Review: Bobbi Brown Lipsticks

Bright, shiny and new - our much-loved Sheer Lip Colors get a polished update, now in a limited edition silver tube. This lightweight formula delivers an effortless wash of color plus nourishing shine (and pairs perfectly with the season's luminous looks).
Luxurious butters and oils improve the overall condition of lips, instantly and over time. Glides on smoothly and evenly for hours of feather-free wear.

I kind of have a bit of a love/hate relationship with lipstick. I love to wear it, and love the look of it. But more often than not, I hate the feeling of it! 
This is because I get really dry/chapped lips pretty much year round and almost every lipstick I try dries them out even more. It's really irritating!

But I have to say, this Sheer Lip Color lipstick feels so nice! It's formulated with Shea Butter, Murumuru Butter and Apricot Kernel Oils which rejuvenate and nourish the lips, all while actually improving the condition of lips overtime. It glides on super smooth, and doesn't seem to dry out my lips at all, leaving them feeling soft and moisturised.

The colour I have is Pink Gold from the Nude Glow Collection and it is a light shimmery gold. Normally I don't like shimmer in lipsticks, but this actually looks quite beautiful on. The first time I wore it I got asked what I was wearing about 6 times, I kid you not! That hardly ever happens with my lipsticks! 

Here's a swatch and closeup:

And here's a photo of me wearing it:

Now onto the new Shimmer Lip Color...

Bobbi Brown's iconic Lip Color is now available in new shades that combine high-shine emollients and light-reflective pearls for something completely fresh. Don't think metallic or frost - the effect is sheer and multi-dimensional. The lightweight yet moisturising formula glides effortlessly and evenly onto lips, leaving a thin veil of light-reflecting colour that  lasts for hours without feathering or drying.
Each shade is formulated with a unique blend of pearls for an effect that's intensely reflective yet soft and wearable; individual pearls have a smooth, flat shape and reflective, mirror-like quality.

Like I said above, I normally don't like shimmer in lipsticks - but there is something about these that is just gorgeous. Instead of looking chunky and glittery, these just have the most gorgeous shine. 

The colour I have is Berry Shimmer and it is a gorgeous neutral pink. These too are formulated with Shea Butter and Murumuru Butter, which leaves your lips feeling supple and conditioned. The colour payoff of this is actually pretty good considering that they are on the sheer side, and it really doesn't take much to get a nice opaque colour. 

It's not actually a shade that I would normally gravitate to, so it's taken me by surprise just how much I love this!
Here's a swatch and a close up:

And here's a photo of me wearing it:

Overall I am very impressed by both of these lipsticks. They feel great, more like a lip balm than a lipstick, and are both colours that I will get a lot of wear out of. These are both available now, at the Bobbi Brown store in Britomart.

Thanks for viewing!
oxo

Review: Maybelline New York Color Sensational Bold Matte

Kiss flat matte goodbye! Containing a unique, powderless formula, Bold Matte is packed with brighter matte pigments for the boldest shades. Enriched with honey nectar, new Bold Matte lipsticks give visibly moisturised lips and an incredibly smooth touch.

Maybelline lipsticks are quickly becoming firm favourites of mine. The formulas I have tried so far have been amazing, and the Bold Mattes are no different.

Matte lipsticks are notorious for making your lips really dry, but these actually moisturise your lips making them much more comfortable to wear. If you love the look of a matte lip, but hate the feel of it - then these are definitely for you.

The shade I have (and am obsessed with!) is MAT 5 which is a beautiful pinkish red. It is such a gorgeous colour that flatters my skintone perfectly. It glides on smoothly, and only takes a few quick swipes for it to become opaque.

When first applied, it can feel quite creamy and looks a bit glossy. But it soon settles down to a gorgeous semi-matte finish. No shimmer here!
It's not transfer proof, but it does last reasonably well throughout the day, only needing to be touched up after eating or drinking, and leaves your lips feeling soft and moisturised.

Here's a swatch of it on my hand:

And here's a couple pics of me wearing it:

I love everything about this lipstick. The colour, the formula... I even love the packaging! Retailing for $19.99 NZD, you can trust me when I say they are definitely worth it!

