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.

Revlon Expressionists Fall 2011 Gucci Westman Nail Polishes Carbonite and Facets of Fuschia

Revlon's Expressionists Fall 2011 Gucci Westman nail polishes came out a while back, but we only got them in Canada a few weeks ago, at least that's the case in my area. This collection came with 5 new polishes: Blue Mosaic, Facets of Fuschia, Smoky Canvas, Starry Pink, and Carbonite (along with new lipstick, eyeshadow, and lipgloss).

Monthly Faves: April 2011

May is here, Happy Cinco De Mayo everyone! And today I am doing my favourites from last month. As you probably know, April was my no-buy makeup ban month, I did find except for the MAC Ever Hip lipstick that I couldn't resist near the end of the month.

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?

♥ Best of 2010 ♥

Now that 2010 has come and gone and 2011 is here, it's time to reflect on what products did the job well in 2010. Here is my list of favourite products of last year. I've tried to incorporate as much as possible products that came out in 2010, but in the mix got products that just worked for me too, regardless of when they came out.

Best Foundation

NARS Sheer Glow

MAC Pro Longwear

MUFE Face and Body

Maybelline Dream Smooth Mousse

Best Concealer

Revlon Age Defying Creme

Benefit Erase Paste

Bobbi Brown Corrector (Light Bisque)

Best Lipgloss

Revlon Super Lustrous Lilac Pastelle, Pink Pop and Peach Petal

Best Lipstick

Revlon Soft Nude

MAC Jazzed

MAC Viva Glam Gaga

MAC Blooming Lovely

Best Blush

MAC Stereo Rose

MAC Peaches

Benefit Coralista

NYC Blushable Creme Stick in Plaza Pink

Best Eyeshadow

NYX Champagne and Caviar

MAC Naked Lunch, Sable and All That Glitters

Best Bronzer

Physicians Formila Bronze Booster (Light/Med)

MAC Golden

Best Powder

Revlon Colorstay Pressed Powder

Almay Wake Up Hydrating Makeup

MAC Mineralized Skinfinish Natural (Light)

Best Highlighter

Hard Candy Honeymoon

MAC By Candlelight

Best Mascara

Maybelline Lash Stiletto Voluptuous

Loreal Million Lashes

Cover Girl Lash Blast Fusion

Revlon Grow Luscious

Best Eye Primer

Urban Decay Primer Potion (Pro Size)

Best Skincare

Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser

Clean and Clear Dual Action Moisturizer

The Body Shop Vitamin C Skin Boost

Best Fixers

Neutrogena Oil-Free Eye Makeup Remover

MAC Fix+ Rose

MAC Prep and Prime Skin

Best Perfume

Thierry Mugler Womanity

Givenchy Hot Couture

Best Nail Polish

OPI Suzy Says Feng Shui

OPI Jade is the New Black

American Apparel Malibu Green

Best Brush

ELF Studio Powder Brush

Sigma F80 Flat Top Synthetic 

Sigma E25 Mini

Sigma F25

What were your favourites of 2010?

Friday Faves: What Makeup are you thankful for?

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, (even though I am Canadian and celebrated it last month) we will look today at what beauty products we are thankful for. The products that make us happy to have them around and brighten up our day, or face in this case! I got this idea after reading Maquilagem Masstige do it on her blog.

What products am I thankful for? Ideally all the products that we buy would work well, they would not disappoint us, break us out, cause us to wonder why we bought them in the first place etc. But that is not the case, that is why you see so many favorite and HG posts all over the internet, people are always looking to find the next best thing, never totally satisfied with what we have already. I have a couple of products which I would deem my everyday favourites, products that I love having in my collection and would re-buy.

Quick dry top-coat. This has got to be one of the best beauty inventions ever. No one wants to wait for their nails to dry. Just pile on some top coat (specifically I love Seche Vite or the OPI Fast Forward or Start To Finish) and helps your nails dry quickly and makes them super shiny! Although I do find the Seche Vite to get gloppy and disgusting once you are halfway through the bottle, I still love it. I feel naked without topcoat, it's like a sweater for your nails.

The eyelash curler, another great invention. Pictured is my Revlon one, I haven't found a huge difference between high-end and drugstore eyelash curlers. For me this is a must-have item since my lashes looks so much better when they are curled, I don't even bother putting mascara on if I don't curl my lashes.

I am thankful for lash growth products. The L'oreal lash serum totally changed the look of my lashes, I still use it regularly. As someone who never had long-enough lashes, always wanting them to be fuller and longer, products like these make me happy. I am not sure if the Revlon grow luscious does anything, but I like to think it does.

Concealer is another item that should be essential in every girl's makeup bag and it's definitely a favourite of mine. I am thankful that there are so many different concealers out there, all types of formulations, textures, different ones for all areas of your face. I love the MAC studio finish for blemishes. The select coverup for pretty much all over, and the others primarily for under eye concealing. Where would we be without concealers? it's fabulous.

Being a light girl, bronzer is heaven-sent for me. I use bronzer pretty much everyday, as an all-over powder more or less. It gives me that extra perk me up, specifically I like the Physicians Formula bronze booster.

