L'Artisan Parfumeur Fragrance Profile Service

Nuit de Tubereuse by Bertrand Duchafour

When planning a wedding, there are a million decisions to be made, some big, some small, and all seemingly important, at least to someone! Fragance is an important addition to a wedding, I think. I've known, almost since the moment we got engaged, what perfume I was going to wear to get married in. I'd picked out Seville A L'Aube, created by Bertrand Duchafour for L'Artisan Parfumeur, as, from the second I smelled it initially, it spoke to me, and I'd been dreaming about it ever since.  It's released this week, and I had been planning to buy a bottle.


But ... MrLippie doesn't like it.  In his words, it is, "too strong and too heady", apparently.  Which is a shame, because it is a stunningly beautiful orange blossom and incense fragrance, which would have been perfect for a winter wedding. Warm and floral, and seemingly innocent in the top notes, and fleshy-sexy as hell underneath.  But, alas, it is not to be. I can't wear a fragrance MrL hates. Well actually, I can, but maybe not on our wedding day ... I can grant him that.  Just this once.  I suppose.

Fou d'Absinthe by Olivia Giacobetti

However, L'Artisan heard about our clash of the wedding fragrances, and, invited us along to their beautiful jewel-box of a perfume shop in Covent Garden for a joint fragrance profiling.  We were delighted to take part, and went along one evening last week to meet with Diana who was there to guide us through this particular scented journey ...

Safran Troublant by Olivia Giacobetti

Your fragrance profile starts with a few questions about your favourite scents, favourite perfumes, and the perfumes you grew up with your mother wearing.  Diana took great pains to point out that my choices were "eclectic" - but this I already knew! Then, you're given selected L'Artisan fragrances two by two, in their signature cups with a fragranced muslin in the bottom, and asked to say which one you prefer.  The ones you like go to one side, and the ones you don't choose go back into the display.


Then, once this is done, you go back through the ones you like, until you have narrowed your selection down to just two or three of the original line-up of fragrances.  I'll just say that some of these choices are surprisingly difficult! You're then sprayed with your fragrances of choice so you can see how they work on your skin.

Timbuktu by Bertrand Duchafour

We took this in turns, and I ended up narrowing down the fragrances to three: Nuit de Tubereuse (a glamorous white floral), Timbuktu (a deconstructed vetiver, heady with incense) and Safran Troublant (a spicy, spicy rose with saffron and ginger).  I was sprayed with these and settled down to quietly sniff myself whilst MrLippie went through his profile, which was - probably unsurprisingly - considerably quicker than mine!  Eventually, MrLippie narrowed his choices down to Timbuktu (great minds think alike, apparently!), and Fou d'Absinthe (anise with pine and patchouli).


When the scents were on my skin, it was clear that there was only one winner for me, and that was Safran Troublant, this initially spiky, gingery, saffron gourmand (it dries down to a vanilla rice pudding on my skin, which is a lot nicer than it sounds), isn't something I'd have picked out in a million years, to be honest, but on my skin it was definitely the one that smelled most "me".  Foody fragrances normally turn my stomach a bit, but this pulls of the wonderful trick of being both extremely comforting, and a little edgy, all at the same time.  I like it a lot. All three of us smelled all three of the scents I was wearing, and we all picked out the same one - a fragrance consensus, that never happens!


For MrLippie the choice was a lot harder, both Fou d'Absinthe and Timbuktu suited his skin magnificently well, and there was lots of to-ing and fro-ing, and eventually, he settled on Timbuktu as his fragrance of choice.  A very good choice as it happens, it's rather wonderful, and, as it smells pretty good on me, too - I'd be bound to say it was a good choice! I regret, slightly, that he didn't pick the licorice of Fou D'Absinthe, but his choice, I guess...


So, will Timbuktu and Safran Troublant end up being what we wear to the wedding?  At this moment in time, I'm not sure.  Safran is going to get a lot of wear, I can already tell that, but my dreams have been haunted, just a little by the sour mango, tuberose and earth of Nuit de Tubereuse ever since I smelled it too, so there may just be another little purchase in the offing ...


Fragrance profiling is available to all L'Artisan customers, you just need to make an appointment with your local store.  Purchases aren't necessary.  I'd highly recommend the service, it will make you think very differently about the scents you like.


