Review | YSL Illicite Nudes

YSL recently launched a new lip collection, Illicit Nudes, and it gives nude lip lovers the best of both worlds; the option of a glossy or matte finish. There are two lipsticks in the collection, the Rouge Pur Couture The Slim Glow Matte Lipstick and the Vernis À Lèvres Water Stain Glow Lip Stain. Being a huge YSL fan, I had to review them...

Fake It Till You Make It

Although life can bless you with some great physical attributes... it can also deprive you of others. As we all know, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh the fuck away. Luckily there are products and treatments out there that give us the chance to makeup and fakeup... and I'm not talking filters.

The Tuesday Tip: Plump That Pout

Want a plumper pout? If you're scared of injections or just too fucking broke for fillers, there is a quick tip to help give you (temporarily) get fuller-looking lips...

Ask TBI: Treating Chapped Lips

Question: I'm lipstick obsessed but my lips are so dry and chapped that every time I apply lipstick, it cracks and looks nasty. I'm using Vaseline on my lips but it isn't helping. What can I do? - Jessica, London.

Answer: Dry and flaky lips are so fucking annoying and near impossible to avoid during these cold months. The only thing us girls can really do to prevent them it is to keep them moisturised at all times and, sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but using Vaseline alone won't help. Vaseline is great at locking in moisture, however I've never rated it for hydrating lips or injecting them with moisture. There are a million other lip oils or balms that are better, trust me.

My current favourite lip treatment - although on the pricey side - is the Zelens Lip Treatment Oil (£40.00 SpaceNK). This pout perfecter is formulated with shea butter, jojoba oil, cotton seed oil and argan oil - an impressive group of ingredients that deeply nourish and moisturise the lips. My lips were in a bad way when I first got my hands on this bad boy and, after only a few daily pre-bed applications, they were back to being soft and supple. It is, by far, one of the best lip oils I've used. However, if you're broke as fuck, you could always reach for an eye cream instead.

The Lookbook: AW16 Cherry Lips

I've always been a fan of statement lips; they look amazing on everyone and can be created using any lipstick shade, texture or finish. The only real downside to wearing a statement lip is saying goodbye to eating and kissing...tough, right?! Oh, and as for drinking through a straw?? Absa-fucking-lootly.

Statement lips always sneak their way into fashion shows and, in true Italian style, bold lips were present throughout Milan Fashion Week. The colour of choice? Cherry. I died. I love this colour like you can't imagine. Shades varied across each show; maroon at Marni, oxblood red at Antonio Marras and burgundy at Bottega Veneta...

The Tuesday Tip: Plump Lips Naturally

There are many lip plumpers on the market but do you know you can create the same effect with something much cheaper? The alternative is cinnamon leaf oil, a 10ml bottle costs around £4.00/$5.00 and the results are as amazing! Cinnamon leaf oil is a perfect natural lip plumper as it stimulates blood flow to the lips, enhancing their appearance. It's such an effective ingredient that it is actually included in a huge number of lip enhancing products.

Using it is simple, just dab a tiny amount into the lips and wait for the magic to happen. You can then apply lipstick or lip gloss as normal.

The Tuesday Tip: How To Save Sore Lips

Now, if the winter months mistreat the skin, they bully the lips. Cold weather regularly causes lips to flake and chap - sometimes damaging them so much that they feel raw to the touch.
Now there are some great lip products out there that help to nourish and protect the lips, however the best treatment I have ever used is eye cream. Eye cream not only hydrates and moisturises the lips, it also smooths out lip lines - making lips appear plump and youthful.
Any eye cream will do, however the more hydrating and moisturising the better. I am a big fan of the Weleda Wild Rose Soothing Eye Cream 10ml (£13.50 Boots / $28.50 weleda.com).

Review: KIKO Precision Lip Pencil 302

The Colour: Natural Pink

The Price: £4.20

The Stockist: kikocosmetics.co.uk

The Application: As much as I love this lip pencil, I need to make one thing clear. The colour is not really natural pink; well not on my lips at least. I'm unsure why KIKO describe it as such, however I would say the colour is more of a light-medium brown, with peachy undertones. The colour is actually a good dupe of the MAC Nice 'n' Spicy!

Right, on to application. When wanting to line the lips, this pencil glides on smoothly. However, when using the lip pencil to cover the entire lips (as above) the pencil tugs at the lips a little. On saying that, lip pencils are designed to lock in lip colour and provide staying power, so they have to be a little on the stiff side. Talking of staying power, this lip pencil has it - I only ever find myself reapplying it once during an entire day!