Last and probably most important, I am thankful for liquid foundation. The kind that provides good coverage while not caking up and making my dry skin look drier. Some favourites right now are Clinique Redness Solutions, NARS sheer glow and Lancome teint idole ultra.

What products are you thankful for?

I also want to take this moment to wish everyone in the US a Happy Thanksgiving! Don't shop too hard today!

Review: Revlon Colorstay Active Light Makeup

Rexall Pharma Plus in Canada has a 50% off sale on all their face makeup, this includes foundation, concealer, primer, blush and bronzer this week. I picked up a couple of foundations to try out and a blush during this sale, I tried to be good and not go too crazy. I picked up the Revlon Colorstay Active, I did not want to pay the regular $20 for it, so $10 sounded good to me. I heard this is being discontinued, which is too bad because it is one of the better drugstore foundations that I've tried. It rates 3.9/5 on Makeupalley.com. I've only used it for two days, but I really wanted to rave about it.

This foundation comes in a squeezy tube, which is fine by me, I would much rather have a squeezy tube or a compact cream foundation than a crappy glass bottle with a pour top (hello Revlon Colorstay). You get 30ml (foundation standard).  This comes in only 4 colours, I know it really sucks, how can everyone fit into 4 colour choices? I read online that there is an Ivory shade, but I do not see it on their website nor at the store. Well, I picked up the lightest because I am pale and it worked fine for me, in the colour "Buff". It's not exactly like the Colorstay Buff, I would say it's lighter and more cool toned (less yellow). This stuff is supposed to provide "smooth, radiant, light coverage that lasts up to 16 hours even during exercise with SPF 25" (Revlon website). Well I ain't wearing this to exercise, mostly because I don't exercise but if I did I think it would work fine. I did some serious packing today (for my apartment move) and this stuff did not budge. 

(slightly blended in, not totally to show texture, colour etc)

The consistency is thick, but not the thick that you would think of Revlon Colorstay (when I say Colorstay I mean the original foundation). It's also a bit sticky too. It's light-medium coverage, (more on the light end) it evens out your skin and neutralizes redness and leaves a semi matte look. It does feel light on the skin which I appreciate because that is what I hated most about Colorstay, it felt like paint on my face. However, this one does smell too, not as terribly as Colorstay, but I could smell it on my face the entire day, this stuff does not tone down at all. Does Revlon put a lot of preservatives in their foundations? or do they just not mask the scent? I think it does stay for a long time, 16 hours I am not sure. It's nice that it comes with SPF 25, which is higher than the regular Colorstay. 

I apply this with my Sigma F40, it applies very easily and looks natural on. I love that it doesn't dry out or look cakey on my skin, which a lot of foundations tend to. I think this would work for oily skin too since it stays put and does not transfer. What a fabulous drugstore find, and shame on Revlon if they are discontinuing this. Please let me know in the comments if you are still able to find this in your area. I like this leaps and bounds over the original Colorstay foundation. If you liked Colorstay, but found it too thick and nasty, you might like this one better.

Have you tried Revlon's Active Light Makeup?

Monthly Faves: October 2010

What have I liked most this month? There has been quite a lot of products that I have bought and haven't been too keen on it,but there have also been some gems. Here are my favourites for the month of October...

Revlon Photoready is a foundation that I've been reaching for, frankly I don't *love* this foundation, I did a review when I first bought it. But looking at it sitting amongst all my other foundations (I have many) I feel sorry for it because the packaging is so pretty and have been trying to use it up. As you can tell, I have a long way to go. I have this in the second lightest colour, "002 Vanilla". If you set it with a powder, it's tolerable, but yes it is a glitterbomb.

Olay classic moisturizing lotion for sensitive skin. Sometimes it's better to go back to basics with your face moisturizer and this Olay one is a great one. It's non-comeogenic, light, non-greasy with chamomille and aloe, fragrance and colour-free etc etc. I love this stuff, and people that use Olay face products have gorgeous skin when they get old, from what I've read online, so it's all good.

The Body Shop Coconut Lip Butter. This has been my lipbalm of choice for last month. I love anything Coconut scented so this one is great. It comes in a little pot, screws on easily and is great for on the go. It does give your lips a minor white cast, but it goes away once it absorbs.

Sigma Makeup F25 Tapered Face Brush. This brush has quickly become my everyday routine favourite brush for applying contouring powder all over. I like the shape of it and how soft it is. This one is actually the slightly shorter handle one that comes with the Premium travel set, I prefer the shorter handle, but the brush head is basically the same.

Revlon Age Defying Concealer. LOVE this concealer for under the eyes. I wrote a full review of it here, it's moisturizing and gives great coverage. Definitely pick this up if you haven't. I've tried tons of concealers and this one rocks!

Wait another Revlon product???? Revlon Grow Luscious mascara is pretty freaking good too. I don't know if it's making my lashes grow lusciously, but I like it anyway, the brush is easy to apply and it gives my lashes that "my lashes but better" type of look. Full review here.

MAC Gingerly blush. I love peach blushes, and I picked this up one earlier this month. It's a favourite of Kim Kardashian's. Me and Kim have totally different skintones but I liked how it looked on her so why not get it? It's a dark peach matte blush, sheertone finish so it won't make you look crazy if you put on too much. It makes me think of pumpkins and autumn weather.

What were your favourites for October?