Tag: makeup

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

Recent Bourjois Purchases.

Post author By yukino
Post date 05/21/2015

Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet lipsticks have been on my radar for a long, long time, and at long last I went and bought one. My first impulse was to buy a red, but then I settled on a rather less dramatic, but still bold and bright, pink shade, titled 11 So Hap’pink. I don’t follow new releases as intently as I probably should (bad, bad beauty blogger), but the saleslady told me it’s from the line of several new colours.

I’ve been wanting to try this for so long that the actual product left me just a tad underwhelmed. The product is very good, though. It’s matte, but not at all drying. It’s reasonably long lasting, although eating and drinking do fade the colour. I don’t have to worry about it staying in place in most other situations, though. It doesn’t feather. The application is easy. It smells sort of like a mascara would, which is also a huge plus for me, as I don’t always agree with artificial ‘pleasant’ fragrances companies use in their products.

Overall I’m very satisfied with this. Although they’re not as long lasting as some reviews would make you believe, Rouge Edition Velvet lipsticks are totally worth buying. I plan on purchasing at least one more.

Bourjois Levres Contour Lip Pencil I bought together with the lipstick, as I didn’t know whether the lipstick would feather. It’s always a good idea to line your lips anyway. Bourjois Levres Contour Framboise Exquise 18 turned out to be a perfect match for the Hap’pink shade. It also works good on its own with a bit of a gloss or balm over, but of course it’s better to just leave it for lining and a bit of filling.

These two products are a staple now. I use them in my make-up routine at least twice a week.

Tags bourjois, lip liner, lip pencil, lips, lipstick, makeup

Beauty

Lip Monthly January ’15.

OFRA Long Lasting Liquid Lipstick in Laguna Beach

A lip gloss packaging for a lipstick like product. The doe-foot applicator picks up more product than necessary so it’s important to remove excess lest you end up with a cakey layer of product on your lips. The product takes a bit of time to dry, but retains a bit of tackiness throughout. Not the lip gloss-like tackiness, though, just a bit of presence on the lips.

Longevity-wise, I’d say it lasts longer than Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet lipsticks. Also, this lipstick is a perfect match for a lip pencil I have previously received via Lip Monthly, and a lip gloss that I own. Rather happy with this item.

Harvey Prince Imperial Gardenia Perfume Sample

Oh this is good. Still can’t talk about scents normally, but this did leave a lasting impression and made me look up the company. I’d call it a head turner, in a good way. It’s a very strong and heady scent, though, so it should be used sparingly.

Eco Lips Ecotints in Rose Quartz

Haven’t opened this product yet as I’ve another tinted balm going on, but if this is as good as the other Eco Lips product I’m using (from Lip Monthly too, by the way), then I’ll be happy with it, because I love my Eco Lips balm.

MICA Beauty Cosmetics Tinted Lip Balm in Velvet Rose

This one was not at all what I expected. For whatever reason — perhaps because it’s potted and because of its name – I was under the impression that this is a balm-like product, or a very sheer lipstick. This is not the case at all. Even a thin layer of this is rather opaque, and the formula is such that you almost forget it’s on your lips. You can build up coverage to make it fully opaque if you like. I wouldn’t call it matte, but there’s no gloss either. It’s somewhere between creme and matte. The colour is a gorgeous deep red – actually, the title ‘Velvet Rose’ is apt.

Swatches of OFRA Long Lasting Liquid Lipstick in Laguna Beach (right) and MICA Beauty Cosmetics Tinted Lip Balm in Velvet Rose (left). Apologies for the washed out photo. It’s still hard to control the amount of light with my phone camera.

(Lip Monthly link is referral link. I will receive a free bag or shop points for people I refer. Subscription paid for with my own money. This is not a sponsored post.)

Tags eco lips, fragrance, harvey prince, lip monthly, lips, lipstick, makeup, mica beauty cosmetics, ofra, perfume, subscription boxes

Beauty

FOTD #2: Bold lips, muted lids.

Post author By yukino
Post date 03/03/2015

Products used:

Foundation: MAC Studio Fix Fluid NW10
Powder: IsaDora Perfect Loose Powder
Highlighter: Giordani Gold Opulent Night Pearls 27115
Concealer: Artdeco Mineral Fluid Concealer in 04
Eye shadow Primer: Artdeco Pure Minerals Mineral Eyeshadow Base Sensitive
Eye Shadow: AVON True Colour in Lace Hues
Brows: Relouis Eye Pencil in 02
Lipstick: L’Oreal Infallible Never Fail Lip Colour in Garnet 750
Mascara: Maybelline The Falsies Volum’ Express Flared Mascara

I’ve had this lipstick since ever. It’s expired by now, so I think I’m going to let it go during my next monthly clean-out. Or perhaps just place it in a separate compartment where I keep all my nostalgic purchases. It’s a good lipstick, but for it to work your lips need to be in very good condition. It will highlight every flake and every dry patch, and while the balm on top will soothe and smooth, it will not really affect the visual. For some reason I was under the impression that this product was discontinued, but it’s still available. As long as you don’t attack oily foods with abandon, it will last you for about 6 hours no problem, all while eating, drinking, talking, etc. with the lightest amount of caution. Word of warning, though — there’s no touching up this lipstick, only a complete reapplication.

