Tuesday 13 January 2015

REVIEW: Jeffree Star Cosmetics Velour Liquid Lips - I'm Royalty - Prom Night - Redrum - Swatches inc

JEFFREE STAR COSMETICS


I'll be honest here. I had never heard of Jeffree Star, who is apparently a make up artist, fashion designer, DJ, and singer - songwriter living in Beverly Hills, California, until I saw his new line of matte liquid lipsticks pop up on Love MakeUp. I am obsessive about liquid lipsticks in the extreme, I remember one of my first lipstick purchases was Max Factor Lipfinity in a incredibly 90's browny nude (although I don't recall it being called that in 93) which I would use without applying the gloss, thus it being a total flat matte. When Lime Crime started chucking out the velveteen lips a few years back, I was literally begging them to take my effing money, and subsequently I have purchased every release of this formula format, of any note, in the years since. 

Lime Crime's first foray into the matte lip



I am actually surprised i'd not heard of Jeffree Star, given the circles I operate in, I am often surrounded by many pretenders to the Club Kid throne. For anyone totally unaware of the phenomenon, they were a group of clubbers in the late 80's and early 90's that would take an awful lot of drugs, and dress in an exceedingly theatrical Leigh Bowery-esque manner and go to clubs and draw a lot of attention. This was documented in the admittedly quite dreadful film starring Macaulay Culkin, Party Monster, which although is basically about a load of rather awful human beings, one of them eventually turning out to be a murderer, a lot of young clubbers have tried to emulate the scene, and a lot of them that I know get paid just to turn up to VIP clubs to drink free drinks all night, to make places that, due to my job, shall remain nameless, look edgy and cool as opposed filled with rich businessmen, members of Made In Chelsea and girls in bodycon dresses and heels. I know this because although I don't subscribe to this lifestyle, I do like having free drinks with my friends and free entry when i'm bored of an evening. They never want photographs of me as compared to them i'm seen as a big fatso, so, all is well ultimately!

I've gone off the subject. I apologise. Also, I would like to point out that I ONLY like the free drinks, it's just some of my long term friends live in this silly world despite them being very different when I got to know them.  Fashion is an odd world and one i'm glad I don't work in.



Chloe Seveigny and Culkin in Party Monster


Anyway, onto the ACTUAL PRODUCTS. Essentially these are three liquid matte lipsticks, all with a blue leaning base so they are flattering to your teeth, which is something I need, as my teeth are horrid and yellow due to a childhood dose of antibiotics that were later removed from the market due to turning teeth very yellow, a 13 year smoking habit, and a subsequent obsession with tea and pepsi. I imagine you're getting the picture that i'm not the poster girl for healthy living. For that I apologise. 



Pretty pink packaging


They are housed in pleasingly lurid hot pink boxes, which do feel appropriately Beverly Hills in creation. 

Prom Night, Redrum, I'm Royalty

Redrum, Prom Night, I'm Royalty


The colours are housed in chunky, solid containers, which err on the side of cute as opposed to tacky. They are about the size of a normal lipstick, which makes them very convenient to pop in your pocket for a night out for top ups. The colours are bright, brash and bold, and are said to be universally flattering, but I would question this, as two of the three colours aren't particularly flattering on my very pale, pink leaning skintone. My favourite is the lilac colour I'm Royalty, which is absolutely beautiful. 

Red Rum, Prom Night, I'm Royalty - Just swatched


Redrum, Prom Night, I'm Royalty dried down (approx 10 mins)


So what does Jeffree have to say about his lipsticks....

Our liquid lipstick goes on opaque, dries completely matte and stays on for hours! This product is 100% vegan & cruelty-free! (tips before use: exfoliate then apply to bare lips! avoid food with oil... and no making out, kisses are ok!) 

And what do I say....

Being an aficionado of all the liquid lipsticks in the land, I would say that I am in a reasonably good position to give an opinion. It's refreshingly honest of Jeffree Star to point out that in fact, these, like so many, if not ALL long wear lipsticks, are not 'make out' proof.  This lipstick will last for about four hours, but you will see signs of wear on the inside of your lips, and more so if you drink any lovely drinks, which when wearing these lips, you probably will be as they are made for parties. 

The texture is intriguing, and like nothing i've experienced before with a liquid lipstick. The nearest I could liken it to would be the Lime Crime Velveteens, but it's got a much more stable substantial feel to the formula, thus making it easier to apply than the velveteens I would say. I would say it feels almost....oily at first, and its dry down time is rather long, but once it's set the finish is beautiful, so worth the wait. 

Of course at the end of the night, it's a bugger to get off, but what do we expect! It's made to last, we can't have everything. It doesn't stain, just clings. That's good enough for me! 

If you would like to try these, they are currently on sale in a bargain bundle via Love Make Up for £35 HERE or individually for £13 HERE.





Tuesday 6 January 2015

REVIEW: Sarah Chapman Ultimate Cleanse

Sarah Chapman Ultimate Cleanse


I could never, ever, for one second, claim that I am not a victim of hype. You could tell me anything is the new ultimate product, whilst showing me a picture of a pretty girl with perfect everything, and I shall buy into it. I don't even need convincing. If anything, i'll be chucking my scant funds at you whilst apologising for taking up your precious time. I am a dream consumer. Happy to spend themselves into epic debt to attain the unattainable dream, whilst constantly berating myself for my weight and looks, but choosing to buy new products as opposed to get up off my lazy lazy behind, or say no to that third piece of cake. 

