Tag: milani

Beauty

Milani Lipstick Collection

Post author By yukino
Post date 11/23/2016

A loud title for a very diminutive post: I only own three Milani lip products. Thing is, the brand does not retail here, neither officially nor on the grey market. All the products I own came to me via my Lip Monthly subscription of yesteryear. I happened to love every single Milani lipstick I received.

Milani Lip Intense Liquid Color in Violet Addict 04

The brightest of the three, Milani Lip Intense Liquid Color is a full-on shiny vinyl lip colour. The applicator is a sturdier doe-foot, which makes it really easy to apply the product evenly. The formula is good, very comfortable on the lips. Does not feather. Smells a bit weird in the container, but once applied, you don’t feel it. Wears off well. If you drink or eat something light, it would lose some lustre, but most of the colour will remain. Eventually it would look as a tint. Despite being very bright, it doesn’t stain the lips.

As you can see in the photo above, the lettering on the packaging has worn off already. This is a tiny-tiny minus for a person who enjoys it when their makeup products look pristine throughout. (Read: Me.)

Here’s Milani Lip Intense Liquid Color in Violet Addict on the lips on my Instagram (follow me there, follow me there!!):

All dolled up on day 3 of #selfieseptember. Lipstick is Milani Lip Intense in Violet Addict. 💋 💄 👠

A photo posted by Alexandra (@armrwrpnt) on Sep 3, 2016 at 7:46am PDT

There’s also one more swatch of it on my arm below.

Milani Power Lip in Pink Lemonade 04

Next is a product I’ve opened only recently. It is described by Milani as a lasting and moisturising gloss and stain 2-in-1. I had thought that this would be more like a balm/ gloss type of thing, and I’d also thought for some reason that it would be sticky and uncomfortable to wear. In all of these points I was wrong – although it is reminiscent of a gloss, it’s still a colour-heavy one. The stickiness is minimal. The wear of Milani Power Lip causes no discomfort at all. The colour also suits me really well, Pink Lemonade is a pinkish red colour that looks great against my skintone.

Milani Power Lip in Pink Lemonade wears off amazingly. Seriously. For that thing only I want to shower it with affection. It would of course lose its lustre after a meal, but your lips would still retain a hint of colour throughout. This particular shade looks like a very natural tint. As it gradually wears off, it makes your lips look like you’ve just been kissed for a particularly long time, which is a great look on any woman, if you ask me.

If you’re after a contoured lip look, then Milani Power Lip in Pink Lemonade is not for you. The application is easy and in no way messy, but the lip line will not be pristine. To me, that is the beauty of Milani Power Lip. It is very reminiscent of the lip looks that were quite popular on the runway a couple of seasons ago.

My only gripe with this product is its packaging – it has a built-in brush and a screw-type mechanism that dispenses the product into the brush. It took me a few tries to figure out the amount of clicks I’d need to hear to get the right amount of product out.

You can see Milani Power Lip on my lips in the photo below, and on the arm further down the post:

Milani Brilliant Shine Gloss in Nude Touch 11

And now we’re onto the true lip gloss of the bunch. Milani Brilliant Shine Gloss in Nude Touch is a transparent vanilla-scented gloss with champagne sparkles. Oddly looks well enough on its own, giving a wet lips effect. This is actually how I prefer to use Milani Brilliant Shine Gloss in Nude Touch, because when I use a lipstick and a lip gloss together, I end up feeling tacky. Applied over lipstick it also works well. Out of my lip glosses, this is probably one of the more ‘long wear’ ones, but despite that, it’s not extremely sticky. Milani Brilliant Shine Gloss also feels moisturising.

So far, my acquaintance with Milani lip lines has been really good – there’s not a single dud in these products! I really wish the brand would retail here. Quality affordable make-up is still hard to come by, and Milani would have been a great alternative to the maybellines and the l’oreals.

Swatched, top to bottom:

Milani Power Lip in Pink Lemonade
Milani Lip Intense Liquid Color in Violet Addict
Milani Brilliant Shine Gloss in Nude Touch

Tags affordable makeup, drugstore makeup, face, intense color, lip gloss, lip stain, lips, lipstick, makeup, milani, nude lip gloss, vinyl lips

Beauty

Lip Monthly: May ’15.

Post author By yukino
Post date 10/12/2015

May ’15 Lip Monthly came in a yellow bag. For some reason this particular shade of yellow was even easier soiled than white. I rotate all Lip Monthly bags as my work make-up bags. Usually I carry them for a month, but this one I retired after about two weeks.

Jing Ai Lip Pencil in Raspberry Ice

Lip crayons! My love. Love the packaging, very simple and elegant. This is a bright pink-red berry colour. Very flattering on my skin tone. The formula is creamy. For better precision it’s better to even this one out with a lip brush, especially around the contour. This lip crayon is very pigmented, and also stains a fair amount.

NYC Sky Rise Lengthening Mascara in Extreme Black

Unopened! I have a queue of mascaras I need to try, and this one is second on the list, if my memory doesn’t fail me.

OFRA Long Lasting Liquid Lipstick in New Orleans

This is a second OFRA lipstick I own. The first one, Laguna Beach, I received via Lip Monthly several months ago. Now, I’d be honest – this isn’t a colour I would’ve bought on my own. It’s interesting to play with, and I have a few looks in mind that I’d wear it with. But this is an experimental shade for me, and I cannot see myself wearing this one too often. My skin is pale, and this is not the best shade to work with, especially if you have huge under-eye bags like I do.

However the quality of this lipstick formula is indisputable. It’s a true matte. Applies evenly, very easy to spread, and requires minimum correction on the contour of your lips. Use sparingly, as the doe foot applicator picks up a generous amount of product, and you honestly don’t need much for a fully covered lip.

As with all bold colours, make sure your lips are exfoliated and soft.

Read about OFRA Laguna Beach here.

Milani Power Lip Gloss Stain in Pink Lemonade

Unopened as yet! Will write a separate review once I use it.

OFRA and Jing Ai swatches. I’ll have you know these things stain like a mother. The gold stroke under them is an eye liner that my flatmate bought. I swatched it on my hand and realised that I absolutely must have one of my own. I’ve been searching for an affordable gold eye liner for ages for an eye look that I want to recreate, and it looks like I found one.

Lip Monthly is a subscription bag with a focus on lip products. One month is $12.95 (plus shipping outside US and Canada).

(This post features affiliate links.)

Tags face, jing ai, lip monthly, lips, mascara, milani, nyc, ofra, subscription bag, subscription box

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