SWATCHES + IMPRESSIONS: Maybelline VIVID Matte Liquid Lip Colours

Took me such a long time to get to, but now we here. 

I've received the entire shade range of these Maybelline Vivid Matte Liquid Lip Colours from one of
Maybelline's Blogger Event yonkssss ago.

note: Clumsy me, misplaced the 3 other shades so I can only show you the 5 I have on me!

I remember, when we saw these lip colours, we were ALL so excited. I remember most of us having high hopes that they'll make affordable yet quality matte lip colours like many other brands, such as Colourpop, The Balm, Too Faced and so on.

Sadly, "matte" is the last thing that comes to mind when I think of these products.

(L-R) Electric Pink, Orange Shot, Fuchsia Ecstasy, Berry Boost, Possessed Plum

The formula is very much like a highly-pigmented lip gloss. It sits on top and stays glossy for a good 3-4 hours. Consistency is thin and velvety on the lips. Can glide around sometimes, so therefore, prone to bleeding, smearing and transferring.

With the formula it has, I find that the applicator doesn't really help nor offer a precise application.. It's unusually long and flat.

(L-R) Electric Pink, Orange Shot, Fuchsia Ecstasy, Berry Boost, Possessed Plum

Won't lie, the shade range is great though. Covers wearable cool-toned and warm-toned shades, although there are only 8 different shades. However in saying so, I think all colours are pretty average. There's not really a stand-out colour for me.


SWATCHES

ELECTRIC PINK: A bit more cool-toned on me, but still wearable.

ORANGE SHOT: Listed as orange, but on me and to me, looks more like a bright fire-engine red. Orange-toned, yes.

BERRY BOOST: A pretty and wearable, deeper pink.

FUCHSIA ECSTASY: Easily confused with 'Berry Boost', but diz is warmer.

POSSESSED PLUM: Not too dark, surprisingly. Very wearable! Would be good for those who wants to give dark lippies a first-time go.

All in all, if these products were really matte as marketed.. they'd go OFF! But for what it is... not really a hit for me. (ᗒᗣᗕ)՞

Have you tried this range by Maybelline?

Do you prefer them as is, or would you change the product's formula?

Let me know! (⌒_⌒;)


While we're on topic, don't forget to enter my INSTAGRAM GIVEAWAY for a chance to win the entire shade collection of these lippies!

Link is here >

X

LOVE N' LOATHIN: Velourlips in Rio-D

There's something about coral lips, for me. Especially the bright, poppy ones, like today's feature -- Rio-D ($9.95).

These Velourlips have been hyped for quite a while now, so I've always been keen. Can't remember when I purchased Rio-D. All I remember is purchasing it with another lighter pink shade, Ho-Chee-Min.

Doe-foot applicator

Well, what do ya know?

Both shades are two of the most unwearable shades in ma collection. Can't remember the last time I've picked up such unwearable lip shades... lol. The last that made such an impression was probably Revlon's Nude Attitude (eep).

Rio-D, is an extremely bright... um, coral. One of those shades that you'll see Shannon of Shanxo (Youtuber) wearing. It's not one that many can pull off for its intensely bright hue, and I, yours truly, purchased this with hopes that I will be one of the selected fewer who'd be able to pull off such a shade.

HA HA.

I think I could, and kinda did. Eeek. Its brightness is immeasurable with words. Look!

I wouldn't mind wearing such a bright shade out, but the matte formula does not mix well with the brightness.

The Velourlips are formulated to be creamy, matte, pigmented and long-lasting. The key-term is "long-lasting". Bright colours generally put enough emphasis on the flakes and lines of the lips, and to have it with a matte (aka drying) formula... Mmmhhhm. Nay.

As nice as it looks in the photos, on my lips, you can see every single flake. And streak. It requires layering for a full opacity, but my problem with this is that the more you layer, the streakier and drier it could look.

Sad to say, but I won't ever wear this out for that reason, so I'm not exactly sure how to finish this tube up. It's a miss for me.


Such a bummer.

MISS: NYX Butter Gloss

I haven't stumbled across a really bad lip product in yonks now. One of my first ones was by NYX, and it was their Round Lipstick range. Well, guess what?!

Striking back today with another miss, and surprisingly, once again, it's by NYX. This time, it's their Butter Gloss ($9.95/12 shades), in Cherry Cheese Cake.

Comes with a doe-foot applicator.

It's quite a lovely subtle-but-still-visible kinda coral shade (actually don't know why it's named Cherry Cheese Cake) to brighten up the face. Smells nice too.

I find that arm swatches for these tend to build false hope for full-coverage lips, but its pigmentation is average for a gloss -- medium coverage, that is. Also doesn't feel overly slippery on the lips so that's good too.

