The Lip Product Addict Tag

I thought I would do a light-hearted post for today after a hectic week! I have been meaning to do this tag for a long time after been tagged by numerous people and am finally getting round to it. I am a massive lip product addict (as the tag title would suggest) and wanted to share all my favourites with you. So let's get straight into it. 

1. Favourite balm/treatment?

This probably has to be the Soap & Glory A Great Kisser balm. I love the smell and love the peachy pink colour it gives on the lips and find it to be fairly nourishing also. I featured this in my top 5 lip products from the high street so check that out! 

2. Best eye-catching red?

This has to be my MAC Ruby from the Pedro Lourenco collection. Not only is the packaging absolutely gorgeous but the colour is beautiful and bold but still flattering on my pale skin. I often steer clear of blue-toned reds as I tend to find they don't really suit me so instead I opted for this shade as it was a slightly deeper and I am so glad I did!

3. Best luxury and best drugstore?

My best luxury lipsticks easily have to be from Charlotte Tilbury. Seriously, the packaging is heavenly and each and every shade is beautiful and feels great on the lips. I want to own every single colour of these! Best drugstore has to be the Topshop lipsticks. I don't know if this necessarily counts as drugstore but it's definitely 'high street'. I find these to be very similar to MAC in quality and also in options. They offer a range of colours and finishes, all of which work beautifully. If you haven't already, go and check these out! 

4. Best MAC lipstick?

This is a difficult one for me as you would know if you checked out my MAC lipstick collection  but this probably has to be my MAC Hue due to how wearable it is and how beautiful it looks for everyday wear. 

5. The most disappointing?

This has to be one of my YSL Glossy Stains in the shade 19. I am totally in love with the shade 14 and still consider it to be one of my all time favourite lip glosses. Hence why I picked up a more neutral shade for everyday wear as I thought the formula would be great. Instead, I find the pale shades to be patchy in application and the colour isn't as opaque as I initially expected it would be. If you want to try these out, I strongly urge you to steer clear of the paler shades and opt for something  more bold. 

6. Liner - yes or no?

Definitely yes! I never had been one for lip liner purely because I always had a preconceived idea of lipliner to be a thin line round your lips with a mismatching pale lipstick in the centre. Obviously, I was wrong and now own a few lipliners that I find work great either on their own as a bold matte lip colour or under a lipstick or gloss to give a stronger colour. My favourite has to be my Charlotte Tilbury Lip Cheat in Pillow Talk as it's a 'your lips but better' shade that draws emphasis on my lips but doesn't look too much. 

7. Best gloss?

This easily has to be my Dior Addict Lip Maximizer in 001 as it's neutral but beautiful, extra glossy and helps my lips look more plump and full. Yet, for a high street alternative, I am also in love with the Tanya Burr lipgloss in Chic which is a really lovely beige nude that has a great shine. 

8. Something extra!

This is has to be my Tom Ford Matte Lip Colour in Pussycat. I'm in love with this lipstick both for it's gorgeous simple but unique shade and of course it's extra-special packaging. This signifies the epitome of luxury to me and I am so happy I have it in my collection. 

I tag anyone who wants to do this! I hope you enjoyed this post so let me know in the comments.

What's your favourite lip products?

My Beauty Empties Menu

Urban Decay Naked Skin, NARS Sheer Glow, Estée Lauder Double Wear, MAC Mineralize Skinfinish in Soft and Gentle, MAC Mineralice Skinfinish Natural in Light. 

Diesel Fuel For Life, Estée Lauder Modern Muse, Anna Sui Flight of Fancy, Lancôme Tresor Midnight Rose, Jean Paul Gaultier Classique. 

Chanel Hydra Beauty Gel Créme, Origins GinZing Moisturizer, Clarins Instant Smooth Perfecting Touch, Benefit Porefessional. 

NARS Creamy Concealer in Vanilla, Collection Lasting Perfection Concealler in 1 Fair. 

Clinique High Impact Extreme Volume Mascara, YSL Shocking Mascara, Benefit They're Real Push-Up Liner.

