Lip Product Fails from Sephora (Sephora Collection, Make Up Forever, and BITE Beauty)

      When there is a deal at Sephora, you just can't pass it up. That definitely applied during their Black Friday $10 deals! I grabbed the Origins mask set, Ciate duo nail trinket set, lip duos by Sephora and Make Up Forever, as well as a lip trio by Bite. The product fails, as seen from the title, were unfortunately all of the lip products I purchased. I am not much of a lip gloss person, but that doesn't really stop me from wanting to try them and maybe find a gloss that I actually really like.

      Let's start with the Sephora lip duo. These are full-sized cream lip stains in the colors 04 and 08 (Cute Pink) that normally retail for $13 each. 04 was a matte, burgundy red color on the lips that dried quickly on the lips. Application was easy but the biggest con with this one was the result on the lips afterwards. All your lip lines are extremely accentuated which is not at all flattering. It kind of looks like you slapped on paint on your lips that ended up cracking. 08 (Cute Pink) is described on Sephora.com as a "shimmering rich hot pink." It was definitely a hot pink that was not flattering on the lips at all. Also, the formula was just all wrong. I don't know if I got a bad tube or if the formula is just like that but it was clumpy and applied on the lips all streaky and in patches. Definitely not what I had in mind when I had purchased these two lippies.

October 2014 Birchbox Unboxing

Rimmel Show Off Lip Lacquers Review - Celestial and Aurora

Hello again!

      I've been on a lip product phase recently so lippies are mostly what I've been trying. Not to mention, there have been quite a few new lip products out. Today, I am going to talk about Rimmel's Show Off Lip Lacquers which I know aren't the newest products out but I just recently got them and wanted to share my thoughts on them. I got 101 Celestial and 401 Aurora which I purchased at Rite Aid at a pretty affordable price of $5.49 each there. Rimmel promotes these as having an "intense rich colour of a lipstick, enhanced by a satin smooth shine."

Top: Celestial (101)
Bottom: Aurora (401)

Celestial (101) is a pretty corally-pink that would look especially nice in the spring and summer.
Aurora (401) is a coral-red color that would look great anytime.
The finish of these lip products are that of a semi-matte/ satin-like finish.

Pros:

• Great pigmentation!
• Nice range of colors consisting of nudes, pinks, purples and reds that should work well for most people's complexions. 
• Non-sticky feel
• You can tell if someone has used this product before because, when you open it up, you can see the empty space where normally you see the actual product in most lip products. If that area is filled up with the product, then it has been used. When you first pull out the wand or applicator you can see the product slowly being drawn up and fill up that window area.

Cons:

• It didn't apply very easily for me and I couldn't get that much product each time. I needed to dip it into the container multiple times to completely fill in my lips.
• The brush was hard which I didn't really like. I like brushes to be softer and more gentle on the lips. Also, FYI, the brush dents in the middle of the applicator which can be seen in the second picture.
• If you have dry lips, then they will be accentuated by these lip products since it dries to a semi-matte / satin-like finish. Due to its finish, it can also be drying on the lips for some people over time.
• I found that the product got on my teeth which is never an attractive look.

      Overall, I do have to agree with Rimmel's description of the product. The finish is of a satin-like finish that I found to be more semi-matte. I've never leaned towards matte-like lips for myself but I wasn't disappointed with how these showed up on my lips. It has a slight scent that sort of smells like strawberries to me for some reason, kind of like how those glosses made for young kids smell like. It isn't anything bothersome or too pungent so it wasn't of any concern to me. I feel that these didn't work that well for me because I have very dry lips. I also didn't like the brush all that much. It was too hard for my liking but this might not be a problem for others. Again, these lip lacquers surprised me with their great pigmentation! Many people will like these lacquers and with the price tag that comes along with them. I've already seen many people rave about them.