Guest post on Zuneta and 20% discount code

I'm back at Zuneta today, talking about lipstick and my favourite neutral face from Rouge Bunny Rouge:

My post is here. There's also a 20% discount code at Zuneta this weekend until midnight Monday with the code ZUCHIMP. I'm very tempted to pick up some more Rouge Bunny Rouge and/or Hourglass.

Blog posts I've really enjoyed recently

This post on www.modestybrown.blogspot.com about the joys of trying to do a face with three small children really made me smile. It took me right back to Miss London's toddler years, when she would announce that she wanted to 'do make-ups,' too.

I think the application skills were a little bit haphazard, but very enthusiastic.

www.vaguelyinvogue.blogspot.com wrote about Thomas Sabo charms here, and these are exactly the kind of charms I've been looking for. I bought a necklace and charms at the Thomas Sabo shop in Cambridge yesterday, and I'll be posting pictures of that soon (not least of all because I won't be buying much make up this month, having blown a big proportion of June's frippery fund on the necklace).

Miss London has also always been a champion accessoriser.

Organic cosmetics - Kjaer Weis and Une

These two organic/partially organic cosmetic lines have been launched recently/are about to be launched at very different ends of the price point spectrum.

Une is by Bourjois, will be sold in Boots generally and is already in the big Boots on Oxford Street, near Bond Street tube station. The products are priced between £5 and £14, with most at around the £8 mark. The Lip-Toned Lipsticks are a nice texture and have a lot of good my-lips-but-better shades; I liked T8 and T9, both quite deep rosy shades. I also liked the cream to powder Breezy Cheeks blushes. I wasn't impressed by the Sfumato powder eyeshadows. It might just have been due to previous abuse of the testers, but the powders were somewhat chalky with almost no colour payoff when I tried to swatch them. The Nude cream to powder eyeshadows had better colour payoff and the flesh-toned shades would make a nice base for powder eyeshadows. The blush and lipsticks would be good for someone wanting a very natural make-up look, but I wouldn't personally buy the Sfumato eyeshadows, even for that person.

Kjaer Weis will be at SpaceNK (it's already online, but not in bricks and mortar shops yet. The sales assistant didn't know when it exactly it would arrive). This is a very expensive line; the blush, liptints and eyeshadow cost between £32 and £38 each, although it appears refills will be available for much less; £13 to £18, so much of the initial purchase price is attributable to the admittedly lovely packaging. I'm not sure how I feel about this; I like packaging to look nice, but not to double the price of a product, and at £35 a product has to be absolutely exceptional. It's pretty similar to what ByTerry did with the original line though, where you had to buy a silver pebble container to hold each single eyeshadow/blush.

I'm looking forward to having a look at the products when they do launch at SpaceNK - the line is small with 3 lip tints, 3 cream blushes and 4 powder eyeshadows, all in natural shades. I'm hoping that the eyeshadows are more pigmented than Une Sfumato shadows, and at that initial price, they should be. 

Picture is of Kjaer Weis blush, and is from www.spacenk.co.uk.

MAC Subculture lip pencil

I'm not a MAC addict, and mostly the endless limited edition collections leave me cold. There are a few bits from the permanent collection that I do like, and this lip pencil is one of them.

This pencil has an excellent texture. It isn't so hard it drags or hurts to apply, but it isn't so creamy that it doesn't provide a good line/barrier to prevent lipstick wandering (I find Armani lip pencils to be too creamy, for example). I also find the colour to be a very good match for my naturally pale lips - it's described as underground pink on the MAC website (whatever that means), I'd say it's a neutral pale flesh pink.

Swatch on my hand:

Bare lips:

With Subculture applied. The borders of my lip are a bit more sharply defined, and it stops lipstick from wandering without altering the colour of the lipstick. I like it applied under a bright lipstick if I'm aiming for a sharper lipline. 

Tom Ford Black Orchid Private Blend Lip Color

This is the lipstick I bought yesterday - it was very much a day for a blackened lip! Black Orchid is a deep blackberry shade with just enough warmth to make it flattering, perfect for a gothic/vampy 1920s lip.

