Lipstick Queen Saint Berry Lipstick

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to come across Lipstick Queen on sale at Gilt. If you do not what Gilt is, it is basically an online sample sale store. It has flash sales which typically last 36-72hrs, where designer goods are sold at discount. Like the sound of it? Click here for an invite.

Lipstick Queen has been on my list of brands to try for quite some time now. I first came across it in Space.NK Apothecary back in the UK. Space NK also has stores across the US now. It is a boutique cosmetics store that initially specialized in hard to get American brands, but has since branched out into niche, high end brands sourced from across the world, as well as their own brand of goods as well. The stores are a make up lover's dream, and the staff are knowledgeable and excellent, and also happy to let you browse at your own pace. The founder, Nicky Kinnaird, is also from my home town, so I'm especially pleased by her success.

Lipstick Queen was founded by Poppy King who has been in the cosmetics business for years. With Lipstick Queen she aims to give women amazing lip colors which are glamourous, fun, sexy, and a little bit cheeky. The first product I tried out was from her Saint / Sinner line of lipsticks ($18 normally - I paid $11 on Gilt) . This consists of 10 shades, each available in two finishes. Saint is light, sheer, smooth, and moisterizing. Sinner is matte, rich, and creamy.

I chose the color Berry. It is described on the website as "Sheer chocolate berry shade that delights
the lips without adding to the hips", and that seems fairly fitting. The only issue is that I was in a rush buying it from Gilt when I was shopping (Gilt fans, you will know what I'm talking about), so didn't read the website description, so I thought that Berry was going to be a bit more pink than chocolate. It is much darker than I expected, and really closer to a Wine color. Although, I guess Wine and Saints do not really go together.

It goes on like heaven - smooth, silky, moisterizing, and is a true pleasure to wear. Although it's a sheer shade, it is incredibly buildable and I ended up with a very rich wine mouth, which will be gorgeous come fall-time, but doesn't feel quite right now.

I still have a couple more products to try out, so expect more reviews coming soon.

China Glaze Pink Varnish Comparisons

 Please excuse the terrible state of my cuticles and nail here - I have neglecting them! Anyway, I have been looking at my collection of varnishes and there are some very similar bottles and shades there, so I thought I would give them a chance to display their dupe-ness (or lack of, in this instance)

The top color is China Glaze Sugar High from the Up & Away collection. It is a creme shade, no shimmer at all, and for me a thick consistency that was not the easiest to work with. It is a clean, bright pink, with cool undertones.

The bottom color is China Glaze B Girlz from the Kicks collection last year. It applied much much sheerer, and has a cool, blue shimmer in the polish that gives the color some life. This is going to be a great color to wear in the summer sun.

Both are lots of fun and great for summer mani and pedis. Which is about the last thing I can think of since it is pouring as I type this in New York. :(

FOTD: My Wedding Look

Last summer I had two wedding celebrations following my real wedding to my husband which was in NY City Hall back in January. My family lives in Ireland, and his family in Israel, so you can see why we had so many weddings. Because of that, I decided to go to MAC and get a very simple look that I could do myself on the day rather than stressing about arranging make up artists and dealing with all that pallaver. I went to MAC and in just over 30 minutes got a very simple, easy, innnocent and sweet look that I could easily do by myself and was not so complicated that an evening of sweaty dancing (of which there was plenty) would ruin it.

My base was MAC Studio Sculpt in NW25. I apply this with a brush spritzed with MAC Fix+, and I really like it now, although I am going to deviate from it with my next foundation purchase (NARS Sheer Glow I think). I used Smashbox Primer which I think is amazing at keeping skin looking smooth and matte all day.

My eyes were incredibly simple - MAC Paint in Bare Canvas as a base, All That Glitters on the lid, the tiniest, lightest tough of A Little Folie in the crease, Vanilla to highlight, and then I used Nehru as a shadow to line both the upper and lower lid. Nehru is a dark navy, although in this look it shows up as grey. The MUA explained that lining as a shadow would keep the look very soft with no harsh lines. This was the only part of the look that took a while. I also made sure to line my lower waterline with a white eyeliner and get no shadow on the lower waterline.

My cheeks were NARS Orgasm in cream blusher form. I knew that I wanted a sweet, pink cheeked look, and this gave a great glow.

My lips were A Rose Romance lipstick followed by Virgin Kiss gloss. I actually had no idea what I wanted to do for my lips (the original look had Creme Cup which was sweet but not quite right), and then the day before my wedding I was in MAC and saw the new Rose Romance collection and picked up a bunch of things on a whim, and luckily they worked! I still love those colors to this day.

The best thing about this look is that although it was great for my wedding, I can wear it anytime without being over the top. It's just a classic, simple, pretty, summer look.

Living Proof My Hair Can Be Saved

I think out of all aspects of fashion, style, and beauty, hair is my least favorite and I am least skilled at. I have shoulder length highlighted blonde hair, and have had some aspect of that pretty much all my adult life. My hair is super thin and a tendency to be a bit flat, and I never really got into doing things with it. In fact, I have only used a hair dryer 3times in the last calendar year, and 2 of those were because if I had gone outside with wet hair, I would have literally had frozen hair. The other time was last night, when I was playing around with Living Proof’s Full Thickening Cream ($14 / 1.8oz).

