The Very Best Christmas Present For A Beauty Blogger

Would be a lipstick named after them.  It's been a while coming, but, very shortly after Daniel Sandler and I cooked up this shade back in May, the wonderful Lynne Sanders of Cosmetics A La Carte let slip to me that they were adding "Luce" to their permanent line, and I've been like a little kid waiting for Santa ever since!  Imagine, a lipstick that real people can actually buy, named after little old me!

I finally caught a glimpse of it on the website this week, and just the sight of my name on that shade list gives me little chills.  It's definitely one of the greatest presents a beauty blogger could ever have, and I've been wearing my "Luce" all week in celebration*.  It's a lightly sparkling coral shade, which makes for great everyday wear.

My deepest, most sincere thanks to both Daniel Sandler, and Cosmetics a la Carte for making this particular beauty blogger's dream come true.  

The Fine Print: Not an affiliate link, and I'm not remunerated if anyone buys it!

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

In Love - By Daniel Sandler Home

 When two of your favourite people decide to collaborate, it's a cause for celebration.  When those two people are as talented as Daniel Sandler and Jonathan Ward, it's a time for jubilation.

I have to admit, I've been (impatiently) waiting for this candle ever since Daniel and Jonathan started chatting on Twitter a few months ago, and I'm happy to say that it's definitely been worth the wait.  The first presentation from Daniel Sandler Home, In Love is an ideal introduction to scented candles!

Made to Jonathan's normal exacting standards, the candle is from his usual clean-burning soy base (100% organic) housed in a weighty crystal holder, and smells ... divine.  Ingredients include (according the the box) amber, patchouli, clove, cardamom, violet, black pepper and sheer white florals:

It's a double wicked candle (my own personal favourite kind, they're less prone to runnelling, and disperse the scents more quickly), and will have a burn time of 40 hours if treated right.  I had this burning for about four hours or so last night - handy tip, with any new candle, always burn it for a minimum of three hours (or until the entire top layer of wax is melted), it'll burn cleaner in future if you do - and today, my living room still smells wonderful.  Jonathan Ward candles always perfume a room beautifully, even when they're not lit!  Happy to see that Daniel Sandler Home continues that great tradition of wonderful craftsmanship.

The scent is a wonderful soft powdery-spice, powder from the amber and sandalwood, coupled with the spice from the cardamom and pepper. The listed florals are present, but they don't dominate, they just add a little light sparkle to the scent.  As such it's a lighter scent than you'd expect from the notes list, but it's still a delightfully heady, sensuous fragrance.  Personally, I think this is very much an evening candle, and it would also make a wonderful candle for the bedroom.   It's one I'll be saving for the cooler months, as the warm spice and powder are more suited for long dark evenings, and the scent fills the room in a very comforting fashion.  Also perfect for thundery August nights!

In Love by Daniel Sandler in collaboration with Jonathan Ward will be available on Escentual.com from October, and will cost £30.  Personally, I make it a habit to purchase everything that Jonathan releases, pricey though they are, I can't really help myself.  They make wonderful gifts, and everyone I know who I've introduced to the range has immediately fallen for it.  If you look closely, you can see my beloved Santissima Amalfi (an intriguing blend of tomato vines and myrrh, which is amazing),  in the background of the last picture there!  Only a limited number of In Love have been made, so make sure you snap yours up!  I look forward to seeing what both Daniel and Jonathan do next ...

The Fine Print: PR Sample.

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

Get Lippie's Lippie!

I'm interrupting my Paris posts today to let you know some astonishing news!  A couple of weeks ago Daniel Sandler and I created a couple of bespoke lipsticks  at the Cosmetics a la Carte store in London - purely for my own use -  and yesterday Lynne Sanders, the founder of the company, got in touch to let me know that they loved the shade "Luce" so much that they're introducing it to their range of off-the-shelf shades this autumn!


I can't even begin to tell you how happy and excited this has made me, what an honour!  I'm stunned that people will be able to buy something I've had a hand in creating, and that it will bear my name. Immortalised in lipstick, I simply can't believe it. I'll let you know exact dates as and when the details are finalised, but this is the single most exciting thing that's happened as a result of my blogging, and I can't wait to see if other people will love the shade as much as I do! 


