London Fog – A Blue Based Purple Lipstick from Fashion Fair

FashioFashion Fair London Fog n Fair London Fog

London Fog is a matte blue based purple lipstick from the original women of colour brand Fashion Fair.  Let me say it again, a matte blue based purple lipstick from Fashion Fair.  If you follow the brand, you will understand why this statement is worthy of repeating.  If you don’t, open up your browser and do some research.

Fashion Fair London Fog

Fashion Fair was founded by Eunice Johnson in 1973.  Her husband founded Ebony Magazine  This black power couple for many years were the Beyonce and Jay-Z of their time.  For a black woman to create a makeup brand for women of colour was ground breaking.  For many years, globally, they were at the top of their game.  Then as brands became more global in their outlook and realised that they were missing out on the brown pound, they began to extend their shade range.

Fashion Fair continued to do  what it had always done and their formula for success started to fail. Fast forward to 2017,  problems with stock, a significant reduction in concessions globally and the number of beauty brands popping up globally and you might consider that the brand is on its way out.  Then they bring out a collection like London’s Calling and you get a tiny glimpse of how good, how relevant and how successful the brand could be with some serious investment in technology and focused marketing strategy.

FashioFashion Fair London Fog n Fair London Fog

The Name

As a Londoner born and bred, I can tell you that London Fog is never purple.  Some London sunrises and sunset are but the fog?  Nah.  I also did a little bit of an eye roll when I saw the marketing image.  Policemen in London don’t wear those helmets anymore. They have not done so for a long time.  I get where they are going, but this is a global brand with a well travelled customer base.

Fashion Fair London Fog

The Texture

Fashion Fair missed the liquid lipstick boat.  I feel like they are playing catch up by calling these lipsticks matte.  Strictly speaking they are not.  Which is not a bad thing.  They share the demi-matte / semi – matte that other brands like Charlotte Tilbury have launched.  The problem with calling a lip product ‘matte’ in 2017 is that the expectation is almost that the product is not at all emollient.  Whereas this texture is more of a wearable matte which I really like.  London Fog is not as dry as for example Le Metier de Beaute matte lipsticks but it is not as emollient at some of their other colours. I really like this texture and they should create more shades in this texture… just not call it matte.

Fashion Fair London Fog

The Colour

Yaaaas!!! Finger snap in a zed formation.  As a purple obsessive this is the purple that I have been waiting 30 years for the brand to make.  A blue based purple in my opinion is not a trend colour. Lots of brand, including Estee Lauder have them.  They are a contemporary staple and on pigmented skin, blue in a lip colour can make and unwearable colour wearable.  I own lots of Fashion Fair lipsticks but this is by far my favourite.  This colour pulls super blue in the pictures but it is definitely purple and it registers as purple on the skin. It is a very wearable shade, it is long lasting and it is beautiful.

Yasss Fashion Fair! Finally.  Will you be adding London Fog to your collection?

You can find more Fashion Fair reviews here and here.  Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram for more beauty news and reviews.

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