A Makeup & Beauty Blog – Lipglossiping

Following on from the NARS Summer Collection, have you guys seen these yet? (probably, I’m not too quick with the old releases).

Available in 6 shades, these are lip treatments that as you may have guessed… are sheer colour washes.

SPF 15, Mango Butter, moisturisation and protection are the key words to take from this little line up of safe but rather lovely colours.

Due out on the 1st May, there’s already a waiting list at Selfridges.

To celebrate the launch of the Jemma Kidd Make Up School range on QVC, Hi-Shine Hydrating Glosstick SPF15 is EXCLUSIVE to QVC from the 18th April 2010.

Available in 5 shades:  Bridgetown, Hibiscus, Sugar Cane, Holders, Paradise

I love these chisel shaped lippies… ever since my Besame’s, I appreciate how much they aid application straight from the bullet… though I’m not sure they’re really necessary for a more balm-like product as this.

The Jemma Kidd Gloss Sticks promise a super sheer wash of colour for lips with a hi-shine gloss finish and light reflecting particles to give the illusion of fullness.

Jemma will be presenting a special two hour launch show today on QVC’s Beauty Day.

HI-SHINE HYDRATING GLOSSTICK SPF15, £13.00 available via your telly box (don’t make me tell you what channel) and online at QVC

The ladies at MUABoutique have slashed the prices of Yaby Lip Colours by 33% for one day only!

Get your order in by midnight tonight if you want to take advantage of the deal.

My posts on the launch have been a touch hiccoughy – so here’s a little recap ‘cos I know there’s a lot of interest out there.

~ Launch Announcment & Thoughts

~ Review and lip swatches of Countessa Fluorescent, No She Didn’t & My Beautiful Rocket

Fully launched now, you should be able to find the Lime Crime lipsticks in your local store…. if you do go and have a play with some of the colours, please come back and share your thoughts with me (and everyone else!).

It would be great to get lots of varied feedback because judging by some emails I’ve received… I’m beginning to get the impression that some of you are really interested and excited by the lipsticks but hesitant to display your excitement for fear of ‘going against the tide of opinion’.

That saddens me.

Getting excited about super-bright lipsticks is your prerogative and we should all be excited about beautiful colours and new launches!

The majority of you who come here aren’t beauty bloggers and don’t leave me comments and are infact interested in one thing and one thing only:  “…are they any good ‘cos I don’t wanna waste £14 on a crappy lipstick”.

I say… read my review and then go and try a few shades!  While you’re at it, please come back and let me know what Airborne Unicorn is like ‘cos my nearest Space NK is a shocking 25 miles away.  Yep… feel for me.

And that (you’ll be pleased to hear) is probably my last word on it.

Further to my post last week discussing the launch of Lime Crime at SpaceNK stores this month, I want to share with you my thoughts on the lipsticks that I was sent by SpaceNK.

I wrote the initial post because whilst not wanting to ignore the contentious issues surrounding the brand, I want to keep that separate to my review of the products.

If you’re interested in purchasing the lipsticks from SpaceNK, please have a read and check out my thoughts on how they worked for me.

First of all… the packaging.

A lot has been said about the packaging.  It generally tends to polarise opinion between two camps.  I have to say…. I like it a lot.  Admittedly, so would my 11 month old given another couple of years.

I like the holographic unicorns…. no, I LOVE the unicorns.  I don’t however like the overall colour choice, but only because I think those unicorns would have looked stunning against a shiny black background.

The packaging up to this point feels sturdy and I’m impressed by the quality.

I was sent three which you can see above.

Lime Crime have based the credibility of their entire range on the phrase: “So bright, it’s illegal.”  And I have no qualms about the brightness of the shades I received.

Are they brighter than lipsticks that you can purchase from brands such as MAC, BarryM or even clubber’s fav Stargazer?  Possibly not… Infact, I’ve already found a fair colour dupe of Countessa Fluorescent in my BarryM 146.  But you would have to be a fairly brand-savvy makeup shopper to find these dupes, and this collection just makes it easier.

Before I move on to swatches, wear etc… I do have one quality issue.  My Countessa Flourescent arrived ‘wonky’.  When I wind it up and down, it ‘drags’ on the inside of the tube leaving not only a streak of pink behind, but a groove dug out of the lipstick.  I wouldn’t expect nor accept this from a £14 product.

As you can see, on the back of my hand… they swatch beautifully and true to tube colour.  They achieve full opacity very quickly and are just as vibrant as they promise.

I’m going back to front from the hand swatches… but I’ll start with…

My Beautiful Rocket.

