Rouge d'Armani Deep Ruby Lipstick

I found myself at the Giorgio Armani counter last week and wanted to have a look at the new Night Shades collection. I had wanted to look at the Lip Inks in particular but strangely there was only one shade available. The shade I swatched was red and although I didn't check the name, I'm sure it must have been no. 2 (Lavish Red). As I'm most interested in Shade no.1 Black Purple, I moved on to the lipsticks.

I swatched all three lipsticks from the collection; 602 Soft Pink, 603 Black Purple and 604 Deep Ruby. They were all beautiful and I'm kicking myself now for not taking a picture of the swatches to share. I was being attended by an assistant though and thought it might look a bit unusual if I got my camera out. Silly really as he was such a nice guy and probably wouldn't have minded at all. Don't let the names deceive you, Soft Pink and Black Purple are both pink shades and Deep Ruby is a dark purple. It is confusing but I'll forgive them as they are such nice colours. I decided to go for the darkest colour, 604. As I'd just got Edward Bess Night Romance, I couldn't really justify another Raspberry pink and I thought Deep Ruby would make the best lip stain.

 

The first thing that struck me when I used the lipstick today was the fabulous packaging. The lipstick is encased in glossy black packaging with a slight shaping to the tube. When you replace the lid you can feel the magnetic clasp snapping the lid shut in exactly the right position. It's quite impressive, I even made my husband have a turn!

The colour goes on nicely. It's quite glossy and neither entirely opaque nor sheer. It sits somewhere in the middle. This makes wearing such a dark colour much less daunting. It is a little tricky to apply in terms of making it look sharp, this is probably more to do with the colour. I think it might benefit from either lining the lips or using a brush to apply. Of course, if you are going to blot it down, this would be less of a concern.

I really like this lipstick and think I'll will be using it quite a lot in the cooler months. The lipstick cost £22 and is available from Selfridges and I was pleased to see that the Night Shades collection is now available to buy online.

Bank Holiday Shopping Offers!

My Inbox is full of offers for shopping that end today. I thought I'd share them with you if you were in the mood for a spot of online retail therapy this Bank Holiday Monday! Most of the offers are for free shipping but I often find this the best kind of deal, particularly if you just want to buy one thing but can't justify it with the shipping costs. I've included links just for ease, none of them are affiliate links.

Bobbi Brown
Free standard delivery using the code BHTREAT

Zuneta
Complimentary standard delivery using FREESHIP

Space.NK
Free standard delivery using BANKBEAUTY

HQHair
Free delivery using HQFST

Clinique Online
Free delivery with any purchases over £30 using the code BANK30

ASOS
15% off using the code AWSTYLE15


I think all of these offers end at Midnight tonight (UK only). Happy Shopping!

Neutral with a Twist Challenge

I took part in a little make up challenge on Saturday. It started out as a conversation between Lady of the Lane and the very amazing @KennethSoh on Twitter about neutrals. Kenneth suggested a nice touch was to add an accent of colour and showed an example of a look he had previously done. Soon, Get Lippie, BeautyMaze and myself butted in joined the conversation and the challenge was set to produce a neutral look with a twist!

I used a Ruby + Millie palette I've had for a few years as it has an interesting mix of colours and neutrals. I used the colour on the bottom left of the picture all over my lid and blended the darker brown (bottom right) in to my crease. I pressed the blue (top right) on to the mobile lid, below the crease. I also added some of the blue around the tear duct and pulled it down along the lower lash line. I buffed a little of the lighter brown just a bit above the crease and lined the eyes with MAC Teddy eye kohl.

I was inspired to use the combination of blue and taupe by a number of the Autumn collection eyeshadow palettes. It would be easy to achieve a similar look using the Estee Lauder Dahlia Palette, the Giorgio Armani Night Shades palette or the soon to be released Champs Elysees palette by Guerlain.

In case you're interested in what I'm wearing on the rest of my face: on my cheeks, I have MAC Cubic blush and on my lips I'm wearing MAC Barely Lit (LE) lipstick with Hourglass Extreme Sheen lipgloss in Ignite on top.

I really enjoyed the challenge to try something a little different. It was also very interesting to see how everyone else interpreted 'neutral with a twist'. You can see Lady of the Lane's blog post about her challenge look here. The very beautiful Alice at Super Gorgeous was also inspired to have a go and went for a stunning coloured liner with neutral eyeshadows which I'm hoping she will blog about too. If you feel inspired to have a try, I'd love to see. If you do it and blog about it make sure to send me a link in the comments so I can have a look!

