New MUA Luxe Velvet Lip Lacquer in Aflush and Halcyon

Everyone still loves a velvet lip product, don’t they? I for one am still a big fan so I was very keen to try out some of the additions to MUA’s line up of velvet lip lacquers, which were introduced earlier this year. Most velvet products seem to be brighter or reds, hot pinks and funky colours such as blues, purples and blacks, so I was really keen to test out a nude shade and a girlier shade! MUA released two more shades; Serene, a very light, blue based pink and Tranquility, a brownish nude. I’ve seen Serene in stores but skipped it as I know it will look awful on me, but I’ve yet to find Tranquility which I am desperate to try!

These wear and perform exactly the same as the existing shades, which you can read my thoughts on here, should you be so inclined! (NB, get Criminal, it’s better than the Lime Crime hot pink.)

The TL;DR Instagram photo!

much presentation very luxe wow

‘Halcyon’

This is my favourite out of the two! A peachy brown, this is surprisingly pretty and has a hint of retro creamsicle (a phrase only a beauty blogger or makeup artist could use and mean it, no?) to it that I just think is delightful. I’m on a big nuetral kick at the moment so this will be getting a lot of wear this summer, along with the largest sunglasses I can find! This applies like a dream in one coat.

MUA ‘Aflush’

I’m not entirely sure I can pull this colour off without a beehive and ten layers of lashes, but it’s certainly a pretty colour. A light, blue based pink that leans toward the neon in real life, I can see this one being teamed with a flower crown at a sunny festival! Not quite for me personally but you can bet it’s flying off the shelves! This one is a little bit of a bugger to apply –it can get slightly patchy, so I’d advise waiting for the first layer to dry before topping up.

A friend in the know told me all the stock has gone to Superdrug stores, but that you can expect to see them online soon.  If you can find them, you can take them home for the bargain price of £3!

Will you be looking out for these?

L’Oreal Colour Riche Extraordinaire lipglosses in Nude Vibrato and Rose Symphony

These interesting little pots are a new addition to the L’Oreal line, with L’Oreal claiming “Lips become extraordinary with new Extraordinaire by Colour Riche™. The new vision of lip colour features luxurious micro-oils that infuse each pigment for ultimate colour richness.” I saw the word ‘oil’ along with the YSL-esque packaging and was immediately intrigued. There are 16 shades in the range, and of course my Boots only had about six, and neither of those were the orange or purple. Boo!



The packaging remind me almost of nail polish bottles – these are really chunky! At first glance they look pretty luxurious but the colour on them is a plastic insert, which is very odd as when you unscrew the lid, the screw part is clear plastic which allows you to see the product colour as well. Very strange. these come with a doefoot applicator.



The shades I have are Nude Vibrato and Rose Symphony. All the colours in the range are classical music themed.



Rose Symphony is a gorgeous, bright clean rose-pink shade.



Nude Vibrato (I keep typing ‘Vibrator’) is a light pink-based nude. Swatched on my hand, this has more of a brown or peach tone, but reads pinker on my lips.

Wearing ‘Nude Vibrato.’

These feel very unusual on the lips – my first reaction to them was not good - they feel almost plasticy! This gives them that gorgeous vinyl look but I wasn’t sure about it at first at all! I got over the feeling and they’re pretty comfortable to wear. My lips were quite dry for these above swatches and you can see they didn’t accentuate that – I actually find them quite moisturizing! They’re not as liquid as a regular gloss, so while they’re not sticky or tacky I get decent wear from these and they don’t slide around on the lip. It’s a new texture to me and it’s quite hard to describe. The shine wears away somewhat but you’ll get a good couple of hours.

I can see these being very popular and I would be tempted to try out the orange and purple shade if I see them and they have nice tones to them. I’m not head over heels with these, but I do like them and they’ll be perfect to join my little arsenal at work.

I bought these on an introductory offer, but I recall they were £8.99 each – I can’t find them online yet. Will you be trying them?

My first Lipstick Queen: ‘Dancing Queen’ trio

I’m quite excited to share my first foray into the brand Lipstick Queen with you – I literally had no experience with the brand at all before these dropped onto my doormat, not even a swatch in the shop! Lipstick Queen lipsticks start at £20 and go up to £25 for the ‘Velvet Rope’ line, which is part of the reason why I’ve not tried them before, but this set was on sale at SpaceNK for a measly £7, so I just had to try! I believe this was their offering for Christmas 2013.

Lipstick Queen is the brainchild of Poppy King, who I feel I should know who she is, but I don’t. But she made this line because she couldn’t find the perfect lipstick, blah blah. The line is said to be ‘wearable’ and has ‘classic formulations with a modern twist.’ Many reviews of the line that I’ve read say the lipsticks all have beautiful, comfortable formulas, which I am more than down with.

