NYX Matte Lipsticks in Tea Rose and Eurotrash Review and Lip Swatches - Cruelty Free Makeup

NYX are a fairly new brand to come to the UK, however over the past 6 months they started to take over my makeup collection, especially in the lip category. 

One of the first products I bought was the matte lipstick in Tea Rose. A gorgeous soft dusky pink shade. I really liked it but it got overshadowed in my collection by the many other matte lip products I own, and to be honest I totally forgot about it. 

Then, a few weeks ago, I was in my local Boots and decided to peruse the NYX counter (still not an experience I enjoy, the standards haven't really improved since my last rant post). I've already got all the shades of Lip Suede, Lip Cream, Lip Lingerie and almost all Butter Lipsticks I could want, so I found myself browsing the other lipstick lines and that's when I noticed Eurotrash and remembered about Tea Rose.

Top Eurotrash and bottom Tea Rose

So there they are. Packaging wise these lipsticks are very similar to the Butter lipsticks, the only difference being the ends of the bullet are all matte black and not coloured plastic that matches the colour of the product. I like this style of packaging, simple and effective. I also think the window is a nice touch as it means you can tell which lipstick is which without having to check the bottom or opening them. On a tangent, I've noticed NYX also print the name of the product down the body of the product as well, which I like too as it saves squinting at the bottom.

And here are the swatches. As you can see Eurotrash is very nude whereas Tea Rose is far more pink. They are both however, very nice wearable everyday colours.

Lip Swatch : Eurotrash

Lip Swatch: Tea Rose

Formula wise these lipsticks are really nice. They're soft and easy to apply with a good pigment pay off. And although they are maybe not truly matte in the same way a liquid lipstick would be, they are far more matte than a standard lipstick and far more comfortable than any liquid lipstick I have tried, even the really comfortable ones.

They don't last a really long time, however they wear off evenly and don't smudge that much when you kiss. They also feel really moisturising and leave my lips feeling in great condition. I've placed these two in my work makeup bag as they're lovely, wearable, "office appropriate" colours (although that never stopped me wearing dark purple). Ideal for applying after lunch when other products have worn off or started to flake and I need something for the afternoon.

I'd be really interested in trying more colours from this range as there are some gorgeous burnt oranges and dark reds. I'm just a bit worried they may suffer from the same formula inconsistancies that other NYX lines do, like the Full Throttle lipsticks where some are lovely and others are waxy and stiff. These two are absolutely lovely regardless.

XOXO Scruffy 

Enquiry? Message me ascruffyduck@gmail.com

November Favourites - Makeup, Fashion, Candles and Food - Cruelty Free and Delicious 2016

So November has been a kind of funny month. My trip to the Czech Republic at the very start now feels like a lifetime ago, the nights are drawing in, its getting cold and feeling very wintery.

I've tried some new makeup I love, some I wasn't so sold on and rediscovered some old favourites. Some of these have review posts and others will be getting them soon. I'll link anything I've done a full post on. Also if the photos seem a little blurry, I'm sorry. I had a major case of the hiccups and didn't have time to retake them.  

The Sleek Bad Girl i-Divine palette and the Urban Decay Naked Ultimate Basics Palette. I have full reviews of both of these coming out soon, the Sleek one might actually be up by the time this post goes up and the Urban Decay one will follow as part of Blogmas. 

I've been really enjoying combining these. My usual has two top left and bottom right shadows in the Sleek palette combined with most of the top row of the Naked palette, although its also great on its own. The only thing I hated about both these palettes was the applicators that came with them. The Sleek palette had one of those sponge applicator things and the brush that came with the Urban Decay palette kicks off more fallout that I've ever seen. These shadows are great with any other brush, but not that one. C'mon Urban Decay...

Other eye favourites this month. I <3 Makeup Eyeliner in Channeling My Inner, Kat Von D Tattoo Liner in Trooper and Freedom Duo Brow Powder in Caramel Brown. These two eyeliners have been staples in my makeup bag this month. The I <3 Makeup pencil is one of my favourite brown liners ever. Its soft and blendable with a gorgeous copper sheen to it. It also lasts all day. The Kat Von D liner has a super thin, but its also firm enough to draw a good line. I can see me getting a full sized one of these once this little guy is finished.  The Freedom brow powder has been a favourite for a while now. As you can see from the swatches, its not super pigmented but that's all I need. In the past I tried penciling in my browns, or using coloured pomade or tinted mascara, but my brows are fairly thick and defined so most things make them feel over done. This powder is all I need to simply fill in the patchy bits nearer the ends of them to them looking a bit thin. 

