Wearing - Holiday Lips

Last month I went on a beautiful holiday to the south coast and of course I took a whole host of lipsticks with me. I didn't actually think to take any specific pictures for the blog but here are a few I managed to find that show off the lipsticks and a sneaky look at some of the outfits I wore as well. 

Day 1:  I don't recall wearing anything on my lips at all but I thought I would show you my makeup and outfit all the same.

Day 2: W7 Mega Matte Lips - Rose
This stuff is seriously long lasting. I am a dry lipped gal by nature and although this is matte it isn't drying and doesn't leave you with that crusty lip feeling.

Day 3: Deborah Milano Shine Creator - 8 Glowy Amaranto

I love this lipstick to pieces. It reminds me of a super pigmented lipbalm. It is so glossy and smooth but because of that it obviously won't last you all day. 

Day 4: Dainty Doll - It's my party (Please excuse the face, I was facing one of my biggest fears. Boats)
This was a slight disappointment for me, it left my lips really dry and tight feeling and wore off pretty strangely. 

Day 5: Deborah Milano Milano Red - 11 Orange Brocade
Orange lips are without a doubt my thing. I love how they look and I love that not everyone will be wearing them. This lipstick is light weight, pigment packed and reasonably long lasting.

Wearing - Nude Caramel

This is a really typical every day colour for me. If I don't know what I want to wear on my lips then I normally end up with a classic nude like this one.

Lipstick: Clarins Rouge Eclat - Nude Caramel

For reference, I always apply some lip balm and a thin layer of either concealer or foundation to nude out the lip before putting on any lip colour.

Loving - The Body Shop

Last month I mentioned the Vouchercodes offer for a free Born Lippy stick lip balm from The Body Shop. Since then I have collected all but one from the range and I have to admit, I am really liking them.

Here in the UK we are experiencing a mini heatwave and as much as I love my lipstick, sometimes it is just too hot to layer up on your makeup. I've swapped my full coverage foundation for tinted moisturiser, left my black eyeliner in its drawer and changed up my lipsticks for tinted lip balms. 

It's not just winter that chaps my lips, the hot weather dehydrates me really quickly and leaves my lips feeling a little sorry for themselves.

The Body Shop Born Lippy stick lip balms make sure I don't have to forego at least a slight splash of colour on my lips. Although they are all advertised as giving the lips a "Pop of colour" there are only really 3 shades in the range that add any colour at all.

Top -  Toffee, Middle - Pomegranate, Bottom - Plum

Despite this, all the colours in the range have delicious (if slightly artificial) scents and moisturise the lips a satisfactory amount without leaving a sticky unpleasant feeling. The ones that do tint the lips are easy to apply without the use of a mirror and wear off evenly. 

Born Lippy Stick Lip Balms cost £3.00 from The Body Shop website

Wearing - Red Velvet

This isn't so much a look of the day as I didn't wear it out the house. Every now and then I get the urge to play with makeup and see what happens. This is the result.

Lipstick: Revlon Lip Butter - Red Velvet

For reference, I always apply some lip balm and a thin layer of either concealer or foundation to nude out the lip before putting on any lip colour.

Freebie Alert.

Just dropping in quickly to let you know that Vouchercodes.co.uk are currently offering a printable voucher (or code in the smart phone app) for you to get a free The Body Shop Born Lippy Stick Lip Balm (Worth £3)

If you have a generous boyfriend, parent or friend who also signs up to Voucher Codes then you can ask them nicely to get you another one with their code. 

I picked up Pink Berry and my boyfriend grabbed Pomegranate for me. 

Offer expires Sunday June 30th

Procrastinating

"verb (used with object)

to put off till another day or time; defer; delay."

Procrastinating is something I do whenever I have something I should really be doing. For example I should have been writing up a review of a lipstick, instead I was creating this simple nail art. Sometimes when a job needs doing you just gotta sit down and do something else. 

I know it isn't lipstick related but I really loved how my nails looked and thought I would share them with you.

