NEW IN: My Muji-Inspired Lipstick Storage

On an impromptu trip to TK Maxx with my dad the other day, I came across the most awesome little surprise: clear acrylic make-up storage. I'm a fan of MUJI but I'm not a fan of their prices, so after quickly rushing over to check out these little beauties I was more than happy when I saw that this 24-space lipstick storage was just £5.99! I've seen a few floating around on eBay, but after reading reviews from others on their poor quality I gave them a miss and invested in this set instead.

 

The perfect width for a variety of products of different shapes and sizes, this unit measures three spaces down and eight across, giving 24 holes in total. The rows raise slightly higher as they go back, giving you a good over-view of all of your lipsticks without having to rummage around.

 

Featured on top of my new Ikea Billy Bookcase alongside a beautiful copy of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and a strawberry and melon candle, I adore my new lipstick storage!

 

xx

Review: Rimmel Kate Moss 101 Lipstick

 

 

I'm pretty sure there's not a girl alive who isn't somewhat familiar with the good old Kate Moss 107 lipstick. But I don't often hear enough about the other shades from the collection, which lead me to investigate in my local boots and emerge bearing the beautiful shade 101.

 

My tastes in lipsticks change very frequently depending on my mood or outfit choice for the day, but I have noticed my favouring of a pretty, dusty pink shade. Up until recently it had been Rimmel's Oxford St Fuchsia but after discovering this beauty it's been well and truly pushed aside.

 

The 101 lipstick is a matte-yet-glossy lipstick that sits beautifully upon the lips. The formula is so moisturising despite it's matte finish that I'm amazed and the scent, oh, the scent is a deliciously fruity kind of smell. I think it's very important for lip products to smell nice because they are so close to your nose that they're often unpleasant to wear otherwise. Anyway, the colour. It's somewhat similar to the MUA Matte Effect in Pouty Pink - a pretty, girly, bubble gum pink that's not too dark and not too light but this one contains more pigment and is much more flattering, I feel. It's wear time is impressive and maintains strength through eating and drinking.

 

 

Overall I'm really impressed with this lipstick. Whilst I'm not sure it will ever gain such a credibility as the infamous 107, I'm sharing this find with whoever will listen. This lipstick retails for £5.49 from Boots but is currently on offer for £3.99!

 

xx



My Lipsmacker Lip Balm Collection (& Review!)

Move over Baby Lips.

 

Today I'm going to share with you one of my favourite Christmas presents from last year (it sounds so long ago!): my Lip Smacker Lip Balm Tin. Lip balms are definitely my weakness and I have more than I will ever need but I just can't help but buy more. I need help. So I was very very excited to receive the Lip Smackers Coca Cola Tin for Christmas off my boyfriend and proceeded to try them all out over the course of the day. I have been in love with them ever since.

 

 

In the cute, retro looking tin (where I now store my bobby pins) I got the Coca Cola, Vanilla Coke, Cherry Coke, Strawberry Fanta, Orange Fanta and Sprite flavours of lip balms. Yes, please note: flavours. These things taste frickin' amazing, exactly like you're drinking the drinks themselves. They are all packed with strong scents that smell exactly like their supposed to: you can almost smell the fizziness. Because of this, I'm sure it will be a love-or-hate thing with some people, but I adore them. The consistency is really nice, not oily or greasy at all and actually sinks into lips rather than sitting on top. I apply a generous coating at bedtime and wake up with the softest, nourished lips. I don't need to apply more in the morning - I just pop my lipstick right on top.

 

 I'm not too crazy on the Orange Fanta one, I admit, simply because the orangey scent is a little too artificial and sweet for me, but the Cherry Coke and Strawberry Fanta are my favourites. These two also carry a light tint that coats your lips with a gentle, rosy gloss. The Sprite and Vanilla Coke also share this trait, but their colour is more of a pale creamy shade which is very unflattering, so these two are best left for bed times. Also in my stash, but not part of this collection, I have the Feast balm, which doesn't necessarily smell like a Feast ice lolly but damn sure tastes like one.

 

The moisturising qualities that these balms possess are also really great. I apply a generous coating at bedtime and wake up with the softest, nourished lips. I don't need to apply more in the morning - I just pop my lipstick right on top.

 

Overall, I think these lip balms make the perfect gift for any time of year or occasion and come in a huge variety of shades, scents and flavours. They even have salted caramel and red velvet cupcake. The prices range between £1 - £3 for just one (Primark is the cheapest I've found them, Topshop the most expensive) and the collections vary between £8 - £15. They're also very easy to get a hold of: Primark, Topshop, Sainsburys, Claires and Amazon.co.uk are places I've picked these up from before.

 

xx

Review: New MUA Matte Effect Lipsticks

Hello everyone!

Today I have a review for you guys, featuring a new exciting release from bargain make-up brand Make Up Academy. I'm a dedicated lover when it comes to all of their products so of course when I saw these new Matte Effect lipsticks I had to pick up one... or three.

