REVLON

I Try Before You Buy: Lipgloss

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If you want the light texture of a gloss with the deep pigment of a lipstick, then have I got a bunch of reviews for you.

REVLON ColorBurst Lacquer Balm in Demure {€10.99}
****
These pigments are so intense, they seemed too bold to be balms. They are super hydrating, though, and so they remain. Go for a lighter hue like Demure (pictured below), a mauvy pink, if you can’t be bothered with high maintenance. You’ll get good coverage without too much fuss.

MAC COSMETICS Mineralise Glass Lip Gloss in Vibrant Vibe {€22}
*****
I had always wanted to love the brand’s Lip Glasses, but they were sticky, and thick, and you’d never want to find yourself lobbing the gob unexpectedly when wearing it. This new version is basically perfect: light and shiny and full of pigment — snog away!

LIPGLOSSES

YVES SAINT LAURENT Gloss Volupté in Prune Organdi {€25}
****
Well, you’re not going to be putting this on with your eyes closed (this shade is dark), but the innovation as regards the applicator is genius. The doe-foot pad at the end of the wand is bent just enough to perfectly follow the mouth’s contour when your lips are closed over it. It’s made to fit the way we use it. The melon-y scent is lovely, and the texture is weightless.

SMASHBOX Be Legendary Long-wear Lip Lacquer in Legendary {€24}
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Holy moly! This is like pure lipstick in liquid form, meaning it has the punchy pigment of a lippy, but it glides on like a gloss. You’ll need a steady hand with this one, which is red as red gets. Maybe lay in a lipliner just in case you need help. It’s light as a feather, and is as long-wearing as promised in the name. However, it is the highest of maintenance — you’re really going to have to want this.

BURT’S BEES Lipgloss in Starry Night {€11.95}
****
I have been going-to this for well over a month, so much so that I’ve just about worn off all the copy printed on the tube. This is lush and dark, and yet I’ve managed the tricky business of touching this up with no mirror to hand — but then I cheat and check up in the nearest reflective surface, so I don’t know who I’m fooling. It fades down to a darkish pink, which is okay, but I’d prefer it to stay strong.

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Yippy! Lippy: New for 2014

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BOURJOIS ROUGE EDITION VELVET
BOURJOIS Rouge Edition Velvet in Hot Pepper, €12.49 Very intense, in the best possible sense. I found it to be a tiny bit tacky when it dried, as do most class of lippy that claims to be completely smudge-proof and matte. This is great for occasion-wear, but I don’t think I could stick the high maintenance of it during the day. Hence the rather sober-looking gob.

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CLINIQUE MATTE MAGENTA
CLINIQUE Long Last Soft Matte Lipstick in Magenta €20 As a devoted fan of the brand’s Black Honey Almost Lipstick, I haven’t ventured very far — okay, I haven’t ventured anywhere else in their lipstick line. I am encouraged to do so here: this is as soft as promised, and it’s got the typically dense pigment of a matte, sans the dryness. There’s a gorgeous orange just waiting to be snapped up by those who can wear it well — sadly, not me.

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DIEGO DELLA PALMA
DIEGO DELLA PALMA Glossy Lipstick in Natural Pink, €20 I don’t know, this is more like a neutral to me, not a pink… Whatevs, this is my go-to nude for the summer. It feels fab

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ME ME ME PERSIAN PINK
MEMEME Longwear Satin Lip Cream in Persian Pink, €10.50 That’s MeMeMe — looks much better in U&lc. Um, okay, the above is my light go-to nude for the summer, and this is my medium go-to nude for the summer. This has all the lush richness of a Leading Department Store Brand, at half the price.

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MICHAEL KORS BOMBSHELL
MICHAEL KORS Lip Lacquer in Bombshell, €30.50 Ah! So sexy! There’s a fantastic gloss in this line as well, which I thought I’d prefer, but I like this lipstick equally.

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REVLON COLOURBURST LACQUER BALM
REVLON ColourBurst Lacquer Balm in Vivacious, €11.20 So shiny! With a touch of sparkle! Plus hydration! I am all over these lip crayons — I find the texture and staying power to be terrific, and again: The. Shine.

Also!
REVLON COLOURBURST MATTE BALM
REVLON ColourBurst Matte Balm in Audacious, also €11.20 The matte version! OMG, using alll the exclamation marks! I am not at all a fan of coral-on-me, but this suits really well, and again, loving the texture and the moisturising. There’s also a tiny zap of mint or something: an unexpected little bit of refreshment.

