Another fashion house braves the world of makeup - Burberry cosmetics

Tom Ford has just come out with his lipstick line - which has received quite a few raves for its luxe and glam feel, and highly pigmented colours. Definitely if you can't afford the clothes, the sunnies (I myself would love to bag a pair of Anouk sunnies) paying £35 might seem worth it just to attain a bit of that glamour. But not for me....I'd rather spend that money on a high end foundation : D

So Burberry is due to launch their line in July and it wil feature foundations, powders, bronzers, eye shadow, eyeliner, lip gloss, lip definers, lipsticks and mascara. Sounds pretty much on the mark of a standard makeup line. Burberry has done well in their fragrance line so why not try out cosmetics?

This is where I come over all British : D As much as my brain tells me to be positive and champion a much loved traditional British fashion brand, I don't have high hopes. We've been here before. Both Calvin Klein, Diane von Furstenberg have tried and failed. Though makeup and fashion are inextricably linked, a great fashion design house does not a great cosmetics house make.

This is not to say that it can't be done - YSL, Chanel, Dior make a great success out of it. And it is not to say that newcomers can't be welcomed. But it's something that Chanel and co are cosmetic brands which have been around for a while and have already developed that 'classic' status. I thought Missoni were going somewhere when they brought out a highligher palette a couple of summers ago (I think) but then that also went nowhere. The only newcomer that has successfully made the leap is Giorgio Armani. But come to think of it, I don't even own anything from his line either. That probably says more about me and my tastes. The majority of my collection is made up of items from makeupartist lines. Not to say that I don't rate fashion house lines - some of my fave items have been precisely from Dior, YSL and Chanel! I guess I feel that I respect and 'trust' those items from makeupartist lines. They appeal more to me.

Equally, you don't find many makeup brands that foray into fashion. What type of fashion would MAC or Shu Uemura produce?!!! Or Bobbi Brown!? How about Clinique or Lancome?

The Burberry line is featured in this July's Elle UK. Alongside images of a neutral colour selection of powders (which would normally have me on high alert) - eyeshadows, bronzers, blushers - etched with the Burberry check, it is promoted as the makeup to 'check out'. Turn the page over and the British supermodel Rosie Huntingdon-Whiteley is quoting her summer bare necessity is a sweep of Burberry bronzer (£30). Marketing indeed.

Yes I am being cynical in this post. I will indeed be checking it out and will gladly and most happily blog about whether I purchase anything. Burberry is a line that is reknown for being very popular with the Far East, especially Japan, so if they have factored that in - it could do well - like Jill Stuart. Come to think of it too, I have some great Mary Quant eye shadows and wish that line would get more notice.

I'm all for being fair and I will give the line the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes, it's all about the surprise if something turns out to work for you which makes a makeup product all the better.

What do you think?

Da Wei - Ni Men Hao!!!! Pics from Beijing....

Hey there everyone

My hols is coming to an end (boohoo) but wanted to share some pix from my short trip to Beijing. I had a really good time - mainly because it was very nice to be with my parents. I like to be a bit silly with them - cos my family is quite serious (can't you tell from those of you who have seen my YT vids? lol) so I like to lighten the mood and bring a litte laughter in.

Beijing has obviously moved on so much from the last time I was there, about 20 yrs ago! I loved visiting the Great Wall and the workout up there! As well as the Forbidden City (need to watch the First Emperor film again) and the food of course! Went to Din Tai Fung (a Taiwanese restaurant but famous for dumplings) and of course had Peking Duck (roasted duck wrapped in pancakes with sauce - kinda like Crispy Aromatic Duck in the UK).

So just to share some pix:
One the way up to the Great Wall

I see it! puff, puff, cough, cough

WOW!!!

Quick gotta take a pic

More WOW!!

The trip down the mountain on a cable car

Checking out the history in Time Out (I totally rate Time Out City guides)
Eating fried Man Tao dipped in sweetened condensed milk = YUMMMMMMMMMMMYYY!

Chairman Mao greets you on entry to the Forbidden City (on Tianamen Square)

....and in the Forbidden City = so much history....


This is what I think of when I think of the Forbbidden City - long routes with high red walls a la First Emperor

Ballet flats before they were ballet flats....Chinese style - anyone?

....ok, how bout some chopsticks?

