My Top Seven Winter Lip Picks!

Hey there!

I know I haven't posted anything new in a while, so I'm hoping to redeem myself with this photo-heavy post about my favorite lip colours of this season! I thought I'd post it now as we all know that lip products are perfect stocking-filler size, so I figured you might want to add some of these items to you Christmas wish-lists...

Lets get started with a swatch-shot of all seven colours... or three shots in a variety of lights, since you want to know how the colour will fare in a variety of situations right?

So here are the colours swatched in natural light;

From the top, the photograph shows my Topshop lipstick in Rumour Has It, my Rimmel Moisture Renew in shade Electric Plum, my favourite MAC lipstick in Sin, Revlon's Just Bitten Lipstain and Balm in Frenzy, a Dior lipstick which my boyfriend got for me as a little surprise (I'm not sure what the colour is because can't spot it on the package... but the number on the bottom says 455), my lush Long-Lasting Lipstick from Estee Lauder in Rose Candy and finally my Carmex Moisture Plus lip balm in Peach Sheer Tint!

And then I took a shot with flash indoors, and one without also. I think these shots are good for letting you know what kind of finish the colour has, sheer, matte, silky, glossy etc.

So here are the actual products, and as you can see in the swatches, I've put them in colour order, starting with the palest pink, going through the richer purples and then to the more nude shades.

First up is the Moisture Plus Peach Sheer Tint by Carmex. This product cost me £4.49 from Boots and it is literally one of my ultimate Holy Grail products. It is perfect for winter as it's super-duper hydrating and keeps the cold weather from turning my lips dryer than the Sahara. Plus, the cute pinky-peach wash of colour means I can roll out of bed in the morning, slick this on and be ready to go!

Next up is my Rose Candy Long-Lasting Lipstick from Estee Lauder. I actually got this free at one of the Inspire and Mentor events with Marie Claire a couple of months back but it retails at Boots for £18.50. Again, it is a great product for winter as it's really hydrating. But this time the colour pops a bit more which I think is gorgeous when I'm wearing my thick cream scarf and my hair down!

Thirdly is another high-end product. This Dior lipstick in shade 455 was a little luxury treat from my boyfriend a few weeks back. It seems to have been discontinued since, but there is a new lipstick from Dior in a similarly yummy colour (called Londres) for £22 at Debenhams. Anyways, enough about that. I love this colour because it is quite a deep pink almost plum colour (the photo doesn't really demonstrate quite how deep it is...) Plus, it smells like Parma Violets candies which I love :)

My fourth pick is a product which I never would have expected to be on one of my favorites lists, and yet Revlon's Just Bitten Lipstain has actually grown on me since my previous comparison review of it which can be found here... Perhaps it's because this shade - Frenzy - is a little subtler than the previous one I reviewed - Gothic. Nonetheless, I'm a convert. Again, the photograph isn't quite true to the shade... It seems the lighting made the colour appear more subtle when in reality, it is quite red. I like to wear it underneath Topshop's Rumour Has It and also Carmex Moisture Plus as the colour can sometimes be a little too over-powering needing a nude wash over the top. Howevever, it's also fantastically buildable! I'm glad the lip-balm is included though because it can be really quite drying. It can be bought at Boots for £7.99.

This is one of the sexiest shades of the season. Sin by MAC (£13.50) is just so vampy and chic... it looks dangerous! I like to use my finger to apply it and build it deeper and deeper so it acts almost as a stain. It can dry the soft skin on lips out quite a lot which can obviously be remedied with a slick of balm over the top. However, it's a shame really to use a balm as the real seduction in this shade is the matte effect... It's worth it for a day or so of dryness!

My Moisture Renew by Rimmel in shade Electrick Plum was the first lipstick I ever had. We've been through ups and downs, we've laughed, we've cried, we very nearly died (not really, but it rhymed...) and yet, this is still one of my fave shades for A/W because it is so rich and purpley without being too outrageous for everyday use. And I do wear this almost every day. It's nearly all run out now (which makes a lot of sense as I've had it for about four years... I know it's unhygienic and I should have gotten rid of it a while ago, but I always use a brush to apply this and heck, I love it so screw the rules!) This can be bought at Boots for £6.29.

