Let’s just get one thing straight. Alexia Inge, the founder of Cult Beauty, is one of the coolest people I know. Her knowledge of the industry is impossible to put into words, she’s a babe, plus she founded one of my favourite websites ever. I first met her in a tea shop that turns bar in the evenings by Kings Cross. We started off with a slice of carrot cake and exited five hours later a few G&T’s heavier. When it comes to beauty she knows everyone and everything which makes her the perfect candidate for this month’s ‘Beauty Bag’. We riffled through her weekend away edit which features a fair few products from the makeup path less travelled, with anecdotes a plenty and let me tell you – you may want to take notes…
“I apply the Embryolisse Lait-Creme Concentrate throughout the day to top up my skin if it’s feeling dry but it works great as a makeup primer too. Something else that works on top of makeup is the Institut Esthederm Intensive Vitamine C Concentrated Formula Powder Serum. It’s a weird science thing; it’s like a powder and when you rub it in it just disappears. If at the end of the day I’ve got to go to an event I just apply this under my eyes – it wakes everything up. I whack it onto the lines and they just bounce back out. Then this stuff is so good, the Embryolisse Eclat du Regard. It’s a cooling stick that you can put under your eyes as well. It’s got Hyaluronic Acid in it and it just feels so nice and moisturising. For base I’ve been using the Jouer Luminizing Moisture Tint for years. Golden is my current shade as I’ve been away, but Pearl is my usual. Then to get colour in my cheeks I use 3 Custom Colour’s Lip & Cheek Stain in Mom Warm – this is the blusher. It looks scary, but blends out to a beautiful flush. To spritz on skin throughout the day I use the Therapie Restore Aura Spray. I take this on plane journeys with me too as it helps me snooze and have an extra bottle on my desk. It refreshes makeup and defrazzles you. Another bit of magic from Michelle.
When Kevyn Aucoin came out with their Expert Brush Set before Christmas I grabbed one because it basically has everything you need. I use cream products on my face so I just use my fingers but these have all eye looks covered. I use their Essential Eyeshadow Set in 3 too. It’s tonal, nice and warm and works really well with the cooler shades that I use. Even with the grey shadow in there you don’t end up looking too in yer face. I use an old Stila Eye Primer – I’m not even sure they make it anymore? But stuff just sticks to it. The other shadow I use is the Belmacz Blitz 24 Carat Gold Leaf Eyeshadow. It’s made with gold leaf and though it looks lovely on the lids, it makes a great general skin enhancer. You need the tiniest amount and it just makes everything look so lovely and glowy.
I love my eyeliners. The Prestige Cosmetics Liquid Eyeliners in Black and Azure are a Mary Greenwell recommendation and cost like six quid. They’re water based, so don’t stay around forever but they’re nicely pigmented and so easy to draw a little line. One liner that doesn’t budge is the Stila Smudgestick Waterproof Eyeliner in Cobalt. Sometimes I mix it in with a grey-ish liner to tone it down a tad, like the Anastasia Beverly Hills Covet Waterproof Eyeliner in Astral. When I want serious length in my lashes I go for d.j.v Beautenizer’s Fiberwig LX, but I do like my coloured mascaras too. Anastasia Beverly Hills’ Hypercolour Brow & Lash Tint in Electric Blue is my favourite. You just don’t get mascara that colour; it’s a proper cornflower blue. It’s not waterproof but I quite like when it smudges.
For dry, chapped lips Pommade Devine is awesome. It’s nutmeg, clove and cinnamon oils mixed into a base and the recipe is 200 years old. It’s brilliant for healing; my Mum used to use it on my knees when I’d scraped them when I was kid, and her Mum used it on her and back and back and back. It’s a word-of-mouth, insider thing. For gloss it’s all about the Belmacz Glow Gold Leaf Lipgloss in Infrared. It’s a scary looking colour from the outside, but actually it’s lovely on the lips. So you’ve got those flecks of gold leaf that adds a 3D-ness to it, but as a colour it stains your lips and your finger. My go-to red though is the O.C.C Lip Tar in NSFW. The smallest amount does my entire lips and again it stays – I just don’t like stuff that comes off.
For a Ruby Woo hit of colour I love Julie Hewett’s Lipstick Noir in Femme. She based the packaging on the Second World War bullet cases that were sitting around on set when she was working as a Makeup Artist on Pearl Habour. I just love the vintage feel of it, it just feels sturdy. With anything that’s remotely pigmented, anyone who is older than 30 is going to benefit from something like the Duwop Reverse Liner. It’s a clear wax pencil that you use on the outside of your lips that stops things from bleeding. It’s impossible to get hold of though in the UK at the moment so when this runs out I’m switching to the Lipstick Queen version. Then I finish things off with Escentric Molecule, Molecule 01. I use this everyday. I can’t smell it my myself and it’s really odd how it works. You’ll forget you’ve got it on and then someone will enquire into what scent you’re wearing on the tube. It’s nuts.”
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