REVIEW: Lime Crime Velveteen in Cashmere - Swatches included

I'll be honest, I feel like a bit of a swine when I purchase a Lime Crime item. There is so. much. hate. when it comes to Doe Deer, and the practises of her business, and as someone who proclaims themselves to be a lackadaisical socialist, and someone who applauds morals and fair behaviour, it makes a little bit of a mockery of my preaching when I buy into a product from a company who have been accused of being venomous and unfair to customers and competitors. 

But truthfully, I just love their products so much, and my obsession with make up has rendered me disingenuous it seems. I hate it....but i've never been good at saying no to lust. Bane of my life. 

Make of that what you will. 

Anyway, I ordered this the day it arrived on the website directly from Lime Crime , as stockists for Lime Crime seem to be dropping like flies over in the uk for some reason. It took about 12 days to arrive, which is fine, as it's crossing a vast amount of distance to get here. It cost $10.95 in postage which isn't too bad either, seeing as Sephora USA are charging what feels like $100000000000000 to post to the UK. It's not that much btw, and I can't be bothered to check what I paid, but it was around $25.00 or so, and it pissed me off. 

Lime Crime Cashmere 

Lime Crime Cashmere swatched

So, as we've all been made VERY aware of, the 90's are BACKBACKBACK. For some reason all the stuff that us average teenagers wore is now a much desired thing, which is fine, because it makes life easy for me because I just have to remember what I wore then and wear it again, and do my make up the same. 

Me, in 94. How I miss having acceptable thighs!

This shade, Cashmere, otherwise known as 'Greige' so half grey, half beige, is the quintessential 90's lip shade and there honestly is NOTHING, well...not nothing, but very few that match up to this shade when it comes to pulling off a total look. It's the same formula, it stays put unless you're eating a macdonalds, which, admittedly I can do at 5.00am after a night out, but lets face it, at that point all I care about is that i've not been sick down my front and can see vaguely. The colour is opaque in one swipe, and dries with enough time to correct mistakes. I LOVE IT. 

LOVE. 

Me. Looking like a total arsehole. 

Listen. I know I look like a prick in that picture up there. However I am lazy and this was accidentally taken when drunkenly wiping my face of a red drink on my way to see Is Tropical play my mates club in hackney. This night was a testament to the lasting power of the pairing of Cashmere and Urban Decay lipliner in Liar. By the time I got to the gig i'd drunk about five beverages. Whilst there I drank another five, including the dregs of the rider because my card was declined after an hour, urgh, I danced to this...

Is Tropical - Dancing Anymore

I drank so many drinks I ended up in Lewisham in someones house, and fell asleep on my face. When I woke up, the lipstick was virtually still all there. I dribble in my sleep so...

THAT IS HOW WELL IS LASTS. 

Mind you, if i'd done kissing on someone (which I didn't), I imagine it would do the same that other velveteens have done and flaked off, but they're not built for krypton factor-esque make out sessions. They're made to last through general life. 

If you want to snap up Cashmere, it's not available yet through any UK distributors, and it's out of stock on the US website, but they do restock, so keep checking HERE at Lime Crime. 

Thanks for reading. Bye! 

PS I am aware that my blog reads like i'm a raging lush. I'm not, just on super party time nights I promise. 

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.

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.

REVIEW: Pretty Zombie Cosmetics liquid lipstick - 3 Witches

Hiyathere.

So, if youv'e followed this blog at all you'll know i'm a big fan of the whole stupidly coloured matte liquid lipstick that lasts aaaaages, so when I heard of Pretty Zombie Cosmetics, as i've detailed in my review of Blue Moon, I was very much sold on the idea of these lipsticks and owning the entire range. This is the second one i've got hold of, and god bless it's purple bum. I LOVE IT.

Pretty Zombie Liquid Lipstick - 3 Witches

The other side, cause it's cool etc....