Compared with the classic dark red, Chanel Rouge Noir (in the original, more pigmented, Hydrabase formula). Tom Ford Black Orchid is the swatch on the left, Rouge Noir is on the right, and I did the same swipe for both of them. Black Orchid is clearly more pigmented, and applies more evenly on my lips, although I do need to use a lip brush for a clean edge.

In context of the rest of my face: the perfect lipstick for visits to IKEA, children's parties and budget meetings. I love it. It's a powerful colour and not a girly-pretty shade, but to my eye it's still very wearable.

The Tom Ford counter in Selfridges is doing a roaring trade in these lipsticks, and they've improved the display to line up the lipstick testers as well as having them all together in a block. The counter is well stocked with alcohol to sterilize, make-up remover and disposable lip brushes, so I was comfortable with having the sales assistant try a couple of shade on me. 

Tom Ford Moroccan Rouge Private Blend Lip Color applied

I've had a day that could only be fixed by some lovely lipstick, so off to Selfridges I raced before elbowing my way onto a tube and then a train home.

This isn't the Tom Ford colour I bought - pictures of that will follow, but I thought I'd snap a couple of quick pictures of this colour as it had been applied on me at the counter. Please bear in mind that this was applied two hours before I took this picture, and so it has faded slightly, and the colour freshly applied was somewhat deeper and more intense. Please also bear in mind that I'm completely knackered after a long day in London, so don't judge the full face shot too harshly!

Morrocan Rouge is a deep, very cool rose shade to my eye. It's cooler and less perky/more sultry than Pure Pink, and definitely a dramatic lip. It's going on the birthday list - I had a very hard time deciding between this and the colour I did buy in the end.

Suqqu Aijou Dual Eyeshadow applied

This eyeshadow duo is not limited edition, and was released as part of the Autumn 2008 Kokoroiro-Himeaka collection. This collection was based around a modern interpretation of the Beni (heart red) shade used in traditional Japanese make-up. The overall feel of the collection was quite gothic and romantic in my opinion, but in a subtle and sophisticated way. 

The main shade in the Aijou duo is a neutral greyish blue with subtle shimmer, and it reminds me of the colour of a Persian Blue cat. The highlight shade is an icy cloud blue. 

Applied: darker shade in outer half of lid and underneath eye, lighter shade in inner part of lid and blended into crease. Upper lashline lined with Eyeliner Creamy 05 Green Blue. 

I like this. I have to be in the right mood for it, as it's very cool toned and quite a dramatic look for me (and it's darker and more smoky in real life - my camera tends to wash photos of make-up applied out a bit.) It's a good way to dip a toe into blue eyeshadow and looks very good with brown eyes. 

Shu Uemura Hard Brow Pencil in Seal Brown

This is a product I am never without. Like a lot of people, I overplucked my brows as a teenager, and the outer halves have never completely recovered. 

I like the Shu Uemura hard brow pencil because it doesn't deposit too much colour. In fact, if you try to test it on the back of your hand you'll probably find that you can't swatch it, because it works with the oils in your eyebrow hair to deposit colour. Seal Brown is a greyish brown that doesn't have any orange tones to it, and works well for most brunettes. 

My naked eyebrow:

With the Shu brow pencil applied. I concentrate application along the top line of my brow and in the outer half, where my brow is most sparse. 

It doesn't give drag queen eyebrows, it just adds a bit of subtle definition and makes my eyebrows look more finished. 

Outfit of the Day and Face of the Day

This is my dress of the day and face of the day for today. It's very hot already, so I've gone for a 1950s style cotton dress, on the basis that it is one of the coolest (temperature-wise) items of clothing that I own.

I've gone with a very simple make-up look to go with the dress. I'm wearing Rouge Bunny Rouge eyeshadows in Solstice Halcyon and Angelic Cockatiels, Rouge Bunny Rouge eye kohl in Lola, Rouge Bunny Rouge blush wand in Vermeer and Tom Ford Lip Color in True Coral.

What are you wearing to beat the heat?

I wish they'd bring back.... 3 Custom Color

This post on the 2010 NY make-up show on www.Vexinthecity.com  reminded me of a long term 'I wish they'd bring back...' for the 3 Custom Color brand. It used to be sold in Pout in London, but now only select bits of the line can be found at www.cultbeauty.co.uk.

