Top Ten Lipsticks for Autumn 2013

Hello dolls :) Unfortunately summer is has come to an end but here in Malta, autumn is still not in full swing yet. Having said that, I look forward to wearing all the new clothes I bought for the coming season as well as wearing my favourite lipstick shades, namely berry hues and rich reds.

 

Today I will be sharing with you my favourite lipsticks to wear during this time of year and I have included both drugstore and high end picks with shades ranging from neutral tones to deeper tones. Here they are in no particular order:

 

E.L.F. Mineral Lipstick Rosy Tan ~ a my-lips-but-better shade with warm undertones.
 

 

M.A.C. Lustre Lipstick Naked Paris ~ nude shimmery brown
 

 

Essence Lipstick 12 Sparkling Miracle - purple with golden shimmer
 

 

E.L.F. Mineral Lipstick Rich Raspberry - toned down raspberry pink with reddish undertones
 

 

Essence Home Sweet Home Trend Edition Longlasting Lipstick 02 Berry Me Home - true raspberry
 

 

Max Factor Lipstick 710 Midnight Plum - plum purple with subtle shimmer
 

 

Catrice Ultimate Colour Lipstick 030 Ginger and Fred - mulberry with golden shimmer
 

 

Make Up Store Sparkling Lipstick Black Currant - plum purple with multi-coloured shimmer
 

 

Chanel Rouge Coco 16 Taffetas Rose - deep rose pink with violet undertones

 

E.L.F. Studio Matte Lip Color Rich Red - true red with a matte finish

 

 

So those are my picks for the season. If I had to pick just one favourite shade out of the above ten, it would hands down be Make Up Store Black Currant. I just love the multi-coloured shimmers and how the shade contrasts with my skin tone. I have got this lipstick only recently but I can see myself wearing it a lot already. Other favourites would be Chanel Taffetas Rose and Essence Sparkling Miracle.

Do you prefer rich lipstick shades to the more sheer formulas? Which is your favourite fall lipstick?  

Valentine's Day Nail Art Tutorial | Leopard Print & Hearts

Hey dolls :) It's been a busy few days for me so that's why I wasn't active much here. Anyway, here is a nail art tutorial for the manicure I will be wearing for Valentine's Day.

I chose leopard print frankly because it is sexy and while not everyone is keen wearing on leopard print clothing pieces, leopard nails are much easier to wear. As for the hearts, I think the reason is pretty obvious! Read on for the tutorial and more pictures!

1. Prep nails with a good base coat and leave to dry.

2. Paint on two coats of a nude beige nail polish such as Catrice Ultimate Nudes Nail Lacquer in Same Seine But Different on all the nails except the ring fingers. Leave to dry thoroughly. 

3. In the meantime, paint two coats of a sparkly gold glitter polish on the ring fingers. I chose Essence Colour & Go Nail Polish in Gold Fever which also has red glitter particles to make the hearts pop even more.

4. With a darker nude brown (E.L.F. Smoky Brown) and using the polish brush, place random dots on the top part of the nude coloured nails. Don't worry if they are not neat, as it will give more resemblance to actual leopard print. Leave out a small area so that you can paint a heart in the next step.

5. By means of a dotting tool and Essence Colour & Go Polish in Fame Fatal, draw a heart on each of the nails.  On the ring fingers, place it at the bottom of the nail, right in the centre as shown in the photographs, while on the other, paint the heart in the blank area. To draw a perfect heart shape, place two dots of red nail polish facing each other, then drag their centres downward and fill in the centre of the hearts.

6. Subsequently, go around the brown dots and hearts with black nail polish (Essie Licorice) and creat jagged 'C' shapes around them to finish off the leopard print.

7. Seal your design with a glossy top coat and you're done!

Enjoy Valentine's Day!

NOTW: Saran wrap Manicure

A trend that has currently been on the rise in the nail artistry world, is the saran wrap or cling film manicure. I had a go at the look myself and I was actually pretty pleased with the result! Marbled nails in no time and it is much less messy than water marble (although the end result is different). Here are the pictures and tutorial:

1. Prep nails with a base coat and paint on two coats of a base nail polish of your choice. I used Essence Colour & Go in 111 English Rose. Allow to dry thoroughly.

2. Prepare some pieces of saran wrap and working one nail at a time, paint on a fairly thick coat of a contrasting colour and gently dab the wrap until you get the effect you want. My second polish is E.L.F. Desert Haze.

3. When satisfied, seal your design with a top coat and that's it!

Review: e.l.f. Studio Make-Up Lock & Seal

A few weeks back, Marla has requested a review of the e.l.f. Studio Make-Up Lock & Seal after I had posted my e.l.f. cosmetics collection to take part in a competition.  This Studio line product is a recent addition to the e.l.f. cosmetics UK site but it has been available for quite a while before I got it so I waited to see what others had to say about it and then I gave in.

Basically, this is a make-up primer and sealer in one and it claims to 'increase the intensity of your make-up colors and lock it on instantly... for a sealed smudge-proof wear.  The quick dry and easy to use formula keeps your make-up in place for hours'.

