All Things Purple - Lipstick Edition

So I finished my exams, and went to the ball, and turned 23. I'm now at home for a week or so, packing for a month in Nepal, and rediscovering my love for purple makeup products.

Kicking off with lipsticks, naturally!

L-R: MAC Violetta, Snob, Up the Amp, Topshop On the Town

Top to bottom: MAC Violetta, Snob, Up the Amp, Topshop On the Town

MAC Violetta is the queen of purple lipsticks. This is a Pro shade, which I bought at the (admittedly sometimes quite scary and unwelcoming) MAC Pro store in London. It's pretty damn purple - no lilac or mauve nonsense here, just straight up bright purple. Can be a teeny bit unflattering against the teeth, but a stunning lipstick nevertheless. Just to round things off, it's in my favourite Amplified formula, which is super-opaque and long-wearing.

Taking it down a notch to MAC Snob, which is a very blue-toned lilac pink (Satin finish). I got this (and the Topshop lipstick here) a month or so ago from Alice's blog sale, which is awesome. Very pretty girly daytime shade - barely purple against the others here, but a more wearable variation on the theme.

And of course the classic MAC Up the Amp. I highly recommend trying this out if you don't already own it - great Amplified formula, really unusual darkened lavender colour which is wearable day to night (I'd say). Love this one!

Finally, a non-MAC contender, Topshop On the Town. Sadly I think this is discontinued, so I snapped it up from Alice's blog sale! I think MAC have released limited edition versions of this shade in the past (Lavender Whip?). It's a pale mauve colour, not the most flattering but unusual and fun, particularly for spring pastel makeup which I love wearing. I haven't come across a dud Topshop lipstick yet in terms of formula - this is similar to MAC's Amplified finish.

If you have any other purple lipstick recommendations (especially non-MAC), do drop me a comment!

Lots more purple where that came from, in the shape of blushes (MAC, NARS, Illamasqua), eyeshadows (MAC and Chanel spring to mind), and the odd nail varnish/lipgloss/miscellaneous item.

Till next time,

Josephine x

New Things Edition I: Face Things

So it has been an age since my last post! Meaning I have acquired quite a few new things in the meantime. Kicking off with...

FACE THINGS

L-R: Murad Oil-Control Mattifier SPF 15,  NARS blushes in Douceur and Deep Throat, NARS Sheer Glow foundation in Siberia, Topshop blush in Head Over Heels, Liz Earle Skin Repair Moisturiser (normal/combo skin)

L-R: NARS Douceur, NARS Deep Throat, Topshop Head Over Heels

Top to bottom: NARS Douceur, NARS Deep Throat, Topshop Head Over Heels (OMG IT'S OUTSIDE)

First up, NARS. Having seen various bloggers of the pale persuasion wear Douceur with aplomb, I was keen to try it out. I'd previously overlooked it at counters in favour of a few more eye-catching shades, since it is pretty unremarkable in the pan (i.e. at first glance it's a boring matte rosy brown, which also looks dull swatched above), but recently fancied a neutral blush to balance my collection, which is impractically heavy on loud pinks and the like. So I trotted along to Selfridges after classes one day, and ended up buying it. I now wear it nearly every day, with any colour lipstick or eyeshadow, for a perfectly neutral, natural cheek, without fuss or shimmer. Brightens up and defines the face, without being overbearing. Bold claim: if I only had one blush, ever, it would probably be this one, for sheer versatility and wearability. (Maybe.)

Frankly, the raved-about Deep Throat pales in comparison as far as I'm concerned. I've hardly worn it since buying it for about £15 on Buyapowa over a month ago. It's a pretty, shimmery peachy pink, and I'm sure I'll wear it more in the summer, but I'm not overly enthused about it to be honest. At least I got it cheap!

The other new blush in my stable(?) is Topshop's cream blush offering in Head Over Heels. Not quite sure why I bought this - I was in the Oxford Circus Topshop to look at the lipsticks (I can't be the only person who shrinks in fear from the prospect of buying clothes in that shop, it's basically a rugby scrum), and came away with this too. I do love my Topshop cream blushes, so I suppose my collector's mentality came out (especially because it's only £6). Confession: I haven't worn it yet. Oops. But it is very pretty, and I love the formula.

