{ Review + Swatches } Charlotte Tilbury Haul PART 1: "The Dolce Vita" Palette & "Penelope Pink" Lipstick

Here's to part 1 of my Charlotte Tilbury haul! Prepare yourself for a ton of beautiful shots of her Luxury Palette in 'The Dolce Vita' and her K.I.S.S.I.N.G lipstick in 'Penelope Pink'. Charlotte Tilbury's makeup line just exudes extreme class and beauty. I absolutely adore the rose gold/maroon packaging and the products themselves actually perform incredibly well.

'The Dolce Vita' palette is a gorgeous warm-toned quad containing a light pinkish champagne, a reddish brown, a sparkling gold-bronze and a deep chocolate brown. These are not the most buttery or pigmented or silkiest eyeshadows I've tried to be perfectly honest. These powders lean to more the drier side but are not chalky. I was a bit let down when I initially swatched these shadows on my hand because I was expecting a ton of pigmentation but these eyeshadows perform so differently when applied on the eyelids. On the eyelids, these shadows have amazing colour pay off and because of this slightly dry formula, there is no fall out at all!

I had the hardest time deciding which lipstick from the line I wanted to purchase. Since I've never tried Charlotte Tilbury's products before prior to this haul, I of course wanted to stick to a nude/neutral everyday wearable colour. 'Penelope Pink' is a stunning nude-pink shade. This lipstick is extremely creamy, moisturising and velvety- so comfortable to wear. They claim that these lipsticks are free from parabens and contain a rich anti-oxidant that will naturally protect your lips from harmful UV rays. They provide such a pretty healthy shine on the lips and are an absolutely dream to apply.

The rose gold bullet is hands down one of my favourite lipstick packaging ever. The design is very old hollywood glamour-esque (the whole collection is actually!) yet simple yet still so classy and feminine. I definitely need to purchase more of her lipsticks!

Lined with Jordana's Easyliner in 'Honey Dip'

Stay tuned for Part 2 of my haul where I'll be reviewing and swatching Charlotte's 'Filmstar Bronze & Glow' and her Cheek to Chic blush!

xo Laura

* Disclaimer: This is a non-sponsored post and I am in no way affiliated with Charlotte Tilbury. The products mentioned were purchased with my own money and as always my reviews are 100% my honest opinion *

{ Review + Swatches } ELF Studio Matte Lip Color - ALL SHADES AND LIP SWATCHES!

These ELF matte lip colors are jumbo sized retractable lip pencils supposedly enriched with Vitamin A, C & E and are meant to moisturise and hydrate your lips all day. As many of you know, ELF is a super affordable makeup line with these matte lip colors retailing for $3 each. I purchased all of the shades from the line on iHerb. I love discovering affordable and pigment rich matte lip products and these ELF matte lip colors did not disappoint.

The packaging itself is matte and very simple and lightweight. I love how the actual colour is showcased on the base of the tube. These lip pencils are retractable and do not need sharpening which is a bonus. I hate the inconvenience and mess of sharpening pencil products!

The Matte Lip Color line currently contains 6 shades with the majority of the shades being very neutral and wearable for everyday.

• Nearly Nude: light peachy nude
• Coral: light peachy coral (deeper that Nearly Nude)
• Praline: deep brown nude
• Natural: neutral nude pink
• Tea Rose: mauve-pink
• Rich Red: cool toned red

Since I am a sucker for neutral nude-pink lips, I absolutely love the shade selection although it would be good if ELF would expand the line more and create deeper shades. I would've loved to see some plums and burgundys!

 L-R: Nearly Nude, Coral, Praline, Natural, Tea Rose, Rich Red

These lip products are unscented although I do smell a slight plastic-y scent which I don't like at all. I know these are cheap but there are other inexpensive makeup brands out there that have put more effort in the scent department.