I am fully aware that this is a lot of Empties for one post but I have been accumulating these products for a long period of time and have finally found the motivation to sit down and write this menu. I'm not going to mention every single product featured in the photos as otherwise we will be here all day. Instead I will pick out a few of my up-most favourites which will most likely be the products I will be repurchasing. So to get straight into it, I made my way through a number of base products, all of which I have been incredibly impressed with and would honestly purchase every single on of them again in the future.  I have a more in-depth post about my current base products here. I will also be holding on to the empty MAC products so I can qualify for the Back To MAC scheme. I have gone to town with fragrance usage in the past few months. Two of which are the Estée Lauder Modern Muse which is one of my personal favourites and I pretty much found myself wearing it everyday during A/W. I will be sure to purchase another again within the next few months as the smell is honestly to die for. If you would like to see a full (really old) review on this fragrance - check it out here. I also tried and tested a number of moisturisers and primers. I found the Chanel Hydra Beauty Gel Créme a little too overpriced for the quality of the product as it was far from outstanding. With the primers, I would definitely purchase the Benefit Porefessional again but as for the Clarins Instant Smooth Perfecting Touch, I found the packaging size fairly impractical and the product performance slowly deteriorated with use. Concealer wise, there isn't a lot to say other than I love both these products and have already repurchased all of them multiple times. Finally, to add a few eye products in the mix, I love the Clinique High Impact Extreme Volume Mascara and would definitely recommend it to anyone whose after a great amount of volume for their lashes. As for the YSL Shocking Mascara, I found this to be pretty average and the product dried up in a matter of weeks which was slightly disappointing due to the price I paid to have this product. As for the eyeliners, I am a big fan of the Benefit They're Real Push-Up Liner and have already written a raving review here.

Hope you enjoyed this post. Let me know what you think in the comments!

What products have you used up recently?

The Autumn Red Lip Menu

The Autumn Red Lip Menu 

Autumn is now upon us so it's fully acceptable to relocate the knee high boots, put on the fur coat and wrap yourselves up in a million tartan scarves. The Autumn/Winter season is probably my favourite, there's something about being wrapped up in the cold weather, the longer nights and Christmas on the horizon, that always makes me feel excited. Another element that seems to be more approved in the Wintery season is, of course, the red lip! My red lippy collection seems to have suddenly grown within the past year but I seriously can't get enough of the wine, berry and cherry red shades. So to get everyone in the spirit of things, I thought I'd give my followers a run down of my all time favourite red lipsticks - high end and drugstore! So here is the The Autumn Red Lipstick Menu...

MAC Dark Side £15.50- 

A deep, burgundy shade in an amplified creme formula.

One of my all time favourite lipsticks with it's shiny finish

and the vampy, red-purple hue. 

Revlon ColourBurst Lacquer Balm Enticing £7.99- 

A chubby lip pencil with a high shine finish and sheer pigmentation.

MAC Plumful £15.50- 

A rosy pink-plum shade with an easily builded formula. Perfect 

for those who don't feel confident enough to wear a bold lip

but still want something red toned for A/W. 

Rimmel London Lasting Finish By Kate Moss 030 £5.49 - 

A beautiful red shade with a dark pink undertone. One of my

favourite reds from the drugstore! 

Charlotte Tilbury Matte Revolution Glastonberry £23 -

The perfect plum pout with a matte finish. Great quality and

excellent pigmentation.

Dolce & Gabbana Passion Duo Intense £26 - 

The darkest in the collection. There's no surprise that it's called

'Intense'. A dark red-brown with a glossy finish and ultra 

creamy formula.

Revlon Colourstay Moisture Lip Stain India Intrigue £7.99 - 

An extra shiny formula with bold, beautiful colours. Takes a bit

of work to get these glosses perfectly blended but the end result

is really beautiful. 

Rimmel London Kate Moss Matte Lipstick 107 £5.49 - 

One of the most iconic, raved about reds out there. A beautiful 

deep berry shade teamed with a matte finish that is as good as

many of the high end lip products that I own. 

YSL Rouge Pur Couture Glossy Stain 16 Fuchsia £25 -

The first high end lip product that I owned. Has one of the 

prettiest finishes that I've ever seen. A fruity but subtle scent 

incredible staying power. Honestly the stain effect will not budge! 

Rimmel London Lasting Finish By Kate Moss 01 £5.49 -

Comes up a lot brighter in the picture but this is a really beautiful 

deep red with a creamy formula. Amazing pigmentation evidently

and a lovely cherry scent. 

