MUA Wet Look Eyeliner and Luxe Velvet lip Laquer in Atomic

So here are some mini reviews of two of the products I picked up in Superdrug.

Firstly the Wet Look Eyeliner. Oh boy do I love this eyeliner! It stays on amazingly. Here is a swatch freshly applied:

 

And here it is about 8 hours later:

Now maybe you think I'm some sort of filthy, unwashed degenerate...And you would be right! But I had washed my hands (yes with soap, God Mum!) at least 3 times while it was on my hand. Very impressive. Later on I had a bath and started scrubbing at it and it began to peel off neatly which was very satifying.

Here it is on the eyes:

And again at the end of the day: 

 

You can see that at the end of the day a little bit has flaked off in the inner corner of my eye and that's about it (it appears much less shiny but I believe that's the lighting)

While it does not actually look wet, it is nicely shiny and more patent looking than any other eyeliner I've tried. And it's wonderfully pigmented, appearing a nice solid black and not patchy at all. The applicator is one of my favourite kinds, a pointy felt style tip that's a little softer and more bendable than a 'felt tip' eyeliner, quite long and nicely tapered. I find these styles the easiest to use as they let me hug the lashline and control the thickness of the lines.

The Velvet Lip Laquer is a liquid matte lipstick (the kind that goes on as a liquid and then dries and attaches yourself to your lips and becomes completely smudgeproof). I've tried quite a few of these products in different brands and these are my favourite. A problem I often get with these matte liquid lipsticks are that they don't go on quite opaque in one layer and to avoid it looking streaky I have to apply at least 2. But putting more layers on top just doesn't seem to work well in the formula and they end up sloughing off my lips. The MUA ones I've tried have all been opaque in one stroke and a little goes a long way. It dries a little slower than other brands but I find this helpful as it gives me more time to apply it evenly and neatly. And when it does dry it doesn't feel uncomfortable or dry my lips like other brands. It lasts about the same amount of time as other brands, which for me is basically all day...Until I eat. I find when eating the product either rubs off from the middle out or if it's anything remotely oily it sort of melts.

Atomic is a bright, red based orange. Here it is on my lips:

 

...Unfortunately it's a really bad photo. It is much brighter and more orange in real light.

Here's my face! (I'm also wearing one of the shades from the MUA Birthday palette and Makeup Revolution foundation in FB01 pink tones) Again the lips colour isn't really accurate:

The eyeliner is £2 and it is awesome so you should buy it, the lip laquers are £3 and if you like matte lips you should try one. I'm really happy that such a nice inexpensive brand is making such quality products :)

Swatcharama - Sleek True Colour Lipsticks

This is quite a small Swatcharama as I only have 5 Sleek lipsticks so far, but they've just released a load more colours and some of them are screaming at me to buy them so I might be updating this soon :P

The True Colour lipsticks come in two varieties: Sheen and Matte currently I only have one Sheen. The Matte ones are completely opaque and brilliantly matte but are quite dry which makes them harder to apply. On the lips they're slightly drying but not badly so, they look great (I love matte lipsticks) and last for absolutely ages. They're really stuck on the lips so last through eating and drinking with no problems. The Sheen one is slightly less opaque but still very pigmented and has a lot more 'slip' which makes it easier to apply and it's not at all drying, however it doesn't last as long. It still stays put for a good while but will fade away especially through eating and drinking.

Anyway, swatches:
 'Amped' a bright, blue-based pink (Matte):

 

'Candy Cane' A deep, almost red yellow based pink (Sheen):

 

'Heartbreaker' basically the same as Candy Cane only matte (Matte):

 

'Mystic' Like Amped's deeper cousin, it's even more blue and is on the verge of being properly purple (Matte):

 

'Papaya Punch' a light, bright coral (Matte)

Conjurers Cosmetics Lip Products

So as some people may remember I'm doing a home study course to learn to make my own makeup. It's taking me ages because, instead of just following the recipes included in the course, I'm trying to perfect my formulas and make loads of different colours of each product. Anyway I thought I'd share some of the lip products I've made so far for my imaginary makeup line Conjurers Cosmetics, some are successes, some are failures. What do you think?

Lip glosses:

This one is an opaque perwinkle blue with red sheen, The red is more noticable in real life. One of my favourites.

 

    

Lots more under the cut 
 

Darling Girl Lip Products Reviews and Swatcharama!

Today I have some swatches and reviews of Darling Girl Cosmetics Lip Products.

They make several different lip products including lip balms, primer and of course colour cosmetics.

