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

NYX Full Throttle Lipstick Review

Makeup Revolution Unicorns Unite Collection Review

MUA Velvet Lip Lacquer Review (Zest and Kooky)

M&S Limited Collection Lipstick and Lip Lacquer Review

Black Friday 2016 - Urban Decay and Kiko Milano Bargains - Cruelty Free and Gorgeous Finds

I originally hadn't  planned on buying anything over Black Friday. Its not a UK thing and I hadn't been expecting the high street here to offer anything. Also I really didn't need any more make up. 

That being said.... Debenhams sent me another £5 beauty club voucher (I had one two weeks ago when I bought the Naked Ultimate Basics palette) and had a further 10% off all beauty. I decided to wander through and just check if there was anything I wanted, that was my first mistake.

The moment I got as far as the Urban Decay counter I realised I was splashing some cash. I had thought about getting the Spectrum palette, but I realised I already had a bunch of bright palettes that I never ever used. My other option was the new Moondust palette. On one hand I was like its really glittery and you only want it cause its shiny. On the other hand, I really don't own anything this sparky or shimmery, well not that has such insane colours. So it would be filling a gap in my collection. You already know which hand one.

So with the discount and my £5 off I got this for £26.50, so I saved £8.50, which I thought was really good.

More gorgeous photos. I'm going to do a full first impressions post on this palette with swatch photos and the like as part of Blogmas. It wont be a full review as I would want to use it for two straight weeks before hand and I wont be doing that because its not something I would be wearing day to day normally.

The only other place I went was Kiko Milano on Saturday. Again I hadn't planned on it but they were doing a buy 3 get 3 free. I don't own many Kiko products but had heard good things and was always swatch brilliantly when I go for a lunch time wander up to the Buchanan street store. 

I ended up getting four lip and two eyes products, and only paid for three of them. It was a really good deal if you just wanted to buy things to have a play with. We need to start by talking about how much they are killing it with the packaging. The lipgloss and lipstick in the middle both look and feel so luxurious. So much love.

So left to right I got the: Unlimited Double Touch Liquid Lipstick in 101 Soft Rose, 3D Hydra Lipgloss in 22 Sparkling Red Garnet, New Unlimited Stylo Lipstick in 17 Tulip Red and the Everlasting Colour Precision Liner in 415 Sangria.

I know it seems completely out of character for me to willingly buy a lipgloss but I've swatched the Hydra Glosses a couple of times in store and never found them sticky on my hands. I have tried this on my lips since I took the swatch photos and it is not sticky at all. The glitter does make it slightly grainy but its not an issue (much rather have slightly grainy that super sticky). It also looks so pretty. I might need to get more of these, but that's an after Christmas thing.

The last thing I picked up was two of the long lasting stick eyeshadows in 06 Golden Brown and 21 Passion Fruit. These are also something I've swatched in store and man do they cling to the skin. I am really excited to use these on my eyes and see how they last. I'm also hoping they might speed up my morning routine if they're something I can just rub on, blend a bit and go. I'll let you know how that goes.

Did you get any awesome Black Friday bargains? Let me know what you got or leave me a link in the comments

XOXO Scruffy

Enquiry? Message me ascruffyduck@gmail.com

NYX Lip Lingerie in Embellishment Review, Lip Swatches and Wear Test - Cruelty Free Drugstore Makeup

I'm normally NYX Cosmetics biggest fan, however, when they launched the Lip Lingerie range in the UK, I was a little "meh". I went through the whole range looking for a colour that spoke to me and none of them did.

It wasn't till I was talking to one of the staff members and she said she was wearing this one that I became interested.

This is Embellishment, on the tube and when I swatched it on my hand it just looks like a nude but on her, and subsequently my, face its the most amazing Lavender Taupe colour. I love greige type colours. Cashmere by Lime Crime and Ghoulish by LA Splash are two of my absolute favourite lipsticks and this is right in that vein, but a bit more purple. 

