Beauty Without Fuss

Wednesday 30 September 2015

Pixi Skintreats Rose Oil Blend

 

There has been a lot of Pixi Skintreats love in the Lippie household recently, and the Rose Oil Blend is currently my favourite facial oil.  Based on a sweet almond oil base, with jojoba, dog-rosehip, geranium and damascene rose oils, it's a very light texture, so sinks into the skin easily, and doesn't make my combination-oily skin greasy.  It smells only gently of roses, and isn't perfumed artificially, it's great.



I find it really soothing, I've used it on skin that's been irritated by other products and it's helped a lot.  I find it really lovely to use it mixed in with a little foundation to give a glow to the skin.  I've also used it with ColorFX Custom Color Drops foundation (look out for a review of that soon), and it was very good, my favourite way to use it.  I also use it as a serum underneath my moisturiser



If you love oils as much as I do, you'll like this one a lot.   Best of all, Pixi Beauty are launching into Marks & Spencer, and their mid-price ranged skincare products are a real (cheapish) treat.  Pixi Skintreats Rose Oil Blend will cost you £26, and the rest of the range is priced similarly.  Look out for more Pixi Skintreats reviews soon.

The Fine Print: Gift.


This post: Pixi Skintreats Rose Oil Blend 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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Tuesday 29 September 2015

First Aid Beauty Facial Radiance Pads


If you've spent any time hanging around my instagram page, then you'll have seen these on my daily skincare routine posts a lot recently.  I do love a pre-soaked acid pad, they're usually thinner and more textured than a cotton wool pad, and so you get a good amount of toner on your skin, rather than soaked up by the cotton wool.

First Aid Beauty Facial Radiance Pads are a bargain compared to my usual preferred pads  of choice (Zelens  PHA+ Pads, for reference), costing around £22 for sixty, rather than £65, and they're good and tingly all the same.  Containing a blend of lactic and glycolic acids alongside licorice extract, hyaluronic acid and lemon peel oil, these offer a gentle daily exfoliation, and they're alcohol free.

To use them most effectively, you simply wipe them over freshly cleansed skin and this both helps remove any dead, flaky skin patches, and also helps prepare your skin for any serums or moisturisers that you apply afterwards.  Cleansers are generally alkaline, and washing your face strips away some of your natural acid mantle, so using an acid-based toner will help bring your skin back into balance and your skin will be more easily able to absorb the active ingredients in your skincare.  I love them for making my skin soft and smooth on a daily basis. These pads are quite wet, and I find that giving them a little squeeze before applying to the skin will stop them leaving your face soaking wet.

You must use a sunscreen on a daily basis when using any acidic skincare though, no ifs ands and buts about it.  The worst thing about First Aid Beauty Facial Radiance Pads is that they're a little difficult to get hold of, I had to get mine from Amazon.  Why aren't they in Boots and/or Superdrug?  I wish they were!


The Fine Print: Purchase


This post: First Aid Beauty Facial Radiance Pads 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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Monday 28 September 2015

Omorovicza Blue Diamond Eye Cream

  I have trouble with eyecreams, the area around my eyes is probably the most sensitive on my face, and many, many eyecreams sting as a result.  However, even if they don't sting, with most of them, I find little to no effect of using them, so I use them for a week or so then usually completely forget about using them at all.

However, I'm coming to the age now where the lines around my eyes are getting more and more noticeable, and less ignorable. Dehydration lines show up quickly, and leave slowly, and yes, I look a bit older than I used to as a result.  Now, I'm quite lucky in that I don't have particularly dark circles, and I don't have huge eye bags, but the lines themselves are beginning to become an issue for me, and I've definitely reached the point where I can't really ignore eye creams any more.  So I decided not to ignore this one, Blue Diamond Eye Cream, by Omorovicza when it arrived.


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Sunday 27 September 2015

What's on my face this week? 27.09.15


I'm coming to the end of my "testing phase" with a few products right now, and to celebrate I'm going to be having a bit of a skincare week on the blog from tomorrow, so look out for some in-depth reviews from then.  In the meantime, here's some pictures of the routines I've been using.  Above is Monday's faceful, I'd dug out some old Aesop faithfuls from the stash, and you'll be seeing quite a bit more of these now we're heading into cooler weather.


Tuesday's face was mainly blue - I brought my Serozinc back out of semi-retirement - and this was a nice routine.


