MAC Brave, Mehr & Captive | Comparison

Hi there! Today let's have a chat about some MAC lipstick goodness.
At the moment, my MAC lipstick collection is still fairly minimal, but out of the five I own three are fairly universal wearable everyday colours which you might think are quite similar.

Just FYI- all photos show the shades in order - Brave, Mehr, Captive.

For the longest time, Brave has been my most used, favourite lip colour because it's just so wearable for everyday, and it really goes with any eye look be it smokey or simple. Brave is a really beautiful muted dusty pink with slightly peachy brown undertones and a Satin finish.

Mehr is the newest family member, and is basically Brave's more matte (matter?) older sister. The shade is also slighty darker and more brown based which I really really like. I'm having a bit of a matte lip moment and I can see this one becoming an everyday essential.

Lastly, Captive is a shade I really don't hear anyone talking about. It's sort of a soft, mauvey berry shade which can be worn bold or patted over the lips for a subtle wintry- stain. Perfect for this time of the year.

As a reference, here is a nice swatch of the three side by side- Captive on the far left (Satin), Mehr (Matte) in the middle, and Brave (Satin) on the right. 

Basically this post is just a justification to myself for owning all three. Hope you enjoyed!!

Would be amazing if you would like to follow me on Bloglovin and stay up to date, I look forward to seeing you back here again :)

Thanks for reading

Lou 

Essence Lip Liners | Review & Swatches

If you love a good lip liner, and especially if you're on a budget, look no further.

These are the £1 (yes one English pound) each, and I have four here to show you.

Here's a lovely close up of my dry lips. From top left we have Satin Mauve, In The Nude, Honey Berry & Soft Berry.

Satin Mauve has quickly become an every day staple for me, it's just a really mauvey (hence the name, duh), soft pink, and works really nicely alone, over a lip balm or with a lipstick over top.

In The Nude is quite an orange - based nude, which I don't think is particularly flattering by itself on my skin as I have quite yellow undertones.

Honey Berry is a bright, blue-based pink/berry. I love this colour, and I think it will be so lovely in the Spring/Summer

Soft Berry is more of a brown based pinky/berry, which I love, and is really nice for this time of year.

I know the photos aren't the best, as I did them this morning, in my onesie with no other make up on, and dry, horrible lips.

But, I absolutely promise you that they are totally lovely, longwearing and obviously, very cheap.

Would definitely recommend :)

Thanks for reading!

Lou x



H&M Lipstick | Review

So if you haven't heard the buzz about H&M Beauty...where have you been?
My local store has recently started stocking what I assume is the whole line which is really impressive - everything from eyeshadow to lipstains, brushes, cream blushes and nail varnishes.

I've had a good swatchy swatch and spent a very fair amount of time mooching around the testers, striping them up my arm. In the end, the lipsticks intrigued me the most, and there were so many amazing colours. If they weren't eight pound a pop I would definitely have got a fair few -not that I'm complaining, but normally when a drugstore lipstick is up there in price it normally comes with a 3 for 2 deal (eg. L'Oreal), which persuades me to buy more.

Aaanyway, after much deliberation I went for this shade, Brunette Ambition, a straight up mauve-y brown, unlike anything I own, but still neutral enough to wear during the day.

Even those these are really creamy, they wear for a good amount of time and wear off gracefully rather than flaking or patching.

I would definitely recommend the H&M lipsticks, and I will for sure be having a look at the other shades.

Thanks for reading :)

Lou

Collection Lasting Colour Lipsticks

We all know how great the Lasting Perfection Concealer from Collection is- but what about their lipsticks? As it turns out, I have three, so I must like them enough to buy more, right?

From left to right I've got Scorned, Tea Rose and Sweet Tart.

I've had Sweet Tart the longest, hence why the bullet is all beaten up and gross, and I used to love this for a bright night-out lip back in the uni days. I haven't worn it so much recently, and I don't even know why- it's probably the melted shape of it that puts me off whenever I consider it.

Scorned was part of the Gothic Glam collection, which I'm not sure is still around, However, if it is, it's perfect for this time of year, especially for Halloween; a really deep dark aubergine purple.