Thanks for viewing!
oxo

*pr sample

Review: Maybelline Colorsensational Stripped Nudes Lipstick

Dare to go bare with Maybelline New York’s newest nude collection, Stripped Nudes. 
Stripped Nudes ensure raw, born-to-be-naked colour for the most intense statement lips. Unlike classical nudes with a sheer, sparkly finish, this formula is not only free of shimmers and dilutants but saturated with raw pigments for the boldest naked impact.

Maybelline lipsticks are something I've never really had much experience with, and after trying this one and one of the Bold Mattes (review coming soon!), I honestly don't know why I didn't investigate them sooner!

The colour I have is "Coffee Craze" and it is a brownish nude. It applies very smoothly, and the pigmentation is so great that it seems one swipe is all it takes to get a nice opaque colour! Very impressive! The colour itself is definitely one that would flatter almost any skintone, and I'm happy to report that it's definitely not one of those ultra nudes that can make you look a little zombie-like.

Here's a swatch of it on my hand, taken in natural light

My favourite way to wear it is with bold eyes, as shown in this photo from Instagram where I paired it with a soft purple smokey eye

But it also actually looks real good when paired with a more natural eye look (also from Instagram)

Overall I'm really happy to have this colour in my lipstick stash, and will definitely be keeping my eye out for the other colours in the Stripped Nudes collection. They retail for $19.99 NZD - which is a bargain if you ask me!

Thnaks for viewing!
oxo

FOTD: Woo! Lets get Naked!

After swatching my beloved Urban Decay Naked palette, of course I had to do a quick look with it! I'm gonna wear this out to The Doobie Brothers concert tonight - so excited :P

I needa learn to take better pics, but until then these'll have to do!

Face:

• MAC Face and Body in C2
• Ben Nye concealer
• Ben Nye Neutral Set (under eyes/middle of face)
• MAC Mineralized Skinfinish Natural in Medium Dark
• Smashbox Muse Blush in Masterpiece

Eyes:

• Urban Decay Primer Potion
• Urban Decay Naked Palette - Toasted all over lid
• Urban Decay Naked Palette - Darkhorse in the outer corners
• Urban Decay Naked Palette - Naked in the crease
• Urban Decay Naked Palette - Hustle in the outer crease and under the eye
• MAC Penulitmate eyeliner in Rapid Black
• Covergirl Lash Blast mascara
• Revlon Colorstay eyeliner in Black

Lips:

• Lucas Papaw Ointment
• Urban Decay Lipstick Midnight Cowboy

Thanks for viewing, let me know what you think! I promise I'll do something more bright and exciting soon :P
oxo

FOTD: Yay for red lips!!

Sorry it's been so long folks...



Products used:

Face:
MAC Face and Body - C2
Ben Nye Concealer
MAC Mineralized Skinfinish Natural - Medium
Smashbox Blush Rush - Masterpiece

Eyes and Brows:
MAC Eyeshadows - Shroom, Wedge and Handwritten
MAC Penultimate Eyeliner - RapidBlack
Rimmel The Max VolumeFlash Mascara
Revlon Colorstay Brow Enhancer - Blackened Brown

Lips:
Lucas Papaw Ointment
DB Lipstick - Red Hot Red
MAC Pigment - Your Ladyship

What do you think?

Life Update: I'm now working full time at a pharmacy - which I love even more than I thought I would! I work with some really fun and awesome people, and to now be working full time is an awesome feeling. I never thought I'd be any good at retail, but I guess you don't know until you try! Hahah :P

Hoping to blog a lot more these days, it's all about getting my A into G.
Thanks for viewing! And sticking around all this time :)

oxo

FOTD: Mixing!

 

Yeah I look pretty tired, and the colours didn’t show up as brightly as I’d hoped they would but I wanted to show you all this anyway!

On my eyes:

• MAC Paintpot in Painterly
• MAC Satin Taupe eyeshadow – inner third
• MAC Club eyeshadow middle – middle
• MAC Handwritten eyeshadow – outter third and underneath
• MAC Carbon eyeshadow – along lashes
• MAC Ricepaper eyeshadow – as highlight
• Revlon brown eyeliner
• Avon Supershock mascara

Face:

• MAC Face and Body foundation in C2
• MAC Studio Sculpt concealer in NW20

Blush (the exciting part!):

• OCC Lip tars in NSFW and Feathered mixed together and applied to the apples of the cheeks, then blended using my fingers!

