Coloured Mascara: Miss Sporty Fabulous Lash in Purple and Green

 

Coloured mascaras are a right bugger. We want them to be awesome, they so frequently are the opposite!If the colour is right, the formula isn’t and more often than not, getting the colour to actually show up is nigh on impossible. With fancy-pants brands like Chanel and Diorpopping them out left, right and centre, it made me wonder if perhaps formulas are a little better of late?  Having been pleasantly surprised by a Miss Sporty mascara I purchased recently, I was keen to try out their coloured offerings and at £2.99 each it almost seemed rude not to!

This looks actually… promising!

This is ‘ Extreme Purple.’ And purple it certainly is. If you want to try a coloured mascara without wanting to worry about looking too out there, go for navy, purple or plum, as this will still give you a little of the depth of colour your normal black or brown mascara one. Pleased with this one, at any rate.

Now this is where I got my thee quids worth, boys and girls! ‘Extreme Green’ is a bit of a corker.


Okay, okay. The formula on these is not going to give you long, luscious, thick lashes, but neither is it too dry or too clumpy which other cheap coloured mascaras are often guilty of. You’re not wearing these for that reason anyway – they’re for fun. On the lower lashline with a matching waterline they can look great, or if you’re feeling daring, coloured mascara against a deep black smokey eye looks awesome!

Now, Miss Sporty… may I pretty please ask for a pink?!

My first Memebox: 10MinuteBox

A month or so ago, I got rather annoyed when the one beauty box I subscribed to seemed to think that tea and notebooks were somehow beauty items. Nope. Cancelling my subscription, I decided to try out  Memebox, which is a Korean beauty box subscription service. Korean cosmetics are known for being super cute and for having great/interesting skincare, which are of course things literally everyone is interested in, no?

Memebox seems to work a little differently to usual boxes - they do have a monthly box, which seems to sell out, and they also have one-off boxes as well. If you go onto their site, there are a variety of boxes available, and you can buy them as a one-off as opposed to a subscription, which I think is great. It’s hard to determine which is the regular monthly box as there are so many to choose from – including themed boxes such as a green tea box and boxes for dudes, and the larger Superboxes – and the website isn’t super explanatory - but I believe it’s the numbered boxes.

Buying boxes gives you points which you can use off of your next order or in the store- this order shipped late, so I was given points to spend, which I immediately put toward another box! They do take a while to ship boxes after they're bought, but you're let know the shipping date and my box was here five days after it actually shipped, which is great as it came from Korea! They're a little more expensive than the average £10-15 beauty box - I believe after conversion into pounds, this was £18.

The box I chose was the 10MinuteBox:

"The hottest Memebox has just arrived! It comes with the most perfect make-love-happen-now beauty products that will get you all polished up for a night you'll never forget!"
The premise of this box was getting ready for a date quickly so I was hoping for makeup items in this box!”

Cute box, no? Let's see what I got - all products are the full sized version:

 

Aromalab EverEssence Designer Fragrance Oil in 8 Women ($34)

I'm not a huge fan of perfume oils or rollerballs, but this is pleasant enough. I don't get the jasmine promised on the box, but I do get a light rosy musk at the start drying to something a little more woody. This will live in my desk drawer at work for a little pick me up during the day but I can’t see it being a staple.

Hope Girl Powdery Body Perfume ($49)

cheers box

HOW cute is this? This is what I got the box for - cute brands that I've never heard of! I'm not sure how useful this product will be - it's a silica-based powder that claims to absorb sweat and keep you feeling fresh, with a subtle scent. Mine is in the scent 'Tropical Lovers' and it's a subtly sweet, coconut-y sort of scent. It’s a light scent, again, pleasant enough. You can apply with the puff in the lid, or unscrew the top to dip a brush in, or to refill. If I don't wind up using this powder – which remains to be seen to be honest! - I'll decant my regular face powder into it because it is so darn cute!

