Foundation Week - Powder

Foundations come in all shapes, sizes and formats, I'm spending a day on each of the main types of foundation (powder, cream, and I'm splitting liquids into matte, and dewy, but I think a mousse might slip into at least one of those, so be warned!) and I'm starting with powder, as they can be a bit less scary than full on foundation ...

Loose/Minerals

Trendy among powder formulations at the moment are mineral foundations, I know a lot of people find them difficult to work with - they're generally loose powders that you "buff" over the skin with a large brush to give you an airbrushed look.  The trick with these is to use a very, very light hand at first, and build up the coverage until you have a look you're happy with.  Use a very small amount on your brush, then knock the excess off before applying to your face.

Pros: It's very easy to get a nice, even, buildable coverage.  Many of them are made of natural ingredients, and contain nothing in the way of synthetic dyes.  They're supposed to be less irritating than traditional-style liquid foundations. They multi-task, as you can use the same product as concealer, if you use a smaller synthetic brush.

Cons: many of them contain bismuth, meaning they can leave you looking rather "plastic" or "artificial" (aka "fembot").  Bismuth can also make the product  feel a bit like you're wearing a mask.  Also, the buffing motion itself can lead to aggravated and irritated skin.

I like Bare Escentuals - even though it's trendy not to, but I'll be talking more about Bare Escentuals later on in the week - and Christopher Drummond is an excellent - albeit expensive - alternative.

Recently, I've been using a Cosmetics a la Carte powder foundation, Cover Tint in Sand.  I like the packaging, as it doesn't require an additional brush, and comes complete with a mirror (a proper mirror, not just a silver painted top, which you have to squint into) in the lid.  CalC foundations don't contain bismuth, and I've found the coverage to be extremely buildable, meaning that I've been able to use this both on it's own as a full foundation, and as a finishing powder over liquid formulations.  Basically you just dot this on your face, and then "smoosh" the puff around a little to distribute it, if you want a lighter look, or dot repeatedly, if you want to build up to full-face coverage. Priced at £30 for an off-the-shelf shade, or £45 if you want a custom blend shade made to your own requirements, it's very quickly become a makeup bag staple for me.

Pressed

Pressed powder formulations have been around forever, and I recommend MAC studio fix to any of my personal shopping clients who are too scared to think about a "traditional" liquid foundation.  Benefit's Hello Flawless is also a good one, but it has a very small colour range, whereas MAC is outstanding in that area in comparison.

Powder foundations are simple and easy to use, but they don't always work for dryer skins, and you do need to make sure that you're well moisturised if you are at all prone to dryness before using them.  But they're a godsend to our greasier-skinned sisters!


Do you use powder foundations? What do you recommend I should have a look out for?

The small print: I was sent the Cosmetics a la Carte foundation for consideration to review, all other opinions on foundations in this roundup are based on items I already own.  Opinions are impartial and honest regardless of the source of the product.

Foundation Week - Bespoke

It's foundation week here at Get Lippie, I'll be bringing you some hints and tips, and reviewing a few foundations (and the odd tinted moisturiser) from my collection for you too. If you have any questions, let me know, and I'll do my best to get back to you!

But I wanted to start the week off by mentioning Cosmetics a la Carte.  A lot has been written lately about the demise of Prescriptives, and people have been bemoaning that they're not able to get custom-blended foundations any more.

Well, Cosmetics a la Carte are, arguably, the company who Prescriptives got the idea of "bespoke" cosmetics from in the first place, and they've had a bespoke service for over 30 years! I had the pleasure of chatting to Lynne, the company's founder, a couple of weeks ago and was bowled over by her commitment to cosmetics and her enthusiasm for makeup in the first place.  I had a makeover from them, and loved their choice of items, too!

Cosmetics a la Carte will custom-blend your foundation to your perfect shade, in the format of your choice, matte, powder, satin or all of the above, if you so wish.  And best of all, none of that silly colour-matching nonsense with the yellow/red/blue and orange pencils, which only ever worked in proper daylight (and, not ever, in department store lighting), and was entirely dependent on the whim of the sales assistant in the first place ...

But I digress, if you want a bespoke foundation, Cosmetics a la Carte are the place to go, and the prices start at £45 for a foundation.  Take a look at the website, for more details, you can find it here

I'll be reviewing my foundation from them later in the week.

Do you have anything you'd like to see featured in Foundation Week?

New Giveaway! CLOSED

This Giveaway is now closed, and comments are no longer allowed on this post as a result. 

Remember my post about Lip Tars? I picked up eight of them at IMATS, and, I confess, there are still a couple I would like - mainly Grandma, but I could be talked into Vintage and Plum too ... the only thing that's been putting me off has been the faff of ordering from the US, to be honest.

