Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Cherry Tart - Review and Swatches

Okay, this is the last one I promise (for now anyway). Also, I want to apologise to my British readers in advance as this shade is actually not available in the UK. You can still get it from eBay, so if you like the look of it, read on to find out more.

The shade is called Cherry Tart and it's a shimmery pinky red colour. It's really gorgeous and definitely one of my favourite shades from the entire Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter line. It's semi opaque, but can be built up to a nice coverage. It lasts for the same amount of time as the other shades, usually around 2 hours. Again, the formula isn't as moisturising as you'd hope, but I find it comfortable to wear and it's definitely not drying.

I bought this on eBay from a UK seller for £6.95 (which is actually cheaper than the retail price of these over here) and free UK postage. I received it within a few days, so I can happily recommend the seller. You can find the listing here.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter New Shades Part 2 - Review and Swatches

The other day I showed you 3 of the new Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter shades and today I have the other 3 to tell you about. As I said in my other post, I didn't buy Brown Sugar because I'm not a brown lipstick person, so I won't be showing you that one. The ones I have in this review are Pink Lemonade, Sugar Plum and Red Velvet.

I ordered these shades unseen because none of my local Boots seemed to stock them, and I was a bit worried about how Pink Lemonade would look on me as it is a very light pink shade. Turns out it's actually pretty okay, mainly because it's not very opaque, so it mostly just looks like a glossy light pink sheen on my lips. Brown Sugar is a nice, slightly sheer mauve colour and Red Velvet is a burgundy red. It isn't massively opaque, but as it's a darker colour, it is the most pigmented of them all. I don't need these lip butters to be very pigmented as I like to just throw them on when I'm exercising or just at home, instead of wearing lipstick or lipgloss.

As I've said before, I don't find these lip butters very moisturising, but they're comfortable to wear. They need reaaplying after 2 hours or so and don't last through eating at all. They are pretty much scent and taste free which I love.

Revlon Colorburst Lip Butters cost £7.99 each, but there's often a 3 for 2 deal on them, which is currently on in Boots. 

See more pictures including swatches after the jump! 

Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter New Shades Part 1 - Review and Swatches

I'm supposed to be on a lipstick no buy, but I decided to make an exception to Revlon lip butters because I really like them and very often reach for them, especially on days when I'm not wearing full face make up but still want some colour on my lips.

Revlon have released 7 new shades this spring and I've bought 6. I passed on Brown Sugar because I'm not a brown lipstick person. In this post I've got Juicy Papaya, Wild Watermelon and Sorbet to show you. Juicy Papaya is a sheer orange-coral shade, Wild Watermelon is pinky red and Sorbet is bright pink. I find Wild Watermelon and Sorbet to be a lot more pigmented than Juicy Papaya, but I also really like it as it's such a lovely shade, so the sheerness doesn't bother me. All 3 shades last on me for 1-2 hours depending on whether I drink and what I do while wearing them.

While I don't find these lip butters terribly moisturising, they are very comfortable to wear. I often use them if I go running or to the pool as they don't look to full on, but still give my lips some colour. I also like using them at the weekend when I'm not wearing full face make up or not planning on leaving the house. I don't usually wear lipstick at home, but these are just the right products for me on these occasions.

I love it that Revlon lip butters don't have that hideous chemical smell some drugstore/high street lipsticks have (Maybelline I'm looking at you!), which is another reason why I make an exception for them.

Revlon Colorburst Lip Butters cost £7.99 each, but there's often a 3 for 2 deal on them, which is currently on in Boots. 

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains in Crush, Darling and Rendezvous

After trying out and loving Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Lovesick I decided to pick up another 3 shades and see if I like those as well. I got Crush, Darling and Rendezvous. Crush is a medium dark berry shade, Darling is a scarily light looking lavender that turns pink on me and Rendezvous is an orangey-coral (more orange than coral actually).

I'm not going to do an in-depth review on these because I have already done it for Lovesick, please check out my review if you want to read all the details. Out of the 3 shades I like Darling the most, although I was sure it was going to look terrible on me, it's actually a very pretty shade. It looks lavender when first applied, but turns more and more pink as time goes on (see the picture at the bottom of this post). Crush is also a really nice shade, it's not as scary and dark as it first seems, but it can be built up anyway, so if you like vampy, this is a good one to choose. Rendezvous is a bit too orange for my liking, I would've preferred it to be more coral, but I think it will look better on me in the summer when I actually have a bit of a tan.

