REVIEW: NYX Macaron Lippie - Earl Grey and Coconut - Swatches inc

I love a fancy lippie colour. I get supremely irritated when people review unusual colours of lipstick and say 'it's a bit out there'. Perhaps it's not the norm, but like hair colour, I feel that we are young (ish, sadly i'm rapidly approaching 36) once and we have all these stunning colours in the world, and we, as humans, are allowed to PAINT ON OUR FACE! Think about that for a fact! We can buy all these things and paint  whatever we want on our face to make us look however we can, within the parameters of our aesthetics. I mean, I can't paint my face to be Angelina Jolie but I can give it a good go...

Anyway, back to the make up i've spent my hard acquired cashmoney on.

I happened upon these lipsticks in the Oxford Circus brand of Topshop. I was excited because I love NYX, but they didn't have the Macaron lipsticks on the uk branch of their website which felt rather unfair, so I snapped them up, at the very reasonable price of £7.00, which if you consider the fact that Rose's Beauty Store are selling them at the RIDICULOUS mark up of £16.99, which frankly is a massive piss take, given that NYX sell lipsticks from $3 in the USA, it stinks a little bit of pure greed.

However, as I said, I got to try these for the price of £7 each, so it didn't feel too much of a waste if they turned out to be a washout, so to speak.

So what do NYX have to say.....


THIS.


Fantasize in color with our neon and pastel lippies in 12 of the creamiest shades you’ll ever use.

NYX Cosmetic’s cruelty-free formula is packed with pigment and has a satin matte finish for long-wearing resilience.

Creamy and highly pigmented pastel and neon colored lipsticks. Creates various, pastel and neon lip looks.

These pastel and neon lipsticks come in 12 creamy shades, smell delicious, and add an eccentric pop of color to any look.

NYX Macaron Lippie in Coconut

NYX Macaron Lippie in Earl Grey

NYX Macaron Earl Grey and Coconut swatched. 

First up, Earl Grey. The feature I feel I need to point out quite urgently is the fact that it is, in fact, blue, not grey. Above in the NYX visual, it's very much grey,  but this is a light sky blue, a strong pastel, if you will. It's extremely creamy and applies without dragging, and feels emolient and light. However, this is where the joy of application ends. It's an odd colour to try and match with a lipliner, so I tried with a white Sleek Eau La La liner, as the colour applied straight on my lips showed my lip colour through quite quickly. When used with a lip liner, sadly it was still having to be swiped on about three times in a row to get coverage, and once I blotted, it crumbled off in the centre. 

So in summary, colour, fabulous,  performance, not a goer unless you don't mind a kind of deconstructed worn through look, which if you're beautiful i'm sure you could easily rock. 

As for Coconut. Well, i'm sorry, it's the same story but worse. It takes a lot of product to get the coverage opaque, and then once it is, it comes off very quickly. HOWEVER, it's an awesome product to use if you want to do a lip ombre, then its performance is only to lighten your existing lipstick, which looks great! 

So all in all, it's a thumbs down for this except as an accessory to other lipsticks. 

If you want to get your hands on these though, you can go online and get them direct from Topshop for £7 HERE

NEW: MUA Velvet Lip Lacquer - ENTIRE COLLECTION SWATCHED

MUA LUXE VELVET LIP LACQUER 

Now, I am a lover of high end make up, and have my fair share of expensive products, from Becca, to Kevyn Aucoin, to Eve Lom, Hourglass. I love luxury, despite my very empty pockets, I seem to be able to find a way to own things I really haven't the funds too. 

However, MUA, like Sleek Make Up, are one of those brands that aren't just budget, they're SUPER budget, and despite this, they keep coming up with FANTASTIC products that I opt for time and time again despite owning much pricier alternatives. The velvet lip lacquers are just one example of this. I own matte liquid lipsticks from Lancome, BITE beauty, Stila, Lime Crime and many more. However, when i'm going on a hardcore, sweaty and long night, I always opt for MUA velvet lip lacquers. They're a million times cheaper, and offer much more it seems. How can we complain!?

You may not have heard, and not even I had heard, and I am a total cosmetics geek, so I should have by now, but they have released a few new shades of lip lacquer for the summer. I found them in my local superdrug, which was a surprise given their lack of stocking ANY products that someone would potentially desire, so I snapped them up quick as a flash, and here I am to share them with you!