 

Hope Girl Milky Balm Lipstick in Red Burgundy ($24)

Oh, glory, glory! More leopard print! In the form of a burgundy lipstick, nonetheless! I have no qualms here whatsoever – the packaging so right up my alley it’s ridiculous. And as for the lipstick itself? Lovely! Creamy, opaque, not too glossy, no slip and very comfortable. This ticks all the boxes. I’d buy more from the brand. The star item in the box in my opinion!

Secret Romance Hair Essence Lovely 60ml ($39)

 

This is a 'pheromone hair essence that leaves your hair smelling like a sensual rose all day.' It also claims to nourish and increase shine. I can't read the ingredients as they're in Korean, which makes it harder to determine what it might actually do! This is an oily-feeling serum with a light, powdery scent, but I'm not sure it smells of rose - perhaps it's a little masculine smelling?! I can't put my finger on it but I like it. From trying it out quickly, a little goes a long way! I'll be trying this out further to see if I can coax a little love back into my dry ends! I am also totally convinced the pheromones in this will turn my other half into a crazed sex beast.

Laboratory Eyelash ($5)

legit and professional application is definitely not straight from the box with no glue at all, nope nope

These are so cute! And how cheap are lashes out there? Pretty jealous. These are chunky yet still manage to have a thin lash band - so in my eyes, basically pretty perfect. Can't wait to use these properly, they are banging!

So...would I get another Memebox? Ahem.  I already ordered one before this one came, but basically, yes, I'm excited to get the next one! A nice mix of unusual items  - which is the point! – that are all full sized,  good value compared to the price of the box, great customer service, you’re not tied in to buy one each month. Yep, yep, yep. Memebox are doing it right.

Have you tried this box? What's your favourite subscription box?

Quickie Review: Rimmel ‘Kate’ Waterproof Gel Eyeliner in Emerald

Rimmel have added some new items to their Kate Moss line this time we’re being treated to some eye makeup. The gel liner in ‘Emerald’ immediately caught my eye – I’ve always loved green liner and in my early twenties, green glitter eyeliner was a staple look of mine. The outer packaging looks very similar to the Maybelline gel liners too, so I was interested to see how they compare.



Very similar to the Maybelline, no?

Like the Maybelline one, this also comes with a brush. Sadly, the brush isn’t as nice as the Maybelline one at all, though it looks very similar. It’s hard to achieve a fine line with the Maybelline one but it is possible and I actually quite rate them, especially for lipstick and spot concealing. I really struggled with the Rimmel one, as you’ll see below.

The liner itself is the main event though. Unlike a lot of other high end and ever drugstore gel liners, the Rimmel comes in a cheaper looking plastic pot, with Kate’s signature on the top. I don’t really care about the packaging of an eyeliner looks wise, but in my experience products like this that are in glass jars simply last longer and don’t dry out as fast. It’s a shame considering that other liners at the same price point do have glass jars.

‘Emerald’ is a slightly misleading colour – this is a blackened green. I was expecting from the picture on the packaging for it to be a green matte, and this has a good amount of shimmer. Expectations aside, this is still a bloody gorgeous colour and very wearable! I’m excited to have a pretty liner I can pull off at work. The downside is, as with a lot of more shimmery gel liners, that you do sacrifice full opacity and you may have to go over areas once or twice to prevent patchiness – this is pretty opaque but not 100%.



A very quick application with the brush – the brush is just not great, folks. However, the liner applied smoothly, gliding across the lid really nicely, and it sets fast – this isn’t going anywhere anytime soon! I have to touch up a few tiny places where it looked less opaque, but


While this isn’t a totally perfect liner, it’s very pretty and not a purchase I regret one bit! ’Emerald’ costs £6.99 and is available from Boots and Superdrug.

Who makes your favourite gel eyeliners?

MAC Alluring Aquatics Swatches: Goddess Of The Sea and Seduced By The Sea

Alluring Aquatics came out last week, seemingly hitting the UK shelves before the US, yadda yadda yadda. I’m going to give you the TL;DR version straight up – average MAC products, AMAZING PACKAGING. I could leave it there but that’s the general gist.

