High Voltage Cosmetics haul, swatches and review

I made my first High Voltage purchase during a 50% off sale (I'm going to review them as if they were the full price though because the sale is no longer on). Stupidly I forgot to put in the sale code in the paypal coupon note thing so I emailed immediately panicking and begging for my discount. but I needn't have, as soon as my order went through Jasmine refunded me the extra money I paid before I could even ask. She's one of the sweetest, friendliest people I've met through beauty blogging. She's always happy to chat on twitter about anything and seems genuinely interested in what I have to say. It's always a bit awkward reviewing things made by people you like because obviously I have to be honest about everything so I did worry a little when ordering. But I really needn't have. The items I got are overwhelmingly awesome! There's a couple of things I didn't really like, but it's not even because I think the product is bad, they just doesn't suit me or weren't as goodin comparison with the other products! This was one of the most positive expeiences I've ever had with an Indie makeup company. Usually there's one or two bits I have slight issues with, but with this order I really had to nitpick to find negatives to bring up!

I ordered:

2 Lip Candies in Beth and Just A Girl

1 Amplified lipstick in Alter Ego (Amplified lipsticks are now discontinued)

4 Lip Whips in Iron Butterfly, Spellbound, Lady Like and Midnight Desire

1 Eyebrow powder in Redhead

1 Mineral Mini blush in Hooking Up (called 'Hookin' Up' on the website)

 

Review after the jump :)

I recieved the products about 2 weeks after ordering which is standard from the US to here. It arrived beautifully packeged in little heart printed baggies with confetti and backing papers as well as an invoice and note all in a bubble mailer. The 2 powder products had shrink wraps on them to keep them from spilling. The packaging is nice and simple, black text on silver stickers on the bottom of the jars and black text on clear stickers on the lip tubes. It contains the names of the products and ingredients. Just a note to say I didn't recieve any free samples, I personally don't mind this at all, but know some people can get a bit annoyed if they don't get samples with orders. 

 

Ok so I'm going to start with the blusher. It seems like a really good formula, it's pigmented, smooth and really easy to blend. However the colour just didn't work on me at all. I generally don't like peach blushers on me anyway but have been giving some a try recently. This one looks slightly brownish on my skintone and the sparkle is a bit heavy for me. It's not a bad product, just not for me. You get a 5 gram jar for $5 which is very reasonable, I'd definately like to try some of the other colours.

 

left: redhead brow powder right: blusher

The brow powder is fantastic. It's the perfect ginger colour to go with my hair. It's really strongly pigmented, I only need the tiniest hint on my brush to fill in my brows so I imagine the jar is going to last my whole lifetime! I have bleached brows at the moment so I only apply it very lightly to look natural (well vaguely natural :P) but it also worked really well on my naturally medium brown brows, it made them a sort of dark ginger colour that worked very well with my hair. Once it's on it lasts all day and I don't need any wax or setting product on top of it. I'm wearing it in basically every FOTD from the last few months. You get a 5 gram jar for $4.25 which will probably last you forever. Bargain!

Now the lip products. 

  

Left to right:

Amplified lipstick in Alter Ego, Lip Candy in Beth, Lip Candy in Just A Girl

 

Left to right: Lip whips in Ladylike, Spellbound, Iron Butterfly and Midnight Desire.

Firstly the Lip Candies. These are honestly the best indie lip product I've ever tried. They're incredibly pigmented, opaque in one or two strokes, they're soft and creamy so very easy to apply and actually feel quite moisturising on my lips. They have a very gentle buttermint sort of scent which I really like. They've sort of got a satin finish, quite matte but not completely. They're incredibly long lasting, once I went out for an evening (for about 4 hours) and forgot my mirror so I couldn't see how I looked or reapply my lippie. I was eating, drinking and chewing my bottom lip quite a bit. I assumed my lipstick would have been sloughed away but my friends said it was fine. I assumed they meant it had faded but not bad enough that I looked rediculous. When I got home after about an hour on the tube I finally got to see a mirror and even through all the abuse I'd done to my mouth my lipstick was still pretty much perfect! The formula reminds me of a Mac amplified cream lipstick, which (I think) is my favourite ever lipstick formula. Basically I adore these and want to buy every colour available! The only slight negative for me is that they are packaged in jars, I don't actually mind as I generally use a lip brush to apply my lipstick anyway, but if they were in proper lipstick bullets they would just be absolutely perfect. They cost $6.50 each for a full 5 gram jar, and are well well worth it in my opinion.