However, I'm beyond delighted that OCC are now available to buy in the UK! The lovely people at The Makeup Artist Boutique have managed to convince OCC to let them be the exclusive source of Lip Tars in the UK.  They arrive on March 23rd, and I, for one, can't wait!

To celebrate this happy event, Makeup Artist Boutique are offering one of you, my lucky readers, the chance to win a Lip Tar in one of the four brand new colours that have just been released by OCC in the US.  These colours are so new, they're not even on the official US OCC website yet!

Here's a sneaky peek at the new colours:

Pictures taken from http://www.pursebuzz.com/2010/02/occ-new-lip-tar-swatches/ 

Not only that, but everyone who reads my blog can have a 10% discount off everything on the site up until the 23rd of March if you use the code LIPPIEOCC when ordering. Please bear in mind when ordering that any Lip Tars you order won't be dispatched until March 23rd. As well as Lip Tars, you can purchase Yaby cosmetics, which are a great brand too, check them out!

If you want to see more about the exclusive Lip Tar shades, you can see them on Enkore's video here.

If you want to take a look at the rest of the Lip Tar range, have a look here.

How to enter:

The competition is open to everyone, including internationally, whether you're a follower of the blog or not.  However, followers of the blog will receive TWO entries into the draw! Please leave a comment on this post stating which Lip Tar shade you'd like (Complex, Vapid, Hoochie or Demure only), and state whether you're a follower or not - I will be checking, and invalid entries will be disqualified.  The draw will be made on the evening of March 15th. If you are not a follower, then please ensure you leave your email address in your comment too. Thanks!

Good luck, everyone!

The small print: This is NOT a sponsored post -  I will not receive any remuneration if you click on any of the links in this post, or make any purchases for any products mentioned.

Mini Makeover - Genna

No time for a proper makeover this week - genuinely things are INSANE here at Get Lippie at the moment, but normal service will be resumed soon, I promise!

Last time Genna appeared on this page, we turned her into a California beach babe:

  This time, something a little more traditionally glam:

A smokey eye with a nude lip.  I used a pink Milani palette (more about that later this week) and MAC eyeshadow in Beauty Marked, alongside Bourjois Clubbing liquid liner, for a glittery, pinkish smokey look. It was a look we created for a party last night, hence no more in-depth photos.

What do you think, would you like to see a step by step on this look?

I fear the tangerine ...

(With sincere spologies to my Scottish readers!)

Spring is in the air, have you noticed?  I'm serious!  The last couple of days have definitely been a bit warmer, and I no longer feel the need to wrap up like the Michelin woman to consider leaving the sofa.

With that in mind, as the weather has made me think about warmer times, I've been gently warming my makeup looks up a bit.  Now, I fear fake tan.  Genuinely, and sincerely, fear the stuff. Never use it. I always think I'm going to end up looking like this:

Only, you know, with boobs. And better hair.  And ... oh you get the idea!

So, to warm up my colouring - and move slightly away from the taupe-rut (sorry, taupe "signature look") I've been in lately, I've been dusting myself with this:

YSL Poudre de Soleil in #1, Light Sun. It's a really nice, not too shimmery (though there is a hint, a very faint hint of gold shimmer in there), not too orange bronzing powder. At differing times, I use this as a blusher, a contour powder, an eyeshadow, and occasionally as a bronzer.  I've even used it as a face powder, it's that versatile. It's very pale, and so suitable for my currently pale-blue skin.  Come summer I'll be my more usual pale-custard shade, and I'll probably be using this a bit more often than my beloved Cargo Illuminator in wind, which is a good bit pinker, and a fair bit more sparkly, and so has been a wonder for the winter, but it'll be too pink for me come summer.  The Poudre de Soleil lasts a long time, I've used mine a lot (and it's quite elderly now) and I've still yet to "hit pan".

Speaking of pinker and more sparkly things, I bought this recently too, the Palette Y-Mail face highlighter in the pearly finish:

I admit, the packaging suckered me in, it has it's own little handbag!

Too cute. Now, I love the shade, the beige is lovely, the pink is radiant.  But the pearl. Oh, the pearl is a beautiful colour, but it's packed with chunks of glitter that I didn't notice either in the store, or the first time I used it.

Glitter is not radiance!  It's a menace! Okay, the powder isn't in the same league as Urban Decay's Midnight Cowboy, but it is very definitely there, and I'm not entirely sure it needs to be.  I had been hoping it was an overspray, but it appears to be throughout the pearl-shade. It's still lovely - and I'm really glad I picked it up - but you do need a light hand when you're swirling your brush over the pearl to avoid the dreaded glittery face-dandruff effect. You might love glitter, but ... it's something I expect in cheaper products, to be honest. Still a beautiful powder, but the glitter cheapens the effect they were going for, I feel.  Beautiful compact to carry around for glamorous touch-ups during the day though.

