Korres Wild Rose Lip Butter

It's just an unassuming little pot of lip balm, right?

That was my first impression of the Korres Wild Rose balm. I'd heard quite a bit of buzz on it in the beauty stratosphere, but I never felt that I needed it in my life. I mean, how many lip balms and barely tinted chapstick type products can one person have?

I was browsing in Crete duty free a few months back at the end of our little holiday, and I was drawn to the Korres shelf. Korres, being a Greek brand, had a half decent display of more than just it's bestsellers, so I thought that I would take the chance to do some 'research', and I picked up the Guava body butter, Pomegranate moisturiser and the Wild Rose Lip Butter.

More raves on the Guava body butter another time, suffice to say that it's a total saviour for dried out skin.

Korres Wild Rose Lip Butter

But onto the lip butter. Oh my, oh my.... what wonderful things this does to the lips. It literally goes on like a butter, smooth and light, gliding over the lips and giving them comfort, shine, colour and volume, all in one hit.

Actually the volume element is extraordinary. If I want plumped-up lips I'll use this. It makes them soft, pulpy and voluptuous! Sorry if I sound Mills and Boon, but seriously, I feel like a Mills and Boon heroine when I wear this. In a good way.

Excuse the horribly dry lips....

.....but look how much better they are with the Korres balm!

Colour wise, it looks to be a scary dark burgundy in the pot, but it's a sheer blush of red that glazes your lips. I have very pigmented lips anyway, so on me it looks darker than on most.

I can't think of a bad thing to say about this. The smell is very delicate, you can almost pick up the rose, but it's not strong at all which is good for a lip product in my opinion. It re-hydrates lips beautifully and adds a blush of colour. You could still wear lipstick over it should you choose to.

Korres Wild Rose Lip Butter

I use my fingers to apply it, but a brush works too if you don't like using fingers. I'm always using it at home and not on the move so I have clean fingers when I dip in the pot.

Highly recommended on every level.

 10/10

Springtime Spree (including L'Oreal Rouge Caresse)

I didn't mean to, honestly, but the colours were so purrrrrrrrty......

I was lured into temptation by the new L'Oreal window display in Di and I ventured inside to have a nosey about. Now, I'm sure I've said this before, but I really don't like L'Oreal that much. The adverts annoy me, and I find the products expensive for what they are and somehow a bit cheap looking. There are one or two goodies, that's for sure, but in general the brand is so EVERYWHERE that it has no lustre for me whatsoever.

L'Oreal Color Riche nail polishes in 208 So Chic Pink and 601 French Riviera

But it looks like they've given some of their products a mini make-over and I like it! The nail polishes are particularly dinky, housed in 5ml bottles and every single colour cried out to me like a lamb bleating for it's mother...

I picked up a coral (surprise surprise) and a baby blue with a touch of shimmer. I haven't swatched them yet, but I tried the blue on my pinky nail and the first thing that struck me was the unusual brush. It's fan-shaped, wide and flat. I would say I have medium sized nail beds and one stroke with this brush would definitely cover my whole nail. If you have tiny nails this might not be the best brush for you.

Color Riche polish brush

(Incidently when I got home I compared my new coral to all my other corals only to find that I'd bought yet another identical coral.....  What is wrong with me????)


 I also saw the brand new Rouge Caresse lipsticks, which I'm pretty sure are L'Oreal's answer to Revlon's mega popular lip butters, as yet unavailable in Europe. They are basically a hybrid between a lip balm and a lipstick, giving a sheer wash of colour and a shiny finish.

All the colours looked gorgeous, I mean, really really gorgeous. I plumped for 06 Aphrodite Scarlet (amazing name!) which incidently is what the model is wearing in the Rouge Caresse campaign:

Rouge Caresse - Aphrodite Scarlet (L'Oreal advert)

Here is Aphrodite Scarlet on me.

Bare Lips

With Aphrodite Scarlet

It pulls more cherry-red on my very pigmented red, but I like that. It also feels very light and comfortable on the lips and has a good 'slip'. I had a sniff in the shop and I thought that these were mildly fruit scented, but my one at least doesn't have a scent. I kind of wish it was lightly fragranced with a touch of grapefruit or something, because all I can sense is a slightly waxy taste. This won't stop me from using it though as the colour is really gorgeous and it really gives me a 'lift'.

