Giorgio Armani Maestro Fusion Makeup Review

A review of two halves, this one.

I was so, so excited when I read about Giorgio Maestro Fusion Makeup, and was desperate to try it.  Described as a blend of five different oils, with a powder-free formulation, I thought this would be great for my combination-oily, but occasionally dehydrated skin.  I'm a massive convert to oils these days, using them for cleansing, moisturising, and as serums.  When it first arrived, and I first had a play on the back of my hand, I was exceptionally excited, I can honestly say I've not tried a foundation similar to it.

It's an exceptionally thin and runny liquid, which very much needs the dropper it comes with.  You do literally only need around 5-6 drops to cover your whole face.

 

 It spreads very easily, and is virtually undetectable on the skin, you can neither feel it, nor see it, it's amazing.  It blends away exceptionally easily, and leaves a matte finish (something I wasn't really expecting, admittedly). It has a very sheer coverage, but I find that it evens out the skintone very nicely.  This is shade five, which is right in the middle of the range, there are nine shades, which promise to match every skintone.  In actuality, the shades are very forgiving, and adapt well to individual tones, so picking up something that doesn't quite match isn't the tragedy it can be with some other foundations.  It's not great at covering imperfections though, so bear in mind that you will need a concealer with this foundation.

You should be able to see the slight difference on my hand there, but please bear in mind that my hands are much paler than my face, it actually matches pretty well with my complexion.

The first day I wore this, however, I was bitterly disappointed. Just four hours or so into wear, my face was showing "dehydration lines", and the foundation was clinging, patchily, onto any dry patches of skin.  It looked awful.  Dreadful. Possibly the worst foundation I've ever worn.  It made me look very old, exhausted, and worn out. NOT what you want in a foundation.  I put it away, and vowed never to use it again.

In the meantime, however, I've read a lot of similar reviews, and they made me think that maybe I should give it a second chance. My skin is in better condition at the moment than it was around the time of my initial testing,  and I've been wearing Maestro for a week or so as a result.  I'm happier with it, as, because my skin isn't dry or dehydrated right now, the formulation doesn't cling to any flaky patches, or settle into dehydration lines.

Whilst it's great that I can now use this to even out my skintone on good-skin/no makeup days, it kind of defeats the object of foundation, really.   The fact that my skin has to be in tip-top condition before I can use the product is galling - who has perfect skin?  I'll stick to Armani Face Fabric for good skin days.

Here's how it looks on my mush - you can see it doesn't cover pores, and is clinging slightly to my nose, but aside from that, I quite like the finish.

Lipstick is Burberry Miliary Red, I'm wearing a bit of mascara, but that's it.

Giorgio Armani Maestro Fusion Makeup costs £36.  What do you think?

The Fine Print:  PR Sample, and a long-overdue review. Good Face Days are few and far between.  Camel-face days on the other hand ... well ...

This post: http://getlippie.blogspot.com/2012/10/giorgio-armani-maestro-fusion-makeup.html originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

Burberry Lip Velvet - Military Red

I've been researching red lipsticks rather thoroughly recently (for a piece in SLiNK), and, being fond of a bit of Burberry makeup, this has been a nice addition to my collection.  It's from their new matte lipstick collection.

It's packaged in a matte tube, rather than the shiny pewter livery that we're used to:

 (personally, I prefer the shiny, but that's just because I'm a bit of a magpie)

I do adore the Burberry pattern embossed into the bullet, it just gives these lipsticks that little more ... oomph, somehow.  Admittedly, this is about the only place I do like the Burberry pattern, but that's by the by.

The shade is a classic bright, bright red, and Military Red is a good name for the shade, it definitely brings to mind the scarlet jackets of the military.

It's not a harsh matte formulation, it has plenty of slip, and is opaque in more or less one pass over the lips.  The formula doesn't dry the lips out, either, which is great.

This is, however, one of the brightest reds I own.  And I kind of love it for that.  It's very definitely a statement shade, if you're wearing this, no one will notice much, if anything else that you have on your face, so it's definitely not one for wallflowers.   I think of it (a little bit) as a Snow White kind of red, ie one that's perfect for the very pale, I can see this working very well on the very pale, or the very dark, I'm not too sure how it would work on a medium or olive skintone, to be honest.