Lips (also exciting!):

• OCC Lip tars in NSFW and Feathered, then sheered down with a bit of the Clear lip tar.

It really makes these bright lip tars a lot more wearable for everyday use by sheering them down with the Clear lip tar. God I love these things.
Definitely going to be doing some more intense/bright looks with these in the future though, so look out for those. :D

Thanks for viewing!

oxo

FOTD x 2: Barney eyes and Fuschia lips!

Purple and green together always remind me of Barney the dinosaur, lol :P

 
 
With flash:
 
Face:

• MAC Studio Sculpt Foundation in NC20
• MAC Studio Sculpt Concealer in NW20
• Ben Nye Neutral Set Powder
• MAC Rose Romance Beauty Powder in Summer Rose

Eyes:

• Urban Decay Primer Potion
• MAC Steamy eyeshadow on the inner 2/3 of the lid
• MAC Violet Pigment on the outer third of the lid
• MAC Contrast eyeshadow on the outer corner of the lid, in the crease and under the eye
• MAC Vellum eyeshadow in the crease, above Contrast
• MAC Your Ladyship Pigment as the highlight
• MAC Penultimate eyeliner (trying to apply the false lashes messed this up and I couldn’t be bothered fixing it – talk about lazy!)
• Avon Ultra Luxury eyeliner in Midnight Blue in the waterline
• Avon Supershock mascara
• No brand False Eyelashes

Lips:

• MAC Lipstick in Fleshpot

This second FOTD was from Saturday and I took the photos with my phone so they’re not very good. I don’t wear bright lipstick often though so I thought I’d show you this anyway!

 
 
Face:

• Everyday Minerals Foundation in Fairly Light Neutral
• MAC Studio Sculpt Concealer in NW20
• Silk Naturals Perfecting Powder
• MAC Rose Romance Beauty Powder in Summer Rose

Eyes:

• MAC Quick Frost Pigment all over the lid upto the brow
• MAC Brown Down eyeshadow in the crease, and under the eye
• 120 Palette Matte Black as an eyeliner along the lashes
• Avon Supershock Mascara

Lips:

• MAC Pro Lipstick in Full Fuschia
• MAC Your Ladyship Pigment applied in the centre of the bottom lip and blended outwards

Well there we go, thanks for viewing!

oxo

FOTD: Brown Smokey Eye

Hi all! I wanted to try out my new MAC stuff (there will be a haul/review post tomorrow) so I went with a brown smokey eye! I’m also using one of my Everyday Minerals sample foundations (there’ll be a review on this soon too) so let me know what you think of it!

 

Close ups:

And in natural lighting:



Products used:

Face

• Everyday Minerals Foundation in Fairly Light Neutral
• MAC Studio Sculpt Concealer in NW20
• Ben Nye Neutral Set
• MAC Perfect Topping MSF

Eyes

• MAC Paintpot in Painterly
• MAC Eyeshadow in Club, all over the eyelid upto the crease and under the eye
• MAC Eyeshadow in Phloof in the inner corners
• MAC Eyeshadow in Brown Down in and above the crease
• 120 Palette – Shimmery Black in the outer corners and blended into the crease as well as under the eye
• MAC Pigment in Your Ladyship under the brow as a highlighter
• MAC Penultimate Liquid Liner in Rapid Black
• Avon Supershock Mascara
• Avon Ultra Luxury Eyeliner in Black

Lips

• MAC Lipstick in Fleshpot
• DB Lipstick in Lilac Mist (overtop of the Fleshpot)

Well I hope you like it and thanks for viewing!

oxo

Silk Naturals Review and Basic FOTD

Silk Naturals was recently suggested to me by Vanessa when I posted a blog asking about different Mineral Foundations.

My order took about a week to arrive which I thought was pretty good considering I live in little old New Zealand! And all up it cost me around $31 NZD (or $15.49 USD) for 7 samples including the Perfect Harmony Foundation Sample Kit. To me, this is a little on the expensive side but is somewhat worth it.

