2018 empties post and long overdue check-in.

She offers a tentative 'hello'.

She offers ten thousand excuses.

(Skip to the first image of scattered empty lipstick packaging if you want the reviews and not the tedious preamble).

Hello everyone. It's me, the are-you-even-a-blogger-anymore blogger, coming at ya with a 2018 lipstick empties post. In motherfunkin JUNE 2019.

Honestly, I don't know if I am into this beauty blogging thing anymore. The change in the Instagram algorithm really put me off the whole scene. What I liked was the sense of a community and connectedness. The feeling of harping on about silly lipstick-related things to fellow enthusiasts. You know. Engaging. 

With my engagement having dropped drastically and fewer and fewer people even seeing my posts, it started to feel like I was spewing thoughts and swatches into an ever-irrelevant void. There's also the fact that I have become increasingly busy with cat rescue on what is now essentially a full-time basis (my insta account for my cat shenanigans is @help.meowt.bro) and so a lot of my brain-space and money is too taken up by that to leave much room for lipstick.

I've also been tied up with lots of grown-up life things. I got married, honeymooned, and am newly moved out and moved in. My dad has been in hospital several times, my cat died, I've been sofa-surfing a lot, my anxiety has at times been debilitating. In short, a bit of a whirwind. It's also been a bit of a bummer being broke. My feed is always flooded with exciting new releases that I know I won't be able to afford, at least not until they go on sale several months down the line. And who wants to read reviews that are too late to the party to be worth anything? Everything has already been said.

Meh. So I've been toying with throwing the towel in and bidding farewell to the, like, three people who still follow me. But then I find myself missing the old, safe ritual of swatching and reviewing. So I've decided that for now, I'm just gonna play it by ear. Post as and when I want to, however late, however irrelevant. Don't if I don't want to. Today, I want to. So without further ado:

THE GLORIOUS EMPTIES!

Nine used up in 2018! Not bad going at all, especially considering one of them was an entire palette. Now, forming an orderly queue....

1) Soap & Glory Sexy Mother Pucker lip lacquer in 'charm offensive'.

Soap & Glory Sexy Mother Pucker lip lacquer- 'charm offensive'

Mmm. Look how slick she looks! I don't often bother with glossy products because I hate stickiness and can find them messy, but this lacquer by Soap & Glory got into my good books. I wore it mostly because it was a very flattering shade on me, but the formula was also pretty good. It was surprisingly opaque. It lasted a while because while it did transfer, it was pigmented enought to still leave a lot of color behind, and just blotted down through wear to a more satin finish. It did feel 'thick', but didn't feel sticky. The wide paddle-shaped applicator made for an easy, streak-free finish. Inoffensive vanilla scent. Balmy and moisturising, and the wet-look glossiness made for a juicy looking pout. Top marks all round. It's £7 and well worth it in my opinion.

2) Baviphat Urban Dollkiss I Love Tint in 'cherry'.

Baviphat Urban Dollkiss I Love Tint- 'cherry'

I actually reviewed this in full way back here, where you can see the adorable apple shaped packaging in all its glory. I had to depot it into a little pot though because the wand was too short to reach the product beyond the halfway point. I've layered it up for this swatch. It's pretty sassy, no? I continued to like it, but I do have a few cons to add: the formula has a chemically taste. And a chemically smell. Other than that, it was cheap and cheerful and cute and you can't go far wrong with picking it up for a few quid on Ebay.

3) Yaby Cosmetics Lip Colour Refill in 'disagree'.

Yaby Cosmetics Lip Colour Refill- Disagree

Oh snap, it's another one I've previously reviewed. Here is the post. Oddly, this was a very difficult shade to photograph well, but I assure you it looks punchy and even in person. This was an easy product to use up because 1) I love the colour and the comfy formula, and 2) there wasn't very much of it. Such a tiny lil pan. I transferred the product into the rounded pot in the pic so I could throw it in my bag rather than having to pop it into a palette where it would be out of place and forgotten about. These refills cost £3.95.

4) Sleek Makeup Wonderlast lipstick and gloss duo in 'berry blush'.

