Review: Revlon Lip Butters Swatches Part 1

Revlon Lip Butters, everyone has heard about them by now. They are in between a chapstick and a lipstick, the perfect balance between colour and moisture. I love them because my lips get cracked and dry when I attempt to wear most lipsticks. I am one of those people who reapplies chapstick (my top choice is Blistex Lip Medex in stick form) all day long in the winter, that's how dry my lips are. These are a great substitute for lipstick for me. They come in a huge variety of colours and now can be found in Canada and the US pretty readily.

I went crazy when I first heard that we got these in Canada in late November. I spotted them at my local Shoppers Drug Mart for $15.99 CAD a piece, what a rip off! Since I am in downtown Toronto, getting to another Shoppers is like a 5 minute walk to the corner, so off I went. I went to another Shoppers and the price there was $10.99, what a difference! I ended up picking up three that day and my love affair began and my collection got larger and larger. Throughout the coming weeks, I picked up a couple during a Shoppers Drug Mart Bonus Redemption (free lipsticks!), some from Well.ca and some more during the Rexall BOGO lipstick sale, I have 14 out of the 20 now. I will be bringing you this review in two parts (because I have that many to go through).

The Revlon Colorburst Lip Butters are packaged much like the Revlon Colorburst, they have the quilted design on the front, very cute for drugstore. I heard the Colorburst lipstick line is being discontinued, which would be a shame because I love their lipsticks as well.

The top of the packaging is handy because you can see the colour through the top lid, making it easier to choose which ones to pick when shopping. I know the Shoppers around here have testers of 3/20 colours, so you have no idea what you are getting inside otherwise. As you can tell the Colorburst lipsticks had a opaque top, so you couldn't see through it.

 

My only real issue with the packaging is the lip "butter" itself is so soft and it smooshes very easily when you use it, all my mine look like this on the inside. It gets on the inside rim and on the outside as well. I would definitely not suggest keeping these anywhere warm, they will just melt into nothing.

Another beef I have is the terminology of this product, which many other bloggers have brought up, when I think of "butter" I think nourishing, moisturizing, with some sort of agent to protect my lips, usually in the form of a pot. These lip butters aren't really "butters" at all, although it is a cute name. I always wear a lipbalm underneath these as well if I can remember because although they are moist, they aren't moisturizing enough for me on their own.

Here are my bare lips with nothing on them. They are moderately pigmented.

Review: Burt's Bees Tinted Lip Balm

Burt's Bees has these new Tinted Lip Balms out which are quite great. I don't know how "new" they are, I've seen them around my Walmart for a long time, but they are new to me, and I've noticed reviews popping up about them right and there so people are catching on to them now. What I love and know about Burt's Bees is that they pride themselves on being a 100% earth friendly natural company. Their most known products are definitely their Beeswax Lip Balm, who doesn't have one of those laying around? And what I love about those is the tingly sensation that they give, unfortunately these tinted lip balms do not have that same thing.

MAC Lipstick Collection and Swatches

 

I am not really a lipstick or lip product kind of girl, so it's crazy that I somehow accumulated 12 MAC lipsticks. I swear half of these are from the Back 2 Mac program. I think they look pretty on, but not really practical for everyday wear because they come off so easily and I hate the feel of stuff on my lips. I find that I mostly buy MAC lipsticks when they come out in limited edition collections, and I especially like when they come in cute packaging (like the To The Beach and Liberty of London ones that I have). From my collection, I believe only 4 are from the regular line.  I love MAC lipsticks for their cute packaging, they look like a bullet and their great smell, I can't get enough of that vanilla smell, that makes them great alone.

Review: MAC Ever Hip Vs MAC Jazzed Lipstick

MAC's Ever Hip lipstick is available now in the new Fashion Flower collection, it's a re-promote from the "Liberty of London" collection. I missed out on it the first time, so I made sure I picked it up this time. However, the entire time I was debating whether or not to get it, I was wondering how similar it was to MAC Jazzed, which I already own, so this will much be a comparison post of the two.

Review: Hard Candy Fire Alarm Lipstick

Today's review is another Hard Candy product, this is their Fire Alarm liptsick. This is part of their "Painted Lady Manic Shine, Intense Color" lipsticks range, view all the shades available on Hard Candy's website. Actually I don't even see a colour called "Fire Alarm" on the website only "Firewall" so perhaps they changed the name or this is an old colour, no idea, maybe Hard Candy just needs to get it together, but this is the most popular one that I've read talked about so far.