So, it doesn't claim to be smudge or budgeproof, but let me tell you, it's basically holds up just as well as the Stila Stay All Day range, which for the price point, although not bargain basement, you can't moan at too much. I love the shade, it's a cool, dark, vibrant purple. It goes on light and very liquidy, much like the Lime Crime Velvetines, and then dries to a completely opaque, in one swipe, rich colour and it's completely matte, which oddly, many matte lipsticks don't deliver on. 

Saying that, it doesn't last ALL night, and if you go on a snogging session, you're going to end up with a smudgy purple face. Also, it's really tough to remove and it does stain, so the day after you wear this, you either have to expect to have a smattering of discoloured dots on your lips, to wear a super opaque shade on top, or to exfoliate your lips to soreness. It really sticks. REALLY STICKS.

3 Witches - Swatch. 

I have tested this to buggery, and when I test, I put it on, I go out, I dj, drink, kiss cheeks, eat unwise foods in all night restaurants and never have time to reapply. The result at the end of the night will always be an honest one, and I will say, this NEEDS re application, it will not stand up a horribly tough night, but honestly, very very few will, and this doesn't claim to last, so you can't complain really. By the end it will have worn off around the edges and have flaked. Unlike me, you'll probably be sober enough to care....

My stupid face with it on.

I was on my way out to a party with my homies from Boy London, and all the girls in that world look like kindergoth's who haven't eaten for a million years, so I decided to go a little goth for the night. I used Mac Pro Wear Lipliner in More To Love to amp up the pink tones in the purple, and the rest of the make up, if you're interested, is Illamasqua Precision Gel Liner (LASTS FOREVER WITH PRIMER), on top of Nars Smudgeproof Eyeshadow Base, Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Pomade in Chocolate, DJV beautenizer volume mascara, my beloved Freckle Pencil from Topshop in Forever Young, Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush in Dim Infusion and Make Up Atelier HD Airbrush Foundation.

If you want to dive in to the world of Pretty Zombie Cosmetics, you can get them in the UK from Cute Cosmetics for the pretty reasonable price of £13.50 - HERE

REVIEW: Pretty Zombie Cosmetics Liquid Lipstick - Blue Moon

Pretty Zombie Cosmetics Liquid Lipstick in Blue Moon

Pretty Zombie Cosmetics are an independent manufacturer of beautiful products, who have apparently been in existence since 2008. I happened upon them on one of my usual matte liquid lipstick searches, which I do more than I care to admit, so rampant is my obsession, and I found this company, with a fantastically unconventional range of shades to please the most obscure cosmetics lover.

So I searched around like a madwoman and eventually found a uk stockist, in the form of a personal favourite web store Cute Cosmetics, which stocks vegan and cruelty free brands exclusively, which is obviously awesome. I snapped up Blue Moon, and thus, I have my new favourite lipstick....

Packaging. Yay etc!

So what's good about it. Well, it's another completely MATTE as hell lipstick. Properly matte, no pretendy matte, and no wimpy formula. This is full coverage in one swipe, it dries down, and that stuff is NOT leaving without some extreme encouragement and scrubbing. Whether this is good or bad depends on how lacking in patience you have. Frankly i'm willing to deal with it for some a cool shade. It's not perfect, it does crumble reasonably quickly if you eat and drink, BUT, one joy that you don't have with other brands, like Maybelline 24 hour bold matte, or Sleek Matte Me, is you can reapply to the crumbled bits and it looks fine, not lumpy and rubbish. I would suggest you give your lips a good moisturise, and an exfoliate, because this isn't the most forgiving formula, but who cares, YOU HAVE BLUE LIPS MOFO!

Blue Moon Swatched

This is me. Yep, i've finally posted my ugly mug.

Before I get reams of abuse, I know i'm not blessed looks wise so you don't need to tell me i'm ugly. So many bloggers get abuse and they're heroes for dealing with it. I'm not a massive fan of being put down right now but I wanted to show the lipstick as a wearable thing. My hair is all washed out because I had a big allergic reaction to my hair dye and i've put on quite a bit of weight since I went through a bereavement and break up. Again, i'm aware!