Here it is in the context of my face:

  
 I really like this shade, the formulation hasn't blown me away as much as some other matte formulations have this year (Art Deco, for example), but it's a great lipstick all the same.  I haven't noticed any bleeding, and it lasts quite well, but can fade somewhat from the centre.

Burberry Lip Velvets cost £23 and are available from Harrods - incidentally, the shade swatches on the Harrods website bear no relation whatsoever to the actual lipstick shades, I've noticed, so make sure you do a thorough search around the internet to check out the colour of any lipsticks you want to buy.  

The Fine Print: Press sample, but there's a few other shades that I want to pick up, I think...

This post: http://getlippie.blogspot.com/2012/10/burberry-lip-velvet-military-red.html originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

Tom Ford Tainted Love Lip and Cheek Stain

...Sometimes I feel I've got to run away
I've got to get away
From the pain you drive into the heart of me.
The love we share seems to go nowhere ...

Ahem ... anyway, I doubt very much this product was inspired by Soft Cell, but one never knows.  The latest collection from Tom Ford is a seasonal one, and, for me, this is the most interesting product.  

 

 

Packaged identically to the iconic Tom Ford Private Blend lipsticks (which is both a blessing and a curse, to be honest), this is Tom's first lip and cheek stain.

 

It has a rounded top, unlike the lipstick's slanted edge, which makes it easier for application on the cheeks rather the the lips, and it has a sheerer formulation than the traditional lipsticks:

Oops!  Used before photographing, sorry!

My bullet feels a little loose in the housing, as you can probably tell from the markings towards the middle of the stain - which I find infuriating in such a high-end product, tbh - but this is essentially a sheer berry shade, which should be flattering on most paler skins.  I'm not sure it would show up too much on the cheeks of darker skins, but it would still work as a lip stain.  It's a lovely colour, not too blue, and not too pink, which is a very fine line.

Strangely, I find myself  preferring this as a cheek colour to a lip stain, it's got a fair amount of slip, blends easily, and gives just a tiny kiss of flushed colour to your skin, it's deeply pretty, and looks very natural. 

 

On my lips, the colour just doesn't quite work, as my lips are quite pigmented naturally, and it doesn't quite do enough to even out any patchy shading.  But if your lips are more evenly pigmented, or are paler, than mine then it will work better, it's just a little too close to my natural shade to be useable, really.

 

It doesn't, really, have any staining properties that I'm aware of having tested it a few times, now.  It's far more Lipstick Queen Medieval than Benetint, if that makes any sense.  It's basically a sheer lip colour, which is fairly emollient, than a stain of any description whatsoever, really.

 

Tainted Love Lip & Cheek "stain" is a limited edition product, and is on counters now at £36.

 The Fine Print: PR sample.

This post: http://getlippie.blogspot.com/2012/10/tom-ford-tainted-love-lip-and-cheek.html originated at:  Get Lippie on 19th October 2012. All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

FuturePrimitive Soap Co - Dust Witch

We're moving towards that time of year again, Halloween.  I can't be bothered with decorations, or Halloween-themed makeup or nails, but I do like to smell slightly Halloween-y.  Yes, I'm a bit odd.

The last couple of years, I've bought my Halloween-themed toiletries from a US-based company, and  I love them, but FuturePrimitive have been tickling my blogging radar for a while now, thanks to LondonMakeUpGirl, and I thought it was time to give them a trial of my own.   I read the description of Dust Witch, which reads:

"Crushed Dragonsblood incense, aged Patchouli, resinous Vanilla, sweet Orange oil & Oakmoss absolute with a pungent heart of stewed Rhubarb stalk" 

 And I knew that this was a fragrance that had my name ALL over it.  Incense, oakmoss and RHUBARB? I am in.  I couldn't decide which product to choose - there was a bar-soap, a bubbling sugar scrub, a whipped soap, a body whip, and a perfume oil - but I eventually decided on the body whip, and the perfume oil, thinking that if I liked the scent, I could use it to scent other products ...