(Excusi mi face, I've just woke up from a nap)

However, what gets me is the longevity -- it sucks!!! Every single time I wear this, I never get more than, what, 15 minutes wear? 20 minutes wear? No colour and only little gloss left. Urgh... Really kills me. I'm not even eating anything!

I'm glad I've purchased this at the markets for $2 instead of its RRP ($9.95). Definitely a miss for me.. (･｀ｪ´･)

What is the most disappointing lip gloss on your miss list?

For me, I think this may be it. I've certainly came across bad lip glosses before, but never one that won't last more than 30 minutes!

Colour Me In: 3 Black Mascaras on my Miss List!

'Colour Me In' is a series of posts in collaboration with Alice of ArsyParsy, Tezza of Myteeefine and Amanda of Thai-Tales!

*****

Another Thursday, another 'Colour Me In' collaboration post!

A few more Thursdays to go and we will be rounding up this collaboration series of 'Colour Me In'! Of course, that doesn't mean that's all for us four.. we'll still be blogger budz and you'll definitely see me feature their links on my blog! :P

This week's colour is 'black' and if you know me, you would know I'm boring as hell so it's really no surprise that I'd be featuring eyeliners or mascaras! :P

But to switch things up from the usual 'what's on my hit list', let's skim through and see what's on my mascara-miss list!

Covergirl Lash Blast -- this one, is nice, but I do think it's a bit over-rated. It gives nice volume, some length, separates well, but makes your eyelashes stiff as hell in return! Although I don't really care for stiff lashes, I've found the same results in other mascaras without the stiffness, so... ya. I do like that this mascara is easy to access and the colour is very black, but I personally don't think it's anything amazing for my Asian lashes, so farewell Lash Blast!

Top: Lash Blast, bottom: Lash Blast Length

Covergirl Lash Blast Length -- is quite disappointing. The wand is awkwardly long, but the bristles do remind me of my once-upon-a-time favourite Rimmel London Glam Eyes Mascara. It separates really well, but perhaps too well that all my lashes look like they are 10 miles apart from each other. LMAO. (Yeap, call me the Queen of Over-exaggeration).

Jokes!! But it does do its job at separating, except that it doesn't really separate evenly. Adding to that, I just can't seem to get an 'even' lengthening application with the wand, so altogether it makes me look like I have unevenly seperated, wonky lashes. Meep.

Maybelline Colossal Volum Express -- I've heard alot of beauties raved about this mascara so I was excited when my sister received this as a gift! However, its wet formula doesn't work on my Asian lashes at all.. It's way too heavy for my lashes, weighing it down (which is the last thing I want for my lashes) and clumping it together. I think most beauties who adores this mascara, are already blessed with naturally long eyelashes, so it's a totally different take for my Asian eyelashes.


Of course, these are just brief overviews! I do hope to review them in the upcoming future, but your turn to share now...

Which mascaras just doesn't work for you?

Whether it be low-end or high-end, let us know!

For this week's line up of posts, Alice will let you know how well Revlon's ColorStay Liquid Eyeliner performs, whilst Tezza will be sharing thoughts on 4 different eyeliners... As for Amanda, there's a Benefit Lash Battle happening at her page for Benefit fans!


Disclaimer: Products mentioned in this post were purchased/gifts from friends.

Australis 3-in-1 Make-Up Remover Wipes Review

Hey gals! So this review is super, super late! I've actually finished two packs of 25 wipes and a review still isn't up for your reading pleasure.. meep.

I've purchased three packets of Australis 3-in-1 Make-Up Remover Wipes a while ago when Big W had their $3 OFF sale which got these wipes down only to $2 each pack. Cheapo!

And as an Australis fan, I could not be any happier with $2/pack, expecting them to be of impressive quality, although I saw some very disappointing reviews at BeautyHeaven when I was prancin' around the web.

Australis claims that these wipes 'cleanses, tones and moisturises whilst gently removing all traces of make-up'. These wipes are soap, alocohol and fragrance free and is suitable for all skin types.

Sounds awesome!

However, I'm very, super, extremely (that doesn't make sense, but I don't care because that is how I feel) disappointed with these wipes. The first fewer wipes are actually okay, they're somewhat moist, but still dry in comparison to the many other wipes I've used from other brands.

After the first fewer, it just becomes drier and drier, and then it's like there's no more make-up remover anymore that it's just tissue. So then it doesn't remove make-up anymore, let alone toning and moisturising..

Meep. Super sad!

I'd like to think that I've picked up some bad ones, but I purchased three, and they're all the same! Somewhat moist the first fewer wipes and then there's just tissue.

Sad to say, but I'm not even over-exaggerating.... *sad face at Australis*

I'd still be your little happy chappy make-up fan though!