But, that's not all!  Get Lippie is available to buy too!  The shade (a cool rosy purple) will be available from this Saturday (28th May), purely as a made-to-order shade for anybody who would like to buy one for themselves.  A few people were asking me how to get hold of it, so if you're interested, you can either pop into the store on Motcomb Street, or call 020 7622 2318 and buy one mail-order.  The cost will be £18, plus £4 P&P.


So, not one, but two lipsticks associated with this blog are available to buy, massive thanks to both Lynne and Daniel for helping make this astonished little blogger's dream come true.  


The Fine Print: None of the links in this post are affliliate links, and Get Lippie won't receive any payment should you make a purchase.  But if you do buy either of the shades, please send me a pic, I'd love to see!

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

Bespoke Lipstick with Daniel Sandler & Cosmetics a la Carte Pt II

So, if you made it through yesterday's post, then you'll know I recently had two bespoke lipsticks created for me by Daniel Sandler and Lynne Sanders at Cosmetics a la Carte.  Judging from the comments, you'll be wanting to see the final results (and names) today!  

So, without further ado, I introduce you to my two new lipstick shades:

On the left here, we have the purple "Get Lippie" and on the right, we have the coral "Luce".  Do you see what I did with the names?  Never let it be said that imagination is my strong point, I remind you all politely that I am an accountant, and there's a reason for that.  So there.

Anyhoo - Swatches!

Artificial light

Natural daylight (and they're reversed, because I am an idiot)

Now, when I asked my readers a Quick Question  of "if Get Lippie were a lipstick, what colour would she be?" recently, there were two clear choices: rich, bright reds and clear bright pinks.  And, to be honest, both of those colours were things that initially crossed my mind too ... but ... part of the fun of having this blog is my constant quest to find the perfect red, and my (newer) quest to find the perfect pink is something that I find a great deal of fun too!  So, when I thought harder about what I'd want from a "signature" lipstick shade, I realised that I actually wanted something pretty, but a little more on the neutral side, so I can use it to accessorise lots of looks, and would get lots and lots of wear out of it.  So, these shades are probably not what most of my readers are expecting!  But, to be fair, "Get Lippie" isn't what I was expecting, either!

So, let's take a closer look at "Luce", shall we?

  
Luce isn't a perfect dupe for my beloved Chanel India, but it's pretty darn close.  It's essentially a soft pinky-coral, with just the tiniest amount of gold shimmer. For me, this is a perfect, colourful - but not too bright - wearable shade, that will compliment many makeup looks.  Sheered out it shows a little more orange, and worn in a thicker layer, it shows a little more pink.  It's a complex shade, but it's not too complicated to wear.  Here's how it looks in a thin layer in natural daylight:

Incidentally, "Luce" is my (other) nickname, only my mum and my boss call me Louise these days, which gets a bit confusing, sometimes ...  I just have to stop a couple of people referring to me only as "Oi! Lippie!" now. They know who they are ...


Speaking of which, onto "Get Lippie":

Artificial light

Artificial light with flash

  
It's a bit of a chameleon, this one.  Ostensibly purple, but it can appear brownish - as in the swatch picture at the very top of the post -, a dark purple, or a very pink-based purple with blue shimmer as under the flash picture just above here (and if someone would like to make me a nail varnish in that shade, I will love you forever.  No really, I will).  In reality, once again, it's another very soft shade, this time more of a  purpled-pink, which I find to be surprisingly wearable.


Swatched quite sheerly on the lips (natural daylight):

Not nearly as scary as it looks in the tube, eh?  In fact, the daylight has washed it out just a little here - and the natural redness of my lips has warmed it up a little.  That said, I think it suits my skin-tone very well indeed (I am learning to live with cooler shades these days), but this is dramatic for me in a way that brighter colours simply aren't.

Here's how it looks in the full context (kinda) of my face, and this is probably the most colour-accurate picture of them all.  Yes, it's purple, but it's not a full-on PURPLE!, if you see what I mean.  It goes best with slightly more neutral makeup looks, as it's far more of a statement colour in its own right than "Luce" is.