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains cost £7.99 each and you get 2.7 g which doesn't sound too much, but these actually seem to last forever as they hardly show any sign of use so far.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Another No-Buy Update

I'm trying to think how long it's been since I started my no-buy, I think it's 4 months now.This time I can honestly say I've done well. Last month I decided I wasn't going to buy any nail polish for a month and I did it - well almost. I actually only gave in to temptation at the very end of the month when I ordered the new Color Club holographic nail polishes. They only arrived on the 1st February, so they don't count, right? Just kidding. I also picked up a Butter London nail polish and lipgloss set (Shambolic) in TK Maxx on the last day of the month, but for £9.99 it would've been rude not to, right?

Other than that I only bought 3 new Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains (still to be reviewed) because I like the first one I tried out, so I really wanted to get a few more.

I guess that's not too bad, is it? I'm actually planning on continuing with being very strict with my nail polish purchases, the only ones I really have my eye on are the new China Glaze Hologlam collection polishes, I just love holographic polishes and I can't possibly not buy those.

Now if only I could say no to eyeshadows and pretty powders... But then what would I blog about they in day out?

Win It! Revlon Pink Ribbon Nail Polish

You have a chance to win this gorgeous nail polish by Revlon called Pink Ribbon. To enter, please use the Rafflecopter widget, no other entries will be considered. The giveaway is open worldwide and terms and conditions can be found at the bottom of the widget. The winner will have 2 days to reply and claim their prize. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

2012 Favourites - Part 1: Lips

As it's now a new year, I thought I'd do a recap of my favourite make up products of 2012. I'll only included products that were either newly released in 2012 or new to me, no point in me repeating myself over and over again (I still love Vaseline and Pleasureflush MSF is still my favourite highlighter, nothing new there).

So I'll start with lip products. The brand that stood out for me in 2012 when I think of new lip products was definitely Revlon. While I still love Guerlain lipsticks very much and wear them often when going out, on days when I'm staying in or not needing a bolder lip colour, I often opt for Revlon's Lip Butters. I acquired 10 of them over the course of the year and they've become my most used lip products.

They are moisturising, very comfortable to wear and some of them are absolutely gorgeous and actually pretty pigmented. On days when I don't need to wear lipstick but want something more colourful then Vaseline, I reach for these, and of course some of them double up as lipstick due to their fantastic pigmentation. Raspberry Pie, Lollipop and Sweet Tart are my absolute favourite shades. I did a full review on these Lip Butters here, so if you need any more details, check it out!

See which other products I loved in 2012 after the jump!

Lancome Color Design Palette in 103 Golden Frenzy

I wasn't sure whether I should do this review since the product itself isn't actually available on its own or in fact anymore for that matter, but I decided to do it anyway because you can pick up practically everything on eBay plus this palette might actually be available elsewhere. Lancome don't sell these 5 colour palettes in the UK but they do in America, I picked up the purple one last year in Florida.

I got the palette as part of the Christmas Beauty Box back in November and sadly it isn't available anymore. It took me a while to get around to using it, but finally I have. It's a really nice neutral palette with some sparkle. The palette consists of 5 eyeshadows and they are labelled as: all over base, lid, crease, highlighter and liner. Of course you don't have to use the eyeshadows as they're labelled, I actually used the all over base colour as a highlighter and the highlighter colour in the outer corner of the lid because I don't think that such a dark colour would look good as a highlighter.

I found the eyeshadows nicely pigmented, soft and smooth, they stayed on without creasing and fading for 12 hours or so. I wouldn't say this is a must have palette especially if you have a lot of eyeshadows already, but it's a nice, all in one palette, and it certainly looks gorgeous too.

As these palettes aren't sold in the UK, I have no idea what they would cost if they were, but in the US they're around $48. You only get 4 g of product which isn't a lot, but I'm not really bothered about the weight anymore since I already have so much make up anyway, I will never use it all up in a million years.

See more pictures including swatches and a look I created using this palette after the jump!

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Lovesick Review and Swatches

This is the third Revlon product I bought to get this gorgeous free nail polish, and the one I was actually the most pleasantly surprised by.

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain is the newest product in the Revlon lip product line. I am already a massive fun of their lip butters and have them in loads of colours, so I was intrigued to try out the balm stains too, however, when they first came out I passed on them mostly because of the minty smell. I decided to try one this time and picked Lovesick which is a bright bubblegum pink shade.

I am absolutely blown away by this. The minty smell isn't my favourite, but it disappears within a minute or so, but the product itself is so lovely, I don't even mind it one bit. It is exactly what it says on the "tin", a stain that's also a balm, so it's not drying unlike some stains are, in fact it's very hydrating. Also, the colour lasts and lasts for ages, and in fact not only a colour, but the glossiness itself. It leaves a stain behind when it fades away after several hours of wear, but also it stays on my lips really well. The colour is gorgeous too, although it looks a bit patchy in the pictures, it's definitely not patchy on the lips. I have used it many many times in the past couple of weeks, and there's hardly any missing. This is one of the best lip products I have tried I swear.

