Beauty gone Wulong

 
Oh mein gott (so much more emphatic than oh my god)

I tremble as I write this... well I guess I trembled as I did this (early morning blurry eyed, ironically telling myself to be careful as I handled my precious ever so valuable Guerlain Wulong powder.)

NoooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!



How can something so beautiful get so mangled and ugly?

Well tempted as I am to donate this parable to Kandee Johnson or any other number of prized makeup artists cum motivational speaker, I will do the honour here. This my friends, this ugly heap, was formerly the unspeakably beautiful Wulong powder.

To look upon its tortured face (cobbled together in a rushed panic as I fought to find each and every crumb I could - a fruitless task but one I valiantly undertook) - you might think my Wulong is an insult to its memory. Better to kill it than shame it so! But hark: it still works, yes, I'll say it: like photoshop! to make a face look amazing. Maybe it will now dip evenly rather than the pink mosaic piece rushing ahead... well, I am trying to see the benefit to my clumsy accident. In any case, the moral is, the beauty is still there. Next time you see ugliness you should ponder: Perhaps it had innate beauty once, and was smashed by an Other.

Nonetheless, I will never take this out in public now. I am too superficial. But hopefully the moral will be undiminished by this admission.

I should have mentioned these at time of purchase, so for the record: I adore this and Cruel Gardenia so much, they are magnificent. And to make this blog post worthwhile, another recommendation thanks to the great Gossmakeupartist. Bobbi Brown Tinted Eye Brightener (I use Porcelain Peach.) This works to truly lift those horrible dark circles. With this under my eyes and Wulong on my face, I look SO much better, instantly.


Let's round off with some 'lemmings'... NARS Persia (a deep orange eyeshadow- I have been loving wearing the deep pink from my Estee Lauder cyber palette, and also the possibly dupe of that, MAC's Limited Edition hot pink pigment in Brash and Bold, surprisingly wearable!) I am also excited for the MAC Strength collection, as I am trying to bodybuild - so the promotional image of Jelena Abbou is amazing to me. I guess with a gazillion collections a year, it's only a matter of time before your interests collide within MAC. I am hoping to get the bright lipsticks Party Parrot and Pink Pigeon. I have a new love for bright lips, my favourites are MAC's Candy Yum Yum (worth the hype - totally unique, bright, yet very wearable) and Moxie (a very pretty reddened pink but a lot more easily duped.) Similarly, I am hoping Maybelline's Vivid lipsticks make their way to UK soon as they look great. And, Alber Elbaz collaborating with Lancome, this cute promo video is very promising if it means fun brights:


Please share your lemmings, recommendations or makeup tragedies below...

My choice is Paula's Choice

Wowza... I have been using these products religiously for several weeks now - I initially mentioned them and reviewed the line here but I must say by this stage I am amazed. If you have any issues with uneven pigmentation, you had better get into this range pronto. My skin is unbelievably clear and unified - to the point where I actually don't need foundation (gasp!) although of course I do like to wear it anyway...

Annoyingly, Paula's Choice is only available online, but the postage is fairly swift and the customer service is on point. You can start by just ordering samples. I have been using the 8% AHA Perfecting Gel (£21.50) with incredible results on my face and even on legs after waxing. The consistency of the gel is ideal for clog-prone skin. I also went straight for the Resist range and have used the Daily Smoothing and Weekly Smoothing Treatments - you can buy both as a set for £52 at the moment. The Daily Smoothing treatment has an airtight pump and smells and looks just like Dermalogica's Age Smart Multivitamin recovery masque to me; it's a very siliconey feel but has not broken me out at all - it is marvellous under makeup (although don't forget your sunscreen!) and over time, used with the potent 10% Weekly Treatment, it seriously has made me look fresher and dare I say younger! Before trying this range I had been considering botox (although arguably that was a little premature) but after these Black Magic potions - for surely there has to have been a deal with the devil to get these formulas?!- I will never be without my Paula's Choice. This brand gets consistently high reviews and raves: I can only add yet another here. Believe the hype.

Bargain Murad Christmas kits and Facials!!!

If you ask me, the best thing about Christmas is: All the new Beauty and makeup sets!!! Suddenly, spending is utterly justified and everyone around you is jolly, the Christmas lights...ahhh. November is when it becomes ok to mention Christmas so here we go...

