Barry M Lip Paint Pinkie Gold Sparkle
I’ve wanted this lipstick for ages! It is never in any Boots stores when I’ve looked and I never wanted to make a Barry M online order for fear of spending all my money! However, with a lot of restraint I finally made a small order and included this lovely lipstick. I was worried about the formula of this lipstick and buying before swatching it because some Barry M lipsticks can be a little drying, but I need not of worried because this lipstick is very nice and not at all drying.
The colour is, like it’s name, a pinkie sheer lipstick with a gold sparkle sheen to it. It’s sheer enough to apply without a mirror and although it’s lasting time isn’t great, it’s very easy to apply it doesn’t take long to top it up. The lipstick in the tube is really pretty too, it’s a nice dusky pink with a almost marbled gold shimmer running through it.
Finally here is a swatch on my lips. As you can see it’s not very pigmented, but leaves a nice pinkie gold sparkle finish. The lipstick is quite moisturising and this is my go-to lipstick for a neutral day with a bit of sparkle.
I’m in Marseille right now and I have a few scheduled posts for this week while I’m away. I’m probably still on Twitter though, I’ve sorted out my phone with an internet booster so I will have internet while I’m away. I’ve definitely packed this lipstick to take away with me. However, I am concerned about melting lipstick and myself melting in the heat. I’m a total heat wuss! Hopefully myself and my lipsticks will make it back in a non-melted state :P Speak soon! xxxx
GlossyBox
My GlossyBox arrived this morning just as I was leaving the house for my last university lecture! Double happy times! :) The GlossyBox was packed in a cute pink box and the goodies inside were all wrapped up with black tissue paper and pink ribbon, nice first impression.
Inside there were five products to play with, one being the infamous NARS Orgasm Illuminator.
For more pictures and chat about the products in the box I have continued after the break. I know there will be a lot of posts regarding this so I thought I’d spare you if you don’t want to read anymore :)
Sleek True Colour Lipstick Coral Reef and Candy Cane
Final scheduled post! I am actually home now, but completely shattered! I’ll be back reading and commenting as soon as I’ve had enough sleep to function properly again! :)
Sleek have launched 20 new shades of their True Colour lipsticks, in two finishes, Sheen and Matte. I’d seen a number of swatches on blogs and they looked like quite fun and bright colours. I especially liked Coral Reef from swatches, I have a slight soft spot for orange toned lipsticks at the moment!
I had to go into town anyway to buy a suitcase and hair dye, strange combo I know, but it shows my priorities :P While I wandered towards the run down shopping centre where all the alternative shops are to search for a hair dye similar to the one I use normally, I spotted that the town centre has two Superdrugs, within about 2 minutes walk of each other. Very weird. But I thought I’d nip in anyway to save me from the pain for entering Boots on a Saturday! I spotted the Sleek stand with the new lipstick and all the tested were brand new, the stand will never look that nice and tidy again! There is currently an introductary offer on the lipsticks of 2 for £6, so I got busy swatching and picked out two colours.
I noticed that the sheen finish lipsticks seemed the swatch smoother and brighter than the matte finishes and I don’t normally like matte finishes so much anyway, so I picked up two sheen colours. The sheen finish is creamy and moisturising.
I knew I wanted to grab Coral Reef and I just picked my favourite swatch for the second colour, I picked Candy Cane. From the tubes the colours don’t look very different, you definitely have to swatch these colours to see what they look like.
(Candy Cane – Coral Reef)
These lipstick swatch really smoothly and feel really soft and moisturising. They are also very pigmented and these swatches were just how the colour came out after a swipe or two.
This is Coral Reef. It’s a lovely orange with a lovely sheen finish. It applies really nicely and it is super bright, but wearable. It has quite good lasting power, they pretty much last until you drink or eat. They need a little top up after that, but not a full re-application.
Next is Candy Cane. Seeing as I just picked this at random because it looked pretty on my hand in Superdrug, I absolutely love this. I think the name is perfect for it. It’s a happy, pinky/red colour, again with the lovely sheen. This one lasts well also and I know I’m going to get a lot of wear out of this one. I can’t pull off bright pink lipsticks, I look a little scary, so this is a lovely pink/red, but it’s still a nice bright colour.
