Rimmel London Provocalips Review and Swatch

I was very kindly sent the Rimmel London Provocalips 16HR Kiss Proof Lip Colors to trial.

How it works

• Two steps to this product. 
• You can untwist the tube at both ends. There is a doe-foot applicator on each end. 
• You apply the Step 1 Intense Colour first. Then you apply Step 2 Lock & Shine. 
• Comes in a total of 8 colours. 
• Tip: wait 30 seconds before applying Step 2 to allow Step 1 to set first. I find that the colour lasts longer that way. 

From top to bottom: 110 Dare to Pink, 700 Skinny Dipping, 200 I'll Call You, 310 Little Mix, 500 Kiss Me You Fool, 730 Make Your Move, 230 Kiss Fatal, 550 Play With Fire

My thoughts on the product

• It is highly pigmented. 
• There is no stickiness to the texture (like you get with lip glosses). 
• Once it sets, it's basically touch dry. Hence their claim of it being "kiss proof". 
• It will only come off when you eat or if you have dry flaking lips. Otherwise, it has excellent staying power. I've tested it up to 8 hours and only had to reapply once because I ate. 
• It's neither hydrating nor drying. 
• You'll have to use makeup remover to take this stuff off because a wipe ain't gonna do the trick. 
• The recommended RRP is AUD17.95. Relatively affordable. Makes a great stocking filler this Christmas! 

Now here are photos of me with each lip colour on. I only applied one coat so that you judge how pigmented it is with one swipe. 

110 Dare to Pink - This is a pretty pale pink colour.

700 Skinny Dipping - This seems to be the perfect nude for me! What an apt name, it made my lips look naked.

200 I'll Call You- This is my least favourite colour of the lot. It's a standard safe pink colour. A bit boring for me.

310 Little Minx - I really like pinks that pop so this one was really right up my alley.

500 Kiss Me You Fool - Whoops! You can tell that I overdrew my lips (it was intentional)! Love the name. I'd like to wear this on a date and if my date wear to compliment me on my lip colour, I'd say "Thanks! It's called Kiss Me You Fool!"

730 Make Your Move - I absolutely love this colour! It has an "English rose" feel to it that I can't explain. I think it's an excellent all around colour. I think most people find it boring but I love this like I love Celestial from the Apocalips Lip Lacquer range.

230 Kiss Fatal - This is my first purple toned lip colour and I must admit that I really like it. It has a very grunge-y element it.

550 Play With Fire - This is a pretty standard dark red colour that will suit almost anyone. 

Have you tried Rimmel London's Provocalips 16HR Kiss Proof Lip Colour? If so, what are your thoughts? Even if you haven't, what are your expectations? 

One Lipstick, Three Different Ways

I successfully went through the month of June without buying any beauty products because I was on a spending ban. Came 1st of July, I went and bought myself a cream eyeshadow. Guess how much I paid for it? $44. Now, I've put myself back on the ban. And such bad timing too! There are so many lipsticks/lipglosses/stains/lacquers that have been just released and I can't get my hands on them!

So if you're on a spending ban just like me. Here are 3 ways you can use/apply your lippy... as though you got a whole new separate one! 

Sheer Lips/Tinted Lip Balm
1. Apply bit of lipstick to the centre of your lips.
2. Pick up lots of clear lip balm with your lip brush.
3. Start applying your lip balm over the lipstick, mixing it in and spreading it.
4. Keep working and spreading until you reached the corners of your lip.

Matte Lips
1. Apply one coat of lipstick onto your lips
2. Dip a fluffy eyeshadow brush into translucent powder
3. Pat the powder all over your lips.

New Lipstick!
Can you tell how I achieved this?
I mixed two colours! 

1. Apply one colour to your lips. I did it just on the centre.
2. Run the bullet of the second lipstick over the back of your hand to transfer product onto it.
3. Pick up the product with a lip brush and paint it on your lips 
4. Keep mixing and spreading the colours until you reach the corners of your lips.


Three different lip looks with just one (well maybe two) lipsticks! I used Rimmel London's Lasting Finish by Kate in the colour 20 for all 3 looks. In case you're wondering, the second lippy was MAC's Plink!

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Please feel free to share any lippy tips you have. I'd love to read them!

Triple S: Bobbi Brown Creamy Matte Lip Color Review + Swatches

I've been excited about these matte lipsticks since an MUA from Bobbi Brown told me about them. That was back in July. It was a long wait but it was well worth it! I received these lipsticks last month when they were released and have been loving them!

Bobbi Brown Creamy Matte Lip Color  
Claims: Highly pigmented formula that provides intense moisturisation on the lips due to soft waxes and emollients. It is designed to slightly soften with the warmth of the lips and forms a film to provide up to eight hours wear.
RRP: AUD$44

Packaging: 5 out of 5

Review: I'm really sorry ladies but I will be doing a lot of raving in this review! I will do my best to be concise. First off, these lipsticks are very creamy. It glides on with very little resistance but at the same time, it lays down a lot of product. It is highly pigmented and so usually I swipe it across my lips only once. It truly is long lasting. I went out to dinner with my friends wearing this lipstick in True Pink. Even though some came off as I ate, when I checked my lips after the meal, most of it was still intact. It stayed on all night. With my other lipsticks, most of it comes off when I eat, leaving only a rim of colour around my mouth afterwards. 

