Paradox by 4160 Tuesdays and Get Lippie

 I suspect there isn't a perfume writer alive who hasn't daydreamed of creating their own fragrance. A perfume writer who hasn't imagined sitting with a perfumer at their organ, selecting ingredients, puzzling over formulas, dabbling with modifications and attempting to create that great, mythical "perfect perfume" of their innermost desires, is, I think, barely a perfume writer at all.

Back in my smelling days, the "perfect perfume" of my imagination would have been a spicy powerhouse; containing saffron, cinnamon, cardamom, clove and black pepper, with punchy and overlooked carnations over amber and a dirty, dirty musk. It'd smack you in the face on first application, and never, ever let you go.  It would have been a melange of Nu by YSL, which is the perfume that taught me about the citric slap of black pepper, and Ambre Sultan by Serge Lutens (aka the one where I learned to love amber), alongside the suprisingly sparkling bright cardamom-rose spice of Marrakesh by Aesop, coupled with the creamy puddingy-hug of Safran Troublant by L'Artisan Perfumer.  My perfect perfume would have tickled your nose, made you hungry and (in all probability given the ingredient list), made you ever-so-slightly photosensitive.  It wouldn't have been polite, and you definitely wouldn't want to wear it to the office, either.

Skincare of the week 16.08.15

It has been a bit of a quiet week skincare-wise!  My skin has recovered from its reaction last week, so I've been re-introducing acids and exfoliation slowly back into the routine.  First acid toner to come back was the oh-so-gentle, but much beloved Clarins Gentle Exfoliator, which was really the product that got me properly into acid exfoliation.  The acids are buffered with glycerin and other soothing ingredients so even sensitive skin can use this one a couple of times a week.  I will happily use it every day, but I am hardcore*.

The Seven Best Pink Lipsticks In The World Ever.

 Hyperbole? What hyperbole?  I have literally just turned my house upside down looking for one of these lipsticks, but whilst I was at it, I was reminded of all these other pink lipsticks that I own, so I thought I'd compile them into one lovely big post whilst I was at it.

From left to right here we have:
Boots No7 in Soft Ruby
Bare Minerals Moxie in Risk it All
ByTerry Rouge Terrybly in Cherry Cherry
Delilah Colour Intense in Stiletto
Clinique Colour Pop in Punch Pop
Lipstick Queen Velvet Rope in Private Party and 
Laura Mercier Creme Smooth in Fresh Raspberry

Some of you might notice that I prefer an intense pink, and I hover around the red/pink border a lot.  What I don't like is a pink that contains too much white, which I find just really doens't meld with my skintone.  Here are the swatches in the same order as above:

 ByTerry Cherry Cherry (third from left) is probably the most traditionally "hot pink" or fuchsia out of this bunch, as it contains the most blue, and Delilah's Stiletto is the most "Barbie" pink, having a lot more white that the other shades.  I'm not a huge fan of glossy finishes in my pinks either (I am a  fussy pink wearer!), but the Laura Mercier (far right) is probably the glossiest pink in the bunch.

Delilah Stiletto is something that I've been, frankly, terrified to wear, as it looks very white-based in the tube,  and I look dead in white-based lipsticks, but I really like this one on:

 It's a little lighter than the other six, without looking too "candy" or pastel on the lips.

By Terry Cherry Cherry is actually quite subtle for a fuchsia:

Bare Minerals Moxie in Risk it All is an old, old favourite, and it has an excellent nourishing texture:

Lipstick Queen Velvet Rope has beautiful packaging, and is a gloriously featherlight texture.  It's not quite matte, but the colour lasts and lasts, and you can barely feel it on the lips.

 Clinique Pop Punch Pop is probably my favourite of the recent Colour Pop releases from Clinique.  It is a bright, shiny punchy pink with a hint of blue.  Lasting time isn't that fabulous, but they're nice and light and lovely.

No7 Soft Ruby was one of the shades I was "colour-matched" to at Boots, and it's a definite winner.  A lovely soft pink-red, this is a very easy colour for me to wear, but I do find my lips a bit dry after a full day in the formula.

And this is my absolute favourite, Laura Mercier's Fresh Raspberry.  A perfect pink for all occasions, it wears almost as a neutral colour on me. It's a little glossier than I might like, but that's nothing that can't be fixed by applying over a nude pencil, or dabbing a little powder over.

So, which are your favourite pink lipsticks?  Let me know in the comments, I'm always looking for more!

