FROM THE FRONT | The new class of lip and cheek stain

FOR THOUSANDS of years, women colored their cheeks and lips with rogues made from crushed flower petals, berries, beets and bugs. Geishas reddened their lips and the corners of their eyes. At one time, applying rouge to ear lobes was fashionable. During the Victorian era, when makeup was associated with immorality, a quick pinch of the cheek and a few nibbles on the lips brought blood to the surface and flooded the face with a flush. Fads have come and gone, but the desire for a healthy, ruddy complexion persists.

A new class of lip and cheek stains offers a previously unheard of choice of colors and formulations that are easier to apply, blend and coordinate. The new stains last longer and offer better coverage and skin-tone matching than stains of the past. They make great lightweight and long-lasting alternatives to lipstick and blush, especially during makeup-melting humid summer weather.

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FROM THE FRONT | Illamasqua Soho boutique

AN ELDERLY woman, two French tourists, a drag queen in street clothes, a mum and daughter and me... that was the motley crew of customers in Illamasqua's new Soho boutique on the afternoon I visited the space.

It was all black lacquer, antique gold, low lights, artful mannequins, boudoir mirrors and a bijous, gilded makeup school hidden behind goth circus tent-stripped curtains. The space is an homage to playing dress-up with your makeup. The products, from colorful pencils through to base products, ring the room, with the makeup station manned by very good good makeup artists sits in the center, next to the shattered mirror till. And a glass case abutting the left wall as you walk in houses items donated by stars in support of Illamasqua's Sophie Lancaster Foundation.

Highlights of the shop: Being able to play with all the products (including the nail varnishes, liquid metal and pure pigments), all testers are in pristine shape, the shrine to Sophie Lancaster, amazing makeup artists who will do you an entire look for fun (thank you, Amanda!); the makeup remover used in the makeup school (the Crealine H20 cleanser by Bioderma); the makeup school; Alex Box air-brushed mannequins...

Stand-out products: Illamasqua precision ink in Alchemy, Christmas nail varnish duos, liquid metal in Resolute and matte finish lipsticks

I went into the shop a regular girl and came out looking part Debbie Harry, part Jem and the Holograms. Pretty cool...

Check out and enroll in Illamasqua's School of Make-up Art classes.

Illamasqua, 20 Beak Street, W1F 9RE, London, UK

Crealine H2O Ultra-Mild Non-Rinse Face and Eyes Cleanser 250 ml by Bioderma

FROM THE FRONT | Tom Ford Private Blend Lipsticks

THERE'S BEEN a lot of debate on the beauty blogs about whether Tom Ford’s £35 luxury Private Blend lipsticks, launched back in April, are worth it. So we decided to go and check them out for ourselves.

PACKAGING AND TUBE

Wonderful old-school Hollywood glamour in off-white and gold trimming that, yes, feels good to pick-up and hold. Extremely pleasing to the eye and excellent for showing off – this is the kind of lipstick you want to nonchalantly pull out of your handbag in a fancy restaurant.

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