Best Of 2012: Lips

Next up in the Best Of 2012 series are lip products. Most of you know that I was in a love-hate relationship with lipsticks and favoured lipgloss more. Well, I am pleased to say that has changed! I am now the proud owner of a beautiful lipstick collection and I can't wait to share my favourites with you! However, I will start with other lip products and save the best for last!

First up are two products that proved to be lip saviours...literally! I forgot to pack a lip balm for my trip to Paris and the first thing on arriving was pop into a pharmacy and I got Bioderma Atoderm Levres. It soothed my lips in an instant and left them feeling smooth and supple. Definitely a repurchase if I can find a Bioderma stockist here. Product number two is E.L.F. Studio Lip Exfoliator, a product I had been waiting for ages to be available on the UK website and I purchased straight away as soon as it was uploaded! I was so glad I bought it and I have been using it every other day to keep my lips smooth and it also improved the staying power of lip products on me.  I will need a replacement soon! I have also been able to try out Essence Kiss Care Love Lip balms* which provide the moisture and care of a regular lip balm with a sheer, pearly tint and I can confirm they work excellently!

My favourite lip liner this year has been Revlon ColorStay Lip Liner in Nude. It matches my lips perfectly and is great for use with any lip colour.  This year I have also discovered lip stains and my favourites have been Liptini Lip Liqueur in 4013 Pink Lady*, and Catrice Liquid Lip Tint in 010 Red My Lips*.

As for lipglosses, my favourites were E.L.F. Studio Glossy Gloss in Berry Blush & Merry Cherry, E.L.F. Studio Glitter Gloss in Sparkling Wine and Essence XXXL Shine Lipgloss in 020 Wood Of Roses*.

As previously said, I left the best for last! Here are my top lipsticks for 2012! Chanel Rouge Coco in 16 Taffetas Rose, Givenchy Rouge Interdit in 20 Illicit Raspberry*, MAC Lustre Lipstick in Naked Paris, Catrice Ultimate Colour Lipsticks in 030 Ginger & Fred and 190 The Nuder The Better.  All these lipsticks have excellent pigmentation and staying power and I am also very pleased to say that I have found the perfect nude in the latter Catrice lipstick.

Moving on, these lipsticks have sheer to high coverage and although the staying power is not as good as the ones above, they still cut it for my 2012 favourites because of their moisturizing formulas. Here are Catrice Ultimate Lip Glow in One Shade Fits All*, Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick in 206 Nude Pink, Kate Moss for Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick (matte) in 107 and Essence Lipsticks in 02 Sparkling Romance, 62 Rockin' Red*.

What were your favourite lip products during the past year?

Part 1: Nails
Part 2: Skin Care

Products marked with * were either gifted to me or sent by the respective companies' PR for review purposes

Monthly Favourites: December

How are you all today? The year is officially at an end and as it so happens at the end of each month, here are my monthly favourites. I am also planning to do a series of Best of 2012 in terms of beauty products so let me know if you would like to see that kind of posts.

My most favourite item this month has been a fashion item, more specifically a pair of shoes, and even more specifically, a pair of boots. Enter the Nine West that my bf bought me for Christmas :)

They're the most comfortable pair of boots I have ever owned and I really like how they dress up an outfit effortlessly while at the same time lending it a bit of an edge. 

Now on to cosmetics, starting with lip products. If you have a look at my OOTD posts, I rarely wear a single lip product, but I tend to pair up products more often than not. My favourite pairs this month have been Liptini Lip Liqueur in 4013 Pink Lady which stains the lips a nice dark pink colour together with Essence XXXL Shine Lipgloss in 15 True Love & Catrice Ultimate Colour Lipstick in 190 The Nuder The Better and Essence XXXL Shine Lipgloss in 08 Glamour To Go.

Moving on the eye department, I have quite a few products, most of which are new discoveries. With regards mascara, I have been reaching for Catrice's Glamour Doll Mascara mostly and when paired with RevitaLash Volumizing Primer, they give my lashes a whole new dimension. I also have a new favourite eyeshadow and glitter eyeliner, courtesy of Pupa Milano in Malta with which I did the NYE make-up in yesterday's post. You can also check out my full review on both products here. Lastly, since I have really been into neutrals this month, I opted for a brown kajal liner for everyday use and my favourite has been Catrice Kajal Designer in 150 Up&Brown&Up&Brown...

Next come the face and body products, namely Zadig & Voltaire Tome 1 - For Her La Purete and Burberry The Beat for perfumes and Napoleon Perdis Ultimate Contour Palette.  The palette is definitely my favourite contour tool as the bronzer is matte and matches my pale skin tone without looking too obvious and the blush is a pretty pink colour. The highlight provides a delicate pearly finish, perfect to emphasise cheekbones and your lips!

What were your end-of-year favourites ladies? Happy New Year to all!

