Tag: eye shadow

Beauty

Lip Monthly February ’15.

Let’s skip the part where I lament how late I am with these (there’s a reason for it this time around) and get to the products.

be a … bombshell Lipgloss in hooked

The coverage is amazing. It’s more of a liquid lipstick than a gloss, really, except that it’s glossy and doesn’t last very long. Loved the colour. I can’t think of a single occasion where this one would be out of place, at least with my colouring. I find myself quite … hooked. *ba-dam tss*

Cargo Cosmetics Eye Shadow in Green Bay

A lovely, lovely metallic eye shadow. The camera picked up more gold tones, but it’s more of a warmer light green with gold undertones, if that makes sense. For some reason I haven’t really worn it since swatching and trying it out once, so I can’t properly comment on longevity. The pigmentation is good, and the application felt smooth enough. I also love the packaging.

So Susan Lip Dome Plumping Lip Tint in black currant

Mmm, lip crayons. I’m obsessed with these and want to own them in abominable quantities. This is a wine-coloured balm-like crayon. It feels good on the lips, and the stay power is pretty decent. Not drying. A touch on the sheer side, but gives enough colour as it is and can be layered a bit. Retractable. Cruelty-free.

So Susan jelly pong pong Supermodel Stain lip & cheek pomade

Let me just say how cute the thing is. I love these tiny palettes. The brush is safe to discard as it’s low-quality. The colours are sheer and are more of a tint. I haven’t tried them on the cheeks, because cream products and my face don’t get along. I’m in love with every single colour, but my product has dried a little bit. It still works, though, and it’s a great everyday palette. Small enough to carry around with you. It’s not drying, but it’s not moisturising either, so it’s best to use a tiny bit of a sheer balm under. Cruelty-fee.

Eye shadow, lip dome, and lip gloss swatched. See how the lip gloss (above) is less sheer than the lip crayon? Amazeballz. The shadow is a touch layered in the intersection, which immediately improves the colour payoff, but since it’s so light and bright, I see no problem with one layer either. Looks great with my brown eyes.

This has been one of the best Lip Monthly boxes for me. Every colour worked, and every product was quality. I wish this trend stuck, but alackaday and fuck my luck.

I’ll be writing about the March one next.

(This post contains an affiliate link.)

Tags be a bombshell, cargo cosmetics, eye shadow, eyes, lip crayon, lip gloss, lip monthly, lip palette, lip stain, lips, lipstick, makeup, so susan, subscription box

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.

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