Wednesday 25 March 2015

primark p.s love lipstick- review and swatches

  
Hello again lovelies. I've got another budget beauty post for you today, and it's back to my trusty and ever pleasing Primark beauty range, P.S Love, and two more of their lipsticks. The first is just a quid, and it is pretty lovely. 

     There doesn't appear to be shade name for this one, but I'd describe it as a browny-pinky-nude. Of the same colour category as mac Whirl,  I guess. It's a perfect 'my lips but better' shade on me, and is great for reaching for in a hurry because it will polish off your look and will go with whatever makeup/outfit you're wearing. You can't really go wrong with a shade like this, and I think it would suit every skin tone. 

     The texture of this lipstick is great too. It's a satin finish that keeps lips smooth and moist, and gives medium coverage. It lasts a decent while and doesn't bleed. As a happy bonus, it smells delicious! Like love heart sweets. I could eat it.

primark p.s love lipstick

      Moving swiftly on to lippy number 2. This one is called 'hot pink', because it's hot pink. Ha. It's described as 'deep colour ultra shine' lipstick, which sounded pretty promising. This one was £1.50.

    Well, I can totally agree with the deep colour bit. You get fully opaque, intense coverage with this one, which means you get an impressive bang for your buck. As for the ultra shine bit.... well, I'd say it's more of a soft sheen. It's pretty much a satin finish, but that's a-okay in my book. It lasts very well thanks to its pigmentation and slightly waxy texture, and it doesn't dry the lips out. Another general thumbs up, but this one does have an unfortunate caveat: a really unpleasantly strong rose perfume. It's a bit sickening. 



Thanks for dropping by, you babe xox

avon ultra colour indulgence lipstick- review and swatches


Oh my Gosh. Guys. I have a bloody brilliant lippy to share with you guys today. Introducing Avon's brand new ultra colour indulgence lipstick...behold!


       There she is. It's the typical Avon glossy black with a silver band affair, though taller and cylindrical rather than square-ish. It's sleek and sturdy- no complaints. The bullet shape is rather flat and wide though, as you can see. I found this to be no problem. In fact, I quite liked that it distributed a good sweep of colour to easily coat my fuller lips. However, if you have thinner lips, or a more defined cupid's bow, you may find it a bit fiddly to get a precise edge. Perhaps. 

       I have the shade 'spring lilac', which is indeed an appropriate pop of girly colour for the arrival or the more lively season, It's not a true lilal though- more of a pinkish plum. Very pretty, though, and I found it brightened my overall complexion and made me feel like an utter doll.

       All well and good so far, but what makes it so special? Well, the texture is MINDBLOWINGLY FABULOUS. The description on the site said the formula was gel-based (as opposed to wax-based), and I kind of wrote it off as irrelevant and a bit gimmicky. But it is really quite amazing. Now, when I first tried it on, I swept it on over dry lips. I had a cold and they were in an unusually grim state. Did the colour catch on dry bits? Did it emphasise the chappiness? Did it go on patchy? Did it fudgecake. It positively glided over and completely erased all the dryness with it. It was like a super good emollient lip balm, with none of the sticky heaviness. The water based formula meant it felt lightweight despite being hydrating, and it had the perfect amount of slip to comfortable but not slip-right-off-your-face slippery. 

       The thing is, there are other hydrating lightweight lipsticks about. But this goes one up. First of, it has good colour payoff. Usually, hydrating tends to translate as 'sheer'. Not here. One coat gives a good medium flush of colour, and this can be built up with layering without getting a greasy gooey mess. Secondly, it doesn't bleed. Lastly, and most fabulously, it lasts well! How rare is that for a lipstick of this texture? It's usually easy come easy go, innit. This lisptick, though, seems to stain a little, so even when the glossy sheen wears off, a good tint of colour remains. It's not super long wearing per se, but it definitely lasts beyond the average mark, and I wasn't expecting that at all.

        The swatch below is from my first time trying it, so it's over my dry cold-mardy lips. Hopefully you can see how well it looked despite the manky canvass. This is one coat. 

avon ultra colour indulgence lipstick- spring lilac

Overall, I was very pleasantly surprised by this unassuming offering, and obviously recommend trying it out, particularly for those of you prone to dry lips. It's priced at a very reasonable £7.50, and often on offer. Let me know if you try it!

Wednesday 18 March 2015

mua luxe whipped velvet lip cream: review and swatches


      MUA have churned out a lot of new releases lately, one of which is this little offering: The whipped velvet lip cream. Now, as a fan of the original velvet lip lacquers (review here), I was curious to see how these would fare in comparison. I went for the shade 'spry', an easy to wear warm pink-beige nude. 

mua luxe whipped velvet lip cream- spry
         Sorry about the dodgy blanket- I took it camping with me! Right. So this applies with a standard doe-foot which does the job of applying the colour smoothly and precisely. The formula itself was a surprise- I was expecting a lacquer-like liquid lipstick. Instead, I got a feather light lip cream that was comfortable to wear and didn't set, but somehow still looked pretty matte. For those of you who hate 'feeling' lip products on your lips, give this a shot. You'll forget you have anything on.

      As for pigmentation, I found it to apply with medium coverage that could be sheered out with blotting or a light touch or built up a little for greater intensity. I can't really comment on how long it lasted because it's quite hard to tell with a nude this natural-looking, but top ups are definitely easy and fool-proof. 

    As you can see from the pictures below, it's a true nude against my Asian skintone. I like to wear it paired with a wine/burgundy smokey eye and flushed cheeks. On fairer skin tones, I think it'd look a little warmer and deeper, and I think it could work with darker skintones too. Of course, there are also brighter, more colourful options available, and MUA have also released whipped velvet blushers in corresponding shades! 



mua luxe whipped velvet lips- spry
mua luxe whipped velvet lips- spry

    Overall, I think that at a mere £3 a pop, these are a great, easy to wear lip product to have in your stash. Will you be trying a shade or two?

x