Rimmel London Lasting Finish Colour Rush Intense Colour Balm: Viva Violet (300)

Swatches & Review

Other than Lady Marmalade, which I have reviewed yesterday, another shade I have picked up from Rimmel London's Color Rush Intense Colour Balm is Viva Violet. Like Lady Marmalade, I believe that this shade is also exclusive to the US as of now because I have not seen this shade on Rimmel's UK website.

The name of the product is labeled right under the "Colour Rush" part of the lip crayon itself.

For a product with the name "Violet" on it, it looks a lot more like a magenta to me.

When applied, it is not very violet-like, but magenta, which is similar to how it looks in the tube. Although the tube does show the color a bit darker, it applied lighter. Viva Violet applied very smoothly and evenly, and it did not emphasize the dry spots on my lips at all, which is different than Lady Marmalade. I also feel like Viva Violet is more pigmented than Lady Marmalade because it was not as translucent as it when applied. Because of the finish, it does transfer, however, I did not experience any bleeding from the times that I was trying it. Viva Violet was lightweight and moisturizing, which is nice because this felt like a balm consistency, but with a bunch of color. After a while of wearing it, I ate a huge bowl of Pho and even though the color itself did not look like it did when I first applied it, the color was still intense on my lips, but without the shiny finish. It left a even-looking stain on the lips, which was nice and I had to remove it with my Bobbi Brown eye & lip remover to get the product off. Like the previous review, this also has a vanilla scent to it. Overall, I definitely liked the formula on Viva Violet because it did not emphasize the dry spots on my lips and felt very comfortable, however, I do wish the color was more like the name.

What do you think about Viva Violet? Is it a shade you would wear?

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Rimmel London Lasting Finish Colour Rush Intense Colour Balm: Lady Marmalade (620)

Swatches & Review

It's been a while, but Rimmel London has finally brought their line of Colour Rush Colour Balms to the United States! The Colour Rush balms are Rimmel's version of lip crayons. It totally seems like this is the year for lip crayons since many brands have them out for Spring, such as the ones from NYC & Wet n Wild. When I heard of its release of these in the US a week and a half ago, I went crazy looking everywhere for it pretty much every single day & I finally found them yesterday. It also seems like Rimmel London has also added some shades to the Colour Rush Intense Colour Balm line for stores in the US. One of the shades that I picked up is Lady Marmalade, which I believe is only released in the US for now.

The Colour Rush Colour Balms are packaged in the color that the lip color itself is supposed to be. The name of the product is right in the middle of the packaging, which I was not used to since it took me a while to find where the shade name was.

Lady Marmalade's color is exactly what it sounds like in the tube, which is a orange.

When applied, it looks more like a orange coral. I feel like this applied sheer, and even after a few swipes, it is still a bit translucent. This emphasized every bit of dry spot that I had on my lips so you would definitely need to exfoliate before applying Lady Marmalade. Although it emphasized dry spots, the product itself did not feel very drying on the lips. It feel creamy and lightweight on the lips, which made it comfortable, but since it has a shiny finish, it does transfer. There is a vanilla scent to the Colour Rush Balms, which smells like MAC lipsticks. I like it better than the Kate Moss and Show Off's line because I did not like the artificial fruity scent in those products. After wearing it for a few hours, it leaves a slight stain behind. Overall, I liked the feeling of the product on my lips since it was lightweight, but I wish it was a bit more opaque and did not emphasize the dry spots on my lips too much.

Since lip crayons are my weakness, products like these have been taking over for the new year & it is SO bad since I said I would spend less, but it was a major fail! Anyway, what do you think about the Colour Rush Colour Balms? Have you tried them yet? Are there shades that might interest you from this line?

I purchased mine from Walmart for $4.98 and it contains 0.095 oz of product.

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Cargo Cosmetics Essential Lip Color: Punta Cana

Swatches & Review

A few months ago, Cargo Cosmetics released a new line of lipsticks called the Essential Lip Color. There are twelve shades in this line and most of them are named after vacation spots, such as Punta Cana, Paris, Las Vegas, Napa, etc. One of the shades I purchased is Punta Cana because last summer, I was on a pink-lip craze.

The Essential Lip Colors packaging is really similar to Urban Decay's Revolution lipsticks, but it is all grey instead of gunmetal & purple. It is very slim and does not attract much fingerprints, so I like it.

Punta Cana is a hot pink/fuchsia, and it definitely packs a bunch of color when applied.