The Fine Print: Mixture of PR samples and purchases.

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Magic Mirror

There is nothing worse than travelling somewhere and not having enough mirrors, or even any mirrors when you get there.  I've been away a couple of times this year, and the Magic Mirror has come in so handy, I love it!

There's nothing new, really, about folding mirrors for travel, but this beats normal "travel" mirrors hands down because of its versatility, and the fact that it's both unbreakable (the mirrors are made of plastic) and it's a *real* mirror.  Fabulous! Reflections are clear and undistorted, and I genuinely couldn't tell they weren't "real" glass mirrors till I tapped them with a fingernail.

You can hang it up for a full-length mirror - mine is permanently on display in my hallway when it's not travelling with me.

Or you can fold it up for an ideal table-top mirror, or:

You can fold it into a three-sided square and use it as a dressing-table mirror.  It's not quite as light as a plastic-framed mirror would be, but it's exceptionally well made, and I've carried it in both my hold and hand luggage and it's not suffered any damage at all.  The fabric surround is flexible and tough, I've managed not to stain it with anything, so I've no idea how cleanable it is, I'm afraid!  It doesn't look like it'll be prone to fraying though, it being a light but tough canvas-style fabric.

Magic Mirror is a UK startup business, and I love to support those particularly when the product is as good as this one is, and at such a good price! The mirrors are £35, which is great value when you consider that a single glass mirror of a similar size of just one of the panes in this would cost around the same amount from the likes of John Lewis, and here you actually get four of them! It comes in three colours in the "Beauty Edition", green, pink or black, and there's a fun  "Festival" design as well, which is multicoloured and is currently on offer for only £25.  A travel mirror good enough to use as your permanent mirror?  Go snap one up!

The Fine Print: PR Sample

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Perfume Society Blogger of the Month Giveaway!

 I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am to have been chosen as The Perfume Society's Blogger of the Month for August!  As many of you might know, perfume-reviewing, something I genuinely love, has been incredibly challenging for me over the last 18 months. After having first lost my sense of smell completely, only to then have it come back distorted and  having to live in a surreal poo-scented universe for the last year or so, life has been tough, and confusing.  I am, however, recovering, and perfume reviews, though slightly thinner on the ground than they used to be, are now happening again, and that's something else for me to be glad about.

Over the last while I've had astonishing support from readers of the blog, the people who read my piece in the Guardian, and I still get emails almost every day from readers of my side-blog (The Parosmia Diaries), but the support I've had from The Perfume Society (alongside that from 4160 Tuesdays, but more, a lot more, about that very soon), is genuinely what really helped me turn my life around last year. I bumped into Jo Fairley, the founder of Perfume Society quite by accident on one of the darkest days, both literally and metaphorically, of my life and her unfailing support and generosity since then in allowing me space to write about - and in the so-doing, get some perspective on - my condition has been a godsend. 

And, in another lovely gesture of generosity to celebrate my inauguration as only their second-ever Blogger of the Month, they're giving away 10 of their fab VIP Subscriptions (worth £25 each) to my lovely readers!  Each subscription entitles you to eight copies of their fab digital magazine The Scented Letter, a "Discovery Box", filled to brim with 8 fragrance samples, a scented handcream, a notebook and a set of perfume blotters, an invitation to a free "How to Improve Your Sense of Smell" workshop, and invitations to scented events galore, including exclusive evenings at perfume locations across the UK (I've attended a couple, they're roaring fun!) and much more besides.

The giveaway is open to anyone in the UK (I'm really sorry, worldwide readers - but shipping restrictions are a nightmare for perfume) and all you have to do to enter is to leave a comment on this post, including your email address, please, telling me what smell you would miss most if you lost your sense of smell (and why!) and I'll pick ten winners at random on 23rd August.

The Rules:
One entry per person only.  Multiple comments will be deleted.
UK-based entrants only
Winners will be picked using random.org at 8pm on August 23rd, and will be announced on GetLippie.com
There are no cash alternatives to the prize which is one VIP subscription to The Perfume Society for each of ten individual winners.
Winners details will only be shared with The Perfume Society and no other third parties.
The editors decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into. Entries not adhering the to the rules will be removed from the post and not entered into the draw.

EDITORS NOTE: there are a large number of "illegal" entries, many of which have appeared here from a forum posting.  These entries will be removed.  PLEASE READ THE RULES, thank you!

