Top 3 LONG-LASTING LIPSTICKS - Tweedie Beauty Awards 2012

GOLD – Lipstick Queen
This is a lipstick that deserves R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Rising triumphantly above bankruptcy, Tall Poppy Syndrome, and the candy coloured 90’s, Lipstick Queen has more staying power than Joan Rivers.  Visualise if you will; sex siren Marilyn Monroe with loose pin curls, natural makeup and sultry pout, singing “I want to be loved by you” in the classic movie Some like it Hot (1959). That’s how you’ll feel wearing Lipstick Queen. Have a buttery flakey croissant, creamy cappuccino and two Bellini’s for breakfast (go on, you know you want to)…. Movie star pout stays perfectly pert. Fast forward five hours; Lipstick Queen continues to stick around like your best friend in the world.  Not in a dry or clay-like way either. Melbourne-born, New York based founder, Poppy King (pictured) was recently quoted saying, “this season it’s all about a moisture rich format with rich pigment”. What she really means is big luscious lips, old Hollywood style are the boom. If red carpet make-up at the recent Cannes Film Festival is anything to go by, 1950’s glamour is making a huge comeback and Poppy is the name on everyone’s lips.

Poppy King is so committed to making the perfect pout; she lives, breathes and sells lipsticks. Nothing else. Now that’s focus in a world where beauty brands are beguiling us with vast head-to-toe product ranges; applying the logic that bathroom cupboard dominance builds loyalty (and bank balances). Lipstick Queen may not take up much shelf space but its sheer wow factor is like a movie set spotlight on your lips; highlighting natural va va voom with high high high quantities of creamy shea butter for lusciousness and pigment that almost tattoos your lips with colour that doesn’t fade, bleed or flake throughout the day. As Marilyn Monroe so eloquently said, “We are all of us stars, and we deserve to twinkle.” Wear Lipstick Queen and you’re well on the way.

Online stockists Kit Cosmetics  AU$32, Space NK USA($25)  and Space NK UK (£20)

SILVER – MAC Pro Longwear Lipcreme
If you’re looking for long-lasting lipstick with serious credentials in the professional make-up artist world, then look no further than MAC Pro Longwear Lipcremes (not the catchiest of names). It’s in 2nd place because wear time is six to eight hours, not the 10- 12 hours that you would get from Lipstick Queen. That aside, MAC rocks the pout. Unlike other fancier beauty brands, MAC take a low key, Gwyneth Paltrow (big MAC fan) approach to their lipsticks. Simultaneously classic and fashion-forward, with healthy dose of practicality. MAC Pro Longwear Lipcremes (the length of this name is bringing on RSI… they should just call it MPL²) are formulated with rich, intense pigments in 12 gloriously natural shades of pinks, plum, browns, reds and mauves; with fabulous names like Love Long Distance, Faithfully Yours and You’re Perfect Already! Very goop (Gwyneth's online magazine)

These pigmented pretties are unusually creamy for a long-lasting lipstick; gliding on easily to provide an even color without any real effort. Because of the slip and creaminess, they feel yummy on the lips, although slightly heavier than a normal lipstick. MAC only launched MPL² a few years ago, and before you could say “Put down that croissant” they were the lipstick of choice for lip-smashingly gorgeous attendees of the ponderously drawn out Oscars, BAFTA’s and international Fashion Weeks. Even Urban Apothecary loyalist, Angelina Jolie lasted the duration of this year’s Oscar marathon in MPL² Russian Red.  Just think...this is the lipstick that kisses Brad Pitt good night. Sweet dreams indeed.

Online stockists MAC USA ($40)


BRONZE – Estée Lauder Pure Color
One of the strongest cosmetic trends this decade is a seismic shift back to perennial classics and style. So it’s with the same amount of surprise registered around the world when Prince William and Kate finally announced their engagement, that we see 1960’s cosmetic icon, Estée Lauder at the winner’s podium for some of 2012’s biggest beauty awards; from New York to Paris, Cosmo to InStyle. Now before you start reaching for the Back Button because you’re far too modern to go anywhere near a brand loved by the Twinset and Pearls generation, it’s worth noting that the House of Estée Lauder has a family tree rivaling HRH The Queen. Fabulous brands such as  Bobbi Brown, MAC, Jo Malone, Clinique, Crème de la Mer, Lab Series, Tom Ford and Origins all bear the Estee Lauder family crest. At the top of the family tree sits 42yr old New Yorker, Aerin Lauder (Estée’s granddaughter). Like many younger generations inheriting a lifetime of legacy, Aerin has breathed fresh edginess and modernity into the Estée Lauder brand.

What’s all this got to do with long-lasting lipsticks you ask? Well…the launch of Pure Colour in 2010 was the turning point for Estée Lauders return to the world of glamour, style and fashion. Aerin Lauder (pictured) threw everything behind the development of Pure Colour, to make it one of the stand-out products of this generation. It worked. Pure Colour has won numerous awards  and sits in 3rd place for the Long-Lasting Lipstick Tweedie Awards only because it has a wear time of 5-6 hours. On all other counts it matches Lipstick Queen and MAC MPL². The rich range of colours is extensive; with 19 different shades of gorgeousness. If your preferred lip tones are nude pink to plum, then you’ll love Pure Colour. Then there's the yummy creamy texture which feels like there’s a built-in lip balm.

Because we don’t all have Angelina Jolie’s naturally pert, rose-tinted lips pre lipstick (why oh why not???), lipstick remains one of life’s little essentials. But who has the energy to put it on more than once a day? Twice at best. So I’m eternally thankful to Estée Lauder Pure Colour “Beige” for bringing barely-there classic New York style to my lips, with no need for a make-up bag and mirror on continuous standby.  Now if only I could make my hair look sleek with as little effort.

