Fashion Voyeur

People will stare, make it worth their while.

Categories: Beauty, Uncategorized

Keeping Lips Hydrated in Summer

Anyone else suffer with dry lips in Summer?  I knew it!  When the warmer weather rolls around I always get drier and more sensitive lips.  I like to switch from deep, vampy purples to brighter pinks and chalky purple lipsticks in Summer and the condition of my lips always lets me down.  Particularly when I’m on vacation, I don’t know if it’s because I have lip filler but my lips always burn and end up peeling and sore which means when it comes to the evening, wearing lipstick dries them out even more.  Uugghhhhh.

This year, to save me from tears, oh, no wait, that’s a Christmas song…

Ok, this year I’ve done my research and I’m prepared.  I’m armed with a little secret – lip balm makes your lip burn in the sun!  Who Knew?!  So when you’re sunning it up in Ibiza with your lips slathered in Carmex, you’re actually heating them up and burning the surface skin which is what causes flakes, and those tiny but very annoying imperfections in your lipstick.  To combat that, you need a lip product with SPF.  The same way you cover your body in sun protection lotion, we need to protect our delicate lips – particularly if you have filler, and especially if you’ve had it topped up close to the time you’ll be travelling.

I’ve tried a few different products, each claim to do pretty much the same thing which is protect your lips from either “Intense Sun” or “City Sun” for a certain number of hours. They come in different formulations from creams to balms but the best thing I’ve found, it the traditional stick type.  You can sense a top picks can’t you Voyeurs?  Well it’s a very short one because after trying a whopping fourteen lip protection products, there are only two I’d recommend, with a little hack / bonus thrown in as number three…

Top 3 SPF Lip Protection Products

Primark Workout Lip Balm SPF 50+ £1.50

This is a wonder product.  Billed as a workout lip balm it’s become an absolute hero product of mine.  At £1.50 it’s an absolute no-brainer, I have 3 on the go at a time and I keep them everywhere, in my gym bag, in my handbag and in the glovebox.  Try it & you’ll be converted – it’s a traditional stick balm, it’s non-greasy, non-sticky and is strong enough to fight off harmful rays from vacation strength sun.  I use it every day but where it’s really shone is as a true SPF product – I’ve used it on our last few vacations and I top it up regularly throughout the day, it works an absolute treat.  I actually discovered this product by accident after road testing another product and experiencing awful sunburn to my lips – it’s been one of my best ever accidental discoveries and I’ve converted so many people over to using it.  Go buy it, for £1.50 you have no defence argument.

Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream Nourishing Lip Balm SPF 20+ £19

Now this exact product also comes in a stick, which I’ve used and I ended up with burned lips.  it claims to be the same formulation but you can actually feel the stick version heating up if you’re out in the sun and you have it on your lips.  This one worked better for me personally but it’s a way lower SPF to the one above so remember, re-application is king.  Slather your lips in this every hour, if you’ve been in the water, or if you feel them heating up.  This is really the ‘designer’ version for people too proud to use a Primark product.

Burt’s Bees Lipstick £9.99

Ok, now this one is not strictly a lip protection product but it’s way kinder to your lips than regular lipstick so if you’re suffering from dry lips then this is a safe bet.  Think of this one as your lip aftersun product, so if you’ve been caning it at the beach and then have a big night out at Ushuaia, this is going to give you the same hit of colour as your regular lipstick, but with ten times the nourishment.  There are (at the time of writing) 18 shades available and for a vacation I usually pack a nude, a red and a super deep purple.  Not to be confused with the Burt’s Bees Lip Tints which are more sheer, these are a fully fledged lipstick.  They look and feel the same as you regular Chanel lipstick but are 100% natural with no nasties, and give 8 hours of continuous moisture.  Winning.

All of these products are super nourishing and really improve the quality and condition of your lips, they’re not just for vacation or Summer use, I use them all year round and have a bit of a ritual: I use the Primark Lip Balm all day everyday, it travels with me and I top it up throughout the day.  The Elizabeth Arden balm is my intensive night product, I’ve probably used it now for ten years and i swear by it as an overnight lip mask.  The Burt’s Bees lipsticks are relatively new to me and I had my concerns over whether they’d be bright enough but they really are.  They have a satin sheen finish, they don’t slide and they feel like any other lipstick, but with added moisturising benefits.