Review: E.L.F. Studio Lip Exfoliator

Finally, it's here sitting on my vanity! As you can tell by the title of this post, I am talking about the E.L.F. Studio Lip Exfoliator for which I have been waiting ages to be available on the E.L.F. Cosmetics UK website.

My lips get chapped every so often and while a good lip balm helps restore moisture levels, it won't remove all the flakiness that usually accompanies chapped and wind-burnt lips.  Hence, when I saw this product on the US website for E.L.F. Cosmetics, I knew I needed it.  Such need continued to increase each time I read or saw a video review on this product, all of which give it a thumbs up.  Consequently, as soon as this product made its way to the UK website i.e. only last week, I placed a little order straight away for fear that the product might go out of stock overnight.

As usual, my order arrived just three days after shipping and I used the Lip Exfoliator straight away and since  I have been using it religiously every other day, I can already share my thoughts on it.

The packaging is typical of the Studio range with the product being supplied in a sleek, black carton box that bears the ingredients and product description on the sides and back respectively.  The Lip Exfoliator itself comes in the form of a lipstick in a sleek matte black case that I personally find really elegant.

I have read some reviews where people claimed that there was a very thick layer of waxes initially and they couldn't get to the exfoliating granules if they didn't remove this waxy layer. I think e.l.f. have taken this into consideration because mine only had a very thin layer and I could use the product as intended right away.  The texture is in fact very granular while the waxes are very moisturising on the lips. Furthermore, it smells (ad tastes!) divinely sweet.

What you do is dampen your lips with a little water and gently work your way around your lips with the exfoliator in circular motions to relieve the lips of any flakes and restore their smooth, supple feel.

Overall, I really like and totally recommend this product as part of my ultimate E.L.F. Cosmetics favourite products and I will definitely re-purchase!

You can buy yours from the e.l.f. cosmetics website for only €4.50.

Make-Up Collection {Part 3 ~ Lip Products}

After quite a long break from my make-up collection posts, here is my lip product collection! I still have some more items on my wishlist that I need to purchase like some Catrice and Essence lipsticks as well as some other products from e.l.f. Cosmetics but for now, here is my current collection.

A word about lip product storage first; I keep my lipsticks either in the first drawer of my make-up cabinet or else, on the top of the cabinet along with other lip products depending on the frequency of use.  As for my high-end lipsticks, I keep them in their original packaging in the first drawer to avoid any disasters... and they never ever leave the house! In summer I like to keep my lipsticks in a container in the refrigerator to prevent them from melting.  

I'll leave you to the pictures now :) Click on a product name for the full review and if you would like me to review a product that is not yet reviewed, then just leave a comment :)

Lipsticks

Mac Milan Mode

e.l.f. Sociable

e.l.f. Mineral Lipsticks in Ripe Rose, Rosy Tan, Natural Nymph & Rich Raspberry

Max Factor Lipstick in 710 Midnight Plum

Deborah Rossetto 24 Ore in 13 Creamy 

Givenchy Rouge Interdit in 20 Illicit Raspberry

Maybelline Water Shine Lipstick in 02 Beige Glace

Chanel Rouge Allure in 66 Confidentielle

Max Factor Lipstick in 804 Hint of Red

e.l.f. Studio Matte Lip Colors in Natural, Coral & Tea Rose

Lip-liners

Estee Lauder Lip Defining Pencil in Spice

Technic Lip-liner pencil in Pink

The Body Shop Lip Pencil in Chestnut

NYX Long Lip Pencil in CLPL20 Plush Red

Revlon ColorStay Automatic Lip Liner in 02 Nude

Farmasi Lip Pencil in 210

e.l.f. Lip Liner and Blending Brush in Wine

Lip Glosses

e.l.f. Studio Glitter Gloss in Ruby Rasberry

essence Stay With Me long lasting lip gloss in I Like Cotton Candy

Napoleon Perdis Protege Lip Gloss

M&S Lip Gloss in Dark Pink

L'Oreal Glam Shine Crystals in Coral Strass

Rimmel Clear Gloss

H&M Lip Gloss in Queen of Peach

Caboodles Lip Tint in Yummy Swirl

e.l.f. Super Glossy Lip Shines in Goddess, Iced Latte, Malt Shake & Mauve Luxe

Nivea Care Gloss & Shine in Natural

Primark Beauty lip gloss

The Body Shop Hi-Shine lip treatment

Eyeko Lip Gloss in Knightsbridge

Barry M Limited Edition Glossy Tube in Bubble Gum Pink

Farmasi Extreme Gloss

Lip Balms and everything else

e.l.f. All Over Color Stick in Pink Lemonade & Persimmon

The Body Shop Born Lippy Lip Balm in Passionberry

Nivea Hydro Care Lip Balm

So that is my current lip product collection ladies! I am planning to do more collection posts such as new additions, nail polish collection, jewellery collection, etc so let me know what you want to see! In the mean time, check out my other two instalments of the make-up collection posts:

Part 1 ~ Storage & Face Products

Part 2 ~ Eye Products