A little bit of luxury with Burberry lipsticks

Finally finally finally finally, they have arrived. They turned up at work this lunchtime so I have been champing at the bit to get these beauties home and give them a try.

Please note: I have yet to try them on my actual lips, so these are just my initial thoughts before giving them a more thorough and rigorous testing.

I really wasn't sure which ones to get - on the Burberry website they all look so goddamn gorgeous, it was hard to choose....... but I had to limit myself to a measly four - so I took the plunge with two Lip Velvets and two Lip Mists, to test the water.

The Lip Velvets are a relatively new addition to the Burberry lipstick collection, and are billed as being "velvety matte radiance, inspired by the most opulent of English fabrics". My initial impressions are one of amazement - Burberry seem to have genuinely got their description right, as the finish is a lovely satiny-matte finish which felt gorgeously soft to apply on my arm, but it also felt thick. This one could go one of two ways - my immensely dry lips tend to suffer with matte finish lipsticks, but this one feels like it could be the one my lips fall in love with, as it seems pretty non-drying (maybe not actively moisturising but then again what mattes are?).

The Lip Mists on the other hand are slippy, unctuous, balmy wonderment.  But don't be fooled - although the Burberry website describes them as having a "sheer illuminating finish with a subtle hint of colour", these bad boys still pack a punch when it comes to pigmentation. Again, I have yet to test them for wear, but I couldn't resist seeing how the darker shade (Blueberry) looked on my lips - I felt as though this would be a step outside of my comfort zone but I'm glad I went for it, it looks amazeballs.

Pics:

Lip Mist - 206 Blueberry

Lip Velvet - 310 Military Red

Lip Mist - 212 Nude Peach

Lip Velvet - 302 Peony Rose

L-R: Lip Velvets in Peony Rose, Military Red; Lip Mists in Nude Peach, Blueberry

Burberry cosmetics are available directly through their UK website at £22.50 each, or over the counter at Selfridges/Harvey Nichols, if you're lucky enough to have one near you.

Has anyone tried the Burberry cosmetics ranges? Anything you recommend that I try? I essentially just want you to validate my incessant need to spend money on shiny, pretty things.

Jen
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Missing in action

Don't worry - I haven't been abducted by aliens and been forced to involuntarily participate in biological experiments, conducted in order to try to learn more about the human race in order to better ANNIHILATE US FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTH. 

In fact, it's worse than that - we're in the process of moving house. Thankfully, hubby has been dealing with most of the grottier legal stuff, but even so I am reduced to thinking that actually, given the choice, I would probably say "bring on the aliens". 

Anyway, nothing to report just yet, other than the new house is hopefully going to inspire me to buy, use, review, photograph, and experiment with more make-up than ever before. The lighting is fantastic, and there will be plenty of space to arrange my stash in a much more logical way so that everything gets used, rather than languishing in drawers until it goes off......!

More posts to come, I promise - including a recent mini-haul of Burberry Lip Mists and Lip Velvets (once they arrive, that is!), some No7 eyeshadow trios (which I lurrrrrrrve) and some additions to the Clinique Chubby Stick collection. 

Watch this space, gentle reader.

Jen
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Make-Up Academy haul - finally!

Well, it's been a while! Such is the hectic and giddy life of someone that teaches other people how to be accountants. Anyway, I have finally managed to have a little play with the Make-Up Academy haul that arrived a couple of weeks ago....... thank you MUA, for allowing me to haul so many shiny, pretty things while only requesting the paltry sum of £18 from my bank account.

Anyway, let's have a look at what we've got.....

Firstly, the Glamour Days eyeshadow palette. Had my eye on this one for a while - after having had a brilliant experience with the buttery, shimmery goodness that was the Heaven and Earth palette, I was looking forward to trying some slightly more "outre" shades but not so much that I was stepping too far out of my comfort zone.....! The pretty purples and blues in this palette seemed ideal, and to top it off there are a couple of nice neutrals in there too. A good one for travelling, methinks.

Top row

Bottom row - there is a sixth shade on there, I promise...... it's just coincidentally the same colour as my arm!

Amongst the haul I also got some liners, a mixture both for lips and eyes. Again, wasn't expecting much from these, but the Intense Colour liners were creamy, pigmented and quite a pleasant surprise. Unfortunately, the Intense Glitter ones were a bit hit and miss, but for 75p each (as it worked out after the discount) one cannot really complain, can one? I also got a liquid liner, which so far seems easy to apply and has a fabulous thin brush, but the pigmentation just feels a bit lacking and can apply a little patchy unless you do a couple of coats. Workable though, definitely.

L-R: Intense Colour - Red Drama, Royal Blue; Intense Glitter - Gold Nugget, Silver Glitter, Pink Glitter

Liquid Liner - shade 5

In a slightly different order in this pic, not sure why!!! L-R: Red Drama, Royal Blue, Silver Glitter, Pink Glitter, Gold Nugget, Liquid Liner in Shade 5 (Black)

Next, some single eyeshadows. Unfortunately, buying sight-unseen has been a bit of a gamble in this case, but I seem to have ended up with some decent colours that will make for some fabulous smoke eye looks. The only one that seems to let them down slightly is the black one, as it is more matte than the others is has a slightly chalkier texture and a less potent finish than the others. It'll do nicely for setting the liquid liner, though!

