weekly wishlist: one

A wishlist is a feature I often see on a lot of beauty blogs and love. It's nice to see what other bloggers have tried and are lusting after, or are interested in etc. These and 'empties' posts are in fact two of my favourite types of post. 

My first wishlist features products I've heard amazing things about and products I need to repurchase. I plan  on making this a weekly feature on my blog!

Clockwise from left:

1. NYX Powder Blush in Taupe £5.50: I've heard this is an amazing, natural contour for ladies with pale skin, so (obviously!) am DESPERATE to try this for a natural razor sharp look. I'm sick of having muddy orange-brown patches on my cheeks where I've tried to contour with a bronzer. They're just far too warm for my skin tone and I think something like this will look a little more natural.

2. Bobbi Brown Creamy Corrector £18: I have pretty bad dark rings around my eyes - just underneath my eyes and on the sides of the bridge of my nose (where glasses sit!) my skin is a horrible blue-grey-purple colour and I've heard about this being brilliant for correcting the colour and brightening the area, making you look more awake. At the moment I either use The Body Shop's 'Lightening Touch', which I HATE the smell of, or MAC's Studio Finish concealer, which is really drying and flaky, so I think this would be a good alternative to try.

3. Revlon 'Just Bitten' Kissable Balm Stain £7.99: I am constantly on a quest to find the perfect lip stain, and these are ones I've heard good things about. They are supposedly very moisturizing, which is a definite must for me in this cold weather, whilst still maintaining deep colour. I want to try nearly all the shades - but I think I'll start out with Crush and Cherish!

4. MAC 168 Large Angled Contour Brush £26: I desperately want an angled contour brush! A makeup artist used this one on me at the MAC store when I was trying out one of their blush colours at the counter one time, and since then I've been in love with the way it made the product look on my cheek. The blush looked far more 'controlled' than I've ever seen - it sat perfectly in the hollows of my cheeks, without over-blending the product. The large price tag puts me off a little though as I'm not sure I could justify it on a product such as this.

5. Kérastase Oleo-Relax Nutritive Serum: £17*: I used to use this serum back when I was 14 or so and had unruly, frizzy, over-dyed, thick, and curly hair that absolutely WOULD NOT behave no matter what I did to it - flat iron, deep condition, nothing. I used to massage 2-3 pumps of this serum into damp hair and then apply one more after blow-drying but before flat-ironing, and it made my sleek and soft like no other. I would kill to have this again to help make my crazy hair more easy to manage, whilst still keeping it straight and smooth and nourished.

Have you tried any of these products? What were your thoughts?

*I'm unsure of the actual price of this serum, as the internet says different prices for different sites. I know at my salon it costs £17.

topshop makeup - first impressions

I received some Topshop vouchers for Christmas, and have just used up the last of them on these two products. I'm a bit late to the parade here, but I've wanted to try a Topshop cream blush for a long time (even more so after trying Illamasqua's crush!), and also wanted to buy another Topshop lipstick after I lost my beloved Hazard. 

I think that these products are very pretty and a very reasonable price at £6 for a cream blush and £8 for a lipstick. 

I purchased the Topshop blusher in the colour 'Flush' (what is it with me and buying blush that rhymes with blush? Crush, flush.. What is that about??). I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS BLUSHER. It is the perfect inbetweeny-peachy-rosy shade, as you can see in the swatch below. It looks so so natural and applies so easily. It makes me look so healthy and 'alive'. The only downside is that this needs to be blended really really lightly, as it does have a tendency to move foundation around. I find this applied best with fingers.

Left: Flush blended, Right: two circular swipes.

I also purchased a lipstick in the shade 'All About Me' which is a very bright, neon fuschia shade. I have been CRAVING the colour pink recently and this satisfied my cravings wonderfully. It is SO PINK. I think it would look gorgeous with a simple black cat-eye and UD's 'Kinky'. 

'All About Me' applied straight from the bullet on top of E45 lip balm.