The middle shade, Tea Rose, is a beautiful, wearable, warm pink which I bought most recently.
All three are creamy and pigmented, and I have to say I'm impressed with their lasting power. They aren't matte, so its not a stick-to-your-mouth job, but they definitely do a few hours nicely.
I'd recommend using a lip brush with these, especially the bright, bold shades as they can be messy to apply.

Overall, these are a steal at around £3 a pop, and a great formula to get a few more fun colours from, like Scorned and Sweet Tart. Check 'em out! :)


Thanks for reading!

Lou x

2 Budget Gloss options

I am having a real lip gloss moment at the moment, which is inconvenient, because most of the world seems obsessed with the matte-est of matte lips. 

I just find gloss really easy to wack on and trust that it won't crack or crumble off in a really really unattractive way, which is my main fear with anything matte.

I also don't really have it in me to buy a high-end lipgloss (except the Clarins Lip Perfecters which are the bomb.com), so I set about finding a couple of bargain-ous highstreet options. These are the two I have been using over the last few weeks, both with a ridiculous price tag, so I thought Id share them with you.

First of all, this is the XXL nude (??) Lipgloss from Essence in the shade Soft Almond. This was something amazing like £1.90 from Wilko's, and I really like the formula, which is more wet gel rather than sticky? If ya know what I mean. Lovely stuff. Lasting power isn't great, but its lipgloss, what do you expect? It's not pigmented either, just adding a gloss of nude to the lips, really easy for every day. I personally think this a great find, and such a bargain. I do remember looking at the other colours and seeing a lot of glitter, so I'm not sure if I'll be going back for seconds, but it depends on the shades.

Lip Boss from Barry M. First of all, I think I love the name? I started off thinking it was a bit stupid, but I think I've warmed to the idea. I also think the packaging is really quite nice, its pretty solid and hefty. The colour looks neon- bright in the tube but it really isn't all that bad.

As you can see here, its more a wash of warm peach. Pretty inoffensive and pretty, probably more suited for summer but oh well. I remember this being £3.50, which is a pretty good deal. The downside to this product is the smell- which is something like really cheap oranges. I really hate it.

Between the two, I would say the Essence one is my favourite, colour and formula wise, and for the price you really cant complain.

Thanks for reading!

Lou x

Primark Does... Lips

The inner snob in me shivers a little a bit about putting something from Primark on my mouth. What if a small snotty child has sucked it or stuck it up it's nose or something? The grotesque possibilities are endless.
Snobbery aside, I bought these two lip products from Primark recently, and firstly, I'd like to comment that the packaging is actually fairly sleek looking. If you didn't know it was Primark, I think you'd be a little impressed, right?

Swatch- wise, this is the Matte Crayon in the shade 06. I have been pleasantly impressed with this product so far. I'm not hugely into matte lips at the moment, I'm more for the glossy, natural look as I have fairly small lips and I find the fresher- looking finishes just look...fresher on me. Ya get me? Anyway. It is smooth and thick feeling going onto the lips- not in a bad way- creamy drying down to a nice, even smooth finish. The key word here is 'dry', which is definitely does end up. BUT, not in an uncomfortable way. I found wear time to be surprisingly good on this, and instead of cracking or flaking (one reason I am wary of matte lips, even thought I love them), this tends to do a more stain-like fade on the lips.

The second swatch, and the photo below, is the lipliner used all over the lips.

It is a very creamy formula, really easy to apply, and definitely comparable to the Rimmel Exaggerate lip liners.

With the lip crayon added over the top, it makes the colour a little pinker and lighter, but the two definitely work colour-wise together. However, I'm not one for a thick, matte lip- as mentioned- so I don't think I would wear them together like this. Separately, they have a very similar creamy feeling which dries down to a comfortable matte.

The third swatch is Rimmel's East End Snob, which I added to compare the colours. It's pretty close to the lipliner, put a little pinker than the crayon, which is slightly more peach.

Overall, I'm pretty impressed with these two products from Primark, you definitely can't go wrong for such a good price tag. Out of the two, I would recommend the lip liner, because it was £1 and a really nice staple pink/mauve colour.

Thanks for reading!
Lou x