Online stockists Estée Lauder Australia ($45), USA ($25) and Europe (£20)

If you enjoyed this article please LIKE us on Tweed Tea and Wellies Facebook page here. We'd love that! Also whilst you're at it why not follow us on Twitter @pradagoesrural 

Top 5 highlights from Decoration + Design 2012

Plopp stool by Oska Zieta
Polish designer Oskar Zieta is the Tim Burton of furniture; adding whimsical, slightly surreal qualities to an industry that often takes itself a little too seriously. His signature piece, the Plopp BlowUp stool, may look like a prop from Alice in Wonderland when deflated, but add a little air from a standard bicycle pump and some mighty clever technology (earning Oskar Zieta numerous design awards) and voila! Surely this must be one of the coolest stools in the world (proof in point... its been featured in FastCompany and Wallpaper magazines). Available in a range of the yummiest powder-coated Pantene colours and loved even by Audi, who recently co-starred Plopp stools in a TV commercial to launch the lightly constructed Audi Q3.  As if that wasn’t cool enough, Zieta designed little felt slippers for Plopp, in case you don’t have under-floor heating. Plopp stools come all blown up and ready to go, but you can buy Plopp coat racks and ladders as flat packs. It’s like IKEA for the well heeled.
Australian enquires for Plopp stools to Laurent at Textura.com.au
(That's the charming Laurent, co-founder of Texture sitting on a Plopp)  

Cliques Couples by Ruben + Kosch
Cliques Couple lights have taken “intimate” design to a new level. Freshly launched at Decoration + Design 2012, these delightful opaque little LED people (approx. 15cm high) only light up when connected to each other. That’s the kind of true love I want in my bedroom. Nick, the clever young designer of Cliques, must have channeled Coco Chanel when the light bulb went off for this idea; because he designed a matching accessories range (reindeer antlers, halos, teddy bear ears) that add a touch of Classy and Fabulous. No crash over-styling for these Little Light People.  At $40 per person, they don’t come cheap (you have to buy a “couple” so they light up) but that’s the price you pay for Love. (Quietly singing “You light up my life” while writing this).  
Available at www.rubenandkosch.com from mid August onwards

 
Goose feather lampshades by Pluma Cubic
My new best friends at Textura, also debuted a celestial cloud of feathered lights. It seems the world, from Milan to Melbourne, is aflutter with feathers; Goose and Rooster feathers to be precise. Not surprising, given the gorgeousness of these handcrafted feather lampshades made by innovative German design house, Pluma Cubic. They’re the Dalai Lama of lightwear. Soft delicate beauties masking strong structures illuminate the age-old wisdom that there is “strength in fragility” (and vice versa). Each lampshade comprises anywhere between 2000-4000 goose (or rooster) feathers, concentrically positioned to accentuate the interplay between light and shade. The result is diffused lighting that would bring a smile to any room. Maybe not the lamp to light your way through Bill Bryson’s “A Short History of Nearly Everything”, but infinitely suitable for 50 Shades of Grey.   
Again… enquiries to Laurent at Textura.com.au

Tom & Jerry Stool by Magis
According to my furniture designer brother, Michael, one can never have enough stools. They’re so versatile; use as chair, step ladder, foot rest, telephone shelf or mooching central around the kitchen counter. Despite their perennial status, well designed stools don’t come around that often. Hence my delight at discovering the Tom & Jerry stool by Italian design house, Magis. Designed by German designer Konstantin Grcic, this multifunctional three-legged stool was launched at the 2010 Salone del Mobile in Milan. For a humble design house with no factories and an ethos of experimental plastic design, Magis sure does know how to create stool icons (think Bombo, Tam Tam, YuYu).

Now it seems that Gricic’s plastic and birch wood re-make of the humble workshop stool is becoming the must-have furniture piece of 2012. Rumour has it that Brad Pitt bought one for each of his kiddies. With such emerging star potential at its feet, surely it won’t be long before Pixar makes a Tom & Jerry movie.
Available online here or more details on Magis here

Vintage Industrial Lights by Tribe Design
With the average TV screen getting wider by the minute and home lounges turning into mini Cannes Film Festival screening rooms, movie studio lighting was as inevitable as Mel Gibson’s swear jar. Enter Stage Left…Tribal Design’s reconditioned studio lamps; so authentically fabulous, they’d catch even Peter Jackson’s eye. When it comes to vintage industrial lights, it doesn’t get much better than the lamps on display at Tribal Design’s stand.

Behold a stunning collection of different sized polished lamp heads, resting stylishly on reconditioned, untreated wood pedestals or suspended from metal chains. They even have original stage lights from Walt Disney Studios in Los Angeles. How Tribal managed to source such vintage treasures was pause for thought. That tested my brain for a few minutes until I got distracted with how glamourous it felt to be standing in the glow of spotlights that previously shone on live-action-in-animation legends, Gene Kelly (Anchors Aweigh) and Julie Andrews (Mary Poppins). If only these star-studded spotlights also came with a telephone number for Rita Wilson (co-founder of Playtone Productions), so I could finally get a movie deal (for “To Daylesford with Love).
Tribe Design Lamps can be bought online here

Rita Wilson or Tom Hanks… call me, maybe.

If you enjoyed this article please LIKE us on Tweed Tea and Wellies Facebook page here. We'd love that! Also whilst you're at it why not follow us on Twitter @pradagoesrural