Doh A Deere

So as you may have gathered from my previous post, i am not the biggest fan of Lime Crime Makeup, or indeed Doe Deere herself.
If you've missed the drama the problem with Lime Crime is that her mineral eye shadows (or 'magic dusts') are just repackaged pigments from wholesale companies, being sold for a much, much higher price but Lime Crime claim they actually formulate their own colours and say that there is no other makeup as pigmented and bright as them. Both of these claims are simply not true. And then to add insult to injury, when called out on the fact her shades are identical to ones available from wholesalers, she had the audacity to claim that THEY copied HER!

To find out more here are some good articles on the subject:

Lime Crime, So Ordinary it Should be Illegal.

Comparing Wholesale Micas to Retail.

No Originality With Lime Crime.

Mineral Mayhem v.20

Will the real Slim Shady please stand up?

Getting Duped.

Made me Giggle.

Lime Crime is a Ripoff, please read!

Thanks for everyones advice over my dilemma whether or not to buy her lipsticks. i have decided that, no matter how beautiful her lipsticks are (i'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt and believe her pathetic new post claiming she had a big part of the production of them, unlike her eye dusts) there's no way i could fund her because of her lying, cheating ways and things she has done in the past (deleting bad comments and reviews about her, scamming people out of money they believed was for a charity, making shoddy garments in her fashion designer days and insulting my mother).

Anyway her most recent post really rubbed me up the wrong way.
Now let's just assume that what she's saying is true about the lipsticks, she worked with a lab, designed the colours herself etc etc, it's such a bloody vain, self congratulatory post (much like all of her blog) it infuriates me. Here are some quotes that were particularly untrue or irritating.

'The Opacity factor ended up being something I had to FIGHT for, tooth and nail. Having made millions of mediocre lipsticks, the lab didn’t quite understand why I wanted mine to be so pigmented'
Has his factory never heard of, i don't know, Mac for example? While Mac might not have the most unconventional range of colours, you can't fault their pigmentation!

'Indeed, in an industry that is supposed to be all about color, I felt strangely alone in my dedication to develop shades that were a little (or a lot!) outside the traditional spectrum. The typical color-developing process is quite uninspiring:

1. Client finds a ’sample’, usually another brand’s lipstick or eyeshadow
2. Lab matches it
3. Client tweaks color (darker/greener/more pigmented/etc) and sticks it in their own packaging.

That’s it. There are two things inherently wrong with this process. 1) Everyone’s making copies of each other’s stuff. 2) Nothing new is being invented, ever. Is it any wonder we have stores full of cosmetics that look exactly the same?!'

... Kettle, you are looking pretty damn black. She actually did WORSE than this with her eye dusts. Instead of getting a lab to match it, she just resold another brands eyeshadows!

'Is it possible to make neon lipstick? How about blue? Is it legal? Why isn’t anybody doing it?!'
Xenia, here are your answers. Yes, i have many neon lipsticks. Yes i have more than one blue lipstick. Yes it's legal and actually many people are doing it.

'You can imagine how crazy people thought I was for even asking these questions. In an industry that’s more about trends than creativity, coloring outside the lines is, well, …a crime. Imagine having to convince seasoned chemists that you indeed want purple that purple and pink that bright. In the end, I’m very glad I trusted my gut instinct and developed a range that helped set Lime Crime apart from other brands.'
Again, just not true. Many many companies have been making these sort of colours long, long before she decided to have a go at the makeup market.

Everything she writes about her makeup just claims that it is basically the only thing out there for people who want bright, unusual colours and it's just not true at all! While i will say her colours do look good and, from what i can see, good quality, they are all just photoshopped so who knows what they'll really look like on?

I have no real problem using photoshop for beauty photos, if you want to clean up your face, or a colour is hard to photograph i guess it's fine to adjust the photo a little to make the colour true to life. However what she has done is taken about 2 photos of her lip and then just coloured them in in photoshop. Or indeed at one point taken a photograph of Raquel Reed, photoshopped her 'Oh No She Didn't' on top and at least had the decency to say 'colour approximated'.