But enough about me. Lets talk about Sarah and her cleanse.

I'll admit I only heard about Sarah Chapman during a particularly hellish festival weekend that I was dj'ing, and the only shining light that came out of it was that the person I went with was using Sarah Chapman skin products, and i'd forgotten my cleanser, so I was allowed to borrow a pump of this, and I was immediately obsessed. I have used a million different lovely cleansers, high end, low end etc etc, and so it takes a lot for me to feel the need to spend a lot after discovering Soap and Glory Peaches and Clean for under a tenner, that takes my eye and facial make up off in seconds, plus exfoliates. 

So after much deliberation, and searching on e bay, I parted with £30 for the old style packaging. 


Sarah Chapman Ultimate Cleanse old style packaging


So what does Sarah say about this....

This intelligent aromatic infusion melts into pores, transforming into a milk for swift removal leaving clean, fresh, glowing skin. A delicious soufflĂ© balm that works deep into the pores to combat daily grime, lift out impurities and remove make-up, even waterproof mascara. Soothing omega-rich baobab and borage oils are blended with a powerful dose of antioxidant vitamins A and E, precious white lily and Dermaxyl™ peptide to boost collagen production. This potent combination of anti-ageing actives gently exfoliates to help prevent pore clogging and deeply cleanses, softens, and brightens.

What do I say....

Well, hmm, my immediate reaction is to say that I love it, but it's not all perfection. On one hand, it leaves you with a glowing, soft, clean and healthy feeling face, all comfy and fragrant. It feels luxurious as you massage it on, and you feel like you're getting a nice deep cleanse. What I don't feel quite so enthused about is the fact that it doesn't remove my eye make up, so I have had to resort to cleansing my eyes three times in a row with this to get the mascara off. I don't even use waterproof, just regular L'oreal Manga Punky Eyes, yet still, it doesn't remove it at all, not with the special fancy mit, or extra special massaging. When I get in from a long night, and i'm drunk, and beyond knackered, all I want is to have a clean sparkly face and to go straight to sleep. This would make that process rather annoying. However, the actual skin benefits, which lets face it, are what we cleanse for, are fabulous, and I wake with a non greasy, brighter complexion.

So in conclusion, I do recommend this, but for times when you have, well, time. Despite all my endless product buying I cannot be bothered for the process involved with the whole rigmarole of the entire range, it seems a little bit much from what I have witnessed, endless rubbing and massaging and above all, A RIDICULOUS AMOUNT OF CASH. 

If you do want to get involved with Sarah, and her beautiful, if pricey products, you can buy from Space NK or direct from her website HERE for £40.





REVIEW: LUSH Emotional Brilliance Lipstick in Decisive - Swatch included


LUSH Emotional Brilliance Lips in Decisive


I love lipstick. I love it. It took me many years to come to terms with it. I wore it in the very early nineties, Rimmel's Black Cherry was my go to, or...actually, it was my ONLY, which I paired with green colour correcting powder instead of foundation, and mascara, and somehow I looked okay. This is an actual photograph, taken in my nan and gramp's flat. I remember I had spent all day watching the video to Lush - Hypocrite (see below) and decided I wanted to be Mikki Berenyi, so I went to the Superdrug next door, purchased the aforementioned lipstick and powder, and went to work on my face. Two hours later my gramps came home and yelled loudly that I looked like a tiny hooker.

Great days. 


Lush - Hypocrite video


Anyway, back to the lippie. My obsession with lipstick started again in the mid 2000's and I haven't looked back since. My biggest lust is deep pinks and pinky reds, and having never been an aficionado on Lush the brand, as all I knew was every time I walked by one, I was met with headache inducing smells and confusing levels of messy looking bath bombs, which, again, if you were a teenager in the nineties, you probably got sick of too, because its all your stupid friends got you as presents, when all I wanted was music and films. Bloody women (of which, I know, I am one).

So yeah, Waterloo rail station has a new Lush, so I went in, and felt like I had to own something from there to celebrate the fact that I knew eff all about them, and I had ten minutes till my next train. I swatched Decisive and I was SOLD, as it was opaque, matte and beautiful in every way. 

Lush - Decisive, having a little sleep

Decisive, swatched, on my arm


So, here's the first fact about this stuff. You will get opaque coverage in one swipe, no messing. The formula is super duper extra matte. You don't need any dry down time to see what this formula will look like, you will see the results straight away and if you love a pop of strong colour, you will LOVE THIS. Add to this that you get lip conditioning ingredients of jojoba oil, rose wax and candellila wax in this formula, you really cannot go wrong. 

My ugly mug with Decisive on.


So, I have paired this with lipliner, namely Sleek - Dragonfruit which is my longwear, waterproof go to every time I wear a pink lip. and this photo was taken at 1.00am. I had applied the lipstick at 8.00pm, and had wine and three vodkas by this point, and look, NOT ONE BIT OF WEAR. Now, this is pretty amazing, but I will warn you that I by 6.00am, things were looking a little less appealing, but I was very....very drunk, so I cannot vouch for why I looked like such a mess. 

In conclusion, this is a fantastic lipstick, which wears forever, is pretty indestructible and if i'm honest, I cannot find any fault with it at all. BOOM!

If you want to get involved, you can purchase this directly from Lush online - HERE - for £14.50.

AMAZE.