All Hail McQueen by Butter London

All Hail McQueen is part of the Butter London Autumn 2010 collection. The other colours are lovely but this gorgeous taupe beige with holographic glitter really caught my eye. I haven't tried any of the Butter London polishes before but was keen to try as I thought they might kinder to my nails as they're all 3 free (free of toluene, formaldehyde and Dibutyl Phthlate - DBP).

The holographic glitter is beautiful, I can see flecks of peachy gold, silver and purple. If you catch it in the right light you can really appreciate the pretty sparkle.

I've had this on my nails for a couple of days now. I know people have reported issues with chipping with the Butter London polishes. It's hard for me to comment on this, as I've mentioned before I have trouble with all polish chipping on me. I did experience some tip wear but I hadn't used any top coat.

This brings me on to another point. It is recommended that for best results you use these polishes in conjunction with BL top coat and base coat. Rather than being some kind of marketing ploy this has sound scientific reasoning. Using 3 free polishes with products that contain formaldehyde, toluene or DBP can cause incompatibility issues resulting in slipping or the polishes not drying properly. Top coats such as Seche Vite, which contains toluene, have been reported not to work well with big 3 free polishes. This may be worth considering if you have experienced problems with the wear of these polishes before.

Butter London polishes are available from Zuneta and The Powder Rooms.

Edward Bess lipstick in Night Romance

Something very lovely arrived in the post today, it was the second part of the Zuneta order that I placed earlier in the week. Normally, I wouldn't share something with you after such a short time but I couldn't resist, I've worn it all day and it's already a massive hit.

This is Edward Bess Ultra Slick Lipstick in Night Romance. It's described on the Zuneta website as a Rich Raspberry Mousse which I think is an accurate description. It's a dark pink that looks sophisticated and it's muted rather than very bright which I really like. Anyway, for a change I'll stop blathering on and let the pictures do the talking.

I'm not terribly keen on this photo but I thought it would be useful to include it to show how the lipstick works with my colouring.

Like the other Edward Bess lipsticks that I have, the formula is lovely and very easy to wear. Edward Bess products are available exclusively in the UK from www.zuneta.com. It's a good time to put an order in too as it's free delivery for all UK orders this weekend using the code FREESHIP.

And just because it's Friday I thought I'd add this one in for fun!

I hope you all have a lovely long weekend planned x

Bobbi Brown Black Velvet Collection

I have come to the conclusion that Autumn collections are my absolute favourite. I love the rich deep colours, dark berry lips and to be fair, the move away from bronze! When I spotted the visuals for Black Velvet I was really excited.

Bobbi describes this collection as making the catwalk trend for goth lips and sooty lids work for real life. "I created shades that are strong, powerful and a little shocking—but also wearable and sophisticated". The collection is made up of entirely dark colours; blacks infused with plum, cherry and maple tones. I'm very drawn to these sorts of shades and because these are Bobbi Brown, I am sure they will be very flattering.

There are three new Metallic Eye Shadows; Black Berry, Black Cocoa and Black Charcoal and two new Sparkle Eyeshadows; Black and Black Velvet. The Sparkle Eyeshadows are limited edition. The two new matte eyeshadows; Black Charcoal and Black Chocolate are both almost black and can be used as either eyeshadow or powder liner. I'm already imagining the beautiful effect you could create by layering the Sparkle eyeshadows over the matte colours.

There are four different lip products coming out with the collection. The Limited Edition lip gloss in Black Chocolate, two new Creamy Lip Colours in Black Mahogany and Black Cherry as well as new Metallic Lip Colour in Black Garnet. These all sound beautiful but the absolute standouts for me are the Limited Edition Lip Colours in Black Maple and Black Raspberry. If you've read my post on lip stains, you'll know I'm on the look out for a dark berry shade for the cooler months and Black Raspberry could be just the ticket!

Of course, I've saved my favourite till last. Three Limited Edition Kohl Eyeliners; Black, Black Chocolate and Black Plum. When I read the following "lining your lids superclose to your lashline (without that annoying gap) just got easy" I was sold! I'm short-sighted and without definition my eyes can disappear behind my glasses. Consequently, I'm always on the look out for great liners. Maybe it's just me but I often I get that little gap at my lash line and I'm rubbish at tightlining without it transferring to the lower lashline. I can't wait to try these liners to see if they can deliver, both Black Chocolate and Black Plum sound perfect for me. These can also be smudged to create a smoky effect. 

