Serge Lutens Jeux de Peau

Serge Lutens, how much do I love thee?  The first super-expensive bottle of perfume I ever bought for myself (at a whopping £45, back at the time when most "expensive" perfumes cost £18-25 depending on precisely how "fancy" you wanted to smell) was a bottle of Serge Lutens Sa Majeste La Rose. This was shortly followed by a bottle of A La Nuit, neither of which I ever wear these days, but I do still own the remnants of both bottles in their "vintage" formulations.


I can't really bear to part with them, because of the memories I associate with them, even though I realise they're two of the least complex of the Serge Lutens line, these days.  Back then I really just loved rose scents (Ombre Rose was a contemporary purchase too, and I used that bottle up in a matter of a few short months), and I thought jasmine - the primary, and some might say only ingredient in A La Nuit - was a much more innocent scent than it actually is.  I know different now, but ... do I know better?  Nowadays, I much prefer Ambre Sultan, and Femininite du Bois.


It would appear that dear old "Uncle Serge" has been playing memory games with his fans with this his new release.  I've read lots of reviews that talk about bread, jam, butter, and baked goods, and thought that as I'd recently come to terms with Guerlain's "patisserie accord" (more about that in a Guerlain post later on), that this might be a good one to try.


And, on initial sniffing, my immediate reaction was "bread and butter pudding!".  I was delighted, as bread and butter pudding is one of my favourite things.  Sadly, on closer inspection, the butter in this particular pudding turned out to be margarine.  The scent of cheap spread was cloying and clinging, somehow managing to be both fat, and flat.  It also - for me - crowded out the scent of anything else for the first three hours.  Then, when something else did turn up on my skin, it was curry.


Oh yes.


Actually, it wasn't curry, it's actually the scent of Immortelle, which has cumin-ish aspects on my skin.  Margarine and curry.  Yummy!  Then, finally, about six or seven hours of wear, there was a lovely, slightly peppery maple syrup scent that stuck very close to my skin.  Had this been more prominent, or had appeared sooner, I'd have loved this.  But, alas, it wasn't to be.  Me and margarine have never got along all that well, and this was terrifyingly close to being a scrubber throughout the entire day of wear.


Serge Lutens definitely tries to create art with his scents, and even his more challenging fragrances deserve a shedload of admiration. Jeux de Peau is a skillful creation, and it's a rather playful one, too.  However, this is Serge playing games on my skin, and I'm not sure I liked it.  I have to admire it, but I don't think I'll be wearing it again any time soon ...


Jeux de Peau costs £65.36 and is available from escentual.com


What's the worst scent you've ever put on your skin?


The Fine Print: Review written from sample.


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.

Andy Tauer's Carillon Pour Un Ange Giveaway Winner

Going by the scientific method of asking MrLippie to pick a number between 1 and 25, the winner of my giveaway this time around is ....


BIG FASHIONISTA!

Drop me an email with your address, bugalugs, and we'll get the bottle in the post to you!  Well done Kellie, and thank you very much to everyone who entered.



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

NARS 2011 - Dogon Eyeshadow Duo

I was lucky enough to be invited along to the NARS Summer preview this week, and, aside from falling deeply in love with the fall collection (which I forgot to take pictures of, because I'm an idiot), I also feel in love with the new eyeshadow duo in Dogon.  There are two duo's in the summer range (the other has a baby blue/gold combination) alongside an aqua-green trio.

Dogon has a taupe and navy blue combination, which, on first look appears to be a cool taupe with grey leanings, and a matt navy with a slight hint of glitter:

On initial swatching, those impressions are correct:

However, the taupe is creamy, easy to blend and mix, and has a slight hint of a green sheen.  The blue appears both blackened and slightly chalky.  It's decidedly harder to blend than the taupe, and I wondered how the two were meant to work together.


However, when you layer the shades, something magical happens:

This is the blue over the taupe and below is taupe over the blue:

What you have here (and it was nigh-on impossible to pick up with the lighting in my flat today, and this is a source of intense frustration) is green duochrome.  Beautiful, beetle-green duochrome, which is all the more wonderful for being completely unsuspected in the initial shades themselves.

This look is the blue in the crease,which is then blended onto the outside of the mobile lid, and with a layer of the taupe worked on over the entire mobile lid.  Sadly, the lights have washed out most of the colour here, as this is very definitely a much more dramatic look than it shows here.  The light plays off the shimmering duochrome, adding a depth and dimension that would normally be missing from a basic taupe/blue combo.  This is a smoky look, which I'll attempt to re-photograph in different lighting conditions.

Here's how it looks in the full context of my face:

Here's a crappy pic of my face that gives a better impression of how smoky this look is (which, thanks to my hooded lids, you can't really pick up here):

(Yeah, bit cross-eyed,this is what three hours sleep looks like)

So there you have it, this is my pick of summer from NARS, and I'm a tiny bit in love, it's more than made up for the bitter disappointment of Calanque (beautiful shades, but packaged in [expletive deleted]-awful glittery badness, making it unwearable, and, at £33, a daylight robbery too) from their last collection - and it's another blue eyeshadow to add alongside Blue Dahlia from Estee Lauder last year.