Wednesday brought back Bioderma, no one does these soothing and healing sprays (especially good for skins prone to redness as mine is) like the French skincare brands.

More after the jump.


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Friday 25 September 2015

Ren Flash Rinse 1 Minute Facial


Ren is one of those brands I like, that I’m glad exists, that do nice products, but for some reason, I don’t really love them.  I can’t put my finger on why I don’t love them, but they lack a certain … USP for me. 

That they’re “clean” products is something I appreciate – their ingredient lists are on the small side, which is always a bonus – but they’re rather faceless to me, and I admit that I find their range a little bewildering as a result. It's a large offering, and I never know which products are meant to go together, or where to start looking for my particular skin concerns. 

I occasionally find myself reading Ren labels and thinking; "Ooh, that sounds all sciencey and stuff, but I wonder, what does it actually do?"  A body cream of theirs a few years ago, boasting of biosaccharides on the label, might be responsible for this mindset. I remember thinking when I picked it up: “Surely that’s just sugar?  Is that … good  … in a body cream I've bought because it smells of roses?”  There was no explanation of why it the sugar was even thought mentionable, never mind mentioning what a sugary body might be good for (and if you're not thinking that my mind has just headed straight into the gutter now, then you've not really been paying attention to the blog over the years, frankly). Sometimes, simple packaging can be too simple.  If you name a product after an ingredient (especially when it’s a common ingredient and you’re just using the scientific name for it), then jolly well tell me why it’s so important for you to have done so, plz.

Anyhoo, don't worry, there's a product review coming, I haven't forgotten:  Ren Flash Rinse One Minute Facial.  It’s not a rinse, so why call it one?  It’s also not that easy to rinse, so doubly confusing.  You do get to the rinse stage quickly, I guess, but surely “Flash Facial” or “One Minute Facial” would be better.  One Minute Facial  is a nice, soft textured, grainy aqua-shaded balm, which, when used as a mask, promises to leave you revitalised and rejuvenated.  You simply apply it to cleansed skin, dampen it down to activate the Vitamin C in the formula, leave it for a minute and then rinse it off and revel in your new lovely soft skin.  In theory, it sounds amazing, and so it could well be, but this product turned out to be just a little too revitalising and rejevenating in my case. It burnt my face!  It’s my fault, actually, I knew it probably wouldn’t suit my (actually much less than it used to be) sensitive skin just from reading the label, but I went and used it anyway. Buffoon, thy name is Lippie.

The product is a coconut oil balm base with added sugars for both chemical and physical exfoliation (it's a bit scratchy), ascorbic acid (vitamin C), frankincense and some plant-seed oils.  I’d read a few reviews mentioning the smell, but I didn’t find it unpleasant at all, I suspect most of the other users are reacting to the carrot-seed oil (which can smell a bit ferrous or earthy if you’re not expecting it), in my case, I thought it was rather light and apple-y, rather pleasant, actually.  It was easy to use, though I used a spray to activate the ascorbic acid, rather than my damp fingers as directed, because I didn’t want to move a sugar-scrub around my face too much – sugar can really be an irritatant to redness-prone skin – then rinsed as I would any other physical exfoliator (ie very carefully).

And, boy!  Was I impressed with the results?  Yes, I flipping was! My skin was smooth, even textured and not red in the slightest. Beautiful. My pores appeared to have disappeared (that’s an odd sentence construction, but I’m sure you know what I mean), and my skin, indeed, felt like velvet, I couldn't stop stroking it after, it was such a stonking result.  I thought that by following it with a dab of May Lindstrom Blue Cocoon Balm, knowing Flash Rinse to be a highly active product, all would be well.

But it wasn’t.  My lovely new, velvety and evenly textured, poreless beauty lasted around 20 minutes, when I began to think I was having a hot flash.  I was red. Very, very, very red.  So red I had to break out the Dermablend to cover up how red I was. I was redder than David Cameron being presented with a Danepak gift basket for services to bacon marketing.  Just perfect before a lunch-date with my beloved, no?  The red eventually died down after an hour or two (thank you, May Lindstrom), but worse was to come.  The following day, raised red spots on my cheeks followed, alongside intense itching, meaning I had to completely swap out my skincare to my emergency kit, which is essential oil-free, fragrance-free and bland, bland, bland.  It has subsided after a few days, but I won't be using this again for a while, if ever, tbh.