Full Thickening Cream uses “a new technology invented by our scientists that creates a micro-pattern of thickening points on each strand. Full creates beautiful, natural fullness and touchable body that lasts throughout the day. Because it's a completely flexible technology, your hair won't collapse or become stiff and crunchy.”

Those are big words, no? The instructions say to use a hair dryer, but I used it both with air drying and blow drying.

With air-drying, I was left with very cool beachy styled hair, and my husband commented that he liked the volume it had. He really did! I could definitely feel the product in my hair – it almost had the same texture as dry shampoo, which makes your hair feel dry with a slightly dusty feeling. It wasn’t unpleasant, and definitely not stiff or crunchy. I was pleasantly surprised, because I have not come across many products that work on air-drying hair, so that was pretty cool.

With blow-drying, I definitely had more volume, but unfortunately I also felt that my hair frizzed up more and looked a little bit out of control. I do admit that I am not the world’s best blow-dryer, but I don’t normally have a frizz problem when I do it, so I guess that you need to take a bit more care in shaping your hair and making sure that you end up with a controlled result.

All in all, I would repurchase living proof’s thickening cream, based on the low maintenance approach to beachy, surfer girl hair. Next time I blow dry it I’ll be more careful rather than blasting it from all angles. I have heard great things about the no-frizz product, so that will go on my list of must-tries.

Have you used Living Proof? Or any other hair products that you love?

The Cutest Nail Files and Tweezers You Have Ever Seen

I mean, seriously? How could anyone pass these up? And they weren't even pricey. The tweezers were $15 and the matchbook style nail files were $4 from Sephora.

Velvet Matte Makes My Day

One of my all-time favorite discoveries of 2009 was Mad Men. Oh! The dresses! The style! The old-fashioned manners and repression! Don Draper! The cinematography! And the patience as things actually develop. I only have seen season 3, so I know I have some serious catching up to do, but in the meantime, that doesn't mean I can't get inspired. A couple of months ago TalkingMakeup.com had a post up about the makeup used on Mad Men, and a lot of it was NARS. One of the key products was the Velvet Matte Lip Pencil ($24) in Calliope and Belle De Jour. Well, it took about 35 seconds between me reading that and ordering up a couple of pencils for myself. And so a beautiful love affair was born.

 

The Velvet Matte Lip Pencils are like jumbo, crayon-esque lip pencils. They go on lovely and smoothly, which is one of my favorite things about them. They are slightly drying, I'm not going to lie, but in a similar way to most matte lip products, and definitely not more so. They have a slight sweet scent and flavor that I personally like. Lip products have a habit of sliding right off me, but these last at least 3-4 hours. 

Belle De Jour is the most perfect nude lip I have ever found. It has just enough pink to keep you from looking dead, but neutralises any color and goes amazing with a smoky eye.

 

Calliope, as you can see, gets the most wear from me. This is quite often my wear to work lips. It's a gorgeous pinky-nude, and incredibly chic and sophisticated. So versatile. I can see me wearing this out and more. 

 

Okay, so Dragon Girl was not a Mad Men recommendation, but it's amazing!! It's a slightly pink red, very bright, and gives an awesome matte red lip. If you apply it lightly and blend it out, you can get a more subtly berry tint. Gorgeousness in a pencil. 

Dragon Girl, Calliope, Belle De Jour

 

I did see these NYX Jumbo Lip Pencils so I thought I'd give them a try. The biggest difference is that they are not matte, which for me is the whole point. They also have quite different pictures than in real life, so I've had some interesting experiences buying these! They are only $3.50, so it's not so bad if it all goes wrong!

 

What are your favorite matte lip colors? Any products you recommend I try?

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The Simplest Pleasures Set You Up

A year ago, I would never have thought I would be writing this post. I would have laughed at the very idea of spending $16 on shower gel. And I was wrong. I can undoubtedly say that the quality of my life is better since my husband bought me  Philosophy Caramel Apple Showergel . I can quite honestly say that it is far and away the most heavenly scented shower gel that I have ever come across. It is rich and sweet, and the scent hangs around for a while afterwards as well. The Caramel Apple is a deep red, and the consistency is thick, and actually, a little goes a long way. This is the kicker for me: it makes me happy every time I use it. Just think, every time that you take a shower, you might be sleepy, or having a bad day, or just had a fight with someone, and you use this shower gel, and the scent of delicious caramel fills the air, and wow, you’re happy. And that, for me, is worth every penny. Just talking about pennies – I’ve been using this since Jan 1^st, and I am maybe a third of the way through. For some reason, this bottle is going the distance, justifying that $16 again and again. I definitely recommend heading to your nearest Philosophy counter and picking out one of their shower gels for yourself? Can’t make your mind up? Try their recipe books or selection packs.

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