LipstickRules

13 Jul 2009 14 Comments

Office appropriate makeup — thoughts?

Hello ladies,
I’m back! I didn’t realize how much I would miss our little community — even if it was for only two days. I had a fabulous weekend with the family in Kingston, a historically significant city in eastern Ontario. Such a beautiful city.

Alas alas, however, the mini-vacation is over. Tomorrow, I’m back at work. And to top it off, I’m actually going to do a quick presentation for my department on blogging. Not too difficult really since it is one of my favorite topics du jour. LOL. Forgive me tonight – I am feeling tired and if it’s possible, rusty after not writing for a few days.

So on to this post. Office or work ‘appropriate’ makeup. Is there such a thing? Our office environment is corporate but creative. So I try to ensure my makeup is ‘appropriate’ but still me. I do tend to keep it neutral most of the time though I do tend to throw in a bright lip or two on occasion. Can’t resist it sometimes. On those occasions though, and occasions where I might add more drama to the eyes, I sometimes wonder, is it too much?

I guess what makeup you wear to the office or to work, all depends on comfort level to a certain extent and also on the environment around you. So tonight I ask you: Is there such a thing as office or work appropriate makeup? What does it mean to you and where you work?

Again, apologies for my rambling writing. Need some zzzzzzzzzzzz.

P.S. Toronto bloggesses – I will be emailing all of you who have expressed interest in a meet-up in August or September. Sorry for the delay!

10 Jul 2009 16 Comments

Week in Review

I’ve had a great week. Here’s a summary in photos. I’m finally feeling a bit braver about posting photos again. I’m still not used to the idea of taking photos of myself. Still can’t get the hang of camera angles and lighting.

MONDAY: Spent day with daughter at museum. Great adventures — took a look at the Dead Sea Scrolls, dinosaurs, and mummies. Pit stop at big makeup store, Sephora. Lipstick of the day: Dior #296 (or Angelina I call it). Can’t really see it well in this photo but it’s amazing on. Love it. Will try to get a better photo soon.

TUESDAY: Went through makeup stash and found MAC Slimshine lipstick in Tropic Glow. Hot pink. Forgot how much I love Slimshines in the summer. Looking kind of shiny in this photo though it is only 6 a.m. Pink is bright (doesn’t show up in photo here though) but sheer and glossy. Does that even make sense?

FRIDAY: I am wearing Illamasqua’s Besotted Intense Gloss here. Look kind of Goth-like I think in this photo but I blame that on it being 6 a.m. again. The gloss is lovely though. I’ll try a photo again. It’s a very pigmented red that I sheered out. It had great lasting power and wasn’t sticky at all. The only thing I would say is that you have to have moisturized lips or else it will emphasize things you might not want to emphasize.

I also went to the shu uemera event at Holt’s today. The MA did an okay job but didn’t seem engaged in what she was doing. I did a little haul – lipstick and gloss (will post review and swatch later) and as a result, got a free set of eyelashes and other samples! That made it worth it.

That’s it! My first photos. Hope you all have a great weekend. “Talk” to you on Monday.

10 Jul 2009 10 Comments

Goodies from Scotland: Swap with Laura (a.k.a. Liparazzi)

It’s been an amazing makeup week for me. Yesterday, Illamasqua arrived at my home. Today, even better in my opinion, I received my package from the beautiful Laura a.k.a. Liparazzi. If you haven’t checked out her blog, please do. She does beautiful FOTDs, writes insightful articles and also does honest and interesting reviews. Click here to visit her site. She’s also hosting a Miss World contest and I encourage you to enter as it’s a very unique and fun contest with great prizes.

As for our swap, Laura sent me:

1) Sue Moxley Red Carpet Lip Kit
2) Liz Earle Body Scrub
3) Liz Earle Treatment Mask
4) Barry M Dazzle Dust (Petrol) — hooray!
5) Barry M Natural Dazzle Bronzing Powder — much coveted! Thank you thank you!
6) Barry M Nailpaint #302 (Fushcia) — love love love!
7) Decleor Aromaessence
8) L’Occitane Cherry Blossom lip gloss
9) OPI Nail Colour in Glamour Game
10) Elite Paris – eyeshadow quad
11) Leighton Denny Nail polish in Diamond Ivory – already put it on!
12) Miss Sporty Lipgloss

And on top of all this, Laura also sent me these beautiful napkin holders shaped like Diamond Rings. I LOVED these — and so did my daughter

Laura was so nice to even write me notes to go along with all the products describing what she thought about them and why she included them. So thoughtful!!!

Laura, I am so overwhelmed by your generosity and thoughtfuness. I’ve really enjoyed ‘meeting’ you via our blogs and I look forward to our continued friendship. You’ve made my week! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! I am speechless.