In terms of how they wear, once applied they don't look very matte at all. There is a slight sheen and it takes some time for it to go matte. I found that my lips started to feel dry after about 1.5 hours and it can accentuate the fine lines on your lips although the lines disappear and look less obvious once you press your lips together. They definitely need to be reapplied once you eat or drink as the colour on the centre of your lips tend to fade. I do find they reapply nicely though.

Now onto the swatches!

 L-R: Nearly Nude, Coral, Praline, Natural, Tea Rose, Rich Red

You can see in the below lip swatches that once applied, your lips don't look competely matte.

 

Top: Nearly Nude, Coral

Middle: Praline, Natural

Bottom: Tea Rose, Rich Red

Pros:

• So affordable
• Retractable, does not require sharpening
• Rich pigmentation
• Not extremely drying like regular "Matte" lip products
• Sleek packaging
• Reapply nicely after eating/drinking

Cons:

• Small shade selection
• Slight plastic-y scent
• Doesn't appear matte instantly as what you would expect for a "Matte" Lip Color
• May accentuate fine lines on your lips over time although once you press your lips together, the lines are not as obvious
• Does not hydrate or moisturise your lips ALL DAY like they claim

Overall, for the price of the product itself, I actually really like these lip products. Even though they don't turn out super matte on your lips (which is a bit misleading since they claim to be matte) it means that these products are not extremely drying. If you want to only try a couple of the shades, I highly recommend Natural & Tea Rose. I absolutely love these colours!

Like I said previously, I purchased all of mine on iHerb. I love this site because the shipping is extremely fast and affordable (I believe it was $8 flat rate) and they sell my holy grail Real Techniques brushes for a great price too! To get $5 off your first order or to get $10 off if you spend over $40 (also on your first order), feel free to use my discount code: HDQ926


xo Laura

* Disclaimer: This is a non-sponsored post and I am in no way affiliated with ELF Cosmetics. The products mentioned were purchased with my own money and as always my reviews are 100% my honest opinion. *

{ Review + Swatches } First Impression of SLEEK's True Colour Lipstick in "Smother"

I've been on the hunt to find the perfect deep berry coloured lipstick after everyone's obsession with MAC's Rebel. I was browsing through Sleek's website a couple of weeks ago when their lipstick "Smother" caught my eye.

"Smother" is one of Sleek's True Colour Lipsticks and retails online for $6.49! It looks very intimidating and dark and vampy in the tube but on the lips it doesn't appear as dark and you're able to see the berry colour show through.

Now, I don't personally own MAC's Rebel but from looking at the comparison swatches online, I think they look really similar. "Smother" is a bold deep berry shade with a sheen finish. It is a beautiful statement lip ideal for the winter months. It's creamy, smooth and pigmented when applied on the lips but I found that it didn't wear very well after a few hours. After a meal, the colour appeared rather patchy and felt dry on the lips. When I went back to re-apply the lipstick, the patchiness was accentuated which was NOT a good look!

I'd recommend making sure your lips are thoroughly moisturised before applying the lipstick and ensuring any dry flakes are removed. I think that lining and filling your lips with a lip liner would definitely help the longevity of the lipstick too.

Lip swatch:

Pros:

• Inexpensive
• Pigmented
• Great colour selection available
• Packaging is simple and compact
• Smooth and easy to apply

Cons: 

• Lip colour was left quite patchy after a few hours/after eating
• Rather drying after a few hours
• Doesn't re-apply very well

I definitely think I should give this lippy another try just because the colour is just too beautiful to waste. Will let you know of any updates!

xo Laura

* Disclaimer: This is a non-sponsored post and I am in no way affiliated with Sleek Makeup. The product mentioned was purchased with my own money and as always my reviews are 100% my honest opinion. *

{ Review + Swatches } NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams PART 2!

Hello lovelies!

I apologise for the complete lack of posts over the last 2 months :( I'm glad that I've finally found the time to sit down, filter through my photos, edit them and write this post for you guys. To be honest, other than being really busy with work and studies, I haven't been really motivated to blog. I would rather be excited and feel like I want to blog rather than to force myself to blog just for the sake of putting up a post.