This is special packaging for this set and the tubes are a gorgeous brushed aluminium type look in a gorgeous pink shade. No complaints packaging wise – the box is fun and lipsticks still look classy while being funky. A+ on that front.

This “soft, moisturizing lipstick range by Lipstick Queen is a truly unique take on fashions hottest trends, iridescence.”  Alrighty, shiny moisturized lips seem to be the order of the day here.





’Electric Slide’

This one looks red on the tube, but comes off as sheer, light red, almost stain-like look with red iridescence. Not my favourite alone, but this looks amazing over a red lipliner:


Very layering! Much red!

‘The Hustle’

This one is surprisingly my favourite! I’m not a huge one for nudes or light pinks, but this one again has the red shimmer in it and it just looks beautiful. Love this one, worth getting the set for this one alone.




”Cha Cha”

This one is my least favourite of the bunch – I feel the sparkles are very close to the base colour and that the finish isn’t as nice on the lips because of this.

Overall, I like these – The Hustle has joined my mini wardrobe of work-safe lipsticks. They’re light, moisturizing and pretty and feel lovely on the lips. The gorgeous packaging makes me feel like I’m wearing something special at work, and the colours are safe enough to wear at work where I’m only allowed to wear neutral colours. While I do find them lovely and emollient, the shimmer in the lipsticks is left on the lips a little. It’s not a chunky glitter so doesn’t make your lips look bad, but I know that would be a concern for some and I would prefer them to wear a little more evenly.  I’m still not sure, however, if I would try something else from the range. I’m not sure if this finish is present elsewhere in the line, so I’m not really sure if this is an indication of the quality of the line as a whole. I do know that the line has a lot of devotees, so who knows! I may pick up something else from Lipstick Queen in future.

If you’re keen to pick up this set, you can still find it on QVC for £22.40.

Quickie Review and Swatches: Collection2000 Cream Puff Moisturising Lip Creams

These little beauties have been out for a long time now but I’m just getting round to doing a review. Matte lip creams aren’t super easy to find in the UK, especially with the continued influx of sheerer balm-stain type products, but Collection(2000) have four shades for about £2.99 each. I have three to show you:

 

Cotton Candy (1)

 

 

Powder Puff (2)

Not the nicest shade on my lips, but I absolutely love this shade as a cream blush:

Noice!

 

 

Fairy Cake (3)

Possibly my favourite our of the shades, a beautiful rosy shade that packs a polished punch but is still appropriate for pretty much every situation.

 

Ultimately these products aren’t going to sit well with everyone - they kind of have a strange mousse-y texture which feels odd on the lips at first. While they dry down pretty matte, they’re not super long wearing or as dry/velvety looking as a traditional matte lipstick or something like Lime Crime Velvetines, so if you’re looking for something you won’t need to touch throughout the day, these ain’t it. However, this means they’re not drying at all, so if you steer clear of matte lip products for that reason, they’re worth a try.

While they’re not super long wearing on the lips, they really are fabulous as a cream blush, leaving a lovely dewy finish. If you’ve bought these and not tried them on the cheeks, definitely worth a go, and if you’re a cream blush lover in general, the doe foot applicator makes these a doddle to apply as blush on the go.

 

Have you tried these? What do you think of matte lip products in general?

MAC Lip Liner Swatches: Subculture, Magenta, Nightmoth

It was my birthday this weekend, so a trip to MAC was always in question! I was very restrained and just picked up a few classic lip liners that I’ve been eyeballing for a while.

 

Subculture:

I’ve wanted a nude like this for ages and like with lip colours, there doesn’t seem to be many great options from drugstore brands, which sucks. My favourite lip liners are actually from Barry M and I wish they’d make more colours like this! Anyway, love the shade, it’s like a less pink version of my actual lip colour.

Magenta:

So many people have told me this is so, so dry and uncomfortable to wear. I did find it a little dry, and you can see if you zoom in a couple of patches where it’s pilled up slightly, but the colour is just SO amazing. I’ve been wearing it with a sheer, slightly frosty pink over the top (like MAC Girl Next Door or a gloss with a little sparkle) and it’s just beautiful. Love this, instant fave.

Nightmoth:

I have a TON of dark, aubergine-y liners but I had to have this. My crappy application is just that and not a reflection of the texture of the pencil! This colour is badass, enough said.

 

Do you use MAC lip liners? What are your favourite shades?

A few Darling Girl swatches! Kiss You Off: Color Rich Lip Blams

Howdy, y’all! I’ve had a super busy weekend, so it’ll be a couple of days until the next instalment of my Labyrinth mini series is up. A certain brave little fellow is coming up next!