I was terrified of wearing purple lipstick in the store, and it took a lot, and I do mean a lot, of persuasion to even try it on in the first place, but, the lesson I've learned is, that when Daniel Sandler tells you a colour will suit you, you should just go with it.  I went with the softer, more sludgey purple shade than the more fuchsia-shade you saw in yesterday's post, because I felt that this colour, although  technically harder to wear, is actually far more unique, and it's definitely not a colour I'd have picked up unassisted. I love it though.  A lot. And I've worn it far more than I expected since it appeared too.  

Odd thing, I think this shade makes my hazel eyes look greener!  I could be imagining that though.  The lipsticks themselves, whilst quite perfumed (something I personally like, though your mileage might vary), do have a lovely soft velvety texture, and more than adequate lasting properties.   I've had no problems with grittiness or drying whilst they're on the lips.


Don't forget, that if you want a custom colour lipstick for yourself, then Cosmetics a la Carte will be happy to assist you, too. Just, you know, put some actual thought into what you want to call it ... What would you name a shade you created, and what would it be?  I'm, er, not using you guys for research, honest ...
 
The Fine Print: Once again, this wasn't a PR post, the lipsticks were a gift, and I want to extend the most grateful, and heartfelt of thanks to both Lynne and Daniel for this amazing, once in a lifetime opportunity to have a product named after me!  


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

Bespoke Lipstick with Daniel Sandler & Cosmetics a la Carte

Picture the scene: a boring Tuesday morning at work, your mobile phone rings unexpectedly, and it's a world-renowned makeup artist who tells you that they want to create a lipstick for you.


What's a beauty blogger to do?


Well, in the case of this particular beauty blogger, you basically SQUEEEEEEEE with excitement, and run round the office like a lunatic for twenty minutes then say a very polite "thank you very much, I'd love that" then set a time, a date, and a place to sort everything out.

Which is how, two weeks ago, I found myself in the Cosmetics a la Carte store in Knightsbridge with two of my favourite people: one Mr Daniel Sandler and the always wonderful Lynne Sanders. Tucked away like a tiny jewel box in a very exclusive part of London, the  Cosmetics a la Carte boutique is a beautifully inviting, indeed, wondrous place to spend a few hours, and Daniel, Lynne and I had a delightful morning poring over the selection of lipsticks I'd brought along for inspiration (some of which you can see above), and trying to figure out what we were going to create.

First of all, we talked about some of my favourite lipsticks, and, once again, we spoke about my love for Chanel's long-discontinued "India" lipstick (Chanel, if you're reading this, bring it back!).  I've spent the best part of ten years attempting to find a dupe for this lipstick, and the nubbin of the shade that I still have remains one of my All Time Favourite Lipsticks of All Time, and after a while, we decided to use this as the "inspiration" behind my new signature shade.

This was where the fun really began! Using Cosmetics a la Carte rainbow of lipstick shades, we began mixing and matching lipsticks together in various combinations to recreate India (which you can just see at the bottom of the picture above), we mixed up three different combinations, then tried them on the lips to see how they matched up.

Once we'd hit on what we thought was a winning mixture (you can see Daniel writing out the "recipes" there) a little further chat revealed that Daniel also wanted to move me out of my comfort zone a little bit.  It might not be completely obvious to most readers of this blog, but it turns out that I'm far more adventurous with my eye makeup than I am with my lipstick ... what that basically boils down to is that there are certain lip colours that I simply will not try.  So, of course, it was decided that for lipstick number two, we'd go a little crazy!

Purple.  It's going to be huge this winter apparently, and that's where Daniel decided my lips had to go ... his inspiration was "Pretty Biba" or ... "Happy Goth" (and where have we heard that phrase before ... hmn?).  Now, I freely admit that I much prefer a bright lipstick to a dark one, having an inkling that dark shades are too ageing for me, these days, but Lynne and Daniel were insistent that I'd be able to pull this off.   I remained sceptical, but, it was kind of hard to resist!  Of the three purple groupings above, I was drawn to the one at bottom left, so we used those to start off with.

Once again, we mixed up a couple of shades, one brighter, one darker, and tried them on the lips to decide which colour I liked best.  Here's how the one at the top looked on:

Funny camera angles R us

There was a hard decision to be made here, but I finally made it - and selected one of them to be made up into a full bullet of lipstick.  You'll be able to see the finished results tomorrow!  And you'll find out what we called them then too ...


