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:

Zoya Adina, Kiko 347 & Barry M Silver Foil Stamping

Over the weekend I decided to try out Zoya Adina, it's a polish I have had for a while but only worn once so I thought I should give it an outing. 

After I applied it I decided it was a bit dull and I wasn't overly impressed with it on it's own on my newly short nails so I thought I would stamp over the top with Kiko 347.

Unfortunately, my stamping skills were clearly not up to par yesterday and it all looked a bit smudged, patchy and messy. 

Rather than take it all off and start a again I decided to try and save it by stamping again over the top with Barry M Nail Foil in Silver.

 

 

While it's still not perfect, and a bit of an odd combination, I do think the stars make the whole design look a bit more cohesive, and more the the point you can't tell that I smudged the zebra print underneath quite so badly.

I do like the double stamp look so that's something I will definitely be doing again, as for the colour combination, probably not.

New Stamping Plate Collections - Bundle Monster & Cheeky

Both Cheeky & Bundle Monster have recently announced a new collection of plates to be release late May / early June this year.  I'm currently trying to decide which I need to purchase, although I suspect the answer might be both.

Both companies have been revealing previews of some of the new plates on their Facebook pages, here are the designs they've shown so far.

CHEEKY:

BUNDLE MONSTER:

No7 Poppy King Lip Crayon - Raindrops Collection (Singing, Dancing & Playing)

I seem to be utterly obsessed with buying lip products at the moment.  The Poppy King Lip Crayons for No7 are the latest thing to be added to my collection.

Previously I purchased some Stila Lip Glaze Sticks as I liked the idea of a lip gloss in pencil form, unfortunately I never really got much wear out of them as I found them too sheer and, more annoyingly, very glittery.  I am really not a fan of glitter on my lips and the Stila version has glitter through pretty much every colour.

So, when I saw the No7 versions, which looked a lot more glitter free, I decided to give them a try.  I almost picked them up on Tuesday but decided to hold off as I was sure we must be due another £5 No7 voucher soon, and I was right, I went back in yesterday and, not only were the £5 off No7 vouchers back on, it's 3 for 2 on No7 too.  So I bagged three of the Lip Crayons for £18!

I chose Singing, Dancing and Playing (although I am very tempted to go back for the other 2).  Singing is a bright fuchsia leaning pink, Dancing is a more subtle pink shade and Playing is a peachy coral.  All three colours I have are lovely and very wearable.

The Lip Crayons feel great on, they're pretty long lasting and non sticky.  Although you can feel them on your lips they are not annoying and feel nice and light.  They have quite a high end feel to them, as they should retailing at £11.50 each, and I was pleasantly surprised at the length of time they lasted on my lips - longer than the Rouge Caresse lipsticks I have been wearing a lot lately.

They also appear to have a slight staining effect so even once the more obvious glossy colour has worn off you are left with a tint to your lips which I rather like, it prolongs the wear and makes them feel more practical than something like the Stila Lip Glaze Sticks which disappeared in a matter of minutes leaving only sharp glitter behind.

One slight downside to the Lip Crayons is that they seem rather soft, especially when warm, Playing's tip broke / got very smooshed as soon as I tested it after getting it back from Boots and I wasn't particularly rough with it.  This may be in part due to them having been stored under the hot lights in store, it remains to be seen I they behave better out and about.

I love that there is a sharpener included in the cap of each pencil, another downside of my Stila Glazes was that you had to carry a sharpener with you if you were going to be topping up your lips during the day.  With the Poppy King Crayons you simply use the lid of the pencil to sharpen them, so handy!

The sharpener is covered by a lid so won't catch on anything in your make up bag or leave product over everything else, this is definitely a huge bonus with these Crayons.

I am really pleased with the Lip Crayons, enough to be considering going back in to buy the other two colours very soon, however, the chances of me paying £11.50 for one is slim. 

That seems to be the case with almost all No7 products I have tried.  I love their quick dry top coat and nail varnishes but I would never pay £7 for them which means that all my No7 purchases happen during the £5 off voucher offers.  I know a lot of people are the same and I'm also sure No7 are aware of this, I'd love to see the leap in their sales figure when the vouchers come out, I bet it's substantial!

I'll leave you with a final couple of (bad, must get a decent camera) photos.

Chanel Quartz

This is my first ever Chanel polish, it was a gift from a friend.