ColorBurst can do no wrong by me, clearly.

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There are more to come, as I can’t get enough of cosmetics for the mouth. Pictured, the thingie in the on-the-way-out-the-door place, where I make my lip coverage decisions on a daily basis:
LIPPY ARCHIVE
I think a trip in the wayback machine may be in order. Sure, good lippy never goes out of style.

Once More, with Even More Feeling! Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter

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So, I’m back in the offices of TV Now Magazine, this time on the editorial maternity cover side {as opposed to the design maternity cover side} and as I was leaving this morning, I was wondering what lipstick I would take with me, and I looked in the box that is next to my soundsystem — an insane assortment which I’ll have to show you sometime — and I gasped! Because I remembered my beloved Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter in Strawberry Shortcake!
THAT LIP BUTTER!
… which I actually forgot all about! Which will make sense when you see the range of choice that confronts me every day.

But still: I am stupid with adoration of this little tube of buttery pink cuteness, and there it is, in its place of honour, by the keyboard. It is clearly to go-to choice of all TV Now subeditors {me.}

I’m going to use it all up! I can feel in it me waters!

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SRSLY: here, here, and here.

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€11.20/£7.99/$7.49 << Huh! The internet says that’s the $ price, at least at Walgreens. So I can’t give out too much re: price point disparity any more. Also! it’s $8.29 at CVS! Soz, America, if my complaints have resulted in that adjustment.

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Lucky Thirteen of 2013: Lippy, and the View From Below My Nose

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WARNING: clicking through these links may result in PTND*.

I was into lipstick this year! I say that like it is news, like I haven’t posted this picture:
ALL THE LIPPYs
These were just the ones that were by the place where I keep my going-out-the-door stuff: my purse, the thingie with my Leap Card in it, my sunglasses.

Lots of lippys — thirteen, in fact — lots of pictures of my nose from an… interesting angle.

I reviewed eight shades of lipp-ay here, which alerted me to the proboscis problem — and then I clearly just chose to ignore it because: here I went again, and again, and… yeah. Um, and this one. And then also.

Sheesh.

The main issue I see is that I have not been wearing nearly enough purple/mauve lipstick.

There’s my new year’s resolution sorted!

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*Post Traumatic Nostril Disorder

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And Another Thing! Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter

/ brightandbeautyfull / 3 Comments

OBSESSED with this lipstick.
COLOURBURST again

In addition to its other virtues, it smells really nice, too! Like: delicious.

And as a matter of interest, I had two or three other samples of these — no, five, because I also got these super-odd coloured ones: a blue, and a purple that was not a violet, more like a zombie colour. And I didn’t like any of them nearly as much as this, which is, of course, Strawberry Shortcake.

So there.

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€11.20/£7.99/$4.79; also, any time is good time to complain about price points and dodgey conversions!

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Hey! Do you think my jaw looks rather firmer than it has, in the recent past? Wait until I tell you all about the Radio Frequency treatment at Aqua Beauty/Medispa!

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Have You Ever Used Up a Lippy? Revlon ColorBurst Lip Butter

/ brightandbeautyfull / 4 Comments

I don’t think I ever have, even before I began to enjoy the beauty-journo perquisites.

I am close to using this all up! In the case of Revlon’s ColorBurst Lip Butter, it is not merely down to propinquity, but its rich, luxurious texture.
REVLON STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE 2

Propinquity because it is near to the computer I sit at when designing at TV Now Magazine two days a week. When the morning’s lip gloss/stick wears off, and I have maybe forgotten to put it in a pocket, or am too lazy to dig it out of my shoulder bag {SRSLY}, I have been reaching for this, and have been very happy.

In fact, there are days when I am like Where is my fabulous little lip butter? and remember it is not at home.

That texture is down to being loaded with mango, coconut and shea butter; a gel formula is mentioned in its description across t’Internet, but ‘lip gel’ isn’t as delicious-sounding as is butter. Whatevs: this has a balm-y feel that I love, and I reapply it the way I do a lip balm, even if the colour doesn’t need it.

Almost all gone!
REVLON STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE 1

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€11.20/£7.99/$4.79
^ O.M.G. Okay, I realise that currency conversion is a fluid, fluctuating thing, but the difference in price here is shocking and appalling. No wonder we all go crazy shopping in the States!