NARS Velvet Matte Lip Pencil Damned £18 - 

A lovely red shade with a plum undertone finished off with a soft,

velvet matte finish. The formula is quite drying so be sure to smother

your lips in lip balm before. A really gorgeous product that's easy to

apply in its stick form. 

MAC Pedro Lourenco Lipstick Ruby £16.50 -

A limited edition red dressed in rose gold and matte black packaging.

One of the prettiest finishes I own for a red and lasts well on the lips

with a fade-to-matte stain formula. 

                            

Topshop Lipliner Deception £5 -
One of my all time favourite shades. A bold, dark red that's easy to
apply in it's pencil form, giving ultimate precision for a great red lip
or a base for other products.

What's your favourite red lipstick for A/W?
Let me know what you think in the comments!

The Perfect Summer Lipstick From YSL

I think it's no surprise that YSL win when it comes to beautiful, luxurious packaging. I'm honestly like a dog to it's bone when it comes to the gold plated lipsticks with the stencilled logo over the shade teaser that just looks too pretty when on show in my cosmetic's storage. I own two other shades of these but both alternative formulas (including one of the Sheer Candy Lipsticks) so this is the first I tried with this type of finish. Therefore, it makes me very happy to say that I absolutely love YSL's Rouge Volupté Shines. It's creamy but perfectly pigmented. By that I mean that it has enough pigment to completely adapt the colour of lips but it doesn't apply like a mask such as, in comparison, MAC's Amplified Cream formula lipsticks. It didn't dry out my lips at all and made them, in overall, feel soft and buttery throughout the wear time. Yet, what really sold me with this product was, of course, the colour. Coral Intuitive 15 - a perfect peachy, coral shade that complimented my fair skin tone and I can imagine every other! It's bright but not bold with a lovely subtle shine that brings some dewiness to the face, a key ingredient for the perfect Summer look. The wear time is good considering the formula is very buttery and I still found evidence of the colour a good two to three hours later which I think is down to the subtle stain which is left on the lips after application. If you're after the perfect Summer shade and aren't afraid to spend a bit of extra cash (£25) then this is the one for you!

Let me know what you think in the comments.

What's your favourite Summer lipstick? 

Beauty| YSL Shocking Mascara

Mascara is one of my all time favourite things to buy and to try as well as apply in my make up routine. Being someone with fairly long, natural lashes, nothing beats a good mascara that accentuates that. I've tried many mascara from the high street to the high end and long to find one that will become that 'must have' staple in my collection. I've heard a lot of hype surrounding the YSL Shocking Mascara on various social networking sights and as much as tried to convince myself that I didn't need it, really I knew at the bottom of my heart, I would most definitely eventually end up buying it. Especially when it has such a gorgeous metallic gold packaging, how could one resist, honestly? 

This mascara promises a 'shocking' amount of volume, a claim that did not disappoint. After one application my lashes were thick, bold and the blackest of black but that came at a price. The formula is extremely wet, clumps easily and all in all is very hard to work with. The brush worked wonders volumising my lashes but completely flumped on the separating front. I found it near enough impossible to achieve the look I was after with this product and often had to call in help from other mascaras to create a finish that was acceptable to leave the house with. I hesitated to do a review on this straight away as I wanted to give the product a good enough chance to perform in the way I wanted it to before I slated it for the world to see. Luckily around three weeks later the formula dried out slightly, meaning the product applied more effectively and there was less clumping and more separation and of course volume. 

All in all, a mediocre mascara that although I'm happy using for the time being I probably wouldn't purchase again in future. I don't fully understand the hype surrounding this product and I truly believe I have trialed drug store mascaras that gave me better results than this. 

Let me know what you think in the comments.

What mascaras did you find that didn't live up to the hype? 

Beauty| YSL Volupté Sheer Candy Lipstick

 

I probably buy lipstick more then any other product out there. There's something about the variation of colour, formulas and finish that gets my heart racing. Admittedly the majority of my lip products were actually bargains snapped up on the hight street but a lipstick fanatic surely must have to own something high end? Especially if it is a YSL product. I am completely in love with YSL beauty as there truly has not been one product that I have bought from them that didn't have excellent performance and wasn't worth the heavy price tag.  There's always a promise of great quality and not to mention the gorgeous packaging, a trait that many beauty buyers, myself included, are usually drawn to. 