Duping - MAC Girl About Town

I am back for a second dupe and I believe this one is just as good as the first one.

Girl About Town was one of those Mac lipsticks I only needed to see once before I knew I needed it in my collection. It is a classic hot pink suitable for all skin tones. True to fashion I already had a very similar shade lurking in my collection in the shape of  17 Lasting Fix lipstick in Pink Power.

Top - Mac Girl About Town, Bottom - 17 Pink Power

On the hand swatch the 17 lipstick appears ever so slightly sheerer but that definitely isn't noticeable on the lips. Girl About Town is an amplified creme finish which makes it thick and opaque on the first swatch. The 17 is a lasting fix lipstick and therefor the finish is ever so slightly more matte. 

Top - Mac Girl About Town, Bottom - 17 Pink Power

Mac Girl About Town is £14.00 and can be purchased Here.

17  Pink Power is £4.29 and can be purchased Here

Buying - Look Beauty

Look Beauty have been around for some time now but for some reason I have always just let them pass me by, However when Superdrug offered 50% off the entire range I knew it was my time to stop and take notice.

Obviously I picked up three lipsticks. A fail safe nude, a classic red and a summer bright. I can't wait to try them and really test out those magnetic lids in my handbag.

Look Beauty are currently offering £2 off their lipsticks at Superdrug. You can find them here.

Lipstick Count

Just a quickie because I technically cheated at my own lipstick tag. At last count I had 152 lipsticks but that was a fairly long time ago so I decided to round up all the lipsticks I could find and have a quick recount. 

Lipstick count = 192

(Not including stains, crayons or liquid lipsticks) 

It is safe to say I am now operating a strict one in one out rule from now on. Nobody needs 200 lipsticks. Do they?

Wearing - Hollywood

Sorry for the picture heavy post today. For some reason I decided to create a look based on Gretchen from Prison Break and this was the result. Whether I achieved what I wanted to, I'm not entirely sure, but I really liked the final look. Enjoy.

Lip Liner: Myface Cosmetics - Brick

Lipstick: Seventeen Mirror Shine - Hollywood

For reference, I always apply some lip balm and a thin layer of either concealer or foundation to nude out the lip before putting on any lip colour.

Tagging - The Lipstick Tag

I have decided to create a tag especially for us lipstick lovers (because I know there are a lot of us)

I would love it if any of you wanted to do this on your own blog or YouTube. If you don't have a blog then feel free to answer the questions down in the comments. I think it is time all us lipstick addicts come together and share our likes, loves and lipsticks.

How many lipsticks do you own?

At last count it was 152 but I am rather afraid I have got quite a few more since then. Either way it's too many and not enough all at the same time. 

What was your first ever lipstick?

It was a bright fire engine red one from No7 that I got for my dance shows. 

What is your most worn lipstick?

It was once Gosh's famous Darling lipstick but now I don't think I have a most worn. 

What is your favourite brand for lipstick?

Right now it would have to be Revlon. I also love Mac and NYX.

What is your favourite finish?

I find my lips can get quite dry so I prefer a gloss or cream finish over a matte or a satin. 

What was the last lip product you bought?

I think it was two Revlon lip butters in Creme Brulee and Berry Smoothie

How many lip products do you currently have in your handbag? (Including balms and glosses)

Only 5 at the moment.

What lipstick do you use to rock a red lip?

My favourite right now is the Emotional Brilliance Liquid Lipstick from Lush in Decisive.

How do you store your lipsticks?

At the moment all my lipsticks are in clear acrylic drawers.

What lip products are you currently lusting after?

I will forever be lusting after the Sisley lipsticks. I also can't wait for the Maybelline Color Whispers to get to the UK. 

I hope you enjoyed my tag. Let me know if you decide to do it, I would love to see your answers to these questions. 

Happy tagging. 

Hauling - Fragrance Direct

Fragrance Direct was the first website I ever used to buy beauty products and it is still a firm favourite today. Whether you are looking for discontinued makeup items, salon hair products, or your favourite fragrance  fragrance direct has it all. And more. 