The first thing I noticed about these was the packaging. It's very clean and simple - basically the same as their regular lipstick tubes but instead of black these are white. The next thing I realised was that they've finally finally given their shades names. I don't know why this is such a big deal to me, but I hate it when companies use numbers instead of words to distinguish their shades. The three I got are named 'Pouty Pink', 'Scarlet Siren' and 'Wild Berry'. Definitely not the most imaginative but at least they've given us something to work with.

Anyway, on to the lipsticks themselves. I'm really depressed to say this, but I'm not a fan. Many matte lipsticks are drying and chalky and these are no exception - they sit, flaky, upon even the most moisturised lips. Weirdly I found the pink to be more drying than the other two, and the red the nicest to wear. I'm also very disappointed with the pigment of these shades. The pink appears to be a lovely, bright colour and the purple/brown shade very dark and vampy but they simply do not come across this way upon lips. You have to apply quite a few coats before the colour even becomes noticeable.

Left to right: 'Pouty Pink' - 'Scarlet Siren' - 'Wild Berry'

 Their staying power appears to be pretty good, mostly because the colour clings to your lips (which in this case, is a blessing and a curse) but I can't say that I'm going to rush out and buy any other colours from this collection. I would definitely recommend the red as I find it the most moisturising and flattering and possibly the pink if you have an amazing lip balm to pair it with, but I would steer clear of the Wild Berry shade - it's nothing like I expected!

Overall, I think this is the only product I've bought from MUA that I haven't got on with, but at £1 each you can't really argue!

xx 



Lush, Superdrug and Claires Haul!

Hello everyone!

 

It's been quite a while since I did a haul so I thought I'd show you what I picked up earlier in town. It's a mix of things I bought for myself and things I'm going to put away for people for Christmas.

 

 

 

 

Since its the place I spent the most time and money, I'll start with Lush. Out of the four things I bought, three of them are from their Limited Edition Christmas or Halloween range! I tried the Lord of Misrule bath bomb which I reviewed: here and was really impressed so I picked up another bath bomb from the Halloween range which is called Soot Ball, £2.50. It's this adorable black dusty ball that has big eyes and quite a musky scent. I'd definitely say this is more of a masculine scent, although the glitter that erupts into your bath makes it rather feminine as well! I haven't tried this yet but expect a review soon! The next thing I got was this beautiful, amazingly-scented, slightly sparkly Candy Mountain Bubble Bar, £2.65. This smells AMAZING, just like the Snow Fairy Showergel or the Bubblegum Lip Scrub. I've never tried one of their bubble bars before but I'm keeping my fingers crossed! Again, expect a review! The last two things are going to be stashed away for Christmas for my dad and my sister. The Dirty Shaving Cream, £5.25, for my dad (which I've also reviewed here as my boyfriend loves it) and the Gold Limited Edition FUN, £5.00, for my baby sister. It smells just like their 'Honey I Washed The Kids' soap, which kind of reminds me of the Honey Nut Loop cereal!

 

Next I stopped off in Superdrug and picked up three of the new MUA Matte Effect Lipsticks. I have very high hopes for these are I love matte lipsticks but the formulas are always really drying so I'm looking forward to testing these. The packaging is the same as the normal MUA Lipsticks but in white and they actually have shade names now! I picked up 'Pouty Pink', 'Scarlet Siren' and 'Wild Berry' as Superdrug are currently offering a '3 for 2', which means I got all three for just £2!

 

 

 

Lastly I went into Claire's Accessories, somewhere I've not visited since I was a teenager, and grabbed one of their fake lip/nose rings. I'm seriously considering getting my lip pierced so I can wear a ring but thought I'd better pace myself and just see what it looks like before making any drastic choices! I got a silver one which was £3.50 but they also do it in black. I have to admit it's quite uncomfortable and my lip has gone a little numb but I'm willing to suffer for how nice it looks!

 

xx

Budget Brand Focus: Boots Natural Collection

 

 

Personally, when I think of certain brands I have a certain product of theirs in mind. Collection: concealer. Rimmel: lipstick and foundation. Revlon: nail varnish. They all have their own sensational hits or depressing misses with products that are widely appreciated across the blogging world, so I thought I'd do a little 'Brand Focus' series here on Mega Beauty to show you guys my likes and dislikes with certain brands.

 

I thought I'd kick off with one of my favourite budget brands, Natural Collection. A baby of the Boots brand, Natural Collection's products are all Dermatologically Tested and Fragrance Free so they're perfect for even the most sensitive skins! The price range of this brand is fantastic, ranging from £1.79 - £1.99 per item or rather often they feature a '3 for £5' deal that I regularly take advantage of. The product range itself is rather good, they have all the normal products you would expect such as mascara, eyeliner, lipsticks and nail varnishes as well as blushers, foundations, concealers and bronzing pearls. However the shade ranges are lacking in some areas such as the blushers and eye shadow duos where-as the lipstick and nail varnish range is full of lovely shades.

 

So without further ado, I'll show you my little collection of their products and my thoughts!

 

 

I currently own one Blushed Cheeks Blusher in Pink Cloud, one Eye Shadow Duo in Mink/Sable and three Moisture Shine Lipsticks in Berry Blush (top), Raspberry (left) and Pink Mallow (right).

