NYX Round Lipstick Review

My sister and I got hooked on NYX's round lipsticks after she tried a couple of tubes. So, when CherryCulture had a sale on NYX's cosmetics, we jumped on board and bought quite a few of their lippies. Choosing the shades that catches our eyes requires quite a long time since NYX has one of the most extensive array of lipstick shades. But still, the process of picking and contemplating on which to purchase is fun nonetheless. ( ^_^ )

NYX Round Lipstick stash from my sister and me. Hehe..

Packaging: NYX's lipsticks are packaged in black, shiny plastic tubes. NYX's logo is printed on the body of the tube. The whole packaging is sturdy and looks very chic. The bottom of the tube is translucent making it easier to identify the choice of lipstick color inside. The cap closes with a click. The lipsticks twist in and out of the tube very smoothly. The ingredients are printed on the body of the cap. A whole tube weighs 4g (014oz).

 A tube of NYX's Round Lipstick. Very chic looking.

 The translucent bottom of the tube with colour indicator.

List of ingredients printed on the side of the cap.

Twisting the lipstick out. NYX's Round Lipstick sports the standard bottom-twist mechanism.

Texture: NYX's lipsticks have a very nice and creamy texture. They glide on very smoothly. They do not have that usual sticky or heavy feeling when applied like most lipsticks do and I really like it. You can almost say that they feel really light on the lips. NYX's lipsticks are also not drying. They have a nice subtle fragrance. The colours are opaque and very pigmented on the lips. I only need a light layer to get a good coverage.

Here are the swatches from my sister's stash and my stash combined together:

 

 

Heredes, Milan and Fig.

1. Heredes - deep terracotta red
2. Milan - pinkish mauve
3. Fig - very pink

 

Thalia, Frosted Beige and Saturn.

1. Thalia - deep pink brown,
2. Frosted Beige - frosty peach with shimmers
3. Saturn - gorgeous flushed red with slight shimmer

 

 

Goddess, Georgia and Tea Rose.

1. Goddess - warm coperry brown with orange undertone, frosty
2. Georgia - frosty warm pink
3. Tea Rose - deep coral pink/dusty rose

 

 

B52, Perfect, Summer Love and Frappucino.

1. B52 - deep red brown
2. Perfect - medium plum brown
3. Summer Love - frosty beige (made me look pale)
4. Frappucino - deep rose mauve

 

 

Indian Pink, Peach and Femme.

1. Indian Pink - frosty pinky peach (looks orange on me)
2. Peach - shimmery deep red (dunno why the name is Peach when the shade is in the red group)
3. Femme - striking red

My verdict: I adore these lippies. They are definitely a great buy considering the price for a tube is very cheap. I will purchase NYX's lippies again in future.

Price: Retails at $4 but we bought them at a sale price for $2.50 each tube (approximately RM10)

We bought our NYX lipstick stash from CherryCulture with the help from Ryan of LowyatForum.

Estee Lauder Coach Gift Set Review

I was rushing through a short lunch break with my sister on a fine afternoon somewhere end of last year when we spotted an Estee Lauder counter near the middle of Alamanda's Centre Court. We, in a mad dash to get back to our offices were successfully stopped in our tracks by the sales person when he pointed out that there's a sale on perfume and also a Coach makeup pouch gift set (PWP) for a steal of a price. He then showed us the choices of colours for the Coach makeup pouch which is the red (striking and bold colours) and the gold (down to earth natural colours). He told us that the Silver set was already finished. so he didn't get to show us that one but could only show us a picture of it. I was quite disappointed because the Silver set seems to have the more attractive shades.. huhu..

In the end both my sister and I picked up a set of perfume each and also the Gold Coach cosmetic pouch. It is actually a steal because the Coach pouch itself costs about RM400++ but here it only cost RM180 plus all the makeup. And yes, it is authentic too! The cosmetic pouch consists of two tubes of lipsticks, a gloss, a compact palette of eyeshadow and blusher, an eyeliner, a blusher brush and an eyeshadow brush all in shiny golden mirror packaging.

The set alltogether.

The Pure Color Eyeshadow and Signature Silky Powder Blush Compact Set and the Eyeliner:

The Blush Compact set comes in a round shiny golden palette containing three eyeshadow (in the shades of Ivory Slipper satin, Hot Cinnamon shimmer and Amethyst Spark shimmer) and a blush (in the shade of Nude Rose). The texture of the eyeshadows are silky and they were densely packed in their pan. However, they are not so easy to pick up with a brush as I had to run my brush a couple of times on the pan to get some product but they are definitely not crumbly which is a good thing to me.