I want to make it clear that this was not the fault of the product. It does say, quite clearly on the packaging that it’s not suitable for the "most sensitive" of skins, but it has literally been years since I had a inflammation this bad. I’ve spent years acclimatising my face to AHAs, BHAs, Malic- Glycolic- and Lactic acids, not to even mention even retinol, so these days I wouldn’t even dream of thinking of my face as anything even slightly approaching the “most" sensitive any more.  Still, every day is a school day, and you live and learn, and a bunch of other cliches re making a silk purse out of a sows ear and that.  My skin is still sensitive, it's just not as reactive as it used to be.  Not a bad lesson to learn, but a very sore one, admittedly.

Ren Flash Rinse One Minute Facial is widely available and usually costs around £32.  If you have sensitive skin however, avoid it like the plague.  I tried it with a bunch of other people, and was the only one to have an adverse reaction.  It really wasn't the product, it was me ;)


The Fine Print: PR Sample

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Tuesday 22 September 2015

On being an "older" beauty blogger


 


My name is Get Lippie. I'm 45, and I’m tired.  I’m tired of “older” being beauty industry shorthand for “ugly”.  I’m tired of being nagged about my age by the products I use.  I’m tired of constantly reading the same old (ha!) messages all the time which imply that the only quality women have worth venerating is “youth”.  I’m tired of toothpastes and deodorants, and foot creams and handcreams, and shampoos and lipbalms, and practically everything else on the planet using the message: “don’t get old, you’ll be worthless (bitch)” to create panic and stimulate demand for products.

 As I get older, it (the messaging) enrages me more.  Because it’s a lie.  I repeat: It. Is. A. Lie.  When I was younger, I was terrified of old age – turning 30 was horrific for me, I was “officially old” according to the adverts, and the media I was consuming, and I spent the last couple of years of my twenties alternately panicking at the thought of being over the hill, and raging about how “unfair” it was that we have to get “old”.  I was a fucking idiot.  Two years of my life wasted panicking about an arbitrary deadline imposed entirely about someone else’s idea of how women “should” look.  Young.  And worrying that being over thirty (and worse, being over thirty and single) is to be a waste of flesh.  We use old in the beauty industry and media to scare people, to create panic,  to force people not into making peace with their age, but to worry about it.  And as the end result of that fear, that worry and that panic created by the beauty industry itself is (besides, of course, them offering the “cure”) is to make women hate themselves.  To remove the comfort of liking the skin that one is in.  Worse, to make being comfortable in your own skin seem … incongruous.  Eccentric.  Insane. Freaky.

Women start to panic about being old in their late teens.  I see it on Twitter/Instagram and Facebook all the time, young, beautiful, intelligent, humorous women worrying about turning 20/25/30/35 whatever, “this time tomorrow, I’ll be old …” because all the messaging we have in the media is that to be old is to barely be a woman at all. It’s depressing.  And heartbreaking. And infuriating that these women are both beating themselves up over an arbitrary number, and writing off the hundreds of women they know who are older than them as “worthless”, however inadvertently.  Anti ageing products fuel this panic in younger women, and infuriates some of us elderly bitches to boot.

Older women are not ugly, or worthless or useless.  We are, however, invisible.  Oh yes, there’s Jane Fonda, and Helen Mirren. Well, yippee! Bully for them.  But for every Jane Fonda or Helen Mirren or Judi Dench, there are tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, oh sod it, MILLIONS of … ordinary … women in their 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and even beyond who will never be Jane Fonda, or Helen Mirren.  Don’t even want to be those people.  Don’t care about them.   There are millions of us, but where are we properly represented in the beauty industry?  If you’re not under 25, or haven’t had the genetic blessings (and good cosmetic surgery) to still be considered a (freak!) sex-symbol in your sixties, then you don’t exist.  We use teenagers without a line on their faces to sell wrinkle-cream to older women, then photoshop the hell out of the pictures because even being young, increasingly, isn’t good enough, you also have to be pore-free, line-free, and smooth, smooth, smooth like an egg, only without the personality.  The more we make the images behind the products unreal, the less people will believe the claims for your product.  I am never going to look like the woman in the advert because I used a £35 facecream, and I don’t care how much science went into the pot. I never, ever will.  And don’t use a sixty-something “sex-bomb” in a patronising attempt to appeal to “older” ladies because I won’t look like them, either.  My mum might though.