What do you think? Have you tried these yet or have your eye on any? Has anyone tried the matte ones? I am curious about them. I’m never sure about matte lipsticks, I find they show off my dry skin on my lips, never a good look! :)
Hope you’ve had a lovely week/easter weekend enjoying the lovely weather! Speak to you all soon xxxx
Collection 2000 Volume Sensation Pretty Please
Scheduled post…hopefully this works! :) If you are reading this it has and I hope you are all having a lovely week! :) I picked this lipstick up last weekend and I really like the coloured. I thought it looked a lot like Mac Fresh Salmon in the tube when I picked it up. Fresh Salmon is my favourite Mac lipstick and it is annoyingly limited edition. So I like to keep an eye out for a similar shade when out and about.
Is it a Fresh Salmon dupe? Nah not really, but it’s still pretty! They both have a coral/peachy/pink hue to them and they both have a golden shimmer running through them. But Pretty Please is a darker colour and because Fresh Salmon is a Mac Lustre finish it looks more pale/sheer on the lips.
This lipstick is from the Volume Sensation range. I didn’t think much of it when I bought it, but I was surprised when I put it on and my lips felt all cold and tingling! Very weird feeling, not bad, just weird. I don’t think it plumped up my lips, not that I noticed anyway, but that doesn’t bother me as I wanted it for the colour mostly :)
(Collection 2000 – Pretty Please)
Here is my previous swatch of Fresh Salmon. It’s not far off. Enough that I can happily wear Fresh Salmon without worrying it’s going to run out :)
(Mac Fresh Salmon)
Do you have a favourite lipstick or other product that is limited edition and you don’t want to run out of it? Have a lovely rest of the week! I have another post scheduled for the weekend about two of the new Sleek lipsticks. I really like them and I’m sure I’m wearing them a lot while I’m away :) Have a lovely rest of the week xxxx
Estée Lauder Crystal Baby
I picked up this lovely lipstick when browsing in Boots. The Estée Lauder counter is just in the doorway ready to taunt me with it’s prettiness. I’ve never actually bought anything from Estée Lauder before, but thought I’d have a look at the Pure Colour Crystal lipsticks I’d heard were nice. I played with the display while looking my usual scruffy self and was watched intently by the staff. I must look like a shoplifter, I seem to elicit this kinda of response often! :s I picked up a rather well-used looking tester of Crystal Baby and it felt really soft and nice on the back of my hand. I really liked the colour too.
I must have, at some point, made a decision that I don’t have many everyday colours that I don’t need a mirror to apply because I ended up buying two that week! After buying Crystal Baby, much to the delight of my shop assistant watchers, I received my Mac Wonder Women order through the post. I realised that Crystal Baby is quite similar to Marquise d’. The main difference is that Marquise’d has a gold shimmer running through it, but they are both a natural and quite flattering colour on me.
Mac Marquise d’ – Estee Lauder Crystal Baby
Estée Lauder have wonderful packaging. I know you shouldn’t buy anything for it’s packaging, but if I was going to it would be something like this! The tube feels quite weighty and sturdy and just looks and feels of good quality.
This is Crystal Baby on my lips. My natural lip colour is quite purple (I’m quite deathly looking without any make-up on. With my dark circles, pale skin and purple lips…I was a good goth kid in my teenage years at least!), but this lipstick makes me look quite alive. It’s a peachy/pink colour and it feels really nice to wear. It’s quite glossy and can be easily applied without a mirror. This is definitely my favourite lipstick in terms of the formula, it just feels so nice on. I really like the colour for an everyday look just to make me look a bit more alive! I will browse for more of these lipsticks, but only as a treat, they are a little pricey (£18) for my student pockets, but they are great quality!
I’m so pleased I’ve had a day off and done no work at all today, it’s been really nice! The sun was shining and it’s started to get warmer, it was lovely. The only bad thing is I realised my garden is a mess and I need to sort it out before everything starts growing like crazy, nooo! Hope you are all having a lovely weekend! x x x x
Shiro Cosmetics Intertubes!!!1
My Shiro Cosmetics order of Intertubes arrived!!!!1112
Being a geek and ofc loving my memes, I fell in love with the design of Shiro Cosmetics straight away. Caitlin creates all her own eyeshadows and has just released some lip products called ‘Intertubes’ or ‘tubes of win’!
“Intertubes are a unique vegan lip product created and produced by Shiro Cosmetics. They each have the moisturizing properties and consistency of a very nice semigloss balm, but the intensity and opacity of each unique color varies too widely for Intertubes as a whole to be described as simply a “tinted balm,” a “lipstick,” or a “stain.” Therefore, I’ve decided it’s most accurate to call them “tubes of win”.”