I have tried out a few other shades since, but none of them have blown me away, so I probably won't pick up any more for now (plus I should be on a lip product no-buy), but will keep an eye out for any possible new shades. Oh, the crayon itself is rectractable, so no need for sharpening. This is basically the cheap version of the Clinique chubby sticks (which I haven't tried myself, but they look pretty much the same, don't know about the products inside though).

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains cost £7.99 each and you get 2.7 g. As I said, it looks like it's gonna last forever, so although 2.7 g isn't massive, it's not too bad either.

See more pictures after the jump!

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick Kiss Me Coral Review and Swatches

Here's another lipstick I bought to get that free gorgeous nail polish . This is also a Super Lustrous one from Revlon, the colour is Kiss Me Coral.

Despite its name, this is not actually a coral shade, it's much more orange. As a result, I'm not really sure I like it. Oranges don't suit me that well, I much prefer corals and pinky corals over them. Serves me right for impulse buying. But the nail polish was just so pretty.

It's still a nice lipstick, has the same great Super Lustrous formula I've got to know and love. This one is a cream (creme) finish, it's really creamy, smooth and long lasting. All in all, a lovely lipstick, only it's not coral. So far 2 out of 3 lipsticks I've bought to get the polish turned out to be a bit of a letdown (dupe for another colour, not coral), but the third one (which I will show you soon) has turned out to be a winner. Stay tuned to find out what it is!

Revlon Super Lustrous lipsticks cost £7.49 and you get a generous 4.2 g. There's currently a 3 for 2 offer on all Revlon make up and you can get this gorgeous nail polish for free if you buy 3 or more Revlon products from Superdrug.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick Cherry Blossom Review and Swatches

The other day I showed you the gorgeous pink glitter nail polish you can get for free (from Superdrug) if you buy 3 other Revlon products, so let me now show you one of them. I bought this gorgeous Super Lustrous lipstick in the shade Cherry Blossom.

I have said before, I absolutely love Revlon Super Lustrous lipsticks, especially the cream finish ones, but having said that, Cherry Blossom is a pearl finish and it's also very nice. Creamy, well pigmented, non drying and long lasting, Revlon Super Lustrous lipsticks have to be my favourite drugstore/high street brand lipsticks. Nowadays I actually very rarely buy non high end lipsticks (and not just because the no-buy I'm supposed to be on - oops), but if I buy some, they'll most probably be from Revlon. I also love it that these lipsticks are unscented. While I don't generally mind scented lip products, I hate that sickly sweet fake smell drugstore lipsticks often smell of, Maybelline being the worst offender for me.

So was this lipstick worth falling off the (no-buy) wagon for? Yes and no. Quality-wise I really cannot fault it, it's lovely, really great, beautiful shade, lasts for hours while feeling very comfortable on the lips. My only problem is that this is not actually a unique shade. By that I don't mean it's similar to 20 lipsticks in my collection, I mean that it's almost exactly the same as Revlon's own Cherries In The Snow (you can see my review here). I swatched them side by side and there's hardly any difference. So truthfully I didn't actually need it. The other weird thing is, there's apparently another shade of Revlon Super Lustrous lipstick in Cherry Blossom available which is a pale pink colour. If you google it, you get two very different shades. I wonder whether the light shade is an old, discontinued shade, but what a weird way of recycling a name, especially when the colour is actually very different.

Anyway, this is a lovely lipstick in a gorgeous shade, so would definitely recommend it if you don't already own Cherries In The Snow. Revlon Super Lustrous lipsticks cost £7.49 and you get a generous 4.2 g. There's currently a 3 for 2 offer on all Revlon make up and you can get this gorgeous nail polish for free if you buy 3 or more Revlon products from Superdrug.

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Get A Free Revlon Ruby Ribbon Nail Polish At Superdrug!

First of all I want to say that I've given up on the nail polish no-buy. I can't do it, so might as well not pretend that I'm not buying nail polish, and since I am, I might as well show off what I've got. Right?

So today I thought I'd show you this beauty I picked up yesterday in Superdrug - for free! As well as a 3 for 2 offer you get a free glitter nail polish if you buy 3 or more Revlon products. As this is not available to buy on its own, I just had to buy 3 things, which sadly made me fall off another wagon, but I'll tell you later about that.