Rouge Caresse Aphrodite Scarlet, swatch

On my way out I also grabbed a Bourjois shadow I've been hankering after for a whole year but which is always sold out. It's so pretty, and I LOVE it. A matt peach pink with silver glitter particles. I'm wearing it today and I feel like a ballerina (or as Mr P would say, a hippo in a tutu a la Fantasia....).

I'm so annoyed at how the lovely packaging is ruined already! They have this stupid practice of wrapping cheap sellotape around the whole product to prevent skanks from swatching the non-testers and it's almost impossible to remove it without wrecking your nails and the packaging. I can't seem to remove the tape residue so it's all manky now :(

Bourjois Intense eyeshadow in 03

There also appears to be a new Maybelline range which I haven't seen in the UK but which has been in Brussels for a few weeks now. It's called Fit Me and it encompasses a range of new foundations, concealers and powders. I tried the Fit Me concealer and liked the smooth, light texture, so I thought I'd give that a go seeing as my Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection is running low.
 

Swatch of Maybelline Fit Me concealer, shade 25, thick (L), blended out slightly (R)

This info will only be of interest to those residing in Belgium, but Di is also running a few offers at the moment, 25% off L'Oreal, Bourjois & Rimmel, plus there is the opportunity to claim your money back on a L'Oreal product, make sure you take a form before you leave the store.


Have you seen this stuff in drugstores where you live?

A Perfect Day

I just thought I'd show you this little nude number from the most recent MAC collection, Naturally. 

 It's been a long time since I owned a really 'nude' nude lipstick, the kind which almost cancels your mouth out completely in order to play up a smoky eye.

I love the name of this lipstick... A Perfect Day.... so sweet. Somehow it kind of implies that it would be easy to wear, but you'd be mistaken.

On my naturally dark lips this lipstick has a dramatic effect, cancelling out all my natural colouring and leaving me with the blanked-out lips I thought I wanted. It's an amplified creme formula which means that it has a high pigment concentration, great for someone with very pigmented lips, like me, who likes to see the colour from the bullet directly on the mouth. 

This photo somehow captures the 'true' colour of the lipstick as a more pale, beige-peach

When I tried this on it took some convincing from the whole of the MAC Brussels sales' team that it suited me. At the time I had very little make-up on, and with these blanked out lips I looked a bit on the dead side.... to put it mildly. But then visualising it with dark, smoky, sultry eyes, I was won over. In fact, once I got home I quickly slapped on some more eyeliner and smudged it liberally around my eyes and the nude lips suddenly worked their magic. 

The photo below was taken on my iPod camera and here the colour comes out more of a peachy brown  but in reality it's a lot paler. I'm also wearing a bit of Boldly Bare lipliner with it which deepens the colour somewhat.

MAC - A Perfect Day

 All in all, it's not the easiest of colours to pull off as it requires the commitment of strong or dramatic eye make-up which I don't always feel like wearing, but I do love it when the whole look comes together. I had absolutely nothing like this so I'm very happy it's in my stash now.

How nude do you go on the lips?

Lipstick Memories

After writing about the Clarins Lip Perfectors, I got to thinking about all the lip products I currently own, and subsequently, those I used to own once upon a time.

I thought it would really fun to open a discussion with you all about your own 'once upon a time' products, so to begin with, I would love to know what your first ever lipstick was, or at least, the first lipstick you can remember owning?

I'll start us off, shall I?

As far as I can remember my first lipstick was called Paradise Pink and it was by Max Factor.....

It's the early nineties (yes, I'm showing my age now...) and I'm trawling the local department store with my gran because I want to buy a lipstick, or rather, she wants to buy it for me. Neither of us know what I'm looking for. All I know is that lipstick will make me beautiful, it will make me thin, it will make my hair grow long and luscious, it will make me irresistible to boys. My poor gran did not have a clue about make-up, but knowing that my mother would never indulge me enough to have the patience to take me lipstick shopping, and knowing that two heads were better than one, I figured my gran would have to do. 

We linger around the Max Factor stand picking up random colours and then putting them back, each time feeling more and more clueless. My gran keeps repeating to me that 'Max Factor is the best!' but I'm not really feeling 'the vibe'. A shop assistant sees us and asks if she can help.

