Anastasia Beverly Hills

Good morning my dears! 

It's officially the first day of winter in Australia and OMG it's bitterly cold outdoors. 

So what comes with winter besides being super rugged up and hot drinks all day long? Deep dark tones for makeup :D

I ordered two, one new, liquid lipsticks from ABH to add to my dark/muted vampy lips. Even though I generally go for a dark lip all year round winter equals all dark all the time, it's basically my dark ages of lipstick. 

So firstly I want to comment on the delivery packaging. My first time ordering from ABH directly and it's just boring. I mean yes it got here safely and intact but I love me some pretty postage. 

Now onto the colours and swatches! 

I picked up Vamp and Craft, which is a new colour for ABH. 

Vamp is an almost brown nude and what I personally wouldn't call "vampy" to me a vampy lipstick is a deep red/purpley shaded lipstick and really almost mimics blood in my opinion. 

However the colour is super pigmented and what it looks like in the tube is exactly the colour you get. 

Craft is a much more pink toned lipstick and so super gorgeous. I feel this colour suits me more whereas vamp doesn't really suit my skin tone as much as this one does. 

Again super pigmented and the tube colour is exactly what you get. 

Price wise the product is a very standard price across the board, very similar to Jeffree Star and Limecrime. ColouredRaine is a bit more cheap but at the end of the day, here in Australia you pay a decent amount more due to the AUD fluctuating like a mofo. So you better like the colour swatches you see on the website before committing to the price tag. 

Shipping to Australia was very easy and no fuss, arrived well in time of when it said it should. 

Packaging of the product itself is gorgeous and makes colour selection between all the lip products you have super easy. The wand isn't my favourite but that's purely because it's a long tube so obviously you need a long wand. I prefer the shorter ones as I feel I have more control over it. 

The product formula itself is quite creamy and very pigmented. It's not my favourite formula of liquid lipstick however, the colours available make you glaze over that fact. 

If you want to see how these look on a full face of makeup and out and about check out my instagram @embem3294 in the next week or two. Currently it's on private so you'll have to request to follow. But it's commonly make up of the days, pots' and just photos of my day to day life :) 

Enjoy winter ladies! And summer for you in the northern hemisphere

Em

Lemony Flutter

The love for Lush products I have....is utterly immense. From bath bombs to massage bars to their amazing soaps I've tried easily at least 80% of the products they sell.

This increased to 81% with the purchase of Lemony Flutter an amazing cuticle butter. 

My friend recommend it to me and the scent alone got my attention. It's this rich lemony scent without being too lemony...if that makes sense! 

Now for the real question, does it really help? Hell fucking yeah it does. I have horrific cuticles and constantly get those painful little skin tags due to the fact I use harsh cleaning chemicals daily at work and I'm constantly washing my hands at work too. 

Putting this on every night before bed has helped so much and improved the health of my nails too, no painful little tags in almost 3 weeks now! 

At $16.50AUD I really feel as though you get what you pay for. Not much is needed to coat all 10 nail beds and I feel it will just last for ages or until it starts to smell funny...  

10/10 would recommend to buy for any people who struggle with cuticle health. 

Em 

Liquid Lipsticks

The liquid lipstick thing has become absolutely massive over the past few years - I may be late to the game but for me it was Lime Crime with their go on liquid, dry matte lipsticks. I loveeeeee liquid lipsticks! they're so great and leave such a lovely stain on the lips as they wear off during the day. 

Now... before we go further, yes I am aware that most people have decided to boycott Lime Crime as a company for slightly dodgy practices in regards to "vegan" products not actually being vegan, stealing other companies stuff and dodgy online sale practices.
However, I am not Vegan, many companies steal ideas from others every day and nothing gets done about it, and I'm a firm believer in never giving out my credit card details - PayPal all the way guys! 

So after that small sidenote - onto the comparison!

Swatches from bottom to top; 

Sad Girl - Anastasia Beverly Hills, 

RedRum - Jeffree Star, 

Wicked - Lime Crime, 

NyCee - Australis Velourlips,  

Melted Ruby - Too Faced. 

 
Too Faced - Melted Lipsticks
Well well well, they certainly do live up to their name. If I grabbed one of my Mac lipsticks, melted it and then put it on my lips with a lip brush it would look like this.
The colours are so pigmented and so gorgeous. The applicator is also so very easy to use and I loveeee it. I currently own three out of the range and I only really like these three colours on me. Left to right we have Jelly Donut, Melted Velvet and Melted Ruby. 
I love the entire colour range however, being very pale and having red hair, I find most nudes make me look strange and washed out so I tend to stick with more reds, pinks and purples. 
Price wise these are $28AUD and can be bought online and in-store at 
http://mecca.com.au/too-faced/melted-lipstick/V-018759.html#start=1 


Jeffree Star Velour Liquid Lipstick
This brand is slightly newer to the game and has really exploded as a great alternative to Lime Crime. The colour pigmentation is amazing and the packaging is super cute! This does dry completely Matte on the lips and can be a tad drying on the lips.... but with a little lip balm all is well. 
The actual product itself is quite easy to use and has a light scent, is the applicator my best friend? No not really but you get used to it. 
Price point ranges depending on where you purchase it from. This particular one was purchased via Makeup Net Australia which is based in Melbourne. They have both an online store as well as physical. They retail at $26 AUD
http://www.makeupnet.com.au/userimages/Jeffree-Star-Cosmetics(2999073).htm


Anastasia Beverly Hills Liquid Lipstick
The hype around these beauties is wayyy to crazy for my liking. I had to nab this one BNIB from eBay the other day since they still haven't done a restock of the original Liquid Lipsticks (they just released a butt tonne of lip glosses so I'm sure that's why) ANYWAY....this gorgeous vampy purple with a glitter through it looks so gorgeous in the packaging. However....after trying it on for the first time tonight I am not a fan of the formula. Yes the colour is gorgeous and once it's on properly it's amazeballs but the consistency isn't doing it for me. I much prefer Lime Crime to this. 
Price wise these retail for $20USD and you can buy them directly from their website. The range of colours is amazing so points for that Anastasia!



