Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains Review & Swatches

Hey fellow lipstick maniacs, the lippie reviews are back!

 Crush, Adore, Romantic

I'm going to be reviewing the Revlon Kissable Balm Stains. Now I actually tried 2 of the colors when they just came out, ended up hating them, and returned them.
After starting school again I realized that as much as I loved my Revlon lip butters, they wore off pretty quickly. I started looking for something long wearing. The problem is I have very dry lips and a lot of stains and long wearing lipsticks make my lips look horribly flaky. Since I hated the colors I got of the Revlon Kissable Balm Stains, not the formula, I decided to try out some of the deeper fall colors. I'm glad I did as these are now my new love; I even broke up with my Revlon lip butters for these!
Now I'm sure you all read about these a million times, so I'm going give a very short summary; they are supposed to go on like a moisturizing balm, give color, and stain the lips after a couple hours. 

The Pros:
1) They go on like a lip balm and are comfortable on the lips.
2) They have a refreshing minty feel and taste that's not too strong.
3) They have a glossy finish once applied. Not glossy like a lip gloss, but a healthy look. The shine remains for around 3 hours.
4)After the shine goes away, the product sets into the lips and leaves a stain. The stain doesn't transfer and is still there after drinking and eating.
5)  The stain is not patchy, it wears off evenly.
6) The darker colors are not like marker lipstains; they go on sheer at first but can be built to full color.
7) The product rolls up so it doesn't need to be sharpened.

The Cons:
1) They are around $9-$10 which is pretty expensive, especially because there is not much product. The balm stain goes down to less the halfway of the tube.
2) The color of the tube is not always true to the actual color.
3) My lips have medium pigmentation and the lighter colors didn't show up :(.
4) It does slightly settle into lip lines. I can't see it from afar but I can up close.
5) There are 12 shades, but some of the shades are very redundant (more on that later).

Onto the Colors:

 Crush, Adore, Romantic

Romantic is a bright orangey red. It's great for both summer and fall. I thought this would be the same color as the Revlon lip butter in Candy Apple but Romantic is lighter and more orange while Candy Apple is deeper and more of a tomato red.

Adore look like a dark vampy red in the tube but it's actually a wearable, sheer brown toned red. It has subtle gold shimmers. I think it would look very natural on warm skintones.This one is the most wearable out of the 3 I got.

 Crush is a dark reddish-purple berry color on the lips.

 Romantic, Adore, Crush

Now onto the 2 colors I returned and why:
Darling: I was really excited for this shade but it would not show up on me! I literally had to layer around 20 times (not exaggerating) to notice a sheer wash of cool pink on my lips. It was ridiculous. I wish the lighter colors were more pigmented because they are so pretty.

 Smitten Swatch

Smitten: I thought this would be a nice berry color from looking at the tube, but
boy was I wrong! It came out as a bold dark blue based fuscia that reminded me a lot of the Revlon lip butter in Raspberry Pie. Although, Smitten was very pigmented and stained well I returned it because fuscias look horrendous on my skin tone.

Here is why I think a lot of the colors are redundant; Darling looks a lot like Cherish, and Smitten is the third fusica color next to Sweetheart and Lovesick. There are just a lot of cool toned pinks that seem very similar to me. I wish they included some more original shades in the collection.

Although the Revlon Kissable Balm Stain line does have a few setbacks, the formula is a definite win for me. I'm so excited to find a product that does not dry out my lips and lasts a long time. I love how I can wear very dark or bold colors without it feeling heavy or worrying about it transferring. If you want a great lip color without the fuss, be sure to check these out!

 Romantic, Adore Crush. I like how they look like magnets to the paper :)

Fall Makeup: ELF Studio Blushes Review & Swatches

Hey everyone,
I used to be the kind of girl that would wear the same makeup colors every single day. This year I started to change around my makeup to fit the seasons and it's been a lot of fun. Today I wanted to share with you the blushes I have been loving for fall and winter; the Elf Studio Blushes in Berry Merry and Blushing Rose.

 Berry Merry, Blushing Rose  

Why are they so good?
1) They are pigmented

2) They are not powdery
3) They are buildable
4) They come in a wide variety of shades
5) They are only $3 each
6) ....yet the packaging is sturdy (cough cough Wet n Wild) and come with a mirror.

