Browsing Tag:

Lipstick

Beauty, Reviews

Review: Colourpop Lippie Stix Back to Cool Kit

02/02/2016

Review: Estee Lauder Pure Color Envy Sculpting Lipstick in Impulsive

08/12/2015

1 Comments

When I was a little girl, I used to sneak into my grandmother’s elaborate makeup counter every time she was out of the house. Rows and rows of lipsticks and lip liners dazzled my big beady eyes. She had a couple of foundations and eyeshadows here and there. Some of the brands that remained constants in her collection were Estee Lauder, Clinique, and Shu Uemura. I remember fondly how the Estee Lauder Night Repair serum was a consistent staple in her collection. Many years later, I got into makeup and explore many brands. But I never got to explore Estee Lauder because I always thought it was a high-end brand that caters to more mature women. It also didn’t help that Estee Lauder products then had a distinct smell I didn’t agree with. It was only until recently that Estee has been making a lot of buzz on my social media feeds, locally and internationally. Of course, like a normal human being, I wanted to join the wagon as well.

Imagine my utter delight when I received a little blue paper bag with gold details complete with a lavish navy blue ribbon to seal the deal. I was ecstatic in every sense of the word. After all, the moment was sorta like a milestone for me: having my first Estee Lauder Lipstick. Find out whether I’m going to stay or hop off the “I Love Estee” train below!

Product

Estee Lauder lipsticks has done away with the elegant gold packaging with protruded lines all over and has transformed it into sleek blue bullets with touches of gold for subtle, understated elegance. I love how it has a subtantiable weight making it feel sturdy luxurious. My bet is that the magnetic cap feature adds to the weight of the product.

Estee Lauder’s Pure Color Envy Sculpting Lipstick line promises 6-hour wear, and high pigmentation.

Shade and Pigmentation

Impulsive looks like a cool toned muted ballerina pink lipstick from the tube but registers as a warm ballerina pink on my lips. Under natural light, I love how it looks on me. But under muted yellow light it doesn’t really suit me. Weird, eh? Note to self: avoid yellow light when wearing this. Teehee. I’ve been under the spell of neutral pinks and nudes for the longest time I can remember but this shade doesn’t come close to any of the lipsticks in my collection.

The Estee Lauder Pure Color Envy boasts of high pigmentation lipsticks but I noticed that Impulsive doesn’t scream high pigmentation on its first swipe. One swipe reveals traces of my natural lip color but two swipes does the trick. It should be noted though that I have one of the lightest shades from the line but I’ve swatched other shades from the line and plenty of them were quite pigmented.

Texture, Finish, Formulation and Longevity

I have perpetually dry lips so I make sure to hydrate my lips as much as I can before I apply ANY kind of lipstick. This extra step has always worked for me and has always helped me maximize the potential of the wear of any lipstick.

After my lips have been hydrated, Impulsive glides on my lips like butter, without the grease. And hugs my lips like a perfectly fitted glove. The texture is creamy but not enough for it to slip and slide on the lips. Its finish has a slight sheen but the sheen is a notch down as compared to MAC Creemesheens.

As for hydration, it’s not the most hydrating lipstick but it definitely doesn’t cause my lips to peel or crack over time. I’m okay with it not being too hydrating because I don’t want it to have more sheen and shorter wear time.

Despite the medium amount of moisture this lipstick has, it stays on pretty well. But it won’t survive a full meal without needing reinforcements after.

Final Thoughts

First of all, 100 points to Estee Lauder for successfully winning over a younger market. The repackaging of their products as a whole has definitely added Estee to my list of brands to look out for.

Overall, I’m loving my first Estee Lauder lipstick a lot. So much so that I find myself reach for it 3 days of the 5 days I wear makeup in a week. It’s applies and stays beautifully, easy to wear, and keeps my lips hydrated enough not to peel. The only qualm I imagine people may have with this is that it’s not as pigmented as its other counterparts from the Pure Color Envy Line. I personally don’t mind because a second swipe to achieve the look I want doesn’t really hurt me.

With that said, I’m definitely going to be on the “I Love Estee Lauder” train for good!

What’s your favorite shade from the line? :) Let me know!

xoxo,

Beauty, Reviews

Review: NARS Audacious Lipstick Anita

06/29/2015

7 Comments

My love affair with NARS began in the most cliché possible manner: NARS Super Orgasm. Ever since, I ventured into other face products but never really gotten to trying any of their lip products. Because as a beauty junky, there’s always too many makeup in the world left to buy and I just never prioritized trying any of their lip products. Shameful, I know. I was close to trying out the lip pencils but I can’t brink myself to do so because NARS pencils require sharpening and I hate the wastage that sharpening costs.

