Tarte - Natural Beauty

If the spring fashion runways are anything to go by, we are all to embrace our natural beauty in the upcoming season. For the lucky few this may mean washing their face in the morning and heading out the door with no more than lip balm, but for us peasants it means that the "no-makeup-but-really-at-least-twenty-minutes'-worth-of-makeup" makeup look is back on the cards. Either way, I can almost hear faces giving out sighs of relief - after the dark lips of autumn and the griller-rich holiday season, it is nice to practice the enhancing function of cosmetics, not just decorative.

And although I can't say that I am entirely committed to this recent trend, there is a particular product that I have been using almost exclusively since the day I got it, and it is the ideal cheat to a healthy looking face - Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-hour Blush in the appropriately named Natural Beauty.

For this blush, it is all in the name. Firstly, the longevity claim, 12h. According to Tarte, the product owes its magical properties to the clay from the banks of the Amazon river, of which the blush is made and then dried in the sun ( o.O? ). And although it has been talked about high and low, I am here to tell you - it wears until you take it off. And this is coming from someone that can quite often assess makeup after 14+ h of wear.

It makes sense. Apart from the obvious mechanical wear factor, one of the main causes of makeup disappearing off the face is the oils in the skin. So thinking of all the clay-based skincare designed to tighten pores and regulate oil production, it sounds reasonable to believe the blusher's tale.

And secondly - the shade. Natural beauty is described simply as red. In the pan there is somewhat of a pinkish tone to it, but on the skin it mimics precisely the colour of a flush of the cheeks. The kind of attractive colour you get (cliché alert!) when you've just walked in from the cold. Which is why I love incorporating it in my bare-face imitations.

The finish of the blush is almost matte (there is certainly no glitter or shimmer in it), but in some lights, it appears just slightly radiant, which adds to the whole 'oh, look at me, I am so healthy, I eat berries for dinner and glow from within' kind of skin.

Another great use for this shade is to combine it with red lipstick. Traditional pink or peach cheeks and red lips can sometimes clash, but with this one, you can be sure to look organic.


Tarte is one of the few brands that still hasn't made it over to the UK. Someone should really sort that out. They seem like an interesting company, and most of their products generate some sort of positive hype. But if you happen to be within a swatching distance of a Tarte counter, I recommend you go and check out their range.

Product rave - Alterna Caviar 3-Minute Shine Boost

I have battled with my unrully frizzy hair all my life (or since I was 13 and started caring about such things), and for the most part, I was under the impression that my hair was suffering from some kind of hair health impairment. I have drenched it in everything under the sun in attempts to rid it of the everlasting frizz, wave and kink. With the ammount of effort that went into it over the years, I believe my hair is "cured", but it still looks the same as it always has done. It has thus dawned on me recently, that my hair is not unhealthy, but just plain-ol' , excue me, sh*t.  And by that I mean the texture, the pattern and the behaviour (and don't tell me hair doesn't have behaviour). I have since decided to focus on products that deliver cosmetic results, not remedies.

 My most recent discovery is a wash-out conditioning product by Alterna - the Caviar Anti-Aging 3-Minute Shine Boost.

"Anti-aging" is a term I have never seen used in a hair care context before, and I wouldn't dwell on it too much either as far as this product is concerned. At the end of the day, hair is created and nourished at the rout, which I am sure can be affected by age, but unless the product targets the scalp itself, I doubt there is much difference in old vs. young hair. Except for childrens' hair. Most children seem to have enviably shiny, forever-clean, and naturally beautifus hair up untill the magic age of *-teen; when we welcome the sad buggers into the row of frizzy-haired women equipped with hair straighteners and styling goos of different varieties.

I digress. It is not the anti-aging claims of this product that captured my attention. Alterna's Caviar line is geered towards providing moisture for dry, brittle hair. The 3-Minute Shine product description, however, does not explicitly promise any magical medicinal effects. Insead, it calls itself "lip-gloss for your hair", and vows to deliver instant shine. "Hi-Def" shine, in fact. You have to be HD if you want to appeal to the modern day man, even if it makes no bloody sense. Very trendy.

And deliver shine it did! I applied this after my regular shampoo and conditioner and waited an imaginary estimated 3-5 minutes, then rinced. I noticed a difference the second I started brushing the hair - the bristles of the brush ran through effortlessly, the hair strands fell uniform and smooth. Once dry, the hair had that good slippery feel it gets after you've taken it to the hairdressers'. What's even more pleasing is that the hair remained straight for three days, and that icluded gyms, showers and bicycles.

I would absolutely recommend this product to anyone who wants to achieve salon-blow-dry-esque hair at home, make brushing and styling easier and avoid needing to re-style repeatedly. For those concerned about ingredients, this potion is free of parabens, mineral oil and phthalates, and rather surprisinly for its purpose - silicones. Its nice to know you can acheive such successfull shine without silicones.
 
Alterna is a professional hair-care brand, so may be difficult to find in the physical world, but one can acquire its Shine-Boosting offering through the internet for an eye-watering £20-25.

How to help your lipstick survive dinner

Bold red lips is one of the most popular makeup look for the holiday season. It is the ultimate accessory that suits absolutely everyone. I love red lips, and have been using "its Christmas!" as an excuse to wear my favourite reds every single day, including around the house. 

