Fifty Shades of Red

Having had my psyche severely damaged earlier today (hearing the words, "she is quite a big, solid girl" from people who have literally just met you can do that to a person); I am going to keep today's post strictly about makeup and won't be sharing the details of my interesting yet soul-destroying day just yet.

After posting this awesome post about purple lipstick, I started to feel a little bit guilty about my blatant colorism - yes that is a word now - and disregard for other lipsticks' feelings and decided to stop ignoring all my gorgeous red shades. 

In case you don't believe red is awesome, try to picture a purple Ferrari... 

Yep, didn't think so. Sometimes, red just works.  

So here are the different lip colors I tried: 

Pout Paste Love Bites - $12.95 (Australis)

Having owned the 'Berry Nice Kiss' (for the rest of us, 'purple') Pout Paste for a few weeks now, and having loved it since the first day I got it, I decided to buy the red one as well. I did try Pash Me Pink in store, but the Barbie doll color did absolutely nothing for me, and, while I am quite happy to wear a discrete pastel pink lipstick, I could not bring myself to buy this one. 

Love Bites however, I LOVE. Just like the Berry Nice Kiss, it is a beautiful, intense color, which is a little bit thick and goopy when first applied but quickly settles into feeling like a regular gloss. 

I had to apply a little bit more than with the purple shade however, as I struggled to get it quite right without lip liner, and in the end, I did decide to line my lips as I think that perfect edges are key to pulling off bright lip colors. 

This is what it looks like:

My favorite thing about red lipstick is that getting the right shade for your skintone and teeth color will usually brighten your complexion and make your teeth appear whiter, which this shade definitely does for me.

Small drawback - this color did not last quite as long as the purple one for some reason, and I felt like I had to reapply more often. Not ideal considering you need a mirror to ensure precision, as opposed to when using a true gloss which can sometimes be done more stealthily. 

Still definitely worth the $9.99 I paid for it on sale. 

Velourlips Matte Cream NY-CEE - $9.95 (Australis)

Priceline describe it as:

"Highly pigmented lips are the look of the moment, and this lip cream takes it to the next level with its beautiful matte finish! The creamy long-wear formula glides on easily with its doe foot applicator, finishing to a velvety matte look with intense, full coverage colour payoff. Perfect for when you want lasting, matte colour that moves with your lips without flaking."

While this definitely has a matte finish and an intense, full coverage, I am really not sure about its ability to deliver on the "without flaking" part. Here is a photo of my lips after the lip cream has dried, as well as a few minutes later, after I pressed my hand to my lips rather forcefully to see if it would transfer.

It transferred a lot less if I pressed my lips to something gently, but any accidental rubbing motion definitely made the cream flake and worse, the color rubbed around my lips when I tried to clean it up.

This was quite hard to remove and I have to use several cotton pads soaked in makeup remover, but it still stained my lips. 

I was also not a fan of the smell. 

So I pretty much decided that when I want bright red matte lips, I will stick with the (way) more expensive but tried and tested Mac lipstick. 

MAC Lipstick - Ruby Woo $36 

If I had to commit to a single red lipstick for the rest of my life, I would unhesitatingly tie the knot with this one. MAC is quality makeup, and this lipstick delivers on all its promises: a rich, vibrant red, a matte finish, does not stain your teeth and lasts quite long, as long as you wear lip liner and don't expect your lipstick to last through a bucket of greasy KFC chicken wings. 

I always get compliments when I wear this out, and it is the kind of color that you can easily justify wearing during the day as well as to a night out. 

It also doesn't stain your lips and is easy to remove, which I cannot be thankful enough for after my Velourlips removal battle. 

Anyway, that's it from me today. Thank you all for reading. 

Love always,

Tatiana

Beauty and the Beholder

I heard someone make an extremely self-deprecating comment today and it made me really sad because that girl is unbelievably nice, crazy cool, beautiful, and I felt like she should be aware of it.

As I was turning around to say something to her, I caught myself, and realized how hypocritical that would be, considering I think and say horrible things about myself on a daily basis. 

That's just what girls do, right? 

Mostly, yes. "Right"? Not so much. Here is a Dove video created as part of their 'Real Beauty' campaign which I think is absolutely amazing and demonstrates why we should be kinder to ourselves. 

In honor of International Happiness Day (yes, that's a thing!!), maybe we should take a moment  to think about the things we love, like or even just plain appreciate about ourselves. Here are a few of mine: 

• I love that I am willing to stand up for myself when people try to bring me down, and seem calm and collected despite the fact that my heart is usually racing and I am swallowing back tears.

• I love that I can make people laugh (even when it is "at me" rather than "with me") because I always feel really good when they walk away from the conversation with a smile on their face.

• I love that I often have awesome ideas, even though 90% the time someone has had them and implemented them before me - I am looking at you, inventor of the Vivino Wine App.

(That last one is a real bummer to be honest. While I absolutely love the internet, and the fact that it connects billions of people around the world and allows them to share ideas, I have to admit that it sucks a little bit when you come up with something brilliant and then realize 13 million other people have had the same brilliant idea, WAY before you did...)

