Lip Service

Lip Service...

In beauty history, 2010 will undoubtedly be remembered as "The Year of The Lip". Lipstick has experienced a fierce revival with major launches (and re-launches) from brands as diverse as Tom Ford, Dolce&Gabbana, Giorgio Armani, Dior, Chanel, YSL and Clarins. Most of these brands have released moisturising formulas with a satin finish.

For Fall 2010, NARS releases their Pure Matte Lipstick collection. The collection comprises of six "essential" shades for the modern woman, forming the perfect wardrobe of matte lipstick shades. The payoff from these densely pigmented lipsticks ensures a "colour true" finish, while the matte texture delivers long wear with minimal risk of feathering. Priced at just £18, this product offers incredible value given its fusion of slick design and excellent formulation.

The campaign image (shown above) features the doll-like porcelain perfection of model Heather Marks. She wears one of my favourite of the six shades, Vesuvio, a powerful and vibrant red. The lipsticks featured in the image (left to right) are:

Volga

A vampy berry hue is a go-to colour every Fall and a "must have" for any vintage glamour girls.

Vesuvio

A bold and vibrant red, this shade evokes both the Hollywood glamour of Marilyn Monroe and the New Wave rock chic of Debbie Harry. This shade looks fabulous on all skin tones but is truly electric on fair and dark skins.

Bangkok

This rosy pink is the perfect everyday colour option for those with fair skin.

Terre de Feu

The intense depth of this deep berry red shade reminds me of the cochineal shades worn by 20's icons such as Louise Brooks. Carmine, the pigment that gives cochineal its colour, is derived from crushed female cochineal beetles (or dactylopius coccus). This tiny insect inhabits cactus plants, particularly the prickly pair variety native to Central and South America.

Tonkin

This brick shade definitely veers towards the natural end of the spectrum and is a great option for redheads and brunettes.

Tashkent

My favourite pale shade from the collection, this peachy nude will enhance the pout of blondes, redheads and brunettes.

To get the best from this product, I advise gently buffing the lips with a textured cotton pad soaked with a little NARS Freshening Lotion. Apply a NARS Pure Sheer SPF Lip Treatment in a complimentary shade to your chosen Pure Matte Lipstick. Finish with an application of the lipstick. Blot once, then re-apply for a professional finish that lasts.

Above is an image from the launch of the NARS Pure Matte Lipstick collection on the third floor of Selfridges, London. NARS Pro and National Make-Up Artists were on hand to help pre-booked fans and bloggers find their ideal colour matches from the collection. They were also treated to a complimentary mini nail shape, with an application of a Nars Nail Varnish to compliment their chosen lipstick. The lucky lipstick-buying ladies all trotted off with treats, including a NARS Lipgloss Duo and NARS Nail File.

NARS Pure Matte Lipstick is priced at £18 and is available exclusively from Selfridges, London throughout September 2010.

www.selfridges.com

Below is the exclusive NARS Pure Matte: Infinite Reflections video featuring the campaign star Heather Marks.

A Life Less Ordinary

A Life Less Ordinary..

While we're all familiar with amnesties on everything from firearms to weapons and used syringes, amnesties on make-up are as far as I'm aware, previously uncharted territory within the world of contemporary beauty. Granted, it's unlikely that the use of every-day cosmetics could lead to fatalities in the same way as the aforementioned weapons or drugs paraphernalia (with extreme allergies being a notable exception). On the contrary - we've come a long way since the ancient Egyptians applied mercury-derived powder to their faces. Furthermore, the fashion for arsenic face powder (thankfully) died with the Elizabethans. So with all this in mind, who would want to call for an amnesty on make-up and for what purpose? Illamasqua, the cutting-edge contemporary make-up brand "for your alter ego" is about to send seismic waves through the beauty world with their inspired "Make-Up Amnesty". Running from the 17th-31st July 2010, the brand are calling on all beauty consumers to "ditch the make-up drudgery and embrace the extraordinary". Take your old make-up products to any of the participating Illamasqua counters and invest in some of their signature densely pigmented products, available in shades and textures as vivid as the wildest of imaginations. It doesn't matter whether your old mascara has dried up, or if your blusher compact is crumbling beyond recognition - take your make-up "mistakes" to the participating Illamasqua counters and their artists will not only assist you in replacing them with superior (and infinitely more exciting) products, but you'll also receive a complimentary 25% discount on your new purchases. So whether you want to trade in your lackluster "beauty don'ts" for dramatic false lashes, a photo-perfect foundation, a cult liquid metal, vibrant nail colour or hyper-pigmented product for the eyes, lips or face, now is your chance to clear out those make-up bags of all things dull and invest in the products that will help to unleash the "real you". So whether your alter ego is a goth, vamp, rock star, punk, cyborg or fairy, start trading in the dull and invest in something daring. After all, who dares wins.

The Illamasqua Make-Up Amnesty runs from 17th-31st July 2010 and is available at:

Selfridges Oxford Street, Trafford Centre, Birmingham Bullring, Fenwick Newcastle, BT2 Grafton Street Dublin, Debenhams Glasgow, Belfast and Cardiff.

(This amnesty does not apply to the Illamasqua online shop)

www.illamasqua.com