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.

Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess Bronzing Blush

The ever-lovely Kellie over at BigFashionista was asking me last week how I go about updating my makeup for spring.  Well, the simple fact is that I tend to wear the same sort of makeup all year round (though I do switch to tinted moisturiser rather than foundation when it gets really warm), but in spring, I find that one of the simplest ways to update your makeup is to change your blusher.

Luckily, this time of year is when brands start to bring out their summer ranges, and switching to a warmer blush is easy.   Last year, my favourite blush was actually a bronzing blusher from the annual Bronze Goddess range released by Estee Lauder.  This year's limited edition bronzing blush is too cute, featuring a starfish design:

The darker pink that you see there is a shimmery overspray which disappears on first usage.  On first seeing this, I thought the shades were identical to last year's zebra-striped palette, so I decided to compare the two:

Turns out that my initial thoughts weren't quite correct.  Last year's palette has slightly cooler tones, and is, in fact, slightly more shimmery:

Top is the starfish palette, and bottom is the zebra, and I've swatched them in the order: bronzer then blusher then a mix of the two shades. the top palette has slightly more pigment, and is more matte, whereas the zebra bronzing blush (bottom) has a slightly more sheeny finish.

The bronzing blush is limited edition every year and costs £29.  The rest of the range consists of an eyeshadow palette, a couple of eyeshadow pencils, a beautifully coppery-bronze nail polish and a selection of lip products.  I'll bring you swatches as I have them ...

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

Andy Tauer's Carillon Pour Un Ange Review and Giveaway

 Bosky.  It's not a word I use enough on Get Lippie.  It's a word I like though.


Carillon pour un Ange is almost a textbook definition of the word bosky.  Earthy, damp, lightly green and redolent of lily of the valley, the latest release from Andy Tauer's Homages line is purest spring, bottled.


Above the intriguing notes of damp earth, wet leaves and cool cedar is a sharp peal of pure white spring flowers, reminding me of a walk through an English wood on a slightly drizzly spring day.  Lily of the valley and lilac get a bad reputation for being (perhaps) granny-ish, but this mixture of earth and ethereal flowers make this a floral scent which is very different and very, very appealing.  I've worn this a few times over the winter when I've wanted to remind myself that spring is indeed on the way.  


This is one of those scents that you'll find yourself sniffing constantly, being reminded at times of mud pies, and at others of sophisticated white bouquets, but at all times being reminded that it's spring.  The scent has amazing sillage (meaning other people will be able to smell it too - particularly if you apply  with too heavy a hand) and a mere drop or two will last the entire day.


And because it finally is spring, I've teamed up with the lovely Ronny at Scents & Sensibility to give away a full-size gift-boxed bottle of Carillon Pour Un Ange (worth £99) to one lucky reader, prior to it being officially launched for sale in May. 


All you have to do is leave a comment on this post telling me what your favourite spring scents are - perfumes, or otherwise.  Please be a resident of the UK, and please make sure that you leave me a valid email address.  I will make the draw on the evening of April 10th, so please get your entries in before then!

The Fine Print: Prize will be dispatched direct from Scents & Sensibility, however, Get Lippie reserves the right to disqualify invalid entries, or any entries obviously originating from competition listing websites. 


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

A Week in Lipstick

Here's what I wore this week:




From top to bottom:

Tom Ford in Pink Dusk,
MAC Viva Glam Cyndi
Dior Addict in Diorkiss
Lancome Gloss 132
Estee Lauder Pure Colour Crystal Lipstick in Elizabeth Pink
Guerlain Rouge G Serie Noir in Rouge Sensuel
Lanolips Lemonaid

Here's how the colours look:




Two nudes, two pinks, and two reds. And a balm (I alway wear something on my lips even if I'm not leaving the house, which I didn't on Saturday). Better mix of colours than usual!

Here are the swatches in the same order:




There really is a swatch of the Lanolips there!

More about lipstick later on in the week.