Show me your pout

Happy New Year everyone! The past few weeks have probably been the most hectic of my life. I do plan on doing a post about 2014, but as a brief summary - I finished my Master's degree, I went on a week long holiday to celebrate, then started working full time the day after I got home. Oh, and then Christmas and New Year's celebrations, of course. Anyway, in the five short days of 2015, I've managed to acquire five new lip products already...

Maybelline Color Elixir in 'Raspberry Rhapsody'

Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet in 'Pink pong'

Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet in 'Nude-ist'

Revlon Colorburst Lacquer Balm in 'Flirtatious'

Revlon Colorburst Balm Stain in 'Honey'

The Bourjois lippies above were bought off Asos, because they're $7-8 cheaper than Aussie RRP (big surprise there). I bought one of them a while back and used it for the first time on Christmas day when I attended a wedding reception - I fell in love! The colour (Ole Flamingo) was gorgeous, easy to apply and lasted all day through eating and drinking. So I picked up another two, one neutral shade and another bright shade. If you're curious, either wait til they're on sale or pick them up from Asos because they're quite pricey at full price. 

The other three I picked up from Chemist Warehouse, who are currently running one of their dangerous 50% off sales. I am a huge fan of the Revlon Colorburst range, so of course I had to add to my collection. Honey seems like a very popular neutral shade, so I'd like to wear it to work. As for the lacquer balm, I only have one of them currently, and while they're not long lasting, they're a great product while shine and aren't as drying as their staining friends. The Maybelline Color Elixir was a last minute buy - I don't really have anything purple in my collection and I've heard they're a good product so why not. I definitely would not buy these full price though, $17.95 is a little ridiculous. 

Have you been purchasing lots of makeup so far in 2015? 

Priceline Sale Haul

Yep so Priceline had 40% off cosmetics today and yesterday...I actually was pretty restrained, mostly because the shop was so packed and I wanted to get out quickly.

Sally Hansen Nail Polish Remover

Rimmel Kate Moss Matte Lipstick in 106

Sally Hansen Gem Crush in 'Lady Luck'

Models Prefer Eyeshadow Pencil in 'Pop the Bubbly'

Sally Hansen Nail Polish remover (RRP $5.45, sale price: $3.27)

This was the main reason for me going. I picked up the last two bottles. Gotta be stocked up at all times.

Rimmel Lipstick (RRP $12.95, sale price: $7.77)

I simply couldn't leave without picking up a lipstick. There were a lot of really gorgeous Rimmel colours I wanted to try, but the stands had been ravaged so there wasn't much left. 106 is a gorgeous raspberry colour and I can't wait to give it a go.

Sally Hansen Gem Crush (RRP $9.95, sale price: $5.97)

It's not a Priceline haul unless I buy nail polish. I absolutely adore the Gem Crush range, so why not add to my growing collection!

Models Prefer Shadow Pencil (RRP $9.99, sale price: $5.99)

I actually bought one of these last week, but haven't used it. I swatched it, but there wasn't any of this shade left, which was a shame because I loved the colour. I am glad it was in stock this time because I got it for a great price!

And that is my fairly modest haul. Did you pick anything up from the sale?

Product Rave: Kleancolor Baked Eyeshadow

Kleancolor American Eyedol Baked Eyeshadow is described as 'pigment-rich' and has the 'intensity of colors that can satisfy any color junkies’ ultimate craving'.

Is this true? Yes! 

Kleancolor is a drugstore brand from the United States with a huge range of great products at affordable prices. The eyeshadows that I will show you in this post I bought for $1.75 (AUD) each from Beauty Joint.

Baked Eyeshadow

Above: These are the two I own, 'Taupe' and 'Glitter Sapphire'. I'll start off by saying that these are huge! 4.5g of shadow - it doesn't sound like much but when you consider that MAC eyeshadows are 1.5g each (I think?), it is a fair bit. Standard packaging, plastic case and the clasp can be a little stiff to open. But look, they're so pretty!

Above: open lid to reveal the product inside. Please note that I have been using these a bit so they look a bit messy. The shadow comes up to form a mini mountain and you can probably see that I've been using Taupe more (I'm not one for bright eyeshadow really!). 

Now on to the exciting part. Swatches...

Above: they are described as wet and dry shadow so I have done swatches for both. On the left, we have taupe swatched dry, next to it swatched wet. I don't even need to comment on how amazingly pigmented it is. I have done the same for Glitter Sapphire, dry (left) then wet (right). One swipe each. Aren't they gorgeous?

