Milani Cosmetics Power Lip Gloss Stain

Swatches & Review

For Spring 2014, Milani has released a while bunch of lip colors, as well as other products as well. A few months ago when they posted a sneak peek of the Power Lips, I originally thought they would be like lip crayons, but these are gloss stains with a brush attached to the tube to apply. Although they were not what I expected, I still wanted to try these so I was excited when I finally found them after a display reset at a few CVS locations. Milani claims that the Power Lips have a long lasting shine, stain, and color coverage. Milani also states that these have a cushion feel on the lips for a comfortable wear. There are a total a eight shades in the Power Lip line, but I have only purchased five of the eight.

All of the Power Lip products are packed individually, which is nice since it discourages people to open these to try in store.

Each shade is packaged in a plastic tube that is supposed to be the shade. Personally, I don't like this too much because I am unable to see how much product is inside so I wouldn't know how much I have used and if I am running out.

The brushes are attached to the tube.

To get the product out, you would have to twist the tube. I didn't like that because I did not know when to expect product and it takes quite a lot of twists before the product comes out. After about ten twists, I recommend twisting them slowly or a bunch of product would just ooze right out of the brush. The brush itself is firm and not too soft to use, so it is nice to be used to apply the product. I prefer the brush of these over the Stila glosses that have similar packaging.

These swatches were taken outside in direct sunlight. The amount of product that was shown above from the brush was the amount I used in all of my swatches because a little goes a long way.

Mango Tango: Orange coral. This was pigmented and applied evenly. The stain it left behind was a slight orange-red stain.
Cabaret Blend: Deep berry. Although this is the only one with the tube that has shimmer on it, I did not notice much shimmer from the gloss itself when applied to the lips. This was very pigmented and applied evenly and smooth. The stain was a medium berry on the lips.
Red Control: Classic red. For me, Red Control was a bit hard to get it to be even on the lips. This was also the only shade that feathered around the lips after only an hour of wear, so a lip pencil is definitely recommended for this. This stained my lips a bit more pink than red.
Raspberry Tart: Medium mauve. This applied evenly & smoothly. I feel like this is one of the neutrals, but not neutral. Definitely very wearable as an everyday lip. This left a slight berry stain, which I liked.
Pink Lemonade: Pink-red. I feel like out of all the shades I have tried, this is the only shade that made my teeth look very yellow. Although I do not really like how it makes my teeth look, the formula on this was good. This left a bright pink stain after wearing it for a while.

The swatches for this set of collage was taken in the shade so you can have an idea of how it would look like in different lighting. The colors are in the same order as the collage above.

Overall, I feel that these are all very pigmented and a little goes a long way. These applied smoothly and does feel comfortable on the lips the first hour, but after about an hour, I feel like these feel a bit sticky and tacky on the lips, which I do not like. The shine does go away quickly so I would not say that the shine is long lasting, but the stain that it leaves behind does last until you remove the product. The color of the product wore off evenly, which is also good because it means that there's no patches on your lips where one part has more color than the others. These did not feel drying, but not moisturizing either, so I would not say these made my lips more smooth. There was only feathering when I tried Red Control, but all of these do transfer since they are glossy to start with. Although I do not like the packaging too much, I do think that the formula on these are nice since they are very pigmented and most applied smoothly and evenly without settling in my lip lines. The shades I would recommend, which are my favorites are Raspberry Tart & Cabaret Blend.

These are supposed to be available this month at locations such as CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, and Milani Cosmetics online. These retail for $6.49, however, it does depend on your location depending where you buy these so it could range from $6.49 to $7.49.

What do you think about these new lip products added into Milani Cosmetics line? Have you seen the displays yet?

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EM Cosmetics Creamy Color Matte Lipstick: Passion Berries

Swatches & Review

When EM Cosmetics had a 30% off promotion with Ipsy, I purchased Passion Berries because I have been wanting to try their lip products, but did not want to pay full-price. From the website itself, I purchased it because I thought it would be more of a deep purple berry color, but once it arrived, the shade was definitely lighter than I thought it was.

The lipsticks come in a glossy black & white box.

The lipstick itself is a bit more red than the purple berry color it shows on the website.

Swatched, Passion Berries is a pink-red berry. I was a bit disappointed because I was hoping it would be more of a purple-berry, but the color itself is not too bad. This definitely is not the most unique color though. For a matte lipstick, I found that it was pretty creamy and not too drying, but it definitely does emphasize dry spots on your lips so you would definitely need to exfoliate before using this. Because it is matte, it does not transfer a lot and it stays on the lips for a while. After about four hours of wear, I found that this started bleeding so I would recommend using a lip liner with this also. After removing, the color still stayed on my lip lines and it was super hard to get it off, so it was not very flattering because the stain lasted about a day and it wouldn't even come off when I exfoliated. This was a nice color, but not enough for me to actually want to pay full-price for this.