Sleek Makeup Wonderlast lipstick and gloss duo- 'berry blush'

I love Sleek Makeup, but they were absolutely right to discontinue this product because it was a binfire of bad. The colour was lovely, but it was very streaky and dried to a crusty, flaking, bumpy clumpy mess that the gloss did nothing to gloss over. It only looks semi-tolerable in this pic because the lipstick was pretty much used up and I could only get enough on the brush to use as a stain. I tried. I tried again and again to make it work because I did like the colour. But yeah, I'm glad it's a goner. I will depot the clear gloss though, because there's nowt wrong with that end of the stick. Silver linings.

5) Anna Sui lipstick palette.

Anna Sui lipstick palette 

I reviewed this palette back over here too! I really put it through its paces and it has seen me through many a wedding. I've also found it very handy for when I needed a specific shade to match a specific thing- just mix up the colour you want, boo. I don't know if this is still available, but I got it a while ago when it was on sale for a tenner (marked down from the £30 RRP) from BeautyBay. I'm definitely gonna make use of the empty lipstick pans and make up my own custom palette. I'm quite looking forward to that actually!

6) Makeup Revolution Amazing Care lipstick in 'electric love'.

Makeup Revolution Amazing Care #happylips lipstick- 'electric love'

This Revolution offering was one of those lippies that have a coloured core surrounded by a balmy outer ring. This does make colour distribution uneven, but it's nothing a bit of lip smacking and smooshing won't sort out. The overall effect is one of a tinted balm: a light wash of colour and and some gel-like moisture. I had it in my bag so got a lot of use out of it, especially because I favour a stick-type balm to the sort you have to dip your finger in. This lippy is now discontinued, but I bet you can get it from Ebay.

7) Topshop Velvet Lips in 'Velveteen Ribbon'.

Topshop Velvet Lips- Velveteen Ribbon

This was pure shite. I only got through it because I kept trying to make it work (loads of lip balm underneath, lip primer, gloss on top, lip liner) until it just dried up in the tube. SO dry and uneven. You basically have to drag it across your lips, and once on, it just crumbles and flakes all over the place. Topshop can be quite hit and miss with their lipsticks. This one was definitely a miss, and they have now thankfully discontinued it and replaced it with a better liquid matte offering.

8) Primark 'liquid asset' liquid lipstick.

Primark 'liquid asset' liquid lipstick

This twist-up lip lacquer is way back from when Primark first started doing makeup. I love the cute pout-printed packaging, the total opacity, the almost latex-like finish, and the fun, girly colour. Needless to say, it has long been discontinued- though there are similar products you can get from most Primark stores.

9) Primark PS Metal Matte liquid lipstick in 'queen'.

Primark PS Metal Matteliquid lipstick- 'queen'

And last but not least, another Primark lippy! In the swatch above, I'm wearing over some darker lip liner. The formula of this metalic matte lipstick is water based, much like the Lime Crime Diamond Crushers. This means it's transfer proof for the most part, but water- rather than oil- removes it. It's very much a true metal finish rather than being shimmery or glittery, and makes for a nice highlighting shade. The only cons are that it does feel quite tight and does emphasise texture- but then I find that's true of metallic lipsticks in general. It's only £1.50, so worth giving a whirl if metallic lips are your jam.

And that's all folks! Who knows? I might even post again before 2000 and never.

Kisses

X

Another bumper lipstick review, boyyy

Hello from the other side.

Yeah yeah, I'm the worst blogger ever. But I'm back. With another excuse! I had a bunch of issues with my phone and have also been busy rescuing various downtrodden cats.

Of course, I've still been lipsticking. So I thought I'd do another roundup review, this time of a bunch of traditional lipsticks, so as to put something like a dent into my lipstick review backlog. Roll up, roll up!

Oh it is satisfying to see all my ducks in a row.  Let's go left to right, shall we?