Just A Girl - One of my 'go to' lip colours. An amazing bright pastel purple. It reminds me of Illamasqua's Jo'Mina nail polish. I loooove it.

 

Beth - A bright but pale blue, sort of a bubblegum blue colour.

 

Lip Whips are a sort of creamy mixture of lipstick and gloss in a tube. They're opaque and long lasting like a lipstick but have a slight shine and a liquid formula of a gloss. They're similar to OCC Lip Tars but not exactly the same. These are incredibly pigmented, being fully opaque in one or two strokes, they're never patchy and are very easy to apply due to their creamy formula. You only need a tiny amount to cover your lips. They're not as long lasting as a lip tar, I got 3 hours of it looking perfect during which I was drinking but after a longer time or after eating it starts to fade. But it fades very evenly, so my lips are still coloured but less bright. I found that one colour (Midnight Desire) feathered but the others didn't at all. They feel lovely on the lips, not at all sticky but not dry at all, I sort of forget that I'm wearing them because I can't feel them at all. They have the same gentle buttermint scent. The only problem I have with these are that they're a very thick cream and I have to squeeze the tube really hard to get any out! I don't have any suggestions for alternative packaging though, I think it's just because I am weak as a kitten so even squeezing a tube is a bit much for me XD  Lip Whips are currently unavailable but will be back soon. They cost $6.25 for 7ml which is again a really great price.

Iron Butterfly - fantastic bright light grassy green colour. This is bizarrely flattering on me!

 

Lady Like - very pale pastel yellow. A cool colour but doesn't look great on me because my skin is so pink based.

 

Spellbound - A really unique grey/green/turquoise colour. When swatched on my skin it looked quite horrible but it's really nice on my lips!

  

Midnight Desire - a fantastic 'blurple' (very very blue purple) this is the shiniest of the Lip Whips but it feathers quite badly on me. It's the only one that feathers. But it's an absolutely gorgeous colour!

Now the Amplified Lipstick. These have been discontinued and I totally understand why after using the Lip Candies. It's really not a bad formula, it's opaque, non feathering and pretty long lasting. I wore it for about 3 hours without needing to reapply. It tends to wear away from the center of my lips instead of actually fading. However while it's not at all drying on the lips the formula is a bit dry which makes it harder to apply and ever so slightly patchy looking on my lips. It comes in the same jars as the Lip Candies. It really isn't bad, it's just that the Lip Candies and Lip Whips are so fantastic it seems a bit rubbish by comparison :P I'm unsure how much this cost me.

Alter Ego - I absolutely adore this colour. It's just a perfect purple, not too red, not too blue, not too dark but not pastel. It's matte which I love. It's just a fantastic colour. If this could be made as a Lip Whip or Lip Candy I would be a very happy bunny!

 

So would I purchase again? Oh God yes. If I had any money I would buy up her entire stock of lip Candies, and eagerly await the return of the Lip Whips. And try out some other products! High Voltage also sells lip powders and glosses, eyebrow wax, cream eyeshadow, tonnes of gorgeous eyeshadows and some other bits and bobs. I loved basically everything I tried. The lip candies are as good as my favourite Mac lipsticks, the Lip whips are very similar to OCC lip tars which I love, the eyebrow powder is all I use on my brows these days and the blusher was beautifully formulated, just not a great colour for me. This is an absolutely fantastic indie MMU company.