Now with explanations aside, onto the review and swatches! A few months ago, I added 3 more NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams to my growing collection. This won't be a super long post because I already blogged about them in one of my previous posts which I shall link here. In that post, I talked about these lip creams in more detail, going through their formulation as well as what I thought were their pros and cons. I also swatched the colours which I had at that time which were Milan, San Paulo, Antwerp, Istanbul and Monte Carlo. Soooo...this post will basically just be about the 3 new colours I bought most recently!

The 3 new colours I bought are called Tokyo (a bright bubblegum cool-toned pink), Stockholm (a pinkish nude) and London (a brown-nude).

L-R: London, Tokyo, Stockholm

Tokyo is a cool-toned barbie/bubblegum pink. Not my favourite one out of the whole bunch because it really needed quite a lot of layers for the colour to be fully opaque on the lips, otherwise it would look rather patchy which is definitely NOT a good look! I don't like wearing this colour alone just because it looks like one of those horrible chalky bright pink lipsticks. My preferred way of wearing Tokyo is over a nude (to make the nude lean more pink) or pink lipstick (to make the pink lipstick matte).

Both London and Stockholm are the only nude shades in the range. London leaned to a more browny nude whereas Stockholm is more of a pinkish nude. I personally prefer nudes that have a pink undertone hence Stockholm would be my favourite out of the two. Both are really natural and great for everyday wear. They both also apply really smoothly without making your lips look patchy.

L-R: London, Tokyo, Stockholm

Top-Bottom: London, Tokyo, Stockholm

That's all for now! Sorry if this post was really short and seemed lazy. I promise to blog more often!! hehee.....otherwise you can catch me on my instagram (@lauralauraah) and/or twitter (@laurasooji) for more constant updates. Thankyou for reading <3

xo Laura

* Disclaimer: This is a non-sponsored post and I am in no way affiliated with NYX Cosmetics. The products mentioned were purchased with my own money and as always my reviews are 100% my honest opinion. *

{ Review + Swatches } NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams PLUS Lip Swatches!

Update: Read PART 2 of this post here!

Introducing my current fave lip product and what I have been sporting on my lips in many of my recent Instagram (@lauralauraah) pictures...the NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams!! To be honest, I wasn't completely in love with this product straight away when I first tried it as I found it too drying (I think it was around the start of my obsession with lip products so I wasn't used to the matte texture) but for some reason, I decided to give it another shot and bought more colours. I think it was my growing love for matte lips that made me reach out for this product again.

I currently only have 5 of their lip creams which will expand soon I'm sure. Istanbul (a light nude pink), Milan (a bright rosy pink), Antwerp (a coral peachy-pink), San Paolo (a deep pinkish red) and Monte Carlo (a deep cool-toned red).

What's unique about this product is that it is like a lipstick and lipgloss in one. It applies easily, smoothly and packaged like a gloss but the colour pay-off is like a lipstick. I love the doe-foot applicator as it makes applying the product on your lips so much easier than applying a lipstick out of its tube. Especially if you don't have a mirror in sight or just can't be bothered using one, I find that doe-foot applicators are a lot more forgiving!

What the packaging states: "It's not a lipstick, nor is it a gloss. It's like nothing you've experienced before. It's lipstick cream that goes on silky but looks soft matte." I couldn't agree with this any more. Unlike normal matte lipsticks which may be a bit difficult to apply, these lip creams have a really smooth and silky texture on application (you will see in the swatches below!) but within a few minutes, the product will dry, producing a matte finish on your lips, which is what you ultimately want.

Though, with any matte lipstick, the main complaint would be dryness on the lips which I guess you have to put up with if you want a matte finish! BEAUTY IS PAIN! :3 Like I mentioned before, when I first tried this product, I couldn't stand the over-drying effect although over time I feel I have gotten used to it and it doesn't really bother me anymore. Just be sure to really exfoliate and moisturise your lips first before application to avoid patchiness, dry flakes and accentuation of lip lines.

