Falling For ‘Fall’ Beauty!

Ah September! As months go, we rather like you. Our kids are back at school after a blissful (ahem!) couple of months of being with us 24/7. The weather here in the UK is delightfully warm and the promise of crisp, sunny days and cosy evenings in, is on the horizon. And then there’s makeup. New season’s offerings of rich plum, brown, gold and neutral shades, get us overexcited here at VeryMakeupMad Towers. So much so, that no sooner were the kids out of our sight that we planned a shopping spree to the vast (often overwhelming) beauty hall at Selfridges. But we weren’t going to be intimidated by the mountains of eyeshadow, lipgloss, blusher and highlighter on offer there. No, we were going to fight our way through it all, on a mission to bring you the very best of Autumn/Winter beauty 2017. And here it is…

First stop, the Tom Ford counter, where we were promptly introduced to his ‘Boys and Girls’. And very good-looking they are too. These just-launched Ultra-Rich lipsticks have managed to turn even V from a die-hard lipgloss aficionado, into a lipstick lover. The pacakaging alone is enough to make you swoon. And although at £29, they’re an expensive option (it’s a very small lipstick for that price), owning something by Tom Ford, just makes you smile. Plus the rich, creamy formulation glides onto lips and the colour stays put for hours. The ‘Girls’ are presented in white and gold packaging and M treated herself to ‘Dakota’ – a cool, pastel pink with a very subtle pearlised finish. V, meanwhile chose one of the Boys in their elegant black and gold packaging. ‘Douglas’ is a metallic, muted pink, that gives lips the sheen that V craves. Our other top picks for Autumn lips are ‘Naomi’, a gorgeous mulberry; ‘Bianca’, a shimmering berry shade and ‘Katherine’, the perfect nude. M also fell for the Cream and Powder Eye Colour in Golden Peach, £46, a two-tiered treat encompassing a metallic, rose gold whipped cream and a super-sparkly, powder shadow designed to be worn over the top. Or alone. It’s up to you.

Still on eyes, we hot-footed it to the Suqqu counter – a lesser known, luxury Japanese brand with some fab products. V spied the Designing Color Eyes palettes, £46, in no. 06 (browns and greys with a hit of raspberry pink) and the limited edition no. 107 (think red wine and plum shades) and after deliberating over them for a while, M had to drag her away, reminding her that she has plenty of other eyeshadow quads. But little does M know, V has ordered one of the Suqqu ones anyway. The one on the left!

Over at MAC, we checked out the new nude lipstick and lipgloss offerings from a collaboration with Nicki Minaj (we’re not 100% sure who she is either). They seem to be selling out fast, with the world having gone mad for nude lips recently. Personally we’d rather stick with our Tom Ford beauties, but we wouldn’t say no to one of Nicki’s lipglosses. The Lipglass in Beaux, £15.50 is a stunning, shimmering rose gold, perfect for Autumn.

Talking of collaborations, we stopped to have a look at Victoria Beckham’s range for Estee Lauder, but nothing really floated our boat. If pushed, we’d say that the Morning Aura Illuminating Creme is a gorgeous primer that gives skin a radiance and is versatile in that it can be used alone or under make up to really ‘wake up the skin’. But at £72, it’s a real indulgence. We’d rather go for Bobbi Brown Extra Illuminating Moisture Balm, which does exactly the same job and is a steal by comparison, at £42.50. Admittedly, V felt more of an affinity with the range than M, but this was probably due to the fact that everything is embossed with VB… V’s initials before marriage! She was rather taken with the shimmering Eye Foil in Blonde Gold, £28, a little pot of ultra sparkly, gel eyeshadow that gives an amazing effect when dabbed onto the centre of the eyelid. Perfect for ‘disco nights’ (admittedly for us, these are few and far between, but a girl can dream!) As for the rest of the range, we found it hard to get past some of the very unusual colour choices. A prime example being the Eye Matte Duo in Saphir/Orange, £48. Google it…you’ll see what we mean!

Leaving Selfridges, our route to the tube station found us passing Fenwick of Bond Street. A quick dash inside, to check out their wares, found us gravitating to the The Ordinary counter. We’re already fans of this no-frills, pharmaceutical-esque brand, with great products at seriously low prices (“Buffet“, £12.70 is a winning anti-ageing serum and the High-Spreadability Fluid Primer , £5.50, is fab too). The two new liquid foundations they offer – Serum Foundation, £5.70 and Coverage Foundation, £5.90 – are available in an impressive number of shades and blend really easily into the skin. And you can’t argue with the price.

 

So that’s Autumn beauty in a nutshell. Although in fairness, it’s just a snippet. There are many more finds on the beauty counters waiting to be discovered, so we’re off again to another make-up Mecca soon. Watch this space…

And because we’re women of our word, here are our summer holiday purchases from our trips to America. We told you we’d let you know if we found any must-haves…and here they are:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And because we’re so ‘in tune’ with each other, we coincidentally both bagged a MAC Personality Palette ,£32- cute, illustrated palettes brimming with eyeshadows and highlighters. And here they are. Can you guess who’s a ‘Prissy Princess’ (top) and who’s a ‘Fashion Fanatic'(bottom)?

Love & girly shopping sprees,

PS. M’s got her finger on the music pulse and is pretty sure she knows who Nicki Minaj is. Didn’t she recently do a track with DJ David Guetta?! Top marks for M if she’s right…