Ruby Ribbon is a bright pink glitter polish with holographic bar glitter. It's really gorgeous, very sparkly and festive. It reminds me of Zoya Kissy (link by Scrangie) from last year's Gems and Jewels Collection. I haven't tried it yet, so I don't know what it's like, but it looks like it has a good coverage on its own. Alternatively I guess it can always be layered over a similar coloured polish.

You get 14.7 ml and Revlon nail polishes usually cost £6.49. *P.S. Boots also have the same offer including Sequin, a gold glitter polish which I haven't actually seen in person myself.

See another picture after the jump!

Revlon Lip Butters Review and Swatches Part 2

I know I'm repeating myself with the L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadows and now these, but if I like something I tend to get it in pretty much every shade. On a recent trip to Superdrug and Boots I picked up another 3 of the Revlon Lip Butters. You can read my initial review (and see swatches of 7 shades) on these here, for now I will just show you the 3 new shades I got.

Cotton Candy, Strawberry Shortcake, Pink Truffle

I initially picked up the more intense, pigmented shades, but I thought I'd try the lighter ones too. So I picked up Cotton Candy, Strawberry Shortcake and Pink Truffle. Cotton Candy is very light cool pink with a high sheen, Strawberry Shortcake is warmer and slightly darker with less of a sheen, and Pink Truffle is a pinky brown shade. They are all nice, but I find Strawberry Shortcake the most flattering on me.

These are currently on offer both in Superdrug and Boots, there's a 3 for 2 offer in Superdrug and a £2 off Revlon products in Boots. They normally cost £7.99 each.

Have you tried these lip butters? Do you have any favourites? Let me know in the comments!

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

Revlon Lip Butters Review and Swatches

As far as I'm aware the two new product launches this year that everyone got very excited about were Maybelline Color Tattoo eyeshadows and Revlon Lip Butters. I haven't actually purchased any of the Color Tattoo eyeshadows as the colours don't really excite me, I have most fo them from other brands already, but I have well and trully got sucked into the Revlon Lip Butter craze! I ended up buying 7 of them.

So do these live up to the hype? While they are not that exceptional, they are pretty good lightweight, moisturising lipsticks for the price. I don't normally buy drugstore/low end lipsticks anymore mainly due to the smell they all seem to have, I do make an exception for Revlon because in my mind they make the best cheap/drugstore/low end/whatever-you-call it lip products. I love the pigmentation and the fact that they don't stink. These lip butters are pretty much scent free and taste free, and some of them are very pigmented. In fact if you just want lip butters rather than lipsticks, I'd say they are almost too pigmented.

They are nicely moisturising, and they actually last for a good amount of time, about 2-3 hours. They come in a very good selection of colours. I went for the most pigmented ones because I wanted colours. I swiped them 3 times for the swatches, so you can see how the colours turn out, but some of them (Lollipop, Raspberry Pie, Candy Apple) actually deliver a lot of colour in just one swatch. A couple of the colours I won have some shimmer in them, Peach Parfait and Macaroon both have small gold flecks, although it's really only noticable in Peach Parfait. I don't mind either way, I like my shimmery lips too.

 I took these with me on holiday to test them out properly and I was very happy with how they lasted on me even in the swimming pool, and they were moisturising enough without the need for extra lip balm. All in all, I would recommend you check them out, especially as Boots has a 3 for 2 offer on them at the moment. They cost £7.99 each, so you save a good amount if you buy 3. I believe these are permanent and they come in 14 shades (which is probably less than what the US got, but at least it's something).

See more pictures including swatches after the jump!

What's In My Holiday Make Up Bag?

You might not have noticed (thank God (Blogger) for scheduled posts), but I went on a short holiday last week, and I thought I'd show you what make up I took with me. Now bearing in mind I was only away for 5 days and on day 1 I'd already done my make up, I'm thinking I might have taken a bit too much with me. Well, see for yourselves...

It doesn't look too much in the bag, but that's just the basics, I also took 5 Sleek palettes and my Mac highlighting palette with me. So yeah, too much, especially bearing in mind we spent 3 of the 5 days at the swimming pool, so those days I pretty much only wore waterproof mascara and lip balm.

Do you also take loads of make up with you when you go away or are you a minimalist? Let me know in the comments!

For details of what I took with me, keep reading after the jump!