Get Lippie and MrLippie were guests of L'Artisan Parfumeur.
 
This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.

Wedding Hair

Wedding update:

Done:
 
Bought the dress
Found the shoes
Printed the invitations
Re-printed the invitations owing to original venue closing down
Gone on the diet (a necessary evil, alas - if you're wondering why you haven't seen my face on the blog recently, it's because all my photos currently scream FAT)
Decided on the colour scheme (which is purple, grey and silver)
Considered strangling the person who told me that I can't eat my own wedding cake
Considered stranging the person who told me I can't have have artificial flowers in my bouquet
Got fed up with jewellers who don't reply to emails, to the extent where I'm refusing to work with an "artisan" ever again, and am regretting ever deciding to work with an independent jeweller at all.
Decided on the wedding perfume
Had the wedding perfume vetoed by the groom
Considered strangling the groom for having terrible taste in perfume
Booked the band
Made a deal with a local hotel


NOT Done:
Finalised the guest list
Sent the invitations out
Set the menu
Decided whether we're having speeches or not.
Sorted out the hen-party invitees
Decided whether I'm booking a make-up artist or not
Booked a series of facials
A million* other things.


What I have been doing instead of concentrating on things not done is got a bit obsessed with hair.  It started with a blog post from Kelly at Hair Advice & All Things Nice showing a picture of Kate Middleton's (I know, I know) braided bun recently, and since then I've been collecting pictures of updos like a woman obsessed, I've even set up a Pinterest page for them!  I don't want anything too sleek or structured, but I know I need an updo, because the wedding is in February, and I need something that won't droop or blow around if the weather is awful.  Someone pointed out that I have a very rectangular face (gee, thanks), so I need a bit of width and softness to offset this. 


For a look at my current obsessions, take a look at: http://pinterest.com/getlippie/hair-inspiration, now I just need a hairdresser who can work with my crazy hair!


* Probably.  At this moment in time, I'm actually getting a bit bored of wedding planning.  Heresy, eh?


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

Review Guerlain Rouge G L'Extrait in Luxure

I'm gonna gush.  You've been warned.  Guerlain, for me, are totally knocking it out of the park this year, the collaboration with Pucci earlier in the summer was beyond beautiful, and don't think I'm not kicking myself for not picking it up, because I am.  Okay, I am drowning in Meteorites, but that doesn't mean I couldn't have used more ...

This August, Guerlain are releasing a new version of Rouge G, called Rouge G L'Extrait, and I have one in the shade Luxure, described in the literature as an "ochre-brown".  I disagree, as you shall see. Anyway, L'Extrait is a matte liquid lipstick, packaged similarly to last season's Mascara Noir G (a little bigger than the original Rouge G packaging:

 Top to bottom: Rouge G (Original), Rouge G L'Extrait, Mascara Noir G.

The Rouge G L'Extraits are refillable, and feature a coloured section in the top, so you can tell the shades from one another, without having to squint at the print on the back of the casing:

There's a standard doe-foot applicator in here, and the lipstick itself is a little thicker than the ones I've been showing you over the last couple of weeks:

This doesn't look "ochre-brown" to me.  It's a deep orange-y red, almost a brick red, and it's beautiful.  There are seven shades in the range, named (in French, natch) after the seven deadly sins:


Gourmandise (raspberry) for gluttony,
Orguel (plum) for pride,
Envie (orange) for envy,
Avarice (beige) for greed,
Paresse (pink) for sloth,
Luxure (ochre-brown) for lust 
Colère (red) for wrath.

I'll be picking up Gourmandise, Paresse and Colère  at some point for sure, let's put it that way.

Because, these have, in this humble bloggers opinion, one of the finest formulas known to man.  Or woman.  The pigmentation is deep, rich, and lasts and lasts, and lasts.  Not entirely a matte formula, they're a very creamy (non-drying) lipstick, and, when I wear this - even after eating - the initial application can last for up to 12 hours.  Almost entirely unheard of, at least, for me. It doesn't feather either, I've worn it without lipliner, and it's behaved itself perfectly.

Swatch:

Definitely on the orange side, but there's no way in hell I'd call this brown.  Here, I've compared it (in different lighting to the three previous red liquid lipsticks I've shown you recently:

Definitely brown-er, but definitely not brown.