A sideline: why the heck have Topshop discontinued all the colours in this formula except Head Over Heels, Neon Rose & Flush? They're all squarely in the bright peach/coral family, and the testers sitting side by side are verrrry similar. The neutral one, Nutmeg, is my favourite! And there are now no cooler tones/pinks in the line at all. Bizarre. Sort it out, Topshop. (I do love your amazing lipsticks though - a story for another day.)

I also picked up NARS Sheer Glow in Siberia from Cami's blogsale. I had hesitated to buy this full price (about £30), but couldn't resist it when a bargain popped up! So far, I'm on the fence about this. It's pale, all right - a smidge yellow for me, but light enough for this not to matter too much when blended. However, it accentuates dry/flaky patches I hadn't even noticed before! I don't own any other foundations which do this, so was a bit surprised, especially as it's aimed at people with drier skin (I have normal/combo).  It went on slightly better when I slathered on moisturiser beforehand the second time round, but I'm a bit unimpressed so far, having heard so many people praise this so highly! Still, I shall persevere. And the paleness makes me happy.

The Murad Oil-Control Mattifier was a spur-of-the-moment online purchase after seeing it recommended on the Beauty Boudoir. It was available (relatively) cheaply on Look Fantastic, and as a fairly shiny person I thought I'd give it a try. So far I've mainly used it in the evenings, since in the daytime I tend to use my SPF 50 Alpha-H moisturiser, especially now it's actually sunny. It acts like a primer, leaving a smooth surface for foundation etc, and it definitely reduces shine. It's looking good so far!

Finally, I also threw in my pot of Liz Earle Skin Repair Moisturiser (normal/combo skin one) - I've had this for a pretty long time and never ever used it, but when Sheer Glow started going all flaky and worrying I whipped this out of my drawer and gave it a go. I wouldn't really use it on my T-zone, especially my chin as it's pretty damn oily (ick), but on cheeks etc it's good stuff - fairly non-greasy and easily absorbed. Will definitely be using this more from now on!

And now got to dash, since my deadline is ticking ever nearer (oh lordy). Next up: lip things, feat. Topshop and Revlon.

Till next time,

Josephine x

PS. Bonus picture of animals frolicking in the sun...

L-R: Bertie and Dennis

Today's Makeup Bag

So, I decided it was time to clear out my makeup bag and throw in a few products I haven't used in a while/put away colours I'm not wearing at the moment. And I took some photos.

I'm always shocked by how MUCH this looks all laid out like that! I split it up into eyes/face/lips, so it's a bit less intimidating!

EYE PRODUCTS

Nothing that revolutionary here, with lots of the same old favourites making an appearance.

In the MAC eyeshadow quad I have (clockwise from top left) Vex, Dazzlelight, Patina, and Satin Taupe. I want to finish up these pans of Vex and Dazzlelight as they're now a bit of a pain to apply, and Satin Taupe and Patina deserve a bit more love than they currently get in my 15-pan palette. The lone eyeshadow pan is Coquette, my eyebrow colour, and the NARS shadow top right is (surprise!) Lhasa.

I've owned this MAC Paint in Bare Canvas (in the metal tube packaging, below the quad) for a while now, having randomly ordered it after I sent back a dried-out jar of Painterly Paint Pot. It's not a product that's talked about a lot on blogs/Youtube, and I was curious to try it out - however the ointment-style packaging, while cute, is a bit of a nuisance. My current tube of Too Faced Shadow Insurance is on its last legs, so I'm trying out Bare Canvas as an alternative eye primer.

The Bourjois pot eyeshadow bottom left is in shade 90 Blanc Diaphane - I've had this for an unhygienic length of time, but it's just so useful for popping a white highlight in the inner corners (and yes, I do use the crappy sponge applicator!).