My Recent Haul Pictures

I'm still playing catch up when it comes to writing blog posts, so I thought I'd do a quick one about my recent make up (and mostly nail polish!) purchases. I don't think I will get around to reviewing many of these anytime soon (I have one review coming), but if you are really interested in something, let me know in the comments. So without further ado, here are the pictures:

My Cherry Culture order

First up lots of lovely Milani stuff. I bought these from Cherry Culture when they recently had a 20% sale. Shipping was quite expensive, but I was very pleased that I didn't have to also pay customs duty and the horrendous £8 Royal Mail fee on top of it all, so the above came to a total of £60 which isn't too bad actually.

See what other products I bought after the jump!

2011's Favourite Products: Part 3 - Lip and Nails

2011 was definitely the year of the lipstick for me. I purchased over 100 new lipsticks, spent a whole month wearing a different lipstick every day and really got into wearing bold, bright shades that I used to shy away from. So let's have a quick rundown of this year's favourite lipstick - in no particular order.

Guerlain Rouge G lipsticks have become one of my favourite lipsticks and this year out of them all Garconne and Girly, the two bright autumn shades were my absolutely favourites. Garconne is the most perfect red lipstick for me, and Girly is a fun bright pink shade.

Guerlain Rouge G in Girly (left) and Garconne (right)

Keep reading to see which other lipsticks made it into my favourites!

The Great 30 Day Lipstick Challenge - Week 4 and Conclusion

The Great 30 Day Lipstick Challenge has now come to an end. 30 days and 30 lipsticks later I'm very happy I decided to do this challenge. I managed to use lipsticks I'd not actually used at all, also rediscovered some old favourites and found that some I wasn't too keen on at first I actually quite like after all. I also ended up throwing out one very funny smelling one (it wasn't even that old, I don't know what happened there), and put 3 up for sale - by the way, check out my Blog Sale if you haven't yet done so! I think I will definitely do this again, but right now I need to give some love to my other lipsticks. So many lipstick, so little time!

This post includes the last 9 lipsticks and once again I managed to choose a good variety of brands and colours. The lipsticks I used this week are:

1. MyFace Gigabite lipstick in 155 Strawberry Fields
2. Revlon Super Lustrous lipstick in 457 Wild Orchid
3. Mac lipstick in Costa Chic
4. Collection 2000 Volume Sensation lipstick in 4 Plum Perfection
5. No 7 Moisture Drench lipstick in 30 Plum Beautiful
6. No 7 Mirrorball lipstick
7. Urban Decay lipstick in Naked
8. Lancome L'Absolu Rouge in Voile de Rose
9. Mac lipstick in Playtime

Find out what I thought about these lipsticks and see more pictures including swatches after the jump!

The Great 30 Day Lipstick Challenge - Week 3

Now that I'm into the second half of my 30 day lipstick challenge, I am having more of a difficulty picking out the lipsticks I want to wear. Even though there are approx. 60 lipsticks in the box with a variety of different shades and finishes, I feel that I find it hard choosing. Also I want to make sure I choose from different brands, so it's not too boring for you either. This week I actually used lipsticks from 6 brands and managed to choose a variety of shades too, so not too bad. We'll see how the last 9 days go, although this has been good fun, my Guerlain and Chanel lipsticks are calling my name. It's funny though as I suspect many of you out there don't even have 60 lipsticks, but obviously I get bored quickly and need to have a lot of them to keep me happy.

Anyway these are the lipsticks I wore this week:
1. Lancome L'Absolu Rouge in shade 350
2. No7 Moisture Drench lipstick in 50 Cameo
3. L'Occitane Pivoine Flora lipstick in 02 Rose Pique
4. Revlon Super Lustrous lipstick in 440 Cherries In The Snow
5. Maybelline ColorSensational lipstick in 148 Summer Pink
6. Mac Sheen Supreme Lipstick in Full Speed
7. Revlon Super Lustrous lipstick in 415 Pink In The Afternoon

Find out what I thought about these lipsticks and see swatches (including lip swatches) after the jump!

The Great 30 Day Lipstick Challenge - Week 2

Here we are, second week of the great 30 day lipstick challenge. I'm having great fun choosing lipsticks from my Mixed Up Magic box. This week's selection includes some lipsticks I hardly ever reach for, and some that are quite new and haven't really had time to use yet, as well as some favoruites.

This week I used the following lipsticks:
1. Myface Cosmetics Gigabite lipstick in 154 Sweet Dreams
2. Mac Wonder Woman lipstick in Marquise D'
3. The Body Shop Rose lipstick in shade 01
4. Marks & Spencer Moisture lipstick in Coral
5. Mac Wonder Woman lipstick in Heroine
6. Mac Sheen Supreme lipstick in Insanely It
7. Revlon Super Lustrous lipstick in 435 Love That Pink

Read  what I thought about these lipsticks and see more pictures including swatches after the jump!