Beauty Blog

Video:Pastel peepers for spring

March 27th, 2011

PIXIWOO = Pastels for Spring
<a href=”javascript:popUp(’http://vkm2.com/vid_master/sixty_two.html’)”>
If you caught our purple eyes post the other day you will no doubt be aware that L’Onglex is going all girly this spring.
Yup, pastel shades are back again and if you need a visual reminder for the look try and picture something along the lines 50’s mom meets Sofia Cappola’s Marie Antoinette and you will  probably be somewhere near !
Obviously, visualising random things is great if you’re good at it, but having thought about it the above description is pretty much useless and it would be far better for everyone  if we could post a link to someone who can show us in a step-by-step-idiot-proof-type-stylee ….
That ’someone in question’ are the always immaculate girls at Pixiwoo.com (http://pixiwoo.blogspot.com/) who have a video explaining how to work the trend and get the look far better than the picture above or our endless ramblings ever could …..
<strong><a href=”javascript:popUp(’http://vkm2.com/vid_master/sixty_two.html’)”><span style=”color: #654f72;”>Watch the pastels video here</span></a></strong>
http://www.harpersbazaar.com/cm/harpersbazaar/images/hbz-oscar-de-la-renta-ss11-makeup-blog.jpg

If you caught our purple eyes post the other day you will no doubt be aware that L’Onglex is going all girly this spring.

Yup, pastel shades are back again and if you need a visual reminder for the look try and picture something along the lines 50’s mom meets Sofia Cappola’s Marie Antoinette and you will  probably be somewhere near !

Obviously, visualising random things is great if you’re good at it, but having thought about it the above description is pretty much useless and it would be far better for everyone  if we could post a link to someone who can show us in a step-by-step-idiot-proof-type-stylee ….

That ’someone in question’ are the always immaculate girls at Pixiwoo.com who have a video explaining how to work the trend and get the look far better than the picture above or our endless ramblings ever could …..

Watch the pastels video here

PS- The image at the top is from the Oscar de la Renta SS11 shows which has been covered quite nicely by the folks at Harpers Bazaar.


Ooooh ….. sparkly !

March 17th, 2011
Ooooh  ….. sparkly !
Just as we at L’Onglex we’re getting excited about the longer evenings, brighter mornings and general lack of frost, an incoming email now has us wishing summer would be over and the dark evenings with us once more !
As we’re always excited by what’s coming down the line this shot that came to us via Chanel’s people in Paris has had the effect of making us all go girly and exciteable by what will land our way from the AW11 collections.
Yes, we know that it’s quite sad when you plan your polish purchases six months in advance but when we saw these shots of Chanel Le Vernis Graphite we just couldn’t help but mumble something like …. oooohhh …. sparkly …. need that ….
Due to hit the shelves at BT’s some time around the end of August we haven’t  tried any  yet but working on the assumption that between now and August we don’t fall out of love with Chanel polish we think we’ll be somewhere near first in the queue.
des-chanel-2011-polish

Just as we at L’Onglex we’re getting excited about the longer evenings, brighter mornings and general lack of frost, an incoming email now has us wishing summer would be over and the dark evenings with us once more !

As we’re always excited by what’s coming down the line this shot that came to us via Chanel’s people in Paris has had the effect of making us all go girly and exciteable by what will land our way from the AW11 collections.

Yes, we know that it’s quite sad when you plan your polish purchases six months in advance but when we saw these shots of Chanel Le Vernis Graphite we just couldn’t help but mumble something like …. oooohhh …. sparkly …. need that ….

Due to hit the shelves at BT’s some time around the end of August we haven’t  tried any  yet but working on the assumption that between now and August we don’t fall out of love with Chanel polish we think we’ll be somewhere near first in the queue.