I love how it looks on, and have even broken my "no weird colours at work (except on a Friday)" rule. The formula is great, soft, moussey, easy to apply, high coverage, no drying or cracking and it wears off nicely. I feel like this exactly what Tarte were trying to do with the Tartist Lip Paints, however this is ten times better (note to self, remember to write the post you've been meaning to on the Tartist Lip Paints).

Don't ask what my face makeup is doing in this pic, I had a base product fail.

So I wore this all day. applied it before 8am, and the above photo was taken after 5pm with no touch ups. As you can see there are areas where there has been more wear and tear than others, but if I hadn't zoomed in and focus on my lips it wouldn't be that noticeable. 

I would 100% recommend this. None of the other colours, except maybe Exotic, grab me so I won't be testing if the formula is consistent across the range. I just know I really like this one.

It's £6.50 and you can get the full range at Boots in UK.

Loving the Lip Lingerie and would recommend another colour? Leave me a comment on which one.

XOXO Scruffy

Enquiry? Message me ascruffyduck@gmail.com

MUA Velvet Lip Lacquer in Zest & Kooky Review, Swatches and Wear Test - Cruelty Free Lipstick

So a while ago (like back in the Summer) I picked up these velvet lacquers from Superdrug. However I never really got round to trying them out. I think I might have had a nude one in the past that I hated and it somehow put me off. They cost £3 each, making them super affordable if you're on a budget. You also get a bigger range of colours than with the Primark ones I reviewed a few months back (full review here).

The packaging itself is OK, its really standard for liquid lipstick, round tube with a screw cap and a doe-foot applicator. It feels far less cheap and nasty than the Primark ones. Also its a standard short doe-foot, not one of the weird long bendy ones, which is good.

So these swatch well and as you can see they dry really bright. One thing I should add right now is they have a really sweet almost candy-esque smell. It's a bit fruity but not overly so, and I find it a little off-putting. Apart from that the formula is OK, both shades needed two coats to stop them being patchy, and they took a little while to dry, however once they were on, they didn't feel drying at all which was a nice surprise. I did watch a review on Youtube where the v-logger said she found them really drying, so it might be a tolerance thing. My jumping on point for matte lipsticks was LA Splash and those are basically industrial grade paint for your face. I don't think I could find anything drying after using them for a couple of months.

So Zest is a super bright red-orange colour.

And this is Kooky. I thought it would be redder than it is.

 As with the Primark review and Sleek review, I decided to leave it on for a couple of hours over dinner and see what happened. 

So I only had it on for about three hours and in this time I had two cups of tea and a wrap with chicken and peppers. My dinner was about the least oily thing I've eaten in a long time so I'm really disappointed that half the bottom lip wore off. When I tested Velvet Slippers from Sleek I ate a whole plate of pasta and cheese sauce and it wore off less. 

So scoring time, colour choice, intensity, packaging and price wise they get full marks, however they smell weird, don't seem to wear well and don't stain making very obvious when they wear off. I'm going to go with 5/10 overall. If you want the bright colours then go for it, if not I would recommend the ones from Sleek that last far far longer.

Had a similar experience with these? Or did you find other colours lasted better? Let me know.

XOXO Scruffy 

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Review and Lips Swatches: Sleek Matte Me Ultra Smooth Matte Lip Cream - Cruelty Free

When I thought about writing this post I was like, "Sleek, there's a brand I don't own a lot of stuff by". Then I thought about it and realised I own enough that I could probably give a fairly decent assessment of the brand (these lipsticks, a Primer, 2 Eyeshadow Palettes, a Cheek and Eye Palette and the Solstice Highlighter palette that's super famous).

Top to Bottom: Petal, Shabby Chic and Velvet Slipper

I'm always a little hesitant when it comes to square tubes, as if the caps don't line back up right it just bugs me. These have been designed to only do one complete turn so if you put the Sleek logo to the front and then put it on it ends up right where it should be. Its so satisfying.

Other than that, the packaging is very nice. I feel like the Primark ones might have based their packaging on these (full review of the Primark Liquid Lipsticks here). Its really sturdy and unlike the Primark ones the plastic is thick and heavy enough to stop it feeling cheap.