Din Tai Fung - how and where dumplings are made




And finally, of course I have done quite a bit of makeup shopping in HK - the highs are probably that I found a fantastic small cake eyeliner brush from the Bonjour cosmetics shop (like Sa Sa) that I use with my LM e/l and the MUFE aqua cream e/s and getting to restock on Sofina Lucent SPF 50. The low is that my all time fave and HG pale pink lipstick PK347 from Shiseido Maquillage has been discontinued....boohoo!

Anyhow - hope you all have been well and I'll be back to the regular schedule when I get back to the UK!
xxx

The makeup I brought with me on my hols....and my first purchases!

I'm not a fan of packing. I'm just too neat and symmetrical that things have to fit just so - which they never do! So I end up getting frustrated. But I DO love packing for makeup : D I just like examining my makeup collection in all its glory -with holiday purchases in mind - and then packing accordingly to the hols, where I might go, what I might wear etc.

Like most makeup fans - I tend to overpack in this dept. Though I have so many multi purpose products. So I took some photos of what I brought with me to HK and here it is:

I did edit it down only once - being honest - took out a few things such as highlighters, more brushes. I think I overdid it on the lipsticks and blushes for sure : ) The blushes for me weren't a surprise but the balance of lipsticks over glosses was a surprise as I think I've been neglecting a lot of my lipsticks so just brought loads! And I could have done with one less e/s quad and maybe a couple less of the MAC Greasepaints! I brought the whole Laura Mercier eye colour set (Mini Metallic Creme Eye Colour set) because I've been trying out the LM cake e/l - and it's part of the packaging. I could have cut it out - just didn't have the inclination!



I thought I did well with my skincare : D I didn't bring any of my masks because I'm going to repurchase the Dermalogica Gentle Cream Exfoliant in HK (tad cheaper) and which I had finished anyway. The Decleor Aromessence balm and La Mer sample were for the plane flight (I smear my face with the DEcleor balm to protect my skin and after using a wet wipe I apply a moisturiser - La Mer was one I found in the back of my bathroom cabinet). The Dermalogica sampless my mum gave me. I actually didn't need the Olay lotion because the weather in HK is quite warm (27 celsius) and more humid than London so the MAC Oil Control Lotion is doing a good job alone. Threw in my fave deo there too.

The shopping began at Heathrow Duty Free and I got the YSL Singulier mascara in 4 (purple) and the Chanel Soleil Tan De Chanel in Sunkissed. The Chanel highlighter I'd checked out before and was hooked by its beauty. I have enough highlighters as it is but this has the most beautiful gold, slight peach tan shimmer to it. And the packaging is classy torture : D The YSL mascara was an impulse buy as I've been looking for a good 2 years now for a replacement of my Dior Maximeyes purple mascara and the YSL ad for this mascara had me intrigued. I did like the Faux Cils, so we'll see how this compares as the DFS SA told me it has the same effect, but is meant to be clump free. Hmmm.


I've been here a couple of days and only been out to shop once for about an hour in total! So I had to check out the True Professional Shop in Prudential Centre (I mentioned it in my makeup tour of HK YT vid) and I got the Graftobian HD colour palette at a 20% discount. After watching all the YT vids and reading about the MUFE Concealer palette - I was really wanting to see what all the fuss was about these kind of palettes. I've never tried Graftobian before - and with my experience of Cinema Secrets and Kryolan - I'm all out for trying film and TV makeup brands. First thoughts are that the colour palette seems good in texture (creamy and easy to apply) and the range of colours are sensible - ie. not too extreme in being too light or too bright/dark. I also had to get my trusty Sofina Lucent SPF50 as I had run out of this in the UK (and got backups!).

I did take a pic of the brushes I brought with me (this I am proud of cos it's not as many as I usually bring!) but for some reason my folks' computer can't upload it!

Above everything else, it feels very very nice to be back with family and to be back with the smells, hustle and bustle, lights and heat that makeup HK! (see how I cunningly squeezed that word in there?) I'm off to Beijing tomorrow for a few days trip so wanted to get this post out to you all - if you want me to name anything you see just let me know! Am excited about Beijing because I haven't been since I was a young teenager and it has changed so much - of many of the higlights I'm looking forward to - the food, Tianamen Square, Forbidden City and the Great Wall.

This post has grown into some kind of history essay. My next post might be more of stuff that I am checking out - want to look at Shiseido, Bioderma, Neutrogena, MakeupForever. Hope you all had a good bank hols in the UK for my readers there - and for everyone else a fab weekend!