I find I have to wear this lipstick on top of a balm as the formula is very very drying due to it's matt texture. It lasts all day, however, even with a lip balm and doesn't feather or bleed which is always a plus.

The Topshop packaging is beautiful but I can see it becoming really grubby and gross in my makeup bag!

Have you tried the Topshop Makeup range yet? Do you love it or hate it?

comparison post: smashbox limitless lip stain v max factor lipfinity lip stain

Hello again!!! Sorry I haven't been around in a while. Been very busy with coursework deadlines, work and general laziness. Takes up so much time!! 

Anyway, here I am with a lip-stain comparison post. I love love love berry coloured lips - berry lips has been my "thing" for a good few years. Some favourite lipsticks are Rimmel Bordeaux (sadly discontinued, cry cry) and Starry-Eyed. Also, Revlon Black Cherry. Love it! Anyway, I find that lipsticks don't quite cut it when I'm going out - they constantly smudge all over my face and wipe off, leaving a ridiculously unattractive ring around my mouth, I leave prints on glasses and around bottles even when I wet the surface first, and worst of all, I leave red marks all over my boyfriend. He hates it and won't give me kisses when I'm wearing lipstick!!! Due to this, I decided to try some stains! Yay!

I wanted to try one high-end one, and one from the drugstore (Boots). I purchased Max Factor 'Lipfinity' in 06, and Smashbox 'Limitless' in 'Berry'.

Smashbox 'Limitless' on the left, with the balm and Max Factor 'Lipfinity' on the right.

 I was originally going to try the Revlon 'Just Bitten' stains, but I couldn't find a berry coloured one. So I went for the Max Factor 'Lipfinity' in 06, which retails for £7.99. I used that for a couple of days - and HATED it after a while. It looks amazing at first, but after the first couple of uses the colour is nowhere near as pigmented, and is in fact more of a bright fuschia-pink than a deep berry-pink. However, it builds up to quite a nice colour with a couple of applications and I like this about it. As you can see from the swatch photo, this does have quite a gritty texture.

The staying power for this one is okay, it does need reapplication throughout the night and after a drink but holds up fine when eating. It fades evenly all over the lips. It does have a tendency to bleed and feather quite quickly after application, however, as can be seen in the photos.

The packaging is HORRENDOUS. It looks horrific in the picture! I (stupidly) just threw it in my makeup bag after I bought it, and that is what has happened after a couple days of being knocked around in there. Shudder.

It does in fact transfer, it is not completely immovable. I tried the 'kiss test' - where I applied the product, waited for it to dry, and then gave my boyfriend an enormous wet kiss, and it did transfer quite noticeably.

Excuse my lack of makeup! Also, look at how badly this product has bled??

Not a happy bunny

Next up I tried Smashbox's 'Limitless' lipstain with 'Colourseal' balm in the colour 'Berry' - which retails for £18. This applied very neatly which I liked, and was a far deeper, truer red-pink berry colour than the Max Factor one. I liked how it applied, and especially liked how it looked with the balm as it was very drying. It was supposed to have some kind of anti-feather technology thing going on, but of course it did feather a little bit, albeit much less than the Max Factor stain. 

This does tend to migrate to the edges of the lips, which does give that dreaded 'ring' look which I was trying to avoid. Aaaaaah!! 

The pigmentation and lasting power of this product however, is like NO other. I LITERALLY could not get it off!!! No matter how hard I tried I could not get it out of the lines in my lips. It will not move when on your lips either - it doesn't transfer on to food, drinks, or my boyfriend - result!

Foundation smudge on my nose, oh no!

Sleepy cat... Also my teddy bear sneaking in the corner there.

I would probably score both of these lipstains at 7/10. Both of them have their good and bad points. I think I possibly prefer the Smashbox one, but I don't think it's worth paying an extra £10 for. I will however continue to use it on nights out. I would not repurchase either of these and will probably have to continue my quest to find the perfect berry lipstain. Next up on my list is Revlon's Just Bitten Balmstain in 'Crush' I think.

What is your favourite lipstain? Have you tried either of these?