"I'm looking for a lipstick"

"What colour?"

"I don't know"

"Is it for you?"

"Um, yes"

"And you don't know what colour you want?"

I'm dying from embarrassment, somehow I never thought that buying a lipstick would make me feel so vulnerable. How could I, the awkward, frizzy-haired, puffy teen explain to this gorgeous, slim and confident sales assistant that she didn't care what colour the lipstick was so long as it made her look beautiful.

"Um, maybe pink?"

"Well, how about Estee Lauder?"

Estee Lauder! Untouchable, unreachable, unaffordable but oh-so desirable. I'd seen it only in the expensive magazines, like Elle and Vogue,  which I didn't really read yet as I was still at the age of  pulling out the posters in Smash Hits... funny really, as I didn't even listen to Bros....

Estee Lauder.... All I knew is that as drawn to the counter as I was, I couldn't ask my gran to buy me such an expensive lipstick. The guilt would kill me. Or my mum would.

So it was back to Max Factor. The assistant began to show me some colours and told me to use my nail to scrape some off the bullet to try on my lips. I began to try to scrape some away and she took one look at my chewed nails and said sarcastically, "that's if, you actually have any nails left!"

I was mortified. I felt so ashamed of myself. No clue, no nails...no boyfriend.

Pressured by my gran who continued to repeat (read, yell) her mantra at me; "Max Factor is the BEST!", I hastily agreed on a pale, pink shimmery colour, Paradise Pink. I remember it costing around the £3 mark, and my gran of course refused to let me pay for it out of my pocket money.

I took home my precious bullet of hope and ran up to my room to put it on....

I remember the waxy, perfumed smell. I remember the dryish texture. But most of all I remember the utter hideousness of the colour. Pale, cool-toned baby pink with a shimmery pearl finish. Everything that could be wrong with it, was wrong. My little heart sunk, and I felt sick. Sick at the thought of my gran's wasted money, sick with disappointment and sick with fear that I would never be pretty. Deep down I knew the lipstick was a bad choice, but somehow I still blamed myself. 

Paradise Pink was relegated to the back of a drawer where it remained for longer than I care to remember. I think I tried to wear it on occasions, forgetting how bad it was previously, only to wipe it off with disgust as soon as I saw my sad reflection peer back at me, my lips coated in shimmery baby pink tackiness which seemed to turn my pale olive skin to a funny shade of lime green.

I don't know what happened to Paradise Pink. I can't remember throwing it away, but I must have done at some point. All I know, is that I never made such a heinous mistake ever again.

I had better luck in the months which followed with Rimmel's Bunch of Roses (a blushing nude pink) and, more boldly, a lovely raspberry red shade called Cranberry Crush by the now extant Sensiq.

So, there it is. Paradise Pink both scarred me and made me.

Now it's your turn! What are your lipstick memories?

Clarins Instant Light Lip Perfector Review

I have a love-hate relationship with my lips.
I've been told on many occasions that I have nice lips but I've never really thought that they were good enough to be emphasised. They are not particularly voluminous a la La Jolie, or my gorgeous friend O, but neither are they thin. Slap bang in the middle I think you'd say, but for some reason I feel very self-conscious drawing attention to my mouth, despite the fact that I own 2 or 3 bright red showstopping lipsticks.

I think that there is something overwhelmingly bold about emphasising the mouth and, without going too Freudian about it, provocative lips have long been thought to be a mirror to 'what must not be seen'....

*blushes*

And now onto the review.... *clears throat*

Not surprisingly, being a little lip-colour shy, I prefer to wear very neutral, pale lips in general. I'd heard good things about Clarins Instant Light Lip perfectors, and when I was last at Brussels Airport I found a nifty little duo pack exclusive to travel retail (how I LOVE travel retail, especially when travelling sans Mr P...).

Clarins Lip Perfector Duo pack, exclusive to Travel Retail

So what are these 'lip perfectors'. Well, I'm not sure I would have believed it myself if I hadn't tried them, but they literally do 'perfect' your lips. A hybrid between a gloss and a balm, these work by illuminating, smoothing and volumising the lips. Think of them as a lip 'foundation', over which you need apply nothing else.

