Tag: ofra

Beauty

Lip Product Empties

Let me quickly walk you through some lip products I have either finished or discarded recently.

Oriflame VeryMe Mirror Lip Gloss is a perfect cool-toned pink lip colour for me. I loved using this in combination with OFRA Cosmetics Laguna Beach, but also on its own. The scent of the product was lovely, and the application was relatively OK (it’s a squeeze tube). The formula was a bit sticky. It was fun while it lasted, but I had to let it go because it started separating and smelling funny.

A sample size of one of the Oriflame Pure Colour lipsticks. I’ve written a post about them here, if you fancy a read. This one had to go because I dropped it on the office floor. A grimy dirty dusty icky yucky office floor. *shudder shudder*

So Susan Lip Dome was a lovely crayon. Not fully opaque, but it gave my lips the nicest bordeaux tint. It also felt nice and wore very comfortably. Unfortunately, it went bad before I could use it more. I received it via a Lip Monthly subscription, and I figure it was old.

OFRA Cosmetics Liquid Lip Colour in New Orleans also had to go – it was patchy and dry as all hell. And although I adored this colour, it made my lips look ridiculous, so I had to let it go.

You can read my post on OFRA Cosmetics lipsticks here.

Oriflame Beauty Lip Balm, although intended transparent, did give a bit of a pearlescent pale pink hue to the lips, so at times it made me look rather dead. It also didn’t moisturise my lips enough – matter of fact, sometimes the product felt drying. This is an old formula, and Oriflame updated it. I haven’t tried the new one.

Look DeVine Pinot Noir balm I loved. I received this one through Lip Monthly as well. It had a great scent and made my lips really moisturised, soft, and plump. I had to be careful with accidentally building up the colour with it, as a couple more strokes than necessary, and it would make me look a bit on the undead side.

Tags empties, face, lip balm, lip crayon, lip gloss, lips, lipstick, liquid lipstick, look devine, makeup, ofra, oriflame, so susan, veryme

Beauty

Lip Monthly: May ’15.

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

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

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