Top to Bottom: Petal, Shabby Chic and Velvet Slipper.

So I own three of these. Petal and Shabby Chic which I have had for a very long time, and Velvet Slipper, which I got more recently. In the top picture of the tubes Petal and Shabby Chic look very similar however once you have them out and swatch them you can how different they are. Petal is a very pale pinky colour and Shabby Chic is more of a grey-tone mauve colour.

Lip Swatches

Petal

Petal is a gorgeous soft pink. This ones doe-foot applicator is different to the others. Its longer and skinnier which makes the colour harder to apply. Also as this formula is the lightest and the thinnest out of the three it needs two coats. The doe-foot being weird makes it harder to apply and it can look a  little streaky. Once its on it lasts a really long time though so its worth the extra effort.

Shabby-Chic

If I had to compile a list of my five all time favourite lipsticks, Shabby-Chic would feature in there somewhere. This one has a regular doe-foot and probably the best formula out of all three. It only needs one coat and the grey-mauve colour is surprisingly wearable. If I had to recommend any of these shades it would be this one.

Velvet Slippers   

So Velvet Slipper looks like a soft reddy-purple in the tube but once I put it on and built it up, so it wasn't patchy, it turns out super dark. As you can see from the arm swatch, one coat leaves it super patchy.  Once its built up it does feel a little thick and chunky, but no worse than one coat of some LA Splash shades I own. 

I decided to wear test this shade as it as the most noticeable, so any changes or rubbing would be more apparent than the others.

Look at my shiny, shiny nose...

So here's an update photo four hours, two cups of tea, some biscuits and a plate of pasta later. As you can see there is some wear and tear around the inside of my lips, but considering I ate a whole plate of pasta and cheese sauce, I'm really impressed. That level of sauce and oil would strip a Kat Von D or an LA Splash clean off my face. These are under half the price of both those brands so for it to have broken down this little is amazing.

So, to summarise, I think these lipstick are really good value and although the formula and applicator vary from colour to colour they all still perform really well. If I had to recommend one it would be Shabby Chic which I think is the best overall. I'd be interested to try more of them, however I have so many matte lipsticks, I'd probably just try them a couple of times then they're sit at the back of my lipstick drawer.

xoxo Scruffy 

M&S Limited Collection Lipsticks & Lip Lacquers - With Swatches

So right before my holiday I was in the beauty section of Marks and Spencers "testing" expensive handcream and perfume when I came across these multipacks. I'd just gotten paid and decided that I would give them a go.  They were a gamble though as there was no way for me to swatch them in store and as they were cheap, they could be nasty.

Limited Collection Shades of Plum Lipstick Collection 3 Pack £12

 These packs come in three different sets, Shades of Red, Shades of Pink and Shades of Plum. I got the plum ones as they were the most different from anything I owned. That way, if they were decent and usuable I wouldnt have too much cross over.

Left to right: Plum, Mallow and Grape

I'm not sure if I love or hate the packaging. It feels very cheap and bulky, and with the cap on it looks like the cheap makeup you get on the dimly shelves next to the proper makeup displays in shops like Savers. When the caps off though, I dont hate it. If it was all silver with a clear cap it might have looked better. I'm not sure.

Left to right: Plum, Mallow and Grape

And look at these swatches.  I was so disappointed. The colours look so nice in the tubes but there is next to no pigmentation there. I had to actually try and build Plum up so you could see it more. They perform even worse on the lips, I've tried both Mallow and Grape and I had to re-apply every time I drank or ate anything. Every single time. And sometimes in between. 

They also have that weird cheap lipstick smell, not the watermelon one, the fake vanilla frosting one. Its just yuck.  I expected more from Marks & Spencers. I recently got given a Barry M lipstick that had amazing pigmentation, staying power and no nasty fake smell. I personally consider Barry M a cheap and fairly nasty brand, so for me to say I their lipstick is far better these should tell you everything you need to know. 