It applied beautifully, so smooth and even, and the colour is lovely.  It's a sort of minky beige with an almost blue shimmer to it, in very bright light you can see tiny particles of glitter through it too.

Would I buy another Chanel polish?  I don't know, the formula is certainly excellent judging by this bottle, although I've heard that's not always the case, but I think unless they come out with something totally un-dupable I probably couldn't justify the cost.  I'm utterly delighted to have been given this one though, it's so pretty. <3

Revlon Lip Butters VS L'Oreal Rouge Caresse Lipsticks - The Comparison Post.

My ever growing collection of Lip Butters & Rouge Caresse Lipsticks.

I've blogged fairly extensively about both these products of late, they are definitely my most recent obsession.  I really like both products but I think that they are both suitable for different times and looks, they're not quite as similar as their descriptions might lead you to believe so I thought I would do a round up and comparison post now that I have bought pretty much all of the colours I want to try, for now.
First off, here are all the individual posts in case you want to have a look at them in detail, there are swatches and product pictures on each post.

Revlon Lip Butters: Part 1 & Part 2
L'Oreal Rouge Caresse: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 & Part 4

Revlon Lip Butter in Candy Apple & L'Oreal Rouge Caresse in Rebel Red

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

The Lip Butters are generally a good deal more opaque in their coverage and a slightly more dry, less glossy consistancy.  I would definitely put them at the lipstick end of the spectrum rather than the balm or gloss end although they are lighter feeling and less opaque than a regular lipstick.

I think they're ideal for trying out darker or bolder colours which you might not be brave enough to try in a full blown lipstick, the sheerer coverage of the Lip Butters means that although they give a relatively strong pop of colour in most shades they don't give you that full on I AM WEARING BRIGHT LIPSTICK look that can be a bit intimidating, at least for me.

One slight issue I have found with them is that due to slightly drier texture they can tend to higlight dry lips a little (if that's an issue for you) and don't apply nicely if your lips are very dry or chapped, tending to clog up in the dry patches.  Also they can wear off in a slightly uneven way and and leave a line around your lips which isn't the best look.

The Rouge Caresse lipsticks are definitely NOT lipsticks, they are definitely more towards the balm or gloss end of the scale.  Compared to the Lip Butters they are glossier and feel a bit more more moisturising to wear, they also have a lighter feel on lips and tend to wear off in a more even way without leaving a line, although this could be due to the fact the colours are not as strong as the Lip Butters.  I also feel as if they wear off faster than the Lip Butters although, again, that may be due to pigmentation.

The range of Rouge Caresse colours, although larger than the Lip Butters, is not so bold or bright.  Although there are some colours which seem quite bright and vivid in the tubes they are not really as bright or opaque as their Lip Butter equivilents.  They are however a bit better on slightly dry lips, they don't tend to cling to the dry areas quite so much and they feel a bit more moisturising.

Neither product lasts particularly long and they do need to be re-applied fairly regularly.  One way I love to wear them is over one of my many lip stains, they add an extra pop of colour and / or gloss over the top of the lip stain and stop them from feeling so drying with the added benefit of the lip stain making the colour seem more opaque and long lasting.
Scent wise the Rouge Caresse have an almost fruity hint to them and a bit of vanilla, the Lip Butters are more vanilla and smell slightly more like I would expect a lipstick to, a sort of cosmetic, waxy kind of hint.  Neither are offensive but I prefer the Rouge Caresse personally.

Revlon Lip Butter in Candy Apple & L'Oreal Rouge Caresse in Rebel Red

Direct Colour Comparisons

There are similar colours in each range but very few direct dupes, especially due to texture, shine and opaquness.  Here are a list of the colours I have with what I consider to be their closest comparison colour / almost dupes.

Candy Apple Lip Butter - Rebel Red or Aphrodite Scarlet Rouge Caresse
Candy Apple is much more opaque / darker (see comparison photos)

Tutti Fruit Lip Butter - Dating Coral Rouge Caresse
Similar colours but the Rouge Caresse is very sheer and peachy toned whereas the Lip Butter definitely leans orange and is much more opaque.

Raspberry Pie Lip Butter - Sweet Berry Rouge Caresse
Considering these both have berry in the name they are very diffirent, Sweet Berry is what I would call a mum shade, it's pretty but very neutral, a berry shade that leans towards the browny end of the solur spectrum.  Raspberry Pie is a very dark, bold berry shade and probably the most opaque of all the Lip Butters.