I had and loved the Rose Creme to Powder blush, and eyeshadows in Brown Sugar and Camel. I like that they sell warm and cool versions of their core lip and eye colours; this makes it easier to find good basic shades that suit individual colouring and taste. The Clarifier Pencil (flesh coloured pencil - I used mine to highlight browbone, cupid's bow and inner corner of eyes) is excellent, and available at Cult Beauty, although I've since found Illamasqua Vow pencil to be a good substitute for me.

What I really like the look of is these sheer, bright lipsticks, called Light Brights, which look perfect for summer. Too bad the brand isn't widely available here in the UK anymore. 

Images are from www.threecustom.com. 

Suqqu limited edition Lilac Allure Anniversary Kit

I received this flyer yesterday in the mail. Suqqu is releasing this limited edition kit in the UK to celebrate the first anniversary of Suqqu's launch at Selfridges Birmingham. 

It contains a blend eyeshadow (which looks to be similar in theme to the eyeshadow quads from Spring 2010).  It also contains a gloss and lip color duo, and a mini mascara. If you're interested in Suqqu, this kit would be a great introduction to the line, and the kits are usually very good value for money (the flyer doesn't say how much it is). 

Julie Hewett Belle Noir applied, and 40% discount at Julie Hewett

This is Julie Hewett's Belle Noir applied. It's a bright tomato red, not quite as orange as Kevyn Aucoin's Talula or Nars Heatwave. It's a nice shade for summer, but very bright.

Picture of lipstick in context of rest of my face:

I received a sample of this in an order from www.misebeauty.com. The US-based Julie Hewett website www.juliehewett.net is running a 40% discount code until 31 May - the code is MEM40, so it's a particularly good time to buy Julie Hewett if you're in the US (I believe they also ship internationally, but I am not sure how expensive shipping would be).

What's your favourite make-up season?

It looks like summer has finally arrived in London. I don't really enjoy summer cosmetically speaking; it's too hot and make-up slides and creases, and the summer collections tend to be quite bronzy, which isn't a look that works well on me. I've been doing a very simple eye and cheek instead with a brighter lip (I'm still loving Tom Ford Pure Pink and True Coral, Guerlain Geisha and Julie Hewett Belle Noir).

One collection I am looking forward to is Linda Cantello's Tokyo Corals collection for Armani, which you can have a look at here on www.beaut.ie. I'm also counting down the days until the Blushing Fabrics are released over here in the meantime (01 June). I loved Linda Cantello's own make-up line which used to be sold in Liberty in London, and I'm hoping the Blushing Fabrics are as good as her Sweet Cream mousse blushes were.

On the whole though, I much prefer Autumn; I love the berry/rosy lips and defined eye looks that tend to be released at this time of year, and the temperature is more comfortable without being cold enough to dry out my lips and skin.

Which season is your favourite, cosmetically-speaking?

Image is from www.giorgioarmanibeauty-usa.com.

Suqqu and SATC2 at Selfridges

(That's a very alliterative post title.)

From 27 May to 2 June, Suqqu are holding a Sex and The City 2 event at Selfridges London. Suqqu foundation was used by make-up artists on Kim Catrall and Kristen Davis (Samantha and Charlotte) and to celebrate the film, Suqqu will be offering customers the opportunity to try the foundation and find out about the range at an NYC-themed counter in the beauty hall.

I don't really get SATC, but I love the Suqqu foundation. It provides good coverage without looking or feeling mask-like, which is probably why it is so very popular with make-up artists.

Suqqu Fukou Nail Colour applied

This is Fukou (30) nail polish from the Kirari Spring 2008 collection. In keeping with the theme of that collection, it is sheer and crystalline, with small scattered sparkles that unfortunately don't show up that well in this photo. 

I like this nail polish because it gives a very clean look to my nails. The picture is of one coat only; it applies without streaking, even with just one coat, and gives a clean, cool look. Another coat gives a more obvious pale blue colour. For a blue polish, it's very OL appropriate. 

Suqqu nail polishes are excellent quality, and I find they don't dry my nails out.