I don’t want to be younger, I want to not be scared of getting old.  I want my products to stop feeding that fear.  I want adverts to stop telling me that "old" women need to be less like themselves to be acceptable.   No face cream (or deodorant, or toothpaste, or even bloody foot cream for that matter) is going to stop me being the age I am.  I want to be the best me I can be.  I’m happy looking like me, for all I resemble an over-stuffed sofa with a smacked arse in place of a face.  Frankly, the younger, thinner, and inarguably much better-looking me was an even bigger pain in the behind than I am now – I don’t think I’d like her that much these days, and I really didn’t like her all that much at the time, now I come to think about it.

Ageing is a process.  We’re all of us getting older, right from the day we’re born. It’s inexorable.  You’re going to be “ Let’s make the inevitable products required to make ageing less of a chore (because it’s tiring enough just being old without added worry about looking old), and make the message behind them positive, not negative. 

 Beauty doesn’t need a time limit.

... and breathe ...


This post: On being an "older" beauty blogger 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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Monday 21 September 2015

Christian Louboutin Velvet Matte Lip Colour in Survivita Review


Does the world need a £60 lipstick? More specifically, do I need a £60 lipstick?  Objectively, of course, the answer is no.  I have a bucketful of Guerlain Rouge G's which were £32.50 each (though I remember when they were £28, and rather eye-watering then) and a drawer of Tom Fords, which are £38 each.


However, when Christian Louboutin launched his super-luxe lip colour collection, offering 38 lipstick shades in three different formulations at a whopping £60 each, I was at least slightly intrigued as to what makes a Christian Louboutin lipstick worth almost twice as much as the two of the other most expensive formulations widely available right now.  So I bought one.  Like you (okay, I) do.

The inside of the cap is Louboutin red to match the flocking on the box
Having seen (but not been able to swatch) the different shades at the official press launch last month, I selected Survivita in the Velvet Matte formulation.  A cool, cool red that has a hint of pink, I selected the matte formula because, frankly, if I'm paying £60 for any cosmetic product, then I want it to last.  So, did it pass the Lippie test?  Click through to find out (warning, picture heavy)

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Sunday 20 September 2015

Skincare of the Week 20.09.15




Or, welcome to another week of what I plaster onto my ugly mug ;)  I'm still trialling Omorovicza Blue Diamond Eye Cream, and Zelens Intense Defence Antioxidant Serum, though I was thwarted a bit in testing this week through circumstances, as we'll see.  This was Monday's face, and I forgot to photograph the moisturiser ... :sigh: I wasn't made for Mondays.


Tuesday arrived, and I thought I'd try my L'Occitane Immortelle Precious Mist in place of my Bioderma Crealine/Serozinc sprays, and I'll be using this  a couple more times before I form a real opinion.  Aside from that, this was a pretty standard routine for me.  Oil cleanse, acid tone, moisture tone, serum, eye cream and moisturise.


On Wednesday, I "shopped my stash",  and brought out some autumn favourites, the Aesop Parsley Seed Facial Cleansing Oil, and  B & Tea Balancing Toner,  I do like to change my skincare around with the seasons, and as I have combination-oily skin with sensitivity issues, this is a good combo for my skin with my usual favourites around them.

Then on Wednesday evening a MUA in Harvey Nichols burnt my face with a cleansing foam, and I had to go back into crisis-mode ...

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Friday 18 September 2015

Flamingo Candles - The Melt Crowd


Meh.  I'm so over box schemes for beauty, I can't even begin to tell you.  But there are so many other companies using the subscription-box model to send out interesting (and more useful!) things, that I couldn't resist getting involved with this one.  Flamingo Candles do a range of funkily-scented candles and wax tarts to use in a burner, and now, for £10 a month, they'll send you a selection of eight of their latest scents (and in your first box you get the burner shown above too) for you to scent your home with.


Included in the September box were melts in:

White Lilac and Rhubarb
Grapefruit Orange and Lemon Peel (which I'm burning as I write this - I find grapefruit great for heightening concentration) (exclusive to subscribers)
Lemon and Lime Mojito
Rose and Marshmallow
Earl Grey Tea and Cucumber (I'm a bit obsessed with cucumber at the moment, so I'll be burning this one next!)
Circus Candy Floss  and
Crème Brulee (a preview of a scent to be release by Flamingo in the future)

 

Personally, I find a lot of this months selection quite sweet, but there are enough citrussy/cucumbery scents in there to keep me going.  Plus it turns out, I really don't like the smell of lilac (but that's personal taste rather than a fault of the tart)!  Shame, as I love the smell of rhubarb.