Murad is already one of my top fave brands, so it was very hard to select a kit. The kits include the Complete Renewal Christmas Kit, which is anti-ageing (£52 worth £107.45!); Shake-Up Your Makeup Christmas Kit (the Hybrids range - £36 worth £56); Hydration Sensation Christmas Kit (£73.50 worth £123.30); Radiance Rescue Christmas Kit (£58.50 worth £137.31 and contains the amazing Active Radiance Serum featuring Resilient-C Complex, 30ml. This really works to even out skin tone and radiance!) and finally the kit I went for, the Perfect Balance Christmas Kit. (£42.50 worth £89.70)

I almost chose a more moisturising anti-ageing kit - but the truth is that with Murad products, they are all inevitably anti-ageing due to the ingredients. The star product, T-Zone Pore Refining Gel, 60ml, retails for £50 alone and has single-handedly made my skin spectacular. At my facial (more on that to follow...), the lovely Marianna complemented my skin and I beamed with pride. Reviews on makeupalley praise the magic of this formulation and I would agree with the many who say that the promise of "smaller pores" never made sense until this product! It is almost like it 'dissolves' the skin and any blocked pores or enlarged pores just clear right up. Within a week my skin was looking markedly brighter and clearer. This contains the miracle Glycolic acid and also antioxidants and Salicylic Acid and zinc to kill off spots virtually on contact. The other
amazing product in the kit which is an instant Must Have for anyone who like me suffers from shiny skin, is the Oil-Control Mattifier. You get a small 10ml sample but it's been enough for me to use it several days consecutively and realise that now I just don't think I can cope without it! The full size is £37 but it should last a while. I just smoothed it over my T-Zone and it was a godsend. You also get a concealer - it's in shade Medium so it was slightly too dark for me - and although I tried it on spots to check if it did heal them, I didn't really fall for this product myself. The eye cream, Hydro-Dynamic Ultimate Moisture for eyes, comes in a little screw top sample pot with 3.5ml and I finished it very quickly. I did really like this product but I don't know if it is as unique as the other items. At my facial in fact I was recommended the Essential-C Eye Cream Broad Spectrum SPF 15 which does seem more my thing.
  
OK now onto my indulgent Murad facial...

 

We know Murad is high end and seen in luxury spas, but a little known secret haunt where you can get discounted facials is The London Esthetique Student Spa and Salon in the London Barbican area. Marianna gave me a very relaxing facial called the 'Resurgence Renewal': "Restore the Luminous glow you used to know with our most indulgent facial. Luxurious and lasting hydration restores suppleness, texture and tone. After one treatment, you’ll instantly unveil a more youthful, luminous skin." I enjoyed the consultation and the expert recommendations. The facial lasted around an hour and a half and even included a shoulder massage! Very soothing after a long day. The prices are much lower than the typical rates as treatments are carried out by students - but if my experience is anything to go by, the students are incredibly professional and learned! Facials start from only £19 for an hour and 15mins! Great value. They also offer in salon waxing, hair appointments, laser hair removal, nails etc. Check out the price list here.

My skin was glowing - I hadn't seen it look so bright and smooth in a while. It was a sad fact that this weekend rather than showing off my rosey and luminous face, I had to go to a fancy dress party as a deathly pale zombie... I aim to continue with regular facials and Marianna's advice to "avoid stress" (would that it were so simple!) and of course the Murad belief that you should 'eat your water' (Dr Murad famously suggests that water is best absorbed via fruit and vegetables.) I definitely believe diet and exrcise and emotional well-being is key to looking younger, but with Murad facials and a few carefully selected key products, I feel hopeful that I will see my skin maintain the best condition it can. I would highly recommend a visit, if only for the chance to forget your woes and indulge yourself - the wonderful skin will be a bonus! My facial included a glycolic peel, a pineapple mask and a rich moisturiser. For possibly the first time, I travelled back on the tube make-up free - and didn't have a panic attack thinking I might be spotted bare faced by someone I know!!!

Round up Beauty thoughts

I have several ideas but usually they are not enough to justify a post in themselves, so I thought I would try out a round-up post and see how it goes...?

First up, those Chanel ads - how odd to have a man (ok no not "a man", I mean, Brad Pitt) fronting a women's fragrance. It has always been obvious that women could be used in adverts to sell a man's fragrance (or anything else) but it seemed clear that to sell to women we want to be enticed by a woman promising us an equal beauty to hers', if only we were to whip our credit card out for said item. But now, I guess in a classic case of post feminism, we too have the experience of being seduced for our purchase. These clips are the closest most of us will ever get to being chatted up by Brad Pitt, and I have to say I think it's a great ploy. Well worth his reputed $7M fee. It doesn't matter that what he's saying makes no sense, he is mesmerising, who is listening to him anyway?? Chanel No.5 really is legendary (in large part thanks to Marilyn Monroe's famous quip when asked what she wore to bed.) Chanel have made a video, somewhat bombastic and garish but describing its history (watch it here.) Personally I would probably still prefer Chanel's green bottle fragrance but I think it's ingenious to have the tagline "Inevitable" as there are plenty of clueless men buying their women fragrance or even women who don't know what they're supposed to like, so I am pretty sure Chanel No5 will indeed become an inevitable purchase and the campaign is bound to do amazingly well.