Review: Revlon Super Lustrous Lipgloss

I love Revlon's Super Lustrous lipglosses, my favourite ones came out last spring/summer in the limited edition Daydreamer collection. I blogged about them back then, but, I think they are just as relevant this year as they were last. These colours are very pretty and remind me a bit of the colours in the MAC Quite Cute lip products that just came out. There were 5 colours in this collection, I have 4 here: Coral Reef, Lilac Pastelle, Peach Petal and Pink Pop.

These glosses are described as ""glossy formula combines sheer color and intense moisture with light-reflecting sphere to create amazing shine. SPF 15" on the Revlon website. I picked up Coral Reef recently, when they first came out I found them pretty hard to find, the displays were always sold out, but Revlon has made these permanent since, which is great. They are readily available now in most drugstores for around $8CAD, they are great to get on sale.

They come in pretty packaging with a doe foot applicator. Pictured above is Coral Reef, which is one of the more pigmented ones, I find Peach Petal and Lilac Pastelle to be more on the sheer side, good for layering over lipstick, the other two work great on their own. They are all creme finishes, no shimmer or glitter nonsense in these, so they are totally wearable on anyone.

And here are the swatches, I took lip swatches too but they were pretty bad, so I scrapped them. These swatches are quite true to life. Coral Reef is a bright orange coral, my favourite of the bunch. Lilac Pastelle looks a bit crazy in the tube, but is sheerer when applied and gives a nice purple lavender sheen. Peach Petal is a peach, close to my skin colour and nice for layering over nude lipstick. Pink Pop is my second favourite, it's a bright pink.

The pigmentation on these is very good, they aren't sticky at all, they're glossy, smooth and not drying on the lips. Many drugstore glosses fall short of providing enough colour and come out quite sheer, these ones are gorgeous. If you weren't able to pick these up last year, definitely check them out now. They remind me of MAC's cremesheen glosses.

Would I recommend this product? Yes for sure, they are beautiful and affordable, I would definitely recommend picking up Coral Reef and Pink Pop for the summer.

Review: Revlon Colorburst Lipgloss

Revlon recently came out with Colorburst lipglosses, much like the Colorburst lipsticks these come with the black quilted design. I love the packaging of these and that's what attracts me every time. I picked up only two because they are quite expensive in Canada, I have seen them at Shoppers for as much as $16.99 eek! I got one from my recent Shoppers Optimum points redemption and the other I bought for about $10 at Rexall Pharma Plus during their 30% off lip products sale. (EDIT: I think Rexall had it for around $8 and Walmart has them on for $8 too now, but ya Shoppers Drug Mart is expensive)

The applicator is interesting, it's flexible and thin on the one end dipping in slightly, and flatter on the other. I would rather they have a normal applicator since this is kinda too pointy for my liking, but whatever no biggie. There is a slight scent to these, it's vanilla-y, but not the pleasant vanilla that MAC lipsticks have, this is more artificial.

I picked up two colours, Papaya and Orchid. What turned me off a lot of these lipglosses was the amount of shimmers in them, personally I don't like a lot of shimmer on my lips, and many of these are packed full. Papaya was the one that interested me from the get-go, it's a bright peach colour (comes across very bright in these pictures because of the flash). While Orchid is a purple/mauve with silver and gold shimmers.

Papaya is a more bold colour, but I like it, great for summer. This was harder to apply than the Orchid one because it is a thicker consistency, which means get pigmentation but can be messy. This feels heavier on your lips that I would expect a gloss to. It appears as a creme finish at first, but if you really look at it there are minor peach shimmer in it, you won't notice it on your lips though.

Orchid is a more wearable colour, it's purple with LOTS of shimmers (see tube picture), so if you don't like shimmers steer far from this one. This one applied more even and sheerer, but still gives good colour payoff.

If this collecton had more cremes, I would definitely purchase more, but I think that's all I am getting for now. These are nice for drugstore, Revlon makes pretty good lip products.

Have you picked up any of the Revlon Colorburst lipglosses?