The melts last at least 8-10 hours in burning, and are powerful enough to scent the whole flat, I've found.  If you're a fan of Yankee Candles at all, these foody scents are a great natural-wax replacement, and best, they're British!  And so much cheaper (and nicer) than Yankee. 

You can find out more about the Melt Crowd scheme here.  One of the greatest things about it is that the £10 fee includes postage.  Individual melts normally cost £2, so the Melt Crowd box represents a great saving every month.   

The Fine Print: Purchase.


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Thursday 17 September 2015

Jo Malone Mimosa and Cardamom


As a result of losing my sense of smell last year, I'm attracted to smells that stimulate my trigeminal nerve as well as my olfactory one, and, from a perfume point of view, that means spicy fragrances are my friend, so when I heard about Jo Malone London Mimosa and Cardamom fragrance being launched recently, I was intrigued.



The last fragrance I really took to from Jo Malone London was the fruity-herbal Blackberry and Bay - all their releases from 2014 were released when I couldn't smell, so are a bit "lost" to me right now, but I fully intend to at least properly smell Wood Sage and Sea Salt if it kills me this year.  Mimosa and Cardamom is a slight departure for the brand, being slightly less lady-like and inoffensive than some of their releases in recent years - the "English Desserts" collection in particular turned my stomach somewhat I'm afraid, and it's all the better for it.


It starts with a puff of musky saffron and spicy cardamom before the tickly scent of mimosa kicks in.  Later, once the spices have dissipated slightly, it's a milky tonka and sandalwood, with just a hint of flowers in the background.  It makes an excellent house-scent, being warm, welcoming, and ... strangely lovable, without being over-sweet.


As a layering fragrance, it works astonishingly well over the Cologne Intense in Tuberose Angelica from the brand too, the clean bubblegum scent of Tuberose adds a depth and narcotic sexiness to the spicy green cardamom of Mimosa & Cardamom.

So nice to see - and smell! - a new direction from Jo Malone London.  As we turn into autumn, this is a perfectly-timed release from the brand, too, the spicy warmth makes a great addition to knitwear and tweedy jackets.  The candle version in particular is great for lighting on cooler autumn evenings.

The Fine Print: PR Sample

This post: Jo Malone Mimosa and Cardamom 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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Wednesday 16 September 2015

Sunday Riley Luna Sleeping Night Oil





Has the hype died down yet?  Is it safe to emerge?  I'd been waiting for Sunday Riley Luna Sleeping Night Oil to launch ever since I heard a little snippet on the grapevine about it last January.    It took AGES to get onto market, then by the time I got my bottle, the entire world and his wife had theirs, and they had blogged about it, so I hid my review away until such time as it would be less buried in the avalanche of coverage.


I've been a massive fan of the Sunday Riley oils (and range in general) for a long time now,  and I'm well aware of how long they last (a year's worth of usage in each bottle, easily) so, whilst throwing down that initial £85 was hard - and it was - I knew it was an investment I wouldn't easily regret.  Luna Sleeping Night Oil is a retinol product, and my skin being of a sensitive disposition, retinols have been something I've routinely avoided over the years as every excursion into them has led to redness, flakiness and peeling.  Sexy.

Retinols are derivatives of Vitamin A, which encourage exfoliation and can lead to the reduction of fine lines, pores and wrinkles, which has to be a good thing.  It encourages cell-turnover, which is why it can occasionally lead to irritation on more sensitive skins.


In Luna, the active retinol is buffered by soothing blue tansy oil (though I notice that there is artificial colouring in the formula of the oil, so the deep cerulean blue of the product isn't entirely down to flower essences), alongside other neutral carrier oils, so even my prone to redness skin can handle it.  Blue Tansy is also a major ingredient in s favourite balm of mine, May Lindstrom's The Blue Cocoon Beauty Balm Concentrate, and it's a great ingredient for stressed-out skin.