LOOK AT THIS SHIT. Each item in this collection is a shiny blue metallic packing, covered in 3d fake water droplets. FAKE WATER DROPLETS. I didn’t realise this until I opened it – I thought they were embossed somehow and when I opened the packaging I was like IS THIS REAL LIFE? If you’re a makeup collector you need at least one piece from this collection, man. It’s really, really cool. Like every woman my age who is pissed off that we actually have to be adults now and give a shit about things, I want to be a mermaid and this collection I feel helps a little with that. Is it cool enough to warrant the extremely cheeky price raise to £16.50 on the lipstick? If this collection wasn’t released on payday I may have had a different answer to that question, but I think yes.

 

L-R: Extra Dimension Blush in Seduced At Sea, Cremesheen lipstick in Goddess Of The Sea. More water droplet action, and the MAC logo is inlaid in some fancy blue pearlescent writing.

L-R: Blush in Seduced At Sea, cremesheen lipstick in Goddess Of The Sea

Goddess Of The Sea. I totally am the Goddess Of The Sea but I’d probably pick Illamasqua’s Apocalips for my official duties. Described as a ‘dark vibrant violet,’ I was expecting this to be a little less wearable and quite frankly darker. Not what I was expecting but lovely nonetheless. I do like the cremesheen formula so I expect I’ll get a good bit of wear out of this one.

Here I am wearing Seduced At Sea on the cheeks. Described as a ‘mid tone neutral plum’ which is quite frankly absolute bollocks. This more like a light, burnt orange to me. I wished when it arrived that I’d ordered the coral, but applied this is actually rather lovely. I’d apply with a light hand to avoid looking like an Oompa Loompa. A nice colour for medium skins or tanned lighter skins.

The products themselves are very nice – I love the extra dimension blushes and wish they were a permanent fixture because I would sop them up with a biscuit. They’re just lovely. And a cremesheen lipstick is always a winner. While I only got two items, I don’t think there is one overall standout from this collection. Everything is nice, wearable, something you’ll get use out of. That’s fine, but this collection in my opinion is outshined by the absolutely banging packaging.


Almost everything seems to be sold out at the moment, but will you be picking up anything from this collection?

Makeup Revolution Scandalous Lipsticks in Felony, Immoral and Depraved

Makeup Revolution are the newest budget beauty brand on the UK scene and they have tons and tons of makeup with a tiny price tag. I jumped at the Scandalous lip collection, which featured a sky blue, yellow, purple, bright pink and orange shades. A blue lipstick for £1?! How could any self-respecting product junkie not try that?

I’m up to my neck in orange and purple shades from all price points, so wanted to see how these more unusual shades fared.

The packaging here is very similar to MUA, except the colour part on the end is in the lid, not the body of the lipstick. I like this style of packaging as it’s easy to see find what you’re looking for in a sea of black cases. The product has a fairly light but pretty synthetic smell typical of cheap lippies. A TL;DR summary: The packaging is light and you’re getting what you pay for in that respect. The formula for all of these has a *lot* of slip, and the wear time on them all is pretty short as well– I would check up on the state of your lips at least once an hour, especially as more unusual shades have a tendency to look worse as they wear down compared to more natural shades like red or pink. As you’ll see, these colours aren’t perfect, but there are virtually no other comparable shades at this price point.

Felony

Okay, let’s start with the worst of the bunch. There’s no two way about it – this lipstick is a travesty and should not have been made, regardless of the fact it’s only a quid. The formula isn’t very pigmented and it’s super emollient and slippery, making it a bugger to apply alongside evenly, alongside it not being overly flattering. Your lip colour will always show and seems to emphasis imperfection on the lip. Boo. I may use this to adjust other colours but I can’t see myself ever reaching for it to be honest.