So if you're on the lookout for bright, unusually coloured lipsticks, but don't want to give money to a lying, self appointed 'unicorn queen' i've found quite a few places to try:

Firstly Stargazer:

Not only are these incredibly cheap (£3 or about $4.95) they come in a huge range of colours. From black and white to several different shades of bright pink, turquoise, blue, purple and orange and well as shimmery colours, a few bright lipglosses and glittery colours as well.
I have a few and i will admit they do not feel that nice on my lips, they're quite drying, however they are incredibly well pigmented and last a long time. You can't go wrong for 3 quid in my opinion. (also this website has a few shades on sale for 99p!)
It's been rumoured that her lipsticks are just repackaged stargazer, i have no evidence of that but you can get some pretty damn good dupes for a fraction of the price. I'd like to see her try and claim Stargazer copied her, since they've been around since 1978!

Barry M:

Barry M have a smaller range of 'unusual' colours than stargazer but are a higher quality, with great staying power, a lovely creamy quality and fabulous pigmented formula. They retail for £4.25 (about $6.95) and come in a wide range of wearable colours, such as their new range of pink and red colours, but also a fabulous black lipstick, some neon pinks, orange, lavenders and glitters. They also have a lovely range of glittery lip glosses, as well as an opaque bright orange and bubblegum pink gloss.

Illamasqua:

Illamasqua have a lot of lovely lipsticks, but apart from silver, black, gold and white none are really 'unusual' for lipsticks, however their Intense Lipglosses come in a huge range of very exciting, ultra opaque but ultra shiny colours. White, black, blue, purple, acid green and even grey! I have started a collection of these and i can truly say they are the best lipgloss' i have ever used. Pricier than the rest at £12.50 (about $20), but still thats only $4 more than Limey's lipstick.

Mac:

Mac don't have any incredibly 'weird' colours, but the pro range has a few slightly more unusual, but still very wearable shades. For instance Violetta and Neon Orange. Also in the style black range there are a few various shades of blacks and other interesting colours. I'm not going to go into the quality, because everyone knows MAC are just great. £12 in the UK $14 in the US.


I've never tried these following companies so i can't vouch for the quality, but they have a lot of nice bright colours and i've heard good reviews from a lot of people.


Glitter to Gore:

The website is not great as there aren't any actual colour swatches, just photoshopped pictures and a photo of a selection of the lipsticks. Retail for $7.99 (£4.89)

Amphigory:

A lovely choice of colours including some very exciting glittery black, blue and green lippies. Also a good thing about this site is they specify which of the colours are actually 'handblended' by them. Various prices depending on the type of lipstick, the most expensive is $13.50 (£8.27)

Morgana Minerals:

a lovely range of darker 'gothy' colours like blues, purples and blacks and some brighter colours like turquoise. Again not the best swatches, but at least they show them actually on the lips. Also you can buy samples of these lipsticks, which i think is great! A full lipstick is $10 (about £6.13) or a sample to try is only $0.50 (about 30p)

Fyrinnae:

a wide selection of 'lip lustres', which they describe as similar to a lip stain. They claim they are very opaque and have some gorgeous colours from blue to turquoise to a lovely range of pinks and coppers. $4.50 (about £2.75) for a full tube or $2.50 (about £1.50) for a mini tube.

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics:

I'm absolutely longing for some of these. They come in a wide range of really bright colours (stunning primary blue, yellow and red) but you are also meant to use them to blend your own colours and the results absoluely amaze me (some swatches are available here, here, and here.) They go on like a lipgloss but then dry to a satiny, lipstick-like finish apparently. $12.50 (about £7.70).

So i hope this helps you find some exciting new lip colours!

(also, [and this is a little bitchy, but hey she started it when she called my Mum an asshole!] does anyone else find her slogan 'so bright its illegal' annoying. It really irritates me. If it was 'so bright it should be illegal' it would be fine! But no, it actually claims 'its illegal' which is just a lie and pisses me off immensely!)

And incase Lime crime or a fan is reading this and just think i am jealous, i would like to assure you i am not. There are many people that i am jealous of, and would happily admit it, but in fact i tend to like these people a lot. For instance i am jealous of makeup artist Alex Box's talent, and her input into the Illamasqua makeup line. I do not dislike Lime crime because i am jealous of her, if she weren't a huge liar and hadn't insulted me i'm sure i would love her, and see her as a big asset to the makeup community. In fact i used to be friends with her, not proper friends but blog-friends and i thought she was lovely. I saw the fun, sparkly, interesting girl she portrays to readers of her blog now. Then she started copying other peoples designs, insulting people and trying to cheat people out of money and i saw her true colours.