Packaging is simple but attractive:

  

Holo Gloss in a click pen, Kiss You Off Colour Rich Lip Balm in a tube, Liquid Kiss Luxe sample in Strawberry Fields Forever in a clam shell, Holo Gloss in a pot.

Reviews and swatches under the cut :)

A Trip To Westfields

A couple of weeks ago Claire and I took a trip to Westfields which at the moment is my favourite place to go shopping. It really reminds me of a peoper huge American mall, has tonnes of shops I really like and it's really spacious and airy so it never seems too crowded (which means I feel less anxious). 

I didn't do very interesting makeup as I wanted to get out the house quickly.

 

Claire wanted to take a picture of my (not particularly interesting) outfit but as we went out to the garden I realised that the burly polish builders working on the house next door (who constantly play really loud Europop from the nineties) were watching us, which explains my expression (I hope).

 

Our first stop is always at Butlers Chocolate Cafe because it is AMAZING! It does the worlds best hot chocolate and you get a free fancy truffle with every drink.

 

Drinking a delicious chocolate milkshake and wearing my fake Jeremy Scott sunglasses ( I wanted the real ones but these were £6).

 

Claire likes her Chai tea.

We shopped for a while and then had lunch. The food court is great, it has loads of choice and healthier items. I got falafel and hummous and Claire had a huge vegetable burrito.

Westfields is absolutely great for a makeup fiend like me. There's regular shops like Superdrug and Boots then higher end brands like Makeup Store, Mac and Inglot (I think it's the only Inglot shop in the UK, but I may be wrong) and Debenhams which has various brands like Chanel, Dior, Urban Decay etc.There's also an OPI shop (which I think is the only place in the UK to get Nicole by OPI polishes), some kind of mineral makeup place and Kiko (which is a great shop with bargain prices and fun colours but seems to always playing really horrible loud club music). There's also Beauty Base which is..odd. Beauty base is like a big discount perfume place (though some of the discounts are only 5p off RRP) and then it has some high end makeup brands like Shiseido (which seemed to have no discount) and also really cheap, obscure brands. You can get L.A. Colors there which is great because everythings under £5. And finally (I think, I may have forgotten some shops) a Models Own shop has just opened. 

The shop looks cool because it's in the shape of a nail polish bottle!

 

(photo belongs to Models Own)

 

My experience of the shop however wasn't that great. The staff seemed very nice and friendly but there were  a group of about 5 SAs standing in a big group chatting to each other. This meant there were bits of the shop I couldn't access and they continued their conversation even when I was paying for my goods which is a real pet peeve of mine. The stock seemed a little odd, they had hundreds of the nail polishes but they seemed to be arranged by colour, while this might usually be helpful it means if you want something from their collections (I wanted some Beetlejuice colours) you have to go hunting for them all individually. And there were about 4 sections, all of which had the nail polish in a slightly different order (some colours were on all sections, some were only on 1 etc). Models Own has a huge variety of products but the shop only had certain products. Finally the check out system is just weird. Instead of scanning barcodes the SAs are all equipped with tablet computers and have to manually search for the colour you're buying, it seems really inefficient, especially as it took took of them (one to call out the name of the product and the other to find it on the tablet)

On the plus side however you can make your own little gift box of 6 polishes for £20 (on the website you can only get premade selections)

 

Those are (rather terrible) swatches of the new Models Own Matt Brite lipsticks. from top to bottom:

Flaming Red, Annalise's Pink, Pink Hawaiian and Orangeade. 

Then an amazing thing happened, I was in Topshop looking at some glittery brogues when I heard a call of 'Lillian?' and turned to discover Robyn, my fellow Makeup Hero, looking at the same shoes! :D

Topshop wouldn't let us take a photo inside for some reason (they also wouldn't let Claire come in the changing rooms with me which sucked because I wanted her opinion on a dress I was trying) but we took one outside. Robyn is just as beautiful in real life as in her blog and a super funny awesome fellow!

 

We ended up both buying the aforementioned shoes. Oooh friend, shoe friend!

All in all a good day was had.

My nail polish (and one lipstick) haul is under the cut. I got a few other bits too (mostly tights) but I haven't taken photos of them yet. 

Illamasqua Theatre of the Nameless Collection

Yes, I'm stupidly late with this post once again. The collection has been out for quite some time now, but because Illamasqua is awesome with it's collections, the products are all still available and will be for a long time :) 

This collection was inspired by the dark and decadent nightlife of Berlin in the 1920s, the images really reminded me of expressionist cinema. The colours are vampy and rich, but with hints of sparkle and iridescence. While the collection of darker, vampier hues seems perfect for autumn/winter, as usual Illamasqua has not gone down a 'safe' route. The dark cerises, smoked purples, forresty greens and rusty reds are also joined by flashes of bright magenta, light peaches and greyed pinks. There's new textures too - shimmery blushes and rubberised nails. 

