Miners - Tin O Tint

Quite a while back I found a few of these retro looking little tins in T J Hughes a sort of discount department store, I picked up Cherry, Watermelon and Vanilla (there's a bargain set of those versions HERE if you are interested) and they've served me well.

 

Tin O Tint does pretty much what it says on the, well, tin!  They are little pots of deliciously scented, tinted lip balm which add a touch of colour while also keeping your lips moisturised.

 

While browsing online recently I saw there were three newer shades and I decided to order them and try them out too, I'm a sucker for owning a full set of things.

 

 

The new versions are Pink Grapefruit a bright Barbie sort of pink shade, Mango a gorgeous coral and Cocoa Bean which is a nudey brown sort of shade.  They all smell like you would imagine their namesakes to.

 

My favourite of the bunch has to be Mango, it's got a lovely fruity scent and when applied it adds a gorgeous glossy pop of coral colour to the lips.

 

These little tins are ideal if you want something to leave in your handbag or on your desk to add a subtle pop of colour to your lips throughout the day, they're not as bold or bright as a lip stick but they are a bit more made up looking than a plain lip balm.  The texture of them is lovely too.

Holiday Make Up Bag

I always find it interesting to see what beauty products and make up people take on holiday with them, I have a terrible habit of packing waaaay too much make up when I travel and then never using most of it, so this year I decided to try and pack minimally make up wise and see how I got on (yes, this is minimal).

 

Here's what I took:

 

 

Urban Decay Naked Palette

5 Assorted eye brushes

Kiko Eyebrow Pencil

Elf Eyebrow Gel

Too Face Shadow Insurance

Maybelline Mascara

No7 Cream Blush

W7 Candy Floss Blush

2 L'Oreal Rouge Caresse - Dating Coral & Sweet Berry

Revlon Lip Butter - Sweet Tart

No7 Poppy King Lip Crayon - Skipping

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain - Honey & Rendezvous

Miss Sporty Dr Balm Lip Balm - Gossip Kiss

UD Grindhouse Sharpener

Maybelline BB Cream

Powder & Blusher Brush

Cotton Buds

Hair Clips

Eyelash Curlers

UD 24/7 Liners - Stray Dog, Demolition, Uzi & Perversion

NYC Face Powder

 

Despite this being hugely pared down from what I normally take I still didn't use all of it!  I could definitely have gotten away with fewer lip products and fewer eye liners too.  I never wear much make up on holiday and when I do it's always fairly light and basic yet I can't seem to convince myself it's ok to leave the country without a load of stuff!

 

Do you have the same problem?  Is it possible to pack a capsule wardrobe for your face?  What do you take when you go away?

 

Revlon - Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Honey & Rendezvous

The blogging world has been full of chat about these since they launched in the US and now they are available here too, currently on offer at £5.99 in Superdrug (normally £7.99) or on 3 for 2 in Boots which works out cheaper if you will definitely use three shades, in hindsight I should probably have waited and gone to Boots to buy three but I was too excited when I saw them and had to grab a couple to try.

I chose Rendezvous, a bright coral orange, and Honey, a nudey pink: 

Since I've only had these in my grubby paws for just over an hour I can't give you an extensively tested view just yet but so far the colour pay off seems good.  I'm not sure how much of a stain they leave but there is a good strong colour on the lips when they're applied and Rendezvous is bright!

One thing I found slightly off putting was the smell, it's minty which I was hoping would be a nice change from all the flowery sweet scents that have been in lip products recently, unfortunately this mint smells very much like it's still growing in the ground rather than being a clean medicinal mint scent.  It's not horribly over powering but it's also not as nice as I was hoping it would be.  I assume they contain some sort of menthol as there is definitely a slight tingle when these are applied.

Here are some on the arm swatches of my two:

I found both of the colours I have to be a similar opacity to Revlon Lip Butters, so not as full as a regular lipstick but pretty highly pigmented for something called a balm.  Overall I'm please, these are a nice looking, quality feeling product and don't require a sharpener which is a bonus.  As a poor man (or lady)'s Chubby Stick they are a great alternative and definitely worthy of a spot in my make up bag, whether I'll like them enough to go back for other shades remains to be seen.

No7 Poppy King Lip Crayon - Raindrops Collection (Smiling & Skipping)

As suspected, the lure of a 3 for 2 and the No7 £5 off voucher was too much, I had to go back for the other 2 Crayons in the Raindrops collection.  You can see my first post on them here.

This time I picked up Smiling and Skipping; a bright, blue based red and a very sheer berry colour. Skipping is definitely the least pigmented from the collection and leaves just a hint of subtle colour on the lips whereas Smiling is as punchy and bright as the previous 3 I've tried.

Not much more to say on these other than to echo what I said in my last post about them.  I really like the texture and wear of the Crayons and after having tried them out some more over the weekend I am really pleased with them, they're very wearable colours, look great on the lips and last surprisingly well for this sort of product.

Finally, here are a couple of swatches of my two newest editions:

Miss Sporty - Dr Balm - Heartbreaker Kiss 04 & Honey Moon Kiss 05

I previous posted about trying Gossip Kiss 03 from this range and while I was in Superdrug today I noticed two more, darker, shades which I thought looked interesting.

Honey Moon Kiss is a berry shade and Heartbreaker Kiss is a red, both are very sheer and only leave a hint of colour on the lips but like Gossip Kiss they're a nice texture and have a pleasant, sweet sort of watermelon-y smell.

They are not very different when swatched, or even on the lips but there is a subtle difference in the tint.  Overall I am pretty pleased with these, I have been using 03 quite a lot when I don't want to wear any lip colour at all and the additional two I purchased today will give me a little more variety on non-lip colour days.

They're handy to chuck in my handbag too for days when I don't know what sort of make up I'll be wearing but want to have something to stick on my lips.

There are two further, lighter, shades in the range but they didn't appeal to me quite so much, although given my love for completing collections I may end up with them at some point.

Miss Sporty - Dr Balm - Gossip Kiss 03

I picked this up in Boots today to try, it's a lightly tinted watermelon flavoured lip balm.  It looks similar to a lot of the translucent bullet style balms and treatments that are being talked about at the moment, Maybelline Color Sensational Pop Sticks being one of them, so I decided to give this budget (£1.99) version a go and see if I could rid myself of the need for a more expensive version.

It is quite highly scented but it's a pleasant enough, fruity, sweet smell so I quite like it.  On the lips it leaves a very subtle hint of colour which is nice but not very obvious.  It seems moisturising enough although not fantastically so, I would definitely stick to my trusty Carmex or Blistex for proper dry lip days.  All in all for only £1.99 it's a nice little tinted lip balm, but I'm not sure it's nice enough to bother trying the other colours in the range.

This is 03 - Gossip Kiss, there were two other lighter colours in Boots today and I think there might be another couple in the range although I haven't seen them in person yet.