Banned!

Good Day Everyone,

As we’ve come to the end of March, I'm now half way through my six month makeup purchasing ban and so I thought I’d let you know how I’ve got on thus far. I had several reasons for imposing this ban on myself. Firstly, I’ve probably bought more makeup in this last year than in the last decade. The main reason for this is now that I am no longer working I have a lot more time on my hands to explore and play around with products. As I had a few special occasions last year that I decided to do my own makeup for, I went on a bit of spending splurge to update (or rather create) my makeup collection. This ignited some kind of suppressed passion for makeup, especially eye shadows and products that make my skin glow. When I had my career I didn’t work a nine to five job. I worked pretty long hours with a fair bit of overseas travel and whilst airport duty free might seem like an ideal place to indulge, I was usually sat in some coffee shop tapping away on my laptop trying to finish a presentation and never had the time to indulge.

Birthday makeup

Secondly, makeup isn’t (always) cheap and as we have a few big expenses this year I wanted to try and save our pennies by spending less. It’s a little ironic that when we had a higher disposable income I was too busy with my career to have time to enjoy makeup and now that I have the time we obviously don’t have the same kind of disposable income with me not working. 

Thirdly, the thing with makeup is that I rarely finish it. My collection only ever grows because most makeup products are rarely completely used up, and the more I have the less likely I am to finish something. Therefore I wanted to try and use up what I have.

Fourthly, I was getting to a stage where I would sometimes forget about a makeup product that I really loved until I accidentally came across it again. I think that’s more likely to happen when I have more and so I really wanted to take time out from buying new products and simply appreciate the ones that I have.

Also, a girlie chat with my best friend back in December scared me a little... in that I had a realisation. I was talking to her about the Revlon Lip Butters (reviewed here and here) that I’d bought at Singapore airport and how I loved the three colours I’d picked up, but now being in England I’d seen a couple more shades in Boots that I really wanted, but had to stop myself as I already have five Lip Butters. My friend looked a little aghast and asked how many different colours of lip products could I actually want / wear as she just has two – a pink and a red. When I sat there with her and easily recalled twenty different colours just of the top of my head and explained that I had a makeup bag full of just lip products she asked whether I have some sort of makeup addiction. I explained I don’t, just a passion for pretty colours. My friend laughed and said that I could try and justify it however I wanted but seriously what I had could easily last me for several years. Of course I knew she was right and so the seeds of a makeup ban were sown into my subconscious… thanks Lucy!

So those were the main reasons for my self-imposed makeup purchasing ban. Within a few weeks of the ban I noticed that Sephora in Singapore started to stock Tarte products and there was a blush that had my name on it... literally...glisten, which clearly is meant for me but I have stuck to my ban and resisted. I also recently discovered theBalm cosmetics in Singapore for the first time and they had 20% off but again I stuck to my guns. I think one of the reasons I’ve managed to stick to the ban is because my husband is convinced that I will cave in at some point. Now I see that as a challenge and I like to rise to a challenge... or he might just be being clever and using reverse psychology to get me to not buy anymore makeup ;o).

In all seriousness though, I have really enjoyed just using the makeup that I have. I recently reorganised the way I stored my makeup and in the process had a bit of a clear out and got rid of things that I’d had for way too long. Just that process of having a tidy up gave me a better handle on what I actually have in my collection. I now have things organised in a much better way and have pulled out some products that are close to finishing that I am focusing on using up. 

I had noticed that I was falling into a bit of makeup rut where I would use the same products again and again and so with my recent tidy up I now also have a bit of a rotation system going with some of my products just so that I get to appreciate a little bit of everything that I have in my collection. 

Finally I guess another factor that has made this little makeup ban more bearable is that fact that I’ve had my birthday since the new year and obviously got makeup as presents, including my first ever Dior lip product (review) as well as the Urban Decay Naked 3 palette. So I guess I’ve not really gone cold turkey as such, although with no special occasions coming up in the next three months, plus the fact that I’m going to be transiting through several duty free airports, now is when my will power really will get put to the test. Let’s see if I continue to rise to the challenge!

Have you ever imposed a makeup or other kind of purchasing ban on yourself? How did you get on?

