Dior Skinflash Comparison - Shades - 001 and 002

I've somehow acquired two Dior Skinflash highlighters, in shades 001 and 002, and I thought it would be interesting to see them side by side.

Both housed in the signature silver with navy livery, Skinflash is a brush-pen style highlighter of the type that is commonly sold as a "concealer" by department store sales assistants.  What they actually do is spread reflective particles over the skin which bounce light off a particular area, diminishing the eyes' ability to see imperfections. That said, they're better used to draw light to areas in the same way you'd use a highlighter - on cheekbones, browbones etc - than use them to disguise dark circles and the like, because coverage can be very sheer, and the reflection effect can actually draw attention to the areas you're trying to hide, if you apply with too heavy a hand.  

Recall the "reverse panda" effect?

Yeah, don't apply too much, or that's you that is.

 Anyway, where was I?  Oh yes, there are two shades of Dior Skinflash:

L - 001 & R - 002

 As you can see from the above, 001 is more pink, and 002 has a more yellow cast, hopefully meaning that both cool and warm tones can use the products.  Here's how they look swatched heavily on skin:

L 002 - R 001 I'm a doofus and reversed the image - sorry!

 Swatched heavily, you can see the 001 (towards the bottom of the pic) looks a little more chalky on my neutral-toned skin, but the 002 (at the top), melts away a little more.  I'll be honest, I used 001 as an under eye concealer last week, and the pink tones did nothing to disguise anything, probably just made me look more knackered, if I'm being honest!

Blended, the differences are less apparent in this picture, but next time I use Skinflash, I'll ensure I'm using shade 002, as I think it suits my skin better:

 
 The Fine Print - one was a purchase, and one was in a goody bag at an event.  I no longer know which was which. Which is how it should be, if  you ask me.


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

Ren Love Clean Skin (or, would you like a bit of porn with your cleanser?)

Now, I'm a fan of Ren, their Rose Otto Bath Oil is one of my desert island products.  Last week they released their "first short film" (it is not an advert, allegedly) and here's the edited version:


 
It's safe for work, don't worry.

But, this is the longer version (it's less than two minutes long, but - and it's a BIG but - do not watch this if you're at work, I mean it, you will regret it and you'll likely get fired to boot) Youtube will ask you if you're over 18, and with very good reason:



Now, what I want to know, is any of this necessary?  This is basically soft porn, and what on earth it has to do with the products, I have no idea.  Yes, yes, it's beautifully shot, and the leads aren't hollywood-gorgeous, which is refreshing to see, but ... I don't see why they bothered.

Except ...

I suppose, for a brand, any publicity is good publicity - and I'm aware this blog post is just adding to that - but, I'll be honest, this has made me rethink how I feel about the brand.  It's not that I'm offended by the film - I'm not - but any brand that stoops to showing porn to get publicity, well ... I'm not so sure that's a brand I want to spend my money on.

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

Clarins Instant Light Blush Vitamin Pink and Coral Tonic

  
I spotted these in the Garden Pharmacy in Covent Garden a few weeks ago, and I was instantly smitten.  I'm on a bit of a blush kick at the moment, and these are pretty different offering from a brand like Clarins, so I couldn't wait to give them a try.

Packaged in cute nail-varnish like bottles, and brought out as part of the new spring collection, there are two shades:

When you remove the lid, there's a big sponge applicator, which is MUCH better than a brush for giving you an even application, it diffuses the gold-shot shades over the skin quite well.

It's a similar size to your fingertip, so is easy to use, and it spreads the product quite well over the skin.  I still like to finish off with my actual fingertips though, I'm a fussy mare.


Swatches:

As you can see, there's a tiny amount of shimmer when the product is unblended, but this is there for depth of shade, and stops it looking "flat" on the skin rather than to add sparkle.  Once blended the shades have a translucent quality, and add a delightful flush to the skin:

A little bit of this goes a long way, and I can see I'm totally going to be obsessed with the coral shade come summer when I'm a little darker, but these are genuinely gorgeous, and because I'm a lazy so-and-so, I like the fact that I don't need a highlighter too.

The Fine Print: PR Samples.  But they're ones I would have bought anyway.  Obsessed I am.  OBSESSED.
This post originated at: http://getlippie.com All rights reserved.

Lipstick of the week

With the wind and the snow this week, I felt the need for balm, but I wasn't quite content to go the colourless route, so I dug out my collection of Lanolips.  

From left to right we have:
Lanolips Rhubarb
Lanolips Dark Honey
Lanolips Rose I love the lanolips formula, and I wear these often, even when I don't really need balm.  My favourite, in particular, is the Dark Honey as you can probably tell from the picture above ... I understand Lanolips are bringing out a collection of body products soon, and I'm looking forward to trying them.
Topshop Gloss Stick in Glisten This is a very pretty, longlasting, gloss.  It's more of a sheer lipstick than a gloss, owing to the high level of pigment.
Revlon Just Bitten Lipstain in Plum Wicked I daren't even tell you how old this bottle is, but it was a limited edition from a Halloween collection did a few years ago.  And, by years, I probably mean about a decade or so.  It's still good though - I bought back ups of this by the score!  It's a rollerball, and it's very handy for layering, as you'll see.
Revlon Just Bitten Lipstain and Balm in Frenzy This is the newest version of Just Bitten Lipstain, which has a felt tip pen at one end, and a silicone-based balm at the other to add gloss.  It's a good product, but I doubt I'll still have this one in a few years, the pen will have dried out ...