 

As you can see, the packing of these products are fairly simple and straight-forward: white plastic containers with clear screw-on lids for the potted products and a simple white lipstick lid for the lipsticks (obviously). The brand logo is written in a simple brown on the side/top. I personally like the packaging aesthetically, it's very simple and the clean white shade makes the colour of the products pop. The practicality of the packaging is awful though - the pans all fall out of the pots but it's nothing a little super glue wont fix.

 

Now onto the products themselves.

 

I've done a full review on the Blusher here so if you want the full info on this product plus swatches then go and take a look, but for now I'll just give you the basics. The pigment of this is literally incredible, you hardly need any on your brush and it does require quite a light hand as it's so packed full of colour so it means the little pot will last a long time! It sits very nicely upon the skin and lasts a fair amount of time. This is the only shade I have from this range as the others are more bronzy/peachy and they're not really my thing. This blush was £1.99.

 

The Eyeshadow Duo is my newest purchase, I got this when I went on a 'neutral eye' shopping spree (I also picked up a Heaven & Earth MUA Palette, review coming soon!) and have been using it regularly since. The shades I chose are Mink/Sable, a lovely light chocolatey brown and a slightly shimmery cream. Both of these shades are quite matte and yet at the same time have a slight luminosity to them that make them very flattering. The pigment isn't amazing, but that might just be because of how light the shades are themselves but they do last a long time. I wear these together, with a darker shade from the MUA Palette to accentuate the crease a little more. The other shades in the collection are quite nice but I think these are the only neutrals. This duo was £1.99.

 

Finally, the lipsticks.  My three shades are Berry Blush, a deep purple/red/pink shade that's packed with subtle sparkle, Raspberry, a pretty red/pink shade and my favourite, Pink Mallow, a gorgeous dusty pink shade that I can't stop wearing. The consistency of these lipsticks is really nice and buttery but despite being part of the 'Moisture Shine' range they're not particularly moisurising, a lip balm is definitely needed. The staying power is okay, but if you're planning on wearing it for an all-day-out kind of day, you'll definitely need to take it with you! The shade range is quite nice, a mix of nudes, reds and pinks but there's not really any darker shades. These lipsticks were £1.99 each.

 

 

So there you have it!

 

Overall, I do love this brand. There's a few gems within the product line-up but they also have their faults with shade ranges, so I'd say it's a mixed bag. The price definitely makes up for it though!

 

xx

My Top 4 Statement Lips (Best & Worst!)

 

 

Okay, so I have this little obsession with lipsticks. I don't really know where it came from as up until last year I had the opinion that lipstick was for more mature, sensible women than me and I was completely all about the eyes.

 

But since the day that I changed all that, I've grown quite a collection. I think lipstick is the thing I have the most random purchases of - even if the colour definitely isn't suitable for my look or my skin tone, I always buy it... just in case.

 

So today I thought I'd show you guys my top 4 Statement lipsticks (best & worst).

 

 

 

 

Left to right: Nivea Volume Shine Lipstick in Mauve Parure - Barry M Lipstick in 129 - Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick in Rogue - MUA Lipstick in Nectar

 

 

Nivea Volume Shine Lipstick in Mauve Parure -

 

One of my post recent purchases - a gorgeous deep berry toned purple. The formula of this is very thick and is one that definitely needs a brush to be applied or it will go everywhere. It has good staying power once applied in layers and adds drama to any outfit. I would recommend keeping all other make-up simple for a day look, where-as adding lashings of mascara and a cat-eye looks amazing with it for a dramatic night-out look. I got this for £1 from Poundland.

 

Barry M Lipstick in Shade 129 -

 

This lipstick is the 'worst' mentioned in the title. I was so excited when I bought this lipstick as I've been dying for a pale purple lip shade but sadly this was such a disappointment! The formula is so shiny and never dries so the slightest touch of your lips will cause a blur! The shade is completely un-wearable for me as it makes everything seem so yellow! My skin looks unhealthy and sallow and it's not very flattering for even the whitest teeth. Such a shame as it's a lovely pale pink toned lilac but it just doesn't work for me! I paid £4.25 for this from Boots.

 

Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick in Rogue -

 

Although it looks much darker in the tube, this lipstick has a lovely deep red tone. In my photo it doesn't translate well (I think it was the bright lighting) but it works very well with my pale skin and looks perfect with just a few slicks of mascara for a ' I look like I've tried when I actually haven't' look. The staying power of this is incredible - I applied at 8am and it was still going strong at half past 2pm - and once dry it's not too matte or shiny. My lips simply look moisturised! I got this for £1 at Poundland.

 

MUA Lipstick in Nectar -

 

This lipstick is definitely my favourite out of the bunch. A gorgeous bright, wearable orange that sits beautifully upon lips and lasts for hours. It's brightness doesn't wash me out at all, in fact it seems to give some life to my face! It applies really well straight from the tube but does require layers if you want it to last all day. This lipstick can be taken from day-to-night with just an outfit change, I love it! I picked it up from Superdrug for just £1!

 

So there you have it! My top four best and worst statement lipsticks.

 

I hope you enjoyed this post and I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

xx