Armani Lip Magnets launch nationwide on October 28th

 2016 has been a great year for lipstick lovers, especially BRIGHT lipstick lovers, like, er ... me! Armani have launched a great range of mattes recently - they're currently exclusive to Selfridges, but they'll launch nationwide on October 28th, and I have a bunch of them here.  In today's post I'll talk about the colours and the formula, and I'll put swatches into the post tomorrow, otherwise it'll be a bit too much.  Launching in 18 shades, I have 11 of them here to show you - I'm just missing the nudes, I think.

From top (l-r) we have 300, 301 and 302.  Second row is 400, 401 and 402.  Third row is 500, 501, and 506, and the bottom two are 601 and 602.

The shades have been released in four different colour families, corals/oranges, reds, pinks/nudes and purple/berries.  They're all highly pigmented (though some are easier to apply than others), and they literally feel like you have bare lips once they're in place, and have "set" onto your lips.

(l-r) 300, 301, 302 Corals/Oranges

300 is a light, almost neon tangerine shade.
301 is a great medium coral
302 is a deeper warm red-orange.

This is me looking a bit tired in 302:

(l-r) 400, 401, and 402.

400 is a strawberry red.
401 is a cherry-pinked red and 
402 is a classic bright neutral red.  A quirk in the Armani packaging makes these look a lot more warm and "orange" than they actually appear on the lips.  Even my husband mentioned that they all looked "really orange" before I swatched them.

(l-r) 500, 501 and 506

500 is classic "bubblegum" pink on the bright side, but not too "Barbie"-looking.
501.  Barbie called, she wants her dream house back.
506 - a pinked mauve that is surprisingly easy to wear on this particular shunner of nudes.

Me moon-faced and slightly insane at 5.30am in 500:

And finally,

601 and 602 (at the front l-r)

601 is a cool-tone liverish purple
602 is a bright berry-purple shade.

602 in wear:

Can we say "goth"?

The formula is great.  A very thin and sheer liquid that can be easily built up in the more opaque shades, but I found that 300, 501 and 601/602 could be a little streaky if not applied carefully.  They have a "water-in-oil" formulation, which means they get more matte as the water in the formula evaporates off the lips, leaving just the pigmentation behind.  I haven't had any issues with my lips drying out whilst wearing these, nor do they feather or crease at all.  I have noticed an odd tendency for them to look glossier in photos than they do in real life.  I think this might have something to do with the light-reflective properties of the colours, which are opaque, but not at all flat, which is quite a feat.

The applicator is, quite possibly, one of the best I've ever used in a liquid lipstick format, it's firm, and doesn't pick up so much of the liquid that you have to smear it all over, and hope for the best.  It's on the small side, and has a very definite point to the tip, so you get an exceptionally precise application with little fuss, even if you're as cack-handed as I am first thing in the mornings!  They're not greasy, or slippery, and nor do they suck the moisture from your lips like other matte lipsticks I could (but won't) name.  They're an exceptionally nice, and easy wear.  That said, the wear time isn't like anything as great as a traditional heavy pigment and wax-based matte lipstick, but they wear off nicely (you do have to watch for the " red ring of doom" with some of the darker shades though), and they leave a nice stain of pigment on the lips.  The best (or worst, depending on your POV) ones for leaving behind a stain are the two brighter pinks (500 and 501) and the pinker berry shade (602).  None of the shades will survive a portion of chips, but they will stand up quite well to a couple of biscuits and a cup of tea (mental note, never blog when hungry).

Full lip-swatches tomorrow.  Armani Lip Magnets cost £27 and will launch nationwide on 28th October.

The Fine Print: PR samples



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Philosophy Amazing Grace 20th Birthday Special Edition

The last time Amazing Grace appeared on this blog, I referred to it as an "anti-perfume", the smell of clean laundry, and described it as perfect for people who don't really like fragrance.  I stand by those things, but I also confess that I actually have a huge, sneaking, deep vat of love for it. 

