Engagement Bling(s)

I won't be doing too many wedding-themed posts, don't worry, but I tweeted the above picture of my engagement rings yesterday (what can I say, I'm indecisive!), and a lot of people were asking about them, so I thought I'd post about them here.

I'm not that adventurous with my jewellery, to be honest, I have a few pieces (above) that I wear day-in day-out (laziness mostly) and I wanted an engagement ring that would both complement those everyday bits and pieces, and be just a bit different from a "classic" engagement ring.  The only thought I had in mind was that I wanted them to come from somewhere independent, rather than a chain.

So, on Saturday, we headed out to Portobello Market, and our first stop was Sarah Bunting in Portobello Green, she's a jeweller I already own a few pieces from, and she's an adorable lady, she remade one of the earrings above when I lost one, and I've been wearing them every day ever since.

My eye was immediately drawn to the moonstone ring in the middle of these three - I adore moonstones, and can't have enough of them.  This one is faceted though, and you don't see faceted moonstones very often:

Well, just the moonstone ring on its own looked silly on my stumpy sausages (aka: fingers), so I had to select a few others from the range to go with it, eh?  I picked the sapphire and the amethyst just because they looked pretty and complimented the moonstone so very well. There were all kinds of other colours from peridot, smoky quartz, and yellow and green quartz too, but these were the ones that really caught my eye. 

I went away to a few other places and looked at some different rings as it's never a good idea to buy the first ring in the first shop you go to, but, well, we just ended up going back for these anyway!

Here's a couple of views of how I'm actually wearing them all together:

I love how they all look different depending on how the light hits them, and I love both how bold the look is with just a few really delicate pieces together!

Nail varnish is Quartz by Chanel, by the way. 


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

Lipsticks of the Week - 11 March 2012

A big week on Get Lippie -  so I pulled out a mixture of old favourites: Lanolips, Chubby Sticks, Guerlain Rouge G's and the old standby Chantecaille Lip Chics, but I also trialled a trio of the new Vernis a Levres from YSL too.  Want a closer look?  Then keep reading:

From left to right, we have:

Lanolips 101 - An old standby, I always have a tube around for treating dry lips, cuticles and whatever else needs a bit of greasing up during the week.
Guerlain Rouge G in Georgia - My lipstick of the year in 2010, it's a beautiful fleshy pink, that's simply wonderful, I adore it.
YSL Vernis a Levres x3 in 
12 - Corail Fauve -
03 - Brun Cachemire -
05 - Rouge Vintage -   I'll be honest, I'm witholding judgement on these a little bit.  Whilst they're definitely great glosses, I'm simply not gettting the same great results as everyone else seems to be with the stain bit. Full review to come soon, nonetheless.
Chantecaile Lip Chic in Tea Rose - another old standby, and it's a lipstick I think everyone should have in their makeup bag.  There I said it.  Go out and buy it. Sell a kidney if you have to.
Clinique Chubby Stick in Chunky Cherry - these automatic pencils of slightly coloured balm are wonderful for a polished no makeup look, they're about the only shades I wear at weekends.

Swatches in same order as above, only without the lanolips, you don't need a swatch of a clear balm, do you?  DO you?

Georgia, Corail Fauve, Brun Cachemire, Rouge Vintage, Tea Rose and Chunky Cherry.

So that's it for another week, what've you been wearing?

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

Book Review - The Perfume Lover by Denyse Beaulieu

Fangirl disclosure: Denyse Beaulieu writes Grain de Musc, a blog I've read for years (though I've always been too shy to comment on it), and for the last year and a half I've been saving my pennies to go on Denyse's highly-regarded "Perfume: Understanding Fragrance" course at London College of Fashion.


So, when the chance came up to review this book, I leapt at it. On Grain de Musc, Denyse writes both beautifully and lyrically about perfume, I admit freely that her blog has helped me form quite a few of my own opinions of fragrance - Serge Lutens' in particular - and her style has helped me figure out what perfume-writing can aspire to.  She is, in many ways, a blogging inspiration.


The Perfume Lover is a triple bill, the story of the creation of a perfume, a partial history of Western (particularly French) perfume, and the story of a life lived in - and through - fragrance, all three strands interwoven through Denyse's own, very particular, viewpoint.   It's a fascinating book, but has a fundamental flaw which throws the brilliance of some sections all too much into stark relief, and ultimately makes the reading of the book somewhat ... difficult.


