L'Oreal Steampod Brazil Fantasy Edition

I live in a little sport-free bubble, and I love it very much, but I'm sheltered to the extent that when a bunch of Brazil-themed beauty products started arriving recently, I was a little confused.  Then they launched Brazil-themed M&Ms, and my thought process went: "Hey there official food of athletes around the world! Man, is it the Olympics already? Aren't they in South America this time? Rio! Brazil! D'oh!" And lo, a mystery was solved.  Now, if only I could solve the mystery of where my reading glasses keep disappearing to, my life would be complete.
 

All of which is rather roundabout way of pointing out that I'm not always the sharpest tool in the box. But that shouldn't put you off this rather marvellous version of the Brazil-themed Steampod that I fell in love with way back in November last year.  Covered in tropical flora and fauna, and in a crazy-pretty box, I love these.

I'll be honest, the Steampod has taken over from any and all other straighteners of choice. My hair just seems to love the extra level of straightening that it gets from the hit of steam, and even though there's definitely a learning curve involved with these  that you don't have with traditional straighteners, it's really worth getting to grips with them if you have slightly  ... recalcitrant ... hair.

The L'Oreal Steampod Brazil Fantasy Edition is available from Look Fantastic and costs around £145. The creams and serums you'll need to make the system really worthwhile are available there too, and cost extra (sadly - but I have backups of all of them, you'll have to prise these from my cold, dead hands, frankly), but they last a long, long time.
 
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Urban Decay Vice Lipsticks Launch

l-r Pandemonium (mega matte), Firebird (cream), Naked (cream) and Conspiracy (metallised)

Urban Decay have finally launched their full range of Vice lipsticks in the UK, and they're really lovely.  With 100 shades in six finishes (sheer, metallised, cream, comfort matte, mega matte and shimmer), there's truly something for everyone.  I think the Gwen Stefani collection was really a taster for the new Vice finishes, so I'm not going to review them in depth here, but I thought I'd show you a couple of pictures of the lipsticks, and tell you that they're magnificent.  I have Pandemonium, a grape purple in the mega matte formulation, Firebird, which is a cream fuchsia (and a repromote of the same shade from the aforementioned Gwen Stefani collection), then there is also Naked which is a pale pinky-grey mauve and Conspiracy, a metallic coffee bean shade which will never, ever, ever grace my lips.  Ever.  Beautiful on the right person (like, my mum for example), but I have no desire to wear it personally, but doesn't it look gorgeous in the bullet?

l-r Pandemonium, Firebird, Naked, Conspiracy

There is figuratively nothing that makes my heart sing more than the sight of an untouched bullet of lipstick, and these are sooooooo photogenic.  Look, I have neither pets nor children, and only one sickly houseplant to take pictures of, so leave me my little indulgences, please.

I don't have swatches, because they're too pretty to mar, frankly, but here's a pic of me wearing the original version of Firebird taken back in February,  the lasting power on the cream formulation is marvellous, by the way,  and whilst not billed as a particularly long-lasting formula, I find they last at least 6-8 hours without reapplying, even if you eat whilst wearing:

Leave me alone, it was 6am on the Eurostar.

So there you go.  Not my most in-depth review perhaps (unless "pretty things are really pretty" is your bag, admittedly), but, by gum, they're pretty.

Urban Decay Vice lipsticks cost £15 each and are available now from the usual stockists. 

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Serozinc, how much do I love thee?

A whole heap, is how much.  Not so much a review, this piece, really (I've already reviewed Serozinc here) just mentioning in passing that Escentual (by far my favourite place to buy French skincare  products in the UK) has these cute mini-cans of Serozinc in stock now, and they cost only £3 per can!  Escentual is currently hosting its annual French Pharmacy event, and they'd normally cost £4.50 each.

And they're cute!  Did I mention they're cute?  I bought a shedload of them, they're everywhere!  This isn't even all of them, Serozinc is one of my desert island products ... 


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Finishing Touches: LipsNspritz of the Week 8th July 2016

It's been a mixed bag, fragrance-wise this week.  It's ostensibly summer, but I can't imagine anything less summery than this dark and dank July we're having so far!  Like with the weather, my perfume choices have been a bit all over the place, too.

Monday brought Tangerine Vert from Miller Harris, a herbal-fresh and zingy citrus that was perfect for blasting away those dreadful Monday morning blues!  This and Hermes Eau d'Orange Vert are very similar mood-lifters for me, both feature, I think, a little hit of mint amongst the orange and other leafy green herbs, and it's bother awakening and refreshing, and just that little bit "different" to a normal lemony-citrus as a result.  I wore Tangerine Vert with Charlotte Tilbury Walk of Shame lipstick, which is a great brown-ish neutral that teeters on that 1990's-style rust, but just avoids it.