In the travel exclusive I picked up were two full sizes, one in Rose Shimmer (01) and the other in Apricot Shimmer (02). The names are misleading as there isn't really strong  shimmer in either of them, more of a 'glow'. I guess they refer to the microscopic light reflecting particles which work by playing on the light and giving you that illuminated perfection as promised.

Apricot Shimmer (above) & Rose Shimmer

As you can see from the swatches below 01 is more pink-toned and 02 more peachy. On the lips you can see the difference between them but it's not huge. In fact, I leave one at home and carry the other with me for touch-ups as they are pretty much interchangeable.

Top: Rose Shimmer (01), Bottom: Apricot Shimmer (02)

The packaging is a squeezy tube from which the product is dispensed via a foam tip with several teensy holes (see photo).  There are probably some hygiene questions to be raised regarding the foam tip, but I've no intention of using these on anyone but myself and I suppose I could wash the tip in good old soap 'n' water if I ever get grossed out by my own germs. I have to say though, I do like the feeling of the sponge tip on my lips, it smooths the product onto them really effectively.

Clarins Lip Perfector, sponge applicator tip

The texture is is that of a creamy lip balm. It feels wonderfully smooth on the lips and not sticky at all and there is a very light sweet 'candy' fragrance which is very pleasant and non-intrusive.

When I first applied this it looked like a lovely, neutral looking lip-gloss. Pretty enough, but nothing wow. After 15-20 minutes though, after it settled onto the lips, I looked in the mirror and just saw wonderfully smooth lips! It was as if a magic wand had been waved and all the little imperfections, dry patches and uneven colour had melted into oblivion and I was just left with a naturally airbrushed pout.

Bare lips

With Clarins Instant Light Lip Perfector - Rose Shimmer (01)

Bare lips (different light, sorry!)

With Clarins Instant Light Lip Perfector - Apricot Shimmer (02)

Result! I actually started to appreciate my lips, thinking that maybe they weren't so bad after all.

As far as volumising is concerned, I think this is achieved via the illusion of smoothness. Smoother lips tend to look more volumised, but this is by no means a magic potion for a trout pout.

I have also been using this as a lip balm and it works really well under normal circumstances, although for this awful cold snap we're having at the moment it needs bolstering with a proper lip balm.

If you feel like your lips need a little makeover then I would definitely recommend this marvelous little lip perfector. It's the perfect 'no make-up' make-up for everyday healthy looking lips. You can stick it in your pocket and apply it without a mirror and you don't even need a separate lip balm.

I paid a bargainous €19.90 for this set at Brussels Airport.
In the UK I've seen them priced at between £12 to £15, so definitely shop around.
Around Europe prices vary obviously and on the French Clarins website the official price is €14.80 but when you're next at the airport, wherever that may be, have a look out for the duo set. I'm certainly glad I have two of them!


Score: 10/10

Thinking outside of the box - Lipsticks you never use

Often it's the simplest ideas that rock our worlds. Ok, in terms of this post that's a bit of an overstatement I guess, but this little revelation I've had recently has certainly meant that I can view my entire lipstick stash with new eyes.

So you have one, two, five, ten, maybe more lipsticks that you don't wear much because
a) they're too bright/dark/vampy, or
b) you realised that the colour doesn't suit you or 'do' anything for you.

It's a shame not to use what you've spent your hard-earned cash on and it's a waste of resources just to throw them away. So here's a little tip that could just bring them out of the depths of your make-up bag and onto your dressing table (ooooh, dressing table. Fancy. I don't have one, but someday I will.... )


DON'T APPLY THE LIPSTICK STRAIGHT FROM THE BULLET.
DON'T USE A LIPBRUSH.
These application methods are only for lippies you are happy to wear in their traditional guise.

Instead:

USE YOUR FINGERS. SWIPE OVER THE LIPSTICK AND APPLY TO YOUR LIPS LIKE A BALM. MASSAGE THE COLOUR INTO THE LIPS, BUILDING UP THE COLOUR TO YOUR DESIRED INTENSITY.
You will be so surprised by how the most 'unwearable' of colours can be transformed using this method. As a bonus it totally plumps up the lips too. The colour melts into the lips leaving you looking like you've just bitten into a sacred fruit from the garden of Eden....