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Yippy! Lippy! A/W 2013: An Assortment

/ brightandbeautyfull / 3 Comments

Let’s just get right to it, shall we?
CLARINS joli rouge
CLARINS PARIS Joli Rouge in Pink Camellia, €21
This is light and yet brimming with pigment. I likey much, except for the part where I’ve eaten and it has bled all over the place. God, I hate lipliner, but there may be nothing for it…

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YSL Rouge Neon
YVES SAINT LAURENT Rouge Pur Couture Pur Colour Satiny Radiance in Rouge Neon, €31
The orangey-red doesn’t suit me particularly, but the texture of this is pure luxe.

***

ARMANI Lip Maestro
GIORGIO ARMANI Lip Maestro Intense Velvet Colour in 505, €28.50
This is amazzzzze. It is much poppier and neon pink in real life, and the compliments! They flooded in! Not so great to be wearing unless you are nil by mouth: I got some on my *nose* because I was drinking champagne and kept moving the glass around. Do people drink from the same spot on a champagne glass? Have I got some class of disorder? Don’t answer that.

This is indeed velvety, and super intense, and I adore it.

***

BUFF sex on heels
BUFF MAKE UP Lipstick in sex on heels, €18
Like this one, too. The pigment is autumnal café au lait, and it is the sort of lippy I can apply like a gloss: swiftly, without looking, because it’s neutral. Which I like… I feel like this needs more make up surrounding it, to really work well.

***

LANCOME l'absolu velours peche?
LANCÔME L’Absolu Velours Matte Effect in Velours de Pêche, €25
Loving matte texture as a general vibe, and liking it here espêche. Ahhhhh, see what I did there.

***

BENEFIT wing woman
BENEFIT Hydra-Smooth Lip Color, Full Finish in wing woman, €22
Hmmm. There’s a new lippy in town, via our pals from San Fran, and this is meant to be the full finish version, as opposed to the mediums and sheers on offer. More to come re: this line, but I was not wowed by this coverage.

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DR HAUSCHKA novum
DR HAUSCHKA Lipstick Novum in 09, Miraculous Rose €16.50
Waa! Also feeling ‘meh’ about this, too, and I had such love for the oldum Novums, as demonstrated here. This is light, if you want light, and reflective, if you want reflective.

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REVLON Lip Butter
REVLON Colorburst Lip Butter in Strawberry Shortcake, €9.60
Not terribly autumnal, but the texture! of! this! lippy! It is the perfect mid-point between gloss and stick, and the shine is terrific. I am sure that they must have suitably deep colours for the time of year that is almost in it; until I find out more about them, this will do me just fine, thanks.

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Soz, probably should have posted a ‘nostril alert’. Hope no one is scarred for life…

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Happy Hair Day!

/ MANY BRAVE FOOLS / Leave a comment

I’ve decided it is happy hair day, because look:

Wowee, it is like a hair care bonanza! {OMG is she going to link to — yep, there she goes again… *heaves huge sigh*.}

So, what have we got here? From Revlon, the new Equave Instant Beauty line is all about the keratin. it offers a conditioner for four different conditions of hair, to be wedded with one shampoo. Now, as you can imagine, I would be a heartfelt advocate for a million kinds of shampoo, but I’m willing to give them the benefit of my shampoo-addicted doubt.

What is keratin, you may ask? Why, it refers to a family of fibrous structural proteins, of course. Also, this:

Hair starts growing from a bulb which is lodged just under the skin. The beginning of a hair is made up of cells, which are bulging with keratin. The cells lengthen and then die, leaving behind protein bundles. There are two types of keratin: I and II. And their intertwining form long coils which accumulate in hair.*

Wooo-ooo, you know me and the science. Anyway, from what I gather, the keratin treatments that you get in the salon are the heavy-duty, hardcore hair straightening yokes, and this keratin-enriched shampoo and conditioner is what you can use at home to gentler effect. I haven’t cracked these open yet, so I don’t know from experience.

Cannot wait to experience! What we’ve got is:
> Hydro Detangling Shampoo
> Hydro Nutritive Detangling Conditioner, which you leave in
> Volumizing Detangling Conditioner, which is also a leave-in conditioner, for fine hair
> Blonde Detangling Conditioner, which is for me because I am ‘blonde’
> Sun Protection Detangling Conditioner, which is for your hollllidaaaaays. And also everyday, because of the UV damage that is always happening, right???!

Also! For the stylin’: Volumizing Foam, Substance Styling Cream, and Shine Serum.

Prices range from €10.99 to €14.99, which is excellent value for what is salon-calibre stuff.

I will let you know how I get on…

*Via…