 Much like mint, I'm a bit of a sucker for rhubarb scented products - and have been disappointed a few times in the past by products that claim to contain a rhubarb fragrance, but don't.  I have a rhubarb-scented shower-gel that I bought in Paris last year that I'm eking out drop by drop so I don't run out, and have been longing for other products to complement it, and I'm happy to say that Dust Witch are a perfect accompaniment!

I tried the perfume oil first, and on initial application it's a sharp, bright, effervescent burst of fizzy pink rhubarb flavour, that's an almost photo-real representation of a warm bowl of rhubarb that's been stewed with just the tiniest splash of orange juice.  It's wonderful, and energising, and just that tiny bit unusual.  It's unusual also for an oil-based fragrance to be so bright and zingy, but it's very lovely.  After a couple of hours or so, the incense and patchouli break through the stewed fruits, and warm up into a fuzzy skin-scent that warms your heart just a little, and is something I like to keep sniffing on myself.  It never entirely loses the heart of fruit, which is something I love.  Also, something that MrLippie hates, but that's by the by, the boy is weird.  However, the scent wears close to the skin at all times, so it's not something that bothers him too much.

The body whip is unusual also, in that it's a matte formulation, and has a lot less slip than I anticipated. It's quite thick and stiff, but it's fairly spreadable, and I do find it very moisturising.  I don't use body lotion all over as a rule, I tend to use it as a spot-treatment on very dry areas - such as my shins - or I use it as an accompaniment to my perfume routine.  As such, Body Whip performs very well, being moisturising on application, and it contains that same bright, zippy fragrance as the body oil.  It's non-greasy, which is wonderful, but I suspect that if you're planning to use this as an all-over body treatment, you might have issues with the lack of slip.  I think applying it onto slightly damp skin might alleviate this though.
 

All in all, I'm delighted with my purchases from FuturePrimitive, and I'm now kicking myself for not buying up the entire Dust Witch range when I had the chance - there's only the bubbling scrub left now!  I'm assured that Dust Witch will be back next year, so I'll be more on the ball next time ...    


This post: http://getlippie.blogspot.com/2012/10/futureprimitive-soap-co-dust-witch.html originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post at Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper

How To Make Your Manicure Last Longer

There is very little worse - from a beauty bloggers point of view - than a nail varnish that lasts around 30 seconds on the nails.  It's heartbreaking to discover that the beautiful shade you've just splashed out on has all the lasting power of a soap bubble.  Especially if it's an £18 soap bubble ...

Anyway, there is help, and you can make those ephemeral polishes last longer.  It's a technique called the "Sticky Sandwich", and it's very simple.  I didn't originate this technique, btw, but I use it all the time, because I'm lazy and can't be bothered doing my nails more than once (twice if it's a special occasion), in a week.

Anyway, here goes, you need a sticky basecoat, and the irritating polish of your choice, I chose these:

Orly Bonder, which is a rubberised basecoat, and Chanel Le Vernis in Barcelona Red. 

Important Note: 


You must make sure that whichever basecoat you use is a STICKY one, ie, one that feels tacky to the touch no matter how long you leave it to dry.  A couple of brands make them, make sure they say something like "high adhesion" or something on the label.  Orly Bonder just happens to be the best one I've found, and this is my second bottle.  The first bottle lasted over a year of more than regular usage and cost me about a tenner from eBay - nowadays you can get it from the newly-revamped BeautyBay for a more bargain-friendly price of £7.95.

Do not be tempted, whatever you do, to use one of those two-in-one Top and Basecoat jobbies, as they dry too shiny for this technique to work. Normal basecoats won't work either, you need something that gives a texture to your base to give your chippy-polish something to grip to.  This is the only time you'll be told that a nail product being stick is a good thing, by the way ... anyhoo, I'm digressing.

Okay, let's make a "Sticky Sandwich"

Step one:
Apply a coat of your sticky basecoat, and leave it to dry.

Step two:
Apply a coat of polish, leave to dry for a couple of minutes

Step three:
Repeat steps 1 & 2.

Step four (optional):
Seal with glossy topcoat.

