La Roche Posay Serozinc

I was talking to someone about my skincare routine the other day, and I realised that whilst cleansers come and go, whilst acids wax and wane, and whilst moisturisers pass in and out of fashion in the Lippie household, one thing has remained constant for the last three or four years, and that is Serozinc from La Roche Posay.

It's rather unprepossessing, really.  A mix of spring water, zinc and just a hint of salt, in a spray but I genuinely wouldn't be without it.  It's my go-to facial spray, as it should be for anyone with any hint of sensitivity or redness. It's the zinc, you see, which both soothes and helps to heal irritated or over-activated skin.  If you're not prone to redness or sensitivity, then I guess you'll find it hard to see what difference it can make to your skin, but this is one of those products that you notice the difference when you stop using it, I can assure you.  And it is cheap, just £7.20 a can (at present), which will last you for several months, at least three, maybe even longer.  I use it both as a moisturising toner, and as a general facial spray, and I occasionally use it to "set" makeup that looks a little powdery too.

Now I'm delighted (well, sort of) that you can now get this in the UK!  Previously, I used to beg any of my friends heading to Paris to pick me up a tin or two, or I always used to pick up a tin whenever I went too, and now I don't need to ... That's my excuse for Paris shopping trips out of the way then.

So YAY! for Serozinc finally being available in the UK!  And BOO! for Serozinc finally being available in the UK. Escentual, thank you very much.  And damn you!


The Fine Print: Purchase

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Sunday Riley Artemis Hydroactive Cellular Face Oil

At this time of year, I always think a decent facial oil is an essential rather than an optional ingredient in your skincare regime, they add an extra level of protection to your skin in the wind and the rain and the cold, and they are a godsend on chapped and sore skin.  I have a few that I rotate (Clarins is an exceptional source of affordable facial oils on the high street, btw), but recently I have fallen, hard, for this little bottle of oily goodness.

A clarifying oil, with claims to be balancing (it also claims to be lemon-scented, but more about that later), it contains black cumin seed oil, pomegranate seed oil, lemon ironbark and lemon myrtle oils alongside milk thistle seed oil.  It's quite a thick and sticky oil, which you'll only need two or three drops of for your whole face and neck, and it is a bright and cheerful sunshine yellow both in the bottle and out.  The major claims for the product include soothing redness and irritation, it's an anti-inflammatory, and it is also said to neutralise the bacteria that causes spots!

Since I've added this to my regime, in place of other, thinner and lighter oils, I genuinely have noticed that my continual redness, which is the bane of my life, has been both less frequent to arrive and shorter-lived when it does actually appear.  In fact, there have been a couple of days when I've felt able to go without foundation, something previously unthinkable in the winter months!  It sinks in easily, even though it's rather sticky, and this is a blessing given the major "problem" with the product, which is:

The smell.

Actually, the smell is a major factor when it comes to any Sunday Riley oil, and it is both a blessing and a curse ... Sunday Riley Artemis oil smells like a broccoli graveyard farted on your face. (as does Juno, btw)  It doesn't last long at all, it's gone almost as soon as you apply, but even with my currently lessened sense of smell, it gives me pause before applying it.  Now, that out of the way, I actually quite like the fact that Sunday Riley doesn't bother adding a whole bunch of unnecessary essential oils to a product like this just to disguise the fact that the actual active ingredients don't smell the nicest.  It's refreshing that all the ingredients in the formula are there because they have a job to do on your skin, rather than on your nose.

The smell has an added benefit too, because you'll use less of it than you normally would an oil product, and when you consider that the bottle costs £98, this isn't such a bad thing!  I've used mine daily for three months, and I've barely made a dent on the 30ml bottle, I estimate I'll get at least a year's use out of it.  I'm lucky, mine was a gift, but I would definitely re-purchase this once it's run out.  I used to use Juno, and I loved it, but Artemis, for my money, and my sensitive, reddened slightly combination skin is even better.

You can buy Sunday Riley Artemis Hydroactive Cellular Face Oil from Cult Beauty

What's the worst-smelling beauty product you've ever used?