Review: Wet N Wild Mega Last Matte Lipsticks

Today I am reviewing the Wet N Wild Mega Last Matte Lipsticks, they sell for around $3 CAD at most major drugstores. I picked up Think Pink a month ago or so, and recently picked up three more because these are quite good for the price. They come in a variety of colours and are a matte finish. The packaging is quite cheap looking, and the lipstick bullet does not roll down all the way (it's all the way down in the picture) so it gets caught and smears on the plastic part often. I have to be extra careful when opening and closing. However, you can't expect awesome packaging with these, they had to cut corners somewhere since the price is so low. Wet N Wild has come a long way with their cosmetics, many people love their eyeshadows, but these lipsticks are quite good too.

These lipsticks have proper names, however the labels are only on the plastic wrap that comes with the lipsticks when you first buy them. Once you take that off, you are only left with numbers on the bottom. You can however look up the names on their website if you forget what they are called.

Here are the swatches on my arm, these are very pigmented, this is two swipes of each lipstick. The colours are gorgeous, I think these would go well on a variety of skintones. As you will see in the lip swatches below my only gripe with these is if you have dry lips (I do) any dry spots (in inside top centre for me) will show. You have to moisturize WELL with these or else you will not get a smooth application, but I find this is the case with all matte lipsticks. Also with these I get a line around my outline of my lips which isn't pretty, this isn't too visible when first applied but does show as the lipstick fades.

Bare It All (902C) is a brown nude. It looks orangey in the swatch cause of my poor camera, but it does look more brown in real life. I like this colour because it is like nothing else that I have in my collection, and is a good alternative for concealer lips.

Just Peachy (903C) is a peach pink shade. I love peach lipcolours, so I had to get this one, I think it goes well with my skintone.

Mauve Outta Here (907C) is a purple pink colour, this one applies the nicest out of the all four that I have. This really warms up the face and pops.

Think Pink (901B) is a pale barbie pink. I bought this one earlier and wrote a full review of it here. It may have been from swatching so much, but this one applied the most "dry" looking on my lips and streaky. If you like pale pinks, this is a nice one.

I like these lipsticks overall, but those with dry lips, be warned. A gloss over these would change the look from matte to something more wearable as well. The whole "mega last" thing doesn't really appeal to me anyway, but I don't feel like these last all that long.

Have you tried these? What did you think?

Review: Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipsticks

Can you believe these are my first ever Rimmel Lasting Finish lipsticks? I don't know why I didn't get these earlier, they are gorgeous. I bought 5 of these on sale at Shoppers Drug Mart this week, they were $3.99 a piece, normally $7.49 here in Canada. I got the colours (from left to right): Heavenly, Air Fairy, Crush, Pink Blush and Nostalgia.

They come in dark purple/burgundy packaging with a crown on the top. You can tell the packaging is really cheap judging by how light it is, but I do like how it clicks so you know it's totally closed. There are lots of colours to choose from, some are a tad too frosty for my liking though. I like the finish of these, they aren't particularly moisturizing, but not drying either and they last a decent amount of time, for a lipstick anyway. I am particularly about the smell of beauty products and these smell like Starburst candies to me, they are like a sour, sweet fragrance.

The pigmentation of these is really nice, it takes two swipes to get a nice, even application. I think for a drugstore lipstick, these are one of the best. I tried to pick colours that weren't too frosty, I like creamy lipsticks. These go on with some shine and look very flattering.

Heavenly is a mauvey berry colour. It is darker than it looks in the picture above, that is what flash does, it makes everything look lighter than it is, do not judge this colour on this swatch, the pictures above do it more justice. This colour is gorgeous.

Airy Fairy is a really popular colour. I didn't want it based on the swatches that I saw online however because it made me think it was a colour that it's not. Problem is this one is really hard to photograph, it can look nude and pinky purple depending on the lighting. I think it can look good on anyone because it's so unique of a colour.

Crush is a peachy colour, it does have some shimmer in it and bright, I think it's too bright and at the same time, it leaves yellow lines on the outside of your lipline if you do overapply it. Not totally sold on this one.

Pink Blush is a pale baby pink, it is marvelous. It applies moist, smooth and opaque in two swipes. Lots of people compare this to a more pigmented MAC Lady Gaga lipstick, but so much cheaper. I like pinks, so I had to pick up this one.

Nostalgia is a bright warm coral. This one is a pretty colour too.