Lots of the eyeshadow names are Pokémon or Zelda related and all the lip products are internet meme related. I ordered myself 5 of them and waited patiently for their arrival. They arrived earlier this week and I managed to catch my postman trying to force/ram them through the letterbox. I rushed over to open to door and scowl at him and retrieve my poor parcel before he breaks it, or puts one of those annoying red cards through the door!
When I opened my parcel I found all my goodies wrapped up in a cute, valentines-esque, heart covered bag with free chocolates and some samples of eyeshadow and a sample of Rickrolled. I love the tagline of ‘makeup and geekery’ and the Mario pipe business card! :)
I order 5 Intertubes, I picked the more ‘boring’ colours, just so that they would be more wearable. I went for Three Wolf Moon (Dark, bold red), Over 9000 (Bold pink, a touch darker than bubblegum), Yo Dawg (Bright magenta), Robe & Wizard Hat (mid-blue with gold sparkle) and Longcat (sheer base with silver sparkle).
They come in cute lip balm containers with waterproof vinyl meme labels on them. As soon as you take the lids off you can really smell the flavours of the lip balm. I was really surprised when they arrived and I took the lids off to take some pictures. You don’t notice the smell once it is on your lips, but they smell lovely in the tubes.
Three Wolf Moon is cinnamon flavoured with cinnamon oil and Longcat is peppermint flavoured with peppermint oil so you can feel a “mild stinging or a ‘plumping’ effect.” Over 9000, Yo Dawg and Robe & Wizard Hat are fruity flavoured, grapefruit, raspberry and blueberry, they all smell gorgeous!
The colours are lovely, they smell gorgeous, the packaging is awesome, now all is left to say how they actually are as a lip product! The answer to that is…AMAZING! I love these little tubes of win! They are mostly made of shea butter with is lovely and moisturising. When you put them on your lips it takes a couple of second for them to warm up, then you just apply it as you would any lip product. They are really amazing and give a pretty opaque coverage, as much as most of my lipsticks do! They last for ages on my lips and they are really moisturising, they feel no different to a balm, but they have an awesome colour pay off.
Here are the arm swatches.
And here are the arm swatches after I’ve cleaned them off with a cleansing wipe! As you can see they do stain quite a bit! The only one that doesn’t stain is Longcat, but that’s because it is colourless anyway!
I will review them individually throughout the next week and put up pictures of them all on my lips so you can see what they look like, but I can say that I love them all and that Yo Dawg is probably my favourite. I love this one so much that I think I need to order several more!
I also received some samples, two eyeshadows and a sample of Rickrolled Intertube. Rickrolled smells of ginger (how appropriate!) which is a little weird, but not nasty. It is a red-orange and has ginger oil in it so again there may be a “mild stinging or a ‘plumping’ effect.” I’m not sure if I can pull this colour off, but I thought the same about the blue Robe & Wizard Hat and that looks pretty awesome!
The two eyeshadow samples I received were Spiritomb and Small Key. Spiritomb is a medium purple with bold green shimmer and eye-safe lime glitter and Small Key is a dark, metallic copper-bronze with silver sparkle. Both very pretty colours that apply really smoothly. If I wasn’t so rubbish at eyeshadow application I’d definitely buy more of the Shiro eyeshadows!
Anyhoo, the weekend is over and I should do some work. I’ll put up the lip swatches of these tubes of awesomeness during the week. I hope you’ve all had a lovely weekend! xxxx
I put on my robe and wizard hat…
Mac Viva Glam Cyndi and Lustering Lipstick
Hello lovely people! I’m in a rather good mood today. I’ve have a busy week and now I have a weekend where I have a social life for once! I am going to watch The Usual Suspects today. It’s one of many classic films I have never seen and I’ve been told I MUST see it. I’m not very good at watching films and here are loads I haven’t seen or have only seen the start of, I think I’m easily distracted. *ooh a butterfly* Anyway, it’s playing at a local cinema that plays mainstream films as well as independent, art-house and cult films. It’s a great little place, there’s no popcorn, but there is a bar :p I really need a nice laid back weekend, far too many early morning this week!
On to the lipsticks! I bought these awhile ago when I realised I didn’t have any nice red lipsticks. I had red lip tints, balms, glosses, but not lipstick and it is one of those things I felt everyone should have! Especially after seeing the red lipstick series being featured on Lipglossiping the last few months. Such pretty pictures of lovely ladies in their red lipstick! So I went on a hunt for a red lipstick that would suit me! I have thin lips, so I didn’t want a red that was too dark or harsh looking or I’m going to look silly. I have not yet perfected the art of re-drawing my lip line, although I’d love to give it a go without looking scary.