Closeup on the eyeliner.

The eyeshadow and blush compact.

Swatches: Ivory Slipper, Hot Cinnamon, Amethyst Spark, Nude Rose Blush and the black eyeliner.

The shades are mostly sheer but the shimmer eyeshadows are buildable to get a more intense look especially the Amethyst Spark. The eyeshadows were swatched in multiple layers to get the colour to show up on my skin. The Ivory Slipper is very sheer pink and not very pigmented, the Hot Cinnamon is a warm brown shade and is great for a nude look, and the Amethyst Spark is a sheer purple shade. The blush is a very nice subtle rosy pink shade. The eyeliner is a true black eyeliner. The eyeliner is a pencil-type eyeliner that comes with matching gold cap and the colour is a very pigmented black.

The Pure Color Long Lasting Lipstick and Lip Gloss:

The lip products that came with the pouch is Pure Color Long Lasting Lipstick in the shade of #28 Pinkberry and #83 Sugar Honey and also a tube of lip gloss in #13 Wired Copper.

 Lipstick and Lip Gloss shade names and numbers.

 

 The Lip Gloss and Lipsticks uncapped.

Here's a swatch of both the lipsticks and gloss:

 

 Pinkberry in 1 layer, Pinkberry in multiple layers, Sugar Honey in 1 layer, Sugar Honey in multiple layers and Wired Copper Lip Gloss.

The Pure Color Long Lasting Lipstick felt quite thick and glides on smoothly. It has a creamy texture but not as smooth as Pure Color Crystal Lipstick. The lipstick felt a bit heavy on my lips. I think because this is the long lasting color line, so the colors are very pigmented and vivid. 

The Pinkberry is one of Estee Lauder's popular shades. It gives off a nice natural pinkish nude shade and goes on matte. The Sugar Honey leans more towards coral warm pink with bronze undertones and it has shimmers in them. When applied on my lips, the shade is still matte but looked a bit frosty. Both the lipsticks' shades are great for a natural look when applied with a light layer. 

The gloss gives off a shimmery shade of warm bronze bordering into orange. I am not a fan of glitter so I didn't really like the excess of shimmer in the gloss. The texture of the gloss is a bit sticky. 

I think the colour of the gloss complements the Pinkberry shade better than the Honey Sugar because when applied over Pinkberry, the gloss added a little bit of shine to the matte nude pink shade. When the gloss is applied over Honey Sugar lipstick however, it made the already frosty shade of warm pink bronze even more frostier. I think a clear gloss is better worn with Honey Sugar to give it a little bit of shine or maybe just leave it on its own.

The Brushes:
The set comes with an eyeshadow brush and a blush brush. The brushes comes in shiny golden metal casings and looks very sophisticated. The eyeshadow brush is quite dense and the size is just nice to be a highlighter brush. It's too big to use on the crease. The blush brush is a medium sized blush brush and is not as dense as the eyeshadow brush. It's the type of brush that you need to twist the tube like a lipstick to get the bristles out. Both the brushes does not feel very soft to my touch though.

Eyeshadow brush.

Blush brush.

My verdict: I kind of liked the shades of the eyeshadow and blush compact because I prefer sheer colours anyway. I also kind of liked the shades of the lipsticks because they give off natural looking colour on the lips. I would have liked them better if the pigments were a little bit more sheerer. In terms of texture, I think I prefer Pure Colour Crystal Lipstick better especially in the shade of Crystal Baby which goes on sheer and more natural looking. As for the lip gloss, I don't really like the sticky texture and the abundance of shimmery sparkles in them. Would I repurchase these? Nope, cause this is a one time offer and I don't think I would anyway because there's a whole lot of product and it's going to take me sometime to finish them.

W.S. Badger's Cool Mint Lip Balm Review

I have always been addicted to lip balms especially those minty ones. I picked up a tube of W.S. Badger's Certified Organic Cool Mint lip balm at ISetan KLCC during my Badger balm brief shopping spree earlier this year and hadn't gotten around to blog about it until today. So, here goes. ( ^_^ )

Packaging: The lip balm comes in a translucent plastic tube with green cap and matching green label. The size of the tube is not your standard size tube of lip balms but it is a .25 oz (7 g) sized tube. There is an illustration of a badger waving a magic wand which coincides with the tagline 'a little magic for your lips' on the tube which I find kind of cute. The ingredients is listed on the side of the tube. Normally, the twister mechanism of a lip balm would be located at the bottom of the tube but W.S. Badger designed the tube so that the twister is positioned at the neck. I found that it is easy to twist with one hand and makes application much easier.