 L-R: Milan, San Paulo, Istanbul, Antwerp, Monte Carlo

Apologies for the lower quality lip swatches! I used a different camera so they look a little washed out compared to real life. : ( - though I hope you will still appreciate them!

Pros: 

• Amazing texture- very silky and creamy and then dries matte
• Very affordable- I buy them for ~$5.99 here
• Vanilla-y scent? I think it smells a bit like vanilla which I'm fine with although those who oppose scents will of course hate this
• Great colour pay-off
• Very long lasting- especially the darker colours although I would still recommend touch ups after food/drink
• Convenient packaging, great applicator choice

Cons: 

• Wider selection of colours needed. I wish they added more dark plum-y colours or just darker shades in general
• Can experience an over-drying effect especially if you're not used to wearing matte lips
• Can be a bit patchy
• Can accentuate lip lines if lips are not prepped eg. exfoliated etc. before applying

Thankyou so much for reading and I hope you found this review helpful! If you have any questions, comment down below, leave me a tweet, instagram me etc etc. <3

xo Laura

 * Disclaimer: This is a non-sponsored post and I am in no way affiliated with NYX Cosmetics. The products mentioned were purchased with my own money and as always my reviews are 100% my honest opinion. *

{ Review + Swatches } Wet n Wild Mega Last Matte Lip Covers w/ Lip Swatches!

I can't get enough of lip products. Along with cheek products and eyeshadows, I think that lipsticks are one of my favourite beauty items to collect! I've been hearing some great things about these Wet n Wild Mega Last Matte Lip Covers (what a mouthful >.<) and of course I had to give them a try! I've been quite into matte lipsticks lately, especially with darker shades. I think dark matte lips are super gorgeous whether it be a bold pin-up red or dark burgundy plum.

I picked up three of their matte lipsticks:

L-R: 911D Stoplight Red || 902C Bare It All || 907C Mauve Outta Here

Stoplight Red is a bright cool-toned red, Bare It All is a browny-nude and Mauve Outta Here is a bright almost fuschia pink with slight purple undertones. My favourite of the bunch would have to be Stoplight Red. Possibly a surprise to those of you who know how much I love my nude and pink lipsticks! I just feel that with matte finishes, reds or any darker colours are a such a classic. Bare It All leaned a bit too brown for my liking and honestly, I really prefer my lighter lipstick shades to have a creamier finish. Mauve Outta Here was ok- I expected it to be a lot lighter in colour, like a pinky-mauve but it turned out to be quite a deep pink.

I don't care for the light plastic packaging at all but I guess for the price you shouldn't expect much. I'm also not too fond by the fact that you can't twist the lipstick all the way down meaning that when you put the plastic cap back on, you need to be super careful not too bump the edges on the lipstick. Your cap can get pretty messy if you're not careful!

Can I get a YAY for lip swatches?!  

Overall I really do love the colour pay off of these lipsticks and I do think they are worth it. Due to its matte formulation, they are long-lasting but also not the smoothest lipstick to apply on the lips. They wear quite well even after food too- Stoplight Red faded only the slightest bit after eating! 

My tip when applying matte lipsticks is to make sure your lips are completely free of any dry flakes before applying and with darker lipsticks, use a lip brush to apply the lipstick for a cleaner edge and better precision.

