Month: January 2015

Beauty

Lip Monthly: November ’14.

Lip Monthly usually ships faster, but living outside their usual zones of delivery coupled with busy winter holiday times meant that I received my November bag only recently, during the last days of December.

As usual, Lip Monthly shipped in a make-up bag. They come up with a new design every month, and I really like this month’s. They became a staple work make-up bag for me, as they’re pretty durable, and don’t get beaten up in my rucksack, where I tend to shove a bag of groceries and some catfood on my way home.

Let’s look at the contents!

First up are Hikari Lipstick in cabernet, NYC Expert Last Lipstick in 443 Purple Crush, and City Color Cosmetics White Gold Shadow & Highlight Mousse.

I’m wearing Hikari as I’m writing this post, and so far I really like it. It’s long lasting (lasted me through a portion of spaghetti, a glass of juice, and two cups of tea, as well as a lot of talking), and while I can’t call it moisturising, it’s not drying either. I’m currently going through a spell of annoying dry lips, and it didn’t make them feel any more uncomfortable than they already are. Also, despite their flakiness, the lipstick applied well, and the colour looked very smooth. The finish is somewhere between matte and satin.

I haven’t tried the NYC lipstick yet, but it looks like it’s got a bit of a frost in it. Not particularly a bad thing, but if it’s eaten easily, it might end up looking a touch too messy during the day. But as I said, I haven’t tried it yet, so no verdicts.

The City Color Cosmetics shadow/ highlighter I found impressive. Once I read that it was a mousse (ergo, a cream) shadow, I literally groaned, because cream shadows don’t last on my eyelids at all. I’ve got several that don’t even manage to stay long enough for me to finish the rest of my makeup. However, this seems considerably more long-lasting. Once you apply it on the lid, you’ve got a short amount of time to blend it how you want it, because after about 30 seconds it doesn’t seem to budge. The colour is gorgeous, but it’s also quite festive, so I don’t think I’ll be using this as an everyday look.

Next up are Ofra Lipliner in Silk and Crown Lip Brush. I haven’t tried the brush yet, but you can never have too many brushes! I’m short on the lip ones, too. The handle is a smooth matte black, and it almost feels like an artist’s brush, rather than a makeup one.

The Ofra lip pencil works great with my VeryMe lip gloss. I line my lips, then fill them in, and after that apply a layer of gloss. They look great together, and are perfect for day wear. I’m also happy that this is a pencil that requires a sharpener. For some reason I’m so nostalgic for them lately. They feel much better than the mechanic ones, and also allow for a more precise application.

You can subscribe to Lip Monthly here. Use the code “HOLIDAY299” to get your first bag for only $2.99 on 4 Month Subscriptions. Lip Monthly ships internationally! I can’t say that their service is perfect, but so far I’ve been pleased with their selections, and eagerly await my next bag. No plans to cancel the subscription.

(Above post contains affiliate link. Subscription paid for with my own money.)

Tags brush, city color cosmetics, crown, eye shadow, highlighter, hikari, lip liner, lip monthly, lips, lipstick, nyc, ofra, subscription box

Beauty

Oriflame LE Kajals.

Post author By yukino
Post date 01/02/2015

Oriflame often releases seasonal and otherwise themed collections of makeup and other beauty products. For some reason I haven’t a single kajal from their main line, but have six from various limited edition releases.

Pretty sure that these are about the same quality as others, though perhaps longevity and pigmentation could differ from colour to colour.

The shades I own are, in order pictured:

Savannah Sky 17083
Deep Green 26528
Green Jungle 17084
Magic Ivory 26527
Medina Brown 23435
Mystic Purple 26529

And here they are swatched, in the same order, left to right, top to bottom:

Some of these were very quick to dry out and fall out of their tubes. It’s easy to put them back in, thankfully, but not as easy to draw a precise line with, since they’ve become shaky. Once you insert them back not using the grooves they hold a little better, but not for long. It’s still possible to use them as a shadow or as a thick eyeliner.

The longevity of these is practically non-existent. Depending on the condition of my skin, sometimes they don’t last long enough for me to even finish my makeup. They crease in minutes and never fully dry, so if you plan to use this as an eyeliner, know that it will leave a mark under your brown whenever you blink.

Keep in mind, though, that I’ve got oily skin, so this might be a contributor too.

I haven’t used these much as you can see by the state of them. The purple is the one I’ve used the most so far. It goes well with my purple shadow palette. Like mentioned above, though, they don’t hold well, so I restrict their use for short trips out of the house.

The ivory one looks like a good shade to use in the inner eye corner for brightening. It could also be used on the waterline for a similar purpose, but since it’s got a bit of a fine glitter in it, I wouldn’t recommend using it that way.

As you can see in the photo below, the decoration on the packaging, especially the ivory coloured ones, rubbed off very fast. The plastic the packaging is made from overall feels rather cheap and flimsy. I think if I carried these around with me, they’d break fast.