Now, you might think I'm a jammy so-and-so for getting to have a bespoke lipshade created (and, well, let's face it, you'd be right, I am blessed with great and very thoughtful friends who I've met as a result of this blog, and well, yes, I'm jammy), but one of the exciting things that I found out during my time in the store is that anyone, and I do mean anyone, can also have this service carried out for them at Cosmetics a la Carte.  All the staff are trained in this technique, and it costs £47.  Yes, £47 is fairly expensive for a lipstick, but, for a bespoke lipstick, created for you and you alone, I actually think it's a bit of a bargain, particularly when you compare it to the cost of, say, a Tom Ford lipstick at £35, or a Guerlain Rouge G at £28.  I think for brides, or for a special birthday, or any special event, it would also make a great present for someone, too.  To find out more, take a look at the Cosmetics a la Carte website.    Sadly, Daniel isn't included in the price ...

So, tune in tomorrow where I'll show you the lipsticks in detail ... 


The Fine Print: No PRs were harmed in the writing of this blog post, I was invited along as a friend of Daniel Sandler, the blog post is purely incidental. It's also belated, but that's another story ...



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

Daniel Sandler Brushes

I've lot count of how many makeup brushes I own, there are a lot.  Besides which, I have two sets, a set of brushes that I keep for myself, and a set (from Crown brushes) that I keep aside for makeovers, that I rarely use on my own skin.  I was made a gift of some Daniel Sandler brushes a while ago, and I've been using them on practically a daily basis ever since, so I thought it was time to share my thoughts!


Some of the most used brushes in my kit are the ones with short handles, I much prefer a short handle to a long handle for some reason (probably to do with me being a cack-handed muppet), and so I'm really happy that these brushes are "handbag" sized.  Above (l-r) you can see the concealer, smudge, waterbrush, base and bronzer/powder brushes, and I find they have varying levels of usefulness, as you'll see below.

Concealer brush:


Made from taklon - a polyester derivative, so the brush is vegan - this helps with applying concealer in a thin layer (always the best way to apply concealer), and the long, somewhat flexible bristles make blending very easy, particularly around the eye area.  It's not a very wide brush, so it's great for applying concealer to blemishes, without adding too much product to unaffected areas.  Cost: £12.30

Smudge Brush:

Made from hair (non-vegan), this picks up powder beautifully, and it is probably near the top of my list of all-time favourite brushes (of all time). It's perfect for creating smokey eyed looks, and it is very handy for - as the name implies - smudging creamy eyeliners to create a softer effect.  You can, as I frequently do, also use it as an eyeliner brush, where it's practically foolproof for even the most cack-handed of us to use.  Simply dip it in the powder eyeshadow of your choice and then dot'n'dab around the base of your lashes.  Cost £10.25

Waterbrush:

If you already own one of Daniel's Watercolour Blushes (and if not, why not?) then you'll most likely already own one of these synthetic-haired beauties too.  They're ideal for applying liquid products, as they aren't as absorbent as natural-haired brushes, and that will allow you a little more time to blend your product.  A top tip from Daniel is actually to apply a tiny dot of moisturiser to the back of your hand then run the bristles of this brush through it before adding a drop of the water colour blush to the bristles and this will also allow you a little more time to blend the products.  I do this when I use this brush, and it really works!  You must, of course, ensure you wash the brush thoroughly after doing this technique though.

The synthetic bristles of this brush also allow for a practically flawless application of any cream blushers too.  It cleans up a treat as well, with no shedding or dye loss.  Cost: £15.35

Base:

I'll be honest, I don't use a brush to apply my base very often (I prefer to use my fingers), but this is a good example of a base brush, as it's very thick, and this means you have more bristles to spread your foundation or tinted moisturiser with.  I do prefer it to the similar brush I have from MAC, as it has a thicker bed of bristles.  If you like a flat base brush, you could do worse than this one.  Cost: £20.45 

Bronzer/Blush brush:

This is a lovely soft and dense synthetic-haired brush, which makes applying powder a breeze.  The bristles pick up about the right amount of product (you may need to tap off any excess if you're using a loose powder) to swish over your face.  The bristles are flexible enough to cope with harder pressed powders too - although it was defeated by a Top Shop bronzing blush the other day, but I won't hold that against it!  At a cost of £25.55, it's more than comparable with the MAC powder brush which is a lot more expensive, and that one is long-handled, so I was always going to prefer this one.

