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: Loose Button November Luxebox and Giveaway

November's Luxebox was really nice if you like perfume! And I do. Please note every box can differ, so the items that I got in mine, may not be the same that you get in yours, however some of the items do appear in many Luxeboxes that I have seen from reviews this month, like the Tea sample, came in all of them as far as I can tell. I got this box a few weeks ago, it's been a busy month for me, my boyfriend and I have been trying to find a new apartment and Christmas shopping has got in the way too. What can you? Here is my review for November's Luxebox, as well there is a giveaway at the end! If you're interested in subscribing to Luxebox, memberships are $12 a month or $10 for a yearly membership. They make a great gift for someone and are a nice gift for yourself too every month!

The items that excited me the most this month were the perfumes. Mine came with two perfume, one for me and one for my boyfriend! They are both from Paco Rabanne in Black XS. When I saw them in the box, I automatically sprayed the men's one (not knowing it was the men's one of course) because the packaging was so cute, it looks just like a cigeratte lighter. I am a big fan of the packaging on these.

Sigma Makeup: Black Friday Free Worldwide Shipping Coupon Code (Nov 25 Only)

Sigma Makeup is offering Free Worldwide Standard Shipping today for Black Friday! This started at 9am CST and ends at 5pm CST. 12am CT. Enter the coupon code BF2011 to get the discount at checkout. Shipping isn't that much, but every little bit help.

I like the new 18K gold "The Cities" Limited Edition travel set, it comes with real gold ferrules and chocolate brown  handles, a great gift for Christmas! Anyone want to buy me one? Be patient with their site, it seems to be loading very slowly today, I wonder why?

Click here to shop Sigma Makeup.

Review: Origins VitaZing SPF 15 Energy Boosting Moisturizer

I am late on the bandwagon for this product. I remember it being hyped up a lot on youtube back in the summer. A few months back The Bay in Canada had a promotion for Origins, this product was down to $35 CAD (down from $44) and you got 3 free samples with it too (of a choice of three groupings). I am always down for free samples and a discount, so I couldn't give it up. This was my first time trying anything from Origins, so it was nice to be given a few sample treats as well.

Review: Sigma F86 Synthetic Tapered Kabuki

Sigma recently came out with several new brushes for their Sigmax line, this is a collection of synthetic bristled brushes. I love the F80, F82 and F86 for foundation application, they apply the fullest coverage possible quickly and blend nicely. The great thing about these is they don't shed or smell because they are synthetic, they also don't absorb product like a natural hair brush would, although I do have a hard time washing product out because they are so densely packed (and drying them sucks too). Today's review is the F86 Synthetic Tapered Kabuki. Even though I am in the Sigma Affiliate Program, I did purchase this brush myself, I was curious about it and have been using it for about a month now.

The shape of this brush intrigues me, it's like an egg. The Sigma website describes that this brush is "ideal for using powders and higlighter under the eye and cheek area. The dense precise tip of this brush enhances cheek highlighting and contouring for a flawless application." I had hoped to use this brush for liquid foundation but, I find it's really difficult, I am used to a flat top brush like the F80, a stippling brush or a traditional foundation brush. This brush is far too pointy to use for foundation in my opinion, unless you are just applying foundation to small areas of your face like around the nose and eyes, it's nice for that. I have been using it for contouring and it's great for that since it gets right in the hallow of your cheeks. Several youtubers mention it works well for cream bronzer like the Chanel Soleil De Tan. I also bought the smaller version of this brush, the P86 (review on that later).

Review: L'oreal Voluminous False Fiber Lashes Faux Cils

Voluminous False Fibre Lashes is the newest mascara in L'oreal's Voluminous range. This mascara is said to be a fibre volumizing mascara, the "lash sculpting fibre formula adheres to lashes for a volumized, sculpted lash effects. Lashes appear fuller, longer, sculpted and curled at every angle". I love the Voluminous line, so I had to try this out and see what it was all about. I think this is Lash Architect 4D in Europe (in a silver tube).

The packaging is really nice, it comes in a gold, shiny "expensive looking" tube, much like the previous L'oreal Million Lashes. You will notice straight away that the applicator (the wand and the handle) is very long, and can be difficult to work with at first, but you get used to it quickly. The brush is tapered, thinner at the tip and wider at the base, also it's angled slightly to the side (picture did not capture that). I picked up this mascara at Rexall Pharma Plus for about $11 Canadian, I've seen it for as much as $16 at Shoppers Drug Mart, best to get it on sale.