The last couple of days, I've just worn the bronzer on my cheeks with a swirl of the highlight on my cheekbones and over my eyelids, with a dash of mascara and a touch of lipgloss, and it's a very quick, simple and polished look.

Do you own any YSL? What do you love from the range? What's your spring makeup like?

Nail of the Day – LA Colour Antique Burgundy

While I was sorting out my nail polish drawer the other day, searching for a perfect red after the Crimsun debacle of last week, I pulled out all my Chanel reds – truly, I believe Chanel do the best reds, in either lipstick or polish – but this little beauty caught my eye.

And I use the word beauty advisedly, as I LOVE this shade, it’s a red jelly finish with just a teeny hint of gold shimmer, making it look like a really expensive metallic car paint job on the nails.

Neither of the pictures really do it justice, I’m afraid. They show three coats over a Mavala base, with a Seche Vite top coat. It’s a pure, clear red that doesn’t shade either pink or orange, and there’s no hint of blue in it.  I think it’s about the nicest, prettiest red I own, and it’s one I think really suits the skin-tone on my fingers.

Oh, the best thing about this polish?  It  cost me 99p. Now, when you bear in mind that I’m happy to pay £11 for a polish, and indeed, I’ve paid £16 for polishes before now, I think you can understand how happy this little baby has made me!  I got mine from Beauty Base in Westfield, but I think you can find LA Colours at places like Savers.

My nail drawer now looks like this by the way, whaddya think?

What I did at London Fashion Week ...

By Get Lippie, aged 32 and a lot of halves.

I don't get serenaded by middle aged men in body paint nearly often enough, I've decided.

I was delighted to be invited backstage (as a guest of Illamasqua) at the House of Blues AW2010 fashion event at London Fashion Week recently. An opportunity to get to see Alex Box work at close range was an offer I simply couldn't turn down, and after reading this interview with Johnny Blue Eyes on Helen and Sheenie's Nice Things the other day, I knew that this was going to be a day to remember! Believe me when I tell you that I haven't laughed as much or been quite that embarrassed in a very long time.

After meeting up with Helen, Sheenie and MizzWorthy, we had a brief Fashion-off (a competition I sadly lost in spite of my sparkly Converse) and then headed to the Freemason's Hall to find out where the action was.  We were thrust straight into the thick of things, and greeted with the words: "ARE THESE MY BLOGGERS? COME HERE, TALK TO JOHNNY! ASK ME ANYTHING MY DARLINGS, WHAT DO YOU WANT TO KNOW?"

(Johnny Blue Eyes is the only man I've ever met who speaks in capitals. Imagine Brian Blessed with a hint of Julian Clary, and you'll be - somewhat - on the right track. For the sake of my sanity though, and your eyeballs, I'll render the rest of his conversation in proper grammar from here on)

Having been nudged to the front of the receiving line - Johnny was having his hair done at the time - I rather sheepishly asked what we could expect from the show, and the answer was rather surprising (apologies for this in advance, I'm writing this bit from memory), for me, at least.

"It's about colour, it's about peace, it's about love.  It's a reaction to the lack of colour in the world, the recession, natural disasters.  Why should winter collections be dull? I'm bringing colour - like the colour of your eyes darling, that's an amazing shade - to the the world".

Pulling myself together a bit, I asked if he was deliberately giving people the opposite of what they'd normally expect from a winter collection, and his answer was yes, and deliberately so, what he was trying to do was "democratise fashion, make it for everyone.  I'm a 42 year old man, and I'm surrounded by love.  All my models here today are real people, they're my friends, they're all shapes, all sizes, all ages, all sexual orientations, we're all people, and we're all the same, so I want to include everyone in this show, it's ALL ABOUT LOVE".

At this point, I moved onto have a look around the - crazily chaotic - room, and spent some time watching various makeup artists doing their thing:

 

 I found out that the models were all made up with the same base Illamasqua products:

Cream eye shadow in predator was used on the faces, which were then highlighted with both liquid metal in Solstice and pure pigment in furore. The cheeks were contoured with a fushia pink cream blusher in Dixie and the lashes used were no9.

 Then, once she had a chance to take a breather from creating Johnny's rather dramatic look for the show:

 

And once we'd all had a chance to recover from  Johnny's rather, erm, "colourful" call to arms to the women in the room (seriously unrepeatable here!), and I after I'd recovered from being serenaded  (pic above) by Johnny himself (about the most embarrassed I've ever been), I had a chance to chat with Alex Box herself.  We discussed colour, and style, and beauty blogging.  I've long been a fan of her work, and this was an amazing opportunity.