Maybelline color sensational mattes lipstick- siren in scarlet

Pow! So this powerhouse of a red is the shade 'siren in scarlet', from the new(ish) matte collection of Maybelline's color sensational lipstick line. The only difference- apart from the finish, obvz- is that the cap is a translucent black. It's a good look.
And the lipstick itself is lovely. Velvety smooth with zero drag, not drying, no streaking or patchiness, no bleeding. A lovely plush matte. I suppose it doesnt last quite as long as more dry-textured mattes, but that's to be expected really. This particular shade is rumoured to be a dupe of MAC's iconic 'Ruby Woo', but I haven't compared them myself. This lippy is £6.99, which I think is very reasonable.

Wet n wild megalast matte lip cover- rose-bud

And now to something even more reasonably priced! Wet N Wild's megalast lipsticks are a steal at roughly the £3.50 mark. The packaging is unsurprisingly basic, but the formula is great. I'd say it's more of a satin than a matte, and it applies smooth and opaque. It looks and feels moist, not dry in the least. As for the 'megalasting' claim, I'd say it's a stretch. The formula does last fairly well, but that's more because it's so pigmented rather than due to a particularly grippy texture. I also own the shades 'don't blink pink' and 'purty persimmon', and they perform similarly- though I've heard some shades from the line are exceptions, being chalky and streaky.
'Rose-bud', which annoys me because it's unnecessarily hyphenated, is an adorable rosey pink. I can't decide if it's cool toned or warm, so I guess that means it's neutral. I love it.

Stila shine lip colour- Pam 

Another red, baby. This is the shade 'Pam' (why though?) From Stila Cosmetics' Shine lip colour line. Sadly I think this shade is discontinued, or at least unavailable in the UK. Which is a bummer, because it's gorgeous. Still, you can cop the sweet texture in other shades innit? It's sweeeet: it glides on without being too slippery, isn't streaky in the least, and makes your lips look all juicy and yummy. I expected the colour to be sheer, akin to a tinted lip balm really. But it packs a punch! It's not opaque, but it's more than just a shy rumour of colour.
And can we talk about the packaging? It's so pretty. The inner tube has this oh-so-pretty floral design on it that I swoon over each time I look at it. The price seems to vary between  £6 and  £22, which is odd. Shrug.

MAC Patentpolish lip pencil- kittenish 

Next up is a similarly textured lippy, though I'd say this one is slightly more glossy. It's MAC's Patentpolish lip pencil in the shade 'kittenish', a somewhat cool toned girly pink. I'm not gonna lie. I got this purely for the name. I like cats, okay?
So it was a huge bonus to find it applied and looked so dreamy. Pigmentation is roughly the same as the Cremesheen lipstick formula, so at about 70% opacity. It's one of those easy to slick on lippies that end up being a purse staple. I like it a lot. It weighs in at £16.20, which is fairly average for MAC prices.

Avon shine burst gloss stick- raspberry glaze

Are we gonna have another glossy juicy lipstick? Hell yeah, but this one has GLITTER. Avon's Shine Burst Gloss stick has microfine glitter specks in it which don't feel gritty in the least and add a bit of sparkly pizzazz to the pretty base colour. 'Raspberry glaze' is straight up summer. A bit bright, a bit balmy, a lot cute. I quite like the chrome tube, and I generally have no qualms about this lippy- particularly as it's only around the £4 mark. Keep an eye out for it as it pops in and out of availability with the various campaigns.

Dior Diorific lipstick- 005 Glory

Aaand for the grand finale, something high end.  Dior's Diorific lipstick looks cool. Buthe weird. Cool weird. You wouldn't think it was a lipstick. But it is a lipstick, and a fine one at that. 'Glory' is somewhere between copper and red and bronze. It's warm toned and very 90's and has a semi metallic finish, though with a matte texture (if that makes sense). It's opaque. It's not drying. It's long lasting, as it seems to really cling to the lips. It's GLORIOUS. If you're minted, you can cop it at a pricepoint between £22 and  £30 depending on where you shop. Or if you're perpetually broke like ya girl over here, get a bargain off ebay.

So that's all for now folks. Hope that was helpful. I've got a few more reviews to get up soon, so stick around yeah?

Love you

X