NARS summer collection will be in shops from May, and the eyeshadow duos will cost £23.

The Fine Print: PR sample, obtained after a press event, as the product is not yet available in-store.

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

Got Lippie?

I love lipstick.

And these pictures, dear ladies and gents are the explanation as to why Get Lippie is called what it is:

A slightly closer look:

And one with a standard-sized paperback book added for scale:

I had written a whole essay to go with this, but ... meh.  I will just say two things: One, that this isn't entirely them all (every girl has a bag full of lipstick in the house that they can't find, right?  RIGHT?), and the collection is about half the size it was two/three years ago (my loss is various housemates and Give & Makeup's gain!)  and:  two, I bought fully 95% of these.


See any of your favourites?


The Fine Print:  I could have bought a HOUSE with what I've spent on lipstick in the last 25 years.  A HOUSE.  Okay, maybe a car.  But defnitely a nice holiday.

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

The Konjac Sponge Company

I was at the Natural Products Show last weekend, and I was utterly delighted to notice that someone has finally brought konjac sponges to the UK.  I first became aware of them about ten years ago when I was in the US, but they looked pretty scary, and, in spite of being urged to try one by one of my more adventurous friends, I chickened out.

Konjac is a vegetable, and konjac sponges (Konnyaku in Japan) are widely used in Korea and Japan. They're made from flour ground from dried konjac "potatoes", and in their dried state, resemble sea-sponges. The Konjac Sponge Company import their sponges direct from Korea, and,  in addition to the baked konjac flour, they add a little mineral clay to several of their sponges to give added skincare benefits.  Also, they're the only company in the UK to ship their sponges in a wet state, so they don't look like ... well, baked vegetables!

So, what does a konjac sponge actually do?  Essentially, you use it in place of (or alongside) your regular cleanser, and it provides a tiny amount of non-abrasive exfoliation, and the natural plant extracts from  the konjac itself leave your skin feeling smooth and slightly moisturised.  I say slightly, but at the Natural Products Show last Sunday, the fingertips I'd been prodding the demonstration sponges with felt so smooth and silky that I couldn't stop rubbing them together afterwards!

I've been trialling a pink clay konjac sponge (for tired/devitalised skin) ever since, and I've enjoyed using it a great deal.  Whilst using it alone isn't the best cleanser in the world for removing makeup, I discovered, for a refreshing face-wash in the morning using only water, it's about perfect.  The sponge is smooth, and feels slightly silky on the skin, and it works well even on my rougher, thickened skin patches (so, my chin, basically).  Basically, you dip the sponge in warm water, then rub over your face, afterward, your skin feels clean, smooth and - there's no other word for it - velvety.  It's an unusual sensation to get used to, you'll spend a day or two playing with your face in amazement, but I think I'm a little bit in love with a sponge.


Whilst I don't think I'll be replacing my Clarisonic with one any time soon (I'll still be using that at night), these are an excellent addition to the skincare routine of anyone with dry or sensitive skin in particular, and there's even a charcoal infused sponge for skin that's prone to spots.


Best thing about them?  They cost around a fiver, and last for months and months.  Cheapest face care product I can recommend!  Find out more at the Konjac Sponge Company website.

The Fine Print:Review written from press sample - I'm not affiliated with the company, but please do go and say hello to Michelle, who runs the company, on Twitter - @konjacsponges - she's really lovely.


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

Rodial Glamoxy "Snake" Mask

Sometimes you choose a product because it makes promises you want to believe in.


Like Rodial's Glamoxy Snake Mask, which promises:


"...to instantly lift the face, freeze muscles and plump fine lines and wrinkles"

It's a black, peel-off mask that contains amino acids and licorice to deep cleanse your pores and has peptides to help deal with fine lines. The combination of ingredients is supposed to mimic "venom" in order to give you smoother skin.  It's a sticky, and  viscous gel, and I have to admit that it's a complete pain in the backside to apply, as it's thick, doesn't spread well, and starts to set the second you squeeze it from the tube.  But, that said, it's enormous fun to peel off in one sheet, and peer at the gucky insides.

It did leave my skin feeling smoother, but, at £68 per tube (which I estimate you'd only get three - maybe four - uses out of) it's an extremely expensive bit of fun, and, to be honest, I didn't notice the smoothing effects lasting much beyond the next day.

But ...

... sometimes you pick a product because you can take pictures like this when you're using it:

This, dear readers, is what beauty bloggers do to amuse themselves when at a bit of a loose end on a Saturday night.  Don't tell me you don't do the same.

The Fine Print: Samples sent by PR for review, actual cost £68.  Total fun: Priceless.

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