Interested in Urban Decay spf 20 tinted moisturiser

Urban Decay is not a brand I'm usually very interested in, but I will be having a look at these new Urban Defense spf 20 tinted moisturisers.

Years ago, Urban Decay did a very good spf 15 moisturiser called Guardian Angel which was perfect for slightly oily summer skin and I was sad to see it discontinued. It will be interesting to see how these compare. It's also a plus for me that they are paraben free. They're £27 for 50ml, which feels slightly expensive for Urban Decay for me, particularly compared to £18 for the Surreal Skin cream to powder foundation (50ml is quite a generous amount of product though).

EDIT to add: I've just received an email to confirm that the price on the original press release was in error: these are £17, not £27. That's much more the pricing I'd expect!

Suqqu Koukon eye palette applied

This is eyeshadow palette EX03 Koukon from Suqqu Spring 2010. 

Picture applied: Cream (bottom right) all over as a base shade. Golden taupe (top right) all over lid, into crease, and under lower lashes. Matte chocolate (bottom left) in outer corner of lid and along top lashline. Sheer peach (top left) washed over the golden taupe over inner corner of lid and into crease. 

With Suqqu Eyeliner Creamy in 04 Brown applied to upper lashline.

 I like this quad a lot, but it is similar in tone to Blend Eyeshadow 08 Koucha from Spring 2008 (which was not LE and is still available). I would say that Koucha is more sparkly, whereas Koukon has more subtle shimmer, which is in keeping with the themes of the collections both quads are from. The theme from Spring 2008 was the play of light on water and so it had quite a crystalline, sparkling quality to the collection, and the theme from Spring 2010 was of watercolour painting and so the eyeshadow quads from it are a more subtle combination of washes of different tones and textures.

Comparison of Suqqu foundation shades 10 and 15

I've mentioned before that I can wear either shade 10 or shade 15 in Suqqu foundations, and I thought it might be useful to post some swatches of both of these shades. 10 has a slightly more pink/peach tone, where 15 has a stronger gold/yellow tone. 

I've applied a lot of foundation in these swatches, partly so you can see the difference in the undertones, and partly because I was a bit clumsy with both the bottle and sample sachet. This is the Liquid Foundation Aqua, which I bought in shade 10 as part of a foundation coffret last year (the 15 is from a sample sachet from the Suqqu counter). 15 is the top swatch, 10 is the bottom swatch. This picture was taken in natural, overcast, light. 

The sun came out for this picture, and the difference between the two shades is less apparent in the brighter sunlight, and when I apply an amount closer to the dose I'd typically use when applying to my face. 15 is on the left, 10 on the right. 

The two shades blended into my skin. I'd blend a bit more on my face, but I left slightly unblended so you can see the difference in tone between the two shades. I would say that they are both very similar depth of colour, but I feel that 10 brightens and lifts my skin a little more. 

I don't think that a skintone any lighter than a MAC 20 depth (Bobbi Brown Warm Ivory) would be able to find a match in Suqqu foundations. 10 and 15 are both around the MAC 20 depth of shade.

Dolce & Gabbana Summer 2010 Midnight Bloom collection - quick impressions

I had a look and a swatch of the Summer 2010 Midnight Bloom collection at the D&G counter.  I'm sorry, I didn't take a camera, but with the way that the sales assistants for this line hover I doubt I'd have been able to take photos in any case.

The look for the collection is basically peachy lips, tan cheeks and aqua blue eyeshadow. These are my thoughts on the collection from a browse at the counter.

Eyes:

• I liked the aqua blue and forest green eyeshadow duo (Laguna), although it did remind me of NARS Cleo duo, so if you have that already you may find the Laguna too close to want to own both.
• The blue eyeliner is a clear royal blue. 
• I found the combination in the eyeshadow quad from the collection a little odd; a bright pastel green, a mauve pink, a blue-grey and a matte purple shade. I'd personally opt for the duo instead. 

Cheeks:

• Tan blush is a mid brown shade, with little to no orange tones. It would be a bit too dark for my skin, but I can see it being a nice contour on a medium-warm skintone.