Love Sheen xxx

Dior Addict Lip Glow

Good Day Everyone,

A lovely friend of mine gave me a belated birthday present last week, the Dior Addict Lip Glow (as a side note don’t you just love belated birthday presents? It’s like birthday excitement all over again ;o), and I have to say… I am in love! I absolutely love it! Like, I love it so much that every time I take it out of its cardboard packaging (that’s right I’ve kept the cardboard!) I can’t help but smile and swoon over the beautiful packaging. Not only is the packaging stunning but the whole product experience is so luxurious that it makes me go weak at the knees... and I'm not joking!

Dior Addict Lip Glow on my Instagram

Now before I talk about the amazing packaging let’s talk about the product. Dior describe this as a color reviver balm or a color awakening lip balm. This means that the product provides the hydration of a lip balm whilst reacting with each individuals own lip chemistry to enhance and bring out the natural pink undertones of the lips, resulting in a beautiful rosy pink flush of colour… a kind of your lips but better effect. This customisation means that the lip balm looks different on different skin tones and people as everybody’s lip chemistry is unique to them. This product is to be used on bare lips so that it can react with the lip’s natural chemistry.

 

The Lip Glow has a subtle minty sweet scent that is very pleasant and wears off pretty quickly after application. The lip balm has a soft pale pink colour that is quite sheer, as you can see from the swatch on my arm, but the colour that it creates on my lips is much more intense. I guess that’s where the lip chemistry comes into play. 

Very sheer wash of colour but don't let that fool you

This product turns my lips the most beautiful rosy pink colour ever (I couldn’t get my lip photo to do it justice as the colour is rosier and more even than it is in my photo, and I've said it before, my lips are not my best feature). The colour is not a red-y pink or an orange-y pink but simply a true rosy pink. The lip balm doesn’t have any shimmer or glitter in it but it does leave a beautiful sheen on my lips. Perfect for those natural no makeup makeup days. I can imagine a lot of male models using this product to bring out the natural pink undertones of their lips without looking like they’re wearing a lip product. That’s how subtle and natural the effect is. 

Above: bare lips, below: Dior Addict Lip Glow applied

 The texture of the lip balm is incredibly luxurious. It’s as creamy and smooth as butter (better than the Revlon Lip Butters) and glides on effortlessly. It leaves my lips feeling moisturised, plumped, incredibly soft and beautifully flushed. The lasting power of this effect is about 4-5hrs, depending on what I eat or drink. This means that I do have to reapply this two or three times throughout the day to maintain that moisturised feeling but that’s the same for most lip balms, in my experience.

 

The lip balm comes in a bullet form with the signature Dior packaging i.e. the silver CD knob at the bottom. The lid is a beautiful soft translucent pink with DIOR indented on one side in the same pink colour and the words Lip Glow Color Reviver, in silver on the opposite side. The lid as well as the overall packaging feels pretty sturdy and of a high quality. You get 3.5g (0.12oz) of net weight product and you can see just how much that is from the below photo.

 

Whilst I have numerous lip balms in my collection, I don’t actually have anything similar to this product that provides both the moisturisation and the colour enhancement to my lips. Texture wise, this is most similar to my The Body Shop Born Lippy Strawberry Lip Balm which is as buttery and smooth as this Dior Addict Lip Glow, but it doesn’t provide much of a colour at all. My Nivea Fruity Shine Strawberry lip balm does leave a beautiful red-y pink colour on my lips and is pretty moisturising but it isn’t as smooth and as buttery as the Dior Addict Lip Glow.

Clearly being Dior, the Lip Glow isn’t cheap by any means. Some people will feel that spending $40+ SGD (£20+) is an awful lot of money on what in effect is a lip balm, especially when The Body Shop Born Lippy costs £3, and they'd be right or at least that's what I would have said before I tried this product because this is so much more than a lip balm, to me. 

Whilst offering the hydration of a lip balm, having a colour that customises to my own lips, beautifying and enhancing them is wonderful. In addition, whenever I look at and use this product I get that Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s experience of ultimate luxury and that magical feeling of being a princess. No lip product has ever made me feel like that before and I have owned a MAC, Lancôme and Chanel lipstick. I would quite gladly trade in all of my different lip balms for this one product alone. That’s how much I love it! Thank you to my friend for a wonderful birthday present :o)

Have you tried the Dior Addict Lip Glow? What was your experience? Which lip balm is your favourite? What is your princess-y makeup product?

Love Sheen xxx