Inspired by Denyse's story of "the most beautiful night of my life", which is  a sultry tale of an encounter with a beautiful man during Holy Week in Seville, whilst surrounded by orange blossoms and incense, perfumer Bertrand Duchafour (creator of a couple of my favourite scents of all time, Acqua Di Parma Colonia Assoluta and Commes des Garcons Avignon amongst many more) is inspired to try and paint a picture of that evening through fragrance.  


The story of Bertrand and Denyse's somewhat flirty and bantering relationship is genuinely interesting, and as a sketch of how a perfume is created, the book is exceptionally good, but we're never really "invited in" to Duchaufour's laboratory to observe the nitty-gritty of  how it all happens.  Oddly, and especially so for someone at times over-keen to promote herself as both the "muse" and "co-creator" of Bertrand's work, Denyse somewhat avoids describing the nuts-and-bolts of perfume creation - either because she isn't interested in how it actually goes down, or wasn't as intimately involved in the process as she lets on.  It's hard to tell.


Where it really excels, however, is in the details of perfume itself, it's a mix of travelogue and history, and is endlessly fascinating, if somewhat incomplete owing to the "personal history" nature of the text. However, I could have read five times as much of this than was in the book - Denyse has a way of bringing scent to life on the page in a way that's both extremely engaging and is almost "photo-real" in the way you can almost smell the fragrances rising from the pages.  This is what Denyse is good at, and had the book been purely a history of fragrance and the inter-relationships between individual perfumes, their times, their places and importance in history, then there's a better than good chance that this would have been one of the best books on perfume ever written.

Alas it's not, and the reason for that is Denyse herself, I'm afraid.  At times, she seems to be so determined to be the most fascinating part of her narrative that I think she over-identifies with the title of the book, which could, in all honesty, be renamed The PerfuMe Lover, without it making any less sense in context.

There are times in the book where the narration goes overboard on the "I'm doing a sexy thing now" routine.  For example - she recounts a tale of how she had an affair with the mailman simply because she gets so many packages, and she devotes more than a small amount of attention to an affair with a shadowy "Monsieur" that she appears to enjoy purely because he's rich and buys things for her.  These tales don't always add to the narrative, and occasionally jolt you into wondering just why they are there, or if they are even true (quite a few of them have a more than tangible hint of pandering to a rather pedestrian hetero-male sexual fantasy), which disjoints the reading experience quite considerably.

And I can't even begin to explain why either Denyse or her editor thought it was necessary to include a section that details precisely how the author fakes an orgasm - but it's in there, just in case you were on the edge of your seat about it. 

Imagine a Madonna impersonator coming around to your house and performing a ceaseless "bump and grind" routine in your face whilst you're trying to read a good book. "The Perfume Lover" is a bit like that at times.

I think we all get that sex and fragrance are inextricably linked, and the sections of the book that are about just that inter-relationship (albeit the ones without the direct authorial experience of it) are fascinating, but, even though the book is described as a "personal history of scent", there are long periods of it which are just too personal, and it's to the detriment of the two other strands of the story, which deserve better, to be honest.

Overall, I learnt a lot about (certain) fragrances from the book - and I loved that.  I wish there had been more of it, and, further,  wish that there had been more from Duchafour and the other perfumers interviewed for the text, all of whom are presented in a rather disappointingly shallow fashion. Personally, I could have done with a lot less of Denyse's rather distancing, and occasionally extremely distracting, "sexiness".  I've found too, that after years of reading, rather enjoying (and *blogger confession alert* occasionally writing), women's erotica, that I never want to hear about another woman's knickers - or the contents thereof - ever again, so that's nice.


However, I also discovered, via the sample vial that was sent alongside the book, that I simply adore the fragrance Bertrand Duchafour created during the writing of this book: Séville à l'Aube.  It is, quite frankly, stunningly beautiful, and, when it is released by L'Artisan Parfumeur in July, I shall be removing the funds I'd set aside for Denyse's perfume course and buying a full-size bottle of Séville à l'Aube, instead, because it is already the perfume I think I want to wear to my wedding.   Scratch that, it is the fragrance I'll be wearing, and I can't think of a higher compliment to pay to the genius of Duchafour's creation than that.


Normally in such a mixed review, I'd say wait for the paperback, but in the case of this book, I say wait for the fragrance. I certainly will be. 


The Perfume Lover by Denyse Beaulieu is released on March 15th, and is available to pre-order on Amazon.