Mascaras: I'm still enjoying Benefit's They're Real!, but after my Revlon Grow Luscious dried out, I felt I needed another, more "casual" mascara which isn't so hard to remove at night. I picked up Rimmel Lash Accelerator in Extreme Black, having previously loved the regular black version, and so far I'm pretty happy with this - a much smaller brush than the Revlon version, which makes it easier to get at the corner lashes. I may be saving They're Real for evening use in future!

Liner-wise, I'm using my trusty L'Oreal Super Liner in Carbon Gloss for when I fancy winged liner, and have thrown in Topshop Kohl in Saddle (shimmery dark brown) for a change, since I never usually wear pencil liner. I also have a rather battered Mac Eye Pencil in Ebony, which is a more or less permanent fixture in my makeup bag - these days I mostly use it on the waterline of an evening. Finally, I'm experimenting with Topshop Kohl in Frost (matte white) as an inner corner highlight and on the lower waterline - white looks pretty stark, of course, but until I get round to acquiring MAC's pale flesh-toned Chromagraphic Pencil, this will do for those especially exhausted mornings!

FACE PRODUCTS

L-R, top to bottom: No. 7 Perfect Light Loose Powder in 05 Translucent; Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum in 51 Light Vanilla; Illamasqua Cream Pigment in Hollow; Jemma Kidd Dewy Glow All Over Radiance Creme in Iced Gold; NARS blush in Desire; Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Concealer in 1 Fair.

The only new product here is the Jemma Kidd creme highlighter, which I bought after hearing rave reviews from other bloggers, particularly Anna! So far I only own powder and liquid highlighters (such as MAC Lightscapade and Benefit High Beam), and I love the simplicity of creme products which you can apply with your fingers. This was pretty expensive - £17 I think - but no more so than MAC! It's a gorgeous product, which can be blended out to a subtle glowy sheen, or applied more heavily for a more intense white-gold highlight.


I chose NARS Desire as my blush of the moment - we got off on the wrong foot, since I was more taken with Sin, but I feel it's time to acquaint ourselves. After spending that much on a blush I'm damned if it's going to languish in my makeup drawers unused! Report to follow.


The other products are fairly standard, and I think I've mentioned most of them before, and/or lots of other bloggers have! I do like the Illamasqua Cream Pigment as an eye base, but at the moment I'm using it as a contour shade, with varying degrees of success.

 LIP PRODUCTS

L-R: Neutrogena lip balm SPF 20, MAC Hue, Revlon Lip Butter in Sugar Plum, and (front) Rimmel Exaggerate Lip Liner in 063 Eastend Snob

 This basic Neutrogena lip balm lives in my makeup bag all the time - I prefer the Lanolips 101 Ointment, which resides in my handbag, but that doesn't have SPF. 

[Warning: rant ahead!] Ah, MAC Hue. This is a glaze finish lipstick which I'm sure many of you have heard of/own. It's one of the most talked about lipsticks MAC make, so when I first started buying MAC products, I ordered this online after watching girls on Youtube rave about it as the most wearable nude. Thankfully I passed on Creme d'Nude and Myth, realising even in my naive state that these would be a disaster on me. However, so many beauty bloggers rated Hue in their top handful of MAC lipstick colours, or as their favourite lipstick ever, that I didn't question my need for it. I probably would have bought it even if I'd swatched it in a shop, to be honest, since it's a non-offensive-looking sheer peachy pink when swatched. On my lips, however, it's just - horrible. Why?

1. (Oh yeah, I'm listing.) It's lighter than my lips. Quite a bit lighter, in fact. Since I am very fair, the combo of pale pink skin and pale pinky lipstick is - not good. It's also a touch too orange for my taste/skintone.
2. If I were ever to want the nude lip/smokey eye look (which is so gorgeous in my head/on other people!), I'd need a lipstick which was opaque/pigmented enough to cover my natural lip colour. This is not it. I find it applies not only sheer but also uneven and streaky. Nice.
3. It doesn't last. This isn't surprising given the glaze finish, but it wears badly, gathering in lines and generally making a nuisance of itself.
4. OK I'll stop now. Sorry. As ever, this is just my personal opinion - I've certainly seen many a blogger/Youtuber look gorgeous wearing this shade! But I certainly wouldn't recommend it to anyone with my colouring (pale, pink-toned skin) and taste in lipstick colours (namely, my natural lip shade or darker).