The packaging is simply luxurious. Although it may not seem obvious in these photos but these lipsticks come in very high quality plastic tubes. The packaging is what I would like to describe as an "all-rounder". It looks simple enough to be an everyday item. At the same time it can be glamorous or elegant. You can pull this lipstick out from any kind of bag in any type of event! The only downside that I can think of is that it feels heavier than other (drugstore/pharmacy) lipsticks. However, once you have it in your bag, you will not notice the weight at all. That is if you're not carrying around 20 of those... Anyway, I can't wait to get more of these gems; I am already eyeing the colour in Pink Lily!

Now on with the swatches! 

Natural light

In the shade

 Below we have Calypso on my lips. I can only describe it as a very fun orangey-pink. I think this would look even more amazing with a bit of gold lipgloss/eyeshadow dabbed onto the centre of the lips.

 Here we have True Pink on my lips. I'd like to think that it's a very neutral pink. It's not too dark or too light. It may have a teeny tiny bit of mauve in it. 

This is the only (relatively) close-up shot of me with True Pink on my lips at the dinner with my friends. Can you tell?

 What's your favourite matte lipstick? Have you tried Bobbi Brown's? 

Please remember that although these lipsticks were sent to me, these opinions are 100% my own! It does not matter whether I receive a product from a company or bought it myself, if I love the product I will rave about it. If I don't, I usually don't bother writing a review on it unless I deem it necessary. This is to clear up any confusion.

Wicked Wednesday: July Haul

Yes, I know what you're going to say, "Ty, you are waaaaay behind on your July Haul post!" I'm really sorry but I felt that it was more important that I published my previous posts first. Anyway, let's jump straight into it. Remember from my May Haul post, I said that I would not buy anything beauty-related in June because I spent too much in May? Well, if you look through this blog, you will find that the June Haul post is missing. So yes, I lasted through that month without purchasing any beauty products. Hooray! So came July, I treated myself to three. I know, it sounds stupid that I saved in June and I ended up spending in July. But who cares? These products are relatively affordable anyway.

After watching so many American Youtubers and hearing (reading) so many Australian bloggers rave about it, I finally jumped on the Revlon Colourburst Lip Butter bandwagon. I have to say that I'm not disapponinted, in fact I am impressed! The best bit is, I bought it when Target had a buy one get one free Sale. So I got one for myself and one for you (my lovely readers). Expect a review from me soon!

The second product that I purchased is Australis 10hr Waterproof Eye Pencil. I bought it because I've been keeping an eye out for a blue coloured eye pencil to do a duo-coloured eyeliner look. And after hearing from Emily how wonderful this product is, I decided to buy it. I plan on doing a review and a tutorial with it in the near future.

Lastly, I got myself another pair of MAC lashes because 1) My #33 are wonky and out of shape from repeated use and abuse. 2) I was in a bad mood that day and need a pick-me-up and 3) I really like the look of this pair! At first, I went up to the MAC counter asking for #7, they said they've been out of stock for quite a while now. My eyes caught this pair #32 and I knew I couldn't go wrong with them. I'll post up a photo when I get around to wearing them (and when actually remember to take a photo). 

Have you tried any of these products? What do you think of it/them?

Review: Urban Decay Lipstick in Naked

I haven't posted for quite a number of days because I've been busy working and my internet had exceeded its download limit. To keep things short and sweet, I'm going to jump straight into the review.

Remember my complain about how short the lipstick is? Well, maybe I was exaggerating a little. You can't blame me. If you read this post, you'd understand. I compared it with my MAC lipstick and it actually isn't that much shorter. So you do get a fair amount of product. (Is it just me or did lipstick lengths shorten over the years?)

I did a swatch. At certain light angles, you can see sparkles or minute glitter in it. I didn't expect that. I thought it was just going to be a simple matte lipstick. I don't know if you can see it but there's definitely shiny bits in this lipstick.

Here's another shot at a slightly different angle. It looks more matte here.

Here's a "Before" photo (of my bare lips).

Here's an "After" photo with one coat of the lipstick. 

It's a very pretty nude pink. I'm very happy with it. It's creamy and much less dehydrating than my MAC Plink! lipstick. It's very pigmented. As you can see it shows up even on my very pink lips. You can just tell it's a good quality lipstick. It has no funny chermical smell to it. One down side to it is that it's very bulky and heavy, not something you can stuff into your tiny evening purse. For more on the packaging, read my previous post on this lipstick.

I purchased this lipstick from beautybay.com at AUD20 (excluding shipping). If you have any other questions, feel free to drop a comment!

Enjoy.

Birthday Online Haul

I went on a frenzy shopping online for my birthday last year. The items finally arrived two weeks ago but I didn't get around to taking photos and posting them up until now. I won't go through all of them because you can already see them in the photo. The box between the false lashes and brushes is a lip liner from Benefit. The big black box contains a Good Karma crease brush from Urban Decay. All Benefit items were bought from their website and all Urban Decay items were purchased from BeautyBay.com

I was really excited about the UD lipstick. I loved how pretty and purple it looked, especially in it's box! I bought the colour "Naked" because, apparently, it's one of the best nude colours around.


