YSL Vernis a Levres 06 - Camel Croisiere

Here it is, my first foray into the legendary 'glossy stains' by YSL (official title Rouge Pur Couture Vernis a Levres). I ended up, by mistake, with the shade 06 Camel Croisiere which is to my eye a kind of tomato orange / red as opposed to anything like camel, if indeed the name is referring to camel as a shade. Croisiere apparently means cruise, so camel cruise? Who knows - maybe they're trying to conjure up some sort of desert adventure. In which case I can see where they were going, kind of..

I digress. Either way its a very nice, wearable colour and despite my initial reservations (the shade I actually requested was 07 Corail Aquatique but the make up lady gave me this one by mistake - must remember to check next time) this is really kind of growing on me. I also love the faintly seventies vibe both of this particular shade and of the finish.

And a slightly startled looking shot to demonstrate the lasting power post dinner and wine!

Everything I've read about these is true - they are super long lasting (see last photo), pigmented and fairly true to the colour in the tubes (though they do darken and deepen in intensity with more than one coat - in the above pictures I'm wearing two). They fade to leave a nice stain on the lips and the consistency is great - not too sticky, not too glossy - a happy medium somewhere in between. They do a fantastic job of plumping the lips. And they smell lovely too.

This product is making me love a glossy lip again and I cannot wait to try more colours.

Laura Mercier Lingerie Collection - Naked Apricot lip shine and Innocent Peach creme cheek colour

The Lingerie Collection from Laura Mercier has totally switched me back on to this brand. I tend to love peachy cheek and lip colours so when I saw these vibrant summery shades in Space NK I was immediately sold.

Here's a swatch of the two shades side by side.

Both have quite pinkish / coral undertones, much more so than say the peach cream blush and lipgloss in Becca's Fallen Angels palette which are a bit darker and more orange-leaning (you can view that palette and a swatch comparison here).

I've never tried a Laura Mercier cream blush before and I really like the formula, quite comparable with the Becca lip and cheek creams, soft, easily blendable and with reasonable staying power (for a cream blush).

And despite not being a lipgloss fan at all, I really like the formula of the lip shines - they make my lips look subtle glossy and healthy with just a hint of colour (nowhere near as bright as the colour in the pot, which is fine with me), and aren't too sticky.

Here's a quick look using both products. Base is Chanel Vitalumiere Aqua and on the eyes I'm wearing Bobbi Brown Rose Gold eyeshadow.

I'm already getting loads of wear out of these despite them being quite summery - I just find peach and apricot shades much more flattering on my skin than say pinks and berry shades (don't get me started on Nars Gina blush which I've just purchased - divine divine divine!).

Has anyone tried anything from the Lingerie Collection or have any LM 'must have' products? The eye and cheek palette from the spring collection also looks beautiful. I don't actually have a lot of LM in my collection - just the eyebrow pencil in taupe which is a good match for my brows, and the eyeshadow base which I find a bit drying. Would really like to try some more products though so would love to hear your recommendations...

Innocent peach creme cheek colour £18.50
Naked Apricot lip tint £18.50
Purchased from Space NK.

Dior Addict Plastic Gloss - Capricious Pink (002)

My first proper make-up review! I'm still very new to this beauty blogging business, and am so pleased that I've found an outlet for my make up obsession - for years I've been playing around with my ever expanding collection, colour swatching on pieces of paper and experimenting with different make up looks that no-one but myself would ever see... not any more!

For my first review I decided just to pick something at random out of my collection, and I plumped (very appropriate word!) for Christian Dior Addict lipgloss in Capricious Pink (002). This is something I picked up on eBay based on the great reviews on Makeupalley, and to be honest it had been languishing unused in my make up case as I was a bit scared by quite how pink it was - but after testing it out this morning for the purpose of this review, that will soon be changing - it's gorgeous!

The colour in the tube is a truly delicious shade of candy pink, and the colour stays true on the lips - it's quite opaque so your own lip colour shouldn't show up underneath with a good thick coat (and it is very thick and quite sticky, which gives it good staying power). It makes lips look plumper and is quite sex-kitteny - I think this would look fab with a matt pink blush and a soft, smoky grey eye.

If you don't like the more obvious gloss look, you can just use a much smaller amount onto your lips, which gives a much more subtle, sheer look but still with the gorgeous pink tint.

Even though I'm normally more of a lipstick kind of girl (though incidentally one of my few other glosses is also Dior - A Bite of Taffy - which I'll review separately), I think this gloss is really beautiful - unashamedly feminine, unashamedly pink! I can't wait to try this out in the upcoming party season. Oh, and it smells delicious too!