This collection will be released in the UK in September. Do you think you will be indulging?

Berry Lip Stains for Autumn

I finally got round to reading some magazines whilst I was on holiday. The lack of internet had the hidden advantage of spurring me on to do a little reading! I found an article on '20 Reasons to Wear More Make-Up' in a copy of Glamour from a couple of months ago. For a start, more reasons to wear make up is always going to catch my attention but what really grabbed me were the stunning lip stains. I have long been a fan of these sorts of berry shades. I think they herald the Autumn approaching, a fabulous time of year for make up colours in my opinion.

I like the idea of using a colour to stain the lips. It makes it much more wearable if you're a little scared of wearing full on dark lips. The lip products that are mentioned are from left to right: Dior Addict Ultra-Gloss Flash in Black-Tie Plum, NARS lipgloss in Strawberry Fields, Giorgio Armani Lip Ink in 1, Clinique Lip Smoothie in Pome-greatness and Guerlain Kiss Kiss Essence De Gloss in Violine. The gorgeous Beauty Bite posted not too long ago about Strawberry Fields lip gloss and it looks beautiful on the lips. I think my favourites from this feature are the Dior Black Tie Plum, Armani Lip Ink and Guerlain Violine. The Giorgio Armani Lip Inks are part of their Autumn 2010 collection out now, which I shall post about in more detail shortly. The Essence de Gloss is part of the Guerlain Autumn collection that I have talked about here.

 Giorgio Armani Lip Inks

Dior Addict Black Tie Plum

Other lipsticks that I think would work well as stains are the two darker lipsticks from the Armani Autumn collection; Black Purple and Deep Ruby. You can see pictures here on The Non-Blonde's blog. Tom Ford's Private Blend lip colour in Moroccan Rouge and Black Orchid (see London Make Up girls posts here and here) would also be ideal but I don't hold out much hope for me getting a Tom Ford any time soon! A girl can dream though.

I think a lip stain and statement eyeliner will be a fabulous and easy look for the Autumn. What sort of colours are you looking forward to wearing? Have you seen any inspirational looks recently?

Les Khaki De Chanel

These are a few images from the upcoming Les Khaki collection. There are 3 nail polishes that make up the collection, Khaki Vert, Khaki Rose and Khaki Brun.

Peter Phillips, Creative Director of Chanel Makeup designed the collection to celebrate Vogue's "Fashion's Night Out". The colours, which I think are a new and interesting spin on the trend for murky nails, are designed to be worn alone or combined.

These colours really appeal to me, I particularly like the look of Khaki Rose and Khaki Brun. Having missed out on Paradoxal, I'm particularly keen to get my hands on at least one of these! Unfortunately, these won't be available on all counters and will be exclusive to Selfridges stores and Chanel Boutiques (UK). I imagine, as with all Limited Edition Chanel nail varnishes, these will sell fast and it's probably worth calling up to register your interest ahead of release. Les Khaki will be available from the 10th September.



Pictures Thanks to Chanel Makeup

And Now for Something Completely Different

I did something yesterday which was almost unheard of for me. I got a little creative!

I've been continuing on my quest to shop my stash and use something different everyday. Yesterday, I picked out the Circus Palette I was very lucky to win in Beauty Begins blog giveaway. I have used this a couple of times now, only really using the safer colours like the navy, lilac and purples. I decided to apply one of the pink colours on my lid, just to see how it looked. Before I knew it, I was really going for it, adding different colours and playing with shapes. I used loads of different brushes and it was very enjoyable.

On the lid I applied the lightest pink colour and pulled it out on towards my temples. I shaped the crease a tiny bit using the pinky-coral. The dark purple is applied under the eye and winged out. The navy/indigo as you can see is above the crease and winged out also to follow the pink and purple. I added a small amount of the yellow around my tear duct and there's a little of the white eyeshadow on my brow bone. I lined all around the eye using a black kohl liner. I wish I'd picked a better pencil or used gel liner as it's not as sharp as I wanted.

I wasn't sure whether to go for a nude lip or a bold colour. In the end, I plumped for a dark purple lipstick. It's one that I was given by my Mum and I'm not even sure what brand it is! As it looked a little flat on it's own, I added some of the pink eyeshadows from the palette and patted it on to the centre of my lips. On the face I did a small amount of contour using MAC Strada. I should also say, the foundation I used here was Lancome Teint Miracle in 02 and I used RMK Super Basic liquid concealer under the eye.