Personally, I would say that if you were going to own only one red liquid lipstick, make it this one. Guerlain Rouge G L'Extrait will be available on counters from August 7th, and will cost £29.50.  Refills will be cheaper.
  
The Fine Print: PR sample.

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

Pure Gold Liquid Collagen Review

 A couple of months ago, I gave away a month's supply of Pure Gold Liquid Collagen and promised to give you a full review afterwards.  Well, I'm not sure that this will count as a full review, but here goes.


I finished my month-long trial with beautiful, glowing, clear skin, and, at the time, I put it down to the skincare I was using.  Now, another month or so after the trial has ended, (and without using a replacement supplement in the meantime), my skin isn't the same gorgeous, smooth skin it was while I was on the trial.


I miss it.


Don't get me wrong, my skin is still pretty good, but it's definitely not the same skin it was while I was taking Pure Gold. The supplement is delicious, which really helped, I found.  I have other supplements that contain fish oil here, and I can't bring myself to take them very often because, well, they taste of fish!  Nothing worse than an unexpected fish-burp if you ask me. Anyway,  the taste of Pure Gold is of a slightly spicy orange juice, if you've ever sniffed the Blood Orange and Pepper range from Bliss, it tastes how that smells, utterly divine (mental note, must stock up on Bliss at the earliest opportunity), and made taking the supplement a pleasure. 


I'd recommend the supplement without question if it weren't for one thing, the price.  A ten-day supply costs £35.99, making this work out at £3.59 a bottle, or £108 a month, or almost £1,300 a year.  That's a LOT of moolah.


If you can afford it, I say go for it, I only wish I could.

The Fine Print: PR sample.   Please note that Pure Gold Liquid collagen is NOT vegan-friendly.


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

Chanel Dragon Rouge Allure Laque

So, following on from my posts about Bare Minerals Upper Class Red, and Beaute Weightless Lip Creme in Masochist last week, I thought I'd show you what is considered to be the uber-red liquid lipstick, and that is Dragon, by Chanel.

A classic red, both deep and bloody, and lightly glimmering with gold, this is an undoubtedly gorgeous lip colour.  Sadly, I don't like it very much.  I'll get to why later, but first, here are some pictures:

Chanel's Rouge Allure Laque has an innovatively shaped applicator, ostensibly lip-shaped, the dip in the middle of the doe-foot makes it easier to follow the outline of your lips, and this lends itself to a simpler application than with other, flatter applicators.


The shade itself is almost faultless, a warm, rich, deep shade, it contains golden micro-shimmer to stop the colour looking flat and one-dimensional on the lips without becoming a disco-ball:

It's almost a "geisha" red shade, and is truly beautiful.  Sadly, I don't like the formula much.  I find it has a bit too much slip, and, as a result, can be prone to seepage.  You will need a lipliner with this, and blotting is highly recommended too.  I also find that it doesn't last as long on my lips as other deep reds, which is a disappointment.


So, how does the shade compare with other reds?  Here, I'm comparing it to the two other red liquid lipsticks I've already mentioned:

As you can see, Dragon is a little darker than either Upper Class or Masochiste, and the comparison makes the glimmer just a little more evident too.  It's a little less orange than the other two, having a slightly more blue undertone.


There have been rumours about Dragon being discontinued from the Rouge Allure range for about a year now, but I picked this one up just a couple of months ago.  Overall, I'd say it was nice to have, but ... later on this week I have a replacement for it that is EVEN BETTER.  Yes, you heard me, a liquid lipstick I love.  Possibly a bit too much, now I come to think about, I'll keep you posted ...


 The Fine Print: Chanel Dragon was a purchase.


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

Dear National Magazines,

A journalist from one of you contacted me this week.  You said you wanted to interview me about my makeup collection (I'd responded to an RT on Twitter that I didn't understand, and you emailed me to explain), and you invited me along to a photoshoot too. You said I was "perfect".  I was the right age, had the right kind of collection, and you loved my blog so you really wanted me to take part.


So, in spite of it being a hellishly busy week - it's month end, I'm an accountant, I'm training up a new member of staff, plus we've moved to a new office - I rearranged my day, and gave up the one lunch hour (actually 30 minutes) I've managed to grab in two weeks, in order to do a phone interview with your journalist. I didn't get any lunch in the end. After that, I proceeded to rearrange my weekend plans to fit in your photoshoot.  I inconvenienced a few people, not least of all myself.  But it was okay!  I had a photoshoot in a national magazine to make my excuses about!  People grumbled, but they understood.