Anyway, this is what I ordered:
Perfect Harmony Foundation Sample Kit

This kit is $3.95 USD and consists of

• 1 teaspoon of the Original Ivory Foundation
• 1/2 teaspoon of each of the base colors- ebony, warm gold, olive, and buttery gold
• an empty 10 gram jar for mixing
• 1 measuring scoop so you can repeat your recipe
• 1 flocked sponge
• a full instruction sheet- complete with recipes to get you started

I had so much fun mixing my foundation. The colour I ended up with is 1 scoop Ebony to 8 scoops Ivory and this seems to be a pretty good match for me. In the FOTD below (which I did the day after I got this, sorry it’s kinda old!), I’m wearing it. Since then, I’ve discovered that I like this foundation more if I apply a few more layers. It’s all about experimentation!

The foundation I mixed:

With this I actually got a tiny little free sample of Destination Eye Shadow, which is a sheer chocolate shimmer. It’s supposed to be a dupe of Smashbox’s Muse Palette, but I don’t own this so I can’t confirm whether it’s a good dupe or not. I used it in the crease in my FOTD and quite liked it.

Swatch:

Next: Climax Blush $1.25 USD

I really love the colour of this blush. It is meant to be a dupe for NARS Orgasm. I don’t own that (NARS products are unbelievably expensive over here) so I can’t comment on how good a dupe this is, but I really like the colour. I’m wearing it in my FOTD below. I didn’t like that this didn’t come with a sifter like it was meant to, as during transit this spilt everywhere. :(

Swatch:

Next, Lovelace Blush $1.25 USD

This is like the darker shade up from Climax and is meant to be a dupe for NARS Deepthroat (again I can’t comment on this). It is more pigmented than Climax which I really like. I will probably end up buying the full size of both of these.

Swatch:

Next, Cupid Mineral Glow $1.25 USD

Cupid is meant to be a dupe for MAC’s Northern Lights MSF. It is actually a nice pink with hints of bronze and gold. These are very concentrated so a little goes a long way and it looks amazing as both a blush and a highlighter.

Swatch:

Next: Halo Mineral Glow $1.25 USD

This is the only mineral glow/blush that came with a sifter (had to remove it so you could see the product more clearly). This is their clone of the MAC New Vegas MSF and from what I’ve heard it’s a pretty good dupe! I love the colour of this, gorgeous gold with hints of bronze.

Swatch:

Next on the list is the Sleep In A Jar Concealer $0.99 USD

To be honest I don’t really think this is anything special, it didn’t seem to neutralise my under eye circles as much as I’d hoped it would. And applying more of it didn’t seem to help either… I used it in my FOTD so you can see for yourself, but I don’t think I will be buying the full size of this anytime soon.

Next: Perfecting Powder $0.99 USD

This is a colourless powder that doesn’t have any shimmer. I LOVE this. It really provided a great finish to the foundation, minimised the look of pores and gave me that whole ‘oil-free look’ all day. I will definitely be buying the full size of this and recommend this to everyone.

Now along with all this I received a free sample of Pink Twink Eyeshadow

This is a really nice champagne pink kinda colour. Quite nice if you’re going for a neutral look (demonstrated in my FOTD below)paired with the Destination eyeshadow. I actually can’t find this colour on their site so maybe it’s not available anymore.. I’m not sure.

Swatch:

And lastly: Free Sample of Maiden Kisser Slicker

I don’t have that much to say about this to be honest. Kinda boring colour, but feels nice and moisturising. Not much colour payoff though..

Swatch:

And now the FOTD, Sorry I know it’s boring, but I thought I’d try out as many as the products as I could at once so you could get an idea of what they’re like! And unfortunately all the colours I have are on the neutral side so… yeah. Here ya go, hopefully it gives you an idea of what the products are like on!

With Flash:

So I used:
Eyes:

• Urban Decay Primer Potion
• Silk Naturals Pink Twink all over lid up to the crease
• Silk Naturals Destination in the outside corner, worked into the crease and underneath the eye
• Wendy Hill (LOL) Ivory colour as highlight
• Avon Supershock Mascara

Face:

• Silk Naturals Foundation
• Silk Naturals Sleep In A Jar under the eyes
• Silk Naturals Perfecting Powder
• Silk Naturals Climax Blush
• Silk Naturals Cupid as a highlighter

Lips:

• Silk Naturals Kisser Slicker in Maiden

Thanks for viewing and I hope this has been helpful!
oxo