It applied well and I found it fairly creamy.  It’s no YSL Rouge Volupte, but I will happily reach for it whenever the situation demands an orange!  And what a shade it is!  Vibrant in colour and packing a nice sheen.  I would recommend this as a great summer shade.

No She Didn’t.

A horrible chalky lipstick.  It drags across my lips and the colour it deposits sinks instantly into the furrows meaning that I have to go over a number of times to achieve any real opacity.  The result of having to apply it so heavily is bleeding around the edges and a caked-on feeling.  I’ve read reports of staining, but I couldn’t bear to keep this on my lips for long enough to test that theory out.

I wouldn’t recommend this lipstick at all, and think the formula needs adjusting to make it work.

Countessa Fluorescent.

Colour-wise for me, this was my favourite.  I love this bright dolly pink which achieves a fabulous opacity without too much effort on my part.  It’s more drying than My Beautiful Rocket and it left a stain around the contour of my lips which I wasn’t delighted about.

I can’t decide whether to forgive it for those niggles.  Perhaps if the price were lower… but at £14, I want a damn good lipstick.  And this doesn’t qualify.

I wouldn’t describe any of these lipsticks as moisturising, but of the three… My Beautiful Rocket came the closest to leaving my lips in the same condition as before I had applied the product.  To be fair, I’ve just spent 3 hours in a Chanel Rouge Coco…. and that’s left my lips feeling pretty dehydrated too.

I’m no chemist, but the main problems I see with these lipsticks is the thickness of the formula.  They’re just so heavy.  I guess the whole “I’m so bright, I’m illegal” ethos demands this heavy pigmentation and perhaps this is the flipside to trying to achieve such an opaque range of products.

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I think that at £14 each, the price is too high for the quality of the product.  The shades are awesome and the staying power is pretty darn effective.  I think they’re a fabulous idea and I would love to see some adjustments to the formula that would make them kinder to the wearer’s lips.

Would I buy them?  I would buy My Beautiful Rocket. I would bin No She Didn’t.

Still…

I picked up two Besame lipsticks a couple of weeks ago from a discounter on eBay and managed to get both for around £12.

They’re the older style lipsticks with the retro shaped tips that help you get a beautifully sharp line.  I believe they’ve since reformulated.

The packaging is just beautiful.  Twirling the case between your fingers actually feels like you’re holding something special… even Mr. L wanted to have a look (and that NEVER happens!)

These little lippies are teeny tiny… 1.8g compared to a 3g MAC lipstick and the casing is about 2/3of the height.  But look how beautiful they are!

I picked up two pinks.  Exotic Pink (a bright true hot pink) and Portrait Pink (a subdued ‘nuder’ pink).

Exotic Pink is densely pigmented and absolutely rich with colour.  You can see from my swatch… it’s very opaque and glides on beautifully.

Portrait Pink is sheerer, but still builds to an opaque glossy finish with a bit of work.

I adore both of these lipsticks and I’m really happy to add them to my collection.  They’re not the most moisturising lipsticks I’ve worn, but staying power is great and both shades are completely adorable.

Are you a Besame fan?

I haven’t got a side by side swatch comparison and I’m not claiming this dupe discovery as my own (a quick Google search threw this up) but it’s been said that Revlon Colorburst Lipstick in Soft Rose is a colour dupe for Chanel’s Rouge Coco in Mademoiselle.

Is it?

It’s pretty darn close!

I’ve got a full lip swatch post coming soon(ish) of all the new Revlon Colorburst shades… I’ll try and get it live by the end of the week.  I don’t believe the Colorbursts are out in the UK yet… so cool your heels lovely ladies, they’re a-coming!

What d’ya think?  Close enough?

I didn’t buy it… it was on my list, but I thought I’d better try it at the counter first.  The SA applied it on me and warned me that some of her more cool-toned ladies felt that the colour turns a bit orangey on them.  She wasn’t wrong.

Here it is after I got home 3 hours later… great long-lasting wear by the way:

Please excuse the expression… it’s like a cross between really smug and “eugh, I’ve just stepped in a dog turd but I better keep smiling anyway”.

I loved that Mademoiselle isn’t at all frosty or even glossy.  It’s just a beautiful, sophisticated creamy lipstick.

However, I was expecting a medium pink that leant slightly towards the neutral/brown.  This is much more brick-like on my complexion.

Not only that, but I found the formula pretty drying… something that I really hadn’t been expecting.  All the reviews I’ve read (and I’ve read a LOT) celebrate how moisturising they find the Chanel Rouge Coco formula.

Look at the state of my lips after 3 hours.

You can also see how corally the shade turned against my pinky/blue tones.