Now it saddens me to report this but uncapping the lipstick the first time was agony! I spent half an hour trying to open it. The little dagger thing doesn't give you a lot of room or grip. It was capped on so tight that my fingers turned red from pulling at the dagger. I even tried running some warm water over the cap to get it to expand. I had to Google it to see if anyone could shed some light on how I can pry the thing open! I was really really frustrated. I twisted and pulled at the thing for a long time. Finally, after LOTS and LOTS of twisting and turning, I pulled and it gave. I managed to open it! Hoorah! But wait, as though I wasn't already put off by the whole experience, the lipstick itself was very short, compared to MAC and Rimmel. They did not give me a lot of product!


It was such an anticlimatic and exhuasting experience that I put the lipstick away afterwards, without swatching it or trying it on. I've been really busy so I still haven't had the time to try any of the products that I bought. I'm not joking. That's why there are no reviews for this post. I'll definitely be reviewing this lipstick (in terms of its quality) when I have the time.

My Addiction to All Things Makeup

It feels wonderful to be truly back and participating in the blogging community. That's right. You guessed it! We finally have internet at home!! I'm beyond euphoric. It took us two months to get it because the stupid company kept stuffing up our order! Anyway, better move on before I sink into a bad mood about that matter...

I've been wanting to do "haul posts" for a while now but I haven't had the time and the access to internet to do it. So this is a "collective haul post" and I'm doing it in chronological order.

In October, I went on a mini shopping spree to reward myself for doing well in a few quizzes. I bought a MAC lipstick, Katy Perry's perfume Purr and a red lipliner from Natio.


Out of all the items, I think I was most excited about the MAC lipstick because it's my first one. Well, it's not my first lipstick per se. My first one is a Rimmel London lipstick in red. Anyway, this one is pink and it's called Plink!. Isn't that cute name? It's under the Lustre range and it's a pretty pink with shine and very minute bits of (what appears to be) glitter in it. When applied, it looks a bit sheer (like semi-matte) but it's obvious that you're wearing a pink lipstick! I love it so much that I wear it everytime I go to work.


I used to be a member on dropdeadgorgeousdaily.com and I earned a fair bit of DDGD$, which I could exchange for some "SWAG". I exchanged almost all of my points for a Natio set. It looked like such a good deal that I couldn't resist. After all, it was free! The set consists of a mascara, a liquid eyeliner and an eyeshadow palette. I haven't used any of the items yet. I initially wanted to do a giveaway on my blog with the eyeshadow palette but I somehow managed to make a big scratch on its plastic top that I see it not fit as a giveaway item.


The eyeshadow palette contains four colours. The shades are called Light, Gold, Bronze and Black. I must say that the "Bronze" looks more like a "Brown" and the "Black" looks more like a "Navy".


I've been wanting Urban Decay's Naked Palette for quite a few months now. I've read so many blog reviews and watched so many Youtube reviews and tutorials that I was convinced that my life would not be complete without it. So at the start of November, I ordered myself one from beautybay.com (I made sure there was a discount going on first!) and by the time it arrived, my end-of-semester exams were over. The timing was perfect.


In case you've never heard or seen the Naked Palette, this is what it looks like. It is the ultimate eyeshadow palette. All its colours are neutrals and so it is universally flattering. It comes with an eyeshadow brush and a small bottle of their famous Primer Potion (eye primer).


Here's a quick swatch that I did for each colour. I was a bit stingy so you may not be able to see the colours well on my skin. Do Google or Youtube it. It's AMAZING! Here's my favourite Naked Palette tutorial done by itsjudytime. My favourite colours are Virgin, Sin, Toasted and Hustle. So if you're a makeup-junkie-to-be, I suggest you get this palette. I can positively say that when it comes to eye makeup you can survive on this palette alone because you can come up with tons of looks with these 12 beautiful colours.


Then, came the dinner that I organised to celebrate mine and R's birthdays with some friends. That evening, I purchased a pair of MAC false lashes and wore it to the dinner. R was the one to pick them out and boy did he have a good eye! I'll upload a good photo of my makeup for the night once I get hold of them. It's on R's camera. I also bought a really gorgeous pair of Shu Uemura lashes a couple of weeks but I forgot to take a photo of it. I'll save that for my next beauty post. It costed me a lot of money but it's so beautiful that I reckon it's worth it.

But here's a photo of me wearing makeup for Christmas using the Naked Palette and my MAC lashes. And yup, that's my best friend Nop who was visiting me at the time.


Phew! We're finally at the end! You must be thinking. I actually wanted to put up more photos but I thought that it'd make this post way too long. So if you'd like to see more photos (up close shots) of the Naked Palette or my makeup for my birthday dinner and Christmas, just leave a comment below. If you'd like me to review any of the items that I've mentioned, please leave a comment as well. I hope you've enjoyed reading this post as much as I've enjoyed writing it!