Sunday 19 February 2017

Whats in my Makeup Bag? - Lip product swap out with swatches - Cruelty Free Lipstick and Lipbalm



During this past week I lost an earring in my handbag. As I had some issues with my piercings recently, I knew I needed to find it, clean it and get it back into my ear as soon as possible. Unfortunately my oversized makeup bag was open and I couldn't rule out the earring falling in there so I had to go through that too.  I was a bit embarrassed when I tipped it out at my desk, 4 perfumes, 3 nail files, 3 black eyeliners, 3 other eyeliners and 12 lip products, along with about a squllion hair bobbles, kirby grips and other miscellaneous bits. It was a mess.

So over this weekend I decided to go through it, sort it out and workout what I need day to day. I was hoping to maybe swap for a smaller makeup bag to, but none of my wee ones are as cute as the angry clouds one so I guess that's not happening.

Lip Balms & Tints


So I tried to tile these next to each other but I couldn't keep them this size and have them side by side. 

So I had the Kiko Milano Kiss Balm in Raspberry, the MUA Sweet Sheen Lipbalm in Dusky Rose, Burts Bees Lip Shimmer in Rhubarb and an original Burts Bees Lip Balm (the minty one).  I swatched the first three below as they do have some colour to them. 

Ltr: Kiko Milano, MUA and the Burts Bees.
Out of the four I've put the two Burts Bees and the MUA on back in my bag and the Kiko Milano one has gone back into my stash. Its far newer than the other three and I don't ever reach for it. I use the two Burts Bees ones all the time and the MUA one saved my skin recently when I tried a horrible liquid lipstick (which I will review soon) and had to try and take it off in the middle of Silverburn. Its also getting a bit old and I want to try and use it up.

Lipstick & Liquid Lipstick


Too Faced Melted Lipstick in Chihuahua, Melted Matte Lipstick in Queen B and Melted Chocolate Lipstick in Chocolate Honey. 


As you can see these are all really nice, neutral, nude shades that are perfect for work. I would say since Christmas I've worn at least two of these a week, every week. They're comfortable to wear and easy to apply on the bus. I've decided to keep the two minis (Chihuahua and Chocolate Honey) in my handbag and put Queen B back in my stash. I know it wont stay there for long but I might actually remember to use a couple of other colours before I go back to it again.


Since the house move (not sure what I'm talking about, check my latest life update here) most of my makeup has been stored in one big deep drawer. Not ideal for finding things. I tend to store products by brand and once of the few lots I could find was my Kat Von D lipsticks. These were the three I had been using the most even though I own five or six. Left to right there's the limited edition Project Chimps one I picked up in the States, Lolita and a mini of Double Dare (which I will buy a full size of once its done).


For the time being all three of these will go back into my stash. Double Dare will no doubt emerge again very soon as I'm trying to use up most of my smaller products in 2017. 


Makeup Monsters liquid lipstick in Hook, Line and Sinker and Sleek Matte Lipstick in Russian Roulette. 


If you follow me on Instagram then you'll already know Hook, Line and Sinker is maybe my favourite lipstick of all time. It has a very thin formula, is long wearing and very comfortable. However it's not really an everyday colour so back in my stash it goes. As for Russian Roulette, I don't think I've ever actually worn this. I like to keep a good dark red in my makeup bag. I feel like red lipstick can take work makeup to going out makeup and if I've managed to stain my lips with any number of bright and weird products it hides it all. This one isn't that opaque though and feels, looks and smells like a Makeup Revolution lipstick, and I'm not sure how it got switched out with Snow White by NYX, but back in the stash it goes.

What I'm adding to the bag



NYX Butter Lipstick in Root Beer Float aka Pops (NYX website calls it Root Beer Float, the packaging calls it Pops, its the same colour) and NYX Extra Creamy lipstick in Snow White.


Pops is an old favourite of mine, it was what I used to obsess over for work before I got the Too Faced minis. Its lovely, really comfortable on the lips and I haven't worn it in a really long time so it'll be nice to get some more use out of it. Snow White is going back in as I'm not even sure how it got swapped out in the first place. Unlike Russian Roulette it isn't matte, and you can see from the swatches its darker and more opaque, I also know from experience its really easy to work with (which is what I need after work). 

All in all, not a bad job I'd say. Started with twelve lip products, removed seven and added two. How long before my handbag is over-run again remains to be seen.

Whats the one item that seems to multiply in your handbag? 

xoxo Scruffy

More posts about lipstick and lip products

Tuesday 14 February 2017

Models Own Supernatural Palette, Ten Pan Eyeshadow Palette - Cruelty Free Makeup


Just after Christmas I was in the Buchanan Galleries killing some time when I stumbled upon (quite literally, I'm not exactly a graceful human being) the Models Own stand.  You know the ones shaped like a spilling bottle of nail polish?  Well they had a huge sale on, and as I've only ever tried their nail polish, I thought I'd take advantage of it. I picked up a set of brushes, a set of liners and this palette.