This product definitely ticks all the boxes that most search for in a lip product. The YSL Volputé Sheer Candy Lipstick has gorgeous coloration wrapped up in beautiful packaging, a product I feel proud to have in my collection. It was definitely the silver tube with the pink/gold band around the middle that initially drew me towards this product. I actually like the fact that its more weighty then most lipsticks as it creates connotations of luxury, something I want when it's costing me a bomb. I chose mine in the shade 3 Juicy Grapefruit a really sheer, pale pink with a slight shimmer and extra shine, a diverse colour that's perfect for both day and night. I love it because the light, pretty shade is perfect for any look be it bold smoky eyes or something a little more natural. The product itself is unique and I find the best way to describe the formula is a lipstick but with the benefits of a lip balm with its super rich, hydrating formula, a touch of colour and fruity extracts that works wonders on your lips. The hydration and moisture on lips really lasts a length of time even if the colour doesn't.  The thing that really topped it for me with this product was the gorgeous, fruity smell that makes both me and my lips feel refreshed and rejuvenated once applied. A definite added bonus that sets it aside from most other lip products. Priced at £25 it's expensive but that comes at no surprise with it being a product from YSL but as I mentioned before, you are paying for quality.

All in all this is a lovely product which sparks my interest at trying some more in the same range. Maybe a richer colour to create some show stopper lips for an evening look. 

Let me know what you think in the comments.

What's your favourite YSL product?

Make Up Dupe| YSL Glossy Stain VS. L'Oreal Glam Shine 6Hour Lip Gloss

Hello everyone!

Today I am going to be doing a product comparison with two of my most worn and favourite lip glosses from 2013. I am a big lip gloss lover, I love to have a shine on my lips and don't like having to constantly reapply so anything that is long lasting is perfect for me. 

The first I'm talking about is the Yves Saint Laurent Glossy Stain Lip in the colour 16 Fuchsia. This was one of those products that I had to close my eyes and stick my card in the machine as priced at £23.50 it is a VERY expensive lip gloss/stain. So is it worth the price tag? First of all, it is very pigmented and the colour as well as gloss is extremely build-able.  This probably gives me the most shiniest, glossiest finish then any other lip product I have tried and it is very long lasting. Being a stain as well, the colour literally will not budge and it isn't sticky on your lips. I could apply this in the morning, eat a three course meal (not saying I do everyday!) and drink as many drinks as I wanted and the colour will still be there! I think the packaging is lovely and is quite a compacted size and there is an added bonus that the actual gloss smells AMAZING! 

The product I am comparing this to is the L'Oreal Glam Shine 6Hour Lip Gloss in the colour 405 Fresh Tangerine. Priced at only £8.69 this is a much cheaper alternative to the YSL Glossy Stain. This is also a very pigmented colour and very glossy, maybe not as glossy as the YSL product but not too far off! The product claims to last 6 hours which I don't know if I would necessarily agree but it is still more long lasting then the majority of other high street glosses out there. This also isn't sticky once applied and I do find the colour to be easily builded. The one downside to this product is the packaging. As the bottle is tapered it means it is almost impossible for the applicator to be able to reach all the product from around the edges meaning it does seem like some is going to waste. 

This is just one swatch of both product and as you can see there really isn't a lot of difference (excluding the colour) in the products shine and pigmentation. The main difference being that the YSL Glossy Stain (left) did stain the skin longer whereas the L'Oreal (right) Glam Shine was easily removed which backs up my claim that the YSL Glossy Stain is more long lasting in comparison. 

They both have very similar sized and shaped applicators that are fixed at an angle which means they are perfect for picking up a lot of product. The YSL Glossy Stain's (right) applicator is also patented meaning it is perfect for precise and smooth application. 

All in all, both of these products are very similar. I wouldn't go as far as saying that I'd never purchase a YSL Glossy stain again now I've found the L'Oreal Glam Shines but I do feel that splashing my cash on the more expensive product could be easily prevented if I found the perfect colour in the L'Oreal Glam Shines.

Let me know what you think in the comments.

Have you tried either of these products?

What did you think?