So there you have it, a small selection of Daniel Sandler brushes.  You can tell a fair amount of thought has gone into the creation of this range (the shorter handles, the variety of materials to suit the task, etc), and they're really nice to use.

Who makes your favourite brushes?

The Fine Print: The brushes were a gift, which doesn't affect my opinion.  As always links are for informational purposes only, I get no financial recompense for reviews.

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

My Picks of 2010

Needless to say, you'll have seen a million of these posts already, and I was in two minds whether or not to post my selections too, but some of these products have been life-changing for me, and I thought I'd share them anyway ...

Bath Products of The Year:


Aromatherapy Associates

Early on in the year, I was sent an Aromatherapy Associates Miniature Bath and Shower oil selection, which I adored, and since then, I've been through two - count them! - full-size bottles of the Deep Relax bath oil.  Both heady and relaxing, this stuff has seen me through an operation, a change of job, and moving house, I can't recommend it highly enough.  A capful (or two, in my mega-bath's case) is more than enough to soothe my aching bones, and ease my weary head.  You can also use it as a shower oil, or, in extreme cases, you can dab it on your pulse points and sniff as required. They do great candles too.


Lipstick of the Year

Guerlain Rouge G in Georgia

Adore the packaging, love (love!) the colour, and the fact that it's both £10 cheaper than Tom Ford's Pure Pink, alongside being slightly easier to wear makes this glorious shade my pick of the year.   The Tom Ford Private Collection lipsticks did grow on me throughout the year (to the extent that I now own three of them), however, this is the shade I'll be buying  back up of very soon.

Shampoo/Conditioner of the Year:

Andrew Collinge Smooth & Shine

An oldie, admittedly, but a damn good one.  I found this moisturising, and made my hair behave beautifully.  Easy to rinse, and it left my hair with an amazing shine, and at a bargainous £4.99 for a 500ml bottle, it lasted forever too!  If it were SLS-free, I'd be using it still (I had a keratin treatment at the end of year, so am using SLS-free formulations right now), but I had no issues with colour-stripping whilst I was using this on my dry, colour-processed hair.

Blusher of the Year

Daniel Sandler Watercolour Blush

2010 was the year I really started to get into blusher, it started with Estee Lauder's Bronzed Goddess bronzer, and ended with Nars Douceur, but in between were these little gems. I love them still, and now own three, in Truth, Cherub and Dare (plus I intend to get my hands on Flush and Gentle at some point too), as they're practically perfect.  Long-lasting, buildable and perfectly tinted, after I learned to handle them, I fell in love.

Eyeshadow of the year

Le Metier de Beaute Kaleidoscope in Le Cirque

To be fair, everything I've tried from Le Metier this year has been great, but the Le Cirque Kaleidoscope blew me away a little bit. Beautiful and endlessly versatile, this is practically the only eyeshadow palette I've reached for since I bought it a couple of months ago. Alas, it's limited edition, so I'm glad I arranged a backup when I could.

Foundation of the Year

A tough one, this, so there are two winners (and a runner up ...):

 Guerlain Lingerie De Peau and Bourjois Healthy Mix

Both great for a glowing finish (even though the Bourjois is technically only a "satin" or semi-matte finish), I genuinely couldn't choose between the two.  The Guerlain is a lighter-than-air, dewy finish that I find works best when set with just the tiniest bit of powder, whereas the Bourjois doesn't need setting, but I find the coverage is a little heavier.

Just want to give a mention to a distinguished runner up, which is Armani Face Fabric.  Amazing mousse texture, but for me, I need to be having a really good face day to do it justice.  But this is great stuff:

Nail Varnish of the Year

Deborah Lippmann: Hit Me With Your Best Shot. 

A glimmering steel-grey shade with hints of multi-coloured micro-shimmer, I've reached for this polish again and again since it arrived in my stick little paws, I love it, and it just edged out Dolce & Gabanna's Perfection (which it very nearly is) as my pick of the year.  Unfair as I still don't think House of Fraser have it in stock yet, but when they do, snap this one up!