P.S. I’m heading out for a weekend getaway with the family so there will be short hiatus with my posts until Monday. Future posts include:

-FOTD using Illamasqua Besotted intense gloss

-Discovering goodies but oldies in my stash

-Review of Benefit lipsticks

Drop me a line and let me know if there’s anything you want me to post more about…or less about for that matter. Have a great weekend everyone!!

09 Jul 2009 20 Comments

"Makeup for Mommy!" The Arrival of my Illamasqua haulage

As many of you know, my kids though very young, are quite in tune to my makeup addiction. Today, as we pulled into our driveway after a long day, I looked over to the mailbox by our front door. I’ve been anxiously waiting for my goodies from my swap with Laura.

Sure enough there was a package in the mailbox. I told the kids who were patiently sitting in their car seats in the back, “oh look I can see a package in the mailbox. Maybe it’s for mommy!” And sure enough, my boy (2.5 years old) yells happily, “makeup for mommy!” It certainly was makeup for mommy! Unfortunately it wasn’t my package from Laura. But it was still great — it turned out to be my haulage from Illamasqua!! (Hooray hooray doing a little happy dance.)

Yes, dear readers, I confess. This is the straw that broke the camel’s back when I was still trying to do Project 10 pan/Project Revisit/Spending Diet. All the talk about this brand amongst our little online community made me want to check out this brand so badly. With one click of the mouse, it was done — my order was placed. I only feel slightly guilty. I actually am super thrilled with what I got.

Here’s a quick summary:

LIPGLOSS

Intense Lipgloss in Besotted — in the tube it looks blood red. I thought it would be more of a raspberry red but that is okay. It is so beautiful (makes me think of Edward and Twilight LOL) and not like anything I own. It is super pigmented but I can also sheer it out to a lovely reddish stain on my lips.

LIPSTICK (of course)
(Pictured below – Fable, Box, Agony)

Fable lipstick: to me this looks like a bubblegum pink lipstick. Not quite what I expected from the online swatch but it is pretty. On it’s own, it doesn’t do anything for my colouring but I layered Besotted on top and it was pure love. The colour became a bit of a brighter pink. It felt like the texture of the lipstick was a bit dry at first but the pigmentation is amazing.

I also got two additional lipsticks sent to me by the lovely Alex from Illamasqua:

Box lipstick: a beautiful deep red that was named after Illamasqua’s artistic director, Alex Box. I just tried it on and it is amazing. Very creamy and pigmented — I am motivated to wear red lips again. I think this will be a great colour for Fall.

Agony lipstick: very pale nude colour. I tried this on and it definitely gave me concealer lips. But that’s how it goes with nude lipsticks and me. It sometimes takes a bit of effort to make a colour work. For this I added a bit of MAC’s Smile dazzleglass and it gave it a beautiful sheen. I think I can pair this with a super smoky eye. It’s promising. We’ll have to see though.

Swatches (left – top to bottom, Agony, Box, Fable) (right – Besotted)

CHEEKS

Tweak blush (below right) – to me it looks like a brighter version of MAC’s Dollymix. I can’t wait to try this tomorrow!

Dixie Cream Blusher (left) — looks like a pretty peachy pink. Again highly pigmented. I haven’t tried it yet but it applies sheerly when swatched. I expect a great glow from this. I’ll do full reviews on these and *gasp* (this one’s for your Liparazzi) maybe even do a FOTD!

My only regret is not ordering any of the eye products and nail polishes. Maybe next time. And maybe now that Illamasqua is headed Stateside, it will make its way to the Great White North soon.

Illamasqua is about “makeup for your alter ego” — and for a mom like me who also happens to love makeup, these items from Illamasqua will certainly help me go beyond my comfort zone…and I love it. Can’t wait to test it all out.

Sorry for the long post ladies and the mismatched picture sizing. Having some computer issues. Lots of excitement tonight.

09 Jul 2009 10 Comments

Makeup: Splurge or Skimp?

On the way home from work, I was thinking about my makeup spending habits again (surprised?). I admit I do tend to lean towards more high-end lately but as I mentionned in a previous post I’m discovering some great finds at the drugstores.

So I thought it would be interesting to see what you think are the items to splurge on and the items you can skimp on. Here’s a potential list:

Splurge: foundation, skincare, blushes, eyeshadows, lipstick

Skimp: eyeliners, mascara, lipliners, gloss

Granted I know there are deals to be found at drug store for skincare, blushes, eyeshadows what have you. But…hypothetically, if a girl wanted to budget better, what items are worth a splurge and what items can she reap some savings. Let the debate begin!