Finally, my Topshop Limited Edition lipstick in Rumour Has It (£9) has been one of my favourite purchases this season. Although alone this shade does have that kind of 'concealer-on-the-lips' effect that I HATE with a fiery passion (as can be seen in this photo) when layered over any colour it adds a creamy, velvety nude variation on the shade and just makes lips look so kissable! It's a great buy, trust me! Get your hands on one quick though, because once the season ends, so does the collection!

So that's it! What do you think of these shades? This is my first post including lip photos, and I took them all myself so I know they're not perfect. Does anyone have any tips for taking lip photos? Also, I was shocked that my Top Seven Winter Lip Picks didn't include a bright red! This is very surprising to me as I usually love vibrant reds for this season, and yet this year I'd hardly noticed the absence of one... How bizarre. Maybe I should invest? Anyone have a favorite red lip shade?

Thanks for reading! Let me know if you'll be purchasing any of the shades :)

Love

gabriellasofia

x

Haute Future - Fall Haul Video...

So guess what... I've been SHOPPING!!! Haha. Honestly most of these Fall items were purchased in the United States over the summer, but some of the bits have been bought since I've been home! The stores include Forever 21, Delia's, Urban Decay, MAC, Icing by Claire's Accessories, Carmex and Boots.

I would describe my look this seasons as collegiate chic what with the blazers and the A-line short-ish skirts. I would probably say that I've gone with a 1940's look for my make-up what with the deep wine colored lipstick and neutral eye shades, I might incorporate a flick with my eyeliner to give a more 'Pin Up' effect... Hmmm, so many options :)

Anyways, as usual all of the clothing items and beauty products were purchased them with my own money and I have not been encouraged by any company to do this tutorial... And yet I'm super excited about trying them all out and would say that most of the things were purchased from stores or brands that I have used for a while and trust with the quality of their products... hopefully they won't disappoint this time! Now for the painful part... This is how much they cost:

Gothic Cross Necklace - $4.80 Forever 21
Sweater Green - $19.90 Forever 21
Sweater Maroon - $19.90 Forever 21
Shorts Yellow - $34.50 Delia's
Brown Brogues - $24.80 Forever 21
Suedette Khaki Booties - $27.50 Forever 21
Heeled Tan Brogues - $25.80 Forever 21
Granite Coloured Panty Hose - $12.50 Delia's
Plum/Wine Coloured Panty Hose - $12.50 Delia's
Black Blazer with Tiny Blue Polka Dots - $32.80 Forever 21
Camel Coloured Blazer with Striped Lining - $27.80 Forever 21
Short Chiffon-y Nautical Skirt - $16.80 Forever 21
Autumn Leaf Coloured Skirt - $14.80 Forever 21
Pink/Lavender/Black/Tan Watercolour Skirt - $34.50 Delia's all available at www.store.delias.com
Blue/Gray/ Black Flower Dress - $22.80 Forever 21 all available at www.forever21.com
Urban Decay 15th Anniversary Shadow Collection - $55 available at www.urbandecay.com
MAC Sin Lipstick - £13.50 MAC
MAC Nightmoth Lip Liner - £14.00 MAC
MAC Frankly Scarlett Blush - £17.00 MAC
MAC Brun - £9.50 MAC
MAC Outre - £9.50 MAC
MAC Woodwinked - £ 9.50 MAC
MAC Blanc Type - £9.50 MAC all available at www.maccosmetics.co.uk
ICING by Claire's Accessories Gold Glitter Polish - $4.50 ICING
ICING by Claire's Accessories Blue Glitter Polish - $4.50 ICING available at www.icing.com
Barry M Red Glitter Nail Paint - £2.99 Boots
Carmex Moisture Plus - £4.50 Boots
Boots Tea Tree Witch Hazel Spot Wand - £3.56 Boots all available at www.boots.com

Hope you liked the video, let me know what you've been buying for this season!

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Thanks for watching, angels.

Love
gabriellasofia x

Review - Max Factor's Lipfinity Lasting Lip Tint

As someone who gets more excited about lip products than world peace, I was really eager to try a new stain out. The original reason why I bought Max Factor’s Lipfinity Lasting Lip Tint was because my Rimmel Moisture Renew seemed to be hypocritically drying my lips out, big time. Plus, I’m a single girl who could do without a transferable lip colour topped with a gloopy lip-gloss, as I’m sure no guy finds either of those attributes in the least bit attractive and let’s face it, I’m not getting any younger, so every appearance-related product needs to count!