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Clinique Chubby Sculpting Sticks in Curvy Contour and Hefty Highlight

Just a week after I featured one simple contour kit (with an unfortunate typo) along comes another, even simpler, one from Clinique.  Another extension to the astonishingly successful Chubby Stick range, this features one contour crayon, and one highlighter and is easy enough even for the most cack-handedly muppety of us.

Really, it's almost insultingly simple to use - draw a dark line where you want a shadow (underneath your cheekbone), a light line where you want to highlight (above your cheekbone), and blend away until only a subtle shading remains.

Even I can do it.  But, apparently drawing lines a la Adam Ant circa 1982 and humming Ant Music under your breath is completely optional whilst applying.  If you do go the unorthodox route, can I suggest you lock your bathroom door?  No reason.

Unblended, you can see you have a slightly reddish brown contour, and a pale champagne highlight shade, and I imagine they will work on all but the darkest of skins.

I applied rather too much of the Curvy Contour as you can no doubt tell - I'd probably applied enough for about four faces, and could possibly have contoured all the residents of Lippie Mansions should I have had the desire.  Which I didn't, and let's all be thankful for that - but the colours blend well, and even after a (literally) ten second application process this morning even *I* could pretend I had cheekbones.

All this brings me to the price, the Chubby Sculpting Sticks  in Curvy Contour and Hefty Highlight are £19. Each.  Which is £38 for the set*.  Which is, if you ask me, far too expensive.  Even the Laura Mercier kit which comes with "amusing" typos, and five colours is cheaper at £35.  The Chubby sticks are drier in texture, and you do get more product, and they are almost entirely foolproof (and I'm just the fool to prove it, believe me) but ... the price for the both gives me the heebie jeebies.  Hopefully there will be an offer which gives you a discount for buying both at the same time, but to be honest, you could use any highlighter you like with the contour crayon.

So, how committed to contouring are you?

* I'm an accountant.  Maths is totally my jam, bitches.

The Fine Print: PR Sample

The Even Finer Print: We're not featuring full fragrance reviews on Get Lippie at the moment owing to illness - please see The Parosmia Diaries for more.


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May Lindstrom: The Blue Cocoon: Beauty Balm Concentrate

I am always being asked what my "major skin concern" is.  Why, I'm not quite sure, but it is, apparently, one of the perils of being a beauty blogger. I'm not nearly that bothered about ageing as I used to be, having met a few too many over-botoxed harridans in my time, and I now see wrinkles as a badge of character instead of the hideous disfigurements that the mainstream media, alongisde countless beauty product press releases, and the continuing overuse of photoshop in almost every area of life (ever noticed how barely anyone on Instagram has pores, lines or moles?) has lead us to believe they are.

But ... I do get hacked off about my skin being so red all the time.  I actually have pretty good skin for my age (I am well over forty, and no longer care so much), it's smooth, it's fairly unlined, and the adult-onset acne I was plagued with through my late twenties and most of my thirties is now but a distant memory, but oh, the redness!   I long for even skin.

Part of it is because the industrial-strength products I used to torture my face with in years gone by has left me with skin more ridiculously over-sensitive than a teenage goth reading poetry at a Metallica gig, and part of it is because it is now winter, and the cold and the wind and the rain and the central heating, coupled with the fact that I like a glass of wine every now and again, all leave my skin screaming for soothing products.

I discovered May Lindstrom The Blue Cocoon after I got a text from Caroline Hirons saying "Oi, Lippie! You.  This.  Face.  Now", and I was powerless to resist.  Well, I say that, it actually took me a while to save up the cash for this, as it is £125 a pot.

You read that right.  £125 a go. And it is a very small jar.

But I bought it anyway, and the picture you see above is how much I've used in the four or five months (we're nothing if not timely at Get Lippie) of using it several times a week.  I've barely made a dent, as a little bit of this goes a hugely long way. It's aptly named as a "concentrate". I've found that scraping just out the tiniest amount from the surface, literally just a millimetre  or two, is more than enough to soothe even the reddest of inflamed skins.  You simply melt it into an oil in your hands, then press it gently into your face, concentrating on on inflamed areas.  I don't tend to follow it up with any moisturisers, applied over gently cleansed skin, this works double-duty as both a treatment and a moisturiser.