To be honest while I absolutely loved the collection imagery that came out before the products, I didn't imagine I'd end up wanting to buy much. To me while the pictures were absolutely breathtaking, I didn't imagine that too many exciting products were involved. For instance I adore this picture: 

But the only product really featured is a black liner (and whatever created the flawless skin)

But then when I actually saw the products, there were loads I wanted! 

And the lovely people at Illamasqua were kind enough to send me a few items, including two that I was absolutely craving, so that was a bit of good luck for me! 

The products came with a catalogue, featuring more gorgeous artwork.

And in the normal, sleek Illamasqua packaging. This is the one thing I would change about Illamasqua's collections, special packaging would be nice to distinguish them from the main line of products.

 

The three products I recieved were Sheer Lipgloss in Violate, Lipstick in Kontrol and Pure Pigment in Berber.

Firstly the product I was the most excited about, the Sheer Lipgloss in Violate. I won't do a proper review of the formula because it's the same as one's I've talked about extensively before here

 

However you can see from my picture that while this is called a 'sheer' gloss it really isn't very sheer (though you can make it look sheerer by applying it very sparingly). It's a fantastic colour. A sort of red-ish brown with tonnes of green shimmer. You can see the brown colour a lot here because of the angle of my lips, from straight on they look much more green.  I really love it, such a cool colour, I can honestly say I've never seen a metallic, forrest green lipgloss before and this is a wonderful one. However what I would say is that the  pigmentation is a little odd, it's not opaque like their Intense Lipglosses but it certainly isn't sheer. I think it would look better over a base, perhaps black. You can also apply a tiny bit of this over another colour to darken it and add a hint of the green sparkle. It's good over red! 

Next the other product I loved the look of, the lipstick in Kontrol.

 

This is an amazing and unique colour. It's a real, true purple (not an aubergine or plum just called a purple) but with a hint of grey which makes it look really sophisticated and special. Berry lips are usually big for winter and I think this is a more interesting alternative. I've had problems with Illamasqua's lipsticks before, a lot of the shades I've tried have been very dry or drying or just not that great. I don't know if they've made any changes to the formula or if it's just this shade but this is just a fantastic lipstick! It's super pigmented, opaque in a single stroke and has a matte finish, however it is not in the slightest bit drying. It's creamy and smooth and glides on like a dream. It's just an amazing lipstick, I don't have anything bad to say about it!

Finally I was sent Berber, a  pure pigment. 

 

Pure Pigments can be used all over, as eyeshadow, blush, highlighter or you can apply it wet to make an eyeliner. Berber is a great metallic red colour with gold and green sparkles. It's beautifully pigmented and the different colours of the glimmer really shine through. I've not used this as an eye shade yet but I have other Pure Pigments which I have and they make fine eyeshadows, they last ages and don't tend to crease or fade. If you apply this lightly it makes a fantastic blush! It doesn't say anywhere if this is safe for use on the lips, which is a shame, I imagine it would look beautiful dusted over a red lipstick.

All the products I tried are really wonderful, I'm so so impressed with the lipstick formula and I love the lipgloss. So I really love this new collection, I want basically everything else from it! If the items I recieved seem a bit too 'out-there' and strange there is a lot more in the collection which is more conventional, there are blushes in rosy magentas and peachy nudes and pure pigments in black and white for a great smokey look. 

One last thing, I thought one item I really didn't need was the eyeliner in Havoc, an aubergine shade. Then I saw this:

From http://solomag.se/killercolours/2011/10/havoc/

Bloody heck it looks nice!

Thank you so much to the lovely people at Illamasqua for the products. I can't wait until I have the money to buy more!

A Haul from Wendy :D

Hullo everyone.

A while ago I got the lovely Wendy to cp me a few bits, but she was naughty and sent me gifts too. Ohhh naughty generous people :P

Have a look at my goodies!

First I got the Deborah Lippmann 'Get This Party Started' set which includes 3 polishes in 'Happy Birthday', 'Candy Shop' and 'Forget You'

   

These were a lot bigger than I expected. I've only seen photos of the bottles from straight on and I imagined they were cuboid/rectangular, like Barry M polish bottles. Instead they're square and pretty huge!

 I had my Lynnderella polishes (which I mentioned in this post) delivered to Wendy.