Limited Collection Pastel Pop Lip Lacquer 3 Pack £8

This was the only colour this set came in. I think these colours are really cute, so I would have picked them. The colours aren't named so I think I'll call them the pink one, the nude one and the orange one.

I actually really like the packaging. The squeezy tubes are a nice change to the standard clearly plastic viles liquid lipsticks usually come in and the gold caps are just enough to make them look chic without being over the top. The doe-foot applicators are really nice as well. The stick isn't too long (like the Kat Von D ones) and the doe foot isn't too big (like the NYX Liquid Suede ones) or weirdly bendy.

After the disappointment of the other lip products I really wasn't expecting much however these are really nice. Look at those colours. Especially that orange.  Love orange lip products.

So these are a bit weird. The apply really nicely, like a lip cream. The don't matte down and dry like most liquid lipsticks but aren't shiny and glossy. They also aren't sticky like a gloss. Its doesn't smell bad, I actually dont think it smells of much, although it does have a slight smell.

The only downside is that because it doesn't fully dry down, it can be quite smudgy. I loose half of it to my mug every time I have a cup of tea. I have worn it out and if you're out and about (cough*at the pub*cough) and drinking through a straw, it does last far better than any other liquid in its price range.

Also check how good the orange looks with my sunglasses. 

xoxo Scruffy

Primark Matte Liquid Lipsticks. Worth the money?

Why can't I leave Primark without picking up make-up these days?...Arghh

Any way, at the till on a recent visit I clocked some of the PS. Super Matte Liquid Lipsticks in the weird fishbowl things they have next to the queue. So obviously I ended up buying all three shades that were there.

The cost only £2 each, which makes them the cheapest of the cheap where liquid lipsticks are concerned. But were they worth the money?...

Left to Right: Nude, Kendall and Purple

The ones they had were Nude, although the bottom of it says Kim, (whats that all about?), Kendall which is a nice mauve greige colour and Purple, which is really red and not purple at all. Well done on that name Primark.

The tubes feel pretty cheap to be honest. I own a lot (I mean a crap load) of liquid lipstick and packaging wise, these are by far the nastiest. Its made worse as the tubes are square and when you screw the lids back on it doesn't line up properly. Huge pet hate of mine.

That being said, the colours are so pretty.

The formula is OK. Its definitely better on the two lighter shades than the red. The red is slightly drier and doesn't apply nearly as well. It feels like you're wiping the same product around rather than actually applying it smoothly. However, once I was able to apply it, I was impressed by the colour. Its still not purple though. They dried down nicely as well which I was surprised about.

Once I was confirmed they weren't going to stain the heck out my face I decided to try a couple. The nude is just a nude so I didn't play with that.

Now, full disclaimer. These photos are not cute. Focus on the lips please.

Here's Kendall. Its a lot like Ghoulish by LA Splash but feels a bit more comfortable. At this point I'm pretty impressed.

And Purple is... Still not purple. It is a nice dark red. I did have the same problem applying it as I had swatching it. Once it was on I loved it though.

So does it pass the wear-ability test.

First drink, small amount of smudge and fall out but no where near as bad as I expected. Also this was all that came off throughout my whole cuppa, so its performing better than some liquid lipsticks that cost 5x as much.

And after dinner it was still going strong.

Sorry 'bout the sparkle. Swatched something glitterbomby and its gone everywhere.

OK so there's a little flaking and fading round the centre but it performed so well. My dinner wasn't particularly oily, and they're known for stripping liquid lipsticks off. But I'm still so impressed. I mean, how good is that?

Removing the lipstick was a bit of a pain, but no more than some of the other long wear lipsticks I own. I learned a while ago that if you rub a lip balm (I have a cheap Nivea one) over the lipstick and let it soak in for a couple of minutes, usually they will just wipe off with a soft cloth or facial wipe. This worked a treat and within seconds I was lipstick free.

To summarize, I'd give these lipsticks a 8 out of 10. The pigmentation is great, and they seem to last a crazy long time. My only reservation is the application of them, the doe-foot is one of the weird long ones and the formula is a bit hard to work with but once applied they're great.

Definitely worth the money.