Australis Velourlips
Out of the bunch so far this is the one and only 'Drug Store' liquid lipstick and it's pretty damn good. It is very creamy in comparison to the others and I don't feel as though it dries as Matte as much as I prefer. In saying that though, for a drug store product that girls who can't buy online/afford $30/40AUD for american products to come here it's a damn good alternative at $10AUD. In researching on the Australis website as I type they've come out with a new range of colours recently - lots of deep vampy colours as well as some mauves. Perfect for Aussie winter!

These can be bought via; Priceline online/physical and the Australis website directly
http://www.australiscosmetics.com.au/product/74201/velourlips-matte-cream



Lime Crime Velvetines
The best saved for last. Oh my precious babies. Missing from this photo is my favourite and go to colour 'Pansy' at the moment which is this gorgeous rich purple. I swear to god every time I've worn this colour to work in the past 4 days I've received so many lovely comments from both co-workers and just random customers! real confidence booster and makes me want to invest in another tube. From left to right we have Red Velvet, Wicked, Riot and Cashmere. 
Formula wise these are magical and I just ugh. I'm in love with a liquid lipstick guys and I can't deny it any longer! 
These are $20USD. 
They can be purchased from Lime Crime directly via; http://www.limecrime.com/velvetines/
Also from other webstores like NastyGal and DollsKill. 

Hope you're all loving the Liquid Lipsticks bandwagon too!

Micellar Water

Micellar Cleansing waters are something new to me to remove make up and cleanse my face. I typically used make up remover wipes or the Clinique Take the Day Off remover for Lids, Lashes and Lips. 

With super sensitive skin I had to make sure I could find one I wouldn't react to as I typically react to anything that goes on my face. 

I've tested 3 different brands - both high end and drug store and compared each of them on the basis of ease of use and how they react to my skin. 

Garnier - Micellar Cleansing Water All In 1 - Suitable for all skin types - perfume free. 

This particular one is quite good. It does remove all make up very well however, I do find it gets quite stingy around the eyes when removing eye make up. Particularly if I've got a lot of black on and it takes more to remove it all. 

Price wise it's reasonable and available at Priceline and most pharmacies. 

Would I buy if again? No I wouldn't. 

BioDerma Sensibo H2O Solution Micellaire Cleanser. 

This stuff is amazing. And the price tag makes you glad that it is. I purchased the largest bottle as that seemed like the best value for money. I only need a small amount on two cotton rounds and everything gets cleaned away. 

You don't have to rinse your face after using it but I prefer to, otherwise my skin feels a bit tacky. 

Would I buy it again? Yes I would but I'd hunt for a good price as RRP is very expensive. 

Simple - Micellar Cleansing Water - Kind to Skin 

This is the best of both worlds. Simple is a drugstore brand and is the cheapest option out of the three. And it works just as well as the Bioderma on my skin! It removes everything...even with heavy set eye make up that's been on all day long, it's no effort at all. 

Would I repurchase? Yes. A million times yes. I may repurchase this one once I have finished my Bioderma bottle. 

All 3 products are sold at Priceline in store and online. 

Simple can be found in Coles or Woolies and similar with the Garnier.

Bioderma is a little bit more exclusive so it is only easily found at Priceline I've found however, it can be purchased online. 

Origins

Origins - Drink Up Intensive Overnight Mask 

This is the shiz. 

Like oh my wow. 

This is the first Origins product I've tested due to my skin having a freak out over the recent cold snap Sydney weather has created. 

The way I use it is to get a small amount and massage it between my hands and then apply to a freshly cleansed face. 

The scent is very pleasant...a light citrus..lemon myrtle type scent. Really lovely and not over powering at all! 

I really love how soft my skin is in the morning after I've used this and how supple it looks. The only thing that's annoying is the lid. I've only used the product a few times and the plastic is letting go! It still closes but those small details can really be annoying :/ other than the flimsy lid I really enjoy the packaging. I feel as though the packaging entices me to use the product more as well...which is always a plus. 

Would I repurchase? Most definitely yes. I've still got quite a fair amount to use up but once I do I will re purchase. 

Next on my Origins hit list will be the "clear improvement active charcoal mask to clear pores" long ranting name to say charcoal mask me thinks. 

This product can be purchased online via Mecca Cosmetica for $34 AUD

http://mecca.com.au/origins/drink-up-intensive-overnight-mask/I-007987.html#start=1

Other online stores such as Cosmetics Now 

And also in store at Mecca Cosmetica, Mecca Maxima. 

Em 

Beauty By Blunt

Hey everyone 

Over the past 6 months I've immersed myself into the beauty world thanks to my lovely friend Shannon who has trained as a professional make up artist through TAFE and regularly does photo shoots and many other fun things for her portfolio.

Over these 6 months I've begun religiously watching YouTubers such as Essiebutton, Hey Claire, Zoella, Leanne Lim Walker and so many more.

Through watching these inspirational women and going through so many products myself and seeing what works and what doesn't...I've grown the urge to share my opinions on products, brands and everything in between with anyone who would enjoy reading :)