It's not a complicated technique, admittedly, but it's one that does work.  The sticky basecoat allows both coats of polish to have something to cling to, and this means it takes longer for the colour to chip off the nails.  Even the chippiest of polishes will last at least two-to-three days after this treatment, and if you try it with better polishes, you should get at least a week of wear.  (Ignore anything you read about Orly Bonder giving you up to two weeks of wear, btw, it's total marketing guff).

So, what do you think?  A £7.95 investment that can give your crappy old polishes a new lease of life? Would it be worth it?

The Fine Print: Products are purchases, but the technique is shamelessly stolen from a bazillion other (mainly nail-centric) blogs, I wish I knew who'd invented it, so I could give due credit.  Links are for informational purposes only, and are not affiliate links.
 
This post: http://getlippie.blogspot.com/2012/10/how-to-make-your-manicure-last-longer_14.html originated at: Get Lippie All rights reserved. If you are reading this anywhere other than getlippie.com, then this content has been stolen.

Five basics every makeup bag should have

I get asked, quite regularly, what makeup products every makeup bag should contain, and I always find it a difficult question to answer (I don't really carry a makeup bag round with me, and, when I do, it mainly contains lip products ... the name of this blog didn't come around by accident, you know) but, in response to a particularly heartfelt plea from MummyBarrow, asking for the five products you need to re-stock an empty makeup bag, here's what I think you need in a basic, but well-stocked makeup bag:

1) Base
2) Blush
3) Mascara
4) Eyeshadow/Eyeliner
5) Lip Colour

Here's my product picks:

1) Base 
 
Every makeup bag should contain a base product, whether it's foundation, concealer, or a powder is entirely down to individual preference, but, if I was starting from scratch, I'd pick a pigmented base with some skincare properties - either a tinted moisturiser from a reputable skin-care company, or a BB cream, again from a reputable skincare company (rather than a company better known for their colour cosmetics.  So, which ones would I pick?  Well, depending on budget, I'd either pick:

Chantecaille Just Skin Tinted Moisturiser (£57 from Space NK)

Or Dr Jart Regenerating BB Cream (£21 from Boots)

 Both can be used as a moisturiser in their own right (confession, I never use a coloured product in place of skincare, I always use my full skincare routine then use tinted moisturisers etc, but not everyone is as obsessive about their skincare as I am, I admit), and both give great coverage.  If pushed, I prefer the Chantecaille, less mineral oil, nicer fragrance, more buildable coverage as you can apply in successive layers - but the Dr Jart has an SPF of 30,  over and above the Chantecaille's SPF of 15.  The Dr Jart is nice and soothing on the skin though, and doesn't irritate my stupidly sensitive skin. 

A good base is all-important for making the rest of your make-up (however little you spend, and however little attention you pay to it) look good, don't skimp here.

2) Blush

Only one possible choice here, for me, and that is:

New CID iGlow in Coral Crush (£24 from New CID Cosmetics)

This is possibly the most-used cosmetic item in my stash at the moment, and I adore it.  Gives a wonderful glowy lift to my cheeks (it's ostensibly a highlighting product, but I find it pigmented enough to use as a blusher), and it goes with most makeup looks.  It photographs amazingly well too.  Writing this reminds me that I need a backup.

3) Mascara

The mascara I've been wearing most often over the last few months is:

Benefit They're Real Mascara (£18.50 from Boots)

I was slightly underwhelmed with this on first release, but, over the last while, I've come to love it a great deal, and regularly reach for it over and above other fancier (and more expensive) releases.  It's a good, buildable formula that, on me, doesn't flake or smudge, and only comes off when *I* want it too.  Can't say much more than that.  It's a bit wet on first opening though, but after a week or two when it dries out a little, it's a cracking tube of mascara.

The above three products are what I would consider the absolute bare essentials, if you've evened out your skintone with a base, highlighted your cheekbones with blush, and defined your eyes with mascara, then, frankly, any other colour cosmetics are an optional extra.  That said though, here's my pick of eye and lip products to round out a new collection:

4) Eyeshadow/Eyeliner

Sometimes, you just want something quick, and versatile.  When that's the case, I reach for:

Sue Devitt Eye Intensifier Pencils (£18 from Harvey Nichols)

Soft and smudgey, these pencils are a total boon if you're a bit short on time.  You can use them as a soft liner, a base for other shades, or smudge them and create a soft smokey eye look.   They come in a variety of no-fuss, no-worry shades, so there's something to suit most people.

