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?

Click to read more!

Pink Lipstick Comparisons

Comparison

I was looking at a few of my lipsticks a few days ago and I was wondering how some looked like when compared to each other. From my lipstick stash, I picked out four lipsticks to compare. The four I chose are Milani's Rose Hip, Maybelline's Fuchsia Flash, Hot Plum & Vivid Rose from their Vivids lip color line.

The lipsticks from the tube each looks different than one another. Rose Hip looks like a warm bright pink, Fuchsia Flash looks like a cool bright pink, Hot Plum looks like a purple-pink & Vivid Rose looks like a red-pink.

When swatched on the arm, Fuchsia Flash and Hot Plum look kind of similar, but there are differences because Hot Plum looks a bit more purple. Rose hip looks a lot warmer, while Vivid Rose is more red than the rest.

All of these haave a shiny finish to them. When swatched on the lips, the one that does not look similar to the rest is Vivid Rose, and the other three looks pretty similar. Although the arm swatch shows that Rose Hip & Hot Plum are different, I feel like they are the most similar on the lips because when I apply Rose Hip, it is slightly purple on my lips for some reason, but Rose Hip is definitely creamier and slightly more pigmented than Hot Plum.

Out of the four lipsticks, I have previously reviewed two of them, which are two of the Vivids in this post from Maybelline. I thought it was pretty interesting to see a slight difference when swatched on arm & lips.

What do you think about bright pink lipsticks? Is there a favorite pink for you? :)

Click to read more!

Milani Cosmetics Coming Up Roses Blush: Romantic Rose

Swatches & Review

Milani's Coming Up Roses Powder Blush in Romantic Rose is the last one that I have purchased from this collection because I did not buy Warm Petals. Like all the blushes in this collection, Romantic Rose is shaped like a rose.

I feel like when I place this blush with the other two (on my instagram), it looks like it is more mauve-y, but when it is on its own, it looks like a rose-y pink.

Like Flora Passion, I feel like this applied way better than Bella Rosa did. Romantic Rose is smooth & not dry, but I feel like when using a brush, it required a bit more layers than Flora Passion. On my swatch, I used two swipes with my finger and about four swipes with my blush brush. On my arms, it looks like a dusty rose pink with a matte finish.

From trying the three blushes, I think the only one I would recommend is Flora Passion (if you really want it for the packaging & want to use it once in a while). This is also nice because it will give a nice flush, but I do not like using too many layers of blush on my cheeks because my cheeks end up looking very dry. If you do not mind using more than two layers to build up the color, this would be nice as well, but I feel like this collection isn't something you would really need. I had high hopes for these blushes because I have had many positive experiences with Milani blushes (baked & their discontinued mineral powder blushes), which is mainly why I am disappointed, but if you are not comparing these to their other items, you might end up liking it just because everyone has different preferences.

These are sold out on Milani's website (which retailed for $7.99) & the price may vary depending on location and store. I purchased this for $6.99 at Walgreens, but I have seen others and an empty display at my local CVS selling these for $9.49.

Have you found these blushes in your area yet? Are you planning to buying some to try?

Click to read more!

Milani Cosmetics Coming Up Roses Blush: Flora Passion

Swatches & Review

A few days ago, I have reviewed another blush from the same limited edition collection from Milani Cosmetics called Bella Rosa (link). Today, I will be reviewing the second shade out of the three that I have purchased, which is Flora Passion.

All of the blushes in the Coming Up Roses Powder Blush collection are shaped like a rose, which is super pretty.

Flora Passion is a pinkish-coral shade.

On the right with the black borders, the blush was applied with a brush with two swipes. The left swatch is swatched with a finger with one swipe.

If you have read my review of Bella Rosa, I was super disappointed with that one because it was impossible for it to show up with using a brush and without having to scrap the item off the pan. Flora Passion definitely applied way better than Bella Rosa, but it still is not too pigmented. Flora Passion is a pink-coral with a matte finish. With a brush, the color of the blush shows very lightly, but it is build-able because the brush is able to actually pick up the product with this. I also noticed that it kicked up quite a bit of powder when using a brush, so it is better to tap the brush before applying it.

The color of Flora Passion is very pretty, and subtle enough for everyday wear. I like this better than Bella Rosa, but I wish this was still a bit pigmented. I am very happy that this was smoother than Bella Rosa, which was very dry. If you are looking for a subtle blush for everyday wear, this would be nice, but I prefer my blushes to be a bit more pigmented. I'm not super disappointed in this like the first one I have tried, but I'm still kind of disappointed since I had high hopes for these.

The price may vary depending on location and store. I purchased this for $6.99 at Walgreens, but I have seen others and an empty display at my local CVS selling these for $9.49.

Click to read more!

Milani Cosmetics Coming Up Roses Blush: Bella Rosa

Swatches & Review

Like all limited edition drugstore cosmetics, I always have a hell of a time finding them. I spent hours making calls to all the drugstores within 25 miles of me and they all said they did not have it, or was sold out. Although one of the stores told me they did not carry Milani, I went anyway to purchase another item & what do you know.. I found the new Milani Coming Up Roses Powder Blushes! Luckily, they had one of each left for the ones that I wanted, and three of Warm Petals, which is the only shade I did not get. The first shade I immediately tried after I got home was Bella Rosa.

The limited edition Coming Up Roses blushes are packaged in Milani's regular plastic packaging with some gold on it. These are shrink-wrapped on the side so you would definitely know if someone has previously opened it.

The blush itself is shaped like a rose, which is gorgeous! It definitely looked way too pretty to use, but what is the point of buying something without using it, right? haha.

Bella Rosa is a cool toned pink with a matte finish.

Okay, so lets start off by saying I absolutely hated the color payoff of these. In the borders on the swatch image, I applied the blush using four swipes & it pretty much did not show at all! In person, I was able to see a very very faint hint of pink, but it was basically nothing. For the hard swatch (which was done by finger), it took a while for my finger to get a bit of color onto it to be able to swatch it. I basically had to rub it down super hard and scrape it a bit to get any color off of it because the blush from the pan was so dry. It did not apply that nice because it was not pigmented, and powdery.

I also tried it on my cheeks, which took a lot of effort because no matter what brush I tried, the blush would barely get onto it. I ended up scraping some off the pan, swirling my brush over the powder and applied it. It actually did not come out too bad, but that effort to just get color to show up is definitely not good at all.

Overall, I am pretty disappointed with this blush. Although it looks super pretty in the pan, it is not worth the hassle to get the color to show. It was not pigmented at all, which is a shame because I love Milani's Baked Blushes and a lot of their other products that I have tried from them. I am definitely hoping the other two I purchased would be better than this.

The price may vary depending on location and store. I purchased this for $6.99 at Walgreens, but I have seen others and an empty display at my local CVS selling these for $9.49 (which is way overpriced).

Click to read more!