To use, you apply three-to-four drops of oil to your face (a drop or two extra will cover your neck and décolletage, too) after cleansing at night, then follow it up with the moisturiser of your choice (I double this up with the Blue Cocoon every time) and wake up to smoother, younger, plumper, fresher-looking skin.  Seeing my skin in the bathroom mirror after a night using Luna is always a treat (shame it's still the same face, but you can't have everything), things look fresher.  More even, less red.  I haven't noticed any particular difference to my wrinkles - I'm, ironically, not very wrinkly considering my status as an OLD LADY of blogging, but there you go - but my skin does, very much, look better after using it.

I've started off using Luna Sleeping Night Oil twice a week, and I'll probably end up using it every other night at some point - I have a feeling using it more often will lead to irritation.  So far, three months or so in, I've yet to see any dryness, redness or peeling as a result of use, and I'm very happy about that.

So, was it worth the hype?  In my eyes, yes. Is it worth the £85 price per bottle?  It's undoubtedly expensive, but for visible results whenever you use it, it's hard to beat.


The Fine Print: Purchase


This post: Sunday Riley Luna Sleeping Night Oil 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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Tuesday 15 September 2015

Joan Collins Timeless Beauty Launch


I don't write about events (rather than products) very often, but I was invited to Claridges last week to have cocktails with Joan Collins (JOAN COLLINS!) and, as it was an offer I very much couldn't turn down, I didn't.  I even took a day off work to attend (okay, it was mostly to get my roots done by Jack Howard, but lets not let facts get in the way of events, right?), and a great time was had by all.



I've had a few bits from the Joan Collins range for a while now, and I like them very much.  The quality is a bit variable (I'm not a huge fan of the powder-based products, for instance, but that's just me), but the lipsticks, and fragrances are really very good indeed.  Joan herself was wearing the entire range at the launch, and she looks damn good in it:




By the way, Joan Collins is EIGHTY TWO.  That I should look half that good at EIGHTY TWO.  Honestly.  Yes, she's wearing a lot of makeup, but she's Joan Collins!  If she'd turned up in a no-makeup look in jeans and crisp white shirt, we'd have all been bitterly disappointed, let's face it. A floor-length black gown, full length opera gloves and a jewelled belt were perfect for the occasion.

More pictures of the event after the jump:


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Monday 14 September 2015

Lipsticks and Perfumes of the Week 13.09.15 #LipsNSpritz

I'm mainly to be found over on Instagram at the moment, I love it.  Part of it is having a new camera, of course, but I've enjoyed finding different ways to show off products when I don't have enough time for writing during the week.  I've started a new hashtag series "#LipsNSpritz" (named by the glorious Katie from Lady From A Tramp) to show off my lipstick and perfume combinations every day.  Would love it if other people joined in, btw, but this is what I really enjoyed wearing last week:



Monday was Joan Collins Timeless Beauty I Am Woman (which I wrote about in full last Monday), and I'm not even slightly apologising for mentioning again here - nor for when it pops up again, either - as it's lovely.  Really, really lovely.  I paired it with Zelens Lip Glaze in Rouge, which is my favourite go-to red for when I don't really want to think about wearing "proper" red lipstick.  Easy to wear, and feels lovely on the lips, Zelens Lip Glazes are ace, I just wish I could wear more than two of the five shades - the corals and pinks all have too much white in the base for me.


Tuesday was Jo Loves Pomelo, which I love an unhealthy amount.  A light and zesty grapefruit-y citrus with just a hint of vetiver giving it a slightly grassy edge, it's a perfect scent for when you want something bright, but not too girly.  It's a clean "grapefruit" (Pomelo is, essentially a green grapefruit), lacking the sulfurous aspect many other grapefruits can have.  I paired it with Joan Collins Timeless Beauty lipstick in Helena (pay attention, you may notice a theme this week) which was a lovely rich, statement red.

On Wednesday, well, let's see if you can figure what I was up to on Wednesday just based on my fragrance and perfume choices, shall we?

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Sunday 13 September 2015

Skincare of the Week 13.09.15


Last Sunday was a very stressful day, so I ended up giving myself a mini-facial in the middle of the day.  Oskia Renaissance Cleansing Gel was soothing with its rosy softness, then I slathered myself in Aveda Intensive Hydrating Mask for the rest of the day.  I love this stuff, oil-free, it is instantly cooling and soothing (I keep mine in the fridge.  That reminds me, I need a bigger fridge), and leaves you plumped up and less red and angry-looking.  As I'm approximately 2/3rds sheer grumpiness, this is a minor miracle, I'm sure you'll agree.

