NYX Slim Lipliners - a reawakening

Since my recent discovery of the wonderstuff that is Lanolips 101 ointment (reviewed here), and my lips are no longer a scabby, flaky, lip product  no-man’s-land, I am now finding that I can start to dig out all of the old lip products that I thought would never again see the light of day. First on the agenda was to get out my old NYX slim lipliners.

I've had some of these for over a year – yeah, yeah, I know, germ warfare! – but there’s only me that uses them, and I gave them a good sharpening to get rid of any exposed-to-the-air manky bits that may have formed, before I used them again. I’m not made of money, yano?

Anyway, I have a very limited selection of these seeing as I couldn’t wear them before; I have a feeling they will now be top of the shopping list for future purchases because they are divine. My first purchase was frankly one of desperation – I so wanted to wear a red lip, but could never get the bloomin’ stuff to stay on because I had to wear such a ridiculous amount of lip balm underneath. I’d seen Makeup Geek use a NYX slim lipliner in Deep Red underneath Revlon’s matte lipstick in Really Red, and it looked amazing. It worked a dream on me too, although it took about two hours of preparation (not an exaggeration) and my lips did not thank me in the morning.

Flushed with relative success, I then went a bit mad and bought four more; and the problem was similar to the Deep Red one I already had - they sucked what little moisture I had from my lips, leaving them with a downright nasty texture after about five hours of wear. I knew I was fighting a losing battle, so they remained relegated to a drawer. UNTIL NOW.

Here they are – they are great to wear on their own (they make a great alternative to a lipstain when applied lightly), under lipgloss/balm for a shinier look, or under lipstick for extra drama and staying power. I bought mine from NYX Cosmetics directly, for the princely sum of £3.00 each.

MUST RESIST BUYING THEM ALL.

L-R: Nectar, Beige, Natural, Deep Red, Prune

Can anyone recommend some other cheap lipliners that might not hate my lips quite as much?

Jen 

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Lanolips – the start of a beautiful relationship

As a dry skin sufferer of many years, I find that I can (and do) usually do something about the skin issue on my face, but my lips (although just as dry as the rest of my face) get a bit neglected. I tend to buy whatever lip balm is on offer in Boots, and slick a bit onto my lips whenever I remember (usually causing a chain reaction of lip-balm application amongst the ladies in the office!). But I don’t exfoliate them, and I even occasionally succumb to absent-mindedly peeling off the dry skin whenever I am deep in thought (which admittedly, isn’t very often).

So, to summarise; they are dry, cracked, chapped, and also sometimes (due to over enthusiastic peeling) bleeding and scabby. Lovely.

Enter: Lanolips.

I jumped onto the Lanolips bandwagon fairly recently; after having seen rave reviews of the 101 Ointment by several beauty bloggers that I follow religiously. I less-than-enthusiastically hauled my sizeable corse down to my local Boots and, amazingly, they had some of the ointment in stock. While I was there, I noticed that they had some tinted versions too, and ever the sucker for shiny pretty things, I picked up one of these in the colour Apples.

Wow. Just……….. wow.

After only one day of application of the 101 ointment, my lips were smooth, plump and moisturised – a feeling that lasts even after the ointment has long since worn off/soaked in. It’s a bit of a weird application – there is no applicator attached to the tube itself, just a little hole which dispenses this luscious gorgeousness, so it’s a finger-application job. All to the good though, as it could do with a bit of warming up before putting it onto your gob. This stuff is thick.

The tinted version is not quite as plumping and smoothing, but only compared to the original 101 ointment – it still beats all other tinted lip balms hands down.

Me being me, I then got more, with back-ups – including the colours Mulberry and Rose (Mulberry is a limited edition one that I got free when I ordered from Zuneta.com). They are so good, I even felt inspired to send an email to them to thank them, like the gushing, over-emotional basket case I am. I have added Rhubarb and Dark Honey to my wishlist, too.

Lanolips 101 ointment (15g) is currently available from Boots.com for £11.22 (yeah I know – weird price), while the tinted versions (12.5g) are £8.16.

Onto the pics:

L-R: Mulberry, Apples, Rose

My favourite by a country mile is Mulberry (damn you limited editions!) as the cooler tones turn my lips into slightly plummy-coloured kissable unctuousness.

Has anyone else been converted to the ways of the Lanolips ointment? I'd love to hear your opinions.

Jen

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Products I am loving - April 2012

Yes, I know April hasn't finished yet. But seeing as I don't have anything new to test out for the rest of the month, I thought I would share a few of my April favourites with you all!

Shampoo: Tresemme Vitamin E Moisture Rich for dry/damaged hair
Conditioner: V05 Give Me Moisture Conditioner / Nourish Me Truly conditioner (they’re on two-fer in Boots at the mo….!)
Styling products: the old faithful CHI Silk Infusion Silk Restructuring complex
Shower Gel: Johnson’s 24 hour Extra Rich Bodywash
Body moisturiser: Body Shop Brazil Nut body butter – smells good enough to eat but PLEASE DON’T
Deodorant: Mitchum Powder Fresh for women – the only one that can cope with such a Sweaty Betty as me
Cleanser: No. 7 Radiance Boosting Hot Cloth Cleanser
Exfoliator: Body Shop Vitamin C microdermabrasion
Primer: Erm, none……… I’ve been putting a bit of tinted moisturiser on (No. 7 Triple Protection TM in Fair) before foundation for extra coverage, as I am having a rubbish-skin month
Foundation brush: Crown Brush flat bronzer, used as a stippling brush

Foundation: Diorskin Nude in shade 020
Concealer: NARS cream concealer duo in Vanilla/Honey
Powder: NARS loose powder in Flesh
Blusher: NARS powder blush in Gilda – although you have to use a light hand, it gives a fantastic natural-looking flush to the cheeks
Bronzer: none – it’s only April! Maybe in June………
Highlighter: NARS illuminator in Copacabana
Eyeshadow base: MAC paintpot in Painterly
Eyeshadows: NARS eyeshadow trio in Ramatuelle (swatched here)
Eyeliner: MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack; NYX retractable eye pencil in Black (for a cheapy (£4.00), this one is brill – doesn’t go green and patchy in the slightest!)
Curler:  No. 7 – had it for donkey’s, it could probably do with some new pads because it has started crimping my lashes rather than curling them……!
Mascara: L’Oreal Voluminous in Carbon Black; MAC Mascara X
Lipstick: Chanel Rouge Coco in Mademoiselle (swatched here); MAC amplified crème in Shy Girl
Lipgloss: NYX Juicy Red; Lanolips Lip Tint in Mulberry (limited edition – review coming soon)
Nail Colour: Bog standard Natural Collection clear polish – can’t be bothered at the moment, and my nails are in too poor a condition to take a bashing with heavy colour!

What products have you been loving recently? 

Jen

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