Tuesday was Guerlain Shalimar Parfum Initiale, and byTerry Cherry Cherry lipstick (stupid name, great pink).  I was in Paris for the launch of Parfum Initiale a couple of years ago, and so it will always have a special place in my heart - I love the velvety iris and smooth vanilla, it's also surprisingly rich and earthy (almost  ... carroty!) for what was intended at the time to be a teenage girl's way into the world of Shalimar.  It's very different to many ostensibly "teenage" fragrances, not smelling of sugar and fruit, which is why I think it has been discontinued, and why that increasingly Le Petite Cherie Robe Noire, with it's cherries and black tea, and hints of chocolate has taken over as the flagship Guerlain fragrance.  Don't get me wrong, LPCRN is good, but it's just not as interesting (to me) as Parfum Initiale is.  Was.  Whatever.

Wednesday found me in Estee Lauder Alliage.  I love Alliage, as perfect an example of the pinnacle of seventies chypres as can be, it is both bitter green and blinding white, with galbanum and moss and crystalline white flowers, you could wear a tweed jacket and starched white shirt with this and it would be perfect.  I own neither, and wore it with black jersey (my default) and still managed to feel like a grownup all day.  I do think Lauder neglect their amazing back catalogue rather horribly in favour of their newer releases a great deal - does the world really need four versions of Modern Muse above some of the genuine classics in the Lauder catalogue?  Does Kendall Jenner read Descartes in the original? - but the fact that their classics are still available, and largely untouched, and accessibly priced is a great, great thing.  Go try some of them.  Also only of my favourite reasonably priced brands is Pixi, and this lipstick in Raspberry Blush is amazingly good and pretty.

Thursday was Vaara by Penhaligons.  I love Vaara.  It's a fruity-floral, normally a category I eschew, but it is interesting and original, redolent of quinces and a hint of saffron, over a bed of coriander (the seed,  not the leaf) and is beautiful and gorgeous and wonderfully radiant. I love wearing it.  It also has one of the prettiest boxes Penhaligons have ever done.  The lipstick was Givenchy Le Rouge in Carmin Escarpin, which is the lipstick I wore in Paris on my honeymoon, that's how much I love it.

On Friday, I wore Marrakesh Intense by Aesop.  This blend of rose, black pepper and cardomom is both spiky and powdery and wonderfully evocative, it makes me a little woozy in the best possible way when I wear it.  I do have to confess that I have a sneaking preference for the original Marrakesh formula, which punches up both the spiky black pepper, and the plush cardamom over the silky rose, but this is still magnificent, and has better lasting power overall.  The lipstick was Punch Pop by Clinique, which is one of my all-time favourite pink lipsticks.

Saturday was a lazy day in front of the TV, frankly, so I wore things that didn't take much thinking about: Bagatelle de Gabrielle by Omorovicza, which is a gently pretty, rather prim, little white floral based on, but not overwhelmed by orange blossom.  It's rather a "spa" kind of scent.  Pretty, but slightly unmemorable.  I paired it with Aerin Rose lip balm. To be honest, I'm left slightly cold by the whole Aerin Lauder cosmetics "concept" (though, I admit I do love her homewares - someone needs to bring them to the UK STAT!), it's all a bit wishy-washy "makeup for people who don't really like makeup" for me, but the perfumes are nice in a Jo Malone-ish kind-of-a-way, and this particular balm is very much a winner.

What've you been wearing this week?

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Skincare of the Week 8th July 2016

Yeah, it's been a while ... Turns out I like not blogging almost as much as I do actual blogging, who knew?!  Anyway, for today at least, I'm back slaving away at a keyboard. I would have been back last week, but stuff happened, and I'm still wearing the bandage on the middle finger of my left hand, let's put it that way.

Anyhoo, skincare.  This week was mainly about trialling the new Burts Bees Cleansing Oil (literally just released in the UK, and costs £16.99 a bottle from their website).  I like it a lot, but I'm a bit upset it's a fragranced oil, I can't see any reason why it needs to be.  It's a light, smooth oil that spreads over the skin nicely, and removes makeup thoroughly but gently.  The label indicates its for dryer skins than mine, but my sensitive combination-oily skin tolerates it nicely.  It doesn't quite emulsify when you come to rinse, just becomes a bit looser, and it easily wipes off with a warm flannel.  I like it.  