"Clean" fragrances are a not-so-secret vice of mine, the urge to smell like laundry  musks and baby powder is a source of shame considering my role as a perfume blogger. I should live for skank, for the smell of musty underwear, of tropical mangroves filled with rotten fruit, of coughdrops, catpoo and honey, of death and foof, of leather and booze, of unshaven armpits, and grannies fighting over the last murray mint in a powdery handbag, that kind of thing.  Well, one thing I've noticed since I lost my sense of smell and it's "recovery" over the last couple of years is that the sense of smell I do have now has changed a lot. Where once Tom Ford Tuscan Leather was a "full-on smack in the face with a driving glove", it's now a fuzzy, fruity suede waistcoat made of raspberries and offcuts, more Top Gear than Top Gun.  The fragrance hasn't changed, but my nose definitely has.  The world of smell is an odd place for me to negotiate these days, but I'm hopeful that my love of skank, of armpits and catpoo will come back one day.

In the meantime, a return to my love of clean and rather unchallenging scents is to be celebrated, considering the alternatives, and so to my delight to find that Philosophy Amazing Grace is having its 20th birthday this year.  Can it really be that long since I bought my first bottle?  Amazingly (see what I did there?) it can.  Blimey. It's just been released in a special edition livery ready for its party, and the smell has hardly changed at all.  At once as familiar as your favourite item of clothing, and as inoffensive as a pretty girl at a beauty pageant, Amazing Grace has charm in a quiet and low-key fresh from the dryer kind of a way.  If it's the kind of thing you like, then you'll love it.

Happy birthday, Amazing Grace! 



The Fine Print: PR sample


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Cabrini Studded Leather Jacket from Navabi (A tale of intense nervousness and the BBC)

"Just wear whatever you feel most comfortable in!"  

Was there ever a sentence designed to fill a fat lass with such dread?  I heard it from the producer of a BBC2 TV programme I'd been invited to take part in, and, well, the thought of making my national telly debut in a decades old pair of Coca Cola-themed pyjamas and a lightly Doritos-stained Motley Crue hoody didn't really appeal, if I'm being honest*. Particularly not when the TV show in question is a serious scientific documentary about my anosmia and parosmia problems over the last couple of years, anyway.  So for several weeks in September, I was in a serious tailspin over what to wear for making a documentary, I have NOTHING to wear!

Actually, not quite true, I have lots of clothes, and I scrub up quite well (for an accountant), but I wouldn't say I really had style, unless "cardigan chic" is the topic in question, that is.  As some of the filming was to take place on Shepherd's Bush market (and you haven't lived until someone calls you a wanker on film when you're trying to talk about your trials with potatoes whilst walking backwards through a market, let me tell you) I knew a coat would be necessary, but in September a winter coat would have been too much and my rain coats were all designed with thinner people in mind (that thinner person being me, two summers ago, but hey ho).  I harboured idle thoughts about a purple coat from Joe Brown for about two minutes before the idea of a leather jacket popped into my head and I remembered about Navabi.

Navabi, if you don't know, is a supplier of designer clothes for the more generously proportioned amongst us. I discovered it quite by accident last winter, and went a bit bonkers buying faux-leather trimmed skirts and dresses by the score ("Leather dresses!  For big girls! Wheeeeee!" went my brain), then I went on a total clothes no-buy for the summer, because I was busy buying furniture instead.  I love Navabi (and no, they're not paying me for this blog post) because unlike SOME plus-size clothing suppliers they don't a) feature celebrity "designed" ranges b) don't cover absolutely everything in sequinned appliqué butterflies and c) don't feature "celebrity" "designed" ranges covered in appliquéd sequinned butterflies.  Whilst I'm all for appropriate sequinnage - yes, I do wear them to the office, more regularly than you might think, actually - butterflies and applique can get stuffed, frankly.  I also love it because it's proper designer-wear (sometimes with prices to match), and whilst there are the occasional potato-sack-style couple of items, they're deliberately done so, and not your only option if you're above a size 14, unlike some websites. Whatever your style, and whatever your budget, and whatever the occasion (and your size), there's something you can wear.  I have a selection of their shift dresses and long jumpers from last winter, and the styles are both classic and timeless. A trawl through the website is always a treat - even for me, a confirmed clothes and shoe-shopping hater.  Oh yes, I went there.  Not even slightly sorry.