It works a little better over a white base, creating a cute pastel shade, but be careful to choose as dry a white base as your lips can stand as the consistency for the lipstick itself, has a lot of slip which will cause it to mix with your base if it’s creamy. I don’t have a yellow liner to try this over which is a shame, but once you’ve put a dry liner on your lips, you may as well use eyeshadow to create your crazy colours to be honest! The only other yellow lipsticks I can think of are Lime Crime New Yolk City
which has mixed reviews, from other brands I know are the same private label like Ka’Oir/Secret Kisses, and from the Inglot Freedom line. If anyone else can think of any, please let me know.

Immoral

Next up is Immoral. This one is far from perfect, but much better than Felony! Again, there is way too much slip for my liking – it’s hard to get an even coat of this and to have no lip colour showing through, but it’s much more pigmented. I would wear this over a sky blue eyeliner, which luckily is more easy to find than yellow! So… not my favourite, but to find a half decent blue lip colour for a pound? I’ll work with it.

Blues like this can again be picked up from Lime Crime and other companies who use the same private label, Inglot Freedom system and, if you can still find them online, regular Inglot lipsticks as well, although these were limited edition. Pretty Zombie Cosmetics also has a matte blue lip cream, and there are plenty of eyeliners in a similar shade which you could also use – in the UK, the Sleek Eau La La liners are nice for the lips and they have a similar blue shade.

Depraved

This is my favourite of the bunch. Again, the slippy formula, but it works much, much better with this shade and the colour is lovely. If you were tempted by any of them, I’d go for this one. No complaints.

Purple shades are easier to find – MAC, Ilamasqua, Inglot and many, many indie companies make purple lipsticks.

I have to pause here and say that regardless of what I think of these products (I have some more reviews coming, they have some lovely stuff!) I think is brand is a bit bloody cheeky. My friend Rachael bought one of their palettes and it is exactly the same, down to layout, as a Sleek palette. I can see this repeated in a couple of their palettes, and several of their items look exactly the same and are at exactly the same price point as everyone’s favourite cheap-and-cheerful high street brand, MUA. I wondered if they’re the same company, but a little Googling says they’re not. Very odd that a brand would copy another budget brand in my opinion!


Will you be trying these lipsticks? What’s your favourite brand for odd colours?

Quickie Review: Nip + Fab Viper Venom Eye Fix

 

I really have no explanation as to why I bought this product. The words 'SYN-AKE' and 'LIFTONIN' really should have had me running a mile, but Boots had a 3-for-2 offer on skincare, I didn’t know what to pick and I'd read a lot of positive press about this product. Let's see what Nip + Fab have to say:

'A refreshing eye gel in a cooling roll-on applicator with wrinkle minimising LIFTONIN® + SYN®-AKE to smooth the appearance of fine lines + wrinkles around the eye area.

Red Algae Extract reduces the look of dark circles for a radiance boosting effect. With Syn-ake, a revolutionary ingredient that works to smooth skin and liftonin for instant tightening.'

This product has a LOT of claims on it's website – that it rids you of undereye circles, smooths, tightens, grants eternal salvation, blah blah blah. I do know that there are certain peptides (proteins - that’s the SYN-AKE, apparently) that tighten on the skin when you apply which can give a temporary smoothing effect, and that this has glycerine fairly high up the ingredients list and I get on pretty well with glycerine-based products. So while sceptical, I wasn't hideously sceptical.

Viper Venom comes in a rollerball pen-style bottle. If you've used these before, you'll know that they're very cooling and refreshing to use on the skin. Granted, this is usually more down to the metal rollerball rather than the product itself, or at least, it's very hard to discern if it actually is the the product itself because of the rollerball! Nonetheless, this packaging feels nice to use.

The product is a thin, clear serum and I find the rollerball dispenses a little more than you need, so I tap it in with a finger. It absorbs quickly meaning it's great for the morning as you can apply your makeup without waiting, and as mention, the cooling nature of the applicator means it's nice to apply at night too. I have to say, I'm actually enjoying this product. I don't find it's done anything to my dark circles (unsurprising seeing as I've only been using it for a couple of weeks) but I do feel that my eye area feels a little smoother. Could well be placebo, but I'm liking it so far! I will note that I certainly haven’t stopped using my thicker, more traditional eye cream – I use this under my eye cream, or in a rush in the morning and I will still apply a cream at night. As far as I’m concerned I would be quite happy to constantly slather product under my eye area, but that’s just me!