So that's my beef with Hue. Like an ex-boyfriend of a similar name, it's good on paper, not so great in real life. (I couldn't resist it.) Having spent £13 odd on this lipstick, though, I'm gonna wear the damn thing. At least you have to reapply often, which gives me a chance of finishing it up!

And finally, my latest lip product acquisition, courtesy of Stacey, is the Revlon Lip Butter in Sugar Plum. This is AMAZING. I love the two other shades I picked up (Raspberry Pie in particular, a stunning deep pink, and Peach Parfait), but this is the most wearable everyday "my lips but a LOT better" colour.

I've got to say, for my purposes/tastes at least, the Revlon Lip Butters are beating Hue hands down. (They remind me of MAC's lustre finish, which I do like; in particular, Sugar Plum is comparable to MAC Plumful.) Pigmented, glossy, not at all drying - all that, and they wear surprisingly well! I get a few hours' wear out of these, and they seem to fade pretty evenly. There are loads of blog posts and Youtube videos on these Lip Butters (such as Allison's post, which features a swatch of Sugar Plum), which apparently launch in the UK in mid-March, so I'll stop rambling here - but I will definitely be picking up more shades!

Till next time,

Josephine x

PS. This is the bag all this fits into! It's a purple leather James Lakeland bag which I got for about £10 in TK Maxx. I love that shop!

(Mascara tube for scale in otherwise featureless table landscape.)

My Blush Collection - mainly Topshop and MAC

Let me start by saying that I absolutely love blush. It's probably one of my favourite makeup items, both to buy and to wear. I'm very pale with very dark hair, so generally without a bit of colour to my cheeks I can look a bit Twilight-esque (if you'll forgive the reference).

So here are all the blushes I own, on my delightful rumpled duvet (I should really iron more often). In common with a lot of makeup addicts, I don't intentionally "collect", but have somehow ended up with far more blush than I could probably get through in a lifetime (worrying thought). And I still have lots of blushes on my "to swatch with a view to purchasing" list (catchy) - see previous post on this topic.

For years I owned only one blush at a time. I know, I know - those were the days. I think the inaugural blush was one of the Bourjois pot ones, possibly in Rose d'Or or similar, and I actually used the horrible little brush it came with. A good look, I'm sure. I then moved on to the L'Oreal Blush Delicieux, one of which (in the shade Bois de Rose) has survived and is pictured above (small pink square, next to the lonely NARS). I didn't buy a new one until I'd used up the previous one - what kind of crazy talk is that? Anyway I'm pretty sure L'Oreal don't make these any more, so I'll spare you a picture of the dregs I have left.

Then my friend gave me Benefit Posietint for my birthday, which I adored, and which I still think is a good product. It's not everyone's cup of tea - if you don't blend pretty speedily you end up with radiant and unshiftable pink dots on your cheeks, for one thing - but I find it gives a gorgeous natural pink flush which lasts for ages. I don't reach for it much except when it's hot (so that'll be never), but I did finish my original one and repurchase. Another downside: the pink shiny layer on the container does flake off extravagantly with use, leaving the product looking distinctly grotty. I also have the mini samples of Posietint and Benetint which came with Glamour sometime over the summer - can't say I'm overly enamoured of Benetint, a bit too ferocious and ink-like even for my blush-loving tastes.

Then came the release of Topshop makeup (in May 2010, I think - in the run-up to my finals, which of course led to copious amounts of time spent browsing the internet in mild panic). I bought the much-hyped Neon Rose cream blush, and now own four:

L-R: Neon Rose, Pinch, Flush, Nutmeg
These are lovely! Cute and convenient packaging, though it does get a bit dirty with use; handy mirror for touch-ups (I've had Flush in my everyday bag for the past month); great cream-to-powder formula which is matte (I love a matte blush) and blends easily. I just apply and blend with my fingers, mucky pup that I am, as I think using a brush like the MAC 188 would be more hassle than it's worth with these.