Infused with blue tansy oil, which is a natural anti-histamine and also has anti-inflammatory effects, it soothes redness overnight, and leaves you with beautifully soft skin in the morning.  It is a little greasy, so I don't tend to use this during the day, but it does make a great night treatment.

Has it fixed my redness? No. But I genuinely don't think there is a product yet invented that will "cure" redness, especially redness caused by both genetic and environmental factors as mine is. As such, The Blue Cocoon is no exception to that, but, as I wasn't actually expecting a cure, I'm not disappointed.  I am less red though, and I am definitely red less often, which, as far as I'm concerned, is a win.  Where it does excel though, is soothing environmentally stressed skin, and it is fabulous at that.

Would I buy it again?  Possibly.  Possibly not.  As I've only got through maybe a quarter of a centimetre (not even that) of product in the last four or five months, I have a feeling the jar might just last forever.  And hey, at least that'll give me time to save up again ...

My jar of May Lindstrom The Blue Cocoon Beauty Balm Concentrate came from Cult Beauty.

The Fine Print: Purchase.  

The Even Finer Print: We're not featuring full fragrance reviews on Get Lippie at the moment owing to illness - please see The Parosmia Diaries for more.


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Vita Coco Coconut Oil

Okay, I admit it, I love luxury beauty products.  Anyone who has ever had even a slightly cursory glance through some of the posts on this blog will have noticed that.  £250 bottles of perfume, £35+ lipsticks, £50 eyeshadow palettes, £100+ skincare, all are abundant on Get Lippie and I'm not going to make any apologies for that.  I like what I like, and I feature what I like too, and that's the real luxury of a blog!

That said, I also like a bargain.  I know, inconceivable! But, I've been cleansing with coconut oil for a while now - I've tried the RMS raw coconut cream, which I like very much btw - and a couple of others sold for facial cleansing purposes too.  So, when I spotted Vita Coco Coconut Oil in my local Tesco for less than £4 for a massive jar, I thought I'd give it a go, and see if I could spot the differences to the similarly-sized £38 pot from RMS.

There isn't much difference, in all honesty.  The RMS is lightly processed, which removes some of the scent, and it has a slightly smoother consistency as a result, but as the oil starts to melt from the very first second you  put it on your hand, this isn't a big deal, really.

Vita Coco Coconut oil is entirely raw, and organic.  It's best to do a hot cloth cleanse with this, to make sure you're removing everything from your skin, and to prevent oily residues, but I genuinely can't see any difference to my skin between using this and using a pricier coconut-oil product. Coconut oil contains lauric acid (also found in breast milk), which is beneficial to skin, and the lack of essential oils, which can be irritating particularly to sensitive skins, is great too.  

I find it non-irritating even on inflamed  and reddened skin, and it's a an excellent makeup remover as well.  Careful round your eyes though - a separate eyemakeup remover will always be your friend - but it can remove even waterproof mascara, if you are careful.  It gives excellent slip, and is perfect for facial massage as a result too.

You can also use this as a moisturiser, a mask, a hair mask, a hair styling product, a lip balm, a cuticle oil, anywhere you'd use an oil normally, you can use this.  Oh, and apparently, you can cook with it ...

But, if you don't like coconut (and my parosmia does mean that on bad smell days  it is "wrong" to me - slightly burned-seeming - but that's definitely my stupid nose, not the product), you're out of luck. 

The Fine Print: Purchase

The Even Finer Print: We're not featuring full fragrance reviews on Get Lippie at the moment owing to illness - please see The Parosmia Diaries for more.


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Ace of Base - RMK, Zelens Hourglass and Smashbox

Over on Instagram I'm always putting up pics of things that have recently arrived at Lippie Mansions, pictures of things I'm doing, and setting up pics of things that are upcoming for review.  My ugly mug isn't on there too often, so you're quite safe, and if you like pictures of random products and the occasional badly framed picture of something not quite in focus with an "arty" filter over the top, why not pop over and give me a follow?