The Fine Print - Advance press review copy.

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

Guest Post - Georgina Regazza: Makeup Tips for the More Mature

Following on from my guest posts during my week off, here is the wonderful Georgina Regazza from Makeup Tips for My Sister giving us her top tips for her makeup look:

Now that I am a Woman of a Certain Age and cosmetic counter assistants call me Madam, I confess to being a bit bewildered by it all. Serums make me think of monkeys, and I don't really know if I'm supposed to be concealing, light-reflecting, making things dewy or just staying indoors until it all blows over.

I started wearing makeup in the era of disco and polyester and things have changed a LOT cosmetics-wise since my first Miners' blue eyeshadow, but after much trial and error, I've gone back to keeping things simple, and this is how I get myself out of the house of a morning and face the day - wrinkles and all. My hair might not be so big these days, but I don't look half bad for an old bird.

My Top Five Essentials:

1. Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer  I honestly don't know how I lived without this. I've yet to find a reviewer who doesn't struggle for the words to describe HD primers, and who doesn't resort to using the phrases "soft focus" and "you just have to try it for yourselves". It's at the pricier end of products, but you need two pumps per go, so it does last well. It's silicon-free, which is a plus for me, makes your skin feel like silk and lasts for a good eight hours. But here's the kicker - you don't notice much of a difference at first, but then you start to catch a glimpse of yourself and you look... different. Soft focus. Smooth. Healthy. You still have the odd wrinkle, but it looks somehow pleasing. And on camera - and who doesn't take photos and make videos these days? - you notice a BIG difference. You have good skin. REALLY good skin. I am in love with this product.

2. L'Oreal Paris Touche Magique Concealer  - I struggled with this at first. I have bags under my eyes and no cream or gel will shift them. It's a drag on my confidence and I tried everything in the way of concealing before almost giving up and considering cosmetic surgery. And then I saw Wayne Goss' video  on how to do it properly and it Changed My Life. Dark colours recede. Light colours advance. So you find the dark line under the bag and put the concealer there and nowhere else, blending it gently. Result - eye bags disappear. I like that the brush pen gives extra precision and again, a little goes a long way.

3. Bio Oil  - age brings pigmentation and this is the only product I've ever found that makes it fade. I've been using it for three months now and the area of pigmentation around my mouth has reduced by about 60%, another thing which had previously sapped my confidence. You apply it morning and night on clean skin and massage it in. It has a pleasant floral smell and I've not found any problems with clogged pores as long as you use it sparingly - I've used about a quarter of the bottle so far. It's an essential part of my daily routine now.

4. Urban Decay Lip Junkie  - over time your lips start to thin and out of the army of lip plumpers on the market, this is the one I come back to again and again. It doesn't have that painful sting to it, just a pleasant tingle and a gentle plumping effect rather than making you look like Mick Jagger. Rush is a lovely pinky nude which goes with just about everything, so it's a no-brainer on mornings when I'm in a (excuse the pun) rush. My only beef is the cap, which seems to consist of multiple moving parts that have a habit of going south, but it goes on smooth and lasts for a good couple of hours between applications.

5. Maybelline Great Lash  - I haven't been blessed with big, long, luscious lashes and time has conspired to make them even thinner and shorter. No matter how many brands I stray to and play with, I come back to this one. It does the trick, giving me decent lashes with no clumps or bumps, and stops me from looking like a space alien. Big thumbs up!

So there you have it - less is more when you target rather than mask. Older faces are beautiful too - show yours off, girl!

****

What do you think?  I like these choices, but personally, I'd pick a plant-based oil such as something from Clarins, Decleor or Darphin over the Bio-Oil (which is mineral-oil based and doesn't contain anything intrinsically "nourishing" for older skins), but what are your tips for older skin?

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

Dear Reader ...

I'm marrying him.

Relax girls, he's (nearly) married.

I promise not to become a Bridezilla:





(But I can't promise not to become a Bridezuki over the next few months - sorry.  Although, in all honesty, I'll probably be more of a bridal Scrappy Doo in any case, short and annoying.  My usual self, in fact)

Like any self-respecting beauty blogger my first worries are: perfume, makeup artist (I refuse, point blank, to do it myself), hairdresser, and, of course, which pair of Uggs to wear for the ceremony. 