Candle of the Year

Jonathan Ward Idina's Locket

No competition - unless you count the rest of the candles in this superbly-scented Amber range from Jonathan Ward, of which I bought the entire range of the day it was released!  And I know I wasn't the only person to have done the same, either. Warm and evocative, this candle smells like it was stolen straight from the boudoir of  Coco Chanel herself.  I now have more candles from Jonathan on my "Candle Wall" than I do from any other maker, and the reason for that is because they are wonderful, not to mention very clean burning.


Perfume of the Year

Untitled by Maison Martin Margiela

A possibly controversial choice,  but my blog, my rules, so ... I have to say that out of all the mass perfume releases I smelled this year, this was by far the most interesting, and it's definitely the scent that's responsible for getting me interested in perfume at all during 2010, so for that, it was a very important discovery for me.  Not every perfume in store smells like sweeties, and thank goodness for that.  You're going to be hearing a lot from me about perfume in the coming months, so you can all blame the 'Martin.

Skincare Range of the Year:

 Much like Le Metier above, where I haven't had a duff product from them all year, Alpha H has been the same for skincare.  I've tried practically every product from the range now, and (one exploding eyecream aside) I've liked (at worst) all of them, and loved some of them.  Start with Liquid Gold, try the facial oil, then move onto the masks, you can't really go wrong.  I'll have some more in-depth reviews of a couple of things coming up soon, but this is a great, no-frills brand, and I highly recommend them.

You might also want to have a look at Mir Skincare, which is formulated for sensitive skin, and is a bit of a marvel, in particular I loved the (vegan-friendly) Argan Oil, which I'll shortly be placing a replacement order for.

And finally - if you're still reading!

Overall Product of the Year

Clarisonic

Quite simply, it's a life (and skin) changing bit of kit.  I've banged on about it at relentless length several times before now, so I shan't go on, but suffice to say, I can't imagine life without this now.  Even if it is, essentially, a giant toothbrush for your face.

This has been one massive post, sorry!

Purple FotD

Just a random FotD that I haven't posted earlier, I love this purple shadow from Daniel Sandler,  I've posted about it before, I think it really makes the colour of my eyes stand out:

When I'm not wearing my beloved taupes and neutrals, purple is my default "go-to" shade (my favourite smokey eye is a purple one), it's a great shade, and this is a great shadow, this lasted all day - no primer - and, iirc, also lasted through a little bout of crying without running all over my face.

Foundation is Guerlain Lingerie de Peau, blush is Daniel Sandlers Mineral blush in Natural Beauty, and I'm just wearing a touch of balm on my lips.

What's your "go-to" shade?

Review - Daniel Sandler products

Okay, so yesterday I told you what it was like having a makeover from a celebrity makeup artist, and today - as is my wont - I'm going to go through a few of the products from the Daniel Sandler range of cosmetics.  I'll mainly be looking at the basics and the standout products today

I'll start with Daniel Sandler Waterbase Foundation with Concealer. Actually, I find this would be more accurately described as a tinted moisturiser, with a concealer, rather than a foundation, but this is not to denigrate the product in the slightest.  It's a fairly lightweight, sheeny finish, that gives you a light to medium (buildable) coverage.  But I will say this, in the jar, this looks ... well ... orange.  It's actually pretty scary looking!

The jar you can see here is the "fair" shade.  Now, I'm fairly pale (but not that pale) but I think my cooler, more porcelain-skinned friends might struggle with trying to use this to build coverage, to be honest.

As it is, on my skin, it gives me a great glow, and evens out my skin-tone beautifully (see the gold opalescence in the bottle there?  Flipping lovely), but I suspect that on paler skins, you'd need to use it with a light hand to avoid a certain element of tangerine creeping in.  On my dry-ish skin, it leaves me with a dewy finish, but oilier-skinned sisters will definitely need to set it with powder.

You can see how the shade "pops" a little against my skin there, but I have to say that this does blend well, and won't leave you with a tidemark, even if you are paler than the shade in the jar.  I find applying it with a brush is a great way to buff it into your skin.

The bottle is a little awkward though, having a wide mouth, and a "paddle" attached to the lid to enable you to get the product out, which leaves me with worries that once you get towards the end of the bottle, it'll be exceptionally difficult to get out the last drops of your product.  It's a problem I have with La Prairie's foundation bottles too, to be honest.