 Berry Merry, Blushing Rose

I know that Wet N Wild also have popular blushes for around the same price. I have tried them and have to say I much prefer the Elf. The Elf blushes are pigmented but buildable enough that you don't risk putting too much on like the Wet n Wild. The Wet n Wild blushes were also powdery which led to a mess but the Elf blushes don't have this problem. Most importantly the packaging is sturdy and unlike the flimsy packaging of Wet n Wild. I can carry these around without worries (my Wet n Wild blush crumbled to pieces). Overall the Elf Studio Blushes are a steal; they are much more pigmented, inexpensive compared to other drugstore brands, and their packaging is just as good.

Now let's talk about the colors!

 Berry Merry  is a pinky-purple berry color with gold and silver shimmer.

Blushing Rose  is a warm rose color with gold shimmer that gives a flushed look to the cheeks.

 Berry Merry, Blushing Rose

L'oreal Limited Edition Fall Nail Polishes: The Seductive Temptress

I know that many other bloggers talked about the Electric Fantasie collections months earlier, but I actually got this collection only recently in my area. I usually go for the lipsticks first but they were all too shimmer for my taste. However, the nail polishes immediately caught my eye; I ended up buying 6 of them!

Basically the collection is divided into four categories; The Artsy Muse, The Seductive Temptress, The Wise Mystic, and The Enchanted Queen. Other than makeup each category comes with 2 nail polishes.

 The Queen's Might, The Muse's Inspiration, The Temptress' Touch, The Temptress' Power, The Muse's Attitude, and The Mystic's Fortune.

Today I'll be showing you the Temptress' Touch and The Temptress' Power.

 The Temptress' Touch, The Temptress' Power (as a champagne)

The Temptress' Touch is an olive green with strong golden shimmers. The gold in the polish makes it wearable for fall. The formula is easy to work with and full coverage in 2 coats.

The Temptress' Power is a duo chrome. It can be a champagne color with blue-green shimmers to a golden peach with golden green shimmers. I have to use 3 to 4 coats because the formula is very sheer. I'm excited to also try this as a layering shade.

 The Temptress' Power (as a gold)

 The Temptress' Touch (with more golden tones)

L'oreal Limited Edition Fall Nail Polishes: The Enchanted Queen

I know that many other bloggers talked about the Electric Fantasie collections months earlier, but I actually got this collection only recently in my area. I usually go for the lipsticks first but they were all too shimmer for my taste. However, the nail polishes immediately caught my eye; I ended up buying 6 of them!

Basically the collection is divided into four categories; The Artsy Muse, The Seductive Temptress, The Wise Mystic, and The Enchanted Queen. Other than makeup each category comes with 2 nail polishes.

The Queen's Might, The Muse's Inspiration, The Temptress' Touch, The Temptress' Power, The Muse's Attitude, and The Mystic's Fortune.  

Today I'll be reviewing The Queen's Might from The Enchanted Queen collection.

The Queen's Might is a beautiful raspberry pinky red color with tiny silver shimmers. It may look plain in the bottle but it looks much prettier on the nails. I think this color would be flattering on all skintones. This polish is very opaque and I only needed one coat.

L'oreal Limited Edition 2012 Nail Polishes: The Wise Mystic

I know that many other bloggers talked about the Electric Fantasie collections months earlier, but I actually got this collection only recently in my area. I usually go for the lipsticks first but they were all too shimmer for my taste. However, the nail polishes immediately caught my eye; I ended up buying 6 of them!  

Basically the collection is divided into four categories; The Artsy Muse, The Seductive Temptress, The Wise Mystic, and The Enchanted Queen. Other than makeup each category comes with 2 nail polishes.

 The Queen's Might, The Muse's Inspiration, The Temptress' Touch, The Temptress' Power, The Muse's Attitude, and The Mystic's Fortune.

 I got one of the 2 polishes in the The Wise Mystic collection named The Mystic's Fortune.

The Mystic's Fortune is a deep blue/purple shade. In some lightings it can look like a dark navy blue and other times a very deep cool toned purple. You know that color pencil that looks like it would be black on the outside but turns out to be a purple color? Random I know, but that is the color this polish reminds me of. The formula of this polish was opaque and easy to layer.

 The Mystic's Fortune as a blue

 The Mystic Fortune as a purple

Stay tuned for the rest of the nail polish reviews of the Electric Fantasie Collection and don't forget to check out my review of the The Artsy Muse nail polishes~

The Lipstick Maniac

L'oreal Limited Edition 2012 Nail Polishes: The Artsy Muse

I know that many other bloggers talked about the Electric Fantasie collections months earlier, but I actually got this collection only recently in my area. I usually go for the lipsticks first but they were all too shimmer for my taste. However, the nail polishes immediately caught my eye; I ended up buying 6 of them!  

