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 - 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: YSL Baby Doll Kiss & Blush - No 7 - Coral Affranchi + No 10 - Nude Insolent

Hiya now!

So, i've been absent for a while. Been a bit of a rubbish human being i'm afraid. I've been dj'ing, and trying to be less of a chubber (note to self: eating less might be the first step) and it's been hot as FIRE in the UK (hello viewers from across the globe!) so if sweating and complaining about sweating is considered an activity, then i've been busy as buggery. 

So to start this review off nicely, here's a picture of Cara Delevigne being rude with another lady for a camera (it's okay though, she is actually in a relationship with a lady right now so can't be accused of going gay for pay....

Fit.

Anyway, I have a local Debenhams which I go in FAR too much, and everyone knows me, I mean, I get high fives from the staff when I walk in i'm that familiar to them. Such is the rewards of being a beauty addict with blue hair. It's like Cheers (the sitcom) sometimes you wanna go where EVERYBODY knows your name.....and your favourite foundation shade. 

But I digress. I bought some YSL kiss and blushes and here's what's up. I LOVE THEM. 

Kiss and Blush No 7 and No 10 

Kiss and Blush No 7 Coral Affranchi

Kiss and Blush No 10 Nude Insolent 

I went the first day they were released and wanted to buy them all, but firstly, I am poor, and secondly some of them looked ruddy awful on me, so I settled on these two. Now, one big problem was the girl serving me, lovely as she was, had the worst make up ever. She had massively thick too dark foundation, dry cracked lipstick drawn far too far over her lipline and the classic contouring that is so over applied it looks like a grey dirty pile of dirt. It put me off, but I somehow managed to get through the consultation and purchase.

Somehow.

Coral Affranchi - Nude Insolent

YSL SAY THIS. GO!!!!

• KISS YOUR CHEEKS, BLUSH YOUR LIPS Yves Saint Laurent introduces a double play of colour for lips and cheeks. A hybrid between a lip colour and a blush, this innovative air-whipped formula allows for an instant application on both lips and cheeks. With a luminous matte finish, colour is easily buildable from a soft and natural look to a more intense sophisticated look. The patented "hidden pearl" applicator is customised to glide perfectly on the lips and to allow the optimal amount of formula to be dotted on the cheeks. A range of 12 playful shades to complement each cheeky side of the YSL Baby Doll woman.
• APPLICATION TIPS: Use one shade and dot the formula on the lips and cheeks with the applicator. Blend with your fingertips for a softer makeup result. For a more intense finish, apply a second layer by using the pearl applicator to fully spread the formula on the lips. To be more playful and daring, mix and match two shades on lips and cheeks and vice versa.

These items are basically my dream product. On the lips they sit somewhere between a matte lipstick and a stain. You need to be aware that as a lip product, they aren't THAT long lasting. If you're just going about your day, they'll see you through about five hours, but if you will be eating, drinking and kissing, they're going to wear off, although leaving you with a subtle slight 'my lips but better' stain. As or cheeks, this is where this product WINS and WINS HARD. I put just a couple of dot below each cheek bone and blend with a duo fibre brush from Real Techniques, and the colour distributes beautifully without leaving those telltale 'i've been using a benetint type thingy' dots stained into your cheeks. The colour deposited is matte in essence, but also luminous, and soft. I really can't say enough good about these, except for the price. I do think that £27 is a little much for a product that you are going to want to purchase multiple shades of. 

Despite that, I highly recommend you pick up a couple of shades. They're a summer staple and great for weekends away, and dare I say, festivals (I am vehemently ANTI the whole festival make up bullshit, given that in my day, we felt equipped with wet wipes and tampons). 

If you want to pick these up, you can do so online at YSL, John Lewis, or good old Debbers for £27 of your hard earned pounds. 

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.

NEW (and desired): MAC Punk Couture - OUT NOW

MAC Punk Couture - Dec 2013

Just letting you gals and guys know that the first Mac release that has got my knickers in a twist has dropped online yesterday, so, like all the limited Mac collections, you'd better get there quick. 

There are lipglosses, nail varnish, and an eyeshadow palette, but they don't really compare to these offerings, which are stunning, especially the lips! Vampy x 10000!

You can purchase these online at Mac right now... I wish I could, but too poor right now. Perhaps Mac will donate them if I cry LOTS.

Here's hoping! 

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: 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. 

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.