Anyhoo, Hourglass aside, these are some new base products that I've been using recently, that I really like, and I thought I'd give you the lowdown whilst I'm mulling over some full reviews on them.

So from Left to Right:

RMK Makeup Base

I'm going to preface this by saying that I think 91.73% of foundation primers on the market are a bit useless.  In spite of the hype, I've never found one that helps pores disappear for a whole day, and I find that they do very little to extend the wear time of any foundation you wear over the top.  That said, I do like Japanese makeup bases very much indeed because they are brilliant (and I do mean brilliant) at evening your skintone, and hiding high-colouring.  If you have any tendency towards rosy-ness either in your cheek or nose area, then run, don't walk to either RMK or Paul & Joe (who also do a magnificent base) and plop a bit of this over your "glow-y" bits.  You can get the RMK for £28 from Selfridges - mine was a gift with purchase, so it's not full-size.

Looks a bit chalky when you apply, but it will cover your pinkness wonderfully. You never know, it might also fill your pores and make your foundation last longer, but don't count on it.

Zelens Age Control Foundation

There has been a lot of hype about this new makeup range recently, and, I'm sad to say, most of it is completely justified.  Sorry.  It is.  I'm a big fan of Zelens skincare, and I have to admit that Dr Marko Lens, the ebullient genius behind the brand is one of my favourite people (even though he does have an odd habit of removing bits of my face in his surgery every time I see him), what Dr Lens doesn't know about skin isn't really worth knowing.

I was super-excited that he was bringing his skin-care knowledge to cosmetics, and the first launches from the range haven't disappointed.  The foundation is wonderfully smoothing and long-lasting, and it does a great job of simply gliding over pores, wrinkles and other flaws without settling into them, and just makes your skin look like skin, it has a slight satin-matte finish which most people won't need to powder over, but I do - because of redness issues.

I do like a foundation that doesn't draw attention to itself, and Age Control is a lovely, lovely but pricey addition to my foundation wardrobe.  Will it knock Chantecaille off my top spot for invisible but (expensive and) amazing coverage?  Watch this space.

Hourglass Ambient Light Powder in Diffused

This is my second back-up.  I have literally never EVER hit pan on a face powder until the lightly-yellow-toned Diffused powder turned up in my life, and now I buy one whenever I can afford it simply because I just KNOW Hourglass are going to discontinue this at some point in time, and I shall be left with all the chalky, talc-y rubbish-y POWDERY powders in the world for a lifetime as a result.  I HATE YOU HOURGLASS. Damn you for making a product SO GOOD that I panic that you are going to take it away from me.  DAMN YOUR EYES.

[ahem] I really like this product.  You might too.

Smashbox Photo Finish Primer Water

Yeah, you know when I said I didn't like primers then had two in one article?  Because, I'm, like, well annoying?  Well, I still think primers are rubbish. But I like this one very much anyway, and for similar reasons for the RMK makeup base above (ie for a different reason for what you'd suspect).  You're supposed to spray this over your moisturiser and it is supposed to give you an amazing base for applying makeup over, and then it supposedly lasts and lasts and all that.  I used it that way, and didn't really notice any difference to my normal application to be honest, but then I tried using it as a setting spray.

I was blown away, because it's a brilliant setting spray (something else I've been underwhelmed with in the past, I'll admit). It sort of laminates your makeup in place, without making it look like you've had your face laminated.  Neat trick when you come to think of it.

Now, I like to think I'm actually pretty good at makeup and that, but the first time I tried layering these four products in the order shown, I got compliments on my skin, and how healthy I was looking all day. Which, considering my makeup was actually just a bit of black eyeliner smudged into my lashes and some coloured lip balm, was going some.  I'm an accountant, and usually look like a gnome after a day crunching numbers, so this is either genuinely some kind of miraculous combination of (expensive - sorry!) products, or I've been ageing backwards over the Christmas holidays ...

What are your acest base products?


The Fine Print: Mixture of random PR samples purchases and re-re-purchases.

The Even Finer Print: We're not featuring full fragrance reviews on Get Lippie at the moment owing to illness - please see The Parosmia Diaries for more.