Seeing as I mentioned Marilyn Monroe, and seeing as MAC currently has their Marilyn Monroe collection out, I thought I would recommend a biography I just read - highly recommended if you are besotted with Marilyn Monroe as so many are. It is by Sarah Churchwell and called 'The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe.' It is very academically written and examines the various theories surrounding her. It also goes some way to explaining why Marilyn Monroe still to this day, more than half a century after her death, seems so modern and fresh and is still used as the benchmark for confident alluring females from Madonna to Gwen Stefani and various Hollywood actresses in between, who would all hope to be today's equivalent. In her day Marilyn Monroe was a subject for ridicule: her wobbly walk lent itself to comedies and the real seductive actress du jour was Liz Taylor. But when Hugh Hefner launched his career and sealed his future by buying and exposing Marilyn Monroe's nude photographs (she had posed nude whilst still a 'struggling actress') Marilyn Monroe refused to deny they were of her as her studio would have preferred, and instead admitted they were and simply absorbed the extra attention without allowing it to provoke shame. On the other hand, many feminists argue that by adopting the pre-war persona of humble, hapless and doting hourglass woman, she plunged women back into their former place. She had a very bizarre mix of naive openness and cunning wit. To take the Chanel quote above for instance, Marilyn Monroe explained that this was a way to avoid saying naked but that she didn't know why they would be asking her anyway. And the seemingly retrospective attitude of thinking of Marilyn Monroe as a tragic figure was already in place in her lifetime; every authorised biography made sure to reference her childhood in an orphanage and the studio loved her Cinderella tale. But the book is also objective enough to recount her flaws and ultimately it seems more than likely that her drug taking and overdose was all a part of her disorganised state rather than a murder or even a deliberate cry for help let alone suicide. We will never know the truth and that is one part of why her image never tires. Even her mole has become a cypher to her legend. As such, let me say that MAC'S hideous packaging really is an insult! It is good that they found a photograph not gernerally known as it does escape pastiche, but the black and red looks lazy and we all know Marilyn Monroe would never have carried that gaudy packaging around... However the colours did seem pretty accurate. Personally I hardly wear red lipstick (too ageing) so I found it an easy collection to resist. By the way, the unbelievably famous white dress (valued at £3M) from 'The Seven Year itch' film is going to be on show in London for the first time.

And finally in my roundup, do you recall the slave earrings? Well the Guardian and Telegraph  say this time it is an Aunt Jemima looking print dress and earrings at Dolce & Gabbana (spring/summer 2013 collection) causing an outcry. The irony is that if this black image was a black woman with european features, i.e small nose and subtly plump lips, this would probably have gone unremarked. I see countless dresses and earrings featuring white women or ethnic women prints - but apparently having a typical black featured woman is racist. It is very sad that showing a black face and having it modelled by a white model is taken as derogatory. If it were a black model I am not sure if it would be attacked even more, or whether in that context it might be taken as celebratory?
 
 
 images: Style.com, PHOTO: Vladimir Potop; Rex Features.

My current favourite makeup purchase! Estee Lauder Violet Underground palette

As soon as I saw these beautiful jewel tones I knew resistance was futile. The limited edition Violet Underground palette has been out a little while - indeed, it is currently sold out on the Estee Lauder website. However, plenty of counters near me still had the odd one left, but hurry if you need this in your life! (Clue: you do.) Thankfully my EL counter girl knows me well and agreed to unofficially hold it for me until the gift with purchase at Boots (currently on, until 20th) so it is finally mine.

From the blue lid to the punk 80s lightning bolt and name, to the cool tone perfect shades - this really is spectacular. Very wearable - even the pink is surprisingly demure! I think this will be perfect for the winter months. And, I appreciate the unique consistency of the 'cyber' texture. It really resists creasing, and has a depth of colour that flat shadow falls short of. These can be used wet, but I prefer them dry. Swatches I took did not capture the vivid multi dimension that it achieves on the eyelid - but in person, these are very special indeed. There are also 2 limited edition lipsticks but I have MAC Candy Yum Yum (incidentally, another current fave) and the Estee Lauder Violet Crush seemed somewhat similar but less unique, i.e less blue toned more pink but same idea. Anyway I will let the pictures do the talking...