Things we loved last week: Chanel Black Pearl

March 1st, 2011
Its not often that we get to fawn over designer nail polish here at L’Onglex HQ but when an opportunity arises you can be sure that we’ll milk it!
Enter the latest must have from colour from Chanel and how we managed to beg, borrow and steal ourselves this rather coveted spring colour is anyones guess. What’s probably more surprising is that we’ve had it for two weeks and not shouted about it to anyone who would listen.
Not sure if the rather hurried pictures and our rather hurried application do the shade the justice we think it deserves. The shimmery blue and grey undertones make the polish look different shades of grey depending on the light. If you’re polish obsessed like we are the end result is that you’ll spend ages staring at your nails to see exactly which delectable shade of grey / green they happen to be in any given light ….. which makes us look a bit like barbie …. but who cares ?
A wallet wincing €21 is the damage if you can beg, borrow and steal ( which is how we got ours ) to get some. Take solace in the fact that it works out at only 10c per coat !

chanel-2

Its not often that we get to fawn over designer nail polish here at L’Onglex HQ but when an opportunity arises you can be sure that we’ll milk it!

Enter the latest must have colour from the folks at Chanel and how we managed to beg, borrow and steal ourselves this rather coveted spring colour is anyones guess. What’s probably more surprising is that we’ve had it for two weeks and not shouted about it to anyone which for us is most unusual.

Not sure if the rather hurried pictures and our rather hurried application do the shade the justice we think it so richly deserves but the shimmery blue and grey colours make this polish look completely different depending on the light.

If, like ourselves, you happen to be polish obsessed the end result of the colour differential is that you’ll spend ages staring at your nails to see exactly which delectable shade of grey / green they happen to be at any given time which has the rather nasty side effect of making you look a bit too into yerself !

A wallet wincing €21 is the damage if you can beg, borrow or steal some and if this sounds a bit costly take solace in the fact that it’s …..

i)  If you apply it as much as us it works out at 10c per coat … and …

ii) … gorgeously Chanel !


Trendwatch: lining those locks

February 7th, 2011
Trendwatch: lining those locks
While we would always be reluctant to admit it, where Chanel seem to go most of us at some point or other will invariably follow. Remember fake tattoos ? Chanel did em, remember must have nail polish ? Chanel did it – and so on and so on !
As we are currently prowling runway shows to see what might be the next big thing we must admit that their latest hair trend has left us with a feeling a little out of our depth. In case you’re wondering what this might be, take a look at the picture above and I’ll all be dammed if that aint just a parting made with none other than black eyeliner.
Seems that according to the veritable fashion house blondes will be sporting black and brunettes a streak of yellow. Whilst we wouldn’t exactly be delighted to do it ourselves we are reliably informed that a little strong mousse applied to wet hair will help get you the slicked back look required and all that is left to do after that is make sure the pencil is thick and keep a steady hand for the parting.
As we haven’t actually seen anyone wear this yet we’ll be waiting until it really catches on before we even have a go – either that or we’ll save it for Halloween.
Any thoughts … comments below.
Image from Motilo.com http://magazine.motilo.com/?p=1844

While we would always be reluctant to admit it, where Chanel seem to go most of us at some point or other will invariably follow. Remember fake tattoos ? Chanel did em, remember must have nail polish ? Chanel did it – and so on and so on !

As we are currently prowling runway shows to see what might be the next big thing we must admit that their latest hair trend has left us with the feeling of being a little out of our depth. In case you’re wondering what this might be, take a look at the picture above and I’ll be dammed if that aint just a parting made with the judicious use of black eyeliner.

Seems that according to the veritable fashion house blondes will be sporting black lines and brunettes a streak of yellow, and whilst we wouldn’t exactly be delighted to do it ourselves we are reliably informed that a little strong mousse applied to wet hair will help get you the slicked back look required. All that is left to do after that is make sure the pencil is quite thick and keep a steady hand for the parting.

As we haven’t actually seen anyone wear this yet we’ll be waiting until it really catches on before we even have a go – either that or we’ll save it for Halloween – any thoughts … leave comments below !

Image from Motilo.com


Chanel has deceived us …..