Anyway, as a reminder that beauty comes from within, here is a pretty picture I drew:

And, in case you are not convinced and think I am full of it, here are my thoughts on a couple of awesome lipsticks that I own, which make me feel pretty when I need it most:

L'Oreal Color Riche Anti-age Serum - Ardent Sunset

I am a little bit gaga over this color! While I don't really care about the anti-ageing serum in the lipstick, I love the feel of it on my lips -light and non-sticky - as well as the moisturizing properties of the product.

The drop in the middle of the stick contains hyaluronic acid, pro-xylane and collagen which are supposed to plump your lips and make them look fuller as you keep using the lipstick over time, but to be honest, I have not seen these effects yet.

Maybe because I have only worn it twice?

There is an extremely slight tingle when you first put it on, nothing like some "lip-plumper" glosses which make you feel like someone has used a cheese-grater on your lips and then doused them in acid.

The only drawbacks so far are the fact that it smells like old lady lipstick and is a bit expensive for a drugstore brand ($21.95 at Priceline), but you can get it quite a bit cheaper on eBay.

L'Oreal Color Riche Made for Me Natural - Sunset Blush

This one is extremely subtle and one of my favorite colors for work. I really like that it lives up to its name and is more of a 'blush' than a color, as well as the fact that it moisturizes lips without adding too much gloss.

This one also has the old lady smell and costs the same as the Ardent Sunset, my only other issue with it is that it does not stay quite within the lines of my mouth and tends to bleed just slightly unless I use lip liner with it.

Despite my tendency not to blot after application, neither of these colors have transferred to my teeth so far, which is awesome!

As always, thanks for reading, and please feel free to drop me a comment below and let me know what you love about yourself!!

Love always,

Tatiana

Lipstick, rainbows and unicorns. No, really.

Priceline Australia had a massive 2-day 40% sale on all cosmetics in mid-March, and I took the opportunity to buy a few lot of things.

As you may have noticed if you have seen my profile picture on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, this page, and every other form of social media I have signed up to, I currently have a major obsession with purple lipstick. 

Mostly because I find that many shades of pink lipstick don’t go well with my skin tone and make me look washed out or trampy.

But also because purple is just plain awesome.

I drew you a purple unicorn and rainbow to prove my point, but even the unicorn looks dubious. 

You'll just have to take my word for it. 

Anyways...

Following this makeup shopping spree, I ended up with a lot of Australis stuff. In the interest of keeping this brief-ish though, I might review some of the other products later.

Here are the Australis purple lip shades I currently own:

Pout Paste Berry Nice Kiss -

I have raved about this lip (gloss? Paste?) color on many different forums now but that is because it is truly awesome. I really like:

• the intensity of the color, which gives a lot of coverage without having to be laid on thick
• the feel of the product - light, and no more sticky than a normal gloss
• the longevity of it - I have never before been able to keep a lip gloss on for over two hours despite consuming copious amounts of greasy food
• the wand applicator and the fact that it is very moisturizing. 

One drawback, if your hair is whipping around your face, it can deposit product on your cheeks, and the fact that it is such an intense color means you will have little lines of purple (or red or pink, which it also comes in) all over your face.

Below are some photos of me wearing one coat of the Berry Nice Kiss color.

I am still not sure what I was trying to do in that middle pic, but thought should include it for its entertainment value... 

                            

Colour Inject Mineral Lipstick Gangsta –      

This color is more on the blue side of the purple color wheel. It is a glossy lipstick which is also long lasting and feels very light on the lips. 

One of my favorite lipstick collections of all time: contains an SPF 15, a number of moisturizing oils, comfortable to wear and I have not found lipstick on my teeth so far! 

In this case the drawback is that this does stain the lips a little after removal, as dark colors tend to do, but I quite like the effect. 

                        

Velourlips Matte Cream TOK-I-O -

Having only tried this on my hand in store (it was sold out and I had to order it), I have no photos of myself wearing it, but will update as soon as it arrives in the mail :) 

I did find that it felt really dry, which I didn't love compared to the other two. I do however, love that this is a true deep purple which was more blue than the others.

While I was quite comfortable wearing the other two colors out during the day, this one is not something I would wear unless I were to mix it with a softer color. I also felt that I would need to add a lip balm over the top to avoid having crackly lips.  

UPDATE: I have finally received it!

My first impression upon putting this on was that it really stinks. Australis have attempted to make this smell fruity and delicious, but instead it smells like those scented pens we all loved in high school. Not my favourite thing to put on my face. 

The velour-like consistency is quite fun and different, I like that it is not sticky and does not transfer too much if something lightly touches your lips, however, if you rub them, the product flakes off and looks pretty terrible. It was also really hard to remove and stained my lips. Not ideal. 

Overall, not something I would buy again, especially considering the major drama I had with purchasing from Priceline online (that, I do NOT recommend!!).

Thank you for reading and watch this space for a link to my YouTube video review, which I am in the process of editing!

Love always,

Tatiana