Lollipop Lip Butter - Impulsive Fuschia Rouge Caresse
Similar in colour, both bright pinks with a blue hint / shimmer to them, again the Rouge Caresse is much more sheer.

Sweet Tart Lip Butter - ? Rouge Caresse
Sweet Tart is a gorgeous bright, Barbie pink, none of the Rouge Caresse shades I have are a good match.

Strawberry Shortcake Lip Butter - Lovely Rose Rouge Caresse
These are similar in that they are both light, frosty pinks, Lovely Rose is the lighter of the two and slightly more sheer.

Creme Brulee Lip Butter - Nude Ingenue Rouge Caresse
Very similar colour-wise, the main difference again is opaquness and coverage, the Lip Butter is far more opaque.

? Lip Butter - Tempting Lilac Rouge Caresse
I don't have anything similar to Tempting Lilac, it's a blue leaning lilacy pink, pretty and quite different from all my Lip Butters.

Revlon Lip Butter in Candy Apple & L'Oreal Rouge Caresse in Rebel Red

The Winners?

Overall, I really like both products, for me the Lip Butters allow me to wear bright, bold lip colours without fully comitting to an proper lipstick, I love them for nights out and days when I want it to be obvious I have colour on my lips or fancy a stronger look.

The Rouge Caresse I prefer for everyday looks, they're a little more subtle and more like a wash of colour and they also have the benefit of feeling nicely moisturising while they're on. They're ideal for chucking on with a simple make up look when I want to feel more done up but don't want to spend time applying lots of lip products.

I tink it very much depends on what you are looking for from the product, for me I really like having both in my make up bag for different occasions but if I had to choose I would probably lean a little towards the L'Oreal Rouge Caresse just because they feel a little better on the lips and are more wearable every day.

Kiko 341 NOTD

Rubbish photo again, in person this has a much more turquoise colour to it.

L'Oreal Rouge Caresse Lipstick - Lovely Rose

As well documented, here here and here, I have developed a bit of an obsession with the Rouge Caresse lipsticks of late.  While I was in Superdrug the other day making the most of their 3 for 2 offer I decided to pick up one final colour to complete my collection.  That colour was Lovely Rose.

Lovely Rose is a soft shimmery pink shade, it's slightly lighter when applied than I had hoped for but still a very pretty colour.

As with all the lipsticks in this range the product applies beautifully and feels very light and soft on the lips.



I think my purchase of Lovely Rose has completed my collection of Rouge Caresse shades and although I am not as in love with the colour as some of the others in the range it's still very wearable and will be nice for lighter spring make up looks.

Cien Nail Polish Remover

While I was in Lidl recently I grabbed a bottle of Cien Nail Polish Remover, mainly because of it's special cap.  I've previously seen caps like this available on more high end remover so when I saw it on this little bottle for a bargain £1.49 I couldn't resist.

There are apparently two versions, the one I have - acetone free - and a regular one with acetone which comes in a blue liquid / bottle.  Given the choice I would have gone with the regular one containing acetone as I find non-acetone removers aren't quite as effective but they only had one option in my store.

The main draw was definitely the cap which allows you to press down on the plastic disk under the cap and soak your cotton wool pad, this means you don't have to invert the bottle and risk pouring remover everywhere.  It also means I shouldn't have any more incidents when I leave the bottle sitting somewhere with the lid off!

I'm really looking forward to trying this out and if the bottle is effective re-filling it with my own favourite brand of remover.

Sleek Ultra Matte Palette - V2 Darks

I love matte shadows and I love i-Divine palettes so when I saw that Sleek were releasing two all matte palettes I knew I had to have at least one, although I am still very tempted by the brights too.

The palette consists of 12 matte shadows in a variety of (darker) colours.

I am a big fan of Sleek shadows and in particular their palettes.  The colours in this one are great and I love the fact that all the shadows are matte, sometimes I find shimmery and glittery shadows a bit too bling for daily work wear. 

Unfortunately I am finding the formula a little difficult to work with so far.  The shadows seem to go a bit muddy if you blend them too much and being darker colours they do need blending.

I've only used the palette a couple of times so far so i am hoping it's more to do with my cack handed, rushed attempts than the quality of the product as I really like the colours and think I could get a lot of use out of the palette.