Swatches:

Swatched in the same order, but at the end I've layered Wicked Plum over Frenzy, to deepen the red - Frenzy can look a little fuschsia on my lips if I'm not careful, and I wanted a deep, deep, longlasting red on Saturday to last me through my panel appearance at TOWIB - it did the trick!

What've you been wearing?  Here's a little teaser of just some of the stuff that's coming up later this week ...

 

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

Get Lippie is now on Facebook

Yes, it's taken me long enough, I know - but there you go.

Anyway, it's here, it's very bare, so bear with me: Get Lippie on Facebook

Please don't let me be lonely over there.  When I figure out the widget, I'll get one, but in the meantime you'll have to join by following the link.  Old Skool! 

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

Debenhams Beauty Club Awards Close Soon

Did I mention I was judging the Debenhams Beauty Club Awards this year?  Did I mention that the nomination period is closing soon?  Did I mention you can win one of two goody bags worth around £1000 (containing all 30 of last years winning products) if they get up to 20,000 votes?  Did I mention that they also have 10 runner up prizes of goody bags stuffed with award-winning products as well?

I didn't? Shame on me.  Still, you know now, so go get voting.  No excuses: http://on.fb.me/w48ldS  

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

Valentine Special - Own A Colour

I don't normally do Valentine-based stuff on Get Lippie, being a big old heartless hairy-armed knee-jerk harpie and all that, but an email fell into my in-box this week, and I had to share it.   I've already got a lipstick named after me, so I thought it was about time the incomparable MrLippie had something named after him, too.  Luckily, OwnAColour.com have come to the rescue.

In a charitable initiative to support Unicef, Own A Colour have linked up with Purple Ronnie and Dulux, and in exchange for a minimum donation of £1 you can gift a colour to your loved one, they get to name it anything they like!  Also, in exchange for your donation, and alongside their choice of colour, Purple Ronnie will write a personalised little love poem especially for your Valentine!  All you have to do is log onto their Facebook page to find out how.

Who could resist? Turns out I couldn't.  Purple Ronnie was kind enough to write me a little poem about the blog, and also drew a little picture of how he saw Get Lippie.  And, as Mr Lippie somehow made his way into the picture, I simply had to share it!

Your make-up can go badly wrong

If you’re not in the know -

Louise makes sure Get Lippie

Is the only place to go!

Not actually a photo.  Spooky resemblance though, right?*

Click onto the Own A Colour Facebook page to get your own poem and colour (no picture, I'm afraid) for your loved one. Help children, please support Unicef.


The Fine Print: NOT a sponsored post - Get Lippie has made a donation to charity as a result of the email. 
 
PS: Sorry to have spoiled your Valentine surprise, M!  I have no idea how Purple Ronnie found out about the dicky bow thing ... oh, and by the way,  we are TOTES getting matching T-shirts with this on, oh yes.


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

Gielly Green Salon, Shampoos and Hair Masks.

A few months ago, I was invited to a very special wedding, in an extremely special location, my hair needed doing, and it's fair to say I'd gotten into a bit of a flap about my wedding preparations. This, not least because I was also the makeup artist for the bride on the day ... more about that, hopefully, in a later blog post.


Gielly Green, the beautiful Marylebone-based hair salon came to my rescue, offering me a complimentary blow-dry on the day of the occasion, and I owe them a long-overdue thanks!   Founded a few years ago by Fred Gielly and Shai Greenberg, the salon is calm and very welcoming, and you can tell just by walking through the doors that the entire team puts a great emphasis on customer service.  It's a very lovely, and extremely comfortable salon too:

My visit was on a very busy Friday morning, but even so, I wasn't rushed or made to feel unwelcome.  After having a look at my hair Fred decided I needed a little conditioning treatment first, and so I had an application of their Argan Rescue (which can be used as both a treatment and a styling serum), then a glorious shampoo in what are, it has to be said, the most comfortable backwash chairs I've found in the six and a half years since I moved to London:

I seriously do not know why it is that so many salons in London think it's okay to have chairs that would be rejected from Abu Ghiraib for being "too uncomfortable", but these chairs are a thing of beauty, if I hadn't have been fretting about getting to a wedding on time, I'd have been quite happy to have spent the rest of the day snoozing in one of these babies ...


As for my blow-dry, well, it was perfect, bouncy, shiny, full of body, and I loved it.  If you have a chance to go along to the salon,  then do take my word for it, Fred is a genius with a hairdryer and a round brush.  I'm a hard woman to please when it comes to my hair, but I was very impressed with both the salon overall, and the hair I left the salon with.  Pictures will come when I get access to the wedding pictures!