Basically the collection is divided into four categories; The Artsy Muse, The Seductive Temptress, The Wise Mystic, and The Enchanted Queen. Other than makeup each category comes with 2 nail polishes.

 The Queen's Might, The Muse's Inspiration, The Temptress' Touch, The Temptress' Power, The Muse's Attitude, and The Mystic's Fortune.

Today I'm going to review the nail polishes in The Artsy Muse collection: The Muse's Attitude and The Muse's Inspiration. Both of these colors look differently in various lighting.

 The Muse's Attitude as a teal, The Muse's Inspiration as an orange

The Muses's Attitude
is a beautiful deep teal that can change into an emerald green in certain lighting. If you're going to buy only one nail polish out of this collection I would definitely recommend this one. I see many teal polishes but not many that have the beautiful emerald effect. This polish was a little uneven at first but was fine after 3 coats.

The Muse's Inspiration
is an orange with yellow shimmers. The shimmers aren't as prominent as The Muses Attitude and the color doesn't change so drastically. Sometimes it look straight up orange and other times it turns to a more red orange. This polish went on very evenly and finished in 2 coats.

It was hard to capture the true color in pictures but I did get one of The Muse's Attitude almost as an emerald shade. The shade turns more green in real life.

 The Muse's Attitude

Overall I love the colors and formula for these nail polishes and I would definitely recommend them! Stay tuned for upcoming reviews of the rest of the colors,

The Lipstick Maniac

I Love Fall Tag Blog Edition!

Hey everyone, 

If you watch makeup videos on youtube like me, you would know that there was an I Love Fall Tag going around beauty gurus in October. The tag is basically 10 questions relating to fall and beauty. Although I know this is late, but I thought it was so much fun that I decided to do it anyway.

1) Favorite fall lip product?
The Revlon Kissable Balm Stains- I got these recently and they have replaced the spot for my fall lipsticks. I love how I can get bold color without it feeling heavy on my lips or worrying about it smudging or coming off. So far I have Adore and Romantic, but I'm planning to get more. (reviews/swatches for these will be coming soon!)

 Adore on top, Romantic on bottom

2) Favorite fall nail polish?
 L'oreal Limited Edition nail polishes in The Queen’s Might and The Muse’s Attitude- Both of these are gorgeous wearable colors for the fall (and winter) and are good formulas.

 Left to right: The Queen's Might, The Muses Attitude

Essie nail laquer in Clambake- This one is a bright orangey red that compliments any season and any outfit. I find myself always reaching for this polish.

Essie Clambake

 3) Favorite Starbucks fall drink?
 Green Tea Latte- it's quite rare for Starbucks to have this, at least in my area, but it's pretty good.

4) Favorite Favorite Fall Candle?
 I don't own any at the moment, but I would like to when I have my own place.

5) Favorite fall scarf or accessory?
Tube scarf I got at H&M about a year ago- I wear this scarf almost everyday in the fall and winter. The color really reminds of fall and it goes with almost anything I wear.

6) Haunted house, haunted hay ride, or haunted corn maze?
I've never been to any of these but I would say the haunted hay ride because at least I'll be with the rest of the people in the ride the whole time.

7) Favorite Halloween movie?
 I don't remember watching any good Halloween movies but a really good horror movie is The Voice. It's a Korean horror movie (has subtitles; I wouldn't be able to watch it otherwise) and it's amazing! I find many horror movies to have stupid plots but this one was really well thought out- I highly highly recommend it.

8) Favorite candy to eat on Halloween?
 I love jolly rancher lollipops.

9) What are you dressing up  did you dress up as for Halloween?!
I was Kiki from Kiki's Delivery Service. For those of you who don't know, Kiki's Delivery Service is a Japanese animated childrens movie made by Studio Ghibli (which also made Totoro, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, etc.) I wore a big red bow, a black plain dress and I carried Jiji and a broomstick. I wore it to my high school and then later to pass out candy to the kids.

10) What is your Favorite thing about Fall?
As makeup obssessed as this is going to sound, my favorite thing would have to be changing my makeup and nails  into fall and winter colors. I've just started changing around my makeup to match the seasons this fall and I think it's really fun to try out the new trends and play around with color.