At £14.95, I do think this is expensive for what it is as I'm sure much of the effect is down to the rollerball and the glycerine as opposed to the red sea algae, ‘Liftonin’ and whatever other mumbo jumbo ingredients this has, but as of this moment it's certainly something I would consider repurchasing.

Do you like rollerball products? What are your favourite eye products?

MUA Luxe Velvet Lip Lacquers!

‘Velvet’ lip products are going absolutely nowhere this Spring/Summer! If you haven’t already spotted an influx on your high street, keep your eyes peeled with MUA, Topshop and Bourjois bringing the formula down to a more accessible level than the slightly more expensive and harder-to-get Lime Crime Velvetines. MUAs offering, the MUA Luxe Velvet Lip Lacquers, come in at a measly £3 each and are available in in 5 shades, four of which I have for your visual pleasures today.

L-R: Kooky, Atomic, Funk, Criminal

The lip lacquers are house in a matt-effect tube with posh-looking gold print on the caps. These apply with a typical doefoot applicator.



’Kooky’



’Atomic’



’Funk’



’Criminal’

Swit-swoo! Aren’t these colours gorgeous?  Out of the four shades I have (I’m missing Reckless, a blue-based red) Criminal is definitely my favourite – it’s a bright, clean, butt-kicking pink. If you’re a fan of Candy Yum Yum by MAC or OCC Nylon Lip Tar, this is the sort of shade for you. Kooky is almost a true purple and if you like the 90’s goffik sort of look that Lorde sports, this is the shade for you. Funk is bright and vibrant without being too neon or overpowering – it’s perfectly girly.

The formula for these is creamier than other versions of this type of product, meaning you have to be very careful not to apply a thicker application on one part of your lips than the other as it can dry in streaks. If you look at my swatch of Kooky, you can see why you need to go slow and steady on these! Wear time is, as expected, pretty darn good! I do find they come off when eating most things (you’ll have to have a touch-up after a big meal or oily food, but a snack or a cuppa would be fine) and that I have to be careful when I apply to the ’waterline’ of my mouth, making sure this area is dry otherwise the product doesn’t adhere well. Rather than wear away evenly, these can feel  a little ‘gummy,’ which I’m not a huge fan of. They remove easily with an oil-based remover though (a micellar water probably won’t cut it!) and if you’re just having a cheeky drink or giving someone a peck on the cheek, they’ll sure as hell stay put! The only shade I had a problem with in regards to wear was Atomic – I really don’t like how it felt on the lips compared to the others and it was a bugger to get off, feeling almost clumpy while I was removing it. As expecting, these will feel dry on the lips, but if you want the wear from a lip product, it’s pretty much tough shit!



L-R, MUA Atomic, Lime Crime Suedeberry. MUA

I can’t complete this post without comparing to the Lime Crime Velvetines. In my opinion, these aren’t dupes for the LC shades. Atomic is a much brighter, truer orange as compared to the more peachy Suedeberry, and Atomic makes Pink Velvet look dull in comparison. I actually prefer the MUA shades! As mentioned, the formula for the the MUA version is much creamier and I find that makes it a little more difficult to neatly apply a second layer, especially considering the fact it takes longer to dry. As noted, I also find that the thicker formula makes it harder to apply neatly with the applicator compared to the Lime Crime, although I’d recommend using a brush for both – the look of both the products is so matte and dense there’s not much room for error.  The Lime Crime wears longer and more evenly, and feels lighter on the lips without the ‘gummy’ feeling as they wear. I can’t lie and say I prefer the MUA formula over the LC, but the differences are small. I’m a beauty blogger, I *will* find the differences!