After a stressful Sunday, I needed a treat come Monday morning, and when that happens, I reach for the Zelens:


I've been trialling the Intense Defence serum for a few weeks now, there's a full review of it upcoming, but I like this.  I like this a lot.  If you have tendencies towards sensitivity and redness (as I do), you'll probably like it too.  I paired it with the Z Recovery Intensive Repair Balm, as that is probably my second-favourite Zelens product of all time.  A non-greasy balm (actually more of a rich gel-texture) this nourishes and just makes skin look fab after using.  Any time my skin is a bit stressed, or dried out, or over-stimulated with active products, I reach for this, and my skin is usually much the better for it after one application.


A tiny catastrophe on Tuesday when I couldn't find either my Bioderma Crealine spray OR my beloved La Roche Posay Serozinc, so I had to dig out my Caudalie Grape Water.  I actually like the grape water, but the other two are much better for my rosy-redness, so it wasn't really the end of the world.  I added in the Ren Rosa Centifolia Cleansing Water, as, for some reason, I woke up with mascara smudges.  My waterproof eyemakeup remover has gone walkabout, and I paid the price on Tuesday.



More about this routine (and why it was so special) after the break ...

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Wednesday 9 September 2015

Burberry Kisses Gloss in 77 Tangerine and 97 Plum Pink


There's no joy much more fun than a brand new lipgloss, and, as I love a bit of Burberry, and a bit of lipgloss,  so when a couple of them were included in a recent delivery from the now-iconic British brand, I was happy indeed.


The perspex tubes that make the glosses look like test tubes, and the lovely pewter packaging all add up to a lovely package, and these two new shades, Tangerine (No.77) and Plum Pink (No.97) are both lovely too.  Tangerine is a hot orange that looks almost neon in the tube.  I like the shade a lot, as many orange lip colours have a lot of white in them, which make them difficult to wear, but this is a relatively clear shade, and one that's easier to wear than you might expect from the tube.  Plum Pink is a lovely deep pink with a hint of blue.


As you can see, Tangerine on the left there is quite sheer, and subtle on swatching, whereas Plum Pink, on the right is slightly more opaque.


On my lips, Tangerine is very subtle indeed, which surprised me as it is so vibrant in the tube, but I actually like that it's so sheer as it makes it very easy to wear. It's a nice, glossy formula that slicks on easily, unscented and unsticky.


Here you can see Plum Pink has more pigment, and is again a more wearable shade on the lips than you might expect from the tube, lending a berry-ish brightness to my lips, which I really like, and is ideal for the more autumnish weather we've been having this ... year.

More from the Burberry Autumn 2015 collection later this week, but you can find the Burberry Kisses Gloss in store now, and they cost £21 each.


The Fine Print: PR Sample


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Monday 7 September 2015

Joan Collins - I Am Woman Review




Early last year, I was obsessed (and I do mean completely obsessed) with this perfume to the extent that I carried both the eau de parfum and the fragrant essence around with me, and forced all of my perfume pals to smell it at every available opportunity.  I was so happy and delighted to have found a beautiful, and clever, celebrity fragrance at last.  Everyone loved it (and I know a few people bought it as a result), but then my sense of smell disappeared for a while, and sadly, so did my ability to write, or even think about fragrance properly.

But now my sense of mell is coming back, and there's no better way to celebrate than with a spritz (or three) of Joan Collins I Am Woman, and finally getting to write about it.  I Am Woman opens bright and slightly citrussy, with subtle bergamot giving it a sense of sparkle and fizz which quickly gives way to a fuzzy and warm peach-effect.  The peaches in I Am Woman smell like they have been soaked in an expensive wooden brandy barrel for some time, giving them a slightly boozy tone, and then dusted with a little baby powder, which lends them a little softness, taking the edge off the booze.  Once you get past the peaches, there's a rich and dark wooded base, which  is smooth and silky with sandalwood, and there's just enough cedar in there to stop the whole thing being too sweet and ladylike.