Have you tried Australis' Make-Up Wipes?

Whaddo you think?

Australis 3-in-1 Make-Up Remover Wipes retails for $4.95 per pack of 25 wipes, available at Priceline, Big W, Target, Kmart and selected pharmacies nationally.

Products I DON'T like!

I've came to realise that I've always talked about my favourite products, but never so much of the products I don't like!

So these products are dusting in my 'unusable items' box and I wanted to overview them briefly before they are altered to a better use [which may not even be make-up related].

Let's start.

*Almay Smart Shade Make-up is number one on the list, I definitely do not recommend to anyone. This is harsh, but.. how can anyone like this product?

Retails for $30, claims to give a beautiful and natural coverage yet offers no coverage at all (not even a sheer/light coverage) and oxidizes to be quite orangey shade on the skin. Nuff said.

Oh.. hang on! It also claims to transform to your skin colour too!

Does it? Yes it does, but you don't pay 30 bucks for that amusing bullsh*t k?

Now that I got my biggest missed product in history out of the way, next!

*Missha The Style Perfect Pen Eyeliner ($8.99)

This was one of my first eyeliners when I've started out with make-up and I have to say that I did like it at first when I bought it home.

What made me grew to dislike it is that, I could only use it for roughly around 10 applications before I needed to replace it. The felt tip would eventually become worn out and not keep in shape which makes it difficult to use.

Adding to that, the colour 'black' isn't black, but rather a blue-ish grey and the formula is not fade-proof, smudge-proof or water-proof.

Hah.. I think I just described the perfect crap eyeliner.

*Napoleon Perdis Long Black Mascara ($35)

This was my first NP mascara and I gotta say... it doesn't lengthen [my lashes], offers very little volume and doesn't hold the curls of my Asian lashes.

What's a mascara like this for? Darken my lashes? Pft. Every other mascaras do that and also volumises and lengthens better.

P.S. They won't be costing a whopping $35 too.

*KleanColor Mascara 101 Washable

This was a tag-a-long with my make-up kit when I studied a make-up course, so I have no idea how much it costs. But this is very similar to the Napoleon Perdis Long Black Mascara (no length, no volume and doesn't hold curls), except it offers a tad more volume when applied.

So I guess if you're looking for a dupe of the Napoleon Perdis Long Black Mascara, you should check this out. *giggles*

*New Eyecurl II

I think I picked this up for about $21? I'm not enitrely sure, but I do find this curler to perform its job well.

What stopped me from using this and gradually abandoned this is its battery usage. It uses AA battery and it uses up the batteries SO quick! I'm not willing to purchase batteries every week for this little thing since batteries are quite expensive here. I might need to get my hands on a Panasonic [heated eyelash curler] or one by Manicare and see how that goes.

One more thing about this is its bulky packaging, though it's not heavy... it's still quite annoying and ugly.

*L.A. Colors Liquid Eyeliner

No idea whether this was a bad one or not, but it is quite clumpy so I never looked at it after trying to use it once. The formula is quite wet and 'runny' so it doesn't dry immediately and I don't digg that.

However, I do find that it's quite water resistant, but in the end, that's useless for its clumpiness.

*Revlon Mineral Lipglaze (~$17?)

Unlike the products mentioned above (basically a miss for anyone).. this product is a matter of personal preference.

This lipgloss doesn't favour me because of the overwhelming coconut scent which is oh-my-god! I hate it! I tried to use the gloss WITH the fragrance, but the gloss is actually quite sticky, feels heavy on my lips and has the tendency to smear.

So overall, I personally dislike this lip gloss.

*Revlon Matte Lipstick in Nude Attitude ($21.95)

I bought this lipstick way back when I first started make-up, because it looked SO gorgeous on xteeener & bubzbeauty! It's actually not that bad., but I still don't like it though.

This shade is much of a peachy/apricot nude which doesn't quite suit me.

Makes me look like a dead fish, BUT I'm not complaining about the shade. The formula is unforgivable for how it accentuates the dryness/flakiness of my lips... and my lips aren't even dry to start off with! I do try to save this lipstick by priming my lips with a lip-balm before application, but it stills bring out as much dryness! Poo!

I find that the only times that this lipstick will work is when my lips are in perfect conditions (not overly moisturized or dry). Till then, it glides on very smoothly! Still makes me look dead though.

At the end of the day, this is more of a miss for me though I know some of you probably digg it. Sorry, but I'm not willing to wait and only use this for everytime my lips are in perfect condition. It's okay though. I have to admit that this is the better miss out of the bunch since I can use it to when I need to fake being sick or in a special inspired make-up look.

Hope you found this post helpful! Your turn to share!

Which products have you considered 'forever a miss'?