My idea with stains is that I can paint them on then top them off with some smooth-making balm such as my Carmex Lip Balm in the strawberry flavour, which retails at Boots online for £2.69. Then it gives my lips that berry-bitten effect whilst also keeping them soft and kissable. Or that was the idea. Can you already hear my disappointment? Well, before we get into that, let’s see what Max Factor claims.

‘Lipfinity Lip Tint Pen has a non-transferable water based formula that doesn't just sit on top of your lips but permeates the upper layers for a stunning kiss-proof effect. And its nifty pen applicator is perfect for precise application so you can build up the colour as much as you dare or keep it light and simple – you're in control!’

How very promising, I mean, it sounds like genius. A felt tip pen for your lips which paints on a formula specifically designed to tattoo through the thin skin on lips, to leave them with a passionate looking, lasting bitten-lip effect. I even kind of hoped that after enough uses this product would create some sort of permanent stain so that my lips might always look like they’d been kissed so hard it had almost bruised them... talk about oozing sex appeal, right? Well, that’s not quite the way it worked out.

The thing we have to remember also is that perhaps my lips were not a perfect canvas. I bite my lips when I’m nervous. Any kind of change in the weather makes them drier than the Sahara. And they have never taken well to any kind of coloured lip product. But with all that in mind, I can still attest that this is the worst I have ever used in my decade or so of applying make-up.

This product was bought in yet another Boots online haul (seriously, I have an addiction to spending all my wages on beauty items for my reviews... perhaps I should see someone...) It retails at £5.99 and I chose Berry Burst because I liked the idea of the natural berry colour. I had a romanticised image of Amazonian tribal women crushing berries from trees before tattooing the colour onto their full, lush lips. Now, you know I don’t usually like to epically slander a brand or product. However, I cannot express how much of a waste of money this item was for me. Even if they’d given it to me for free I would probably never use it again.

So what’s the story? Well, I opened up the product for first use and immediately loved the idea of the pen. It was really precise to apply the product with and initially seemed like a better innovation than the wheel. However, after a couple of uses I noticed that in the same way as the felt on the tip of one of my multi-coloured Bic pens began to crumble off and flake across the page when I was a child, this Max Factor product began spreading tiny dark balls of fluff around my mouth. The tip of the pen is now ruined, not ten uses later and is, disappointingly, less precise than Max Factor’s description claims.

Now for the formula: horrendous. Actually, that’s too harsh. However, I really don’t like this formula. It’s very liquid-y and seems to gravitate towards any cracks or cuts which you may have on your lips, which is quite the inconvenience for me as it is exam time so my lips are ripped to shreds at the moment (a little exaggeration, but still the skin on my lips is uneven right now!) On the other hand, this formula smells a little like sweet cherries, and tastes faintly sugary too, which is a bonus. And yet after a few seconds it dries up on your lips looking very permanent... that is until you put some lip balm over the top at which point the colour no longer appears none transferable but is suddenly sliding all over your mouth in a messy looking red mess, more reminiscent of a naughty child who’s been eating poisonous berries from a bush than the romanticised image I had of the tribal babes. Gutted. The second time I used the product, despite keeping the top firmly secure when I was not using it (that’s a lesson I had to learn the hard way as a child with my Bic felt tips...) the nib was dry and next to no product was dispensed. I ended up having to shake the pen and dip it in a little water before a pitiful amount began to show on my lips.

I just find that this product was a massive let down, drying out my lips without Carmex, looking sloppy with it and not really living up to its claim at all. I’m sorry I can’t say anything more positive. To improve the product, Max Factor should start with the nib of the pen applicator and use a better quality material because as much as I enjoy the texture of fluffy pieces of felt hanging around my lips, I’m not sure how attractive it looks. I guess, ‘Not at all.’

If you’ve had a similar experience please let me know. Or better still, if you have something good to say about the product or any advice and tips to help me make this work for me, I would love for you to reply in the comments box below. Until such a time when I am aware of some sort of Miracle Method for using this product, it will stay in my make-up box... for a little while.

gabriellasofia