If you want to get involved and purchase any of these beautiful shades, they are available at Cute Cosmetics for £13.50

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: Lime Crime Velvetine in SALEM

Woosh!

So Love Make Up were total winners with my order of the new Lime Crime Goth-a-tines. I got them within two days, no problems. Thank you love make up!

I bought all of them, but in the interests of being thorough, I am first reviewing SALEM.

Now, I mostly get a bit irritated by the whole obsession with the 90's. Having been a teenager in them, and been a big part of the club scene and music world, the revisionist history of what it was actually like is pretty irritating. Also, come on, lets actually create our own scene please! What are people going to remember the 2000's for, the fact that we created EFF ALL.

Brilliant.

Still, enough of that. It's basically a spot on medium dark, cool brown, straight out of a George Michael video from 1992, probably on Linda Evangelista. It's great. I love it. I probably love it because I am super pale, and basically, I now am wearing the EXACT make up I wore as a teenager. Therefore i'm good at it, because it's my second time around. 

Here's some pictures. 

Lime Crime Velvetine in Salem

Salem swatched

Wear time, it's pretty great, but as always, it depends on what you're doing in it. If you're eating, drinking and kissing, it's going to spread all over you like nutella, or you could have a situation similar to this...

Now, to help this situation you're best off filling your lips with liner, which is something I always always do unless i'm not bothered about keeping my make up in place, which is never. I personally use Sleek Eau La La liner in Cocoa which is waterproof and smudgeproof, so it'll help your cause immensely. Then just apply straight from the tube and go feel like a 90's princess! 

I love it. I LOVE IT. I also have Wicked and Black Velvet which I will be reviewing soon!

Yay. Etc.

Lime Crime The Clueless Witch Goth-a-tines are NOW AVAILABLE

Just a quick note - I shall be updating soon btw, I have all sorts of stuff that I need to ramble on about cosmetics wise, including the new Estee Lauder BB Cream, the new Eve Lom minerable and liquid foundations and Hourglass tinted moisturiser. Also I have the Urban Decay liners, and electric palette. HARD. CORE. 

However, here's todays piece of awesome. Lime Crime Clueless Witch Velvetines are available NOW from Love Make Up for £13.50 each. GET THEM HERE BEFORE THEY SELL OUT.

I received mine today, and I have to say, these are HARDCORE and authentic 90's shades, or the black, which is the most perfect black lipstick I own....and I own about twenty. So matte. 

Exciting! Wooosh! 

NEW! (and desired): Lime Crime The Clueless Witch Velvetines

What else do you need to lose your SHIT over these?? Okay okay, i've been a miserable unhappy chappy and haven't done the review of the Pink Velvetine yet, even though I have had it a while. In short, I do want to say, it's not all that sadly. Just a bit dull given the lip popping promise it held.

Still, BLACK VELVET. BLACK. The only thing I have close to this is a Mac Black Mattene which is 'okay' but wears off really quickly, and travels around my face, which is bad enough with a lipstick, but MURDER when it's black. Otherwise they're two vampy offerinsgs, apparently inspired by Clueless, Coven and The Craft, which are all films of my teen years that I was embarrassed to like, but secretly did, and why the hell not?

There will be a US release in March, but no confirmed UK release. Keep your eyes on cocktail cosmetics and love make up though. They satiate our lime crime needs.

REVIEW: MUA Luxe Velvet Lip Lacquer in Reckless vs Topshop Velvet Lips in Velveteen Ribbon

MUA Luxe Velvet Lip Lacquer in Reckless

Now. Let me tell you something about me (because that's obviously why you're here), I am an obsessive creature. When I find something that I want, I will obsess and obsess till I get it. Not a lot of things actually meet the needs I have to become obsessed with them. However, when I heard that MUA were launching a more upscale line of products, I was intrigued. When I heard that they were releasing some long wearing, matte, liquid lipsticks that were like Lime Crime Velveteens. I WAS RAVENOUS.