The colour itself is highly pigmented and completely opaque; one layer is enough to cover my natural lip colour. It has a matt finish, however sometimes I like to apply a lip gloss or balm over the top to give a gloss finish.

Now the best thing about this lip pencil is that it provides perfect precision; it is not called the Precision Lip Pencil for nothing! It creates a sharp and clean line around the natural lip, which also makes it the perfect pencil for extending the lip, à la Kylie Jenner!

The Pro: Great pigment, great lasting power and great price!

The Con: When applying all over the lips, the Precision Lip Pencil tugs at the lips a little

The Tuesday Tip: Super Soft Lips

Gently brushing your lips with a toothbrush will help make them super soft. As well as exfoliating the lips, this trick will also stimulate blood flow, making lips appear more plumped.

After brushing I would advise using a good lip balm to ensure the lips stay nourished. I recommend Burt’s Bees Ultra Conditioning Lip Balm 4.25g (£3.69 John Lewis / $3.99 ULTA)

The Tuesday Tip: Longer Lasting Lipstick

Want to make lipstick colour last? After applying a layer of lipstick, blot your lips with a tissue, dab on a small amount of translucent face powder and then apply another layer of lipstick. Voilà! Longer lasting lipstick!

For added staying power, I would recommend using a highly pigmented matt lipstick, such as YSL Rouge Pur Couture Lipstick in Le Rouge (£25.00 yslbeauty.co.uk / $35.00 Sephora).

The Tuesday Tip: How To Achieve The Perfect Cupid's Bow

Applying lip liner is always tricky but lining the cupid's bow is the worst. Even those with the steadiest hands struggle to get an even application - particularly when a cupid's bow is not well defined.

Luckily, a few years ago I came across a makeup trick that guarantees a perfect pout. It is quick, free and unbelievably easy.

All you have to do is draw an X on the top of your lip, simple right?! Using your lip liner, draw a diagonal line down your top lip, starting from the left peak of your cupid’s bow. Then move the pencil to the right peak of your cupid’s bow and draw another diagonal line downwards, creating an X. Finish lining your lips as per usual and then colour in with lipstick!

The Tuesday Tip: DIY Lip Scrub

So, I have a slight obsession with the Lush Lip Scrubs. They are great for exfoliating the lips, keeping them super soft and  they taste absolutely amazing! They come in three flavours, Bubblegum, Popcorn and Mint Julips and they only cost £5.50 each!

Now, as wonderful as these lip scrubs are, you can easily create your own version at home. All you have to do is follow the simple recipe below...

You will need:

• Castor sugar
• Olive oil
• Peppermint oil
• A small airtight container

How you do it:

• Pop one tablespoon of caster sugar into a small bowl
• Mix in small, equal drops of olive oil and peppermint oil until you get a thin - but not runny - consistency
• Then mix in one teaspoon of honey to help bind the ingredients together
• Spoon the mix into your airtight container and, voilà, you're ready to get scrubbing!

News: Rita & Rimmel

Rimmel London has finally unveiled its new Colour Rush Lip & Nail Collections, created by none other than Brit beauty Rita Ora. The 60 Seconds Nail Polish collection (£3.69 / $6.16 each) includes 12 bright and neutral shades which have all been created and named by the singer. In an OPI type fashion, nail polish names include Let’s Get Nude, Blindfold Me Blue, Pillow Talk, Breakfast in Bed, Rita Rouge and Oragasm.

The Lasting Finish Colour Rush Balm collection (£5.99 / $10.48 each) features five beautiful pink shades, including Make Me Blush and I Want Candy, Boom Chic A Boom, All You Need is Pink and Viva Violet.

The Rita Ora Colour Rush Lip & Nail Collection will be available nationwide from the 19th of March, so the wait is almost over...

Review: Bioderma Photoderm Ski SPF 50+

The Promise: "Maximum high altitude photoprotection for face and lips, for intolerant skin types"

The Price: £10.00 / $25.00 20ml

The Stockist: garden.co.uk / amazon.com

The Application: The Photoderm Ski is a 2-in-1 face and lip protector, made up of a cream and a stick. It is designed for life on the ski slopes, helping to protect skin from the affects of high altitudes and cold weather conditions. If you don't already know, high altitudes, intense sunlight and freezing temperatures on the slopes can leave skin dry, sun damaged, cracked and sore. So it is important to keep your skin as protected as possible.

