The red lipstick dilemma

I don't own that many red lipsticks. Well, not as many as other colours like pinks and browns. Why? Because red is hard for me to wear, and it can be difficult to find a red that flatters my colouring. I thought in this post I'd show you the few reds that I do own, and perhaps you can suggest a red lipstick that I should look into (read: please help me)...

L-R

Jordana 'Cranberry'

Arbonne 'Jam'

Rimmel Lasting Finish 'A Drop of Sherry' 

Rimmel Lasting Finish 'Temptation' (the tip melted off on an excruciatingly hot day)

 L-R

Jordana 'Cranberry'

Arbonne 'Jam'

Rimmel 'A Drop of Sherry'

Rimmel 'Temptation'

  L-R

Jordana 'Cranberry'

Arbonne 'Jam'

Rimmel 'A Drop of Sherry'

Rimmel 'Temptation'

Jordana Cranberry
I LOVE this colour and this lipstick smells so yummy. It is more on the matte side so it does  have okay lasting power. The only reason I'm looking for another red is because I can't take this out with me - the packaging is toooo tacky for me to be able to whip it out in a nightclub bathroom and apply.

Arbonne Jam
This is a really nice red wine kind of red and it does frequently make an appearance in my handbag when I'm going somewhere exciting. I wore this to my 21st actually (I will do a 21st blog post soon!) and it went perfectly with my outfit. But, as I have said, I would like a bright red.

Rimmel Drop of Sherry
This is frosty and also kind of pink toned. I can wear this one without hesitation, but I want something more of a true red.

Rimmel Temptation
This was one of the first lipsticks I bought, and I've never worn it out! I get too scared and end up wiping it off before I leave the house. It's such a nice colour though, and I think next time I head out in a LBD I will give this one a go (wish me luck). I used to think this was too blue toned for me, but it doesn't seem that bad...

So I've been eyeing off MAC Ruby Woo lately...and by eyeing off, I mean obsessing, and looking at tons of swatches. I reeaaally want it! What do you ladies think? Should I go for it?

Do you have trouble with red lipsticks? What are some of your favourites?

Limited Edition: Maybelline NY Color Tattoo in 300 Gold Shimmer

Gold Shimmer is one of the 2012 Limited Edition Color Tattoo's. Being a huge fan of gold shadows, I had to try this out...

The name gold shimmer is misleading - this is more of an antique, brassy metallic brown - but I LOVE the colour so I had to share. Here is a comparison with Bold Gold, the permanent gold in the range.

Top - Gold Shimmer

Bottom - Bold Gold

 Left - Bold Gold

Right - Gold Shimmer

Bold Gold (sorry, it looks a bit darker in this photo!)

Gold Shimmer!!

Left - Bold Gold

Right - Gold Shimmer

You can see that they are both beautiful colours, but I think I will get more use out of Gold Shimmer because of the brown undertone, so it would be suitable for daytime wear and at night. The formula is amazing - creamy and smooth, similar in texture to Bad to the Bronze (which is probably one of the most popular shades in the range?).

There is another limited edition gold color tattoo from the 2013 collection (Gold Rush), but it looks waayy too yellow for my liking. What do you think?

Have you got any of the LE Color Tattoo's?

Boe Beauty Lippies...

Boe Beauty is a relatively new budget makeup brand, found only at Big W. All their cosmetic items are $2, and they do have other products including makeup brushes, sponges, mirrors and larger kits but I think they are more than $2.

I have tried a few of their products and they aren't too bad. I've read a few reviews and the general consensus seems to be that the lipsticks and jumbo lip crayons are relatively well liked. 

So here I will show you the few that I own...

 Top to bottom

Boe Beauty Lipstick in Natural Tea Rose

Boe Beauty Lipstick in Birthday Suit

Boe Beauty Jumbo Wind Up Lips in Boudoir Pink

Boe Beauty in Manic Pink

Lipsticks
Let me start off by saying that the packaging is cheap and flimsy. I've had the one at the top (Natural Tea Rose) for about 6 months, it lives in my handbag and you can see that all the silver writing has worn off when you compare it to the other lipstick. Both lipsticks have minor cracks in the clear plastic lid. 

Luckily, the pigmentation of these are pretty decent. Have a look at some swatches below

 Left: Natural Tea Rose

Right: Birthday Suit

Left: Natural Tea Rose

Right: Birthday Suit

These are both nice shades, with birthday suit being a fantastic MLBB lipstick. They have a slight smell but I can't describe it and it does not last upon applying. As for wear time, it is about 2-3 hours because these lipsticks are quite creamy and moisturising. 

Now, moving on...

Jumbo Wind Up Lips
Hey, so what do these remind you of! When I saw them, I instantly thought of the Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains...here is a side by side comparison. The Revlon one has had the lid taken off for this photo. They are almost the same, except the head differs slightly.

However, despite my initial assumption, these are not stains, but more like creamy lipsticks. I expected them to be dry and hard, but they glide on well and are super smooth on the lips. Again, wear time is not great, but what can you expect from a $2 product. I haven't had these as long as the lipsticks, but the writing has not shown any signs of fading away. The lids haven't cracked, but there are scratches appearing on the silver bottom. As for identifying the colour, its written on the barcode sticker, which is totally tacky, because if I remove the ugly barcode sticker, I won't know the name of the colour! 

Left: Boudoir Pink

Right: Manic Pink

Have you tried this brand?

Australis Totes Smokin' palette

This palette is a mystery. If you Google it, you won't find any official product information and the first few links that come up are reviews by some great Aussie beauty bloggers. So, is this palette discontinued, or a new addition...?

I first saw a review on this palette over on Mishelle's blog, last November. She does a great comparison of dry vs. wet swatches so definitely check out her post! I thought it was a really nice, budget-friendly palette. Then I also saw another great review by Esteem Beauty a month later, so if I only just bought this last week, how can this be a new product? Confusing!

Anyway, I managed to score this palette for $4.83 at my local Target. This fact itself is astounding, my local Target is equivalent to a barren wasteland, where everything is very suss looking. I saw a few of these palettes, and picked up the one with the least tatty looking box.

Front and back of the cardboard box

On the back you can see that the bottom left hand corner is a little frayed, other than that, all good!

'Kit is complete with a double ended sponge applicator' - omg no way I must buy it now

 Very sleek looking black case. The case is glossy so it easily shows up fingerprints.

 Back of case

 It looks so pretty! The mirror is a great size and you get quite a lot of product for each shade too. 

 A versatile mix of bronzey browns, purples and blending shades

Swatched dry with that life changing sponge applicator. The first three shades are a little chalky and the second shade (which is a matte shade) started to crumble a little. The last four shades of the palette are much more pigmented. My favourite shade is the fifth one. The most pigmented one is the second last one.

Overall, this is a very good palette for the price I bought it for. I created a smokey eye using the two purple shades and a silver shade from a different palette. With the Too Faced Shadow Insurance primer it had okay-ish lasting power. I find that TFSI can make even my BYS shadows last 12+ hours with no creasing, but the purples from this palette did seem to fade a little bit. I think that might be because these shades lean towards being matte, rather than shimmery colours which I usually wear.

If you see this palette, don't hesitate to buy it, it offers a nice range of colours without hurting your wallet :)

Have you used this palette? What do you think?