The EM Cosmetic's lipsticks retail for $16.50 and can be purchased from emcosmetics (non-affiliated link).

What do you think about EM Cosmetic's Michelle Phan's line? Have you tried anything from them? Is there anything you would like to try?

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IMAN Cosmetics Lip Affair Lip Kit

Swatches & Review

For Fall, IMAN Cosmetics came out with a small lip palette to introduce new shades to their lipstick line coming in 2014. The IMAN Lip Affair Lip Kit is a fun little kit because it has bright, bold colors that will suit many skin-tones instead of a neutral, which is harder to use with different skin-tones.

The Lip Affair Kit is packaged in a small black plastic case. Inside of it, there are five lipstick shades. When I first saw this online, I immediately thought of Inglot's Colour Play lip pans, but these are a lot smaller. There is about 0.03 oz of product in each color. There is a lip brush included in this kit, but mine was very stiff and it smelled really bad so I did not use the lip brush provided.

Kinky Pink: Pink red. This was pretty sheer when I applied it with a lip brush.

Flirtatious: Light fuchsia pink. This was more pigmented when compared to Kinky Pink, but it took a few layers to get it like the shade in the pan.

Taboo: Purple. Although it looks like it has shimmer in the pan, the shimmer is not noticeable at all once it is on the lips. This was pigmented and creamy.

Scandalous: Red. This was one of the most pigmented shade in the palette.

Hot: Orange. This was also pigmented like Scandalous.

Pictures of four of the five shades on me. I tried these on when I did not have makeup on, so excuse the uneven skin-tone on my bare face. When I have foundation on, I am around NC 30 - 35 in MAC and 123 in MUFE if that helps!

Overall, I like that the lip colors in this palette has no scent or taste. I found that these shades apply a lot better when applied with your finger (and it stains your finger too), but I prefer using a lip brush. When using a lip brush, the color applies sheerer than when you would apply it with your fingers so it may require a bit more layers. These feel lightweight and comfortable on the lips. I did not see any feathering around the lips when tested without lip liner however, they do transfer easily since it is more of a glossy finish. Even though it requires more layers when used with a lip brush, this palette retails for $5, yes, FIVE DOLLARS, which is not bad at all if you want to try some bold shades to experiment with them, and there are five of them so you can see which shades you like the most when you are actually ready to buy a full tube of lipstick.

This is available now, but it is currently out of stock. However, it does pop in and out of stock on target.com once in a while, but drugstore.com has taken down its listing for it. From what I have heard, this palette should be released around November in stores such as Walgreens and Target locations who carry IMAN Cosmetics.

What do you think about this palette? Would you be picking it up for $5 if you are able to find it in your area?

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Maybelline Fall 2013 On The Runway Collection Lipsticks

Swatches & Review

For Fall, Maybelline has released four limited edition lipsticks for the On The Runway collection. Out of the four lipsticks, I picked up two, which are Lavender Voltage & Violet Intrigue. I was initially going to pick all four up, but once I saw them in person, I felt like I was not going to use Midnight Plum and my Vivids collection had colors similar to Fuchsia Fierce.

For my swatches today, the picture above is used from my instagram because my laptop is being fixed so I do not have an editor to watermark my pictures.

The picture on the left is with Lavender Voltage and the one on the right is with Violet Intrigue.
Lavender Voltage is a medium purple that looks like a blue-purple and Violet Intrigue is more of a pink-purple.

For purple lipsticks, I feel like they are very wearable because they are not too dark. I loved the application and wear of Violet Intrigue because it was very opaque with one swipe. With Lavender Voltage, it required more than one swipe because it was a bit sheer when first applied, but it builds up nice, but when you press your lips with Lavender Voltage, the color seems to move around so blotting it before applying a second/third layer would help. Both of the lipsticks left a slight magenta looking stain on my lips, which is not bad. The scent is like normal Maybelline lipsticks, which smell a bit like honey, but very plastic-y.

Overall, I liked these two lipsticks that I have picked up and for the price, it is definitely worth it! The only downside is that these do no have a seal so anyone is able to just open it and swatch it in stores, which is like all Maybelline lipsticks.

I picked mine up for $5.49 at the beauty section of Bed Bath & Beyond. It should be found in drugstores soon, but prices may vary depending on store & location.

What do you think about purple lipsticks? Would you wear them for fall? :)

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