Lips:

• I did quite like the coral/peachy gloss from the collection. It had no shimmer in it that I could see, and decent colour payoff for a gloss. 
• I don't get on with D&G lipsticks; the red I have is a bit too creamy and tends to give me a Robert Smith/Baby Jane look unless I'm incredibly careful with lipliner and touch-ups. I find the two Shine lipsticks I have (Dahlia and Naked) dry my lips out, but most brands do that on me. There are two new Shine lipsticks in the collection that are a peachy nude and a pinkish nude shade, both with shimmer. 

Nails:

• The bright pink nail polish is a very fun shade. You could find similar shade to the nude in a number of other nail polish brands. 

The new products aren't up on the D&G website yet, but there are promotional pictures of the collection on www.temptalia.com here.

Nice places to beauty shop in London - The Garden Pharmacy

I work near Covent Garden in London, and one of my favourite beauty resources in this area is The Garden Pharmacy, in Long Acre.

It's a convenient shop if I'm looking for the main department store brands and don't want to venture onto Oxford Street. There are Chanel, Dior, Lancome, Estee Lauder, Clinque and Clarins counters, and they also stock Art Deco cosmetics. Art Deco eyeshadows are well worth a look - they're small, but they're only £5.50 each and very good quality.

They also stock comprehensive selections of La Roche-Posay and Avene, including the La Roche-Posay Anthelios sun care.

Other brands that can be found here include:

Ren, Cowshed, Nuxe, Darphin, Dr Lewinns, Dr Hauschka, Klorane, Phytologie, Korres and I Coloniali. I particularly like the I Coloniali Bamboo Bath and I Coloniali Body Massage Cream.

The website is at www.garden.co.uk. It's well worth a visit if you're in London.

Nice Smashbox TSV on QVC UK today

This is the Today's Special Value on QVC today. It's £42 including postage, and includes a gel eyeliner and brush, a cream blush, an eyeliner pencil, an eyeshadow quad, a highlighter and two lipglosses. 

I've had bits and pieces from Smashbox in the past and liked them a lot. It's not a brand that you read or hear a lot about, but they make some very good products (I particularly like the colour powder products and the glosses). I'm very tempted by this set. The item number is 229261. 

Incidentally, the worst makeover I've ever had was at the Smashbox counter that used to be in Selfridges, years and years ago. I wanted to try the cream eyeliner and the make-up artist applied it to me and then started doing other random things to my face, including drag queen eyebrows and fevered blush. I went to collect Mr London from the Selfridges book department and he quite literally jumped when he saw my face. I did like the cream eyeliner though. 

Picture is from www.qvcuk.com. 

Happy birthday to Mr London and London MakeUp Girl!

It's Mr London's birthday today - that's a picture of his breakfast birthday cake (it's a London family tradition to have cake for breakfast on birthdays. Miss London is hopped up on sugar, but she's the school's problem now.) 

It's also the first anniversary of London MakeUp Girl. At first I thought I might be the worst wife in the world for blogging on my husband's birthday, but then I realised that like now, Mr London was playing with the computer games he'd gotten for his birthday. 

So, thank you all for reading, for your comments and emails. It's been a blast, and I'm looking forward to the next year. 

Grace

x

Bakel skin care review

I've been using the Bakel Q10 B5 formula I was given at the Bakel presentation for just over a month now, and thought I would do a review of what my feelings on it are after using it for that length of time.

The Q10 B5 formula is designed to calm sensitive skin. I've been using it alone at night, and underneath my sunscreen in the morning. I haven't been using any other serums, although my sunscreen is also a treatment product (either the Sarah Chapman spf 15 or the Chantecaille spf 30.)

My skin has definitely been less prone to flushing over the course of the month; I've experienced less redness if I go from a cold temperature into a warm room, for example. I like the texture very much; the first ingredient in this product is aloe vera, and it's a light gel texture that sinks in quickly. I did find at times that my skin still felt a bit tight in the evening without any other moisturiser; I applied samples of either the P-Lipic or the Vit E-A formulas over the top.

The Q10 B5 formula was not moisturising enough for my eye area, and pretty quickly I started using my Sarah Chapman eye cream again. I could have used the Vit E-A in my eye area, but as I already had an eye cream that I like very much I opted for that instead.