I ordered myself Viva Glam Cyndi as a good red starting base and sneakily added Lustering into the basket as well, just because I wanted it and was feeling slightly devil may care that day. They look quite similar except one leans towards pink and the other leans more towards red.
I really like them both! They have been getting a lot of wear recently where I’m trying to try more bold make up (I’m aware this isn’t very bold, but it’s a step towards it!). I wore my Viva Glam Cyndi into uni last week and I’m sure people thought I’d gone mad. I think it’s because I look like a total scruff most of the time with my hair in my face. Hair in front of face does not go well with lipstick wearing and definitely not with lipgloss wearing! I actually feel quite smart with my lipstick on, but I am slightly obsessed with checking if it needs touching up! :)
I really like Lustering, it is really easy to wear and I think suits my skin tone (not that I’m any good at figuring that kind of colour matching out!). Mac says that Lustering is ‘outspoken pink’, I’m not sure if that is how I would describe it! It doesn’t really look like the colour swatch on the website! Luckily I wasn’t disappointed because I googled swatches before ordering, but none of them looked like the colour Mac show!
Lustering Swatch from Mac
Viva Glam Cyndi is a lovely red and is a bit strange in that it seems to look different on everyone if you google swatches. Mac says it is a light, reddish coral, I guess that sounds about right, must better than the Lustering description anyway! :P I really like this red, I feel like I can wear it out without being to self conscious, always good! :)
(Lustering on the top and Viva Glam Cyndi on the bottom)
What do you think? :)
Also, have you ever noticed how website swatches never seem to be very accurate? It can’t be due to a difference in monitors or graphics because Lustering is way off, from neon to darkish pink! I really prefer to buy things online, it’s so much easier. Everything tends to be in stock and you often find better prices than in the shops, but I do often get little colour surprises, thank goodness for google and beauty bloggers! :D
Hope you all have a great weekend! Have fun! x
17 Mirror Shine Lipstick in Peace
Manic week! I cannot believe the difference between all my previous years at uni and this semester. It’s like they saved up all the work until the last 6 months! I have 4 presentations to do this semester, as well as running my experiment and I’m spending the whole of Valentines day inside the eye-tracker running an experiment on strangers! On top of that, my supervisor decided to email me saying he’d put my lit review mark up online, but I can’t have access to it until the end of the month when everyone’s has been marked. Nicht gut!
The post is a little later in the week than I normally would write one, but it was OH’s birthday today! <3 He ended up spending it at work all day and was even rudely awoken by an important work related phone call before 9am! We really cannot wait until summer when academic work is thrown out the window for a few weeks! :)
Anyway, at some point in the last few weeks I braved the crowds of browsing ladies in the make up aisles and grabbed some goodies. Most people will have heard about the 17 Mirror Shine lipsticks, especially Beehive, which seems to be a definite favourite among bloggers. The Mirror Shine lipsticks are really glossy and quite sheer and I really like that kind of finish, it makes it a great go-to lipstick to wear everyday and it’s easy to reapply without a mirror. They are quite soft though, so don’t leave it in your pocket! I used to do that with lip balms and they would go all warm and soft, but if you do that with this lipstick I’m not sure it would survive!
I’d seen lots of reviews on Beehive and how it is similar to a tinted lip balm. I’d tried something similar recently with the No7 Sheer Temptation lipstick and really liked it, but they are quite pricey! So I grabbed myself Peace. It is very orange looking in the tube. I had wanted to get an orange/peachy coloured lipstick, but not scary orange. However, when I swatched it, it was a nice sheer orange. So I popped it in my basket with my other goodies.
Here is a swatch on my arm with the tube. There’s a clear colour difference between them, but tbh I don’t think I could pull off the orange colour from the tube! :P
And here’s a picture of the lipstick on my lips. I really like it! It makes me look a little bit more alive! It applys nicely and looks lovely and glossy. I think it is nicer than the No7 Sheer Temptation lipstick I tried because the No7 can feel a little gritty when you put it on, but this is just like a lip balm, all soft and smooth. I like the colour, it doesn’t add much, just a nice tint. I want to get another one of these too try, but there are such pretty colours to pick from. I’m not the best at decision making! Have you tried any or have any suggestions? :)
I hope everyone is having a good week and don’t forget to enter my giveaway if you haven’t already! xxxx
Mac Fresh Salmon Lipstick
First things first…I love this lipstick! I recently bought it from Lady of the Lane in a blog sale. Whenever I see a blog sale I always have a quick look at swatches to see if any take my fancy. I’m always one for a bargain! I think this lipstick was limited edition in the spring 2010 Colour Forecast Collection.