So, what do you think? A worthwhile experiment? I feel very shy sharing this on here but I really enjoyed having a play with colours. I hope to try my hand again at something more creative and I've even started looking at the Illamasqua courses which sound very interesting. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed looking even though it is a break from the norm for me.

Bobbi Brown Apricot Blusher

I've had this blusher a very long time as you can tell by the shape of the packaging. Bobbi Brown blushers come in square packaging these days but the colour is still available as part of the permanent line. This look was from last week and I toyed with not posting this, I'm not 100% on the combination of colours but it's no good cherry picking the best bits! I'm only human and I've said before I often make mistakes with colour selections. Plus, I think this is a lovely blusher and well worth sharing with you.

On the Bobbi Brown website this is described as a bright apricot which I don't think is all that helpful in terms of shade description! It's certainly appears very bright in the pan and I think it sits somewhere between coral and hot pink. It's not as bright on the cheeks as you'd expect from the colour in the pan. It's certainly very wearable and quite a universal colour. I've included pictures in natual light and with flash so that you can hopefully get a good idea of how it looks on the cheeks.

Here's a list of what I'm wearing on the rest of my face


Face
Korres Watermelon Light Tinted Moisturiser
Can't remember which under eye concealer
Shu Uemura brow pencil
Bobbi Brown Apricot Blusher
 
Eyes
MAC Painterly paint pot
MAC Dirty Greasepaint stick as base
MAC Satin Taupe e/s
MAC Brule e/s from crease up to brow
L'Oreal Super Liner in Black Crystal
L'Oreal Voluminous mascara

Lips
Edward Bess Ultra Slick lipstick in Secret Desire

Apricot is priced £16.50 and is available from Bobbi Brown counters Nationwide or can be ordered online from www.bobbibrown.co.uk

Lancome Teint Miracle Sample

Lancome has a new foundation coming out called Teint Miracle. It's due for Nationwide release on 1st September. If you would like to try it, Lancome are offering a free 7 day trial sample at the moment (UK and R.O.I. only I'm afraid). I found out about this via Twitter and wanted to share with you as I got my sample on Thursday. I love offers like this as all too often you need to try foundations before you buy.  To get your personalised voucher, follow the link on their facebook page here. Fill in your details, print out your voucher and present it at any Lancome counter. You will be colour matched and provided with a vial which contains enough for at least 7 applications.

It's a lovely foundation and I've already posted a picture of me wearing it in my latest FOTD. The texture is light and it provides a nice coverage, I'd say it's probably light to medium. It's light reflective and gives a lovely glow to the skin without looking shiny or unnatural.

Teint Miracle is also available to buy online exclusively from www.selfridges.com at the moment.

Style Snob and Smut!

This is another in my series of shop my stash looks. I started out by picking MAC Style Snob eyeshadow. This has been neglected a lot since I bought Rouge Bunny Rouge Solstice Halcyon. The colours are similar, as you can see from this post, but it does have quite a different finish. Style Snob is a Starflash finish eyeshadow and was released as part of the Love That Look collection. I believe this particular shade was extremely sought after and I was very lucky to pick it up in a forum sale.

Wearing it reminded me how pretty it is. It's quite sparkly and has small particles of peachy-gold glitter. I'm pleased I remembered not to apply my concealer until afterwards as I did experience some fallout. I applied Style Snob 3/4 of the way across the mobile lid, then applied MAC Relaxing (a similar toned but slightly lighter colour) to the inner 1/4. I used MAC Smut to define the crease a little and buffed out any hard edges with MAC Brule.

Face
Lancome Teint Miracle foundation in 02 (more to come on this foundation)
RMK Super Basic liquid concealer on undereye circles
Shu Uemura brow pencil H9 Seal Brown
Illamasqua Beg blusher

Eyes
Too Faced Shadow Insurance
MAC Relaxing e/s, on inner 1/4
MAC Style Snob e/s, on outer 3/4
MAC Smut e/s, in crease
MAC Brule e/s, to buff out edges
Guerlain Loose Kohl in Oriental Metal
L'Oreal Voluminous mascara

Lips
Guerlain Kiss Kiss lipstick in Beige Nude

I apologise for the sloppy lipstick application but this has been become a new favourite and I wanted to show it off. This lipstick is a lovely colour and it's so creamy, I'm hoping this is true for all the Kiss Kiss lipsticks? I really feel the texture is similar if not better than the YSL Rouge Volupte. I think I may need to try some more!