I did find the formula particularly good on the handful of nights during the month when I'd been out; it is very quick to apply and I found that my skin didn't look as grotty as I'd usually expect it to after a late night with some booze.

I'm not convinced by the 100% active ingredients claim. In my opinion, these formulas do have carrying agents. I could stretch to aloe gel being an active just about, but water? Water isn't an ingredient that I'd pay £80 for if it was all a product contained and it is the first ingredient in the Jaluronic and the Malic formulas. I don't have a particular issue with that, as the carrying ingredients used are ones that don't cause problems for my skin, but I think that the 100% active ingredients claim could be questioned on this basis.

Summary - very good product, I like it a lot, but I'm not quite convinced enough to spend £80 to buy it myself. I've just bought the Elemental Herbology Cell Food Serum to use instead, and I'll see how I get on with that.  If you have incredibly sensitive skin that reacts to most products, or if you are specifically looking for formulations without a huge list of ingredients, then it may be worth trying Bakel.

Disclosure: product was provided without charge for consideration for review.

The All Nighter Styling Powder

This styling product is basically like a tinted dry shampoo with a difference; it's paraben, aluminium, silica and talc free. The All Nighter styling powder uses a blend of vegetable starch, kaolin, zinc oxide, titanium dioxide, iron oxides, silk powder and tangerine essential oil, to absorb grease and freshen the hair. 

I tried the dark brown/black variant; I could use the brunette version too. I like that it doesn't rely on an alcohol propellant as a delivery system (I find those dry shampoos make my hair look even oilier an hour or two later) but I do need to be a bit careful when applying. The first time I used this I sprinkled it directly onto my roots from the container with some abandon, and ended up with Bride of Frankenstein volume. It works better for me if I dispense a bit onto my fingertips and then rub into my roots, concentrating on my hairline and parting. I wouldn't apply while wearing a white top either, although the powder washes off hands easily enough. It does leave the hair feeling quite matte unless brushed out thoroughly after applying. 

I took this away with me on a four day martial arts course I recently attended (that's where I was over the May bank holiday). I don't like to wash my hair every day, but after three hours of sweating each day I needed to do something to it before encountering other human beings in the evenings. This did a very good job of soaking up the oil, freshening my hair and giving me lift at my roots.

Summary: excellent for second (or third) day hair, for the morning after the night before if you wake up too late to wash your hair (I was twenty once, a long time ago), and generally for giving some oomph to roots. I'll be purchasing when I run out of the one I was sent. Available at www.VictoriaHealth.com and www.beingcontent.com (it costs less at Content but Victoria Health appears to offer free shipping as standard with no minimum purchase.)

Disclosure: product was sent without charge for consideration for review. 

Bobbi Brown Treatment Lip Shine spf 15 in Papaya

I bought one of the new Bobbi Brown Treatment Lip Shines this weekend, opting for Papaya, a warm pink/coral. It works well with Nectar blush by Bobbi Brown, also pictured.

The formula includes Apricot, Shea, Cocoa, Illipe, Jojoba, Babassu, Avocado and Olive oils/butters, and claims to moisturise and improve the condition of the lips over time. It also includes a -cinnamate compound to provide spf 15 sun protection, and I'm slightly wary of this because my lips don't generally do very well with lip products with chemical sunscreen in it. There's no fragrance listed in the ingredients, but it has a pleasant faint slightly creamy/fruity smell from the natural ingredients.

Applied: I'm actually quite surprised by how well the Bobbi Brown Treatment Lip Shine does seem to plump out and smooth the lines in my lips. It gives decent colour too, for a treatment/shine product, although it doesn't last for very long (it stands up against most standard lipsticks though, and does leave a bit of a tint of colour). I think I can feel a bit of a tingle from the chemical sunscreen in it but that could be psychological and I will report back if I have to discontinue use due to irritation (at the moment, my lips feel comfortable and in good condition after a couple of days' continuous use).

At 2g, you don't get very much product either, and I could see myself using it up quickly if I was a normal person who only had a handful of different lip colour products. It stands up pretty well as an alternative to the Chantecaille Lip Chics, if you don't want to spend quite that much on a lip product.

