For those of you who are tiring of reading my reviews of beauty products, I can only apologise. I have begun a couple of film reviews but I'm currently lacking the inspiration to finish them off. Rest assured though, there's a few DVDs in the pipeline in need of reviewing.

In the meanwhile, I've turned to my bottomless make up bag for inspiration and have come up with a charming little Chanel Allure lipstick to share with you all. It's another product in my vast make up collection that cost me nowt. And for those of you who don't live in the North of England, that means zero, zilch, nada! I'd definitely recommend keeping an eye on the Chanel website for occasions when they offer free samples. This lipstick was sent as a freebie but is a very generous size and comes in the same packaging as the full-size version, just on a smaller scale.

Chanel has plenty of blurb on this Allure Rouge lipstick. Most of it is a tad over-hyped and verging on nonsensical but it does give a good idea of what to expect from this lipstick as the website describes 'The wonderfully luminous and satiny make up result offers maximum colour with the very first stroke. The new supple, ultra-fine and ultra-gliding second-skin texture becomes one with the lips to fully reveal its colour...' From this point on, Chanel gets a little silly describing it as 'the essential ally of your allure' and so forth. So if you're looking for the low-down in layman's terms, I've done my best to recreate the Chanel Allure experience.

The Allure lipstick I have is in the shade Libertine which is a very nice peachy pink colour with enough red in it to stop you looking washed out and pale when wearing it. There's also an ever so subtle gold shimmer to it which gives it an almost glossy look on your lips. I'm sure I don't have to educate any of you as to how to apply your lipstick and this one is no different in that respect to the thousands of others that are on the market. But as soon as the lipstick touches your lips, you'll notice a difference between the Chanel range and a large percentage of the inferior products that are available. The lipstick glides onto my lips smoothly and I can actually feel it on my lips. It doesn't feel sticky or tacky but instead my lips feel moisturised and soft, just as I'd expect from an intensive lip balm.

The colour on my lips is identical to the lipstick in the tube so you don't have to worry about the lipstick looking different when worn to how it does in the packaging. It doesn't bleed out of the line of my lips, and I'm not one to bother with a separate lip liner so that's a bonus for me. The lipstick is flavourless but it does have a slight aroma to it. It's not easy to describe but if you've ever used premium branded lipsticks before, then it's an aroma you'll be familiar with. Call me crazy but I swear I can smell the quality in designer cosmetics!

So this is another in my long list of tried and liked cosmetics. But unfortunately, it also joins the ranks of 'great freebie, not sure it's worth buying myself.' The price, incidentally, is £19.50 which is a lot of money to spend on a lipstick if you ask me. If you're dripping in diamonds and can afford it then go for it. If not, you may as well stick to something cheap and cheerful and then you won't feel like you've lost a limb when you lose it.

************************************************* **

Also on Ciao.com