 Only one swatch (dry) so I know it looks a little underwhelming... but on the eye this is all you need and it transforms. These can be built up to be very intense but I prefer to use them more subtle. Here is the pink alone, just a light wash looks so pretty:

£40, Available at Estee Lauder counters where stocks last! I can't wait to see the Christmas sets coming up, as Estee Lauder really know how to impress. I know that I will be using this palette a lot, and unlike most palettes there isn't even one dud shade!

Bare Minerals NEW Concealers: REVIEW! Correcting concealer; Stroke of Light eye brightener

Well well well. The days of Bare Minerals solely coming in loose pigments and pots is slowly being pushed aside. Although no brands can beat their AMAZING loose blushers (fave shade: 'Flowers) and AMAZING loose bronzers (I adore Warmth and Faux Tan equally) - so I am not suggesting the brand turns its back on all that swirl tap and buff business. And yet, this is exciting news indeed. Two new concealer formulations are out. These launched in September 2012.

Firstly, the rather Bobbi Brownish pot concealer, SPF Correcting Concealer (£21.) I have shade Light 2. Now perhaps before I even begin my review I must extoll the magic virtues of the Bare Escentuals Maximum Coverage concealer brush (£14.) I have 2 of these and have loved it for years. In fact even when using my HG concealer Lancome Effacernes, it is not the same AT ALL without that brush. It is a must-have!!! So, oops a spolier there as my HG has not quite been trumped. But, this is an excellent concealer. I use this concealer for face as opposed to undereye and in fact today I went with no foundation, I just applied this to my blotchy problem areas and powdered on top. You get 3g and a little goes a long way. It is very blendable and covers very well. The shade is a great match for me but the real beauty of this is that it comes in 8 different shades so you can pick your undertone. For instance, Light 2 is yellow toned whereas Light 1 is pink toned. Apparently these concealers contain lemon peel extracts and botanicals, which promise to "decrease dark spots and discolouration over time"! I will update on that as that would definitely warrant HG status! Well worth checking out and I love the sleek packaging (matte black but not rubbery like NARS - it's like a more modern version of the Bobbi Brown pot really.) I set this as advised, with the Bare Minerals Well-Rested SPF Eye Brightener. (£19.) This combination was a little too yellowy for my liking - but, it didn't crease at all. My favourite powder to set concealer with though, is the Guerlain perles Meteorites in Mythic I must admit...

Stroke of Light Eye Brightener (£22) is a stroke of genius I love it!!!! It is like YSL Touche Eclat "on steroids". I have it in shade Luminous 1. It comes in 4 shades and they all appear to lean pink or apricot (as opposed to yellow) and are specifically designed to brighten the undereye. It is a bit like Clinique's version of Touche Eclat but unlike that and Maybelline Dream Lumi and all the other imitating 'concealing' light reflectors, this can never go thick and cakey: it has the same very very thin and light YSL Touche Eclat consistency. In other words this is not so much a concealer as a real light reflector - it makes me look beaming and joyful and yes, younger. YAY!!!! And again, this claims to treat the skin:"Enriched with Mineral Jade Powder to disguise imperfections[...]Amethyst enhances the appearance of skin for a flawless look, whilst finely milled Freshwater Pearls help to keep skin soft and supple. Saccharomyces Cerevisiae helps to reduce the appearance of fine lines, dark circles and under eye puffiness for a more youthful appearance." I am tentatively calling this a new found fave and who knows maybe in time will replace my beloved Touche Eclat. I even love the applicator, WAY better than that YSL stinky brush. Check out my 'tutorial' to see it in action. (around 13.43) Check out the images below to see the shades. As explained, my Correcting Concealer is thicker and more yellow toned, and the Stroke of Light is more pink and has a thinner consistency.

Let me know if you have tried these, or what your favourite concealers are? I find concealers are definitely something worth hunting down, and investing in! Arguably the most important bit of makeup in your kit!!!


Bare Minerals available from all Bare Minerals boutiques, http://www.bareminerals.co.uk, selected retailers, spas & salons and QVC.

InStyle Magazine: Benefit FREEBIES!

Just a quick heads-up! In case any UK readers don't know, the November issue of InStyle (out from 4th October) featuring Naomie Harris on the cover wearing a gorgeous Acne leather dress, has a selection of 4ml versions of Benefit Sun Beam, Cha Cha tint (love this now and must get more magazines asap but grrrr sold out already?!) and of course their trailblazer Benetint.

£3.80 a copy although in Tesco stores only £2.50. Far be it for me to trumpet the high street murderers but oh well consumer is king and I ain't sniffing at saving £1.30! But in any case it's a great deal and I'll be picking up more - you know my record...