When I first saw the name my initially reaction was YUCK! Fresh Salmon is not the greatest name to pick for a lipstick. I like to eat salmon, but I don’t want to smear it on my lips… Although it looks like orange in the tube, it seemed to come out as a sheer peachy colour with a gold shimmer on the lips. When it arrived it does look a little scary and orange. You can see the gold shimmer in it in the tube a little, but the shimmer really comes out better on the lips.
Below is a swatch on my arm and as you can see it is pretty shiny from the gold shimmer, more so than it looks in the tube.
Finally here are my lips with nothing on and below with Fresh Salmon. I really love it, I have to say it is probably my favourite lipstick at the moment. It isn’t as ‘done up’ looking as a red, but is more interesting than a neutral. I find the colour really suits me and makes me looks quite alive, which I hardly ever do! Hello dark zombie eye circles! I’m concerned about my love for this lipstick though, it was limited edition and I won’t be able to get another! What will I do when I run out!?
I’ve been lost in old music this week. I’ve had a massive tidy out of my house for my landlord visiting last night, not that he turned up or let us know anything *grumble*, but at least the house looks nice and I found all my old cds! I’m slowly going through the long process of ripping them to my pc, but a lot of it is already on Spotify so I can listen to it now :) Emma and Ayden have both mentioned old school music this week and made me remember all the cool bands I hadn’t listened to in ages.
Speaking of old music, I used to love Easyworld and it was one of my favourite bands when I met my OH. They broke up ages ago, but while searching for old school band info I found that apparently David Ford (the singer) kept recording. He has an awesome voice and even more awesome is that he is playing Southampton at the end of the month! I’m a happy bunny! xxx
Eyeko Fat Balms (Toffee, Minty, Frosting and Cherry)
I love Eyeko Fat Balms! I now have all of them, but here is the first four I bought. I’ve had them a month or so now and I wear them constantly during the day. The only problem I have is deciding which one to use! They come in these large tubes, but they are actually quite short and stumpy so them still happily fit in a small handbag. It takes some getting used to to apply them on your lips without getting it all over the surrounding area as well, but it not too bad as long as you are careful. :P
They come in lovely, cute cardboard boxes. I’ve snapped a picture of every side for you to see how sweet they are. :)
Here are the swatches on my arm of the Eyeko Fat Balms in Toffee, Minty, Frosting and Cherry. I think I bought three of them as a set (The sweet treats set – Toffee, Frosting and Cherry) and the extra one I added in as I really want to try the Minty one. I have a serious obsession with anything minty. In fact I am eating a mint now, my mum stocks my cupboards with mints and peppermint candy canes at Christmas, enough to last me all year! :)
The texture of the fat balms is such like a normal, moisturising balm, but they have a surprisingly great colour pay off. They also all have their own flavour/smell. None of them are strong or nasty, just nice and tasty! My favourite is obviously Minty, it is very fresh and makes your lips tingle, but Frosting and Cherry are a close second. Frosting smells like cupcakes and Cherry is such a lovely red.
You can also use these as a blush, but I didn’t really like it. I had a go with Frosting and it was a lovely colour, but I prefer to work with powder. The balm was difficult to blend for me, but if you are used to cream blushers you might have better luck! They don’t leave your cheeks sticky and they do leave a great colour that lasts. Mine such looked bad due to shoddy application! :p
The first swatch is in daylight next to a window and the second is away from the window to show you how the balms have light reflecting particles. I think it really helps make my lips looks fuller.
Finally here are the lip swatches. I took these one after another and then I swatched a couple of red lipsticks. You have no idea how hard it was to figure out which swatch was which when I transferred them to my computer! Starting at the top and going down in order it is, Toffee, Minty, Frosting and Cherry. Frosting and Cherry look quite similar in these pictures, but Frosting is defiantly more of a bright pink and Cherry is more of a darker red. I really love them all. I was lacking Strawberry and Raspberry, but I bought them recently and I’ll swatch them soon.
About me
My name is Gem and I am a psychology graduate in the south of England. I like shiny and sparkly things, but I am also a total nerd. ^.^
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