Shiseido Summer 2010 - Ocean Collection

After writing that I wasn't really feeling any of the summer collections, I had a wander round the Selfridges beauty hall on Saturday to see if anything would catch my eye. I had a quick look at this collection at the Shiseido counter, and I could easily want quite a lot of it.

Smoothing Eyeliner Pencil in BK904 Black Sand - a very blackened green eyeliner with gold shimmer.

Perfect Rouge in RD630 Red Triton - this is the colour of red algae, a rich shimmering rust/bronze red that's buildable in coverage.

Luminizing Satin Face Color in PK107 Medusa, a pale, cool silvery pink highlight colour.

Even the yellow/gold Luminizing Satin Eyeshadow in GD824 Ocean Sunset is surprisingly wearable for a yellow-based eyeshadow; it has a lightness and luminescence that prevents it from looking jaundiced.

I'm not sure that I could wear the Luminizing Satin Face Color in GD809 Shell, as it is quite a rich bronze, although the texture is very fine, like the other Luminizing Face Colors. The other Luminizing Satin Face Color is OR308 Starfish, a reddish orange, which would give the effect of skin that has been caught by the sun.

The last item in the collection is the Luminizing Lip Gloss in SV809 Rainbow, a clear gloss with multi-coloured shimmer pearls.

I'll probably buy the Smoothing Eyeliner, and possibly the Perfect Rouge from the collection too. I'd like to get the Luminizing Face Color in Medusa, but these are very expensive here at £30 each, so I will most likely pass on this. All items are limited edition.

This is another excellent collection from Dick Page; I love the way he plays with colour and texture.

Estee Lauder beauty event for social networking profile pictures

This is such a good idea that I'm a bit surprised that MAC hasn't got in there first. At least with Estee Lauder you're less likely to get Vegas Showgirl-ed.

Estee Lauder’s Your Beauty. Your Style. Your Profile. is an event where a make-up artist will give you a makeover suitable for whatever sort of site you need a picture for (it might be a social network, career sites, or dating sites for example). A professional photographer will then take your photo and provide you with a hard copy so you can upload it to your social network profile, mobile phone or iPhone.

The event is exclusively at the Estee Lauder counter in Selfridges, Oxford Street from 20 May to 22 May. The telephone number for the Estée Lauder counter in Selfridges Oxford Street is 020 7318 3702 to book an appointment. A booking fee of £15.00 applies which is redeemable against any Estee Lauder purchases made during the event.  (By appointment only, one per customer).

I haven't bought anything from an Estee Lauder counter in ages, and I'm quite tempted by this myself, for my blog, facebook and twitter profiles. Does anyone have any recommendations as to what to spend the £15 on?

All for Eve 'Eve Red' lipstick applied

All for Eve is a new beauty brand set up with the sole purpose of raising awareness and funds for gynaecological cancer research. All profits are donated to The Eve Appeal. You can find out more at www.eveappeal.org.uk. It was a huge success at the recent Cosmetic Executive Women (CEW) awards,  winning four awards, including best new brand.

One of the products in the line is a red lipstick designed by Daniel Sandler. The packaging is a simple black plastic tube, and the lipstick itself is a nicely balanced scarlet red that is unscented and is comfortable to wear.

Applied: Eve Red is a blue red that isn't too blue (very blue reds can be difficult to wear). It feels comfortable and doesn't emphasise dryness on my lips.

Blotted down to a stain: this gives a very 'Snow White' type of effect, and is an easy way to wear red lipstick. 

The products in the range are all very reasonably priced; the Eve Red lipstick is £10. There's a red nail polish by manicurist Sophy Robson in the line, and body care products by Urban Retreat. You can read more about the range at the website, www.allforeve.co.uk. The products are available in Boots, Harrods and Fenwicks, and online at www.beautyexpert.co.uk.

Disclosure: product was provided without charge for consideration for review. I donated the purchase price to The Eve Appeal.

Nubo now at Beauty Expert

Beauty Expert has just launched Nubo, which was previously exclusive to Harrods. This makes me more likely to repurchase it; the 5% cashback and free shipping is much more attractive than the schlep to Knightsbridge or paying Harrods shipping fee. It's still bloody expensive though.