That bright red which you loved in the shop and swore you would wear more often (and consequently don't) becomes the prettiest, most natural berry flush.

The deep vampy purple which you bought in a 'power dressing' shopping frenzy will stain your lips with a wash of morello cherry-bitten gorgeousness.

Other 'unsuitable' colours can metamorphose into an altogether more flattering hue. 

Lisa Eldridge also shows you how to wear lipstick 4 ways in her video here. This method is one of them. NB If there is just ONE guru to subscribe to on YouTube then it's her. Just do it, people.

I've taken to wearing all my lipsticks like this recently, not just the bright ones. My favourite 'stain' of the moment is created by Rouge d'Armani in Rouge 400, a glorious vintage true blue-red. It looks fabulous applied neat from the tube which is why I bought it over a month ago but it hasn't had many outings because it's just so striking.

Armani Rouge 400

Oh, and it's the one Megan Fox is wearing here:

When I use my fingers it gives a soft red voluptuous (yes, really!) lip which looks retro and modern/fresh at the same time. (By the way, this lipstick has the best staying power I've ever experienced. I need a full blown make-up remover to get it off if I apply it neat from the tube.)

Don't believe me? Brace yourselves....

Bare lips

A little Rouge 400 'massaged' into lips with finger....

 And just to compare:

Rouge d'Armani - Rouge 400, applied straight from tube

Get the picture? Now get out those abandoned lipsticks and show them some love.

Surfing in Brussels

It's been a blue day (mood-wise not sky-wise unfortunately). I feel in desperate need of a holiday, and the image of a beautiful tropical beach with white sand and clear waters is haunting me day and night. This time last year I was getting ready for our honeymoon in the Maldives. In fact Mr P and I are one year married this weekend :)

In the spirit of honeymoon memories I decided to finally check out MAC's Surf Baby collection which came out last week here in Brussels. Now I am not, nor ever have been, a surf baby. I can't even ride a bike let alone a wave. But the great thing about make-up is that it can make you feel part of a culture in which you normally don't fit in. You can feel like a screen goddess, surfer chick, rocker chick, boho girl, geisha girl.... whatever it is you want to be there will be a cosmetics company out there with a very clever marketing strategy to sell it to you.

MAC is very good at this. They release so many collections throughout the year that I can't keep up, and actually it's better that I don't... there is only so much eyeshadow one person can use in a lifetime. Surf Baby is the only collection so far that I've bought into, probably because at the moment I have this immense desire to be a cool blonde surfer chick with lithe limbs and tanned gleaming skin running into the ocean with her surfboard at the ready.....and not Pandora toddling on the hot sand trying desperately to suck her tummy in, then wincing like a baby when she dips her foot into the freezing sea while a Japanese whaling ship launches the harpoon.

Not that the surfer chick wears make-up at all. She doesn't need it because she's PERFECT. But MAC wants us to wear make-up on the beach, or at least, in the spirit of the beach....

MAC Surf Baby - My purchases!

The first thing I was drawn to was 'Hibiscus', the gorgeous corally-red (Yes, coral. Again) lipstick. Within a nanosecond of putting it on my lips I knew I had to have it. I have very naturally pigmented lips so most lipsticks are not what they first seem when I put them on. This one was just great. I don't have a colour remotely like it and yet it's so versatile, more so in fact than my beloved Costa Chic, which, although equally summery, is harder to pull off. It's a creamsheen formula, which makes it glossy and moisturising with a good amount of pigment. It lasts beautifully on the lips and I still have it on after 4 hours.

MAC Hibiscus

I also choose two eyeshadows, Short Shorts (a golden white) and Surf USA (a frosted turquoise). The shop assistant (a really sweet guy, impeccably made up!) applied them on me together and I loved the result. It was far more subtle than I thought it would be but the turquoise paired beautifully with the Hibiscus lips. Short Shorts is such a versatile colour, it can be pretty much paired with anything to create a beautifully blended eye, or it can be used just to brighten the inner corners. I'm surprised that I don't actually have a colour like that already.

MAC Surf USA

MAC Short Shorts

So, they were my little purchases and seeing as I will not see the sea for another two months, I'm very happy that I could bring a little of the surf to Brussels.