Regal Pout!

My love of lipstick is no secret, nothing picks you up or adds a touch of glamour to your look like a new lipstick. It always invokes memories of trying on my Mum's when growing up and the sophistication I always associated with it... or perhaps it was my love of the colour and texture when I massacred my sister's doll with my Mum's clinique! So, when I read about the 'Lipstick Queen' brand I was excited to try.

Lipstick Queen creator, Poppy, wanted to revive lipstick. Too many women are wearing gloss and are scared of lipstick and she wants to inject the glamour and fun back into it. The range consists of two lipstick formulas: the Saints or the Sinners.

Saints have a moist sheer texture while Sinners are more pigmented and matte. Neither have any glitter or sparkle to cheapen the look and both come in super chic packaging. Shiny gold for the Saints, and a matte sophisticated black for the Sinners.

Eager to try a more concentrated colour and achieve the 40's starlet look I picked a sinner in 'Rose'. According to the site this colour was inspired by the painted rosebud mouths of antique dolls....

Red lipsticks have a tendency to always be too orange or pick based on me and I shy away from them. This doesnt look cheap at all forever and gives me the confidence to step away from gloss and achieve a more polished look. The shade is great on all colouring and, like all lipsticks for me, an instant pick me up. Best for a night time look.

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Available online and in Space NK stores for £15 (available on other american based shopping sites such as Barneys as well)

Suki Skincare

I have been wanting to write this post for quite a long time but scared I might make it too long but I honestly can't say enough good things about the Suki line of products right now!

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For the past few months I have been researching the ingredients in our products, trying to make sense of the labels on our cleansers and investigating better alternatives. It genuinley disturbs me to know that while it is proven around 60% of what we put on our skin is absorbed directly into the blood stream, most companies still have to use ingredients such as parabens which are directly linked with cancers.. but I won't start my rant today. In my search I found the Suki brand. I think I was most attracted by its lack of advertising and dramatic claims and its emphasis on its creator .... Suki. She suffered from eczema and sensitive skin and, like myself, long-term sensitive skin sufferer, was tired of either taking drugs or using products that made the problem worse and created this line. The site even gives a good glossary of ingredients to avoid and why in simple terms and most products are vegan.

Through victoriahealth.com I ordered an anti-inflammatory starter pack for only £22.50 (the price of a full size cleanser). I recieved a sizeable little pot of the exfoliating lemongrass cleanser and samples of the white willow toner, blue chamomile serum, velvet facial creme, transformative clay, velvet hand and body creme, butter salve and moisture body oil. I will do seperate posts on my favourite products and the progress I have seen with them seperatley for ease of reading but can I just say wow! Love the stuff ... it makes me so happy to know everything that is in them, feel I can trust the company and see results too.

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Apparently they were used in the Oscar Goodie Bags haha.. check them out, its pricey and hard to obtain but getting more well known and you won't be disappointed. Check back for updates and product specific posts!

Vegan Kohl Liner

I have always had a bit of fascination with kohl. Get it right and create a sultry, exotic beauty look but get it wrong and risk looking like a grungey teenager.

On a recent trip to London I visited Lush's "vintage store" in Covent Garden: B Never Too Busy To Be Beautiful which specialises in fragrances and vegan makeup. Faced with hundreds of brightly jewelled cases filled with various glitters and powders, I was drawn to a less intimidating looking pot of kohl. It is pure dressing table decoration in its Moroccan inspired wooden pot with wood stick applicator but I was intrigued....

All makeup is vegan in the store (no ingredients derived from animals.. including any lanolin they use and not tested on animals) which makes for an interesting change. The kohl is actually much simpler to use than I anticipated with the stick but, depending on how much you get on the stick, the colour isn't as concentrated as I sometimes would like.

However, its seems to be quite hard to go wrong it is smudgy and soft but doesn't seem to lend itself to the same disasters as many kohl pencils over the years and it *does* remind me of something vaguely more authentic. Did you know in India they wear kohl to ward off the evil eye?

Overall I wear kohl more often now than before, it seems to wear better and not go all crumbly like other makes during the day possibly because of the ingredients and hey! im a sucker for packaging! For the die hard smokey eye fans this wont replace your liquid liners and eye pencils but it is a bit unique and we have to support the companies who try to bring more ethical beauty to the foreground!

Ingredients: Castor Oil, Jojoba Oil, Shea Butter, synthetic beeswax, carnauba wax, synthetic lanolin

Price: £8.50 . Available in store or online

Feet Treat!

O.k so the first 'official' post is technically not about a skincare product but they are so pretty I think we can classify them a beauty product of sorts! Introducing one of my favourite Christmas presents this year : the Holistic Silk Therapy slippers. Perhaps they do not seem initially that credible but these are so much more than a slipper (honestly!) .

Described on their website as the brainchild of designer Joanna Weakley who combined her talent and flair for design with her interest in holistic therapies such as aromatherapy and magnetic therapy in these slippers and a whole range of 'holistic silk' products. The slippers are made from brocade and leather and are fair trade. They come in a whole array of pretty colours (I am a proud owner of the fuchsia ones in the picture and there is a more macho black version available for men) with gold faux leather soles making them quite hardwearing. They are also fully flexible and lined with velvet but what really sells them is their removable magnetic insoles.

The insoles are 'textured' (that means with little bumps to you and me) designed to give your feet a mini reflexology massage while magnets are believed to aid circulation and pain relief. As someone whose feet take quite a battering (literally ... i dance ballet!) may I testify that these really are helping me after a long day in pointe shoes or 4 inch heels and all I have to do is put them on! Gone are the days of cartoon slippers where answering your door to unexpected visitors could cause great shame! I carry mine with me everywhere now I never want to take them off they are so pretty and comfortable and I feel assured that I am being kind to my feet too. I want more colours!

Now for the price tag...£65. Yes I know for slippers! Which is why I am glad I got mine as a gift but they really will last you a long time so if you feel like spoiling your neglected feet and splashing out a little you can purchase them on their website, victoriahealth.com or, if you feel like a trip to the Dundrum Centre I believe their Harvey Nichols Branch has started to stock them as well.

Beauty Philosophy

Welcome to Beauty Philosophy!

A new beauty blog based in Ireland that aims to discuss new beauty products from skincare to makeup that are a little bit different and help share with you all the beauty philosophy that:

We must try to find beauty in everything
and the old but very true cliche.... beauty comes from within!

So in 2008 let us liberate ourselves and feel beautiful again no matter your age or appearance!

Enjoy