

 
 The Fine Print: PR Samples from the launch event.  Back in January.  What?  I *said* I'm slow at getting through shampoo!


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

Lipstick Queen Liptropolis Lipstick Library

 Anything new from Poppy King and Lipstick Queen always deserves a good looking at, and this latest release from Poppy is definitely worth a second look.  Visualised as the first in a series of "books" of lipsticks, Liptropolis is heavily influenced by New York, and the film "Metropolis", it's rather gorgeously designed, and is a real thing of beauty in a cluttered makeup collection:

The "book" contains three full size Lipstick Queen lipsticks, in silver casing to match the book innards:

Poppy says the colours were inspired by the various neighbourhoods around New York, and has a theory that you can tell where in the city you are by the predominant lipcolours that you see around - now I can't comment on that (though it's a theory from the woman who thought we were crying out to match our lips to our jeans, if that helps), and, as a result, the shades are named after the various neighbourhoods that inspired this theory:

Soho: "the fashionable red"
Upper East: "the elegant nude" and
Central Park "the refined peach"


On reading the descriptions, I was expecting Upper East and Central Park to be a lot less saturated than they are, personally, I'd describe the shades slightly differently, I'd contend that Upper East is actually a peach, and Central Park is more of a coral.  I think it becomes more apparent why in the swatches:

Soho is stunning in the tube, it looks like a pure, clear red, and is largely why I wanted the set in the first place.  On my skin it pulls a little more blue than I was expecting, but on the lips it's a great dramatic shade of red.  I love it.


Upper East is  ... well, peach.  And, I like it much more for being peach, as it's not one of those beige-based nudes that make people look ill.  Or, in my case, dead.  It's a lot easier to wear than I was expecting, which was great.


And my favourite: Central Park - which is a bright coral, and suits my skin perfectly.  It's on the reddish side, but that only makes me love it more.  And hey, it's "refined"!   ...


The formula is somewhere between the formulas of the famous Lipstick Queen "Saints", and "Sinners" formula, being rather more pigmented than the Saints, and less matte than the Sinners.  There's no scent - and how much do I love Poppy for refusing to scent her lipsticks?  Very much, that's how much - and the lasting time is about average, about four hours or so before you'll need to top up.

The Liptropolis Lipstick Library is available from SpaceNK and costs £40, which is a good price for three full-size lipsticks.  Poppy King lipsticks normally for around £17-18 each.  Can't wait to see what she comes up with next ... 

The Fine Print: PR Samples.  But I did have a chat with Poppy herself recently.  She's all kinds of aces.
This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.

SOS! I burned my face off!

Hi there, my name is Luce, and I am a beauty blogger.  And an idiot.  I have sensitive skin, I KNOW I have sensitive skin, and, I'll bet, half of you know I have sensitive skin too.  So why, WHY? did I decide to trial a new facemask an hour before an important lunch on Sunday?


I'll tell you why, because I'm an IDIOT.


The mask, of course, burnt my face.  Burnt my face RIGHT OFF.  I was PURPLE.  A big purple idiot.  A big purple idiot with an expensive lunch to go to.  So, what do I do when I burn my face off with a new product?  I go straight into SOS mode, and break out the Bioderma, and Darphin Intral products.  

This is a bit of an annoying post, because two of these products are only available in France, but I'm going to suggest that if you suffer from reactive skin at all, you beg steal or borrow the two Bioderma products, by any means possible.


In the first instance, I spray (and spray and spray) with the Bioderma Crealine spray, which contains zinc and other minerals, and is cooling and soothing, I spray it as often as I can bear it - it's also good on razor rash, I've found! - then alternate layers of the Darphin Intral Redness Relief Recovery Cream and the Bioderma Soothing repair cream, then keep spraying.  And spray some more.


The moral of this story is, if you are trying something new on your face, don't do it right before an important appointment.   You might go purple, and it's not a good luck ...

The FIne Print: Purchases.  Lovely, cooling and soothing purchases.  Why the HELL can't we get Bioderma in the UK?  WHY?
 
This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.

Get Lippie Lip Marker at Topshop

I'm a well-known fashion icon.  No really, stop sniggering at the back, my love of a comfy shoe, an elasticated trouser, a button-thru cardigan, a red lip, the sequinned Ugg, and, of course, my repeated use of the singular instead of the plural constantly marks me out as one of the most fashionable beauty bloggers writing today.  It's safe to say that my Motley Crue hoody has become a hot fashion classic in the six months I've been championing wearing one.

So, of course, when Top Shop were casting about for a beauty blogger to name a new beauty product after, it should come of no surprise that "Get Lippie" was top of their list.  Naturally, I'm deeply flattered, but bearing in mind my reputation as the Cindy Crawford of beauty bloggers, it comes as no real surprise! Me and Kate Moss, we're like that, you know.  I even went to Fashion Week once, and, let's face it, I taught A Model Recommends everything she knows*.

A bright, raspberry pink, the new Get Lippie Lip Marker from Topshop is a joy to use, the bullet point allows you to line your lips, and you can use the side of the bullet to fill in.