Anyway, where was I?  I spotted this Cabrini studded leather jacket, and I fell, completely, utterly head over heels in love.  A biker style, but so much more feminine (and flattering) than that, it had to be mine. HAD TO! And, luckily for me, Navabi were incredibly generous on hearing about my "plight" (such as it was, I know, I know) and agreed to send me a sample for the filming.  I haven't worn any other coat since it arrived, and, after a couple of years without a leather jacket in my wardrobe, I'm wondering how the heck I managed without one.  You know when an item of clothing turns up, you put it on, and it feels so completely like "you", you never want to be parted from it again?  Well, that's this jacket for me.  "Wear whatever you feel most comfortable in"?  No problem.  Thank you so much, Navabi!  You can find the jacket (and much, much more!) here: https://www.navabi.co.uk/product/studded-leather-jacket-36989/?colorcode=2400 (not an affiliate link) It's buttery soft, comfortable, and aside from the studs being brass rather than the silver I'd expected, is exactly as advertised.

Me (sadly, sans jacket) with Sarah McCartney and the BBC Scotland production team

I'll talk more about the filming nearer the time of broadcast (providing, of course, that my section makes the cut!), but it was a huge amount of fun being a telly "presenter" for the first (and, no doubt, last) time, and, as well as being grateful to Navabi for solving my clothing woes, I'm also indebted a huge amount to the wonderful Sarah McCartney at 4160Tuesdays and the gorgeous Linda Pilkington of Ormonde Jayne, without either of whom the filming probably wouldn't have happened. 

Me in the jacket of joy - I had flu when this pic was taken
though, so please don't enlarge it, you won't thank me.

 I just have to save up BIG TIME for my next Navabi spree now ...


* And if you think I'm not wearing them RIGHT NOW as I type this, you'd be sadly mistaken, I'm afraid.
 
The Fine Print: PR sample.



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Nair Nourish Upper Lip Kit Review

Hello! My name is Get Lippie, and I have a moustache.  If you're reading this, you've probably got one too, man, woman or child.  Don't worry, there's no judgement here, but there is shedloads of judgement out there, this I know.  I had someone recently say in an email that they loved my choice of lipsticks on instagram, but my upper-lip hair was making them feel a bit sick, and could I do something about it? Didn't even say please!  So, I did the right thing, and blocked them on Instagram, so now hopefully my hirsute and ever-so-ugly-as-a-result-apparently mug won't be ruining their breakfast every day.

However,  I do actually occasionally de-forest my upper lip.  I say occasionally, because I am (of course), a big fat lazy bugger, who can't be bothered removing any body-hair on a regular basis (this summer has been so cold, for example, that I don't even slightly begin to remember the last time I shaved my legs.  And the least we say about my armpits the better: I haven't been able to raise my left arm properly for about 18 months, so there's probably bears or raccoons living in there now), but yes, when you take pictures of lipstick on a regular basis, and people start commenting on your facial hair rather than the colour on your lips, then maybe its time to take action.  Or not. Frankly, if this package of Nair Nourish Upper Lip Kit Hair Remover hadn't arrived completely coincidentally a day or two after the aforementioned email, I'd probably have just invested in some moustache wax and had at it.  Hey, it's a look!

But I thought I'd give it a go, mostly because the box promises it only takes three minutes, is designed for sensitive skin (there's nothing worse than removing your moustache hair only to leave yourself with a fluorescent pink skin-moustache that takes a week to die down, in my experience), needs no mixing, and comes with an aftercare moisturiser.  You apply the hair remover to clean, dry, product-free skin, wait three minutes then remove.  I found that my puke-making hair needed just a little extra time, around four minutes in total, but the hair was removed completely in that time.  

And no stinging!  At all!  And NO PINK SKIN-MOUSTACHE! I didn't particularly notice any smell, either.  In fact, my skin was so little irritated by the process that I didn't even bother using the post-removal moisturiser. Truth be told, I'd actually forgotten it was in the kit, and only realised when I came to photograph it for this review ... anyhoo, it's a winner in my book.

Here's hoping it's still as effective the next time I come to take it out of the box, which will be around mid-2018 by my reckoning .... 

The Fine Print: PR samples.