Do you have any of the Rimmel Lasting Finish lipsticks?

Review: L'oreal Color Juice Lipgloss

I picked up some of the L'oreal Color Juice lipglosses to try out recently, I'd been meaning to get these for a while, but they are pretty expensive for a drugstore lip product. These sell for about $10 CAD. My drugstore had all lip products for 50% off, that's when I picked these up. These feel quite high-quality on on lips. They come in lots of pretty colours, are milky and moisturizing. They've been compared to the Lancome Juicy Tubes glosses, but at a fraction of the cost.I like these, but have some issues with their pigmentation as you will see below in my review.

These come in squeezy tube packaging, the applicator is a slanted dome with a little hole in the centre. As you can tell mine came with two different applicators, the Strawberry Smoothie (on left) has the old design of the round applicator, while Pina Colada (on right) came with the new slanted one, the slanted is definitely better for applying. Most lipglosses have doefoot applicators, offering more precise application. These smell good, but they do not smell like the fruit or name on the package, they all kind of smell like candy.

The formula is moisturizing, shiny, thick but not too sticky and sheer colour. The colour on your lips is not as pigmented as it looks in the tube. It would make for a nice gloss to put over lipstick. As with most lipglosses, these do not last long, they need to be re-applied. I admit I am not much of a lip person, but I am getting into it lately a lot, or so, buying a lot and not wearing very much of it. hahaha. Yeah, I am terrible.

Bubble Gum is like a milky soft pink shade. It has what looks like silver shimmers, not really noticeable on the lips and definitely not something others would notice either. I have read that this is a dupe for NARS Turkish Delight lipgloss, however I do not own that one, so I cannot comment. If you have less pigmented lips than mine, this will look more pale on you..

Pina Colada is a milky nude color in the tube, but on the lips, it looks the same as Bubble Gum above, I find Bubble Gum does a better job at pale-ing out my lips however. This is apparently a dupe for MAC's C-Thru lipglass.

Strawberry Smoothie is a sheer pink, with multi-coloured shimmers. Judging from the swatch above, you'd think this would be really pigmented, but it's really not much different applied. This ones gives a more orangey look.

So would I get more of these? Probably not, I find they all look the same applied, which is a shame because in the packaging they look so promising. I know these are called "sheer" lipgloss, but I was hoping for a bit more colour payoff.

Have you tried any of the L'oreal Color Juice lipglosses?

Review: ELF Hypershine Lipgloss Set

The ELF hypershine lipglosses are described on the ELF website as "Hyper, glass-like shine infused with micro-mirror technology to reflect light. Smoothes lips on contact with a conditioning shine that lasts for hours." They come in a variety of colours and sell for $1 each, recently I picked up their Color 101 Hypershine Lipgloss Set, as part of their Back To School line which was $5, and comes with 5 glosses.

These are not the normal glosses that they sell on the site and I was disappointed to see that the ones in this set are particularly shimmery. They do not have names on them either, just numbers. The set comes with a peachy shimmery shade (pic below), a light pink with some shimmer, a magenta with lots of shimmer, a red with shimmer, and a dark wine red with shimmers.

The peach one, first from the left is probably my favourite one, the shimmer in it is quite tolerable, it gives a nice goldy shine to my lips. I find as most lipglosses, these do not last a long time, and need to be reapplied. 

The applicator for these is a fibre-type that you paint on your lips. You do have to twist the product up a lot on your first use, it even says so on the package, to twist 7-10 times, it takes a while up for the product to move up. There isn't much product in these either, but what can you expect for $1? I think what you get is pretty good and the packaging resembles the Stila lipglosses. You can use these on their own for subtle colour, or over lipstick for a shimmery shine. If you do not like shimmer, I would steer clear of this product cause these are shimmer-mania. I think I will get the regular ones next time I order since I am a fan of the product, but not the shimmers. 

Swatched on my hand these look pretty good and pigmented, but on the lips it's barely there. And the pink one, second from the left, which I was hoping for the most since it's the least shimmery shows up the least. The texture is thick and sticky, but bearable I think. They all smell like vanilla I think, except for the pink one in there which reminds me of Hubba Bubba gum because it has a much stronger scent. Overall I think these are nice.

Have you tried these or any of the other ELF Hypershine glosses?