The pigmentation and colour payoff of these is great, though. They also blend relatively well, especially for a cream shadow/ liner. These kajals are affordable, too, so if your goal is to experiment with different kinds of kajal colour, then these will work. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend them for longevity and staying power. This is the only reason I haven’t been using them as often as I would like.

Tags eye shadow, eyeliner, kajal, oriflame

Beauty

Incoming! December ’14.

I’m not a big shopper, especially now that I’m saving money, but over the course of the month things end up weaseling their way into my hands. Some months it might be a lot, others not so much. These are the things I bought or received during the month of December. Rather a lot of stuff this month, now that I think of it, probably because of the holidays.

Oriflame The One Nail Polish in Black Noir, Steel, Platinum, and Gold Splash

I’m a nail polish addict — well, a beauty addict — but aside from that unfortunate predilection I happen to really like the revamped main line of Oriflame polishes. It is my superficial goal to own every single one, so expect quite a few of these to pop up in the Incoming! posts.

VeryMe Mirror Gloss in Clover Haze

Clover Haze is exactly the cool-toned pink lip gloss that suits my skin tone and doesn’t take any trouble to coordinate with the rest of the look, as it’s practically just an improved version of my lips. The texture of this is what you’d expect a squeeze tube lip gloss texture to be — a bit gloopy during the application and rather sticky, but smooth-looking and -feeling when on the lips. I enjoy using this if only for its scent and colour.

AVON Care Rich Moisture Body Lotion and Milk & Honey Bubble Bath Moments

Haven’t tried these yet, as I’ve this thing where I try to finish the current product before I start anything new, otherwise I find myself under a mountain of half-finished shower gels and hand creams. The lotions seems to be fast-absorbing and a little on the thin side, which is exactly how I love mine. The scent is a little on the strong side, but it’s not unpleasant. And you can never go wrong with Milk & Honey.

Oriflame soap bar; In Style earrings; Giordani Gold lipstick sample

Giordani Gold Voluptuous lipsticks have been on my list of things to try for a bit now, so I was quite happy to receive this sample. It’s in the colour 26607 Red Organza, which I don’t think is in catalogues any more. The lipstick itself is a warm-toned sheer red with a lot of glitter to it. My photos don’t translate the colour well, but an idea of coverage can be seen in a swatch below:

On the left is one swipe, and on the right (the thicker line) I tried to build up some more colour. I succeeded but only just. The formula of this is more of a rather pigmented balm than a lipstick, to be honest. It also leaves glitter everywhere in its wake. It’s moisturising, though. I’ll use up the sample, but I don’t think I’ll be buying a full-sized lipstick in any colour.

Milk & Honey Gold is an old Oriflame series. It’s lived that long, because it’s pretty good. The scent of all the products in the series can be a bit too strong for me, but for products that I wash off immediately, like soaps and shampoos, it works well. The packaging of this particular bar is limited edition for winter holidays, as I understand.

Aren’t these earrings just gaudy? They were a gift from my brother, who knows I enjoy all kinds of sparkly stuff, even if I’m not going to wear it, so he buys something every time he makes a trip to his local version of Poundland. These did see the light of day, though, for the New Year’s Eve in the office (yep, yesterday was a workday for me). I felt like a proper Christmas tree, but I didn’t mind one bit. So jingly and sparkly and ugh.

In Style costume jewellery

Here’s the rest of the things my brother managed to grab on his trips to the shop. Bracelets give me a bit more of a spring/ summer vibe, so I’ll be wearing them come April or so. The yellow one is so dainty! I’m used to big bangles and thick leather cuffs, so this is a bit of a novelty for me, but I figure it’s good to branch out. My favourite thing is the necklace. I love it so much! Pretty sure it’ll become a staple for me.

Giordani Gold Illuminating Pearls; Oriflame HyperStretch mascara

I’ve been hunting down these Giordani Gold Dreamy Moments Illuminating Pearls for roughly a year now, and finally they cropped up! These should definitely be used as a highlighter, otherwise one might end up looking like a member of the Cullen family under the sun. Oriflame HyperStretch mascara was a bonus programme exchange. I had it before, and while it’s not the best mascara, it’s an okay one. And hey, can’t argue with free, can you?

Allure, Elle, Glamour

A stack of magazines. Little excites me more than beauty and printed word, so when these two are merged together, I’m just lost to the world for a couple of hours.

Lip Monthly November ’14

A proper Lip Monthly post is coming your way next Thursday, but here’s a preview of the products. Loving the colours of lipsticks, and I’ve been blown away by the eye shadow.

That’s it for the month of December! What made its way into your drawers and onto your shelves that month? Do share, do share.

(Above items, with an exception of mascara and lipstick sample, were either bought with my own money, or received as gifts from family and friends. Mascara was received in exchange for loyalty points; lipstick sample was a gift with purchase.)

Tags allure, avon, city color, elle, glamour, hikari, incoming!, jewellery, magazines, makeup, nail polish, nyc, oriflame