I would love to see how you would answer these questions! Let me know in the comments below or at your own blog~

The Lipstick Maniac

Physicians Formula Baked Sands Eyeshadow swatches & review

Today I wanted to put light on a product that I haven't heard much on lately- the Physician's Formula Baked eyeshadow trio in Baked Sands. I believe these used to be popular a couple years back. Since then a lot of new eyeshadows have come out to the drugstore, but Physician's Formula continues to be one of the the best quality I've found.

REVIEW: The eyeshadow colors are warm toned neutrals that go really well together.  I really like how the shimmers in these eyeshadows are finely milled and are not overpowering. It looks almost like a sheen on the eyes than a glittery finish.The texture of these eyeshadows are very soft and smooth, unlike the hard grainy texture of many other drugstore brands. However, they are not too soft that they become powdery or crumbly. The colors are really pigmented and a little bit goes a long way. They do fade on my oily eyelids if I don't use a primer, but they don't crease.

One downfall of the trio is the price. Physician's Formula is pretty expensive for drugstore and these were around $10 at my CVS. However if you go to Target or the Christmas Tree Shop (where I went), they will be around $7.

I would say these eyeshadows are similar quality to Wet n Wild's, which is much cheaper, but Physicians Formula's packaging is way more sturdy than the flimsy packaging of Wet n Wild, meaning you can carry these ones around in your purse or for travel.

PROS: good mix of colors, school/work friendly, shimmer isn't overpowering, soft/smooth, easy to blend, pigmented, don't crease, sturdy packaging

CONS: fade without primer, expensive

SWATCHES:

Overall I'm really happy with this trio and I will be continuing to use it daily :)
Let me know what is your favorite drugstore eyeshadow,

The LIpstick Maniac

Wet n Wild LIMITED EDITION Where's the Party color icon eyeshadow collection

Drinking a Glass of Shine, Sparkle Till Morning, Shine the Night Away

Wet n Wild's limited edition Where's the Party collection comes with 3 palettes; Drinking A Glass Of Shine, Sparkle Till Morning, and Shimmer The Night Away. Each palette comes with 2 browbone, 2 eyelid, 2 crease, and 2 definer shades clearly labeled on the eyeshadow.They are $4.99 each and so far I've only seen them in the Christmas Tree Shop.

 

Drinking A Glass of Shine comes in comes is all matte colors, which is extremely rare for drugstore.

 

The left palette is Sparkle Till Morning, the right is Shimmer The Night Away. Sparkle Till Morning has a couple bronzy neutrals and one teal color. All of the colors are shimmery or have an iridescence. Shimmer The Night Away is a mix of purple and smokey shades. Some colors are matte and some have shimmer.

Revlon Photoready Primer + Shadow

I've been having no luck finding new makeup collections at my local drugstores lately, so I was so excited when I found these at the Christmas Tree Shop! Who would have guessed the Christmas Tree Shop would be the first ones to have new makeup collections!?


The Revlon photoready primer +eyeshadow has 3 eyeshadows, a primer that's bottom left rectangle and a shimmer that's the bottom right square. All of the shadows have shimmer and most of the primers also have an iridescence to them. They had two displays with 8 different palettes in total. In the middle there is a palette where you can actually test out the colors for yourself, which is really nice. More on that later. They are $7.99 each.

 These are the palettes of the first display. All of the palettes' names are art related.

Top row: Metropolitan

2nd row: Impressionist

3rd row, left to right: Renaissance, Graffiti

 Bottom row, left to right: Avant Garde, Pop Art

  Only 2 eyeshadow palettes were different in the second display. 

Bottom row from left to right: Watercolors, Bohemian.

Here are closeups of some of the palettes I'm interested in. Impressionist is a beautiful neutral palette. I was debating on getting this one but I didn't because I have other neutral palettes...however writing this post makes me want to go back and get it :).

 Metropolitan

 Impressionist, Bohemian

Here are the swatches of the tester palette in Watercolors. The primer was a bright shimmery white/purple color that would make the purple shadows really stand out.

From left to right: highlight color, crease color, lid color, primer, glitter.

Revlon Lip Butter Red Velvet Review & Swatches

I have bought yet another Revlon lip butter to add to my collection.Yes, I admit I'm completely obsessed with these. This one is the famous Red Velvet. At first I was too intimidated to try it, but it's actually more wearable than it looks. 