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Murad Hydro-Dynamic Quenching Essense and Ultimate Moisture Review

 It's hard work being a beauty blogger with sensitive skin, sometimes.  I'm a big fan of results-led, science-based skincare, and I have a clear preference for doctor brands that have a philosophy of really caring for skin, rather than just using skincare as line extensions for their other product ranges.  This isn't to say that there isn't good skincare coming from other more nature-based, or makeup-based ranges (there are excellent products in some unexpected places out there), but, when your skin is sensitive, finding products that are both results-led, and yet still bland enough not to cause flare-ups can cause problems.   Essential oils such as orange and lavender, used in a lot of "unfragranced" natural products, are a particular problem for my facial skincare routine, and I've found that I have far fewer issues with lab-based synthetics than many organic ranges as a result.

All of which is a long way around of saying that I really like the Murad Hydro-Dynamic range of products.  I'm both oily combination and sensitive-skinned, and at times I'm also very dehydrated, but I've found that the Hydro-Dynamic range helps on all counts.  The Murad Hydro-Dynamic Quenching Essence is a product I was introduced to last year, and I admit that I was a little underwhelmed with it at the time (it's more of a serum than I was expecting an "essence" to be - not a liquid at all!),  but I think I was a little less stressed and dehydrated last summer than I have been this year - the house move a few months ago took a lot more out of me than I was expecting.  This time of using, however, I like it much more, it adds hydration without loading the skin with too much oil, or that silicone-y feeling or being a gel, and leaves a lovely, velvety texture behind after applying.  It somehow just feels like it lasts longer on the skin than either a liquid or gel hyaluronic acid-based hydrator.

The Murad Hydrodynamic Ultimate Moisture is pretty much how I would describe my perfect moisturiser.  It feels luxurious and rich when taking it out of the jar, but it spreads and sinks into the skin beautifully, disappearing completely, but leaving skin feeling hydrated and supple, and ready for anything else that you want to apply afterwards.  It never overloads the skin, never triggers a reaction (despite what I might have applied first - in fact it's an ideal cream for using when trialling other products that you fear might cause a reaction), and hydrates without being greasy, clogging pores, or causing redness.  I love it.  It's bland, unscented, and inactive (in a good way), having only one job to do (hydrating), and it does it exceptionally well. So for those of us with over-excitable skin, it's a perfect cream.   I don't always get on well with Murad products, they have a habit of being just that little bit too strong for my skin issues, but  in this duo, I've found my happy Murad place.

At £59.50 for the Hydro-Dynamic Quenching Essence and £55.00 for the Hydro-Dynamic Ultimate Moisture, they might not be the cheapest products on the market, but for me and my stupid skin, they're great.  If you only get one, get the moisturiser, it might not set your world on fire, but you won't regret it. Your skin will love you for it.

The Fine Print: PR samples and purchases


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Niod Photography Fluid Opacity 12% Review

Niod has exploded over the blogosphere recently, and, whilst slightly intrigued by the good press they've been getting, the overly-complex names, and overly-simplistic product descriptions have been confusing the heck out of me, so I've largely avoided them.  However, a few people I know and trust on Instagram have had good things to say about Niod Photography Fluid Opacity 12%, so I figured I'd take my first plunge into the brand, albeit in a very small way.
 

Designed to make you look wonderful in photos (I've heard it described as an "instagram filter in a bottle"), it's an opaque white liquid, but it is suffused with microscopic gold particles which both reflect and refract light which lessens visible flaws and gives the optical illusion of "perfect skin".  So, is it a foundation or a primer?  Actually, it's neither, but in practice it turns out that it's a little bit of both.  I use it underneath foundation or tinted moisturiser, but couldn't personally recommend wearing it alone. It doesn't particularly extend the wear of a foundation (something I really expect a primer to do), but it definitely does enhance the look of foundation.  However, if you're a fellow sufferer of redness-prone skin, you might want to read on.