As an introductory offer, Beauty Expert are offering a free full size hydrating lipids complex with any Nubo purchase over £80. I've previously reviewed the travel kit with 10ml each of the day cream, night cream and essence here (which, at £95, is madly actually an economical way of trying the line. The full size 30ml Essence is £200.)

You can find Nubo at www.beautyexpert.co.uk here. 

Suqqu Noble Nuance lipstick Suzumecha EX05 applied

This is the Noble Nuance lipstick EX05 from the Spring 2010 Kisui collection applied to my lips. I quite like it but I find that it applies much lighter than I'd expect it to from the colour in the tube; it isn't sheer, but it appears more pastel than I would expect from the colour in the tube. It does fit with the watercolour theme of the collection and does feel extremely comfortable on the lips, like all the other Suqqu lipsticks.  I personally prefer the less pastel finish of similar colours in the Creamy Lipstick line (07 Asasuou and 09 Kakishibu are both nice alternatives.)

Nothing from the Western marques' summer collections is really grabbing me at the moment, and I find myself in the unusual position of not wanting to buy any colour cosmetics at the moment. I'm hoping Suqqu releases a small colour collection in the summer again.

Suqqu Base Kit

This limited edition kit is an excellent way to try the whole Suqqu base system; it contains the creamy make-up base, a full size of the aqua liquid foundation (matte finish, good for summer) and both the loose powder natural and deep (the idea is that you use both of these to subtly contour the face.)

I bought this kit when it was released previously last summer; I don't find the Liquid Foundation Aqua suits my skin unless it's really hot and humid, but if your skin is naturally more the oily side it's a great lightweight foundation.

Image from www.Suqqu.com.

New rms Beauty product - Raw Coconut Cream

rms Beauty have a new product up on the www.rmsbeauty.com website - Raw Coconut Cream, which is pure, unrefined, certified organic, virgin coconut oil. It hasn't been heat or chemically treated, and I'm really interested in trying this; I like Hei Poa monoi, and it'll be interesting to see how this compares to it (although Hei Poa is too scented for me to consider using on my face). The website states it can be used to remove make-up, cleanse the skin and to moisturise, and at $15 for 70ml it's not an outrageous price.

I'm still really liking the rms Beauty products I own; I wouldn't use another concealer now, and I'm wearing Myth cream eyeshadow and Rapture Lip2Cheek today.

I buy rms Beauty products at www.beingcontent.com in the UK, and it has just been launched at www.cultbeauty.co.uk too.

Guesting at Zuneta again

I guested over at Zuneta again on Sunday, reviewing an Hourglass gloss and a Korres blush sent to me by Zuneta for review purposes. You can read what I thought of them here.

Aveda Black Malva Colour Conditioner

I didn't find the Aveda colour-enhancing shampoos do much, but the colour conditioner definitely packs more of a punch. I use and like the Black Malva variant to prevent the ends of my hair from fading and to keep my hair a cool-toned, dark chestnut.

I'd definitely recommend wearing gloves when applying. If you don't, expect to have greyish tinged hands, nails and cuticles for a couple of days (I don't always follow my own advice, so I do speak from experience here).

I dampen my hair, apply the colour conditioner and then leave overnight before shampooing and conditioning (with a non-colour conditioner) the next morning. I loosely pile up my hair with an old hair tie, and put an old towel over my pillow to protect it. You could just apply after shampooing and leave on for the 5 minutes recommended before rinsing out, but I find I get a better colour deposit (and have to do it less often) using it as a pre-wash overnight treatment.

Black Malva works best for countering red tones. If your hair fades to a golden tone I would strongly recommend using the Clove colour conditioner instead, or mixing the Clove with the Black Malva to deepen it. If you use Black Malva alone on hair with strong yellow tones (and no red tones) you could well end up with greenish toned hair. This doesn't cover greys but it does tone them down a little bit, and makes them a shiny steely silver colour. It has the typical Aveda hippyish scent to it but it's pleasant and not overpowering.

A splodge of the conditioner on some kitchen towel. It's a very dark purple black/brown, and knocks out reddish tones very well.