So I'm going to talk about this like I didn't get it on special offer as it currently isn't reduced so that's what will apply to if you're considering buying this palette now, Currently on the Models Own website this palette retails for £14.99 and you get 7 grams of product across ten pans of eyeshadow (0.7 grams per pan, or £2.14 per gram of eyeshadow ), which isn't a huge amount of product. To give a comparison the Sleek Eyeshadow Palettes, which I feel are the closest comparable products quality wise, on average contain 14.4g of product across 12 pans and retail for £8.99 (1.1 grams per pan, or £0.62 per gram of eyeshadow). So not what I would really call value for money.


So the palette is made of white plastic, with the palettes name either stuck or painted on the front. The holographic lettering is actually really pretty, however the rest of the palette just feels cheap and kind of nasty. This might be personal thing, I just don't like makeup that comes in white packaging. It gets dirty easily and the rounded out corners make my think of kiddie makeup. It kind of fits with Models Own aesthetic though, with their rainbow glitter nail polish and neon lip tars.  

Top row: Paranormal, Mystery, Celestial, Spiritual and Mythical
So inside the palette the pans look really small, if they were pushed up another pan at least could have been fitted in each row. Oh, and it also came with a brush (which I though I had binned but it turns out it was just in the dirty brush jar when I photographed this). 

Bottom Row: Mystic, Eternal, Phantom, Curse and Phenomenon
So you get three matte shades, mythical, mystic and phantom, and they're all pretty disappointing to be honest. They're finely milled, but there's not much colour pay off and they apply patchy.  

Finger and brush swatches of  Paranormal, Celestial and Eternal

The other seven are metallic and finger swatch amazingly, however if you use sweeping motions with a brush (as seen above) they lose that beautiful metallic sheen and high colour content. For best results I recommend using a good quality sticky primer (cough*Too Faced Glitter Insurance*cough) and either use your finger or a flat brush to pat them on. 

Overall thoughts, this palettes a little disappointing. The mattes aren't great and you don't get a lot of product in the metallic shades however they are pretty. 

Would I recommend it?  

Probably not. For just over half the price, you could have Sleek palette with more shades, more product and more variety. 

I'm probably going to play Pan the Palette with this later on in the year, as I only used each metallic shade a couple of times and I can already see dips forming in them. 

xoxo Scruffy

Other eyeshadow reviews

Sunday 5 February 2017

Revolution Vivid Baked Highlighters in Pink Lights and Peach Lights - Cruelty Free Drugstore Makeup

Do not try and highlight with a brush like this unless you want to look crazy... Its just so pretty and silver I wanted to show it off.
 At the end of December I picked up these two baked highlighters from Revolution London through LuxPlus ( 'cause no one was having any luck with the TAM Beauty website over Christmas). I really enjoy peachy pink highlights and had religiously used the MUA pink highlighter for several months before getting these.


So on the left we have Pink Lights and on the right Peach Lights. As you can see I've really been playing with these and I've rubbed off some of the less indented design on the Peach one.

These retail for £3 on the Revolution and Superdrug website in the UK and $6 at Ulta in the States, though I'm not 100% sure all the colours are available. You get 7.5 grams of product in each, so you get a lot of product for your money. The packaging is really sturdy but it is a little cheap looking and feeling. I also really hate it when baked products come with unnecessary domed packaging. It just means I can't stack them and that's a big issue as my storage is a little limited.


OK so they miraculously switched sides in the photo above (the makeup pixies did it, honest...?!) but as you can see the formula isn't consistent. Peach lights is a bit smoother and more finely milled than pink lights, which has some clunky glittery fallout from it. I prefer peach lights and the fallout is the reason I haven't really played around with it much.  They are both beautiful and can be built up to be really intense if that's your thing, I am personally more a fan of a subtle healthy glow though.


Both highlighters have a very frosty silvery sheen to them, as a pale girl from a cold climate that suits me fine. I mean look at my wrist, its almost as white as the background. These probably wouldn't suit anyone with a skin tone that much deeper than mine, though I do think they have a gold, a bronze and a rose gold one that would probably look lovely on deeper skin tones.


And this is the above two swatches blended out. I did my best to not smudge them into each other but as I hadn't set the finger swipes out intending to blend out (I like the live dangerously and go with the swatch flow). It was a little bit difficult. Far more of the Pink Lights base colour shows once its blended, its really clear on the other edge of my hand where that highlight stops. Peach Lights doesn't do this as much, but that might be due to the peachy tone being closer to my skin colour than the pink one. Both shades do end up a little sparkly, but if you apply with a light hand, and aren't packing them on like I was for the swatches, they can give a really nice, subtle, glowy highlight.

Would I recommend them?

Overall, its a big, fat yes from me. They are a little glittery, and the pink one has some fallout, but they are £3 for 7.5 grams of products (which will last you forever) and the peach one is so pretty. 

If you are wanting something pink and highlighty, but not glittery at all, my current favourite for subtle days in the Revolution Strobe Highlighter in Moon Glow Lights. Its just a lovely, subtle powder, that catches the light in the most beautifully natural way. 

Thats all for now duckies.

XOXO Scruffy

Enquiry? Message me ascruffyduck@gmail.com

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