Anyway, when NARS launched it’s Audacious lipstick line with FOURTY beautiful shades, the buzz that went with it was deafening. It was impossible not to lust after 1, or 2, or 3, or all the shades. For those who don’t know, my grandpa does my biggest yearly makeup haul because he goes to the States every year. And I always never pass up the chance to send him my shopping list! Of course, that list HAD to include one NARS Audacious lipstick, and I picked Anita based on Temptalia’s ever so comprehensive swatch gallery.

Packaging

The first thing I immediately noticed as I laid my hands on my first-ever-NARS lippie is the cool sensation of the metal packaging soothing my skin. I was ecstatic to know that Francois Nars has FINALLY listened to all our woes over his dust-collecting gems! And the best part of the new packaging is that it comes with a magentic closure. It doesn’t really help with making things more efficient but it’s a new experience and I believe that premium quality products should come with experiences that you’ll remember.

Formula and Shade

I had a realization recently that a lot of my bold lip colors often get neglected because as much as I loved them before, they’re actually quite a nuisance to use. And because of this, I tend to gravitate towards more neutral, every-day-wear colors. I still love my occasional hot pink or cherry red shades but I just find these shades so high maintenance. So, the predictable me went for Anita, a beautiful warm pinkish beige shade. I think the shade is so pretty and easy to wear. I can wear it with almost any look, but I can’t wear it alone without wearing any makeup because I look weird. Although it’s a more neutral shade, it’s still very opaque and can actually cover my natural lip color after one swipe.

It looks like a very common shade, but I thankfully have no dupe in my collection. Urban Decay Fiend is pinker, Giorgio Armani Brun Créateur is more orange, and MAC Hug Me is browner.

The formula is out of this world. It’s been a while since I came across with a formula that’s forgiving on my naturally dry and chapped lips. The texture is so beautiful because it applies so smoothly on my lips. I can’t help but swipe on a few more layers just because the sensation is addicting. It’s also very comfortable to wear and it almost feels weightless.

The Drawback

This may be just one of my favorite lipstick shades and formulas EVER but it does come with one catch: longevity. Since it has a satin finish, it can barely survive a meal. This is a problem for me because I like to eat…. a lot. So, I’ll have to reapply once in a while. But in the end, I don’t care really. I’d rather have a chapped-lips-approved lipstick than a matte one.

Final Thoughts

The Nars Audacious Lipsticks are not the most unique formula in the market. I still have a lot of chapped-lips-approved lipsticks in my stash. But what makes it stand out to me are the following:

The knowledge that there 39 other beautiful shades with the same formula waiting for my love.
Their accessibility. I love the UD Revolution Lipstick line but we don’t have it here.
Finally, the overall experience it brings. Like I said, the formula is SO WELL MADE. How can one not love it?

I think though, that this won’t appeal as much to matte lipstick junkies. But for those who had sad chapped lips like me, you’re going to love this! To end, I can’t wait to purchase another shade. But knowing me, it might take a while because my wishlist is still full of products I’ve yet to try.

xoxo,

Beauty, Reviews

MAC Alluring Aquatic Collection Review: Goddess of the Sea

07/07/2014

7 Comments

MAC is probably one of the brands that releases the most number of collections in a year which is why I find it hard to catch up sometimes. Also, it’s so easy to get sucked into the glittery black hole of MAC cosmetics because once I enter a MAC cosmetics shops, I can just stay there all day testing out products.

One recent collection that really caught my eye is the MAC Alluring Aquatic collection. The packaging on it’s own is utterly divine. I have no words. OH MY GOSH. If only I didn’t have so much on my makeup wish list, I could easily have purchased the entire collection based on packaging alone. Teehee! When the collection first arrived in Manila, not all the products for the collection was shipped to the Philippines. Only the lipsticks, lipglasses, and eyeliners were shipped. The lipstick in Mystical was sold out right away. Thank God I was able to secure 1 lippie for me, Goddess of the Sea. I was immediately impressed with how it looked like when swatched on my hand. Josh (the boyfriend) saw how happy I was and he said that he knew that he wanted to get it for me immediately (HEHE).

