Return to the Blogosphere

Helloooooo everybody!

I'm finally feeling motivated and ready to return to blogging. In the midst of a house move, a new job and way too much Netflix I kind of lost the beauty blogging bug but now I'm ready to start over.

In the few months since my last post I have obviously bought way too much to choose one particular thing to blog about so I've picked just a few of the things I've been using the most.

1. Maybelline SuperStay Better Skin foundation

I'm not 100% sure what to say about this one. First of all I'll start by saying it doesn't make your skin look any healthier in 3 weeks as it claims on the bottle.I used it pretty much everyday for over three weeks and haven't seen any change at all. Another negative here but one that could maybe have been avoided, the colour is pretty dark with a bit too much of an orange finish for my liking. I bought this online and chose Ivory assuming that it would be light and not at all orange as you'd expect Ivory to be especially judging from the picture on the website, definitely not the case! It's probably about time for some positives here, most days this does even out my skin very well and it definitely lasts. If I'm having a bad skin day though this does cling to dry patches because it blends to an almost powder like finish. Overall it's a love/hate relationship, if you try this I'd recommend a good moisturiser beforehand and also to use your fingers to blend rather than a brush or sponge as personally I've found this works a lot better.

2. Maybelline Matte Maker

This one was bought on a whim due to the absolute bargain price of £3.99 in Superdrug a few weeks ago, most definitely worth that price and more! Firstly I'm happy that I have finally found a powder light enough, even when I've gone a shade or two lighter than my foundation in the past it's always seemed to make my skin darker but not this one. It's very light on the skin,  gives an absolutely perfect finish and keeps shine at bay hours longer than other powders I've tried. I'd say I put my make-up on for work at about half 6 and I don't usually feel the need to top up until about half 3, that's 9 hours of a perfectly matte complexion even in this lovely warm weather we're having right now. I have no idea if it's still on offer or not but either way I'd definitely recommend this one. I got shade number 10 which is Classic Ivory.

3. Revlon Colorburst Matte Balm

I was a massive fan of the original Revlon Just Bitten Kissable balm stains and have pretty much every colour so I was so excited when I read about the matte and gloss releases back in January. I finally got round to trying them out and thought I'd start with matte because matte lips have been one of my favourite things recently. My go-to shade of lipstick is always red so I went for shade number 240 which is Striking. It's a nice bright orange based red, perfect for summer and I'd imagine this to be very flattering on every skintone. The application is just as easy as the original balm stains, the matte doesn't feel at all drying. These don't last quite as well as the original balm stains but it can definitely still stand up to a fair few cocktails. Once I've got a bit more free time on my hands I'll definitely be buying more colours and giving the gloss ones a go.

4. MUA Lipstick

I love lipstick and I love a bargain even more so how I've never tried MUAs £1 lipsticks is a mystery to me. When I had my job interview a few months ago I wanted a muted colour lipstick as all I had was bright colours and I didn't want to be OTT. I'm not a fan of really pale nude lips so when I saw shade 11 I knew I'd found 'The One'. It's a deeper colour but still nude, you almost can't tell that you're wearing lipstick but it just finishes off an everyday look perfectly. I can't really fault the formula for £1 either, it goes on smooth and feels moisturising. It's not the most long lasting of lipsticks but for £1 I don't think you can complain. Think I might be picking up a few more of these little bargains on my next Superdrug trip.

5. Lipstick by H&M

Placing their beauty products right by the till is just plain unfair! There I was halfway through a long queue waiting to buy my dress and I got distracted by all the pretty sparkly things shining in my eye, so off I go leaving the queue having wasted 10 minutes of my life. I'd never actually tried any H&M beauty products prior to this, I was buying a dress for a night out and in my head I was picturing the perfect make-up look; just a little bit of eyeliner with a deep reddy-orange lip. Lo and behold the perfectly imagined colour was there staring me right in the face. The shade is called Down Town, the bullet looks like it would be an almost brown colour but on the lips it's a very deep red with slight orange undertones. While the shade was perfect the formula kind of isn't, the application is tricky and there's not way you could get away without using a lip liner. There's also a slight problem of how unevenly this wears off. Overall not quite as impressed as I'd hoped but it really is the perfect deep red shade if you're patient with the application and regular touch-ups.

6. Maybelline ColourSensational Lip Liner

As I've said a thousand times throughout this blog and probably throughout this post, a red lip is my favourite thing in the world! I was on the hunt for a new red lip liner and came across this one, I was in a rush so did a quick test to see the colour and grabbed it. Once I got home and tried it out I couldn't believe how good a choice I'd just made. I don't think I've ever had a lip liner that goes on as smoothly as this one does, it almost has the texture of a kohl liner but still gives a nice sharp line. I'm running out of a few other colours of liner and this brand is the only one I will be replacing them with.

So that's that. Hopefully I won't leave it so long between posts next time. In the meantime I'm off to read all of your wonderful blogs and see just what I've been missing in the beauty blogging world.

MUA Luxe: Velvet Lips

So you all know I've been away from the blogging world for a while due to having no laptop. I had a free evening yesterday and so I spent hours and hours looking at all my favourite beauty blogs to see what I'd missed, imagine my excitement when I came across MUAs new range, the Luxe collection. Now as pretty as all the glitter palettes looked glitter just really isn't my thing unless it comes in the form of a nail polish. My main excitement was their Velvet Lips products.

I've been wanting to try Lime Crimes Velvetines for a while but because I wasn't sure if that kind of product would work for me I just didn't want to spend that much. So when I saw Velvet Lips my heart skipped a beat, £3 each! Even if I never wear them other than to show you in this post £3 is a massive bargain especially when you combine that with Superdrugs current 3 for 2 offer. I picked up three shades today for just £6, I would have had the other shade but it was sold out. I managed to get my hands on Kooky, Funk and Atomic.