Pros: 

• Really really inexpensive
• Great pigmentation
• Very long-lasting
• Variety of different shades to choose from
• Not too drying on the lips

Cons:

• Bad cheapo packaging
• Not very smooth to apply
• Quite hard to apply more pigmented and darker shades without a lip brush due to the shape of the lipstick (it's more rounded compared to the usual. Don't know if that made any sense sorry T.T)

So if you're looking for cheap yet great quality matte lipsticks then I really do recommend them! I got these lipsticks for $2.75 each (not including shipping)!! Amazing price don't you think!? I got mine here FYI : ) 

Hope everyone's week has been great so far! I finished the final exam of my university degree EVERR yesterday so I feel pretty awesome : D I feel sooo free!!

xo Laura

* Disclaimer: This is a non-sponsored post and I am in no way affiliated with Wet n Wild. The products mentioned were purchased with my own funds and as always my reviews are 100% my honest opinion. *

{ Review + Swatches } Revlon Lip Butters

The Revlon Lip Butters have arrived on Australian soil! After months and months of beauty bloggers raving about this product, I was starting to wonder if the Lip Butters were even going to be released in Australia! I contacted a Revlon rep and was told they were going to release it in April 2012. I went to my local drugstores a couple of times in early April but walked out disappointed that they had not stocked them *impatience* LOL.

Couple of days ago my friend messaged me saying she had bought some lip butters which of course I was really excited about. I finally had the time recently to hunt them down! I went to 2 Priceline stores to find 'Strawberry Shortcake' which was the one I really wanted.

I ended up purchasing 4......... =.= (so much for trying not to spend).

An individual Lip Butter costs $21.95. What a freakin rip. I believe it's around $7 in the States...? The good news was that Priceline was having a sale! *throws confetti* BUY ONE GET ONE FREE! YEAHH! *limited time only- I think till Thursday*. So I only paid around $10 for each Lip Butter. I had to take advantage of this sale!

These Lip Butters contain mango, shea and coconut butter and claims to "boost lip moisture by 156%". (they don't smell like mango :( )

PHOTOS FOR YOU : )

L-R: 065 Creamsicle, 095 Creme Brulee, 080 Strawberry Shortcake, 010 Raspberry Pie

Top Left: Creamsicle, Top Right: Creme Brulee

Bottom Left: Strawberry Shortcake, Bottom Right: Raspberry Pie

**UPDATED** Adding 070 Cherry Tart to my collection that was given to me by my bf's lovely sister! thankyouu ^.^

Colour Descriptions:

Creamsicle: Pale creamy nude

Creme Brulee: Nude with a brown undertone

Strawberry Shortcake: Cute bright baby pink

Raspberry Pie: Raspberry deep red (deeper raspberry-red colour in real life than in lip swatch)
Cherry Tart: Sheer juicy red with microglitters although not glittery on the lips (lip swatch above makes it look more orange than it actually is)

The colours are all pretty sheer but buildable although Raspberry Pie is pretty pigmented on first swipe. They apply smoothly although I recommend that you still moisturise your dry lips before application. It gives a nice healthy shine to the lips without it being too over-glossy and they are indeed hydrating and moisturising!

Creamsicle, Creme Brulee and Strawberry Shortcake are all pretty wearable. I LOVE my nudes and pinks! Cherry Tart builds up to such a pigmented true red colour. I surprisingly really like Raspberry Pie. It's such a beautiful bold colour and long lasting. If you lightly dab a tissue over Raspberry Pie it makes such a gorgeous matte raspberry red colour on your lips, like you've just stepped out from the snow! <3

Pros:

• hydrating and moisturising
• buildable colour
• pigmented
• smooth application
• pretty packaging

Cons:

• packaging is cheap- I feel like if I dropped it, the plastic cover would break :(
• another packaging con- the silver lipstick bullet is not sturdy. If you hold the base of the lippy and move the silver case, it moves back and forth slightly. It moves back and forth when you apply the Lip Butter. Grr.
• original retail price is EXPENSIVE!! Nearly or as much as Revlon's Super Lustrous and Colorburst Lipsticks
• because it's so buttery and soft it can tend to melt and misshapen in the tube

I really don't want to be spending any more money but I have my eye on Lollipop and Sweet Tart ;)

What are your thoughts on Revlon Lip Butters? Overrated or do they live up to the hype?

xo Laura