It wears fairly well, though if you eat a three course meal wearing it, you will suffer a little touch of the red ring of doom, but hey, if you you're as fashion as me, you won't, of course, be eating any meals, will you?

The colour is buildable:

The air kisses (dahlink) are two layers,  and shows the depth of colour you can get.  So fashion.  So very, very, fashion.

Best of all, it's got my name on it ...

Hang on, they spelled it wrong!  You don't think ... no, it can't be ... it wouldn't be a COINCIDENCE, would it?


Balls.  I'm going to work in  my pyjamas and Uggs.  Don't try and stop me.





* About booze, admittedly.

The Fine Print: PR sample.  It's safe to say Sir Phillip Green won't be asking me to design my own range of fashion classics any time soon.  DAMN HIS EYES.
 
This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.

Five Minute Face Favourites

 
I'm a big fan of quick face fixes, and these are some of my favourite products of all to use at the moment. Some days, I just can't be bothered with three or four different shades of eyeshadow, and a tonne of base products, so this is what I use when I really need to look polished in a hurry.

Base and cheeks:

Chantecaille Just Skin tinted moisturiser in Glow

Stila Convertible Colour in Lillium and
(occasionally) MAC Studio Fix foundation in NC30.

I love the Chantecaille Just Skin formulation, it's excellently pigmented, and feels like it's doing your skin good when you're wearing it.  I like that you can also build coverage with it - feel like it's too sheer?  Add a bit more.

Then a dab of cream blush, I like Lillium because it's a nice, neutral rose shade, and I find it goes with lots of looks.

Occasionally, if I need a less dewy finish, I'll add a dab of Studio Fix in NC30.  I find it great for toning down high colour, and mattifying a slightly too glowy skin.  Really needs buffing in though, if you don't want to look too powdery.

Eyes:

Tom Ford Cream Eyeshadow in Platinum
Illamasqua Liquid Liner in Havoc
Benefit They're Real mascara

The Tom Ford cream eyeshadow has very, very quickly become a staple in my handbag, and a quick smear over the eyelid with my finger very easily gives a quick, neutral and polished look to the eyes.  Illamasqua make the very, very best liquid liners on the planet, as far as I'm concerned, and Havoc is a glorious ox-blood shade that's not quite as harsh as full on black, but still has a bit of an edge.

Benefit They're Real has taken a very long time to grow on me, but it's now very much my mascara of choice.  Lengthening, separating, and it never, ever flakes, it's a very good mascara indeed.

Lips:

Dior Smoothing Lip Polish in pink and coral

I picked up these Dior smoothing lip polishes in Paris last year, and I really like them, they add a little touch of milky colour to the lips without looking too pastel, and keep my kisser in tip-tip condition during this cold, wet weather.

Swatches:

What're your favourite products at the moment?

The Fine Print: Purchases and samples all mixed up.  I'm a rebel ...

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

L'Occitane Baux Shower Gel

I'm not saying MrLippie is a creature of habit, but …






May I present you bottles (L-R) seven, eight and NINE of his favourite shower gel?

It's delicious, and WAY better than the vile Lynx Africa gloop he used to use!

Lippie Wedding Update - We Need Help!

 Nothing really goes smoothly during wedding planning, hmn?  At this time last week, we had everything set, the ceremony was booked, the reception was booked, the invites were printed, the guest list was drawn up, the cakes had been ordered, the photographer booked, the hairdresser arranged, the bouquet picked out, the band arranged, practically everything! Not to mention that I had literally just bought my wedding dress!

Then, a week ago today, we got  the email (well, one them, anyway) that every about-to-be married couple dreads. Our reception venue has gone bust, and can no longer honour our booking.  Now, on the one hand, we're very lucky, we still have nine months left to arrange everything , and we hadn't had to pay a deposit, so financially we haven't really lost out - okay, we have lost the money on our now useless invitations though, but we'll live - but I can't even begin to express what a kick in the teeth having to start the planning stages all over again is.  I'm heartbroken, truly.  Especially when you consider that it took me FIVE attempts just to book a damn register office!


The major problem is that our budget is very, very tight, and our guest list is long - we're having a tiny ceremony, and having only one reception that everyone is going to, no wedding breakfast, just one big party for all of our friends - so this is where you guys come in.  We need help finding a venue for our wedding reception.  I'm begging you, please help me out.


Here's what we need from the venue:


DATE:

February 16th 2013


MUST:

be able to hold 150-200 people - standing buffet-style, not all-seated.
allows live music - we already have a band arranged
allow children - just a few, but it's non-negotiable
have a minimal hire charge - we can guarantee a (very) healthy minimum spend on the night, but if one more venue gets in touch saying "Hey, we're cheap" only for me to discover that their hire charge starts at £3,500 to hire for the evening,  I will cry.  More than happy to pay a deposit too, by the way.
be in West London - we are getting married at 4pm, so travelling across London at that time won't be fun!  Chelsea/Kensington/Fulham/Hammersmith/Shepherds Bush area as a first choice, but we will consider further afield if the need arises.
Can either cater, or allow us to bring in our own food

Basically what we want is a bar, a nice comfortable bar that will let us take over the place for the evening, and let us do our own thing, essentially.  No formal wedding meal, no bloody toastmasters directing the "ceremonies",  nothing too formal.  What we're keen to avoid is a community hall, or a more traditional "wedding banquet" venue. Well, at the moment, we are, anyway!