Red Velvet can look like a deep red plum or a deep brick red in different lighting (as shown in the 2 swatches of Red Velvet below). It's one of the most pigmented colors in the line with Raspberry Pie, and has no shimmer. One thing I love about this shade is that since its so pigmented it leaves a really nice red/berry stain on the lips. It's also versatile; it can be worn as a natural stain for everyday or be build up to an intense red.

Swatches:

I compared Red Velvet with the other 2 reds in the Lip Butter line; Candy Apple and Cherry Tart.

 Candy Apple, Red Velvet, Cherry Tart

 If you want to see lip swatches and a full review of Candy Apple and Cherry Tart, click here: Revlon Colorburst Lip Butters LIP SWATCHES Part 4: CORALS + REDS

If you haven't seen my review and swatches of the rest of the 15 lip butters I own, be sure to check it out here: Revlon Lip Butter Collection Review & Swatches

Maybelline High Shine Gloss & Revlon Shanghai Collection Fall 2012

Maybelline came out with their High Shine Gloss in 12 shades. Many of the shades are on the neutral and pink side, but I also saw a hot pink, an orange, a red, and some mauve/berry colors. There are both shimmer and cream finishes. I believe these glosses will be part of their permanent collection.

A closer look

Revlon came out with their Shanghai Collection by Gucci Westman. There are 4 nail polishes, "oriental" design nails, a cream eyeshadow palette in Midnight Express, and 3 super lustrous lipsticks. Being the lipstick addict that I am, of course I checked out the lipsticks. The lipsticks are Cherry Blossom, Red Laquer, and Pink Pearl. Sadly Cherry Blossom was gone, but Red Laquer on the left is a cream bright warm red, and Pink Pearl on the right is a mid tone brown with a hint of pink and shimmer.

Revlon Colorburst Lipstick Review & Swatches

The Revlon Colorburst Lipsticks stirred up a big drugstore craze a few years ago, but now I feel like they are disappearing. Many of the original 20 shades in the collection have gotten discontinued, and most drugstores only carry around 6~8 shades. That's why I wanted to make these review, because these lipsticks have not only a good formula, but have some unique shades that stand out from the standard colors that every drugstore lipstick line seems to carry nowadays.

Petal, Peach, Coral, Raspberry, Plum

Review:  The Colorburst Lipsticks are very creamy and go on smoothly. They are pigmented and easily buildable. However, the round shape of the lipstick isn't my favorite; its less precise. All of the shades leave a beautiful sheen without shimmer. I'm not usually one to care about packaging, but it's worth noting these look quite nice and high end.

The wear time is around 3 hours before they start to fade. The darker or bolder colors will fade into a sheer stain. These do transfer, and you will have to reapply after eating.

 A melted Peach next to Coral

 A strong quality of this collection is the color range. Lately I feel like I all I see are the standard selection of similar nudes, pinks, corals, berries, and reds in many drugstore lipstick lines. Not only are many of Colorburst lip colors unique, they are also wearable for everyday, meaning you don't have to put on with a crazy color just to shake things up a bit.

Now, the lipsticks can  become too creamy and melt/break off in constant hot weather. Last summer I wore the shade Peach and took it with me nearly everyday. By the end of the summer the lipstick had melted and the bottom was loose. Thankfully, beauty guru Michelle Phan on youtube has a video on how to fix these kinds of problems, so if you had a similar experience, definitely check out that video!

Pros: formula, finish, pigmentation, color range, packaging

Cons: average wear time, lipstick shape, can melt

Shades & Swatches

 Plum, Raspberry, Coral, Petal

Petal: Most light pinks don't look good on my light yellow-toned skin, so I was pretty excited about this one. It's a warm light pink with gold shimmer. It's less pigmented than the other shades.

Peach: A beautiful true peach shade with a cream finish. This shade is different from anything else I own; many of the "peach" shades I have have a  lot pink to them, but this one doesn't. Very wearable and perfect for spring and summer.

Coral: A bright, bold red-orange shade with a cream finish. Can look orange or a warm red in different lighting.

 Coral, Peach, Petal

Raspberry: A new favorite! This one is quite unique; it's between a pinky raspberry and a red. Cream finish, pigmented.

Plum: Comes off as a dark warm, purple/plum in the swatch. Maybe it's because my lips have some color to them, but Plum goes on as a dark vampy red on my lips. Cream finish, pigmented.

 Raspberry, Plum

The Lipstick Maniac