My 'Go-To' Lip

It's crazy to think that only a year ago I owned one lipstick (and went through my mum's collection whenever I needed a red!). Now with a collection of close to 70 lipsticks, lip glosses and liquid lipsticks (oops!) I still pull out that first lipstick I owned whenever I'm stuck for what to wear.

Preppy by Australis is part of their Go Long Longwear lipstick range and is a mauve-pink nude with a matte finish. I remember buying this shade because of the name but it is and absolutely gorgeous nude shade for my skin tone making it my go-to lipstick for everyday.

I also love layering the NYX Butter gloss in Creme Brulee on top when wearing Preppy at night for an extra glam look and creating the perfect nude lip for a smokey eye.

Australis is available from Priceline, KMart and Big W. The Go Long Longwear lipstick range retails for $12.95.

NYX is available at Target and the Buttergloss range retails for $9.95. I'm not 100% sure if Creme Brulee is a shade available in Australia, but you can also purchase NYX online from crushcosmetics.com, beautyjoint.com and cherryculture.com.

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Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick: review and swatches

Rimmel have recently re-released their Moisture Renew lipstick range and when I they went on sale at Target I grabbed a few of the shades I had my eyes on! 

These lipsticks mainly interested me because I've been gravitating towards matte lipsticks a lot lately and wanted to try some bright lipsticks with a more glossy formula. The Rimmel website says these contain SPF 20 as well as Vitamins A, C and E for well cared for lips - impressive!

They feel absolutely gorgeous on the lips and practically melt on when applied. The pigmentation is amazing and with only one coat gives an intense colour that can be built up even more! The finish they give is beautiful and glossy, making the lips look plump and full. However, because they are a moisturising formula the staying power isn't overly impressive. They do last a few hours but if you're eating or drinking they will come off the lips.

As well as this, the packaging is really sleek, particularly for the price.

As You Want Victoria

A beautiful vibrant, blue based fuchsia!  

Sloane's Plum

A brown based plum shade. I had trouble with this one looking patchy so I prefer applying thinner layers using a lip brush.

In Love With Ginger

I absolutely love orange shades and this is a fantastic addition to my collection!

The Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipsticks retail for $13.95 but Rimmel is often on sale at Priceline at Target so there's a good chance you can get these at a better price. I definitely recommend these for the price, the pigmentation and fantastic colour range.

xx Catherine

Review and Swatches: Ulta3 Lip Paint

I recently picked up two shades of Ulta3's new lip release 'Lip Paint'. These retail for $5.95 and are available from selected pharmacies. After recently falling in love with there moisturising and matte lipstick formulas I was super excited to try these. I have the shades Expressive Fuchsia and Radical Red.

First of all I adore the packaging. I think its really cute and looks like a little paint tube. The lid screws on properly so you won't have any trouble throwing these in your handbag. The only thing is that the colour of the tube is not the true colour of the product so swatching is a must!

The formula is actually much less liquid-y than I was expecting which made application very easy. I was expecting something similar to the Rimmel Apocalips which I find gets quite messy, but along with the firm doe foot applicator the product was very easy and 'no-fuss' to apply to the lips. This is probably the best part of the product because with such bold colours and glossy finish you definitely want a perfect application. The product does have a minty smell, similar to the Revlon Balm range which I personally love but may not be for everyone.

Finally, both colours were absolutely gorgeous and bright. Expressive Fuchsia is a gorgeous blue-based pink and I think it would look fantastic on darker skin tones. Radical Red is again a blue-based shade and a red that I don't have anything similar to in my collection. I love the glossy finish of these as well and I recommend two layers for complete opacity.

Overall, very impressed with these liquid lipsticks and the fact that they are so easy to apply means I'll be reaching for them often. I also really want to get my hands on the other shade Manic Mauve.

Hope you enjoyed this review and let me know if you've tried any of the Ulta3 Lip Paints.

xx Catherine

p.s. I hope you all have a fantastic Easter and long weekend!

NEW! Revlon Colorburst Matte Balm - Review and Swatches

Finally! These much anticipated new Colorburst Matte Balms from Revlon have hit the Australian market.

I am absolutely OBSESSED with these! They are the most comfortable matte lip products I have ever tried and so super easy to apply. Being a balm they are not the most opaque lip products but because they are quite thin, colour can be built up and I found that you could build them up without the product clumping or clinging to any dry patches. 

They are extremely long lasting and through a full day at uni I only had to reapply after I ate lunch. They are however quite drying on the lips after wear for a couple of hours. 

I love the crayon type packaging and pointed top which makes it very quick and easy to fill your lips in neatly which is usually an issue for me. They do have a mint scent and leave a slight tingling on the lips which some may dislike but personally I love the mint scent.

Complex

Elusive

Sultry

Unapologetic

Definitely a must have if you are a lipstick fanatic (like me!) or are looking for a comfortable matte lipstick. They retail for $17.95 and all Revlon lip products are 2 for 1 at Priceline until Monday 7 April so now is a fantastic time to try these out.

Have a beautiful day and remember how beautiful you are :)
xx Catherine

Rimmel London Lasting Finish by Kate Moss: Review and Swatches

No. 32

No. 28

I recently bought both these shades at Priceline when all Rimmel London lip and nail products were 2 for 1.

They are quite similar in formulation to the NYX Creamy Round Lipsticks - while they glide on the lips easily, they tend to cling to dry patches and unless your lips are really nice and smooth they do tend to move around and clump easily. I found the shade 32 to be slightly easier to wear in terms of formulation as it was a little bit more opaque and creamy. To find inconsistencies within the same line really annoys me and doesn't exactly make me want to run out and get more colours.