So, please get in touch with wedding@getlippie.com if you think you can help, or if you can put me in touch with someone who can help, we'll be ever so grateful!  

I got in touch with FIFTEEN venues last week myself, do you know how many replied to my simple request for information?  One.  ONE.  There's a recession on, don't people want to take my money?

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

Benefit That Gal Limited Edition

Oh, now this is cute. To celebrate the Jubilee and the Olympics, Benefit are bringing out a limited edition version of their popular That Gal primer.  The product remains the same, but the packaging has had a "British" (read: London) - centric makeover.  Let's take a look:

 

It's certainly cute, and continues onto the tube itself:

But this is Get Lippie, and I'm all about what's inside.  I don't think I've reviewed this before, so here goes.  That Gal is a pink facial primer, that has brightening effects when used.   The rube has a wind up mechanism, and you apply the product to you face, direct from the tube, even though it's a liquid product:

Don't tell me I'm the only one thinking about the playdo barbershop, right now.

On the skin it's slight tint helps even out skintone, and leaves you looking glowing, allegedly:

You don't need a huge amount to cover your whole face, and this is best used under your foundation, but you can also add a dab to areas of your face on top of your base to add a little glow too:

It's a nice product, but ... I find it smells unearthly sweet so tend to use very, very little indeed and then can't bring myself to put it all over my face.  


But hey!  Pretty box ...


 The Fine Print: PR Sample.


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

Benefit Sun Beam

You might have noticed a theme this week - summer.  Yes, I know the last few weeks have had lousy wet weather, but I am determined to make things a little summery right now!  With that in mind, I'm happy to show you Benefit Sun Beam, the latest addition to the "Beam" collection, alongside "High" and "Moon", both of which I happen to adore, but can't find right now ...

Anyhoo, Sun Bean is described as a golden bronze highlighter it's actually very pretty, and a lot more versatile than I thought it would be on first opening the bottle:

Almost an "antique" gold shade, this would be flattering on many skin shades, from the palest through to very dark olive, I suspect.  I'm extremely pale at the moment, and even I find it wearable:

See the pretty speckles?  I'm glad to see that it's not too orange, as that would be very difficult for a lot of people to wear, I think.

As with the other liquid highlighters in the range, Sun Beam is easy to blend, and leaves a lovely glow, without glitter.

It's pigmented just enough to leave your skin with a pretty sheen, and will look great on tanned cheekbones if we ever get any sun this year!

Benefit Sun Beam will be available from June. 



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

Tom Ford S/S 2012 Cream Colour for Eyes in Platinum and Spice

Following on from yesterdays peek at the new metallic collection from Tom Ford, I'm going to show you what I would have purchased from the collection if wedd-onomics (what?  It's totally a word) and common sense hadn't kicked in first. Those are the cream eyeshadows in Spice and Platinum.

Love the packaging, (with one minor caveat) from the mock-croc boxes:

I like bar codes, what's your problem?

To the heavy-weight gold-etched glass pots:

To the off-centre sticky labels on the top of the pots.  Hang on!  Crooked sticky labels?  Oh, Tom.

But never mind, it's what's inside that counts, right?

Oh, my, these are lovely.  A silvery taupe, and mid-tone coppery brown, just up my alley!  Let's take a closer look:

Yes, I swatched before snapping.  BAD beauty blogger!

In the pots, Platinum seems much more metallic, and stiffer a consistency than Spice, but this isn't really the case.  The formula for both of these is feather light, lighter even than the bouncy Chanel's we've had recently, and definitely lighter than the Armani Eyes to Kill shadows which have been out for a while now.  They're so light that initially I thought they wouldn't wear well, but I'll get onto that shortly.

The shades are multi dimensional, and rather complex on skin, here are some swatches:

Simple finger swatch:

Macro shot:

The same swatches blended out.

A little of this formula really does go a very long way, especially with the more pigmented Spice, they blend very easily, I created a very nice smokey eye look with these in about 30 seconds flat just using my fingers (something unheard of for me, I'm dedicated to my brushes), and I was very impressed with the finish.

At £28 each though, these are on the pricey side, and, when it comes to that sort of price, I want things to last, so do they?  Yes, actually, I was very surprised at how well these lasted on an extremely damp day recently, they got through eight hours of heavy wear (there was a bit of eye-rubbing), with minimal creasing and very little fading indeed.  Considering you can barely feel you're wearing them at all, I was extremely impressed indeed!  I think Platinum is very quickly going to become a staple for me, as I'll be able to create a simple pulled-together look very quickly on those mornings where thinking is impossible*.

* Weekdays.  Every other weekend.  The weekends inbetween.

The Fine Print Makeup fairy delivery.Don't tell me they don't exist.  I'll cry.

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