Neon Rose and Flush are both listed on the Topshop website, but I'm pretty sure more shades are still stocked in the larger stores. Neon Rose is a brilliant spring/summer colour, which can be a bold, vivid coral or worn blended and (fairly) subtle. Pinch is the one I wear least, since it's easy to overdo this intense raspberry shade, but with the right application it's a lovely pink. Flush is a toned-down version of Neon Rose, a bit more pink and milky, which gives a great day-to-day healthy glow (cliche ahoy), easy to slap on on the train in the mornings! And finally Nutmeg, which as you can see from the pan has had a lot of love in the past - a browny-rose shade, which I imagine NARS Douceur to be like. Very natural, if the slightest bit muddy on my skin tone (this is probably just personal preference, as I like dolly-pink cheeks!). I would definitely buy any new shades released in this formula, especially since they're only £6 each - bargain!

I'll spare you my deeply amateurish swatches taken with flash, and instead direct you to the excellent Delicate Hummingbird, who not only has the blush collection of my dreams but takes better photographs too.

Next up we have MAC.

Clockwise from top left: Something Special; So Sweet, So Easy; Frankly Scarlet; Harmony

Before I get started, I should point out that the frankly awe-inspiring KarlaSugar has amazing swatches of pretty much all MAC blushes known to man/woman. I'm sure you knew that already, but there it is again. As you can see, I actually don't have many MAC blushes. Which is especially surprising, given the sheer volume of MAC lipsticks and eyeshadows I own. To be honest, the appeal of MAC blushes somewhat eludes me, and I'm not keen to change that if I can help it. I did once have a flirtation with the freakishly bright Pro shades, but couldn't face the prospect of buying (and inevitably filling) a palette. Long may this abstinence last!

I think Harmony was my first purchase out of these, ordered online (never a wise move) because I fancied trying my hand at contouring. Having a round face without much definition (which is a nice way of putting it), cheekbones were always the dream, so I was prepared to spend some cash in pursuit of them. Harmony is a decent contour colour for us pale girls - fairly cool in tone, and not overly pigmented. The beautiful Julie uses it to great effect in lots of her looks. However, I've never quite got on with this, and have since taken to using the Illamasqua Cream Pigment in Hollow whenever I have a stab at contouring (which is rarely). Then came Frankly Scarlet, bought after an MUA in the Covent Garden store applied it, which I do love and use. With a light hand and a 188. For wintry Snow White cheeks, or blended even more for a dolly flush.

The two other shades are the new-formula Cremeblend blushes. I bought Something Special on a whim in Debenhams one grey, rainy "summer" day last year, and it really is rather nice: a milky pink coral, for a peachy cheek that's perfect for spring. So Sweet, So Easy was out of stock at the time, so of course after playing with the tester I had to order it online. Less essential than Something Special (but of course), it's a very pale cool-toned pink, not overly pigmented but fun for a subtle, fresh girly look. I will definitely be breaking out both of these colours when (if) the warmer weather rolls round.

A couple more MAC cheek products:

L-R: MAC Lightscapade MSF and Azalea Blossom Blush Ombre

I didn't own a powder highlighter, so I picked up Lightscapade from a recent collection, the name of which escapes me, after hearing lots of good things about it. I do use it daily, and it's a pretty highlight - not too gold for my skintone, which is a plus - but I can't help thinking MAC Dazzlelight eyeshadow does much the same thing for less. Ah well. And then we have Azalea Blossom, which I bought in a blog sale from the lovely Kelly, because Cami had raved about it and it looked purdy. It is purdy - a delicate lilac/pink, which puts it squarely in the realm of Blush-I-Must-Have - but somehow I'm not quite as love with it as I thought I would be. If you fancy picking it up, it's currently available in the Daphne Guinness collection.

So, having written over 1000 words on blush (the mind boggles), I will take a break here, probably have a cup of tea, and cover Illamasqua, my single NARS blush and a few odds and ends in another post.

And finally, I now have a renewed desire to wear a different blush every day, as well as buy several new ones. Success.

Till next time,

LL x