January 30th, 2011
Chanel has deceived us …..
Beware fans of L’Onglex !
Having brought you the Japanese robot that washes your hair, clothes you can make yourself from spray foam and a product which lets you get Cheryl Coles hair straight out of a tin, we can’t help but mention our latest find …. Chanel The Movie.
As we are suckers for anything Chanel related we had to take a peek when we heard the word that Chanel had produced an animated movie featuring a hit-parade of every single thing we ever wanted to own for ourselves but couldn’t actually afford.
Why the video was commissioned we are not so sure, but having watched the sequence a couple of times we are fast coming to the conclusion that this is not the uber-stylish video animation it purports to be. Merely a sophisticated ploy at making school age infants fall in love with the brand so that they have no choice but to spend all their pocket money collecting Chanel make-up in a Pokemon stylee.
Quite why the worlds most sophisticated luxury brand has chosen to go all Disney on our asses I cannot say, but what we are convinced of is that if word gets round TOY STORY will be no more and every 6 year old girl will be pestering her mother to buy her the latest must have Chanel Robot …… you have been warned…..
<iframe src=”http://player.vimeo.com/video/19185489″ width=”400″ height=”225″ frameborder=”0″></iframe><p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/19185489″>Animating Chanel</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/user3585222″>lionel bui</a> on <a href=”http://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a>.</p>

robot

Beware fans of L’Onglex !

Having brought you the Japanese robot that washes your hair, clothes you can make yourself from spray foam and a product which lets you get Cheryl Coles hair straight out of a tin, we can’t help but mention our latest find …. Chanel The Movie.

As we are suckers for anything Chanel related we had to take a peek when we heard the word that Chanel had produced an animated movie featuring a hit-parade of every single thing we ever wanted to own for ourselves but couldn’t actually afford.

Why the video was commissioned we are not so sure, but having watched the sequence a couple of times we are fast coming to the conclusion that this is not the uber-stylish video animation it purports to be. Merely a sophisticated ploy at making school age infants fall in love with the brand so that they have no choice but to spend all their pocket money collecting Chanel make-up in a Pokemon stylee.

Quite why the worlds most sophisticated luxury brand has chosen to go all Disney on our asses I cannot say, but what we are convinced of is that if word gets round TOY STORY will be no more and every 6 year old girl will be pestering her mother to buy her the latest must have Chanel Robot …… you have been warned…..

