Sneaky lunchtime purchase

It's Friday so we should treat ourselves, especially poor souls such as myself who are unlucky enough to be working all weekend!

At work we were selling the Revlon Christmas gift packs, and seeing as it isn't Christmas anymore, they are discounted. I bought one for a friend, and another for myself...

Revlon Gift Pack

Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains

 I think I got pretty lucky, scoring these two balm stains for only $9.95 (down from $19.95). This is a great bargain seeing as they cost $17.95 on their own! Even though they are currently half price (until 19th of Jan) at Chemist Warehouse, the gift pack still worked out to be a better discount.

L-R

'Sweetheart'

'Precious'

I was initially drawn to Sweetheart which is a gorgeous bright pink! I have 'Lovesick' already, which is a similar pink but a bit more fuschia, whereas Sweetheart looks like more of a hot pink.

I haven't swatched them or opened them yet because I have this weird issue where I don't like unwrapping/opening things until I actually use them. 

Have you scored any great Christmas packs for discounted prices?

Experiments with lipsticks of the wrong shade (for me)

If you're anything like me, a large percentage of your beauty buys are either online or inspired by something you've seen online. I have fallen victim to buying quite a few things online and they turn out to be awful for me. Lipsticks seem to be a particular issue for me, so I have a bunch of them sitting around doing nothing but collecting dust! 

Today I thought I would try to mix them with other lipsticks to see if I could make these shades more wearable.

First up is NYX Round Lipstick in Tea Rose. I bought this one online after having a look at a few swatches. It's a shame the colour doesn't work for me because I really like the creamy consistency. I expected it to be a bit more peachy pink but it is more pink than anything else.

Yikes. You can probably see why I can't/don't wear this! Bubblegum pink doesn't suit my skin tone. That, and I don't have the confidence to pull off crazy shades anyway.

So I have tried to mix this with a darker colour to make it a darker berry pink, something I am more comfortable with. I have added Rimmel Lasting Finish in Temptation. I don't use this Rimmel one much either, it's a nice red but probably too blue toned for me. Mixing them together produces a deeper pink.

Sorry about the blurry photo! But the main thing here is just that this pink is a bit more in my comfort zone. This colour is something I'm much more likely to wear.

Alright, moving on. This one is Maybelline Colour Sensational Lipstick in Coral Desire. The lipstick itself is a gorgeous pale coral but when swatched - what?! Where did the colour go?! 

Yes I smeared my lips in vanilla frosting here. No, not really, but that is how Coral Desire turns out. I don't fancy wearing white frost on my lips, to be honest.

Again, I have mixed it with another lipstick that I don't use too much. I have added Revlon Colorburst Lipstick in Sienna, a chocolate brown. This translates to a bronzey shimmer.

I actually really like this combination. It is something I can definitely wear and not be paranoid that I have alien lips.

What are your thoughts on mixing lipstick shades? Do you do it too?

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). 

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!