To sum up? All of the colours are gorgeous and they’re certainly long wearing, but the formula isn’t up to par with the Lime Crime one which in my opinion is much more sophisticated. For £3 though, I can’t complain too much at all and I can only hope that MUA bring out some vampier or more unusual colours!

Quickie Review: Melt lipsticks in Space Cake and Belladonna

I bought these two sometime last winter and haven’t got round to showing you all yet! If you’re on Instagram, you’re certain to have heard of this company, with everyone going mad for their bright, unusual colours. I wanted to try them because their imagery is just gorgeous – perfect modern pin-up glamour on gorgeous alternative models – my kind of photography! Srsly, this lookbook.

The packaging was super, super cute – the lipsticks are in simple matte black tubes with the purple Melt logo but they don’t look or feel cheap, they’re a nice quality. My order came with a sticker and a small mirror, which was exciting (I love stickers. Give me stickers!) and was packed in pink styrofoam peanuts. The boxes both had a slightly differing Beetlejuice-esque striped design, and you get a card with some of their images on. Basically, if you want a gorgeous package in the mail, you’ll get one from Melt.

 

 

Space Cake, Belladonna.

Belladonna

 

 

Belladonna is where I was disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a very red and I’m not the kind of girl to turn down a red just because she had 20 others that are very similar – I bought this shade because I just can’t resist a pretty red, and I knew I would wear it more often than a bright peach or blue. I just found the formula to be a little thin, a little dry on application, a little lacking something on this one. You can see compared to the photo of Space Cake below that the texture is different and looks much dryer – and they were taken on the same day. There’s nothing awful about it at all, but I can’t jump up and down and say ‘This formula is grrrrr-eat!” because at least for this colour, I don’t find it to be true.  I don’t *dislike* it as such and I do wear it, but I wasn’t blown away at all – for $19 you can get a much, much better red, anyway. Belladonna doesn’t appear to be on their website anymore. If I find out if it’s discontinued, I’ll update.

 

Space Cake

Wearing Space Cake

 

 

First of all, wowza. It’s GREY, you guys. Grey like this, a grey creme, is not something I can remember another company doing. I know Lime Crime had Chinchilla or whatever it was called, that MAC had Grey Friday and I know there have been greyed purples and oyster grey colours floating around and OCC have some options, but I don’t recall another company with a colour like this at all. Believe it or not, ‘odd’ lip colours aren’t that odd anymore and you can get pretty much whatever colour you like these days if you look for it. Anyway, I could go on about naunces of grey and it’s undertones and it’s pink-ness or not, but this shade was new to me. I was expecting this one to be really dry as well, but the formula is much better. It’s a lot creamier than the other shade I had and I was much happier with this formula. It’s not the longest wearing  or the most hydrating, but it’s a good, solid opaque creamy formula. It’s worth noting I don’t find this one to be as matte as the website show it to be.

Would I purchase from Melt again? I don’t know. Based on Belladonna, no. Based on Space Cake, yes! These are pretty bloody expensive for a small brand at $19 a pop (more expensive than MAC which go for $16 and a shade more than Lime Crime which retail at $18) and while I don’t mind spending if I like what’s on offer, that fact that they’re reasonably pricey *and* I have to ship to the UK and deal with customs fees as well makes me a little less likely to bother. For those on a budget or who don’t want to shell out for wackier colours they’ll only wear occasionally, I just can’t seem to find anything here that makes me go ‘Yep, definitely worth twenty bucks!’ It’s all up to what you’re willing to spend personally of course, but I just wasn’t as blown away by these as I could have been.  Am I stupid and possibly bitter for letting my expectations get the better of me? Maybe. I’m certainly not saying they’re shit, or to not get them - the aesthetic of the company is to die for and it’s the type of company I’m drawn to and want to support.  I’m still really interested in their green shade, Blow, which was recently released. If it reviews well, I’ll probably pick it up as it looks stunning and hope it’s the same formula as Space Cake.

 

Melt Lipsticks are available from MeltCosmetics.com

Have you tried Melt yet? Where do you get your crazy lip colours from?