I was so impressed with the salon, that I agreed to trial some of the home hair products that Gielly Green have produced.  I was sent the Repair Shampoo and the Repair Mask to deal with my coloured hair.

Classily packaged,  the products have a zingy scent of lemongrass, which is really lovely, and I found both the shampoo and mask to be wonderfully moisturising on the hair.  I'm not particularly a fan of the pot-style mask (I hate getting products under my nails), but this is a rich and thick cream that will add moisture to even the most parched of hair:

Sadly, my scalp (notoriously sensitive, and the bane of my existence when it flares up) didn't enjoy the products as much as my hair did, and this lead to a worsening of my seborrhic dermatitis and I had to discontinue use after about ten days.


That said, these products are parabens and SLS-free, and normally I'd expect them to work with most sensitive scalps, in this case, I suspect the problem was mine, rather than the products.


Overall, I'd be happy to go back to the salon on a regular basis, and I'd happily recommend the home products to anyone with a less temperamental scalp than my own.


The Fine Print: Get Lippie was a guest of Gielly Green, and products were provided for review purposes.

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

Lipstick of the Week - Clarins Gloss Prodige

Well, I said last week that I was planning on wearing just one brand over the next seven days, and, I during a delightful afternoon tea with the Clarins PR, I was presented with these, so it seemed like perfect timing!  These glosses are part of the new Spring collection from Clarins, which is out on counters at the moment.  Eight shades have been released, in shades of  nude, coral and pink.

So, what do they look like? 

Displayed in numerical order, you can see the glosses are pigmented, and contain varying levels of shimmer, from the least ( Rose) to the most (Grenadine).  The glosses are highly fruit scented - they smell of Skittles! - and slightly sticky.

A slightly better representation of the colours there, but this doesn't show off the shimmer.

The glosses vary slightly in pigmentation, ranging from deeply coloured, to barely there:

You can see that the two really nude shades are essentially slightly milky, but more or less clear glosses, for me they'd be good for toning down slightly too dark lipsticks, but they don't show up at all on my fairly highly pigmented lips. The other shades do show up on my lips, and 01 Chocolate was an unexpectedly wearable colour, I fell in love a bit with the multi-tonal microshimmer in that one.

My picks from the selection won't be a a surprise for anyone who's followed this blog for any period of time, but I was drawn to the pinks: 04 Candy, 06 Raspberry and 07 Blackberry:

These are such cheery and pretty shades, and Raspberry in particular has quickly become a handbag staple, I love it. 

Wear is about average for lipgloss, two to three hours or so, depending on what you're doing.  Fans of highly scented lip-products will love the fruity taste, as well.

Ingredients list:

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

Debenhams Beauty Club Awards

I'm a lifelong Debenhams shopper - in my hometown there isn't a department store at all, and the nearest department store to us was Browns of Chester, which is actually a branch of Debenhams.

I spent so much time in that Debenhams beauty hall whilst growing up that eventually all the staff knew me by name (remember Norm from Cheers?  How the whole bar would shout his name when he walked in?  That used to happen to me in Browns.  True story.)  I was offered jobs by the Aveda, the Bobbi Brown and the Chanel counters, just from my constant shopping in there, and, from my chatting with the assistants I eventually learned more about most of their brands than the sales assistants themselves, bless them.

Through Debenhams I discovered Mac, La Prairie, Lancome, Guerlain, and many, many more, and, I loved them all. Still do. It's my love of those brands, discovered in-store that keeps this blog going!   Debenhams is also where I learned about crippling credit card debt, but that's a different story ...

Little known fact: 90% of the products I buy for the blog, I buy from Debenhams.  Sadly, the staff at the Oxford Street and Westfield branches don't know me as well as they used to in Chester - there's no cheering cries of "Luce!  Look at THIS!" as I walk around anymore, but I still feel more at home* in a Debenhams than I do any amount of John Lewis, Selfridges, House of Fraser, Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Liberty stores ... there are more beautiful stores, there are better-stocked stores but there are none that occupy my heart in the same way as the Debenhams I grew up with ...

Why am I telling you all this, you're wondering, no doubt, well, I shall tell you!

Last year, Debenhams Beauty Club held their first ever Beauty Awards, and they were a huge success, garnering votes from over 12,000 people about their favourite beauty products.  This year - from today - they're doing it again.  If you log on to the Debenhams Beauty Club Facebook page, then you'll be able to vote for your favourite beauty products in six different categories.

On February 14th, the nominations will close and a specially-selected judging panel will shortlist products in each category, and then select a winner  for each ...

And the reason I'm telling you all this?  Well, dear readers, this year Get Lippie is on the judging panel!  I'm so delighted to be taking part, I can't even begin to tell you how much!  Finally, after years of delirious spending on fripperies, I get to tell Debenhams what I really think is good and worth buying.   And so do you, so get nominating good stuff for me to look at!  There's a chance of you winning every nominated product if you do, so, get voting ... !

Finally, something about blogging LippieMum will be proud of ...

* And not just because all my soft furnishings, bedding and towels etc were bought there, either

The Fine Print: NOT a sponsored post. Just a very, very happy one.  Now, if only they'd do something about that crippling credit card debt ...

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