The cream has a SPF50+, as well as a lightweight consistency and nourishing texture that creates a strong protective barrier on the skin. As well as preventing the skin from harsh UV rays, this strong protective barrier prevents skin from becoming dried out and/or dehydrated. It applies effortlessly and is absorbed into the skin very quickly. It also has a lovely, sweet (but subtle) scent.

The stick is my favourite part of the Photoderm Ski. It has an unbelievably creamy consistency, which makes for a smooth and gentle application - a must when applying products to sore lips. It also has a unique texture, which has been specially designed to prevent chapping. The stick is flavourless, however, like the cream, it has a sweet but subtle scent.

The Results: The cream does a great job at keeping skin protected for a prolonged amount of time. More importantly, unlike other sun creams, skin remains hydrated and smooth during application and  a long time after!

The stick is great for keeping lips soft, hydrated, and protected from cold weather conditions. It also helps to heal cracked lips and improve lip texture. In addition, the protection lasts a really long time - which is rare for a lip balm.

What is really interesting about the Photoderm Ski is that both the cream and stick have been specially formulated to withstand the cold (up to -10°), wind, snow, and high altitude. You often find SPF creams that protect against extremely hot conditions, however you rarely find those that protect against extremely cold ones!

The Pro: What makes Photoderm Ski SPF 50+ really special is the stick. It keeps lips well protected and ultra-nourished for a prolonged amount of time.

The Con: There is only 20ml of cream - which isn't much considering that you would need to apply the product more than once a day. However it would last at least a week and, considering the average skiing trip is only a week long, £10.00 for an entire week of great sun protection isn't that bad!

Are you a fan of Bioderma? Have you tried any other products from the brand that you would recommend?

The Tuesday Tip: DIY Tinted Lip Balm

There is nothing more annoying than the last remains of a lipstick - you know, that final bit of lipstick that is permanently stuck in the bottom of the tube. Now you can, of course, scrape it out in the hope of gaining a few more applications. However, you could  use that last bit of lippie for something even better...creating your very own tinted lip balm! Making one is simple and I have a fool-proof recipe for you to follow.

You will need:

• Petroleum jelly
• A used-up lipstick
• A cotton bud or cuticle pusher
• A small clear storage bag (i.e. a sandwich bag or ziplock bag)
• A small cosmetics container
• Scissors

How you do it:

1. Scrape out every inch of your lipstick using a clean cotton bud or cuticle pusher
2. Pop the lipstick remains into a clear bag, along with petroleum jelly (following a one part lipstick to two part petroleum jelly ratio)
3. Using your hands, mix the two ingredients together through the outside of the bag
4. Once fully blended, cut off a bottom corner of the bag and - as if you were icing a cake - pipe the mixture into your empty container
5. Voilà! Your tinted lip balm is ready for action

The Tuesday Tip: Prime That Pout!

In order to create the perfect make up, you must always start with a perfect base. After prepping skin we apply foundation to our forehead, cheeks, nose and chin, so why not our lips?

Applying foundation to the lips will create the perfect base for lipstick application. It will blot out any redness or discolouration, helping the colour to appear on the lips exactly as it does on the stick! Not only will blotting foundation onto the lips help to colour correct, it will also help make your lipstick last.

By the way, you only need to use the tiniest amount of foundation. You wouldn't want a cakey lip now would you?

Faithful Four: Lip Balms

EOS Lip Balm

Promise: “Keep your lips feeling super-soft and sensationally smooth with all-natural and organic eos lip balms”

Price: £6.99/$3.29 7ml 

Purchase: amazon.co.uk, evolutionofsmooth.com

This Kim Kardashian favorite nourishes the lips, tastes great and lasts for months. It is encased in a sphere shaped container, helping to keep it as fresh as possible and make application even easier. As all eos lip balms are made using 100% natural ingredients, they contain no petrolatum and are paraben-free. For those living in the USA, this vitamin enriched balm is very budget friendly. However it can be quite expensive and tricky to get hold of for us Brits.