These are the original shades released last year....

L-R Atomic, Reckless, Funk and Kooky

L-R Kooky, Reckless, Funk and Atomic

Bottom to top - Atomic, Funk, Reckless and Kooky

And here are the NEW ones for summer! STUNNING as the old! 

L-R Criminal, Aflush, Halcyon and Tranquility

L-R Criminal, Aflush, Halcyon and Tranquility

Bottom to top - Criminal, Aflush, Halcyon and Tranquility

Firstly, please excuse my skanky arm. I have had a major allergic reaction and am covered head to toe in hives due to, what seems to be, my hair bleach that I have used on me. This sucks, because I have a full head of blue hair. I'm not sure what my options are but I am ANNOYED.

Secondly, I cannot praise these formulas enough. Not ONE other liquid lip, except for the Stila one, which is five times the price, will stand up in the same way. If you apply a lipliner that is also long wear, like the Sleek Eau La La Liner (£4.99 from boots and superdrug), then apply this on top, you will be able to get through about six hours smudge and budge free. Quite the performance no!?

So I suggest you pick these up QUICK. They always seem to be sold out, so if you find them, make them yours. They are summer and party nights in a tube!

Available from MUA online, and Superdrug exclusively for the paltry sum of £3.00.

Come, dive in, and swim in the delicious waters of MUA lip lacquer! 

REVIEW: Mac Retro Matte Lipsticks - Ruby Woo, All Fired Up, Flat Out Fabulous - Swatches

Mac Retro Matte 2013

So as promised in my previous post about my achy breaky heart, I broke my reclusive ways and bound to the brand new local Mac to buy as many as I could afford, which was three, and even then it killed my bank account, and two of the pro longwear lip pencils too. It would have been churlish not to frankly!

Go on then Mac, wax me right lyrical yeah?

"M•A•C introduces new bold shades in its Retro Matte finish. Eye-catching colours like Dangerous and All Fired Up create a look that's fiercely feminine. M•A•C also premieres Pro Longwear Lip Pencils in a vibrant colour palette, giving this long-lasting and transfer-proof lip pencil an exhilarating makeover."

L-R All Fired Up, Flat Out Fabulous, Ruby Woo

Top to bottom - More to love, Kiss Me Quick

So, I really really wanted Dynamo, which is a furious pink colour, but the bastard thing was sold out everywhere, so i've made do with these two for now. 

L-R Trust in Red, More to Love - All Fire Up, Ruby Woo, Flat Out Fabulous

Firstly, the pencils.

They're great. You can't fault them. They go on matte, take about thirty seconds to set, and thats it, they're there for the duration. I AM NOT EFFING KIDDING. I put these two on my hand to swatch in the store, and for three days they stuck about, not budging an inch. You can't really complain at that level of longevity can you?

Now for the lipsticks. Well, they don't claim to be budge or smudgeproof, and they're not, which I found out to my dismay after a particularly 'lubricated' dinner, which left me with Ruby Woo all over my chin, nose and a bit under my eye (?). Thus, I would recommend you do the good old pencil, blot, powder, apply, blot, powder, apply, blot, and if you want to go bulletproof for kissing, which I don't, as I have no one I want to kiss right now (weep!) slap on a little lipcote. The formula doesn't dry me out, not that I care, but make sure you give your lips a little exfoliate, firstly by rubbing your lips with a flannel when you're cleansing, then pop on a little moisture in the form of, perhaps, Boots No7 Protect and Perfect Lip Care, then another exfoliate, if you're going hardcore, with something like Body Shop Lipscuff. Then just apply in whatever way you fancy, and go and look effing FABULOUS all day/night.

Btw, I've been reading quite a bit of bullshit about women worrying about men hating red lipstick recently, and with Ruby Woo being the ICONIC pink up red colour, I say this.

Who gives a flying cuntox?

Seriously? If you're that weak around your man or that needy for attention that you'll imagine he'll run screaming from you because you're wearing a bit of lippy, then get yourself a bit of self confidence lady, and stop worrying! I mean, I don't care what boys think obvs, and my ex LOVED my red lips (I think, given that I also was pretty sure she LOVED me and there's scant evidence of that now) but yeah, if you look hot with it, wear it.