Housed in a an amber-glass apothecary-style bottle complete with dropper (which I despise), the liquid is thick and opaque initially, and oddly, rather dry.  However, three or four drops of the product blends away on the skin fairly easily, leaving a visible golden "glow" behind it.  I am rather pink-skinned, and the yellow-gold of Niod Photography Fluid 12% Opacity hides it beautifully.  Seriously, it might be the best redness-disguising product I've ever tried.  Personally, I find the glow that Photography Fluid leaves, whilst it evens out your skin beautifully, it doesn't actually give nearly enough (in fact, any) coverage to be worn alone without another base product on top. However your mileage might vary on that one - but I'm so pink that the thought of leaving the house without at least popping a smidge of tinted moisturiser on is horrifying to me! - but it is designed to be worn with other products at least. And as a layering product for redness disguising, it's second to none.  Genuinely.

left side, naked skin.  Right side: with Niod Photography Fluid 12% Opacity blended.

 The effect is hard to see in photos - which is pretty much as it should be, otherwise it'd look like a mask, and who needs that? - but skin does look "better", more polished and even than it otherwise would do, with or without other base products.  In person, the effect is even harder to see, there is no actual coverage built into Niod Photography Fluid Opacity 12%, so if you have visible flaws that you would normally see when not wearing foundation, that can't be disguised with refracted light (open pores, for example, or scarring), then they would still be visible IRL, without the "soft focus glow", that a camera lens gives to the product.

Lipstick is Burts Bees crayon in Napa Vineyard.

 And yes, it does photograph beautifully, it can't be denied.  Even on my oily-combination, pink, open-pore-plagued, nearing-fifty-ish skin, it looks dewy and glowing, even whilst I'm scowling in strong sunlight. 

On the downside, the texture is oddly dry and surprisingly thick (lots more gathers on the outside of the dropper than ever gets into the dropper, making replacing it into the bottle a very messy business), and it can occasionally stick on drier patches of skin meaning you have to be careful about blending, and the dropper is beyond annoying because of the texture. All of this would be less of a problem if the product was supplied in a tube.  But for me, the redness-disguising benefits (with or without a camera) outweighs both of those problems.   Niod have also introduced Niod Photography Fluid 8% Opacity which addresses one of those issues (texture), and I'll be reviewing that in a future post, but the glass bottle with the dropper remains a bugbear.

If you don't spend much time taking selfies, you might not need this, but if you have worries about redness and uneven skintone, then you definitely do.  I've certainly been happier with my selfies since I bought this.

The Fine Print: Purchase


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Urban Reivers - Damn Rebel Bitches Fragrance Review

In Edinburgh, at least until the 29th August, Urban Reivers is holding a pop-up shop at 46a George Street, and (yes, I know it's late notice) I do urge you to pop along if you have any interest in Scotland, Scottish history, or (I almost hate to mention it), Outlander, because Urban Reivers have developed a very interesting fragrance based on Scotland's rather, um, tempestuous past.

Called Damn Rebel Bitches (inspired by the book by Maggie Craig, which tells tales of the women who took part in the Jacobite uprisings of 1715 and 1745), and created in partnership with Sarah McCartney of 4160 Tuesdays,  the fragrance  utilises ingredients, both rare and everyday, that would have been available to women during the Jacobean era. Combing blood orange and hazelnuts leads to a very creamy citrus effect (if you've ever heard of an Orange Julius - it's the smell of one of those on a hot day) at first, which is compounded by a warm and conforting malty (Ovaltine!) undertone.  The pink pepper  adds a slight prickle of fizziness to the creamy effect, which sounds rather odd, but works very well on the skin, and there is apparently clary sage underpinning the whole thing, but my nose can't pick that out at all (my problem, rather than the fragrance's though, to be honest).  It's really rather lovely, and it's one of those fragrances that seems familiar, without ever being able to put your finger on what precisely it reminds you of, which is an effect I enjoy.

Easy to wear, but not in the slightest bit boring - Mr Lippie is a fan of this one - Damn Rebel Bitches might not be quite as big in effect  as it's name suggests it will be (it plays far too close to the skin for that), but it's a gorgeous fragrance all the same.  I've used up my sample bottle already, and miss it very much.  If you're into a little history with your perfume, then you can't really go wrong with this one.  If you can't get along to Edinburgh for a sniff, you can buy it from the Urban Reivers online shop, here: https://www.urbanreivers.scot/reek/perfume.html where it will cost you £70 for 50mls.


The Fine Print: PR samples.


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