Above: Same swatches again, but this picture has been taken in sunlight to show you how vibrant they are. I haven't used any primer for these either.

Have you tried this eyeshadow? What are your thoughts?

Thanks for reading :)

Revlon Colorburst 'Rosy Nude' dupe

I know that Revlon isn't one of the typical high end brands that you would want a dupe for, but I noticed a striking similarity between one of their Colorburst lipsticks and a lower end one by Ulta3, an Australian brand (you may have come across their nail polish at various chemists).

Revlon Colorburst lipsticks RRP - $23.95 (or you can cheat like me and buy them online)
Ulta3 Moisturising Lipstick RRP - $2.95

...I think you can see why I thought this was worth posting about!

Comparison of packaging of Revlon Colorburst and Ulta3. I won't lie, the case for Ulta3 does it no favours. It is quite flimsy and very light weight, doesn't feel or look as nice as the Revlon one. But for less than the cost of a coffee, we can let that slide.

Swatches - which is which?! First have a guess. On the left is Ulta3 - Tawny Pink and on the right Revlon Colorburst in Rosy Nude. One swipe each, both pretty pigmented and they look quite similar! Rosy Nude is probably a bit more pink I would say.

From the picture above, you can see they are quite similar. I'll just add that the consistency of the lipsticks are different, Ulta3 is more like lipbalm/lipstick as it is quite creamy. It also has the wear of a lip balm. Revlon Colorburst is a bit thicker like the traditional lipstick and is longer wearing. You can probably see above that Ulta3 is more shiny too (as it is a 'moisturising' lipstick). 

Does Naked 2 work for warmer skin tones?

Not as much as the original Urban Decay Naked palette.

I'm not saying that it doesn't work at all, but the original Urban Decay Naked palette is probably better suited for warmer/darker skin tones in my opinion.

I have done some swatches of Naked 2 to illustrate my point...

Here it is! I do love the packaging of it. Urban Decay never fails to impress. Oh, and if you're wondering what nail polish I'm wearing, it's 'Come to Bed Red' by Butter London.

And this is what the inside looks. The mirror is much larger and more practical than the one of the original Naked. Something I've noticed (other bloggers have mentioned it too) is that because of the big mirror, the palette doesn't always sit flat! The weight of the mirror pulls it back. Anyway, I like the double ended brush - the fluffy end I use for blending and the flat end for applying colour. 

Swatches in light - this doesn't really sell the palette does it? You can see that the first half of the palette are the lighter shades.

This picture probably does the palette more justice. Again, the first few shades don't show up that well but there are some really gorgeous colours here. Chopper, the rose gold and YDK are my favourites. Foxy and Bootycall can be used as highlight colours. Tease is what I use as a crease/transition colour, and I use either Busted and/or Blackout for deepening the outer corner of my eye. 

I was actually quite surprised when I did these swatches, the colours are more of a cooler tone. 

This is a look I have done using Naked2. I've used Busted (the purple) for the outer corners and chopper for the lid colour, Foxy as the inner colour and highlight.

If you want to see swatches of the original Naked palette against my skin, please have a look at my post comparing MUA undressed and Naked.

http://allherprettylittlethings.blogspot.com.au/2012/08/mua-undressed-naked-palette-dupe.html

Thanks for reading :)

Revlon Colorburst Lipsticks - the quest for my neutral shade

I have been searching for quite some time for a shade that is similar to my lips. I'm not using the term 'nude' because to me that means something like the typical skin tone shade, so I'll say 'neutral', as my skin is a little darker. 

Searching through some blogs, I came across two Revlon Colorburst lipsticks that could potentially fulfil this role - Soft Rose (#40) and Rosy Nude (#65).

How adorable is the case! The quilted front makes this packaging a favourite for me across lipsticks.

Left: Soft Rose 

Right: Rosy Nude

The difference is hard to spot here, but Rosy Nude is more brown whereas Soft Rose is pink.

Left: Soft Rose

Right: Rosy Nude

No flash. You can see Soft Rose has more of a pink tone, and again, Rosy Nude appears more brown. These lipsticks are very pigmented! You definitely get bang for your buck here. 

And here is a side-by-side comparison on my lips (both taken with flash). Again, you can see Soft Rose is a warm pink with Rosy Nude being less so and more 'neutral'.

If you've used Revlon Colorburst, you'll know that the formula is deliciously creamy and easily buildable. I can't think of any negatives, except for the fact that they're so good I want to buy lots and make myself poor. 

Conclusion: They're both gorgeous colours, but for the purpose of this quest - Rosy Nude wins as being the more neutral, every day lip colour!