xjenniex2008 aka http://all-that-glitters-and-sparkles.blogspot.com/ and @jennifer1986!  a long standing MAF forum regular, and product tester, Jen’s been doing quite a bit of testing for MAF over the last few weeks, and this is just one of them!

I tested this in the shade Blancmange. On first impressions the packaging is quite cute, it doesn’t look cheap. It smells very sweet, you know how in America you get a lot of Grape flavoured things? It smells like that which is actually quite nice. I would say this is more of a balm it doesn’t make my lips glossy at all and my lips seem to soak it up quickly, but it does have vitamin E in. 

The only place I know where you can buy Miners is their own website and these sell for £2.99.

Kylie Toft tries out The Balm’s tinted gloss.

This is a really lovely product and I’ve loved testing it. The flavour is awesome, reminded me of banana shrimps! Yum yum. 

My lips are very dry but this product has really helped them and they feel in much better condition. It stays on for quite a while and I loved the slight tint to it- I used ‘Girly Girl’. 

On the downside it costs about £14 so is out of my price range.  However if money was no object I would definitely buy it again.

If there’s anyone who’s going to take a seasonal trend of colours, and make it literal, it’s going to be www.findmeagift.com who do it.

They’ve taken Ice Cream back to child-like fun! 

6 Ice Cream flavoured/scented lipbalms in Strawberry, Tutti Frutti, Chocolate Fudge Brownie, Cookies ‘n Cream, Bubble Gum and Mint Choc Chip!  These mini pots of balm look like miniature tubs of Ben ‘n Jerry’s ice cream.

They even have the words ‘everyone loves ice cream’ on the side, and they’re right!

But taking it a step further, they have a sweet pops trio of lipglosses in Ice Lolly packaging on keyrings!  How much fun?

Flavoured Lemon, Orange and Strawberry, they suggest mixing them together to create your own flavours, a la Jelly Belly jelly beans – Orange and Lemon for citrus tart or Strawberry and Orange for sweet sorbet, or go for the other option of Lime, Fudge and Berry!

Sam Donald.

www.SamDonald.com

For many women, buying ‘things in miniature’ can be just as pleasing as buying full size products.  Who can’t be persuaded to buy an extra product to get the mini bits in a Gift With Purchase goodie pack? 

I’m becoming a bit of a fan of Lola, already in love with their Treat ‘n Glow highlighter, I’ve got a plumping gloss from them that I’m falling for, and now, they’ve got a set of mini glosses on keychains!

These have been released before, and www.SimpleBeauty.co.uk tell me that they regularly sell out.

Don’t miss out, get yours now.  They come in 4 colours, with a gentle butterscotch scent, and for those who don’t carry much makeup, having one of these attached to your car keys will be invaluable.  Trust me, I know.  I have glosses everywhere…

Sam Donald

www.SamDonald.com

Lips.  To pink or not to pink?  That is the question…  okay, we all know that there is the perfect hue of every colour that will suit everyone.  Some of us suit canary yellow, others suit a mustard yellow, some suit emerald green, others suit khaki.

Its the same for pink and pink lips.  I suit a very pale better than I suit a bright, but then everyone is different, so where do you go?  Do you choose hot pink or a bluey pink, a baby pink or a pastel pink?

Charles Fox of Covent Garden London is famous in the theatre district, and a mecca for makeup artists of every discipline, from film and TV to private tutors, with everything in between.

When I was researching my ‘pink’ lipstick phase a few months back, I decided to see what they had to offer for the pinkly challenged amongst us…

Kryolan doesn’t just have 1 lipstick and 1 lipgloss, they have a huge selection, and in a dozen different shades of pink, and if you haven’t considered Kryolan as a makeup range to go in your kit, its well worth a look.  Colours are true and richly pigmented.  The colours are very strong and intense, a very little goes a long way, the quality is lovely and is everything that you’d expect from a true professional range.

Here are a selection of lip products that I think you might want to take a look at (with my favourite pink shades too!)

High Gloss brilliant lipshine.  I have gone with Candy as a perfect baby pink

Lip Gloss.  For the bright pink fans, it’s simply called Pink!

Lip Glisser.  This one has a coding of LG2 and is a midtoned rosey pink

Glamour Lip.  A pot of colour in Rose Pink

Lipstick.  Is there a pink to suit everyone?  I think this could possibly be it.  It’s coded LC123

And just incase you like the whole ‘pink thing’ its worth having a look at some of their brushes too – fulfills the inner pink girly rather nicely!

Sam Donald

www.SamDonald.com

I’ve had www.compeed.co.uk/totalcare in my kit for a while, but recently used them myself, for the first time, when I felt a cold sore coming on.

As anyone who suffers from cold sores will know, they are hideous and you just want them to go away as quickly and painlessly as possible. But often they take up to 2 weeks to go, and the last few days can be the worst as they crust over and then split and bleed each time you open your mouth or try to eat something.

The patches take a little practise to put on, but if you read the instructions properly, it’s fairly simple.

At first it felt a bit weird having a plaster on my lip, but after a while, I got used to it, and other people could hardly notice it.

