Summer's coming! Summer's coming! Well, hopefully it is, anyway! My tastes have certainly turned to the more summery this week, anyway. I started with Caron's My Lang (which gave me and my husband a Woody Guthrie ear worm for several days), which is a sophisticated and creamy sun-lotion kind of a scent, which I really liked from first sniff. More about this soon. I'm also LOVING the new Burts Bees lip crayons, this one in Napa Valley is a beautiful deep blood-red with great lasting power.
On Tuesday I wore Guerlain Terracotta, only to have it pour down raining all day. Irony. Again, another sun-lotion kind of fragrance, this one heavier on the jasmine, with an oilier kind of side to it, it's beyond gorgeous. I wore it with one of Guerlain's new La Petite Robe Noir lipsticks, which smell of cherry blossom and black tea. Nice shade, but scented lips are a little distracting, I think.
On Wednesday I wore what might be two of my favourite launches of the year so far, Diptyque Eau de Sens and Chanel Rouge Coco Stylo in Roman. Eau de Sens is a gorgeous, waxy and fleshy orange blossom that has been rounded out with juniper and patchouli, it's fun and beautiful, and a delight to wear, I can't resist it, and it's a fragrance I crave almost daily. Which is tough when you're trying to wear a different perfume every day! The Rouge Coco stylos are gorgeous, and the first Chanel purchase I've gone out of my way to pick up in what must be a couple of years now. They're shiny and cushiony, and beautifully pigmented. I'm going to need backups of both of these.
Thursday I wore Hermes Pamplemousse Rose, which is a refreshing and light, almost sugary take on pink grapefruit, lacking the sulphurous air that can make things like Guerlain's Pamplemousse in the Aqua Allegorica a little difficult to wear. I paired it up with the almost neon-pink of Revlon's Barcelona Nights, which is a long time favourite.
And on Friday (my birthday!) I wore the amazing Rose Gold from Ormonde Jayne, which is the companion piece to Black Gold which, in a tiny twist of fate, was released on my birthday two years ago. I'm going to need a couple more wears to allow my nose to pick it apart, but so far it appears a worthy follow-up. I'll do a joint review of both of these fragrances soon, Black Gold is probably one of the most commented on fragrances in my collection, and I love it an unhealthy amount. Just so you know. I wore Rose Gold with my Louboutin lipstick in Survivita. Love the colour, like the formula, completely underwhelmed with the hype, the price and the packaging.
And finally, in super-exciting news, later this month Frederic Malle launch body products (shower gel and body lotion) in the Cologne Indelible fragrance. Cologne Indelible is a juicy and fresh cut-orange fragrance, replete with orange blossom, and cut through with a bright lemon and green herb facet which I adore an unhealthy amount. The best thing about Cologne Indelible though is that is is a juicy citrus that lasts and lasts, which is hugely unusual for a citrus scent. I've used these every day this week for layering purposes, as they're really zesty and refreshing. I must pick myself up a full bottle of Cologne Indelible though, one day ...
And what have you been wearing?
The Fine Print: PR samples and purchases
This post: Finishing Touches: #LipsNspritz of the Week, June 12 2016 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
Well, unlike last week, there were no hugely stunning nasal revelations, alas, but there was still a lot to love about LipsNspritz this time around, and one nice discovery, which is good. If you're wondering what LipsNspritz actually is, it's my way of smelling something different every day in an attempt to cure my parosmia, and a way to force myself to actually wear ALL of my something like 6/700 different lipsticks. I'm documenting them daily over on Instagram, where you can join in with the hashtag if you like! As well as lipstick and perfume, there's also generally gin, handbags, candles, the occasional sweary makeup bag, and very rarely (don't panic) a glimpse of my face.
Anyhoo, this is how this week went:
Monday: Mercure Ombre by Terry De Gunzberg and Estee Lauder Empowered. Mercure Ombre is a warm and rich blend of violet and orris with hints of a very lipstick-y rose, and powdery ambre-sandalwood base. It's really rather lovely indeed, and I liked wearing it a lot. Empowered is a sheer warm tomato red, which is really nice to wear.
Tuesday was L'Artisan Perfumer Nuit de Tuberose, alongside Givenchy Interdit Vinyl in Rouge Rebelle. I love Nuit de Tuberose, and it was a definite contender for my wedding fragrance back when I was searching for "the one". It's an unusual take on tuberose, starting off with a bright but sour (and slightly green) mango, which also has something a little damp and bosky (even ... swampy?) alongside. Then the chewy bubblegum confection of tuberose arrives, and it's fun from that point on. I love the unusual mango-opening (I love sour things generally), and this is a great fragrance. Givenchy Interdit Vinyl lipsticks aren't actually in-store yet, but they're sheer and lovely, and have some of the most pleasing packaging it has been my pleasure to photograph! Full review on this (I have a couple of other shades to wear yet) coming up soon.
Wednesday was my work Christmas party, so I dug out my bottle of Nuit de Noel by Caron and paired it with a fab red, Raspberry Blush by Pixibeauty. I love Nuit de Noel, and always save it for this time of year, it's gently spicy, and doesn't fall prey to any of the orange-pomander-cliches you expect. It's soft and lovely, and a real skin scent. Raspberry Blush is a great example of the slightly pinked-reds I love, and the texture on this soft matte shade is great too.