If I was really splashing out, to be honest, I'd also pick up a Cream Colour from Tom Ford in Platinum. A cream eyeshadow that doesn't crease, and isn't greasy, and lasts all day.  I just wish they were a permanent part of the range (and didn't cost £28, but that's a different story).

Clinique are rumoured to be bringing out an eye version of their cult Chubby Sticks, and I, personally, am waiting with baited breath for their release.

 5) Lip Colour

Blimey, where do I start?  When it comes to lipstick, it really is up to you (your budget) and your personal preferences.  For budget preferences, I've discovered I'm a bit of a fan of the Kate Moss range of lipsticks for Rimmel, the matte collection is really cute, particularly in the darker shades.  If you want something a bit less fussy, then the Clinique Chubby sticks:

Might be what you want: Retailing at around £14, they combine the best parts of lipbalm and lipstick.  There's a whole slew of imitators around, but I definitely prefer these for their superior balm properties (little known fact, Clinique's range of superbalm lip products are amongst the best balms on the market, for me at least), and their sheer range of shades.  They're releasing an "intense" version now too, which have more pigment ... I may already have a couple, and will be bringing you a full review soon ...

If you want to splash out, and still have a balmy consistency, well, then you need a Chantecaille Lip Chic.  Which is, for my money, the most divine lipstick formulation in existence.  If you really want to push the boat out, well, then, head yourself over to Tom Ford.  Or pick yourself up a Guerlain Rouge G.  You know you want to ...


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

How To De-Scent A Lipstick, featuring Art Deco

I mentioned de-scenting lipsticks on my Facebook page recently, and got lots of messages about blogging the method, so I thought I'd tie it into a review of two lipsticks that I bought recently (and really like) but had troubles with the smell of.

Oops, always photograph before swatching, you 'nana!

Above you can see two Art Deco lipsticks in the velvet formula in 235 (on the left) and 628 (on the right), which are wonderful lipsticks, 235 is a brown-rose shade, and 628 (from the Dita's Classics collection - which I highly recommend, btw) is a warm dark red.  I love the Art Deco Velvet lipstick formula, it's on the matte side, but doesn't dry your lips out, and the pigment lasts and lasts and lasts ...

Swatches:

I adore practically everything about these lipsticks, aside from the scent, which is a vanilla fragrance which some people love, and I - personally - cannot abide. It's very, very similar to the scent of MAC lipsticks, which I think smells like chewed up paper.  But, like I said, some people love it!  Scent is such a personal thing in cosmetics, I've found.

Anyway, the scent in these was so strong, that I felt compelled to try de-scenting them, and I'm happy to report that, whilst the scent hasn't disappeared completely it's now been knocked down to far more tolerable levels.

The method?  Well, it's fairly simple, take your highly-fragranced lipstick, and do this:

Yes, take the tops off them. you don't need to twist them up - though you can do, if you have somewhere safe to put the lipsticks - i.e. somewhere you won't knock them over.  This is important because of the next stage:

Step two: leave them alone for at least 24 hours.  Some lipsticks will only take a day, some more persistent lipsticks may take two or three.  What you're doing is exposing the lipsticks to the air for long enough to allow the volatile scent oils to evaporate. These took around two days.

Step three: After a day, give them a sniff.  If the scent has been knocked back far enough for you, then pop the top back on, and use it from that point forward with abandon!  If it's still a bit whiffy, then leave the top off for another day, and repeatt step three until the scent is at an acceptable level.

So, yes, really quite simple.  Don't worry, your lipsticks won't dry out, but I really wouldn't recommend doing this for more than, say, three days...

Hope this has been helpful!  Let me know in the comments! 
 
This post: http://getlippie.blogspot.com/2012/10/how-to-de-scent-lipstick-featuring-art-deco.html originated at: http://getlippie.com if you're not reading it on Get Lippie, then this content has been stolen by a scraper. All rights reserved.