They currently have a huge selection of Maybelline Colour Sensational lipsticks to chose from. I really struggled to narrow it down to just the five. 

These lipsticks retail for £7.17 at Boots but can be purchased from Fragrance Direct for just £1.99. (here)

 540 Hollywood Red, 750, Choco Pop, 720 Drive Me Nuts

175 Raspberry Diamonds, 822 Rose Pearl

A huge favourite in the Lipstick and Beauty world at the moment is the Kate Moss for Rimmel range and Fragrance Direct as now stocking the Kate Moss lipsticks. I can't believe how restrained I was just getting the one but I am definitely going to order more. These retail at £5.49 and are also just £1.99 on Fragrance Direct. (here)

The Rimmel Moisture renew lipsticks (in the purple packaging) are one of my favourite formulas from the high street and at just 99p here (Usual price £6.29) I had to slip one of these in. 

 Kate Moss number 13, Moisture Renew 100 Dreamy

I have never tried the Revlon SuperStay Ultimate Liquid Lipsticks before so for £2.99 (here) instead of the usual £8.99 price tag I thought I would give it a go. I haven't given it a full test run yet but at the moment I am pretty on the fence.

I threw in a Revlon Super Lustrous Lip Gloss in Pink Crystals because you simply can not have too many pinky nudey lip glosses. I literally wear them over everything. Again this was just 99p (here) instead of £6.99

Pink Crystals, Best Bubbly

Finally is possibly my favourite thing out of the entire haul. I couldn't wait to try this NYC Smooch Proof Lipstain out and I was not disappointed. From the sweet apple scent to the opaque finish it is just lovely and for just 99p (here) I would recommend everybody get their paws on this as soon as possible.

Forever Fuchsia

For individual reviews on any of these products please leave a comment below but I am almost certain this is not the last time you will be seeing some of them.

Wearing - Snob

Mac Snob was one of the first lipsticks I fell in love with. I loved the fact it wasn't your average pink. The purple undertones really appealed to me. I definitely do not wear this Lipstick as much as I should but it will probably always be one of my favourites. 

Lipstick: Mac - Snob

      For reference, I always apply some lip balm and a thin layer of either concealer or foundation to nude out the lip before putting on any lip colour.

Hauling - Illamasqua

I really didn't know what "label" to put this blog post under because I didn't purchase the things in this haul. In fact I was ridiculously lucky and won them.

Way back in December the lovely Charli from SBTCD held a competition to win an Illamasqua eye shadow palette and lipstick of your choice. To my complete and utter surprise I won and set about choosing my goodies. Unfortunately my eye shadow palette of choice was out of stock so Charli kindly let me chose two extra lipsticks to replace it.

I had already been told by a couple of people that I needed Maneater, a bright orange toned red, but after that I really struggled to decide on two other colours. 

After much pondering I settled on their new release "Magnetism" which I had seen on a couple of blogs and thought looked fabulous.

My final choice was a muted dirty pink nude in the form of Climax which I thought might be a fail safe colour to go for.

I am yet to have a real play with these beauties as I was waiting to photograph them so I now can not wait to smother them all over my lips and show off my posh new lipsticks. 

Illamasqua lipsticks cost £16.50 and can be purchased here

Visit Charli on SBTCD here

Reviewing - Dainty Doll

This is the second Dainty Doll lipstick I am reviewing and my thoughts are very similar to the previous. 

All the Dainty Doll products come in sleek black packaging, however unlike the rest of the line, the lipsticks come in solid metal casings and feel very luxurious to the touch. If you don't mind the shade name going in the bin with the outer packaging then it is virtually faultless.  

Saucy Sailor is a true pillar box red. The name fits the shade down to the ground as it is definitely a "Sailor" red. I wouldn't call it a flat matte but there is no real gloss to it either. It is super comfortable to wear and doesn't dry out even my flaking lips. 