It comes packaged in a sleek, black carton box with a window and the components are kept in a white plastic mold.  So what constitutes this product? You get a 15ml bottle of mixing liquid, a flat tapered brush and a small transparent mixing pot.  

A few words about the liquid first... I'm not really keen on the bottle being black as I can't see how much product I've got left but I do like the nozzle as I can control how much product comes out with ease and it is much more hygienic as well.  The liquid itself has a faint smell that somehow reminds me of surgical spirit but it goes away after a few seconds of application so it's nothing major.

The brush, resembles the bigger Studio line brushes in that it is black and has a black ferrule as well.  It is labelled as 'Mini Blending Brush' but I think it is more of a regular eyeshadow brush with a rather tapered point which I like.  The bristles are taklon-coated just like the other e.l.f. brushes and they are very soft to the touch.  Also, this brush has never shed a hair neither while I'm using it nor whilst washing it.  One thing to bear in mind though is to wash the brush immediately after each use to prevent it from hardening (if hardening does happen however, just rinse the brush under warm water before washing to soften it).

The mixing pot is quite small but I like that as I do not waste a lot of product when using it.  Although it is small, it is quite easy to clean up for the next use with a couple of q-tips.

I like to use this product with the e.l.f. Mineral Eyeshadows and other pigments and eyeshadows that are in powder form as it helps reduce fall out and makes them more easy to work with.  However, with regards staying power of products when paired with the Make-Up Lock & Seal, I find it doesn't differ then when I prime my eyes with the Eyelid Primer and then fix everything in place with the Make-Up Mist & Set; but it does increase colour intensity as you can see in the swatch below. With regards make-up removal, I have never had any problem with removing eyeshadow after using this product and I have never had any adverse reactions to it.  Here is a comparison swatch to see the effect this product has vs when using an eye primer & make-up fixer:

Pigment eyeshadow without any base (far left)

over e.l.f. Eyelid Primer & set with Studio Make-Up Mist & Set (centre)

with Studio Make-Up Lock & Seal (far right)

I would recommend this product to anyone willing to try an alternative method to make make-up stay on longer as well as people with oily eyelids as I think this will work for them.  Also, I think it would be great to use with less pigmented eyeshadows as it makes them look more intense and seals them in place.

The e.l.f. Studio Make-Up Lock & Seal retails for €4/£3.50 and can be bought directly from the e.l.f. cosmetics website.

Review: e.l.f. Mineral Eyeshadows in Outdoorsy, Socialite & Caffeinated

Hello my lovelies! I have so many e.l.f. reviews to do I figured out I better get started! I'm going to start off with the Mineral Eyeshadows, of which I have three shades, Outdoorsy, Socialite & Caffeinated.  I got these eyeshadows a couple of months ago to give them a try as I have read a lot of good things about them.

At the time, e.l.f. cosmetics UK were running a promotion where with every £10/€12 order, they offered free shipping and a mystery gift with products worth up to £10.  I couldn't miss on the offer but since most of the items I needed were out of stock, I added two shades of mineral eyeshadows to my order to get the total amount to a little over €12.

I picked up Socialite because the colour intrigued me as it is quite unique and I also got Caffeinated as I love my neutrals!  I then ended up getting Outdoorsy for free in the mystery box, and I'm not at all regretting it as it is such a lovely colour!

So, the Mineral Eyeshadows, as the name implies, are part of e.l.f. cosmetics Mineral range, and consequently, they are 100% natural and are paraben-free, and contain no chemical additives and dyes.  Your skin will thank you for using such products! Moreover, elf claim that these eyeshadows contain Vitamins A & B to hydrate and minimize the appearance of fine lines.

The eyeshadows come packaged in a small, clean white box and you get the shade names at the side and the ingredients on the backside of the box.  The actual eyeshadows are supplied in 0.85g transparent jars with a sifter and a screw-top black lid.  They come with a sticker over the sifter holes to prevent fall-out but I took that off as I find that piercing one or two holes doesn't bring out much product.  The eyeshadows come in powder form, just like pigments.

Since they are powdery, I like the apply them over a primer base to make sure they stay in place and they are really easy to blend.  They can also be used wet to intensify the colours and bring out the shimmer more.  They are all very pigmented, yet they are buildable if you use a light hand to apply them.  Here are swatches of the three eyeshadows:

Socialite: I would describe this is a very dark black/grey shimmery chrome colour with purple and brown undertones.  It is very unique and online swatches are what intrigued me to try it in the first place.  The first picture is taken in natural daylight while the other is taken with flash.  The pictures really do not do any justice to this beautiful shade but you get the idea, hopefully!

Caffeinated: This is a very nice shimmery gold eyeshadow, perfect to create a dramatic smokey eye with neutral tones. Again, the top picture is taken in natural light while the bottom one is taken with flash.

Outdoorsy: As I said, I got this one for free in the mystery box and I was really pleased because I love green eyeshadows as they suit me.  However, I have nothing like it my collection.  It is a deep, shimmery forest green that will come out a little blackened if used dry so I prefer to use it wet to bring out the intensity of the green.  Natural light swatches are the ones in the first picture.

