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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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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Revlon Colorburst Matte Balm

Swatches & Review

A few days ago, my boyfriend found the new Revlon items I have been searching for. In addition to the ones he purchased, I also purchased Striking for a total of five out of the ten new matte balms from Revlon. I was super excited to try these since I love a matte finish lip products so I just had to dive in as soon as I could and test some out, as well as swatch the rest in the collection.

The new matte balms are packaged like their Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain's, however, these are on the Colorburst line instead of the Just Bitten line. Since these are matte, the packaging has a matte look & feel to it. These twist up so that you would not need to sharpen them as well.

From left to right: Showy, Sultry, Striking, Standout, Shameless

Unlike the Balm Stain's, these are not shrink-wrapped. They have a small piece of tape and I don't like it because it makes it easier for people to open it to tamper with it. I tried to peel it off & seal it back to see if it is noticeable if it has been tampered with & I was not really able to tell because it just taped right back on to how it was before.

These are the lip swatches I have also posted on my instagram.

Full-face with the lip products.

Showy: Bright candy pink. Although in the full-face picture it shows more as a bubble-gum pink, I feel like it looks a lot more like the lip swatch in person where it has a slight lavender tint to it. Maybe it's just me, but I feel like bright and light colors like these normally shows up a bit lavender on me while it does not to many others (such as Candy Yum Yum) so it might be different on me depending on my skintone/lip pigmentation. This applied a lot lighter than I thought it would because it looked like it would be a magenta from the packaging. This shade definitely shows the dry patches on the lips a lot more than the other shades so I would recommend exfoliating before using this.
Sultry: Mauvey-pink. This was very pigmented and one of my favorites. It is a nice shade for everyday wear because it is like a neutral, but not very neutral.
Striking: Tomato Red/Red-Orange. This was a surprise favorite because I thought it would be more of an orange, but after trying it, it kind of reminded me of Maybelline's Vibrant Mandarin, but this is more on the red side. This is very wearable.
Standout: Classic red. This is similar to many reds that I own so this is not a "must" have if you have a lot of reds, but it was very nice.
Shameless: This shade was the shade I was most excited for because I absolutely love purple lip colors! However, this was not as pigmented as the others I have tried because it required more swipes and it applied a bit patchy. It definitely reminds me of one of the recent limited edition Maybelline purple lipsticks.

Overall, these dried into a nice matte shade, but nothing that is super matte like MAC Cosmetics Retro Matte, but more of a regular matte where it is not very drying. Although it is not as moisturizing as the Revlon's Balm Stains since these are not balms, they did not feel drying the first two hours of wear, but it felt drying a while after that. It has a very lightweight feeling so that is good because sometimes, mattes sit weirdly on my lips. Like the Balm Stains, these have a minty scent to it and it has a slight tingle to it, but nothing that tingles too much, so if you do not like the Balm Stains for the scent, these would probably not be for you. I find that after these set, they do not transfer much. The formula was also pretty consistent with all the ones I have tried except for Shameless, which was a bit patchy. They glided on smoothly without tug & it was perfect! The only thing I would have liked better is if these were shrink-wrapped rather than it having just a piece of tape over it.

My boyfriend picked them up for me from Bed Bath & Beyond for $6.99 each and I am still unsure if these are supposed to be a part of the Holiday/Winter collection or Spring because when I first heard about these, they were supposed to be a part of the Spring collection. Since these are already at Bed Bath & Beyond, these may pop up soon at local drugstores that usually carries Revlon, but the price may vary. I would also like to note that six out of the ten of the matte balms only have one of each color per display, while the lacquer balms have two of each color in the display. The ones with only one each are Shameless, Standout, Mischievous, Elusive, Striking & Complex.

What do you think about these Matte Balms from Revlon? Are you a fan of mattes? Are you looking forward to the Lacquer Balms more?

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Revlon Colorburst Matte Balm & Lacquer Balms;Maybelline Gilded in Gold

Best Boyfriend EVER:

Since NouveauCheap has mentioned that these had landed, I HAD to look for them. Although I spent all weekend hunting, they were nowhere to be found. When it's the weekdays, I have no car, so I have no access to stalk products & normally by the time it's weekend, the things I want are sold out. Well, my boyfriend is the sweetest ever! Knowing that I have been looking for these & after showing him pictures while I was hunting over the weekend, he ended up going to look for them for me himself so I would not miss out on them. This morning when he told me they had it in & I was SO excited!

Here's some display pictures:

Revlon's new Lacquer Balms & Matte Balms. My boyfriend had a full display, but he took the picture after he took the ones that he was going to buy for me, which is why it's not full, but he did good! I like how half the display itself is glossy, and the other half is matte!

The next collection he found that I was looking for was Maybelline's Holiday Gilded in Gold collection. Normally, I do not use their Color Tattoos, but the fact that the ones in this display are matte and limited edition, I just had to have them, so he picked all three up for me as well.

The few that he purchased for me:

A few of both the Revlon Lacquer Balms in Vivacious, Provacateur & Enticing, Revlon Matte Balms in Standout, Shameless, Sultry & Showly, as well as the three color Tattoos in Matte Brown, Just Beige, and Nude Pink.

One thing I would like to note is that 6 of the 10 matte Revlon Matte Balm shades only have one for each display, such as Shameless (the purple) & Standout (deep red), so they may be harder to find. I was lucky enough to have my boyfriend be able to go look for these everyday & for them to put them up when he was there.

I cannot wait until I get to see him later on this week so that I can see these in person! & I will definitely try them out when I have the time to if I am not loaded up with homework this weekend so I can have swatches & review up for you guys! :) Like I have mentioned before, I appreciate my boyfriend SO much and for him to understand and be so helpful with this makeup obsession of mine is amazing! I seriously do not know what I would do without him because he seriously is the best I have ever had.

Do you think you will be picking up some of these new Holiday Collection items?

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