Try them, let me know what you think, and yes, those are my lips in the lead image.

Pixie xo

 

Categories: Beauty, North East

Makeup Forever Arrives in the North East

If you’re a makeup lover then you’ve undoubtedly heard of pro makeup brand Makeup Forever.  Once a pro only brand used backstage at some of the biggest runway and theatre shows of the 80’s and 90’s, in 1995 Makeup Forever hit the mainstream and became accessible to anyone and everyone who celebrated colour and individuality through a love of makeup.

It’s taken a while Voyeurs, 22 years in fact, but the North East finally has a Makeup Forever concession in Debenhams at Intu Metrocentre.  You’ll find this haven for colour lovers on the ground floor right next to the Kat Von D makeup counter and it’s usually mobbed with cool, edgy peeps looking to grab a slice of the action. Makeup Forever is a brand that most streetwise people will recognise, similar to NYX in confidence and street savvy – it’s quick to respond to the ever changing beauty landscape – but closer in price to MAC.  It’s not your average high street beauty brand.

Makeup Forever is pitching its pan-market suitability with the launch of its 4k Ultra HD makeup range which aims to give a flawless base.  From primer to foundation and concealer, Makeup Forever is working hard to make sure that customer needs are top of the agenda.  I can personally vouch for the primer, there’s a whopping range to choose from depending on your specific skin needs, and if you have dull skin in one area and fine lines in another, fear not; you can purchase all of the primers available in half sizes for around half the price (14.20) of a full sized product.  Meaning that if you need two, it costs you only slightly more than one full sized product (£25.50), leaving you with more cash for a super bright lip paint.

I was invited along to the Makeup Forever concept counter to discover a little more about the brand and get up close and personal with the products and boy did I take advantage…..

With the full counter at our disposal for the evening and an interactive demonstration of how to use the core products to create a flawless (and poreless) base and bright lip, we were invited to try the products on our own skin and find out which was our Hero Product.

As a purveyor of Heroine Chic and a cool purple lip, I’m championing this Acrylic Lip Paint in shade 500 (£17.50) which is a bright lilac, a little goes a long way, it has great colour pay off and amazing staying power.  Topped off with a chalky lilac Ink Liner (£17.50) which is quick drying and long lasting, everything you want in a liquid liner.  The flexible tips in these liner pots are great for creating feline flicks and you can vary the pressure to create thick or micro lines depending on the look you’re going for.

On my list of things to try as soon as I’m out of my current Tom Ford stash, is the Ultra HD Concealer (£20.50) and Skin Equalizer Smoothing Primer (£25.50) and that’s mainly because I find concealer to be one of the most tricky products to buy.  Too thick in consistency and it hurts my eyes and too far the other way leaves me looking almost transparent.  This one is thin, but buildable, it seems pretty stable when dry too so none of that weird peeling away you sometimes get with concealer when you try to layer it.

I came away with the Aqua XL Liner in jet Black (£17.50) and the Excessive Lash Mascara (£19.00) but I’ll be back for some Artist Acrylic Lip Paint to add to my collection of luscious lip brights.  If you’re a fan of bright lip colours then you’re most likely in one of two camps: 1. Cheap and cheerful – before NYX, Urban Decay and Makeup Forever became widely available on the high street this was the best option as blue, black and purple weren’t easily found, however, sacrifice quality and can often end up with colour bleed.  2. Quality over cost – Buying a more expensive product often (but not always) means more pigment, better glide and staying power.

These days, you can be somewhere in the middle, with high street and pro brands recognising trends and turning them over faster than regular season collections, it’s never been easier to tap into metallics, high gloss, low sheen, matte, or anything else that filters down from the runway or via a key Influencer’s Instagram.  Fancy trying it for yourself?  Makeup Forever is a good bet, it’s mid way between budget and high end in terms of pricepoint.  If you’re a teenager looking to tap the colour trend then head to NYX for your fix, if you can afford a little more then Makeup Forever is a great place to start.

Pixie xo