Violent Lips Lip Tattoos

Bored with having boring lips? Well look no further than Violent Lips, a new concept that is, according to their website, 'the highest form of self-expression'. Well quite.

This is an 'innovative' line of temporary lip tattoos that promise to stay brashly on your face for up to 8 hours, while a vitamin enhanced formula will apparently keep your kisser (sorry, I said kisser but I really didn't have to want to type lip again) soft all day.

That's all well and good, but would you ACTUALLY ever use these? The range is huge and includes stripes, a French flag, a really classy one that says 'bitch', some sort of cupcake insignia and a whole world of animal prints. Many of which would just make you look like you had some kind of incurable exotic disease.

I think the only ones I would ever, EVER try are the glittery ones, which would kinda cool for Halloween or some sort of fancy dress affair. For real life, not so much.

There is a really awkward video explaining how best to put them on. For some reason this useless PC I am working on won't let me upload it, but if you enjoy cringe-y youtube videos of any kind it's worth a watch. I especially like that whenever one girl speaks, the other one smiles manically at the camera.

Available from their website and now Topshop. Sigh.

Alexander Wang does nails

Harper's Bazaar reported yesterday that everyone's favourite NY cool kid is about to launch a line of exclusive nail varnishes with Sally Hansen.

Though I am not always 100% down with the Alexander Wang aesthetic (hourglass shapes look ridiculous in anything drapey/ layered/ vaguely 'directional') I am very intrigued by this news... especially if the range includes anything like the candy-coloured hues that made up his SS11 show.

More info and picture originally found here.

And, just because we can, let's take another look at that awesome picture of his niece.

Amazing.

Stay positive with Barry M

The cheery (and enterprising!) people at Barry M are offering 15% off everything at barrym.com until midnight tomorrow evening (11th August) to give people a bit of cheering up and distraction from the riots across London and the rest of the UK.

Appropriately the discount code is POSITIVE. See their twitter for more info.

Perricone MD No Foundation Foundation

I went on holiday last month. It was very nice since you ask, but all my sunbathing left me with a little problem when I returned home. No, not skin cancer you tanning fascists, it was a foundation problem. In that my face was no longer the same colour as my foundation.

Now, while I do agree that you don't need to wear half as much make-up when you're tanned, I didn't want to go out totally nude of the face. So I decided to try out the sample of Perricone MD's No Foundation Foundation that I had buried in my bathroom cupboard.

Now once you get past the slightly odd vegetal-y smell this stuff is great. It gives your skin a hint of colour, while doing a good job of covering any blotches and blemishes. It's not very strong in colour and so I think it would suit the vast majority of skin tones. It's filled with all sorts of super things that are good for your skin, as well as a SPF30 to keep everyone happy.

Other than the strange smell the only thing I didn't like about this is that it's designed to make you look dewy, which in my case often translates to a bit greasy, so I would recommend using it with a powder if you prefer a more matte look.

It's £45 and you can find out more about all things Perricone here. The somewhat alarming looking Dr also has a blog.

I mean look at him.

Topshop Nail Varnish

This pathetic excuse for a nail varnish is called Parma Violet and in the bottle is a very pretty lilac. On your fingers it looks more like the color of semi-skimmed milk. Not at all what I was going for.

I have tried Topshop nail varnishes before (and bright red and a fuchsia) and they were fine, not amazing in terms of pigment or longevity, but totally fine. But apparently when it comes to the lighter colours they're useless! After three coats I was ready to give up - this nail varnish needs at least four to build up a good colour - but unless you're willing to wait between layers for them to dry you'll be there forever, AND if you're impatient like me you'll just end up with a sad gloopy mess.

Topshop, for £5 I expected better of you. More here.

Lanolips

I've been hearing a lot about this Lanolips product recently, and in a fit of post payday recklessness bought the original 101 Ointment in Boots. Rave reviews aside, I was also totally taken in by the flirty looking sheep on the tube. It's a sheep with lipstick and false lashes! What more could you want?

Lanolips was created by Kirsten Carriol, a glamorous blonde who grew up on a sheep farm in Australia and so knew all about the super doopa moisturising properties of lanolin from an early age.

The 101 Ointment (front and centre in the picture there) has all sorts of exciting claims to its name, not least that it's totally natural, fragrance free and consists only of 100% pure grade lanolin - my favourite kind.

It's is designed to be used for everything and anything that needs a bit of TLC - lips, cuticles, dry elbows... you name it, it'll moisturise it. (Well, I say you name it but it's a small lip gloss sized tube so don't start thinking you can use it on ginormous patches of skin.)

Now granted, I have only had it a couple of days but I think this is almost better than my trusty 8 Hour Cream - it's just as moisturising but doesn't have the weird musty smell. I am even considering one of two hand creams the brand makes, and the coloured ointments, which even come with a SPF15. Handy! I like the sound of them because, though they look like lip glosses, they apparently very much an ointment and are gloop and stick-free.

The original 101 Ointment is £11.22 in Boots, lip glosses are £8.16. More info and pictures of sheep here.

Avène

I am fully aware of how fickle I am when it comes to skincare. Just a glance back at this blog shows me in raptures over several different ranges. But honestly, dear reader, I think I have found The One. It’s French, it smells delicious and is impossibly chic. Best of all it has kept my skin looking super awesome for well over two months. Two months!! Now that’s commitment.

The Avène range has been developed high in the Cévennes hills of South East France and is aimed at people with all degrees of sensitive skin – from the mildly irritable to the massively eczema prone. The range is huge and everything is pumped full of the potent water that comes from the nearby Sainte-Odile spring.

I was also massively excited to discover that they have a Hydrotherapy Centre near said spring where you can go be pampered and have all your dermatological needs taken care of. A quick Google of this results in masses of rave reviews - I am seriously considering trying to plan next year's summer holiday around a visit to the centre.

The selection of Avène products is huge and includes basic face washes, toners and moisturisers, as well as their popular Thermal Water Spray (much to the alarm of my fellow commuters I have taken to whipping it out to stay cool on the boiling tube in summer, but it totally works so who cares). Ranges within the range include Eluage/ Ysthéal+ (anti-aging), Cleanance/ Triacnéal (anti-blemish) and a brilliant suncare line.

The suncare range is a total godsend – the spf goes from 20 to 50 (personally I would like the range to start a little lower, but you can’t have everything) and is perfect for anyone who has ever felt their skin get uncomfortable in the heat. There is also a brilliant aftersun.

I have been using a mix of ‘normal’ products, as well as some from the anti-blemish line and my skin has remained consistently good since starting. Usually my face seems to get bored of whatever I have been using and stubbornly reverts back to its blemishy self, but not this time! Oh no. This time it has been totally seduced into behaving and hopefully it will stay that way.

More info here.

Lauren Conrad's Awesome Hair

The dip-dyeing trend is still going strong, and the perfectly coiffed Lauren Conrad is the latest to try it out. Take a look here here for more images, as well as instructions on how to try it out yourself. If you'd rather leave the experimenting to the professionals then head to Bleach in Dalston, or Topshop Oxford Circus. More info here.

Image from Beaut.ie.