EVE LOM Kiss Mix

Promise: “Beautifully chic and filled with a luxurious blend of active extracts, this moisturising, protective and cooling lip treatment has it all”

Price: £16.00/$22.00 7ml

Purchase: Space NK, Space NK (US)

This lip balm is quite different from the others on the market because it has a gluey like texture. It is ultra hydrating and gives lips a beautiful glossy finish. The EVE LOM Kiss Mix contains menthol, to cool and freshen the lips and beeswax, to seal in moisture for longer hydration. Although on the pricey side, this lip balm makes the perfect lip treatment as it repairs and soothes damaged lips.

Burt's Bees Beeswax Lip Balm

Promise: “This natural lip balm is loaded with coconut and sunflower oils, rich in vitamins and essential fatty acids, to nourish, condition and soften lips”

Price: £3.00 / $3.00 4.25g

Purchase: feelunique.com / burtsbees.com

The Burt's Bees Beeswax lip balm is a cult classic. It was actually this iconic lip balm that launched the brand into the beauty market (they started off making candles!). This is my favourite lip balm on the list as it keeps lips nourished, it lasts for ages and it is really  affordable. In addition to beeswax, coconut oil and sweet almond oil, Burt's Bees Beeswax Lip Balm also contains peppermint oil which plumps lips a little and gives the most refreshing tingling sensation.

Smith's Rosebus Salve

Promise: “This cult-favorite, multi-purpose lip balm soothes dry lips, calms and heals irritation, and soothes the sting of minor burns”

Price: £8.50/$6.00 22g 

Purchase: Selfridges, Sephora

This famous salve is a beauty classic, loved for its rose scent, pretty packaging and multiple uses. Smith's Rosebud Salve not only nourishes and heals lips, it helps to treat everything from minor burns and dry patches to cracked heels and rashes. Although this salve may seem more expensive than your average lip balm, you do get 22g worth of product - which is around 3 times the normal amount!

The Tuesday Tip: The Eye Gloss Trick

For some gals, lip gloss is the ultimate beauty staple. It can create pout perfection and can transform an average makeup look into a serious head-turner.

What you probably didn't know is that lip gloss can also be used on the eyelids. The 'Eye Gloss Trick', as I like to call it, dates back to the 1920's when flapper girls would dab lip gloss onto eyelids to make their eyes shimmer. The trick is still very much alive, in fact many makeup artists swear by it!

In addition to brightening the eyes by reflecting light, glossed eyelids also tone down eye shadow, helping to soften severe colours.

The key to getting this trick right is to use the tiniest amount of lip gloss. Lightly apply a clear thick gloss onto the center of the eyelid with your finger and then gently dab it across the rest of the eyelid. You can take this trick to the next level by using a lip gloss that contains shimmer or sparkle. I would recommend the MAC Lustreglass in Lustrewhite (£13.50 MAC / $15.00 MAC).

Review: Illamasqua Lipstick in Fable

The Colour: A matte bubblegum pink

The Price: £16.50 / $24.00

The Stockist: Illamasqua.co.uk, Selfridges and Sephora

The Application: The consistency of this lipstick is quite dry and stiff, causing it to tug the lip slightly when you apply it. However don't let this put you off, as I consider this a great sign of staying power (and this lipstick has just that!). For these reasons it is best applied with a brush, especially if you want better control and precision. When applied with a brush, this lipstick glides onto the lips effortlessly and the colour is strong from the first stroke.

The Results: As the colour is highly pigmented and completely opaque, only a small amount of product is needed to cover the entire lip . The finish is matte, giving a soft pretty-in-pink look. Like all Illamasqua lipstick colours, Fable has amazing staying power. It lasts a good 5-6 hours!

The Pro: The colour is highly pigmented and has amazing staying power

The Con: It can feel a little dry on my lips

News: Elizabeth Arden Ups The (8 Hour) Ante

Ever heard the expression ‘too much of a good thing’? Well Elizabeth Arden clearly hasn't, as the beauty giant has just revealed it will be adding another product to the 8 Hour Cream Collection.
                         
The latest addition, The Eight Hour Cream Intensive Lip Repair Balm, is designed to give intense, long-lasting moisture to the lips. Ingredients include petrolatum, shea butter, palm tree butter, essential fatty acids complex and honey extract. The new balm will retail at £20.00 for 15ml and will be available across the UK at all Elizabeth Arden counters from March.

Now I hate to sound like a Negative Nancy, however, if the legendary 8 Hour Cream is supposed to treat everything, why the need for all the extra products?

What do you all think? Does this new Lip Repair Balm sound like a gimmick or a godsend?