I love the colours however, especially shade 32 which is a lovely peachy nude and I absolutely love it (and I want this exact colour in a matte formulation!).

They are relatively long-lasting but nothing incredibly impressive, which is also a little disappointing for a product that claims to be long-lasting.

The packaging is quite nice for an affordable drugstore lipstick - they retail for AUD$11.95 - I love the matte black and Kate's signature in red is a nice touch.

Overall these are fairly average lipsticks and they wouldn't be my first recommendation but I'm happy to have shade 32 because its absolutely gorgeous.

xx Catherine

Sleek iDivine Sunset Palette: Swatches + Demo

This is an absolutely gorgeous palette and I was so impressed with the quality of the all the colours, particularly because they were all shimmers or metallic shades. I also think the inclusion of the matte black shade is a fantastic addition to the palette and I used it to line my top lashes and well as the outer corner of my bottom lashes as an alternative to a liner pencil and to smoke out the look. Although when I first opened this palette the brightness of the colours made me wonder how and if I would ever use this palette but I was able to create a really wearable look that I would definitely recreate for a night out. The fact that the shadows were so easy to use and blend together I know I'll definitely be pulling out this palette a lot. I'm particularly obsessed with the rose, bronze and pink shades in the second photo of swatches.

Expand to see how I did the rest of my look!

Lips by NYX

NYX Round Lipsticks
Swatches

Narcissus

Rose

The Verdict

I'm not super impressed by these lipsticks and after reading a lot of hype surrounding them am a bit disappointed. Although the colours are gorgeous and pigmented I really don't think I will be getting a lot of use out of them. First of all I didn't expect them to have such a frosty finish which I am not fussed about at all. They do claim to be moisturising which is true, but the moisture sits on top of the lips making them quite uncomfortable to wear and I was always worried about the product going gloopy and patchy.

Where to buy?

I bought mine from cherryculture.com and definitely recommend this site when bulk buying NYX products. They retail for USD$4.00 but always seem to be on sale and I picked them up for $2.80 - Definitely a great deal. The swatches they have on the website are definitely NOT true to colour so do a bit more research if you're after a specific colour or like me just YOLO it and choose a few random ones.

You can also buy NYX from Target in Australia and they retail for $8.95 - still relatively cheap for a lipstick in Australia. A good option if you want to swatch colours.

NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream

Swatches

Tokyo

Istanbul

The Verdict

Again, another product that claims to be moisturising but really the moisture sits on top of the lips, making them fairly unpleasant to wear. The colours are BEAUTIFUL though and I love the semi-matte finish they have. I bought these thinking they would be similar to the Australis Velourlips but these are completely different. I like to wear these when I just need an easy lip colour for popping out of the house to go to the shops or lunch with a friend. Not overly long lasting but because they are so easy to applied with the doe foot applicator a good one to take on the go. I like wearing Tokyo with the Peaches and Cream Butter gloss!

Where to buy?

• AUD$12.95 from Target and crushcosmetics.com.au 
• USD$6.00 from cherryculture.com

NYX Butter Gloss

Swatches

Peaches and Cream 

Crème Brulee

The Verdict

Probably one of my favourite lip products of all time. Incredibly buttery and absolutely feels like it melts onto the lips. They are the most pigmented, long lasting and glossy lip glosses I have ever worn. I prefer to wear these just on their own but will also add a nice gloss and extra colour to a matte lipstick. This is a product that absolutely deserves the hype.

I CAN'T BELIEVE I ONLY HAVE 2 I NEED ALL THE COLOURS!!

Where to buy?

• AUD$10.95 from crushcosmetics.com.au
• AUD$9.95 from Target
• USD$5.00 from cherryculture.com

NYX Mega Shine Lip Gloss

Swatches

131 Gold Pink

The Verdict

A nice gloss that is very pigmented just like the butter glosses, it also has really tiny gold glitter in it, that isn't chunky or particularly gritty while wearing so it's definitely my go to gloss if I'm feeling in the glitter mood. It has an angled doe foot applicator that makes application super easy. The only thing I don't like is the smell, which is exactly like those red Starburst lollies no one likes.

Again, I prefer to wear this alone because the pigmentation is so great it gives a nice, natural, glossy finish.

Where to buy?

• AUD$11.95 from Target
• AUD$9.95 from crushcosmetics.com.au
• USD$5.50 from cherryculture.com.au

xx Cat ^.^

MAC Haul and Swatches

MAC Red (Satin)

Studded Kiss (Matte) Limited Edition

Extra Dimension Skin Finish in Superb (Left),  Powder Blush in Melba - Matte (Right)

Matchmaster Foundation in 1.0

Popped into the stand alone MAC store in Bondi Junction the other day to spend the vouchers that I was so lucky to receive for Christmas. I didn't really know what I wanted, but was leaning more towards face products and I also wanted a few different lipstick shades to add to my (exponentially increasing!) lipstick collection. Unlike when I've visited MAC stores in Myer or David Jones, where the staff were less than helpful, I had such a fantastic experience at the Bondi Junction store and will definitely be going back there to pick up more MAC goodies in the future! The lovely staff member started from the base by demonstrating the products I wanted to try on my face. I was really happy about this because I picked up a foundation which I never thought I was going to pick up! Can't wait to play around with all my new goodies !

xx Cat ^.^