Have we set a date? No, but it'll be next spring, somewhere quirky, hopefully. Oh, and I'm looking for some small independent artisan jewellers to support with our purchases of rings and so on, so if you have any handy hints or recommendations, then please leave them in the comments! 

There will be no meringues, no churches, and - most importantly - nowhere that doesn't serve chicken wings.  There is, I must admit, a slightly better than good chance we'll be married in the local branch of KFC.


I have, it has to be said, NO IDEA where to start.


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

Guest Post - Senorita Carmen's Week In Lipstick

Yeah, I took a week off blogging (hopefully some of the reason why should have become clear to the people who were following me on Twitter this morning!) and a couple of my readers have stepped in to help.  Carmen is a long-term reader of Get Lippie, and this is her first step into writing any kind of blog post at all, so please be gentle, dear readers!

Carmen's Lipstick Adventures

Now, I'm not a Beauty Blogger but when Louise kindly offered me one of her slots I just couldn't resist! Be careful what you wish for, however, may just apply to both of us. The amount of stress involved trying to photograph your own arm with a smartphone and research the products you want to 'show and tell' was frankly exhausting. I could not do this even for a hobby. And I love lipstick. I do. But for the forseeable future I'll stick to my sudoku puzzles.

So, this is my story about my adventures with my week in Lipstick.

Firstly is my Scarlet O'Hara esque red lippie courtesy of New CID i-pout Scarlet. I first saw this on a previous post xxxxx and as it was a) a new brand to me and b) recommended by my lipstick guru this equalled c) that I just HAD to buy it. So I did. And its a definate head turner. It's red hot, in your face, come to mama...Forget the gimmicks of a light and a mirror (remember the days of Liparazzi?) I've never used them. With this scarlet you need a proper mirror to apply. And if you get feathering or bleeding on your lip line use a lip liner. It's creamy so it doesnt dry out your lips and its highly pigmented so it's stayability is a good few hours.

New CID is a brand formulated by MUA's and is available through their website www.newcidcosmetics.com as well as other retailers such as QVC. It retails for £15.

Next is one of my all time favourite lipsticks. Let me introduce you to my beloved Clarins 220 Bordeaux. This lipstick fills me with confidence. So much so, that if I pop to the local shops in my pj's and apply this lippie - I'm ready to face the world. As in look at my lips not at my pj's....This is a matte lipstick so you really need to ensure that your lips are as smooth as the proverbial baby's bottom. (I use Benefit lip scrub but Lush also do a version that is highly rated.) This lipstick practically stains your lips so it lasts through feeding frenzies and drinking sessions, although your ability to re-apply may be impaired. Hic. And because it is so matte your lips will need tlc the next day regardless of what you got up to the night before...

Now why it's called Bordeaux, I have no idea as it does not resemble any red wine let alone a Bordeaux that I've ever seen. It's much more a bright dark fushia, a pre-berry shade if you will, well before berry shades became all the rage. Its more a crushed raspberry shade than strawberry or blackberry. And it never fails to make me feel both juicy and fruity. Enough said.

Now for the bad news. This is from a Clarins Secret de Rouge range of long lasting lipsticks that is sadly discontinued. Very bad Clarins! I bought 3 of the beauties as soon as I heard and I'm on my last one. But here's the good news. If you have the internet - there are stockists still out there. Woo hoo!

This nude beauty is from Korres. Its my everyday natural make up look. For days when I just need a quick pick me up and this is my lipstick for my lips but better. Its from the Korres guava lipstick range so its delectably soft and moisturiusing. And because its such a neutral shade I can apply this anywhere without needing a mirror, for example whilst walking to my train station. But I do think that somewhere along the lines the greek instructions from Korres got a bit lost in translation. Firstly the shade is called Natural Purple. Purple. And yet there is nothing purple about this lipstick. Not a hint of a tint. Nada. Then the claims of long lasting as in "extended wear" and "intense colour". It's not long lasting mores the pity. It comes off over a tall skinny latte. Nor is it intense. Its a neutral nude shade as in barely there. But it is wonderfully soothing, smoothing and moisturising. So what if I have to re-apply twice from leaving home to getting to the office? Its so worth it. Speaking of worthiness, this retails at £15 from various retailers i.e. Oliver Bonas or their flagship Korres store on the King's Road.

