The truth about… Lipgloss

For my next post I wanted to look at Lipgloss. I was never much of a fan as it seemed whenever I tried wearing it, the wind would suddenly get up out of nowhere and take a great delight in blowing from all angles and wrapping my hair across my face and trying to stick as much of it as possible into my newly applied lipgloss; not a game you normally have to play with the old school glamour of matt lipstick.

Every so often however, I have some sudden rash urge to indulge in a smart test-tube like bottle full of pearly coloured gloss and to give it a brief reprieve (which sadly and predicably, normally always ends in a wind-wrapping moment). This time, things were different. The gloss in question is made by Revlon, and in my case was colour 14 (or ‘Shine That Pink’) and turned out to be not nearly as gloopy or heavy as normal, and therefore did not feel like I had coated my lips in a treacle mixed with paper glue combo.

I always blot my lips once with the back of my hand after applying gloss, which I’m sure everyone will tell me might defeat the point a tad -but I find this takes down the super-shiny, super-fake look of lipgloss and gives the lips a seductive dewy sheen that could almost be natural (natural in a Herbal Essence – ‘I’ve just had a shower in a waterfall’ kind of way). The colour I also found (after blotting) was just a shade darker than my lip’s original colour and therefore defined my lips quite nicely. I was suitably impressed and gave it the honour of a place in my makeup box and a deserved 78%!

(Fine and dandy illustration by Vicky Newman)

The truth about… Mascara

To get back to basics my first post in this blog had to be about mascara. This is an age old beauty product that goes back to the days when women used coal dust and boot polish to black their eyes, thankfully due to modern cosmetics I do not have to find an alternative career as a chimney sweep to have beautiful glossy black eyelashes!

My quest for the perfect mascara took me through the hallowed halls of Chanel and Dior and all the other premium brands, for a while I was a fan of Maybelline Great Lash mascara with the distinctive pink and green packaging, that was however until I found Bourjois mascara “Oui au volume, Non aux paquets” (Yes to volume, no to clumps!) This I proudly award 97%! (I don’t think there can be a product out there that can get 100% -only in fairytales)

When I first bought the product I was annoyed at myself as it appeared to have a pink comb instead of the normal hedgehog style wand -I threatened it most cruelly but tried it all the same. I was forced to apologise as the pink comb was brilliant -it separated each lash and coats it in smooth coating of black, no clumping of eyelashes together to give the impression a awkward five-legged spider has just died on your upper lid but clean and elegant. It is easy to see how much product there is on the comb and therefore easy not to overload the eyelashes in short it was perfect and I have used it ever since!

(illustration by the very talented Vicky Newman at beautiful illustrations )