Click here to watch the video


Pump up the volume – it’s our mascara picks

January 10th, 2011
Pump up the Volume – some of our favourite Mascaras
Don’t really know how this happened exactly but somewhere along the way L’Onglex seemed to fall in love with volumising mascaras. Why exactly this was, how this developed, and when exactly we started making eyes at lash thickening products we can’t tell you. As is always the case for those with an addiction to the slap, one is never satisfied and we knew we wouldn’t be happy til we’d tried everything we could get our greedy hands on.
Having really thought about it, the desire to lash up probably came as a result of our eyes exploding when we tried out those glue on lash thingies at a salon who shall remain nameless. Obviously, being the sort we are, the thought of having luridly long, outrageously luscious lashes was too good not to be true. But once the things were glued on and we’d had to suffer the ignominy of having to crawl back to a salon indifferent to our plight and beg for the things to be unglued from our peepers we became a little more discerning about we stick on our eyes.
Anyhows, before we bore you to sleep with our sob stories we can at least reveal the fruits of our labour. No, we haven’t tried everything out there but we can say hand on heart that we’ve been through enough to now know a good un’ from a bad un’. Here, for your consideration, are a selection of the best volumising mascaras that we’ve managed to find over the last year – read it, and don’t weep !
Lesson 1 – Chanel Inimitable Intense is best for length….
Those of you with a desire for some length, some volume and a certain elegance of application will love this one. As the the uniquely designed mascara wand features bristles which align really well each sweep tends to go on really smoothly. Ok, it’s not the fattest lash you’ll ever flutter but it doesn’t cake or crack and the formula is really thin which helps with building the stuff in layers. As a mascara for daywear this is light enough for lengthening by day and can be beefed up for something a bit less subtle for evening wear. Although they probably won’t thank us for saying this, €28 isn’t particularly purse friendly but as it’s pretty adaptable Inimitable Intense makes our list.
Lesson 2 –  Rimmel’s The Max Volume Flash is best value….
A keratin enriched formula, a larger than life wand and soup-thick lashes in less than two sweeps … it can only be Rimmel Max Volume ! At about €8 a pop this is about the best we’ve worn in this price range. In fact, it was one of the best we wore full stop. Having been on the L’Onglex make-up table for some time a rather nice effect of using this was that over time we found our formerly flimsy fluttering went from bad to better. As the formula for Max Volume contains added collagen our lashes fattened up with prolonged use – can’t say fairer than that !
Lesson 3 – Model Co Fiber Lash is more than a gimmick …
As mentioned in other posts on these pages L’Onglex’s biggest beauty gripe has to be our panda eyes. After this comes the fact that even at best our lashes could only be described as .. well .. ‘barely there’. Being in need of a little substance to go with a raging case of lash envy when we first laid eyes on Model Co Fiber Lash we ended up doing a bit of a double take.
Simply, this is a two part mascara which comes blacker than black and is applied and then layered over with hundreds of teeny tiny lash filaments which add density and volume to the liquid. The end result is bulky, sultry and a complete fake. On the downside it’s €35 but if you really struggle to get something noticeable in the lash department you may as well bit the bullet rather than go through three or four of something else. Despite the fact that it sounds quite complex application isn’t to difficult once you’ve got the hang of it.
Lesson 4 – Maybeline’s The Falsies is anything but ….
Whoever devised the formula for The Falsies deserves to be bestowed some kind of beauty sainthood. No matter how many coats you apply it just builds and the fact is unless your really working the whole starry eyed goth look you probably only need one-and-a-half. Yes, if your lashes are are really short it’s probably not the best but on the hand if there long enough so that you can get them round the spoon shaped brush we think this is perfect. As soon as we’d worked out that you have to let the first coat dry a little to keep things neat we were quickly of the opinion that this is the best mascara we’ve ever had.

best_mascaras

Don’t really know how this happened exactly but somewhere along the way L’Onglex seemed to fall in love with volumising mascaras.

Why exactly this was, how this developed, and when exactly we started making eyes at lash thickening products we can’t tell you. As is always the case for those with an addiction to the slap, one is never satisfied and we knew we wouldn’t be happy til we’d tried everything we could get our greedy hands on.

Having really thought about it, the desire to lash up probably came as a result of our eyes exploding when we tried out those glue on lash thingies at a salon who shall remain nameless.

Obviously, being the sort we are, the thought of having luridly long, outrageously luscious lashes was too good not to be true. But once the things were glued on and we’d had to suffer the ignominy of having to crawl back to a salon indifferent to our plight and beg for the things to be unglued from our peepers we became a little more discerning about what we would be sticking on our eyes in future.

So, before we bore you with our sob stories we can at the very least reveal the fruits of our labour. No, we haven’t tried everything that’s out there but we can say hand on heart that we’ve been through enough to now know a good un’ from a bad un’.

Here, for your consideration, are a selection of the best volumising mascaras that we’ve managed to find over the last year – read it, and don’t weep !

Lesson 1 – Chanel Inimitable Intense is best for length….

Those of you with a desire for some length, some volume and a certain elegance of application will love this one. Ok, it’s not the fattest lash you’ll ever flutter but it doesn’t cake or crack and the formula is really thin which helps with building the stuff in layers.

As a mascara for daywear this is light enough for lengthening and can be beefed up for something a bit less subtle should you need it. Although they probably won’t thank us for saying this, €28 isn’t particularly purse friendly but as it’s pretty adaptable Inimitable Intense makes our list.

Lesson 2 –  Rimmel’s The Max Volume Flash is best value….

A keratin enriched formula, a larger than life wand and soup-thick lashes in less than two sweeps … it can only be Rimmel Max Volume ! At about €8 a pop this is about the best we’ve worn in this price range. In fact, it was one of the best we wore full stop.