Product

The packaging of this collection has got to be one of my FAVORITE MAC packagings YET. The whole collection features products that come in shiny teal packaging and all the products have artificial water droplets on them. The droplets look so real on the products, little mermaid will definitely approve!!

MAC Goddess of Sea is a cremesheen finish. The shade is a beautiful dark purple raspberry-plum but it’s more plum than raspberry. The lipsticks translates on my lips beautifully with a slightly glossy finish. I have MAC Rebel and I haven’t gotten myself to write about it because I feel like the shade just doesn’t sit very well with my skin tone. I was so into purple lipsticks, eyeliner, eyeshadow, purple errthang lately and I thought MAC rebel was my perfect purple lip shade. Sadly, I was mistaken. Goddess of the sea has the perfect amount of boldness for me and it’s seriously my favorite purple shade ever!

When worn, my lips look so supple and my lips equally feel moisturised. The formulation of this lipstick is flawless. It’s perfect for those who have dry lips like me. The texture is creamy but not creamy enough to slip and slide on my lips. I’m in love! The lipstick lasted a good four hours on my lips!

Final Thoughts

I really love love love love this lipstick!!! I urge you guys to grab this while you can if you are looking for a plum/purple shade and have a similar skin tone with me. I think this would suit people with darker skin tones too! I hope you guys can FEEL how much I love this lipstick even through just reading this because AHH. It would be a shame to pass on this jewel. <3

You can also easily make this shade a lot more bolder by applying a purple lip liner all over your lips before applying this lippie!

xoxo,

Beauty, Reviews

Review: Urban Decay Lipstick Revolution

05/23/2014

6 Comments

I’ve always been a MAC girl when it comes to lipsticks and I realized how I haven’t been quite as adventurous as I could be when it comes to lipsticks. Enter Urban Decay’s newest line of lipsticks called the Urban Decay Lipstick Revolution. Their previous line did not really interest me but my gosh when the swatches for their newest line were popping all over the internet, I just new I had to get my hands on them.

It took me forever trying to select two shades from the 22 gorgeous shades available. I had to base my two choices on the swatches online and I finally went with Fiend and Anarchy.

Based on photos online, the packaging of their old lipstick line was edgy but really bulky so I am happy to report that the packaging of their newest line is anything but bulky. The new lipsticks tubes are made up of sleek purple material that looks like metal (or maybe it’s actually metal). My only issue with the packaging is that it’s quite the fingerprint magnet but whatever, I simply cannot contain my newfound love for these lipsticks so I’m just going to continue.

Left: Anarchy; Right: Fiend

Fiend is such a wearable rosey beige. It looks so natural on the lips and I could totally wear this EVERY DAY if only I did not love it so much and I don’t want to used it all up too soon. I can find myself wearing this to school, to a date, to do errands, everywhere! The formulation is impeccable as it is so creamy and it’s also pigmented enough to cover the lips in just one swipe. It’s perfection, really. You’ll have to do a touch up after you eat though. However, I personally do not mind having to do so because I’d rather have a slightly moisturizing lipstick than a drying lipstick that stays on for daaaaaaaaays.

Anarchy is the brightest, boldest, bestest, fuschia pink shade I have in my collection. It’s a suuper bright fuschia with cool undertones. It’s pigmentation is OFF THE CHARTS, my jaw literally dropped when I first swatched it because I didn’t expect it to be even more vibrant on my hand that on the tube. The shade is so intense that I noticed a teeny bit of feathering when I applied it on my lips but heck, I LOVE IT. It’s the perfect pink shade for summer in my opinion. You can easily put on a bare face, fix up your brows, swipe on this killer lipstick, and you are GOOD TO GO. I love how the cool undertone makes my teeth seem whiter! The formulation is also amazing in my opinion because it’s not very drying considering how pigmented it is. I’m not the biggest fan of matte lipsticks so I really liked it’s glossy finish as well. This stays on all day and leaves a slight stain even after wiping it off with makeup remover.

Swatches

Overall

Wew, did you feel my enthusiasm over these lippies? I hope you did! These were love at first swipe and my love for these have grown even deeper as I got to use these more and more. I highly recommend these for everyone to try and I’m sure there’s a shade for everyone because they have a huge selection of shades to offer. I had my grandpa buy these for me from the States because they are not available in the Philippines, unfortunately. Try looking for a relative who lives in the states to buy it for you or check out instagram shops! Good luck! <3

That’s it for now guys!

Much love,