 This post: Perfume Society Blogger of the Month Giveaway! 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

Skincare of the Week 09.08.15 (sensitive skin special edition)

My face was not happy this week, so I had to break out my emergency skincare SOS treats.  After using Ren's Flash Rinse One Minute facial, I had a burning face for several hours, and last Sunday brought an irritated rash so it was time to drop essential oils, stop exfoliating, and avoid perfumed products as much as possible. The Darphin Intral toner is one I always keep in the cupboard for when I've been over-stimulating my skin, and the Clarins Skin Beauty Repair should be in the arsenal of anyone who ever gets occasionally iritated skin, it's magic for soothing and repairing.

 The Clinique Take The Day Off Cleansing Oil is also fabulous for sensitive skin, containing no essential oils or perfumes, yet it is tough enough to remove anything that you care to spackle onto your face, including waterproof mascara or sunscreen without irritating.  Get some!

Melvita's flower waters are beautiful and deeply soothing on stressed skins, but they're dilute enough not to irritate.  Darphin camomile oil is practially the only essential oil I'll let anywhere near my skin when irritation strikes, it's a marvel.  This routine, with the Zelens Z Recovery Intensive Repair balm, was a nighttime one.

Another night last week, and I added in the new Vichy Idealia Skin Sleep gel-balm.  It's meant for sensitive skin, but it is perfumed, I noticed.  One use really isn't enough for a full review, but I liked this, without loving it (I have a few other night creams that make a bigger difference the next day), but I'll give it a few more uses and see if my liking improves.

The weather got sunnier yesterday, so I did a really simple routine with my much-beloved Oskia Renaissance Cleansing Gel, and the Chantecaille Bio Lifting Cream that I've been trialling for a while now (which I'm going to cry about finishing because it's £325 for a full-sized pot, and I LOVE it) alongside SPF.  This year I'm mainly wearing the Omorovicza Mineral UV Shield (SPF 30) because it is nice and light and makes a nice base for makeup and I've been pairing that with Alpha H's new Absolute Eye Cream which is fabulous, and contains SPF15!  More about a couple of these in a later post or two ...

And finally, this is my current favourite night routine, which, once my skin had calmed down enough, I was happy to bring back to my routine, and it's this:

Alpha H Liquid Laser Super Anti-Aging balm, which smells amazing and leaves your skin like velvet the next day, and Omorovicza Thermal Cleansing Balm which is, frankly, probably the best cleansing balm in the world.  And it's black, which automatically makes it better than everything else.

So there. 

The Fine Print: A mixture of PR samples and purchases.


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Ormonde Jayne Vanille D'Iris

At Linda Pilkington's tiny jewel-box of an Ormonde Jayne salon in Bond Street last week, Vanille D'Iris was launched.  Expecting an over-sweetened custard-and-carrot melange from the name of the new addition to the core range (the first in a couple of years), I was extremely impressed with what I did find.

At first sniff, Vanille D'Iris is dry and almost spicy, there is pink pepper and bergamot in the mix, and the first "whoosh" into the nose has a sparkling, almost effervescent effect.  Once the peppery citrus has died down, the iris pushes through and makes itself known.  Iris can be powdery-soft and reminiscent of lipstick and facepowder, but the iris in Vanille D'Iris is assertive and buttery-rich with just a hint of damp brown earth and juicy white roots.  I often get a whiff of carrots with iris-based fragrances and Vanille D'Iris is no exception to that, but here it's a sophisticated butter-braised carrot with the merest hint of caraway-spice to lift the whole composition from the kitchen to the drawing room.

I'm surprised at the subtlety of the vanilla in the composition, it's darkest bourbon vanilla, complete with the seeds to my nose rather than the sugary custard trifle I was expecting.  For me the vanilla doesn't turn up until we're right into the drydown, and even then it is muffled by the amber and woods that round out the formula.  It's there for depth, not for sweetness, and as such, it's a massive relief.  Too much sugar would have made this a migraine, but as it stands it's dry and sophisticated and rich. Most enjoyable!

Ormonde Jayne Vanille D'Iris is grown up and lady like, poised and polished.  One day I shall be groomed enough to do it justice, it's no jeans and t-shirt kind of a fragrance, it demands a lipstick and properly brushed hair.  A worthy, and not too sweet addition to the core Ormonde Jayne line, it demands your attention in a ladylike way.

Ormonde Jayne Vanille D'Iris will be released mid-September and will cost £90.

The Fine Print: PR Sample


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