I put the date on my calender of their release. Went to Superdrug to pick them up and....nothing. They weren't there. I logged on to the website. All sold out. I went to the superdrug website. Not there. So I contacted MUA and asked where I could get hold of them. They told me central london. So I went to central london. Every BLOODY STORE. NOT SODDING THERE.

Anyway, one colour came back into stock last week on the superdrug website, which I was directed to by a very kind reader of my blog, and I arranged for speedy delivery, and finally got my hands on my matte dreams! 

However, when waiting to find the elusive product, I dropped into topshop and they had their new Velvet Lips on the display, and the shade seemed to be a lovely vampy rich matte red, so, why not I thought!? 

TOPSHOP Velvet Lips in Velveteen Ribbon

So lets look at a swatch etc...

L-R MUA Reckless and TOPSHOP Veleveteen Ribbon

So as you can see, the MUA shade is a much pinker red, whereas the topshop is darker and more vampy. Both are sumptuous and give completely opaque pigment heavy colour in one swipe. They both dry down super true matte, and they both look awesome.

So where are they different?

Well price for one. MUA is £3, a true bargain, whereas TOPSHOP is £10 in comparison. 

Also in wear time. The MUA one lasts big time, through eating, drinking, kissing cheeks. It lasts mofo! However, it will start to wear after a few hours towards the center of your lips. Also, if you decided to eat anything oily it'll come right off, I discovered this after a cheeky mcdonalds trip after a rather messy all nighter at a mates birthday party. The topshop one wore off after about two hours. Seriously, TWO. It flaked off and crumbled mega quickly and it was pretty annoying seeing as it costs over three times the price! 

So if you were trying to choose between the two, I would go for the MUA every time.

However, the direct comparison, and obvious one, is the Lime Crime Velveteen, and I would say MUA isn't quite as good, but pretty close, and for the price difference, I would definitely invest in this first.

I should be getting hold of the rest of the shades this week, and i'll go crazy with a swatch party for your lovely precious eyes as soon as I do. I AM EXCITED! 

GO BUY THE LIPS!

HERE

REVIEW: Sleek Matte Me - All Shades - Swatches

BACK.

I'm a bit of a grotten mess today, but ima going to to my best to post something worthy of being read for you lovey guys out there.

I am a big fan of the brand Sleek. They bring out fashion focused products of an incredible quality and a really affordable price point. What is not to love!? From the point these were announced I checked the local Superdrug to see if they were nestling on the shelves (whilst also trying to avoid the guy who would say daily 'where is the girl who usually comes with you? She's much prettier than you, because, y'know, I need to feel WORSE about myself right now obvs), and I snapped them up the second I found them.

So, lets get a swatching!

Top to bottom - Petal, Birthday Suit, Party Pink, Rioja Red, Brink Pink, Fandango Purple

L-R - Fandango Purple, Brink Pink, Rioja Red, Party Pink, Birthday Suit, Petal

So, the review! What is it that Sleek have to say about all this matte malarkey?

"Matte Me is a matte finish liquid lipstick that glides on in one smooth application, with no need for a second coat." - sleekmakeup.com

I have to be honest, as much as I love Sleek, the claim is bollocks. I am a massive, MASSIVE Matte lipstick fan, I own every matte lipstick I can get my hands on, so i'm a pretty easy sell and easily pleased when it comes to a long wear liquid matte lip, as you'll see from my posts on the Lime Crime Velveteens, and the Stila Stay All Day Liquid Lipstick. These aren't really in the same league formula, or longevity wise sadly. They barely cover in one swipe, leaving a pretty patchy offering, so if you want it to it totally opaque, you will probably want to fill your lips in with a liner, blot, then swipe it on, twice. It looks great then, but it does also have a reasonably short wear time if you want to drink and eat. 