Face product wise I've been loving the Naked Skin Weightless Concealer from Urban Decay in light neutral. I've never found a concealer that's a good match for me. I always find that high street ones are always either far to warm or far to cool for me. I went and got colour matched for this one and its a good match (guess I maybe should have swatched it for you). Its also really nice and blendable. I also got the foundation from this range and am planning on a wear test post, hopefully as part of Blogmas but no guarantees. Then we have the Freedom Pro Glow in Meow, the first wrist swatch is everything swirled together and the second is a more concentrated one using the circle in them middle. I've been loving this for days when I'm feeling more lazy and just want something to add a little something to my cheeks. The third product is the Sleek Blush in Rose Gold. This colour and the swatch looking really intimidating but when you use it lightly on a fluffy brush it gives the most gorgeous. soft, rosy glow. The gold shimmer is also super cute. Both these products are super affordable as well. 

My two absolute favourite lip products of November are both NYX. The first is the Lip Lingerie in Embellishment. I've already done a full review of this here so I'm not going to go on about it. The other is the NYX Matte lipstick in Eurotrash. I have a full review of this and another matte lipstick from the range going up during Blogmas, its already finished so that will probably go up within the next week or so. I wore it pretty much every day last week and its just the perfect nude matte lipstick for work and if I'm not doing anything fancy.

So onto other favourites. I got this bag before Halloween and have used it loads. I love it. Ursula has always been my favourites, she has an awesome musical number and spends all day chilling in a killer dress and getting food from her henchmen. Those are my life goals in a nutshell. Also it saves me 5p every time I remember to use it (in Scotland you have to pay for plastic bags, unless they're coming directly in contact with food and keeping it sanitary).

I've been loving my pins too, I got the Hufflepuff Quidditch colours pin when I was in Florida and it currently chilling on the collar of my winter coat. I've had a lot of compliments and it reminds me of sunnier times. The wooden stags head came from CherryLoco Jewellery, a Glasgow based company I own a fair amount of stuff from including my sleeping fox necklace. I'm currently trying to work out how to fit getting one of the Gingerdead Men pins into my meticulously planned budget. Folk keep asking what I want for my Birthday, I might tell the next person that asks I want that. The Critical Hit and French Fancy ones are from Kitty's Kitschenette and when I was trying to find that link I remembered why I stopped looking at her website. I want it all! She has a Wednesday Addams brooch up. I might need to ask for that too. I love the Addams Family and Wednesday was always my favourite. 

Burnables wise, these two have emerged as my Winter 2016 favourites. There's the Wickford and Co. Gingerbread candle and the Airwick Mulled Wine by the Fire colour changing candle. I've raved about both of these on Instagram (find me here cough). I love all the festive, spicy, gingery, cinnamony smells that are out there right now so I've bought a lot of candles and a lot of backups recently. The Gingerbread candles wins the award for overall best though. The huge jar, and by huge I mean the same size as the biggest Yankie Candle I've ever seen, is £2.99 from Home Bargains and it smells like exactly like fresh gingerbread biscuits, When I lived at home my little brother used to bake them a lot so it brings back memories. I'm not even half way through the first one, even thought I've burnt it for what feels like days, and I have two backups. Hopefully that will keep me going for a while. The colour changing candle is more just fun to watch. Flames and a light show. I did manage to make it colour change without lighting it, but I'm not sure how. Also you can trigger it by just passing a lighter near it. Not sure how it works but it sure is pretty. 

My last two favourites are delicious. The first is the M&S Christmas Mulled Fruit Infusion Tea. This stuff is amazing. It smells like, and, if drank when piping hot, tastes like mulled wine but is office appropriate. I have boxes squirreled away everywhere, home, office, boyfriends. Heck, I've have a backup in my handbag if there was space. Everyone I've given this too seems to love it as well and I managed to survive two days when I didn't have milk (because I forgot in town and was too lazy to cross two roads and go to the shop directly across the street once I was home) drinking this and I normally need my breakfast tea. Just don't let it get cold because then it tastes awful. Its one of those herbal teas. 

My other favourite is Lebkuchen. Whilst this isn't ever not a favourite, cause gingerbread is the best, its finally in the shops and acceptable for me to eat lots of it. This one is especially nice and is a new discovery this year, its the Nuremberg assortment from Lidl and has walnuts, almonds, cashews and hazelnuts through it. I'm surprised this lasted long enough for me to photograph it. So yummy. 

Thats all for now duckies.

XOXO Scruffy

Enquiry? Message me ascruffyduck@gmail.com

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 

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.