Today I just want to share with you the lippies from my latest Darling Girl haul. DG do my favourite indie lippies by far. The Holo Glosses are always adorable and the formula on the KYO:CRLBs (!) is awesome – really lightweight and comfortable to wear and still packing a pigmented punch.

 

Sanctuary

As soon as I saw the name, I had to have it! Sanctuary is described as a “ a rich blackened berry red with just a touch of shimmer.” Pretty perfect description! I really, really love this colour – berry shades are great on everyone and I actually find them a much easier dramatic lip to wear day-to-day than red.

Oh My Darling

Oh My Darling… clementines…oranges… geddit? No? Bollocks to you then. Never one to resist an orange lip, I’m very surprised I’d not snagged this for my collection sooner! OMD is described online as a “gorgeous bright ripe peachy orange with some fine coppery peach shimmer.” I think it leans more yellowy on me than the swatch picture online, but I really like it! Normally an orange with even the merest hint of yellow touches my lips, I hate it but I’ve been wearing this a lot.

Tan Lines




I was really excited to try this as I’d not had a nude lippy from DG. Susan, you are a legend. I love this colour! The website says “Tan Lines is a gorgeous sun kissed tan with peach undertones and lustre” and I think that’s bang on. I love a nude to have a little peach to it or I fear looking dead – this is a great nude-y nude that doesn’t give me the dreaded jizzlip! Big fan.

 

Have you tried Darling Girls lippies? What are your favourite indie lip products?

Quickie Review and Swatches: Evil Shades Deviant Lipstick

I really need to give up on the 'quickie review' crap - they're never quick! I think I just like saying 'quickie.' Anyway, feast your eyeballs on the Evil Shades Deviant Lipsticks in my collection.


Silk Stockings:




The last picture captures the colour of the base well, but it shows up like the top photo normally - the sparkles/shift are a soft blue! Really awesome unusual nude.

Fateful:



Fateful is a black with purple shimmer. For a black lipstick (which are tricky buggers) this is freaking ace - no rubbing it over your lips 10,000 times to get some colour to show! The only downside is you need to wear lip liner, as you can probably see, but that's the case with all blacks I've ever tried.

Primrose Path:

Such a perfect day-to-day shade - a peachy pink with subtle green shimmer. The green shimmer makes it unusual enough that I think I'm cool, but it is very subtle and wearable still!

Devilista:


One of my favourite reds! I really think this is a knock-out shade and I like its not-too-sheeny, not-too-matte finish.

Obscurity:

 

 

A deep metallic blue. I have trouble with this one - it takes a bit of effort to apply it opaquely, but it's not like it takes ten minutes or anything.  I'm going to try it over concealed lips and see if that makes a difference.

Mage:

It's green. What more can I say? I got a sample of this with an order and I love it! *Probably* wouldn;t wear it out, but we'll see...
  
Bane:

Bane is a really pretty light pink with a blue shift and I think it's a nice addition to anyone's colection. The formula of this one is really light and balmy and as such is sheerer than the others. Great for layering.

Corruption:

Corruption is a metallic purple with blue glitter (you can see it if you click the bottom picture, it's more obvious in real life). A really cool and unusual shade! This is a bit of a funny one - it is pigmented, but I have to really warm it up first to get it to show on my lips. Bit odd, but once it's warmed up, it applies nicely and doesn't budge.

Corset:

 

A beautiful wine colour. I love these shades but often find they're too red or too black - this one has a lovely berry juiciness to it. Do you have lipsticks that whenever you put them on you make kissy duck faces at yourself? (No... just me?) Well, this is one of those lippies!

Fearless:

Errrr. How awesome is this? It's quite hard for me to describe - it's very bright but it's sort of... a neon undertone than rather than a omg-my-retinas bright.The best thing about it is it's UV REACTIVE. I can't wait to see how it glows under blacklight. Funnily enough, I don't have one knocking about to swatch it under but I will update this post soon as I've got a UV shoot coming up.


Boring word time...

What to say about these? Well, the first thing I love is the price. They're $4.25 each, so about £2.60, and they're quite often on 3-for-2, so they're a freakin' steal. They wear very well - I worse Primrose Path the other day and it lasted through a picnic and beyond, which is no mean feat, I tell you, and they're not drying, although some formulas are slightly drier than others. I'll reiterate that they're cheap as fucking chips, because I still can't get over what you get for the price.


I should also mention the packaging. Here's the new tubes:

 

Versus the old tubes:

 

The old packaging was a bit bothersome - I find it hard to neatly apply some of the colours with the big chapstick round tubes as I have a skinny upper lip (not complaining, of course, as I'm sure the packaging has a lot to do with that awesome price) but the new slimmer ones solve that problem and look pretty swish too. Love the new labels as well - look how far they've come along since the original white ones!


Have you tired these lippies? Any reccomendations?