There is a concealer hidden in the lid, and this is a brilliant, brilliant concealer.  Light, but opaque enough to conceal, and does not dry cakey, or look dry on the skin.  This is important for me, as I find that very many concealers are far too heavy for the under-eye area, and have a tendency to settle into under-eye lines that simply aren't ordinarily visible without the concealer in the first place!

It's a little paler in shade than the foundation in the bottle:

I just love this, if it was sold separately, I'd buy backups of it in a heartbeat!  I don't actually use much in the way of concealer (heathen that I am), as I find a lot of them merely draw attention to your flaws rather than hide them, but this one is great for under-eye shadows.

I mentioned that you might need to set the foundation, naturally, there is a powder in the range, and that is the Daniel Sandler Invisible Blotting Pressed Powder (catchy!).  Housed in a handsome pewter case, this is a pressed white powder that is totally colourless when applied:

Ignore the instructions to use the (rather rubbish) puff,  you need a brush for this. I find that a very slight dusting of this is more than enough to see off any shine, and, as it's colourless, it doesn't change the shade of your base, and this also makes it suitable for any skintone.  I've used this with a variety of foundations - I'm fickle - and it works well over all of them.  I've also used it over bare (moisturised) skin, and it smoothes wonderfully.  I like it as much as my ELF HD powder, possibly more, as it's a lot more portable.  Not to mention far more classily packaged! It can be slightly prone to "glazing" in the pan if you use the puff, so be aware that you might need to give it a bit of a scratch with something rough once in a while.

So, onto Daniel's infamous blushers: Daniel Sandler Watercolour

Shown above are two shades (there are seven in total), on the left is Truth, and on the right is Cherub.  Truth is a lightly peachy-nude shade with a hint of silver shimmer, and Cherub is a lovely baby-pink.  Both give, on my pale yellow skin, a light flush of colour, and their lasting power is amazing, far better than most powder blushers in my collection, and certainly better than very many cream blushers. Separately they're lovely shades, and I find that by mixing a drop of each, I can get a really nice shade for a little more drama.

However, there is a very definite learning curve to using these products.  As you've probably guessed from my description of their lasting powers, this means that they're actually quite highly pigmented, and this means you have to handle them with caution.  A single drop of either is actually more than enough for both cheeks, and if you pick one of the darker shades in the range (Dare for instance), then it's probably enough for your lips too.  After spending a few days sporting fetching blush-splotches on the back of my hand, I discovered that the best way to apply these is to actually drip one single drop of the blush onto a synthetic (very important) blush brush, and then apply the colour to my cheeks.  Once blended, these babies stay put, and are very flattering shades, they've very quickly become absolute staples in my routine, particularly Truth, which is perfect for a barely there glow that suits almost all makeup looks.

And now onto the infamous waterproof eyeliners (which were actually what I was meant to be looking at before Daniel decided I needed a makeover!) which you can see here: Daniel Sandler Waterproof Eyeliner. There are six shades in the range, brown, grey, black, purple, green and blue, the latter three of which are brand new to the range.

The brown, grey and black are matte shades, but the purple, green and blue have a hint of gentle shimmer.  Daniel describes these three as his "jewelled" shades, and I can see what he's getting at, the green in particular is a stunningly pretty shade, which is surprisingly appropriate for the waterline.

These pencils are soft, creamy (the above swatches are one pass with the pencil over bare skin), and very blendable.  Once set - which is fairly quickly - these do not budge. They will fade over the course of 12-14 hours or so, but rain won't budge them, and even if you cry whilst wearing them, you won't end up with rivulets of black or green over your face.  You can trust me on this, I've cried a lot recently for one reason or another, and these babies have never let me down. They are great - I much prefer them to Gosh's waterproof liners, for example, my only real criticism of them is that the purple needs to be MORE purple!

So, there you go, a quick (ha!) look at some of the basics from Daniel's range, anything you think you'll be trying?  I'll have a look at the colour cosmetics at a later date.

The Fine Print: These were an unexpected gift from Daniel, however, I've never been one to turn down an opportunity to look a gift horse in the  ... er ... eyeliner. Links provided in this post are not affliate links, and are just provided for informational purposes.  They're from a variety of sources because I'm a flibbertigibbet.