The only downside I can find to these eyeshadows is that they can be very messy to take out in the tray and apply and also, expect some fallout so I recommend applying foundation and concealer after putting on the eye make-up when using these eyeshadows.  However, I really like the intensity of the shades and the quality and I like to use them wet over a primer to bring out the colours more.  At only €3.50 per pot, you can't really go wrong!

I want to get some more of these eyeshadows so if you have any recommendations feel free to leave them in the comments section below :) Do you own any of the elf mineral eyeshadows?

My e.l.f. Cosmetics Collection as at 24/01/2012

Hello dolls :) So yesterday, I posted my elf cosmetics collection to take part in the competition that is being run by the Distribeauty team.  Johan came up with the idea to display the collection in the form of a butterfly and this was the end result:

Would you like reviews of any specific products? Let me know in the comments section below :)

Do we have any products in common? What do you think of them?

First e.l.f. Cosmetics Haul of the Year!

Hello cupcakes :) Sorry for not posting this earlier but I needed to really go out and enjoy some company this weekend as with work and all, I was really missing my social life so on Friday, after I got some rest from my night shift, me and Johan headed out for the whole day and yesterday, after my day duty, we headed straight out with our friends for some drinks and catching up on life in general :)

Anyways, so on Friday, I came home to my little brown box from e.l.f. cosmetics *yayy!!* Johan was by my side and he just couldn't help shaking his head in pity and disapproval at my reactions as I opened the box really carefully not to damage anything and as soon as I made sure there were no damages what's so ever, I took everything out of the packaging to have a play with lol.  

Enough rambling, here are some photos of the products, quick swatches and some initial impressions.  Reviews will follow once I have thoroughly tested everything :)

Studio Glitter Gloss in Ruby Raspberry

Studio Eyeliner & Shadow Stick in Pearl/Glow

Studio Lip Liner & Blending Brush in Wine

Mechanical Eyelash Curler

Essential Brightening Eyeliner in Gilded

Studio Contour Brush

Swatches from top to bottom: Studio Eyeliner & Shadow Stick in Pearl/Glow

Studio Glitter Gloss in Ruby Raspberry

Studio Lip Liner & Blending Brush in Wine

Essential Brightening Eyeliner in Gilded

Studio Lip Liner & Blending Brush in Wine

Studio Eyeliner & Shadow Stick in Pearl/Glow

Studio Contour Brush

So far I have only tried the Contour Brush and the Mechanical Eyelash Curler and I can say I'm very happy with them! As scared as I was of the Eyelash Curler, I find it is quite easy to use :)  I have also worn the Glitter Gloss as soon as I took it out of the packaging and I can honestly say that I rubbed my lips together several times and I didn't get any cuts from the glitter and it wasn't that gritty at all.  I'm most impressed with the pigmentation as for a gloss, this is really pigmented.  

So that's it for this haul post ladies :) Have you got any of these items? Do you consider getting any of them?

Review: e.l.f. Studio Single Eyeshadow in Raspberry Truffle

Hello ladies :) If you follow me on facebook, you would know that I had a terrible night shift last night as it was quite busy and to compensate, I slept from 9am till 4pm :P Anywho, as soon as I woke up, I was thinking of something to blog about and I figured I hadn't done an elf review in a long time and I better get the reviews up and running as there are quite a few products from my last two hauls.  

First up is the only Studio Single Eyeshadow I own and it is in the shade Raspberry Truffle.  I have been wanting this shade ever since I saw I video on YouTube from Oxford Jasmine and I kept putting it off just because I have so many eyeshadows but I really didn't know what I was missing!  So in November/December, elf were having a Mystery Box offer and it was the perfect chance to get some new make-up and I popped Raspberry Truffle in my cart!

I'm a big fan of the Studio line packaging as it is so sleek and closes tightly and this eyeshadow was no exception! It comes in a larger cardboard box as shown in the pictures.  You also get a small mirror on the inside of the case and in total, you get 2.75 grams of product for €4/£3.50/$3.  Moreover, you also get a piece of protective plastic with the elf logo over the eyeshadow pan. The packaging is quite small so it is also very convenient to take with you when you're traveling!

The colour is also quite unique and although I would have loved it more if the colour you get is the same as in the pan, I still love the colour and I have including it in almost all make-up looks recently.  I would describe it as a very deep plummy-berryish shade with flecks of golden and purple shimmer running though it.  However, when swatched, the colour leans more towards brownish hues rather than purples.  The pigmentation of this eyeshadow is outstanding and you need very little effort to blend it; plus, it is perfect to create a smokey eye without using the usual blacks!

Raspberry Truffle from different angles

These swatches really don't do the colour any justice but they are the best ones I could get.  The top left swatch is the colour blended while the one on the bottom is the colour with e.l.f. Eyelid Primer underneath.  The swatch on my finger-pad is quite a heavy swatch to bring out the different shades in this unique eye colour.  As you can see, the use of a primer really brings out the colour more and I also have found it useful to use the purple shade from the e.l.f. Duo Eyeshadow Cream in Eggplant as it is a very similar shade and therefore it brings out the colour more and lets it stay in place for longer!

Do you own this shade ladies? Any other Studio eyeshadows you recommend?