I would go back to try Camelia or Gardenia (which I think would be my best bets for a pink) but I think they’re both a bit frosty for me.

Sigh… I really wanted to love it badly.

Cult US eccentric brand Lime Crime are currently enjoying a boost in credbility thanks to UK based apothecary Space NK.  In an unlikely but ultimately interesting pairing, Space NK will be bringing the full range of Lime Crime CandyFuture lipsticks to the store’s shelves later this month.

The collection of 10 lipsticks which range in colour from an opaque black right through to palest lavender will hit UK shores with a price tag of £14 each compared to US equivalent pricing of $16.  The price hike is pretty much expected, and perhaps slightly less than anticipated when you consider Space NK’s ill-fated launch of excessively priced Sonia Kashuk brushes last year.

The reputation of Lime Crime… with self-proclaimed “Unicorn Queen” owner/operator Doe Deere at the helm, has recently endured the internet equivalent of a “beat-down”.

The company may initially struggle to gain trust and loyalty from cosmetic connosieurs in the UK with the recent allegations raised against the brand, but I don’t doubt for one moment that the playful, fantastical nature of the brand will appeal to many high-street shoppers.

The launch has the potential to bring a fresh, younger audience to Space NK… which may ultimately validate this unusual synergy between conservatively styled Space NK and the whimsical Lime Crime.

As an interested observer (but ultimate fence-sitter) with regards to the recent Lime Crime dramas, this has the potential to be one hell of a launch.  I just hope that Space NK have ordered in enough glitter and life-size unicorns.

I’m smitten.  My heart is won.

Move over, make room… I’ve finally discovered Fyrinnae Lip Lustres.

I only own 4… I’ve already remedied that little problem and have another 10 winging their way to me as I type.

Wanna see what I’m going so crazy for this week?

4 mini tubes, each one sample sized and priced at a ridiculously cheap $2.50.

A standard little doe foot wand with an unassuming looking substance…

…produces the most beautiful hybrid between a lip stain, lipstick and gloss that I’ve ever encountered.  The colour is pigmented and glossy yet it feels like I’m wearing nothing more irritating than a slick of water on my lips.

As the day progresses and the initial burst of colour fades, I’m left with a beautiful stain that remains even and true despite drinking and snacking.  Not only that, but I’m not finding these at all drying and I was almost positive that I would need to combine them with lip balm.

I just wasn’t expecting to be bowled over by these little lip lustres quite as much as I have been.

Here’s some swatches of the shades I own, I prefer to do full face shots simply because when searching for lipstick swatches I feel that I personally get a truer impression of the colour if it’s put into context of skintone etc rather than just a pair of lips on the screen!

~ Visual-Kei is my perfect pink….

~ Romantique is a stunning golden peach nude…

~ Lollipop-Pop is a punkier pink with blue flashes….

~ Type A is an almost metallic garnet that cries out for some heavy lashes and winged eyeliner.

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They’re perfect.  Oh and they smell ah-mazing too.

Ok, I need to think of something I don’t like about them… this is so gushy, I’m gonna make myself vom.

*thinking*

Oh yeah, the lead time on the Fyrinnae website isn’t great for impatient types like me.  It took 3 weeks before I had them in my hot little hands and now I’ve got to cool my heels for the same time again to get my new order…

anything else, anything else?  Um… no, I really can’t think of anything I don’t like.

I feel like I need validation after such a sickening gush, if you have them… tell me I’m not a mental and that they really are this great?

Incase you’ve been asleep for the past month…

OCC Lip Tars are now in stock and can be purchased from The Makeup Artist Boutique priced at £8.99 each.

Nice to see that the prices haven’t been jacked up to some kinda ridiculous, the new shades are also available!  I’m currently trying to fight off the temptation to pick up NSFW (I hardly even wear red!), Katricia (it’s purple baby!) and Plum.  I’m definitely going to be picking up a backup of Feathered, my most used lip tar by far!

If you’re on Twitter, give Kath and Emma from The Makeup Artist Boutique a little follow here to keep up with the latest news.  Personally, I’m ridiculously excited that another company are bringing Canadian brand Face Atelier to the UK.  Faster, faster!

It’s Monday morning and I’m feeling gloomy…

Cheer me up, I wanna talk about the classic red lip.

I struggle.  I have too much pink in my skintone and am forever clashing.  Failing that, I catch sight of myself walking past an office window and suddenly realise that the Hamburgler is probably after my Big Macs.

Can you pull off a great red lip?  Do you even like red lips?

Tell me about your favourite reds… your greatest disappointments, your greatest triumphs!