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New Year, Old Me

By Tindara:

Happy New Year! If you’re anything like me you will be utterly bored with all the "New Year New Me" nonsense and be wanting to shove anything "detoxing" up the jacksie with a rolling pin. At least, I think that’s what they’re recommending; I tend to switch off after someone mentions a detox. Instead, I’ve decided to do the exact opposite and track down some of my old, and hopefully classic, beauty and fragrance favourites; Thierry Mugler’s Angel,  Mac Spice lip pencil, and Chanel’s Rouge Noir.

I have been longing to try Angel again, ever since I realised it’s in the Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez top ten Classic Fragrances. I felt simultaneously very pleased with myself that it was my signature scent for years, and irritated that I had pretentiously let it go when it became ubiquitous and much copied. Well I started my first Angel day off in a haze of gourmand nostalgia, but after a couple of hours the spicier notes came through and I fell in love with it all over again, more than twenty years later. I had remembered it as a sweet but fresh fragrance with a certain something unusual about it. Maybe that was where I was at with my perfume appreciation at that stage; I certainly feel I have learnt a lot since, not least due to hanging around with other fumeheads and lippie-aficionados. 

This is an amazing scent – the fresh zesty peel notes that appear after the initial sweetness give way and turn into a deep spiciness with a hint of church incense and patchouli. It’s like wandering into a shop that sells crystals and tarot cards whilst wearing a diamond tiara. I suppose it’s no coincidence that I wore this in my grungiest years, but I was a rubbish grebo; my standard issue German army boots were contrasted with little black dresses and deep red lipstick. I always wanted that touch of glamour. Angel now feels elegant and sparkly but with an earthy depth that’s just perfect. I think it might be my new [old] favourite.

I'm sure you’re all familiar with Mac Spice and all its dupes. Like Angel, it was launched in the nineties and quickly gained cult status as the perfect nude shade. It’s a long time since I wore it, or even lip liner at all; I tend to just go straight for the bullet these days. In red, OBVS, as the children say. But the odd cool neutral has made it into my everyday routine so I thought I’d give it another go. Pixiwoo in particular are lip liner devotees and they inspired me to get back on point, so to speak. 

Unable to get hold of a Mac Spice when I needed it, though, I hunted out a Bourjois dupe recommended by them, Crayon Contour Des Lèvres in 12 Facétieuse. It is a perfect nude, and I’d forgotten how great a toffee coloured lip liner can be at giving you a brilliant bee-stung pout. I used to push the edge to the very limit, (not over though, never over…) filling from the outside in, then topping with some lip balm. More recently, I've been using Laura Mercier Lip Glacé in Blush on top, which looks great with a smudgy smoky eye. I've now resurrected the few lip liners I have and am using them more and more as a result. They’re really long lasting and I love the fact that you can use them as a stain of colour not having to reapply as much throughout the day.

I was so excited when I finally got hold of some Chanel Rouge Noir back in the day – I had to go on a waiting list for it. Crazy, but we all wanted the shade that Uma Thurman wore in Pulp Fiction. I had to have it. It also reminded me of Shirley MacLaine in the 1988 film Madame Sousatzka. I was a strange teenager; there was something about the strands of beads, short dark nails and beautiful decorative fabrics in her costume that I adored. So as soon as the short dark nail thing happened I was there, and I don’t think it’s ever really gone away for me. 

I haven’t worn actual Rouge Noir for years though, until my friend got me some as a present a few months back. I still really love the rich bloody-black sheen of it, I couldn't stop looking at my hands. I feel like it goes with anything too, hold it against denim or black lace and it will look fantastic. It is straight up elegance with a touch of bohemian gothic and suits everyone in my opinion. My old [young] self wasn't so bad really; quite a stylish girl. 

What are your old favourites?

The Fine Print: Angel starts at £48, Mac Lip Pencils are £12.50, Bourjois Crayon Contour Des Lèvres are £5.49, Chanel Rouge Nail Polish is £18. All were bought by me, except the Chanel Rouge Noir which was gift from a friend.

The Even Finer Print: We're not featuring full fragrance reviews on Get Lippie at the moment owing to illness - please see The Parosmia Diaries for more.


This post: New Year, Old Me 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