I agreed because your magazine was one I felt fit right with my blog.  I'm in your target audience, I have a "don't tell me I can't" attitude, I'm open-minded, optimistic (What?  I am!  Occasionally), and modern in my lifestyle choices. Heck, I'm so modern in my lifestyle choices that I write a blog.  On the internet.  Get me, being all crazy with that new-fangled technology shizzle!  Did I mention I'm down with "the kids"?  They love it when we get all crazy with their hippity-hop slang.  They really do.  Anyway, I'm digressing.  The point is that I get approached by newspapers and magazines quite regularly these days, and I say no to 95% of the offers that I'm made because they don't feel right.  In this case, I thought we were a good match, and that you weren't one of those magazines that take the mickey out of their readers.  I grew up reading my mum's copies of you, and I thought I knew you.


Except, of course, I was wrong.  You've dropped me from your article, and I'm not allowed to be featured, or to go to that "lovely" photoshoot and it's all because my "lifestyle choices" are a little "too" modern for a magazine.

You know why, don't you?  It's because I write a blog. And you "don't want to publicise bloggers".

The day after I gave up my time, and rearranged my week to fit in with your schedule (at very short notice), you rang and told me that you've had a "new editorial directive" and it's about the aforementioned publicising of bloggers.  You said sorry, you were very polite, and seemingly a bit upset at the directive, but it was still a massive smack in the face for me.  

You contacted me!  I didn't email you, begging for publicity, then tell you to bog off after you'd made massive schedule changes at short notice, and sorted everything out, by cancelling on you, with less than 24 hours notice to boot.  No, you wooed me, courted me, made me drop everything for you, then dumped me, even though the thing you didn't like about me at the end was the one thing that made you contact me in the first place!   You found me because I write a blog, and you wanted to feature me because you liked my blog.  But, because I write a blog, you can't feature me, because you don't want to give me publicity?

Sorry, what now?  

Did I even ask you to mention the blog?  I don't think I did, actually.  You mentioned it a lot when you got in touch though, oh boy, didn't you!

Magazines, there's one really big thing that you always forget about bloggers, and that is that we are your readers too.  Our readers read magazines as well.  I love magazines so much I now write for one, part-time, admittedly, and it's only been a couple of week, but still, it's in print and I love it.  My mum will love it too, I don't think she gets the internet, and she's a massive fan of magazines - it's where I got my love of them from. Indeed, from where I'm sitting, right here and now, I can see a pile of magazines six inches high.  I dread to think how many are under the bed.

Now, most magazines are simply falling over themselves to court bloggers, and, whilst it's refreshing to discover one that isn't, let me ask you one thing: why did you bother?  I don't need publicity, really.  Whilst it's always nice to see my name in print, I already get far more attention than a short, fat, bad-tempered, kinda funny-lookin' accountant with three jobs can handle, so I don't really court it  (although, I have taken part in a feature for a national newspaper recently, which I suspect will come back to bite me on the bum at some point. More about this at a later date), and I'm actually too busy living my busy life, making my modern lifestyle choices, and being as "can do" as I can possibly be without being either Pollyanna or a massive walking cliche.


I've had a troubled relationship with magazines for a while now, ever since a (former) idol of mine wrote a blog post about how dreadful bloggers were (oh, the irony! Using a blog to slag off other people with blogs!), calling us hairy-armed blaggers and there was a cacophony of beauty editors literally falling over themselves to chime in with how much they agreed with the article, and patting the author on the back for "telling it like it is".  There was an air of "they had it coming, those uppity bloggers, let's give it to them".  Nice. Ironically, I've worked for several national newspapers, which is far more media experience than some "journalists".  Does it make me a better blogger?  Not really.

The author (and former idol, did I mention that?) then turned it back on the bloggers who had an issue, suggesting that the only bloggers who would have a problem with it were those self same "blaggers".  Actually, very much not true, whilst there are undoubtedly bad bloggers around, suggesting that the only good bloggers around are those who have been journalists first is not only fallacious, it's egregious.  Some of the best writers around don't even want to be journalists, why should they be?  