This is Get Lippie. No really. Back in May last year I spotted a blog post about a fantastic collaboration between Daniel Sandler, Louise and Cosmetics a la Carte. It was described as a cool rosy purple and it is but on my lips it looks like a langurous rose shade and I am always without fail complimented on my lippie when I wear this. This is my internal stakeholder meeting lipstick. I rarely need the red lips effect at work. Muahaha. So how could this get any better? When I too create my own signature lipstick. (Already added to my 40th Birthday list of things to do).  It can be purchased from Cosmetics a la Carte for £18 + £4 p&p.

What do I wear during the day to keep my lips in top top condition? Its Hurraw! Because I wear lipstick every day and have dry lips I need to ensure that my out and about lip saviour is this black cherry tinted lip balm. Its natural, organic, vegan and fairtrade and my lips love it. Why a tinted lip balm? Beacuse I like a bit of colour on my lips and this is more soothing than continually applying layers of lipstick. Its a dark red sheer tint so it also doubles up as a lip balm on matte lipsticks starting to fade. Hurraw! is available from www.amazon.co.uk or if you are in Marleybone Content

And last but not least is my NYR Mulberry Lip Gloss. One of the few glosses I've kept hold of as I hate the gloss whipped hair streaks all over my face. The mulberry shade is a classic dark berry without bordeing into blackberry shades. This range fron NYR is their first cosmetic line and was the only make up range certified by the Soil Association when it launched Decembe r2010. It's without nasty silicone, carmine and parabens but best of all it's enriched with organic sweet orange essential oil. Which means when you wear it on a grey miserable day, the scent of oranges transports you momentarily to sunny Spain. But cheaper than a holiday at £9.50.

I hope you've enjoed my ramblings. And if you wear similiar shades let me know what else I should add to my collection. 

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

Guest Post - Jayne's Kitschen

Jayne Kitschen Gets Lippie

The lovely Louise has asked me to write a little guest blog for her fabulous blog, I hope that you will enjoy it. To stay on theme, I’ve chosen to write for you a lip balm collection and mini review.
Lip balms are one of those things that every girl seems to gather a large collection of in a very short space of time. This week I did a good clear out of my lip balm collection, so I’m going to share with you the lip balms that made the cut and tell you more about some of my favourites.

This is my collection at present:
MUA Sugar Lips Love Hearts Balm
Crazy Rumors Brew lip balm in Peppermint Lemongrass, Apple Spice and Orange Bergamot
Culpepper Strawberry lip balm
Figs & Rouge Sweet Geranium
Lip Smackers in Stellar Strawberry
Burt’s Bees Rejuvenating Acai Berry lip balm
Carmex lip balm
EOS Sweet Mint lip balm sphere
Rose & Co Cherry Kiss Salve
Rose & Co Rose Petal Salve
Nivea Pearl & Shine
Bath House Creme Brulee lip balm

My current favourites are from cutECOsmetics and include the Sweet Mint EOS lip balm sphere and the Brew flavours from Crazy Rumors. All of these brands are cruelty free, vegan and made of mostly natural ingredients. Crazy Rumors is 100% natural and EOS is 95% natural.
The EOS is actually the nicest lip balm ever and has surprisingly over taken Burt’s Bees as my everyday essential. I love the quirky packaging of the EOS spheres and the balm is fantastic, non greasy but moisturising.

The Crazy Rumors balms are a much thicker consistency, but they add a nice gloss and have some of the yummiest, more unusual flavours I’ve seen in lip balms.  The Chai Tea Crazy Rumors is delicious; sadly it is no longer in my collection as I have donated it to my very pregnant friend who is missing her tea addiction.

My long term favourite lip balm has always been anything from Burt’s Bees, 100% natural and widely available; it’s always a guaranteed hit. My favourite version is the rejuvenating Acai Berry lip balm stick, it smells like berries and is moisturising without feeling heavy or greasy. All of Burt’s Bees are also cruelty free.

The lip balms that I love the most for nostalgia and the prettiness are my Rose & Co lip salves, I used to work at Rose & Co’s boutique in Leeds and have always loved the range. The Rose & Co Rose Petal Salve is a beauty essential, in its pretty pink, vintage inspired tin this is a versatile balm for lips, dry skin and great for fixing eyebrows, most of all it is rose scented! I also have the Cherry Kiss Rose & Co lip balm, which I adore for the cherry printed, blue tin; this balm is very slightly tinted and lightly fragranced.
Which lip balms are essentials for you? Have you tried any of these?
If you have enjoyed this guest blog, I would love for you to check out my blog, www.jayneskitschen.co.uk/blog

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