 

 

First of all the packaging on these is lovely! Usually MUA packaging is the most basic of basic and being so cheap it's not really something I'd ever critique them for but these little tubes are so much better than anything they've done before. I find the outer cardboard casing a little pointless but it does add to the "Luxe" feel. The tubes are just simple frosted glass with black lid and gold writing, making it look and feel so much more expensive than the £3 these actually are.

 

Now onto the product itself. The first shade I wanted to try was Kooky, it's a blue based deep purple colour. I've been wanting to try a purple for so long and this didn't disappoint. I found it quite difficult to apply evenly but I'm hoping this was down to my inexperience with velvet lip products and also due to my lack of lip prep. The shade was exactly what I was looking for and surprisingly wasn't at all drying. In the pictures you'll see that it's a little patchy but don't let it put you off, I was so excited to try that my prep consisted of a slick of lip balm then straight on. With more time and a liner I think it would be fine.

 



Without flash:

 

 

With flash:

 

 

 

Next shade is Funk, a bright pink. Easiest application out of the three, found this one much easier to apply evenly (although as seen by my pictures, needs a liner). It's a nice, bright shade but was probably my least favourite of the three. That's simply down to personal preference though, I'm not a fan of bright pinks on me and there just wasn't anything that wow-ed me about this shade. That's just me though, if you're a fan of brighter pinks I'd definitely recommend this as it's got serious staying power and isn't drying. Also when it comes to "drugstore" products I don't think there's many matte pinks around so it's definitely worth a go if that's what you're looking for.

 

 

Without flash:

 

 

With flash:

 

 

 

Finally we have Atomic. Wasn't sure what this shade was going to be like when I saw it in the packaging so I got a bit of a shock when I pulled the applicator out of the tube. It looks very, very bright! That's not a bad thing to me though I love bold and bright lipsticks! It's an orange/red colour, probably more orange than red in person but I'm not sure that my pictures fully picked this up. I absolutely love this colour! Same application problem as the first colour in that I found it hard to get even coverage but with a little more time I'm pretty sure it'll apply just fine. Also a side note for any light eyed girls (blue or green), this will seriously bring out the colour in your eyes! I have very very pale green/blue eyes and this really made them stand out.

 

 

Without flash:

 

 

 

With flash:

 

 

 

Overall I'm really impressed with these, obviously you need to make sure your lips are free of dry skin and as you can probably tell from these pictures liner is essential but they're more than worth the £3 you pay. If you like the look of these I'd suggest getting down to Superdrug while you can, firstly because they're selling out very quickly and secondly you may as well do it while the 3 for 2 offer is still on.

 

Has anyone else tried these?





 







Revlon Just Bitten Kissable: First Review

So here goes my first real post, the plan was to start with some nail art but a late finish at work stopped me having the time needed to do this. So instead I have a little review for you.

We're taking a look at Revlons Just Bitten Kissable lip balm/stain today. I know this product has been around for a while but I just wanted to share my opinion and spread the word a little.

First up is the packaging:

Nothing amazing with the packaging but they do look cute and colourful if you like to display your make-up a little bit like I do plus the size means they stand up easily but still aren't too big to carry around in your bag.

I have a slight problem with the design/shape of the balm stain itself though. It comes with a pointed crayon like tip, great for lining and then filling in the colour. The only problem is I've found it very hard for to keep this shape and my most used one has ended up completely flat:

That's just a small complaint for an otherwise great product though. The application is smooth and easy and for a balm texture the pigmentation in this product is great, for the brightest finish this does have to be built up with a couple of coats but that just makes it all the more versatile for those who don't want to be so out there with their lipstick.

Today we're looking at my three favourite colours. There's Romantic 045 which is a bright red with quite strong orange undertones. I love this colour, I'm a massive fan of red lips and this is perfect because its bright without being quite as in your face as some reds.

Then there's Lovesick 020 which is a bright almost shocking pink with slight blue-ish undertones. This is probably my favourite out of the three, very very pigmented after a couple coats and such a fun colour. I love this on a night out with a flick of eyeliner.

Finally we have Honey 001 which is a dusky pink but does come out almost lilac. The packaging on this one is a little deceiving as it looks like a very neutral pink which was what I was looking for when I bought it. Once applied though the colour is a lot darker and slightly more purple than you'd expect from the packaging. That said I do like this one but it is my least worn of the three, maybe because I think it looks best with some dark smokey eye make-up and I am a simple cat-eye kind of girl.

So you can get an idea of the colours here's swatches of the above three colours without flash:

And with flash (there looks to be a lot more shimmer/glitter here than there actually is once applied especially with Lovesick):

You can see from the above picture that these really are balms as well as stains but here's how they look on the lips (excuse the poor application there wasn't much time lol)

The application on this product is smooth and easy and they do look and smell great and feel super moisturising. They do last for a good few hours even with eating and drinking but you really do still need to top up even with the stain element to this product. I love the colours and the feel for the first few hours but if not reapplied when the balm first starts to wear off I do find it can leave my lips a little flaky and the stain doesn't wear off evenly.

So all in all this is a really great product especially for those who are new to lip colour as lipsticks with a lot of pigmentation can be quite difficult to apply for a first-timer but these are very quick and if you prepare your lips properly you won't need to fuss around with linking and priming your lips first.

And now here we are at the end of my very first review. I hope you enjoyed it and I'd love to hear your comments on this and also on what you'd like to see from me in the future.