Bright lipstick is notoriously impractical, especially if you are like me, and you can't help but maintain the incoming food flow more or less constant. So I thought I'd share my lipstick application routine that  prevents it from wearing off too soon, and helps it fade gracefully. 

Apply moisturising lip balm in advance, or simply start with bare lips. 

Pick a lip pencil closest to the colour of your lipstick. Using a sharp pencil will help you get the a more precise line, especially if you're not well practiced, but as you can tell, my liner here is reasonably blunt, which makes it glide easier.

Next, fill in the outline that you have created. This will ensure that if you do eat (I know I will!) or drink, even if the gloss of the lipstick wears off, the stain of the pencil won't leave you with a blank lip centre.

Now the obvious part - apply your lipstick. The key to success of this whole process is to work in thin layers, so make sure you don't go over the same area more than once - just enough for the lipstick to show its colour. Using a lip brush instead of going straight from the bullet will give you an even thinner layer, and will also allow you to get closer to the edges, in case your liner and lipstick don't match exactly.

Now grab a tissue and press it against the lips once or twice. This will take the excess product off, leaving the pigment behind.

For the final step, apply your lipstick again, but this time use dabbing motions, rather than sweeps. Only  pat the lipstick in the centre of your lips, where the gloss will have been removed by the tissue.

And you're done! Hopefully this will help you be less conscious of your bright pout while helping yourself to a pork pie. 

Happy Holidays! x

Ciate Advent Day 23

It's the day before last of the nail polish advent calendar, and I don't know how I am going to wean myself off of getting a new bottle every day.

Today I receive a wonderful bright green cream -  Mojito.

The colour remind me of fresh peas in a pod. Its bright, and remarkably unseasonal. I can see myself wearing it a ton in the summer though!

Ciate Advent Day 22

On December 22 we had the last caviar in the Mini Mani Month, and this one's a bit of a weird one - Sundance.

Sundance is a mix of gold and blue beads with large gold glitter thrown in. I like the colours separately, and the little bead texture is mesmerisingly beautiful, but I must admin, blue+yellow, in my opinion, is just about the ugliest colour combo imaginable.

Really not sure how I could make this work, let me know if you have a base colour suggestion. 

Ciate Advent Day 21

On December 21 I discovered a taupe beauty by the name of Fade to Greige. 

According to google, 'greige' is a term used in textile production, and refers to undied and unbleached (virgin) fabrics. In the land of polishaholics however, 'greige' is used to describe a colour that is somewhere between grey and beige. Think Chanel's Particuliere, that singlehandedly started this trend. 

Fade to Greige is Ciate's take on the the classy marriage of grey and brown, and I love how they've executed it. Amongst the obvious suspects (grey+brown), this colour has a plummy purply look to it, which makes it unlike the multitude of other Particuliere wannabes.

I think I say this about every polish, but I do think this may be one of my favourites so far!

Ciate Advent Day 20

20th December was my birthday, and it's like they knew! The polish of the day was Magic Carpet - a purply magenta glitter.

The glitter in this is not very dense, it took me about three coats to get an even layer on an accent nail, but it that makes it a perfect layering glitter. Yum.

Here it is with Cutie Pie from yesterday, replacing the caviar accent nails. Very girly. Too girly, even?

Birthday NOTD

Although the plan was to wear the Candy Shop caviar with the pale grey Cookies and Cream (which I am missing), I paired it up with Cutie Pie from earlier in the Mini Mani Month. 

I ended up with a centimetres worth of nail polish coat, because the pink was very sheer. It will make a good  French manicure polish, but not very good solid pink. I mean, you can still build it up, and maybe if you had even a fraction more patience than me, you won't drag the previous coat, causing streaks, and it will take you less than four coats.

Ciate Cutie Pie and Candy Shop on the accent nail

An honourable mention to my Revlon Quick Dry top coat, which is the shiniest, quickest, dryest top coat of them all.

Ciate Advent Day 19

This morning's Advent discovery was probably one of the most exciting ones so far. I don't think of myself as having dull taste for nail polish, but today's Cookies and Cream, which looks like the plainest of the plain at first site, got me all giddy.

It doesn't come out on pictures as it looks in real life. Cookies and Cream is a very light creamy (how many times can I say 'cream' in this post?) grey. It doesn't lean pink, like it looks on the first picture. This shady photo below is more accurate.

I was so excited, that I was going to make this guy my Birthday polish. It's a big decision, and a tough choice. I was so excited, that I kept it standing proudly on my desk while I packed up the rest of the Mini Mani Month, my hot rollers and my dog, got in the car and drove off to the opposite end of the country.  I forgot it home, basically. What on earth am I to do now?

Ciate Advent Day 18

I can't entirely believe that I have accumulated 18 new nail polishes over the last month. And we've still got more coming! Unbelievable. Truly a gift that keeps on giving.

Number 18 is a cheerful caviar - Candy Shop. 

Candy Shop is a mix of orange, hot pink and turquoise beads. This one out of the three caviars I own now looks the most edible. Hence the name, I guess.

People have been putting this on a blue base, which looks nice, but I think it would look particularly cool with an orange or yellow base to accentuate the brightness of the mix.