It felt reassuring knowing that my cold sore was completely covered, so reducing the risk of my children catching it. It also stopped it from hurting so much.

The cold sore started on a Monday evening, I could feel the unpleasant tingle, and there was a little redness, so I put a patch on. The next day there was a cluster of little blisters under the patch and they seemed to get bigger over the next few days. after about 3 days, I could feel that the cold sore was starting to heal.

It took until the following Wednesday until it had totally healed up, so not really any quicker than leaving it to heal on it’s own.
 
The difference was, the cold sore never actually crusted over, it just went away. So I managed to completely avoid the last few horrible days of splitting and bleeding and discomfort. (It is important that you use the patches until the cold sore has completely healed, otherwise you risk getting the crusting over period.)

I didn’t feel so self conscious, as the cold sore was well hidden and I was even able to apply make-up over it (although I chose not to do this as I did find it gave my lip a kind of waxy look and made me feel more concious of it)

I highly recommend these patches and will definitely use them again  the next time I get another attack.(not too soon, I hope)

Amanda Roberts

www.hairandmakeup4u.com

Its a soft pearly pink with teeny bits of silver glitter. 

I have tested this a few times now and I’m a little bit disappointed with it! 

I love benefit products and although I’m not a regular lipstick wearer I know what I like and what I don’t like. 
I first tested it by just applying a coat on bare lips… a pink sheen but way too glittery-and it feels really slippery, a bit like vaseline! I think it looks like something a girly teen would wear to a party. 
I had to take it off because I really didn’t like the way it felt. 

I tried it again, this time by lining and filling in my lips with a red lipliner(first one I got out of mybag) and then applying a little bit of the swoonderful on top. 
The effect was nicer, a red lip with a little shine, not looking too glittery. 
Using less helped it feel like it wasn’t going to slide off and just gave the lips a fuller look. 

The best way to use it on its own is to just use a small amount and blend it out for a little shine but for £13 I want a LOT more from a lipstick.

Nina G

I have mixed feelings about this product. I love the packaging but I do find the fact that it’s so chunky a bit of a problem – especially because I have thin lips and when I apply this it tends to go all over the lips and everywhere else and I’m constantly having to wipe around my mouth! 

However, I do love the texture and look of the balm. It has a subtle pink shimmer (Minty Fat Balm)that actually looks a bit like lip gloss and a nice minty flavour that feels quite refreshing. It does leave the lips feeling hydrated. 

I did have a bit of a problem trying to wind it up and the lip balm ended up cracking – I’m not sure if this is what usually happens or if I just happened to get a faulty one. 

Reading up online it says that you can actually apply this to your cheeks as a blush – I may give this a try as I love the shimmer pink colour!

Janine Swan

www.superdrug.com

Oh My Word!

Siren red pure metallic lipgloss that doesn’t go anywhere!  Extreme Sheen is the perfect name for these, they are extreme in all aspects!  The colour is true and pure, siren is exactly that, a fire engine siren red.  The colour is as though someone has painted metallic paint on your lips!

So it’s a little sticky at first.  That’s okay, just blot a little off and wait a few minutes, the stickiness goes, I promise.

The result? Pure molten red metallic lips that look plumper and fatter, not particularly kissable at first look, though they do become more and more alluring the more you look at them, but just so divine with a dusting of sandy eyeshadow, some black liner and lashings of gloss, a hint of cheek and these stunning lips.

Gorgeous.  That’s all I can say, just gorgeous.

www.Zuneta.com

Sam Donald

www.SamDonald.com

There’s something about a Red Lipstick that makes us all feel instantly glamorous, no matter what we’re wearing, or how are hair is. 

Personally, I love a red lipstick all day everyday, though I do vary the intensity of it, depending on where I’m going or who I’m seeing.  The dentist isn’t so keen on scarlet, and its not the most appropriate when you’re collecting your children from school….

However, the red that I favour over all is a red that’s pure and true, without a scrap of orange or blue in it.  Just red.

Nigh on impossible to find one might think… there are some that have come close, and they all fill my professional kit, there supposedly isn’t a red that’s suitable for all and everyone, until now.

DuWop have done for red lipsticks what the 80s did for pink.  Remember those very bizarre coloured lipsticks that morphed into the perfect shade of pink?  Smashbox and Barry M (amongst others) have lipsticks available now, that do just that.  Paint it on and it changes with your skins chemicals to the shade of pink that best suits you.

But now it’s in Red!  Woo Hoo!

My kit is now going to be full of this lipstick.  Its only one colour, it literally is a one colour suits all, and how?  All in the science!

If you really want to know how it’s done, have a look at www.SimpleBeauty.co.uk for the answer, but trust me, its a red that adapts to everyone.

I’ve been trialling this for a while now, it really does do what it says on the tin!  But aswell as being a shade to change for everyone, it lasts.  It doesn’t wander, doesn’t move, but just stays put!

DuWop Private Red.  Don’t keep it private, share it with everyone!

Sam Donald

www.SamDonald.com