The muted pink and blue in this quad are gorgeous, aren’t they? I love these colours so much. I went on a bit of a binge a few years ago and bought… six AVON eye shadow quads? They have since then rebranded the line and made the insides square, which diminished their obvious visual likeness to CHANEL. While I really like many of the colours — why would I buy them otherwise? — I am not at all impressed with the quality. The mattes are chalky, not easy to blend, nearly every single shadow is poorly pigmented, and all of them have excessive amounts of fall-out. Don’t expect them to last more than three hours without a primer either. With primer, they usually last about five, but begin to show signs of wear a bit earlier. Perhaps with the visual update came an update of the formula? I might want to find out a bit later, but for now I’ll be exploring other brands.

Something is to be said about using grey as eyebrow definer instead of brown. Brown can be very hard to match to your natural colouring. It’s either too red, or too coppery, or too dark, or too light. Most of the time it’s visible, especially in photographs. While grey is a true neutral colour. It’s non-colour, so defining your brows with grey works really well. There are only that many things to worry with grey — the desired lightness/ darkness and – a must – a matte finish. The aforementioned Artdeco make a great little grey eyeshadow that I really enjoyed using not only for its determined purpose, but also for brows and for slight contouring, especially of my rather prominent nose. I smashed the poor darling beyond all repair not long ago. It’s on my list of repurchases. I’ll be sure to write a review and swatch it once it’s done.

Try using grey for your brows, I’m pretty sure it’ll work.

Tags artdeco, avon, face of the day, fotd, giordani gold, isadora, l'oreal, mac, makeup, maybelline, oriflame, relouis

Beauty

Weekly Treat: Lip Monthly December ’14.

Post author By yukino
Post date 01/20/2015

Thought I’d combine this week’s Weekly Treat post with Lip Monthly arrival, because receiving the bag is enough of a treat on its own. It arrived last week, and brought a bit of joy to an otherwise crappy day.

First, the bag: My favourite design so far, but unfortunately mine came with a bit of a faulty zipper. It closes well, but hasn’t been sewn on properly, so there’s a bit of a gap at one end. Regardless, this is my next designated work makeup bag.

Here’s the list of products:

Magnolia Makeup Lipstick with Applicator in Matador
Milani Brilliant Shine Gloss in Nude Touch
LA Girl Endless Automatic Liner in Mauvelous
NYC Lipstick in Mocha

Let’s get the last one out of the way first — I haven’t opened it yet, because I might just give it away to someone. I’m not sure if I’d ever be able to wear this colour, even if I had suddenly decided on a complete and total 90s revival. You never know, but for now it stays closed.

I’ve never had anything from Milani, so I enjoyed it if only for the novelty factor. I like the applicator — it’s flexible, and due to its shape it picks up enough product without the need to dip the wand back into the tube several times, thus making it that bit more hygienic. It really does have a brilliant shine, and lasts rather well on the lips. The scent is vanilla-ish, which is pretty standard for glosses. Beware, though, it’s sticky as hell. It doesn’t bother me much, because that’s just how lip glosses work, but I know it might put off some people.

The LA Girl lipliner is a subdued wine hue — the colour is called Mauvelous, and it’s rather fitting. It positions itself as semi-permanent which is, of course, bollocks. It does last a long time, however. Can’t exactly say how long, because as of now I’ve only worn it for about four hours before voluntarily removing. I have several lipsticks that match the tone of this pencil, so it will be seeing a lot of wear around these lands. Formula-wise, it’s a bit on the dry side, so if you’re like me and prefer to fill in your lips with pencil as well as outline, take care to moisturise beforehand.

Last but not least, Magnolia Matador. I’ve seen this get a bit of a bad rap in several Lip Monthly reviews, but I happen to disagree. This is a brilliant product if applied properly. Sure, the packaging looks a bit dodgy, but the product inside is great.

First, you don’t need a lot. Like, at all. If you’ve ever worked with OCC Lip Tars, let them be your guide. I think it’s also a bit similar to Lip Ink in terms of application — it needs to be applied to dry lips, and if you want a more sheer or more vibrant shade, you need to blot the wand, not the lips, then apply in several layers, letting them fully dry inbetween.

It dries to a gorgeous velvet/ powdery completely matte shade. It lasts well on the lips, but unlike some other long-lasting lip products, it is very easy to remove using an oil-based makeup remover.

The downsides of this product are: it’s runny and therefore messy — not on-the-go kind of lipstick; it feathers, so definitely use a clear/ matching lip liner with this one; due to its matte/ powdery nature, it will highlight every single imperfection you might have on your lips, so scrubbing and conditioning your lips is a must. Just don’t use a balm directly under the product, otherwise it wouldn’t work.

It sounds so complicated, but once you figure out how this works, it’s a breeze. I really enjoy using this.

Left to right: Magnolia Matador, LA Girl Mauvelous, Milani Nude Touch.

Are you subscribed to Lip Monthly? What are your thoughts on these products?

(This post contains an affiliate link.)

Tags la girl, lip monthly, lipstick, magnolia, makeup, milani, nyc, weekly treat