The formula is perfectly light weight with next to no bleeding when applied without a lip liner. Each lipstick contains natural plant wax, vitamin E and moisturising meadow foam seed oil. 

Wear time with any lipstick is different from person to person and I find will vary day to day depending on different circumstances. 

I purchased all my Dainty Doll products from Fragrance Direct. The lipsticks are currently out of stock but it is worth checking back regularly as they are always adding new bits.

Dainty Doll is not tested on animals. 

For reference, I always apply some lip balm and a thin layer of either concealer or foundation to nude out the lip before putting on any lip colour.

Wearing - Vegas Volt

The glorious weather over the weekend was just screaming for a bright lip to accompany it and my lipstick of choice was Vegas Volt from Mac. I love an orange lip in the sunshine and although this looks super bright in the bullet it has an almost pastel edge to it once on the lips. I think this makes it easier to wear than a true bright like Morange. 

Sorry there are no full face pictures but I am having an acne nightmare at the moment. 

Lipstick: Mac - Vegas Volt

For reference, I always apply some lip balm and a thin layer of either concealer or foundation to nude out the lip before putting on any lip colour.

Buying - Avon

I can't believe I am only just getting around to writing this but way back in DECEMBER I purchased some of the brand new "Avon Ultra Colour Rich Rubies" lipsticks. When I read they contained real crushed rubies I couldn't resist picking up one or two (or four) to see what real rubies might look like on my lips. However due to it being winter at the time I picked a couple of fairly dark shades that wouldn't necessarily work at this time of year so I am not sure how long it will be before I get to road test them properly. 

Radiant Ruby, Princely Plum, Fuchsia Fame, Majestic Mauve

If you want to see what real rubies might look like on your lips then you can buy the Avon Ultra Colour Rich Rubies lipsticks here for £8.50. They are also two for £10 at the moment. 

Birthday Presents

Some time this month (What day is it again?) It was my birthday and although I don't tend to get lip products as presents this year I was a very lucky girl. A couple of things I asked for from my mum but the rest were a total surprise and I love everything that I have tried so far. 

The first thing I got is from the incredible Fee from Makeup Savvy. She always spoils me and this occasion was no different. The Sara Happ Lip Slip has to be one of the most luxurious products I have ever owned. It is described as a "Luxe Balm" and comes in its own Rose Gold box. It is almost too pretty to use but I have had a little play and so far my lips are loving it. 

The next thing I got is also from Fee (I told you she spoils me) She picked up two of the NYC Applelicious Glossy Lip Balms for me and I have never tried these before. I saw a review on her blog as well as a couple of others and they were on my "Too buy" list, so I am glad I have two shades to try.

Shades left - Blushing Golden, right - Applelicious Pink

 Finally I asked my mum for some of the Revlon Lip Butters (Mainly the new shades) and she managed to get hold of all the shades I was after. I love the Lip Butter formula so much and these 4 take my current total to 12. 

Tutti Frutti, Brown Sugar, Juicy Papaya, Pink Lemonade

Duping - MAC Saint Germain

With summer on the way (apparently) I have started rummaging in my lipstick drawers and pulling out hot pinks, cool corals and neon oranges. It was while doing this I realised I not only had a lot of similar colours, but I had also duped some of beloved Mac lipsticks. 

The first one I pulled out was the very popular Saint Germain and the dupe I have found for this costs a mere £2.99. May I introduce you to Collection Lasting Colour lipstick in Bubblegum. 

 Left - Collection Lasting Perfection Bubblegum, Right - Mac Saint Germain

The top swatch is Mac Saint Germain which is a cool toned bubblegum pink in an amplified finish. The bottom swatch is Collection Bubblegum which as you can see is near enough identical right down to the creamy opaque finish. 

 Top - Mac Saint Germain, Bottom - Collection Lasting Perfection Bubblegum

If you don't fancy splashing out £14.00 on a Mac lipstick then this £2.99 offering from Collection is the perfect alternative. 

You can buy Mac Saint Germain Here and Collection Bubblegum Here.