A new and unopened tube of Cool Mint lip balm.

Size comparison.

Twisting the balm with one hand.

Ingredients: Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Fair Trade Certified Cocoa Butter, Beeswax, Castor Oil, Essential Oils of Peppermint, Spearmint & Sweet Orange, Aloe Vera Extract, and CO2 Extracts of Rosehip and Seabuckthorn Berry.

List of ingredients on the label.

Texture: The lip balm is yellowish in colour and the texture is quite hard initially. Once it adjusts to body temperature, the balm's texture turns soft and makes applying on lips easy peasy. It glides very smoothly and there is a tingle of mint which I love! It feels a bit sticky on the lips but still bearable. It also gives off this beautiful scent of peppermint cocoa but the balm is tasteless. The balm is very moisturizing and helps softens up dried skin on my lips. It leaves a nice sheen on the lips making them look slightly wet.

Opened tube of Cool Mint lip balm.

Lip balm swatch on the insides of my arm.

My verdict: I love this lip balm. I really does moisturize my lips and helps get rid of those flaky dried skin. The heavenly scent of peppermint mixed with cocoa is very pleasing to my nose and the tingle of mint is a bonus point for me! I did notice that the balm hardens in air conditioned places but it softens when the day is hot up to a point that it could become quite smushy. Well, smushiness aside, I definitely would repurchase this balm.

Where to buy: Kid's section at ISetan, KLCC

Price: RM29

You can check out about W.S. Badger balms at their official website here.

Rose's Treats Crazy Bid!!

I have been stuck in a bag buying craze spree for some time now and is always looking out for bargains on the net. Even if I have to strangle myself to keep me from buying impulsively, I still can't stop myself from browsing from one blog to another just to look at their offer and designs.

I came across an online blog Rose's Treats selling bags online and she's going to have a crazy bid sale over this weekend! It's basically a 'Name Me Your Price' bidding session for lots of goodies. What??!! OMG!! I will definitely go and check out what she has to offer over this weekend because she does have quite an extensive list of brands in her inventory list and she sells makeup items too. I am soooo tempted. Let's see how strong my willpower stands this weekend. Hehehe...

Sale banner taken from Rose's Treats blog.

You can check out Rose's Treats' Crazy Bid Sale here. 

Just Pure Minerals Vegan Lip Gloss Review

Lately I am so attracted to try out lip tints and glosses (but still not leaving balm buying spree behind!). While browsing through the long list of indie online shops at Etsy, I got stuck at Just Pure Minerals' Shop looking at their Vegan Lip Gloss Sample for sale only at $1 (now that's really cheap!). In the end I caved in and decided to try out their Vegan Lip Gloss.

There are six colours to chose from the Sample list which are:

- Precious: a perfectly clear shade
- Opal: a perfectly clear shade with Shimmer and Sparkle
- Nude: a soft, a Shimmering natural pinkish shade
- Brown Sugar: a shimmering shade of warm bronze.
- Pink Ginger: a shimmery pink shade
- Black Cherry: a deep, red hue.

The lip gloss shades - picture taken from Just Pure Minerals' shop at Etsy's website.

I picked the Nude shade because I like neutral colours. The Nude is a soft, a Shimmering natural pinkish shade of Lip Gloss with a light mint scent. Neutral shade + minty = good!

Just Pure Minerals' Vegan Lip Gloss are handcrafted in small batches with all natural ingredients offering the cleanest, safest, prettiest lip gloss for those who love lip gloss. The lip glosses is made with simple healthy formula of vegetable waxes, oils, and mineral pigments that goes on creamy and last. Just Pure minerals lipgloss moisturize your lips just like a lip balm, . Free from animal by products (carmine), artificial fragrances, petroleum by products, talc, pigments with nano particles, preservatives such as parabens and synthetic dyes (FD&C/D&C lakes) - always handcrafted, earth friendly and cruelty free. (description taken from Just Pure Minerals' shop at Etsy).

Ingredient List (taken from Just Pure Minerals' shop at Etsy.): ricinus communis (organic castor seed oil), simmondsia chinensis (organic jojoba seed oil), cocos nucifera (organic coconut) oil, copernicia cerifera (organic carnauba wax), mica (CI77019), iron oxide (CI77491), (CI77492), (CI77499), zinc oxide (CI77947), titanium dioxide (CI 77891), mint infusion.

Packaging: The lip gloss sample comes in a small plastic clam shell container that holds 3 gm of gloss.  The size of the container is slightly bigger than a 20 sen coin. The top cap of the container is printed with Just Pure Minerals' logo and the shade is printed at the bottom.