As a result of all this, I even considered giving up the blog.  These were people I respected and have looked up to for a long time, and if they can think that about their bloggers - of whom I am one by choice, as well as by inclination, and yes, I do consider myself a "blogger" rather than an "online writer" or whatever we're supposed to call ourselves this week - well, what am I doing with my life?  It passed, but, every now and again, I have my doubts about why I do this.


I'm digressing (slightly) again.  It was a distasteful episode for a variety of reasons, and I lost a lot of respect both for the author of that article, and the beauty editors who cheered the author on.

It was distasteful because some of those beauty editors work for magazines which run those "best beauty blogger" award schemes, which usually involve the "winning" bloggers getting an opportunity to write for the magazine!  For free, of course.  But first, those self-same bloggers are "gently encouraged" to write articles about the awards begging their reader to go and vote, thereby giving the magazine tonnes of free publicity!  Oh, and linkbacks to the voting pages of the magazine, lets not forget those. Lots of nice SEO links for the magazines there, lots of nice (free) publicity for the magazines, lots of traffic to the magazine website from the bloggers readers and hey, at the end of it, guess what?  Free content for the magazines!  Again, nice. For the magazine.  The blogger never gets much out of it other than a byline on an article (online-only usually), but hey ho, it's nice that the magazines do something for us, eh?


Meh.


The magazine who wooed me and dumped me this week wasn't one of those magazines, which is why I thought it would be good to work with them.  I was wrong, there's just as much contempt for bloggers in the magazine-world as I thought there was last year.  They just hide it better.


Let's get a couple of things straight.  Movies didn't kill off the radio.  Television didn't kill off cinema. The internet hasn't killed off TV.  None of those things killed off books, and blogs won't kill off magazines and newspapers.  Yes, some of those industries have had to adapt to survive, and none of them are really in their heyday any more.  Bloggers aren't really going anywhere either, and barely any of us have any plans to "replace" magazines.  We're doing something magazines either can't or won't.  There's room for both.  And when the thing that replaces blogging as the next "big thing" comes along, us bloggers will have to adapt to survive too.  You'll get your laughs in when that happens, national magazines, oh yes you will, just you wait.


In the meantime, I'll be sending this national magazine an invoice for my time and inconvenience.  You betcha.  I won't, however, be buying a copy of it ever again.  And I'm going to tell my mum on you. So there.


Love and kisses, 


Lippie.

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

MAC Club Vs Bare Minerals Mirage

Club is one of those iconic products from MAC that most appear to have in their makeup bag.  Described as a "red-brown with green pearl" it is, in fact, a beautiful, and versatile eyeshadow that deserves its cult status. When I was sent the new Bare Minerals eyeshadow duo in "The Vision", I thought one of the shades looked familiar, so I thought I'd do a comparison post.

Can you see what I saw?  The Vision eyeshadow duo (on the right there), contains a pistachio shade ("Illusion), and, what Bare Minerals refer to as a "deep lagoon" colour "Mirage" on the right.  I immediately thought that this was a dead ringer for MAC Club!  Take a closer look:

Mirage's texture is a little more reflective than Club's, so it looks a little more washed out in these pictures, but next to each other you'd be hard-pressed to say there was any difference at all.


So, how do they swatch?  

Swatches applied with finger, no primer - MAC has two layers, and Bare Minerals has one. Now, it must be said that many MAC shadows need a primer, but just look at the pigmentation of the Bare Minerals!  And you can see the pearl straight away, too.


Here's another look:

Can't deny that the MAC has disappointing application.  Club is one of their Satin finish eyeshadows, and mine is a couple of years old, so it may be that my pot has dried out a little, but I've often found that MAC shadows can be a little hard and underpowered in the pigmentation department over the last few years, I can't deny.


Mirage is from Bare Minerals' new "ready" range which features their famous loose mineral powders made solid - they're not "pressed", by all accounts, but they are a really lovely, soft, buttery texture with excellent pay off and wear.  Just in case you want to see both shades in The Vision palette swatched, here they are:

Again, there is rich pigmentation, but I find the shade itself a little chalky, and, I have to admit, it's not a shade I'd ever wear in a million years, but it's definitely a high-quality shadow.


MAC single eyeshadows cost £12 for 1.5g, and the Bare Minerals duo is £19 for 3g,  (which works out at £9.50 each)

The Fine Print: Purchases and PR samples all mixed up ...


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