Having been on the L’Onglex make-up table for ages we also found that a rather nice effect of using this was that over time we found our formerly flimsy fluttering went from a state of ‘bad’ to a state of …. ‘much better’. Later we discovered that as the formula for Max Volume contains added collagen our lashes fattened up with prolonged use and you can’t say fairer than that !

Lesson 3 – Model Co Fiber Lash is more than a gimmick …

As mentioned in other posts on these pages L’Onglex’s biggest beauty gripe has to be our panda eyes. After this comes the fact that even at best our lashes could only be described as .. well .. ‘barely there’.

Being in need of a little substance to cure our raging case of lash envy when we first laid eyes on Model Co Fiber Lash we ended up doing a bit of a double take – would it work … how does it work ?

Simply, this is a two part mascara which comes blacker than black and is applied and then layered over with hundreds of teeny tiny lash filaments which add density and volume to the liquid on the lash.

The end result is bulky, sultry and a completely gorgeous fake. On the downside, it costs €35, but if you really struggle to get something noticeable in the lash department you may as well bite the bullet on the cost rather than go through three or four of something less effective. Despite the fact that the whole getting-it-on business sounds quite complex, application isn’t too difficult once you’ve got the hang of it.

Lesson 4 – Maybeline’s The Falsies is anything but ….

Whoever devised the formula for The Falsies deserves to be bestowed some kind of beauty sainthood. No matter how many coats you apply it just builds and the fact is unless you’re really working the whole starry eyed goth look you probably only need a sweep and a half.

Ok – if your lashes are really short it’s probably not the best but if your lashes are long enough to get them around the spoon shaped brush we think this is perfect. As soon as we’d worked out that you have to let the first coat dry a little to keep things neat we were quickly of the opinion that this is the best volumising mascara we’ve ever had ….. we think !


Chanel SS11 polish preview

December 16th, 2010

CHANEL_polish

While the ice may be firmly settled on the foot paths we at L’Onglex HQ have been quietly contenting ourselves with the fact that spring is most definitely on it’s way for we’ve just caught d=sight of Chanel’s Spring nail polishes which will be hitting stores at the end of January!
Inspired by Coco Chanel’s love of pearls the sparkly polish collection includes a pearly white – Pearl Drop, a perfect peach – Peche Nacree and an intense green – Black Pearl.
We’ve got our eye on the pearly white and feel it will be a nice antidote to the vampy reds we’ve been sporting over the Christmas Season.
Roll on January!

While the icy winds may still be blowing we at L’Onglex are not without the odd reminder that spring will be with us at sooner or later.

Of course, being the shallow sort we undoubtedly are we don’t actually mean to say the weather will get warm and sunny and we’ll be off for picnics and the like …. more the fact that the spring make-up collections will soon be with us.

Enter Chanel’s newest polish collection which hits shops in January and has apparently been inspired by Coco Chanel’s love of pearls. The brilliantly sparkly collection includes a pearly white by the name of Pearl Drop, a perfect peach by the name of Peche Nacree and a rather fetching green by the name of Black Pearl.

As with all Chanel polishes L’Onglex is under no illusions that come January the new shades will actually be any easier to get our hands on than the real thing – no doubt we’ll be trying to bag a bottle or two anyway !


Bath time just got a little more decadent!

September 14th, 2010
Those of you who frequent these pages often will know we’ve got more then a soft spot for Chanel so when news of the Coco Mademoiselle toiletries collection speed into Longlex HQ there were more then a few squeals of delight as well as a few visa cards running for cover.
Beautifully fragranced with notes of the orient , the luxury bath goodies which hit shelves in October include an oil, a gel and lotion but with prices starting at €37 for the bath gel these are definitely a splurge our bank manager would not approve of!
We however see it quite differently………while we don’t usually condone such decadence at bath time, we can’t help but feel that it will definitely help when it comes to peeling ourselves from our warm beds and into the shower during the cold winter months…..and anything that gets us out of bed earlier can only be good for our work flow which in tern is good for our bank balance so we definitely see it as a good long term investment!

coco_chanel_bath_gel

Those of you who frequent these pages often will know we’ve got more then a soft spot for Chanel so when news of the Coco Mademoiselle Toiletries Collection sped into Longlex HQ there were the obvious squeals of delight as well as a few groans of misery from those whose visa cards haven’t recovered from the new Tom Ford.