The Lip Gloss sample in a clam shell plastic container - top view.

Bottom view - Nude shade.

Texture: The lip gloss definitely has a very soft texture - a fact that I discovered upon opening the clam shell container because due to postage traveling, some gloss got stuck on the cap and when opened, it dripped at the neck of the container. Oh no! My precious lip gloss! I took a cotton swab and swiped all the gloss from the cap and transferred them back into the base. Yay, crisis averted!

A newly opened tub of vegan lip gloss. The gloss got drippy at the container's neck.

As I mentioned earlier, the texture of the gloss is very soft. It glides on very smoothly but not sticky like most lip glosses feel. However, it does leave an oily feeling on fingers so it is better to use a brush. There is a tingle of mint after application and it lasted for about half and hour. I love it! My lips felt soft and moisturized just like I had applied some lip balm on.

The lip gloss has some fine glitter in them but when applied on lips the glitter is not visible. It has a quirky menthol smell but does not bother me at all since it is not too obtrusive. The colour of the gloss looked very thick and pigmented in the container and when swiped on my hands but it appears a natural pinkish brown tint on my lips making me look like I am not wearing any pigmented lip gloss at all. It's definitely a MLBB shade.

Lip gloss swatch:

A blob of gloss on my hands.

A natural pinkish brown shade for the lips.

My verdict: I love this lip gloss! The fact that it has a weird menthol smell does not bother me at all because the long minty tingle and the balm effect it has really got me hooked. Plus, the cute little container could last a long time since I only need a little bit of gloss for each application. Now I am really interested to try out the other shades too. Would I repurchase: Yup, I definitely would.

You can check out Just Pure Minerals' Vegan Lip Gloss Samples at their Shop at Etsy's.
They are sold for $1 each and shipping cost is free in the US and $1 to anywhere else.
The full sized lip glosses cost $6 with more choices of shades to choose from.
I got mine with the help from Ryan (sgDrugstore) for RM11.21.

Elianto Sweet Kisses Lip Gloss Review

I am not a big gloss wearer because of the stickiness feeling they seem to leave on my lips. But, once in a blue moon, I do use glosses when the mood strikes me. So, on one fine day when I was shopping with my sister at Jusco Taman Maluri, we saw that Elianto was having a sale on their makeup products. I ended purchasing a tube of gloss and a tube of dual-ended lip tint (more on that later). FYI, I rarely step into Elianto's store because the salesgirls there tend to follow you around and readjusts the arrangements of any products that you touched. Really annoying! Grrr! Okay, enough of ramblings, let's get on to the review.

Packaging: The lip gloss comes in a standard translucent plastic squeeze tube with a screw on cap in red.  The nozzle is slanted for easy application. The tube weighs 10ml. The label on the tube is designed simplistically with lace patterns lined at the top and bottom of the tube. The ingredients is printed onto the plastic wrapping. The entire line of Sweet Kisses Lip Gloss is described as 'delicious, sweet lip gloss with a gorgeous shine''. The shade I chose is 01 Purple Rose.

 An unopened tube of lip gloss.

List of ingredients on the plastic wrapping.

The slanted tip for easy application.

Ingredients: Polybutene, Octyldodecanol, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Polyglyceryl-2 Triisostearate, Hexyl Laurate, Cyclomethicone, Dimethicone/Vinyl Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Ceresin, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil, Simmondsa Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter), Hydrogenated Microcrystalline Wax, Cera Alba, Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil, Butylparaben, Tocopheryl Acetate, Retinyl Palmitate, Ascorbyl Palmitate, Fragrance, May contain Mica, Titanium Dioxide, CI45410, CI 77007, CI 77492, CI 77499, CI 77491, CI 19140.

Texture: The gloss has a thin jelly-like texture, almost like thick oil and is a bit on the runny side. It glides on very smoothly, surprisingly not oily at all on the lips. It gives a nice glossy sheen on my lips and it does not feel sticky. On the lips, the colour turns out to be very sheer plum. It made my lips feel moisturized as well which is a plus point. It smelled of subtly sweet grapes, but it has a yucky taste though.

A small blob of lip gloss.

The blob of gloss evenly distributed.

My verdict: I am kind of on the fence about this one. It gives a nice sheer shade and is not sticky. Plus, it also hydrates my lips. For those gloss lovers out there who does not mind the taste might give this gloss a go, but for me, I don't think I would repurchase.

Price: You can get a tube of this gloss for RM9 at any Elianto's outlet.