Whilst the perfume is rich (not to mention replete with powder, booze and fruit, and bearing in mind that it bears the name of Joan Collins), you'd almost expect this to be a HUGE fragrance, but it's actually surprisingly subtle, and the sillage stays close to the wearer - it definitely does not enter the room before you do.  It's sophisticated, and the first time I smelled it, I knew, this is exactly what a perfume from Joan Collins should smell like.  That what is essentially, boozy peaches and baby powder, should smell so sophisticated is the real wonder.

I love the peripherals from the range, too, which is unsual for me.  The body lotion is very subtly scented and a very light formulation which makes a great layering base for fragrance - any fragrance - as it is very subtle, and moisturised skin holds fragrance better than drier skin, plus this is a good moisturiser too.  The darker bottle in the top picture is actually a "Fragrant Essence", which has a slightly deeper scent than the spray eau de parfum as the oily formula doesn't hold onto the citrus notes as well, but it can be used to scent baths, linen sprays, and my own personal favourite; diffused in a scent diffuser.  A brilliantly simple idea!

You can find Joan Collins I Am Woman at Urban Retreat in Harrods, on QVC (where you'll also find the rest of her makeup range too), and online at Joan Collins Beauty.  I Am Woman scented products begin at £12 for the fragrant essence (bargain!) and go up to £50 for the full-size fragrance.

The Fine Print: PR Sample


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Sunday 6 September 2015

Skincare (and other stuff) of the week 06.09.15


Because I'm knee-deep in the middle of a proper skincare testing period, the only things I've really been changing around at the moment are my cleansers, and the four in these pictures this week really are amongst my most favourite cleansers of all.  From the slightly minty-fresh (but not overpowering or drying) balm of Zelens Z Pure Cleansing Liquid Balm to ...



The fragrance-free, industrial-strength, but still silky and gentle Clinique Take the Day Off Cleansing Oil to...


 ... the rosy deliciousness of Oskia Renaissance Cleansing Gel (which I always think is a little misnamed, as it's actually a lovely nourishing balm-texture)


To the luxuriously decadent and divine-smelling Omorovicza Thermal Cleansing Balm, which is, without doubt, a desert island product of mine.    The two products I'm actively trialling at the moment are the Zelens Intense Defence Serum, and the Omorovicza Blue Diamond Eye Cream, in case you were wondering.  The Elemental Herbology Calendula and Rose Damask Sensitive Skin Facial Moisturiser is a oldie, but a goodie that I rediscovered on riffling through the beauty cupboard recently.  I like it a lot.

Over on Instagram (where you can find me here, btw), I've also been sharing my lipstick and perfume choices for the day.  I always think of both fragrance and lipstick as the real finishing touches to my outfit (and beauty routines!)  and so they go together in mind.  These are the main ones from last week:
I had a meeting with the Jo Malone London team last week so I went with what is one of my most favourite Jo Malone London fragrances: Vanilla and Anise. For those occasions where you want to smell like a sexy dentist, this is a must.  There are cloves alongside the anise, and this is an unusal and spicy cologne from the range.  I had a sniff of Mimosa and Cardamom in my meeting, and keep an eye out for my thoughts on that soon.  The lipstick is Laura Mercier Lip Parfat in Raspberry ripple, a lovely pink-nude shade on my lips.

 I've been a bit obsessed by Juliette has a Gun Gentlewoman since June, when I got my bottle.  The smell of a hot and soapy body fresh from the shower, sweetened by a tiny bit of marzipan in the base, this is a gorgeous fragrance.  I paired it with Charlotte Tilbury Red Carpet Red, because I could.  And that's that.



This was Succus Eau Arborante by Liquides Imaginaires. Inspired by woods, this is a bright and lovely but still warm woody floral, and the opening reminds me hugely of rhubarb.  I like it a great deal.  I paired it with Laura Mercier lipstick in Healthy Lips as that always reminds me of rhubarb (cooked though, this time) too.  A lovely pairing.


And finally, because it was Friday, and Friday is the beginning of the weekend, I wore Fresh Sake.  I'm surprised at how much I like this one, I admit.  It's quite a simple floral fragrance, quite fresh, a bit clean, all the things I usually like, but don't love, but whenever I wear this I can't stop sniffing myelf.  And it lasts really well, too.  Lip colour was Laura Mercier Lip Parfait in Cherries Jubilee, which has rapidly become a new favourite!

How has your week been?


 The Fine Print: PR Samples and purchases, all mixed up.  Like their owner.


This post: Skincare (and other stuff) of the week 06.09.15 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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