Beautifully fragranced with notes of the orient, the luxury bath goodies will hit shelves in October and include an oil, a gel and a lotion.  With prices starting at €37 for the bath gel these definitely fall into the “beg the bank manager” category but we have worked out a way we can justify spending the money …. we think !

By our reckoning winter is cold and getting out from under a warm duvet is difficult. Anything which can motivate us to get out from under the duvet and into the shower a little bit quicker is bound to be good for the bank balance as in the long run as it means we don’t get the sack …. convinced ??


New lip glosses from Chanel

September 8th, 2010
With statement lips being big news this Autumn/Winter we at L’Onglex were only fit to burst when we caught sight of the new glosses from Chanel.
Hitting counters in October, Chanel Rouge Allure Extrait de Gloss come in eight shades and combine the comfort and wearability of a gloss with a high colour lipstick – and they do !
Aside from the gorgeous shades ( very retro pop for Chanel ! ) the packaging is sleek, chic and seriously covetable. We know we shouldn’t be swayed by the cover but at the end of the day who doesn’t love Coco.
Know we know the image above looks all svelte and smooth in a sort of Robert Palmer addicted to love kind of way but as we’re currently treating our lips to the rosy tones of Fatale at this moment we think it looks so much more like the colour of a 50’s ‘B-movie’ heroine !

Chanel_Rouge_Allure_Extrait_de_Gloss

With statement lips being big news this Autumn/Winter we at L’Onglex were only fit to burst when we caught sight of the new glosses from Chanel.

Hitting counters in October, Chanel Rouge Allure Extrait de Gloss comes in eight shades and combine the comfort and wearability of a gloss with a the high colour lipstick …. and they do !

Aside from the gorgeous shades ( very retro pop for Chanel ! ) the packaging is sleek, chic and seriously covetable and although we know we should know better than to be swayed by these things at the end of the day who doesn’t love Coco.

Chanel_Rouge_AllureThe image above is pretty much the colour but rather than being all svelte and smooth in a Robert Palmer Addicted to Love kind of way, we happen to think  it looks so much more like the colour of a 50’s ‘B-movie’ heroine !

Rest assured we are currently treating our lips to the rosy tones of Fatale at this very moment and we will surely discuss the matter in due course.


New Chanel shades … but not for us !

August 25th, 2010
New Chanel shades … but not for us !
There’s not much that can put us into the depths of despair on a Wednesday. As days of the week go Wednesday, being humpday and all is the sort of day when the worst is generally over and the fun can be had.
That was until we received some rather disturbing news this morning that Chanel will be releasing a linited edition range of polishes that L’Onglex wont be able to get our grubby mitts on.
The collection above has been created by Peter Philips for Vogue’s Fashion Night Out on September 8th and features three shades of khaki brilliance which as gorgeous as they are will never adorn L’Onglex’s slender hands  !
Khaki Rose , Khaki Vert and Khaki Brun will only be available from Chanel Boutiques and Selfridges and since we don’t have access to said facility or the money to fly over and queue up on Oxford Street it’s unlikely we’ll ever get to see the light of day on these.

chanel_khaki_limited_edition

There’s not much that can put us into the depths of despair on a Wednesday. As days of the week go Wednesday, being humpday and all, is the sort of day when the worst is generally over and the fun can be had with the rest of the week.

That was until we received some rather disturbing news this morning that Chanel will be releasing a limited edition range of polishes that L’Onglex wont be able to get our grubby mitts on.

The collection above has been created by Peter Philips for Vogue’s Fashion Night Out on September 8th and features three shades of khaki brilliance which as gorgeous as they are will never adorn L’Onglex’s slender hands  !

Khaki Rose , Khaki Vert and Khaki Brun will only be available from Chanel Boutiques and Selfridges and since we don’t have access to said facility or the money to fly over and queue up on Oxford Street it’s unlikely we’ll ever get to see the light of day on these.