Monday 27 February 2017

Lime crime diamond crushers- review and swatches

Lip toppers are the new kids of the lip product world, and are getting to be quite popular. I've been tempted by certain pretties here and there, but the glossy formulae always put me off. I don't want to feel more product on top of product, ya know? Then Lime Crime came out with a line of sparkling lip toppers with a transfer proof lightweight finish. Erm, yes please!


So I have the shade 'strip', which is probably the boldest of the lot in that it has a bright colourful base and bright colourful shimmer. Shimmery Barbie pink on stained Barbie pink. Obnoxious, but undeniably pretty. Now, some of the other shades with more translucent base colours can be doubled up as highlighters. Not so with this shade. Unless you have a dark skin tone, the pink base colour is gonna show up as a weird stripe on your cheekbones. Which might look... odd. So if you want a multi use product, I'd recommend going for a different shade.

Anywho. The low down. It smells like delicious strawberry roll ups. The product can settle and separate in the tube but a quick shake sorts that out. The packaging reminds me of a toy fairy wand.

Application is easy. It's a water based formula which dries town to a lightweight finish, which can be wiped off just using water. The base colour intensity can be built with layering, as can the intensity of the shimmer. You can go from a wash of sparkle to a full on foiled effect. It's touch proof but there will be some transfer of shimmer. It works fine on its own, over liquid matte lipsticks, or even over traditional bullet lipsticks- though make sure to blot down if using a glossy or satin-y formula. In fact, topping a traditional lipstick with a Diamond Crusher can actually kind of 'seal in' the colour, making it almost transfer proof.

Lime crime diamond crushers- strip 
Ok. So, the above swatch shows two coats Strip applied without a base colour. Pretty breathtaking right? Pure light. I wore it to lunch and my friend legit gasped.

Aaaand here's how she looks over light and dark base colours: 'Bloodmoon' and 'marshmallow' velvetines, also by Lime Crime.  

Diamond Crushers 'strip' over lime crime 'bloodmoon' 
Diamond Crushers 'strip' over lime crime 'marshmallow'
Ta da. So all in all, I think this is an innovative and ridiculously pretty lippy, and for £14, considering it's multi use, it's definitely worth it. If you're on the market for a glittergasm, you need these. However if you lean towards the more demure, office friendly lippies... why did you read this post?

Love, 

Me.



Saturday 11 February 2017

Makeup revolution lipstick review

I'm poor. So when there's afforable lipstick up for grabs, I get very grabby. In consequence, I have quite a few products from Makeup Revolution. I thought I'd share my thoughts on a few of them here so other skint kids can get clued up.

Let's start with the Salvation Velvet Lip Lacquers, Makeup Revolution's answer to the liquid matte lipstick hype. These are £3 and come in a funky shade range and are housed in a fairly standard tube which I won't bother showing here because 1) it's not exciting, and 2) it's been bashed about so much that the writing has smudged off.

Makeup revolution salvation velvet lip lacquer- black heart
BAM. In your face. This almost-black purple is called 'black heart' and is a dupe of the ABH Liquid Lips shade 'potion'. So if you love that vampy shade but are on a budget, rejoice.

I own three shades of these liquid lipsticks and I've found the formula to be a little inconsistent. None of theme feel lightweight, but a shocking bright pink one I tried felt like actual cement and crumbled all over the place. Another shade was a little less cement-like but was streaky. 'Black heart' definitely performs the best of the ones I've tried. Considering it's such a dark shade, it's not too difficult to get an even finish with. It looks good for a couple of hours before it starts to break down and crumble, at which point it's best to just remove with oil and reapply than to attempt any kind of touch up.

It's definitely not a comfortable or foolproof formula, but for the price, it's not too bad.

Moving on.


The Ultra Amplification lipsticks are a fairly new addition to the MUR lipstick family. They're £3 a pop and promise comfort and and intense colour. I quite like the gunmetal effect of the tube. Not bad for a cheap product. I have the shade 'activate'.

Makeup revolution ultra amplification lipstick- activate
Yeah, it looks nothing like the bullet! It's definitely a muted plum shade on first impression (and going by the website swatch), but upon 'breaking' the surface, it turns out to be a mauve-ey pink. You can kind of see the difference in colour where I've touched the bullet on the first picture. The swatch above shows it to be a tad more pink than it is in real life, but that's my camera being shitty. It leans more mauve in person. Well, it's a pretty colour! Just not what I was expecting.

As for formula, I agree with the 'comfortable' claim. It does feel good on the lips and you won't need lip balm underneath. I don't agree that it's 'intensely' pigmented though. It's a little more sheer than I expected, though it is buildable to something near-opaque.

It's a nice lippy. Work friendly and not too fussy. Just don't expect any POW and Google for swatches in case you end up with a colour other than what you anticipated.

I'll post a few more Makeup Revolution lippies here as and when I get around to roadtesting them, so what this space.

Xox

Thursday 9 February 2017

Lime crime unicorn lipstick- review and swatches

Liquid lipsticks are fabulous and all, but nothing really beats the luxurious decadence of a creamy lipstick bullet does it?

I've been wearing a few traditional lippies in rotation of late. I have a whole bunch of them I've been meaning to review, but I'm gonna talk about Lime Crime's new unicorn lipsticks today. Mostly because, being limited edition, a review on these kids is a bit more 'urgent'.


Ah. The girly toybox whimsical bullet we know and love. The packaging is the same as the discontinued original line of unicorn lipsticks, but the colours and formula are different. Instead of the rainbow of colourful hues offered before, the new range consists of more 'wearable' shades. This is good thing if you shy away from mint green lips, but maybe disappointing if that's totally your jam. I still have my wacky colours from the old line, so I'm more than happy with the current options. I picked the shade 'soft spot', a creamy nude.

Lime crime soft stop unicorn lipstick 

Aww. I definitely have a soft spot for this colour. It's flattering nude that would work well for fair to medium skintones, but could be paired with a darker lipliner for deeper skintones too. The formula is slightly more matte than the original line, which translates to a somewhat stiffer texture but also longer wear. It's opaque and feather resistant, and while it does transfer, it's so pigmented that you still have colour on your lips for a while. I found it to be neither drying nor hydrating. I'd suggest the old scrub and balm routine before application anyway, just because it makes for a smoother canvas.

So. If you feel like you might want to try one of these, get your skates on kid. They're limited edition.

X