  

The colours are Snow Angel, Connect the Dots, The Glittering Crowd and Throwing Water into the Ocean (a freebie :) )

And in the US ELF had a 70% off sale, and as it's about half the price there than it is here I thought I'd grab some bits.

 

ELF studio Angeld Eyeliner Brush, ELF mineral Flat Eyeliner Brush, ELF Zit Zapper.

 

ELF Studio Glitter Gloss in Jeweled Jam , ELF Studio Minty Lip Gloss in Houston, ELF Studio Pout Perfecter, ELF Studio Radiance Enhancer in Spotlight, ELF Studio Lip Lock pencil.

This delightful thing is a candle holder from Bath and Body Works.

 

Ad then some gifts from Wendy <3

2 Bath and Body Works PocketBacs (antibacterial hand gel stuff)

 

The ghost is Chocolate Chew scented (smells JUST like a Tootsie Roll and the ghostie glows in the dark :D) and the Lichtenstein-esque Whaam! Is Fruit Punch scented. 

And some Makeup! I am spoiled :)

Milani Lipsticks in Orange-gina and Blackcherry, Jordana Lip Out Loud gloss in OMG, Sinful Colors polishes in Frenzy and Hottie

Thank you Wendy!!

Swatches of most things under the cut :)

Some High Voltage Cosmetics Lip swatches and Amped Up Gloss Review

About a month ago High Voltage had a little sale where you could get 5 lip products for $20 and as their lip products are some of my favourites in the whole world I had to indulge myself :)

So I got: 

3 lip candies in Neostyle, Orestea and Ultra Violet

A lip whip in She's got the Look
and an Amp'd Up Gloss in Jukebox

 

Since I made my last order the products have all changed appearance. The lip candies used to be in clear pots, now they are black and the lip whips briefly changed into the tubes you can see above but are now back in the squeezy tubes (which personally I prefer). Both the Amped up Gloss and Lip Whip have new labels which look really awesome but have some problems. While personally I don't pay much attention to my makeups ingredients I know it's very important to a lot of people.  Unfortunately the silver writing on black is very hard to read, parts of the list is cut off on the round label and the ink comes off the rectangle label very easily. If this can be sorted out then the new labels would be brilliant, they look really cool and professional. But at the moment the old lip candy labels are better for clarity.

Amp'd Up Gloss lid

  

Lip Whip label

  

Lip Candy label (this is on the bottom of the pots, the tops are plain)

 

The Lip Whip in She's Got The Look is a lovely pale, slightly muted, coral peachy colour.  

  

This is about as close as I come to nude lips and I really like it. It's not bright and brash like most of my lip colours but it's not dull or drab either and I don't feel naked wearing it. I didn't like the new lip gloss style packaging as much as the old squeezy tubes but it was perfectly adequate and it's a moot point now as Jasmine has reverted back to the old packaging :P

Now here are the three Lip Candies.

Orestea. This is a cool slightly blue toned mint green. On the website it looks like a proper turquoise colour and is described as a teal-green but while it's got a hint of blue it's definately a minty green. 

Ultra Violet is a fantastic slightly metallic pale-ish purple (less blue than it looks in my photo)

 

Neostyle is an amazing colour. It's a bright cyan blue with a gorgeous violet shimmer which of course I couldn't capture at all in the photo. 

It was a limited edition colour from a sci-fi future themed collection (the name of which I have forgotten). While it's gorgeous it has a completely different formular from all the other lip candies. It's very... liquidy and thin. It's also sheerer and wears off quicker than the usual lip candies. It's beautifully glossy though!

Here it is after about 2 hours: 

 

The wear certainly isn't bad but it's not as good as the usual lip candies which are just amazing. 

Finally I tried my first Amp'd Up Gloss. This is Juke Box which is probably my perfect purple. The Amp'd Up Gloss formula is good but personally I prefer the lip candies and lip whips. It's a very thick gloss texture and is opaque, which is great! You can apply just a light layer and it's sheerer but still beautifully pigmented. It's also very comfortable, it feels like I'm wearing a nice moisturising lipstick instead of a sticky gloss. However I find that it wears off quite fast. I've seen other reviews which say these last like lipsticks or leave a stain which I didn't find at all, so perhaps I got a dodgy one? Also if I apply it heavilly so it's opaque I can see little gritty bits. I can't feel them at all and they wear off after a while but it looks a bit weird at first. 

Here's a light application: 

 

And here's an opaque application:

 

And here it is after about two hours:  

So, yeah, I think it's a good gloss but I'm not sure if I would buy more because I prefer High Voltages other lip products. If I could get this colour in the Lip Candy formula I would be a very very happy bunny :)

 Well worth my 20 bucks!:D