L-R: Shades 3, 11, 12, 15, 30

Same order as above, this time!  :)

Lastly, a bit of a hodge-podge of other random bits and bobs that fell into the online basket - I have this fantastic ability to justify additional purchases if I know I will be getting a discount on the items; and in this case it really made little to no difference seeing as everything is so inexpensive anyway!!!

Top: Lovehearts lip tints; Bottom: Lipsticks in shades 5 and 6, blush in shade 4

L-R: Lipsticks - Shade 5, shade 6; Blush - Shade 4; Lip Tints - Great Lips, Sweet Kiss, Hot Lips

The surprise in this bunch was the blush. Shade 4 looked almost overwhelmingly dark in the pan (in fact, almost the same as Shade 3 which I have already dismissed as making me look too "David Dickinson"), however when swatched, as you can see, it is a lovely gentle shade of subtle coral. It reminds me enormously of NARS Gilda (if anything, the MUA shade lacks the orange intensity of the NARS which, for cack-hands such as myself, is a Very Good Thing), but for a fraction of the price.

I am ever more wowed with the MUA offerings. Although initially I may have been a bit dismissive of the whole "cheapo makeup" thing, thinking it would only appeal to (and benefit) the lowest common denominators of society (snob? Moi?), consider me suitably chastised - I am genuinely impressed with pretty much everything I have come across so far. For the prices, I don't think you can go far wrong and to be honest, even if you do, what's a pound between friends?

MUA is available in various Superdrug stores, and also on their wesbite.

Did anyone else avail themselves of the superb discount.....?

Jen
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Special offer - Make Up Academy

Just a quick whistle-stop post today - for those of you who don't follow MUA on Facebook or Twitter, I just thought I would let you know that they currently have a promotion on - as they have reached 25,000 likes on Facebook (yay!), they are offering 25% off all web orders, as well as free shipping!

Essentially, bargain makeup became that little bit more bargainous. Of course, yours truly could not resist the lure of the even cheaper goodies, and have stocked up on some single eyeshadows (which I have yet to try) as well as the Glamour Days palette that I've had my eye on for a while, a fistful of eyeliners both plain and glitter, a couple of additional lipsticks for the collection as well as some of their oh-so-sweet Loveheart Lipbalms!

Watch this space for more swatches/reviews as and when the parcel of fantabulousness arrives. 

You can take advantage of this brilliant offer by visiting their website, and using promo code MUA25 at checkout.

Time to get stocked up on loads of things - if you were ever tempted to try certain colours but have always held back for some reason, now's the time to try them and experiment! Eyeshadows and lipsticks for 75p? Don't mind if I do!

Jen

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No.7 Perfect Lips Liner

I am a huge Lisa Eldridge fan. Seriously, if you haven’t seen any of her “How To” videos, you are missing a treat. Make-up artist to the stars, she is also a very down-to-earth and honest lady who seems to be entirely humble about her amazing make-up skillz. I also love the fact that she looks like a normal human being without her face on - she has some blotches, spots, bags, dark circles (although she is still gorgeous despite that) - but then takes you through a tutorial which turns her into the epitome of natural (but glamourous) perfection.

As an avid reader of Lisa's blog (and having recreated a few of her “looks” for myself, to varying degrees of success), I do like to try out some of the products that she uses or recommends in her videos. My “want to buy” list currently averages about 100 items, and I would probably attribute at least a third of these to products that I have seen Lisa use to magnificent effect.

That brings me on nicely to my recent purchase – No.7 Perfect Lips lip-liner. Lisa uses the Nude shade frequently in her videos, but I have also recently seen her use Blush – seeing as Boots had a 3 for 2 offer on No. 7 products when I paid a visit, I thought this was the perfect time to try out both shades to no further financial detriment.

Shade 10 – Blush is a softened berry-pink shade. Lisa used it with a feather-light touch and managed to make it look like the most perfect “just-bitten” lip stain. This shade is particularly gorgeous under a light pink lip gloss such as NYX Sweetheart – the lip liner just gives it a bit of depth and oomph.

Shade 20 – Nude initially worried me – the arm swatch looked distinctly brown (which, as we know, suits me NEVER). However, undeterred and having faith in Lisa, I tried it on my lips and lo! Behold! My natural lip colour turns this into a fantastic neutral-toned base, which will literally go with every neutral lip shade I own.

L = 10 Blush, R = 20 Nude. The twist-up mechanical pencil design is one of the best I've found.

L = 10 Blush; R = 20 Nude

10 Blush - shoddy application (my bad)

20 Nude

 

Out of the two colours, Nude is the creamiest and the nicest to wear over longer periods. That’s not to say that Blush is terrible, but it does have a little more tug and pull when applying than Nude. Although I haven’t worn either of them for longer than four hours, I can envisage that I will need a decent dose of Lanolips when I remove the Blush shade, but Nude (although not actively moisturising) didn’t seem drying at all.

No.7 Perfect Lips liners are currently available from Boots for £7.50 each.

Jen

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