Lip balm Archives - Conversations through the middle

Getting down with the kids – me and Maybelline Baby Lips

October 4, 2013

I love these lip balms I picked up in Boots on Thursday. I don’t think I would have bought them if it hadn’t been for the fact that they are now apparently the must-have in high school and Dot has been going on at me to get hold of them for a while.

That was easier said than done. Every tween and teen in the country, or at least in our corner of Essex, has shopped out the local Maybelline stands – I tried Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Super Drug and even Boots in Chelmsford, but nothing. Then, travelling through Liverpool Street Station this week I had a brainwave, surely the cosmopolitan big city would hold lots and lots of the sought-after lip stick?

Yes, there were loads of them – and they were buy two get one free, so I bought a Pink Punch and Cherry Me for Dot and chose a Pink Punch for me as my freebie.

It looks fab on Dot, but I wasn’t sure how it would look on me as the colour in the tube is rather vivid. However, it’s fine. It is smooth, non-sticky and feels very moisturising. The colour comes through as more of a subtle sheen than a scary pop and it lasts a fair while (unless you’re a 12-year-old and you eat it off as soon as you apply it that is). The fragrance is not too sickly sweet, but it is obviously one of the reasons Baby Lips appeals to kids.

I am told there are other colours available and one very eager tween is searching the internet for them and adding them to her (already substantial) Christmas list.

This first image is swatched in daylight, the image below is with a flash. My arm model for the day was Dot
who said “you better use my arm for the swatching as my skin is younger than yours and yours looks too dark”.
Kids huh, who’d have ’em

Ole Henriksen Hands Forward and Miners Tin O’ Tint – reviews

August 23, 2012

Regular readers of 40s Chic will know I’m a bit of a geek when it comes to hand cream, I’m always looking for that perfect product and I have tried many in my quest, yet still that ‘holy grail’ of hand care escapes me. The latest contender is Hands Forward by Ole Henriksen.

First off, it contains sunscreen, so it’s already way ahead of so many others in that respect. I suffer from really dry skin on my hands so the last thing I want is more dryness and age lines to boot. Including an SPF of 15 in the formulation offers a general level of sun protection I usually only see in facial moisturisers. Why is that I wonder?

This contains Shea butter, known for its moisturising and softening properties, blackcurrant oil (not sure what that’s for) and fruit acids to exfoliate and even out skin tone, reducing dark spots.

The consistency is lovely – not too heavy, but not too thin either, it sinks in quite quickly and does not feel greasy afterwards. My only query with it is the fragrance – I can’t decide if I like it or not. It is medicinal rather than herbal and a little too disinfectant-y for me, but then the fragrance dies down to a lower herbal level, so it’s not too overpowering…

Results-wise it delivers. My hands feel softer after using this and they look better, which after all is what it’s about. Find it here

Miners has expanded its Tin O’ Tint lip gloss range with three new flavours: cocoa bean, mango and pink grapefruit. When Dot saw these she couldn’t wait to get her hands on them as they smell so good. They add a slick of colour to your lips and a lot of shine, while the packaging adds an extra touch of luxury.

Miners is a great, inexpensive brand and the products are often highly fragranced I find, which make them popular with teens, or in Dot’s case tweens. I prefer unperfumed make-up generally, the exception perhaps being lip gloss, so while I’m not a big consumer of the brand I do like these. Find them at www.minerscosmetics.co.uk

Beauty round-up – nails, face and hair

July 9, 2012

New gel polish brand Belle Gel has launched a kit designed to give you salon perfect nails at home. This handy product contains everything needed to create beautiful, high-shine nails in 12 on-trend colours.

I was at the launch of Belle Gel so heard about the kit first hand from company founder Susan Tompkins and I was impressed by her obvious dedication to her product. It was six years in development and has just gone on sale via the Belle Gel website.

While application obviously takes longer than when using a regular nail varnish, it is not complicated and the results can last up to two weeks. The kit comes with a UV lamp for curing or drying the nail colour, as well as cleanser for preparing your nails, primer, gel remover, brush, cuticle pen and nail file. There’s also one colour included – deep red – to start you off and I bet you won’t be able to resist buying others. I particularly like the Midnight Blue and Mocha shades, and the Burnt Orange would look great on holiday with a tan.

I can’t wait to create a gel manicure at home and I’ll report back on how it goes. In the meantime though you can find out more here.

Boots 17 is gearing up for the festive party season with the launch of Dazzle The Night, a limited edition collection full of shimmer and sparkle.

I love the Shimmer Rocks – frosty pink and pearl nuggets that you apply as blusher or simply swirl over your face for an ethereal glow. There’s also Wishing Star and Glimmer in the Night – they sound like they should be rock songs, but they’re actually nail colours that are full of party sparkle. The collection is on sale from the end of November.

Also from 17, the Smokey Eye Palette is spot on for creating that dramatic come hither look that has been around a while, but shows no sign of disappearing and is perfect for parties.

The new Colour Radiance collection from Dove promises to help keep dyed hair looking good for longer. As someone who has to colour her hair (thanks to genes from dad’s side of the family – he was grey by the time he was 23), I’m really pleased to see an affordable range of products to use at home.

I have to colour my hair every six weeks or so and it is difficult to keep it looking shiny after the first few days, so anything that helps keep that glossy, happy feeling has to be good. I haven’t tried the products, but there are four in the range – shampoo, conditioner, intensive conditioner and leave-in conditioning and care spray. They all contain something the company calls colour revitaliser technology and it’s claimed, keep colour vibrant for up to 10 weeks. Colour Radiance is in store now.

Help support good causes with The Body Shop’s Dragon Fruit Lip Butter. Every purchase of the product will see a donation to one of three charities: Kidscape, BUAV, or People & Planet. The great thing is though, you get to choose where your money goes as there will be a voting box in each store, so you can follow your conscience as well as pampering your lips.

All of the profits from the lip butters will go to charity, through The Body Shop Foundation, which was set up in 1989 and has so far donated more than £19 million to around 2,500 organisations.

Lisa Jackson, the foundation’s CEO, says the product “is a great way to extend the reach of our global funding by reaching people directly”. She adds: “Through The Body Shop Foundation lip butter we can reach more grassroots charities with more money.”

Sounds good to me. They’re on sale from August.www.thebodyshop.com

Lipilicious!

February 3, 2010

I’ve just discovered Korres lip butter and I love it. It’s a lip balm with a tint, the one I have is in quince – a sort of pinky red. But the best thing about it isn’t the colour, it’s how soft it makes my lips feel. I don’t think I’ve ever tried a lip balm that makes them feel so soft and smooth. And it’s not greasy.

I know, I know, it’s probably not a new product and everybody else knows about it, but for me it’s my first great beauty discovery of 2010.