Everything else I've been using this week is an old (or an almost-old) favourite, I'm still mostly in love with Tata Harper skincare, and I'm nearing the end of this  bottle of the Tata Harper Rejuvenating Serum, and I totally intend to finish it off. I recently finished my much-beloved bottle of Zelens Intense Defence Serum, which has left a gaping hole in my routine, to be honest, I'm still casting about to find the perfect replacement, the Tata is good, and does what it is supposed to, but I just don't love it as much as the Zelens for some reason.  It does work really well with the Rebuilding moisturiser though.

How has your week in skincare been?

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Delilah Pure Light Illuminating Powder in Aura

I've been waiting to get my hands on Delilah's Pure Light Illuminating Powder in Aura ever since India Knight raved about it in the Sunday Times late last year! It sounded like it was the perfect powder, illuminating, not glittery, and she used the phrase "you absolutely do not look shiny, just lit from within".  Well, who doesn't want to look lit from within at all times for just £36?  I couldn't resist.  After India's review, it was sold out for months, and I ended up waiting till April to be able to pick one up.  Was it worth the wait?

Er ... I'm not sure, really.

 
 First things first, it's beautifully packaged in a hefty rose gold and pewter compact, and the powder within looks divine, delicately marbled with golds, peaches and lilacs, and yes, it does look lit from within. It is seriously, inside and out, a stunning piece of makeup.

However.

It is warm-toned.  Seriously warm-toned, and I am not. Delilah claim that it adapts to all skintones, but I find that I simply cannot use this powder alone because it just looks like I've painted myself pale peach. Warm-toned gals, and darker-skinned ladies will love this, but it's just too much for me. Oh, and it's shiny.  Really, really, really, shiny.  I have oily skin, and applying this over the top is just Too Much Shine.  Like I'm wearing a face made of pleather.

For me, as a face powder, it's a total failure, I'm afraid. But, in its favour, it makes a beautiful highlighter, and if I apply it in conjunction with a more matte powder it's wearable.  I've also noticed that parts of powder in the pan have "glazed" over - become hard - and this makes it more difficult to get it on the brush.  I hate it when powder products glaze over, as it's normally a sign of a cheap formula. In this case, I think it's just that the powder contains a high level of waxes to bind the pigments together, rather than it being a "cheap" powder, as such,  but glazing so much after only a month of use is very disappointing indeed.

It's not a universal powder, not by a long chalk, and that's a shame for me as a pale blue person. It'll be much less of a shame for you if you're warm-toned and light a highly reflective finish. As a result, I don't think I'll hit pan on this one for a long, long, long, long time, it'll never replace my much-loved Hourglass Ambient Light in Diffused, I'm afraid.

 The Delilah Pure Light Illuminating Powder in Aura costs £36 and mine came from Fortnums.
 

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Rodial Instaglam Compact Deluxe Banana Powder

 

I do love a yellow-toned face powder.  For years, my default face powder has been Hourglass Diffused, and, after hitting pan on my third one, I thought it was time to possibly try out a few different ones rather than just blindly buying the same powder again. Enter Rodial Instaglam Compact Deluxe Banana Powder.

A finely milled, soft yellow powder, Rodial are promoting this off the back of the current contouring trend as a "matte highlighter" for the high points of your face, and therefore allegedly perfect for that massive "Instagram Face/part time pornstar" makeup craze we're seeing everywhere at the moment.  Me being over forty, I can't be arsed, frankly, with attempting to create cheekbones on my gigantic wheel-of-cheese face, nor can I be bothered attempting to look like a Kardashian when my only plans for the day are popping over to Budgens in my pyjamas for a croissant or seven (which might explain my giant melon-head, now I come to think of it).  Oh, and you can "bake" your foundation with it, for all your "waking up wanting to be a Drag Queen" days. We all have them, apparently.

Actually, all I want a powder to do is set my foundation, even out my oiliness, and stop me looking like a boiled lobster on those days where my redness is too much to handle.  This powder fulfills all those functions really well.  It's highly milled, soft on the brush, and spreads over the face beautifully without caking.  I like it very much. It definitely hides redness, and does it very well.  I love the hefty compact too, it's a statement piece in any makeup bag.  However, it is very, very matte, and, being of a certain age, a very matte powder can exacerbate fine lines and wrinkles, and I worry that it's not the most flattering of finishes if I apply with slightly too heavy a hand.  I use it in conjunction with a powder that has a more gleaming finish which I will tell you about tomorrow to counteract that.

Is it a replacement for my beloved Hourglass Diffused?  Well, no.  But its a good powder nonetheless and I'll use it on days when I want a matte finish that lasts.

Rodial Instaglam Compact Deluxe Banana Powder costs £52 and is available instore now. 


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