So, in short, if you're going to go for a budget matte options, I would definitely pick up Rioja Red and Birthday Suit, as they're great colours and a lot cheaper than Stila etc, but don't expect them to be bulletproof. 

REVIEW! - Lime Crime Velvetine - Red Velvet (swatches, messy lips etc)

Hiya,

I'm feeling pretty sombre today, but when i'm feeling sombre, there's one thing guaranteed to make it all okay again, and thats buggering around with my make up and getting my face all dressed up, even if i've nowhere to go. Given that, today I thought i'd share with you one of my favourite lipsticks EVER.

Now, I umm'ed and ahh'ed about reviewing a product from Lime Crime. I have been following them for a few years and I know there is a fair whack of controversy when it comes to the brand, due to the fact that in their early days, they were purchasing whole sale mica based shadows, repackaging them, and selling them on at a big price increase - more information about that here. I also know that one of my favourite bloggers, Christine from Temptalia, has boycotted the brand wholly, due to the fact that if anyone is negative about them, the owner sets her minions upon you with abuse until you relent....which isn't the best PR really. 

However, when I saw the promo's for the velvetines, it sounded too good to be true, I just had to have one. I am usually someone who makes a stand to the point of ruining things for myself when it comes to things I believe in, but my lips NEEDED this product. I had no choice!

Lime Crime Velvetines in shade Red Velvet

So what do they say about it??

"Long-lasting, waterproof liquid lipstick that goes on with the ease of gloss and dries completely matte."

And basically, thats exactly what it is. I have been using this about four times a week for three months now, and these are my findings....

- The colour is INTENSE. Seriously, one swipe covers ALL. No need to double swipe, the colour payoff is INCREDIBLE. 

- The red colour is PERFECTION. Seriously, it would suit anyone, looks like the kind of red you wished you could find your entire life. 

- It really does last. It's not an all nighter, but its close!

- It is PROPERLY matte. So many lipsticks say they're matte, and they're not, but the second this dries down it's matte as a blackboard. 

- It is good value. The price is absolutely reasonable, you'd not pay much less for a drugstore brand of the same type of product.

- It's easy to apply, IF you use a lipliner.

It's not all perfection of course, but before I get onto that, I shall share some pics....

My mucky tube. I left it mucky to prove i've road tested this to death.

Swatched on my paper pale arm. One tiny swipe gives you this level of opacity!

A very messy application minus lipliner, with extra teeth lipstick as a treat.

As you can see above, no one could accuse me of being anal about this blog. Ha! TEETH LIPPY FOR ALL TO SEE!

It does however show you some of the cons, which I shall list below

- It's particularly watery, which on the good side, means it's feather light on your lips, but if you get too much on the applicator, until it dries down, the danger is it will slide everywhere, including your teeth

- It does smudge, but not like a normal lippy. If you kiss someone, it'll transfer a little around your mouth, but nothing like you'd get with any other lipstick. ALSO you can happily apply Lipcote atop of it and it'll make it even more budgeproof. I also won't transfer onto your drinks or fork without some real heavy lip labour. 

- It will wear off, eventually, but again, after AGES. I drink, chat, eat and kiss cheeks a lot. If I apply lipliner all over my lips, blot, apply loose powder and then this, it will last virtually ALL night without fade. 

So I would say this is a MASSIVE MASSIVE thumbs up to this product and make no mistake. You need this in your life if you're a lover of matte and long lasting 1950's sex siren lips. 

Your only problem is finding it in stock. Stockists are below, so just keep your eyes on the Lime Crime Fanpage where they post stock updates, and then go get it from one of the below links.

Lime Crime (US based but ships to UK)

Cute Cosmetics 

Love Make Up

Genie Cosmetics

Cocktail Cosmetics

Have you tried it? What are your thoughts??