Punta Cana applied very smoothly and evenly. It was very pigmented because it only needed on swipe across the lips for it to be opaque. It was also very creamy, but it did not make the color uneven whenever the lips are pressed together. Because it is creamy, it did not emphasize much on dry patches on the lips, and was not very drying on the lips. Although it was very rich in color, it felt light on the lips. I did not experience any feathering with the product, but it did transfer because it has a shiny finish to it. After the shine wears off from eating/drinking, the color itself still stays on the lips. After about 6 hours to wear, I noticed that the color on my bottom lip faded a bit more than my upper lip, but the color was still very bright. To remove it, you would need a remover because it stains the lips if you just try wiping it off with a tissue. There is no scent or taste to the lipstick, which is good because I know many people do not like scents in their lipsticks. Overall, the formula for this was fantastic because it was lightweight without being sheer, and it applied very nicely and was pretty long-lasting to me.

The Cargo Cosmetics Essential Lip Colors retail for $22 and can be purchased at Ulta, Cargo Cosmetics Online, Kohls Beauty & Dermstore.

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NYC City Proof Twistable: Gramercy Park Plum (031)

Swatches & Review

For 2014, NYC has a new collection of lip products called the City Proof Twistables. I was super excited because I love lip products that come like a chubby stick/lip crayon. When I first saw the display, I grabbed a bunch, but I ended up only purchasing two of them since they are supposed to be permanent so I am in no rush to get it. One of the colors I purchased was Gramercy Park Plum.

The plastic packaging of these have colors that coordinate with the shade itself. Like the name of this, these are twistable so no sharpening is required.

The product itself is shrink-wrapped, so you would definitely be able to tell if the item has been opened or not before buying it.

When applied, the color is pretty true to color to how it looks like in the tube. After I purchased this, I realized it was a bit brighter than when I saw it in the store because of the lighting, but it is a nice pink berry, but not very plum-my to me. This was very pigmented & applied smoothly and evenly. It is kind of glossy, so the product does transfer. I also noticed that there was slight feathering around my lips after a few hours of wearing it, so I would recommend using a clear liner with it. There is also a sweet scent with this, which really reminds me of Rimmel London's Kate Moss lipsticks that come int he black tubes. I'm not really a fan of the scent, but it does fade away after applying. This wore for about four hours on me and it faded into a slight even stain on my lips. I still have one more to try that I haven't yet, but I do like how pigmented these are.

The suggested retail price of this is $2.99, but this retails for $3.99 at all locations for me and has 0.07 oz of product. I purchased mine at K-Mart, but these can also be found at CVS and Rite Aid locations.

What do you think about jumbo lip pencils/chubby sticks? Which is your favorite brand for lip crayons like these?

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Wet n Wild Megaslicks Balm Stain Lip Colour: Lady and the Vamp (124), Red-Dy or Not (125), Rico Mauve (126)

Swatches & Review

It's 2014!!! I hope everyone had an amazing ending to 2013, and a fabulous start to 2014! :)

For Spring 2014, Wet n Wild have a new line added to their lip products called the Megaslicks Balm Stain Moisturizing Lip Colour. There are six shades in this line, but I have purchased three to test out. The Megaslicks Balm Stain are basically like Revlon's Balm Stains or Clinique's Chubby Sticks, where the product twists up and down with no sharpening needed.

From left to right: Rico Mauve, Red-Dy or Not, Lady and the Vamp

Like almost all Wet n Wild lip products, these are shrink-wrapped so you would be able to tell if it has been opened in the stores or not. The shrink wrap was actually really hard for me to take off, so maybe it will prevent some people from trying to open them without purchasing.

Rico Mauve: Pink-ish mauve. This was pigmented, applied smoothly & evenly. It left a nice pink stain behind.

Red-Dy Or Not: Bright classic red. This also applied smoothly & evently. This left a nice light red stain behind.

Lady and the Vamp: Brownish-berry. It was a bit sheer so I had to build the color up and applied kind of streaky. This also settled into lip lines, but it is not very noticeable unless it is upclose. This left a bright pink stain behind.

When I first smelled it, I didn't smell any scent, but if you really sniff it, you will smell a very very faint minty scent. It tingles a bit on the lips, nothing major, and it was comfortable to wear because it really felt like a balm. They all had a glossy finish, but it did not bleed/feather. However, it does transfer since it is glossy. They wore for about three hours and once the product itself is off the lips, an even colored stain is left behind so it looks like there's still lip color on the lips. For $2.99, these were actually really good. I'm definitely hoping that Wet n Wild will come out with more colors for this line!

These retail for $2.99 and contains 0.10 oz of product. Each of them had a $1 peel off sticker, which made them $1.99 when I purchased it.

What do you think about these Wet n Wild Balm Stains? Have you tried any of them yet?

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