Thursday I wore Alaia by Alaia for a full day for the first time, and wore it with ByTerry Rouge Terrybly lipstick in Cherry Cherry. Alaia by Alaia is a difficult fragrance to pin down, it has hints of suede, of rose, of apricot, but it also has a strangely addictive creamy quality (it smells like perfumed and well-lotioned skin after wearing suede gloves, I think) that reminds me slightly of the now sadly-discontinued Amaranthine by Penhaligons. All in all, rather lovely, but it'll take me a couple more wears before I can really pin it down, I think. Cherry Cherry is a really matte red, that wears very well.
Friday saw me back in tuberose, but this time in a classic version, Fracas by Robert Piguet. I first heard about Fracas in Rivals by Jilly Cooper, and I've been a bit obsessed with it ever since. Jilly described it as a "sharp, dry scent", and it was worn constantly by Cameron Cook. Jilly is sadly wrong about the fragrance, it's neither sharp nor dry, but it's a loud, strident, neon pink confection of hefty tuberose, and ... just a hint of sex. And bubblegum (all tuberoses eventually smell like bubblegum to me, I have no idea why, luckily, I rather like the smell). I love wearing this. Almost as much as I love Jilly Cooper, now I come to think of it. Worn with my other Art Deco Dita von Teese (I have two, the other one is pinker), lipstick, which is blood red and hot.
Saturday was me in 1970 by Bella Freud (composed by Azzi Glasser), and Revlon Balm lipstain in Crush. My parosmia has caused 1970 to be troublesome to me since it arrived chez Lippie, as it opens with both vetiver and patchouli - both of which my post-parosmic nose still struggles with and registers as burned - but on Saturday something clicked and the smell finally registered properly for me. A happy occasion, as 1970 is really rather nice. Alongside the aforementioned patchouli and vetiver, there is saffron and rose, and after a rather full-on inital hippy-chick vibe, the rose and saffron take over, from that point on it's a lovely and warm and slightly spicy rose. Happy to have discovered this one at very long last! I do seem to default to tinted balms at the weekend though, it's too much effort to put on a full face of slap on a Saturday ...
There's one more LipsNspritz of the week to come, featuring all my favourite Christmas fragrances, and my brightest reddest shiniest lipsticks of the year, but that'll be my final post of the year ...
The Fine Print: PR Samples and purchases.
This post: LipsNspritz of the Week 20.12.15 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
So much to tell you about Paris - I hope you'll forgive me a number of posts about it, but I've never been before, and I spent the whole trip gazing around like a complete and utter idiot tourist, and I loved every single minute of it. Beautymouth (aka "Hilda") mentioned that it was a bit like being on holiday with a puppy, and she might have had a point, now I come to think of it.
Anyway, our basic plan was shopping, eating and drinking (with a sideline in cackling madly for no real reason whatsoever), and I think you'll agree we managed all these things very well. I'm going to break my posts up over several days - the trips to Guerlain and Serge Lutens deserve posts of their own, as you'll see later on in the week - and today I'll start with Caron.
An unexpected stop on our trip, this little jewel was awaiting us when we were meandering our way to elsewhere via some backstreets, and I had a couple of Caron perfumes on my Project Perfume list, so I had to pop in for a quick sniff! But, I was actually taken a little aback at the beauty of the store:
Everywhere you looked, there was something gorgeous to set your eyes on, and the entire store was scented beautifully - something that I hadn't noticed in other perfume shops we'd visited, more about which later - the staff were cheerful, and happy to let us to browse and sniff to our heart's content. Having read about the legendary rudeness of Parisians, I was pleasantly surprised at this, as indeed I was by the excellent customer service we received practically everywhere we went the whole trip.
What I hadn't realised was that Caron makes some of the finest face powders in the world (you can just see them in the picture above on the bottom left there), so naturally I had to buy one. Expect to see more details about that soon! But, I also didn't realise - for I am a bad, bad beauty blogger - that Caron make exquisitely detailed accessories and jewellery.
I was thisclose to buying myself a sequinned scarf, but managed to stop myself when I realised we still had Serge Lutens to visit, and I just knew I was going to blow my shopping budget in there, so managed to stop myself ... Mind, I had to drag Hilda away from the jewel display ...
Whilst there, I also managed to sniff Parfum Sacre, Pour un Homme, and Yatagan, so managing to cross them off my Perfume Project list. Sadly, I also sniffed Poivre, a wonderfully spicy, clove, carnation - the much unloved and humble carnation has, in my opinion, an exceptionally underrated scent, and I adore it - and pepper blend that seemed to suit my nose better, and created a tiny lemming for myself. D'oh! I have a bottle of Parfum Sacre (purchased last year, in TK Maxx, not a patch on this store) already, which I like a great deal, but I haven't worn it for a while, and I was given some perfumed papers with the same scent with my purchase of the face powder, so it's time for me to dig that out and remind myself of this little gem of a perfume store.
This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.
