theNotice: a beauty blog

The product: MAC Viva Glam V Lipstick (Lustre)

The purpose: One thing that I love (absolutely love) is seeing how the same shade will translate onto different skintones. Luckily for me, my friends are just as crazy.

For the April round of the Lipstick Bandits, we all bought the same tube of lipstick: MAC’s Viva Glam V. I believe it was Tracy who suggested the shade, and if you ask me, it’s absolutely perfect. Viva Glam V is one of those great MLBB shades that wears well on almost everyone, and today, you’ll get to see how it wears on twelve different skintones. 

(Can you tell that I’m excited? I’m really bloody excited.)

Both images above: Viva Glam V, in slightly different lighting. (Isn’t it a weirdo?)

The cherry on top is that MAC’s Viva Glam line donates 100% of the purchase price to the MAC Aids Fund, which is pretty much as good as it gets, as far as charitable products go. Most companies will donate a dollar or two per tube, and more often than not, there’s a cap on how much they’ll donate overall.

So, without further adieu, I bring you MAC Viva Glam V!

The formula: Unfortunately, I’m not much of a fan of MAC’s Lustre formula. Like Desire (a gorgeous creme-finish burgundy, and my autumn Lipstick Bandits choice), I find VG V to be a bit okay, more than a bit shoddy in the moisture department. It’s more comfortable than a cheap matte, of course, but I find my lips are begging for moisture by the time this wears off.

As always, the MAC lipstick formula is paraben-free and scented solely with vanillin.

Bare lips

MAC Viva Glam V lip swatch

The shade: Viva Glam V is an interesting shade, though. Based on how it looks in the tube, I had expected a more dense colour, and with more brown tones in it. When swatched, though (whether on my lips or just the back of my hand), it’s unexpectedly pink – sort of a neutral-rose, rather than a lightly pinked brown.

In line with many of MAC’s other Lustre shades, Viva Glam V is sheer with quite a bit of shimmer. I find it rather unforgiving on my dry, too-wrinkly-for-their-age lips, but you’ll have to check in with the other Bandits for the final judgement on that one! (I’m excessively picky. Y’know, in case you hadn’t noticed.)

MAC Viva Glam V swatch – heavily, then lightly.

Wearing VG V – it’s quite a natural-looking shade!

The verdict?

Okay, so I’m not thrilled with Viva Glam V on its own. I’m excited to see the shade on the rest of the Bandits, though, and I know a number of them are crazy about it!

If your lips aren’t too dry, and you’re looking for a neutral rose with a bit of shimmer, I’d give this one a go. There isn’t a better lipstick to put your money toward than the Viva Glam line, so I’d definitely say they’re worth checking out on the whole! Give the lustres a skip if you have lips as dry as mine, though, and beware of this particular shade if you’re not a huge fan of shimmery lipsticks.

A few links: Karla has the permanent Viva Glam lipsticks swatched here, as well as swatches of the current LE Viva Glam products (Nicki and Ricky) here; Bluebell’s Beauty Blog has lip swatches of the first five Viva Glam shades here; and finally, The Shades of U has the permanent VG lipsticks swatched on a darker skintone here.

And now, the good stuff! See Viva Glam V on the rest of the Lipstick Bandits »

This round of Lipstick Bandit posts came with the challenge of the starter lipstick: your very first (for those of us who still remember what our first shade was), or a lipstick that would make a good gateway drug into a full-fledged lipstick addiction.

The lipstick I chose to feature wasn’t my very first lipstick, but it was one of the first that I really fell in love with. I hope you will, too!

The product: Lancome Color Fever lipstick in Rose Tempest

I feel a little guilty about featuring this one, seeing as it’s long since been discontinued, but, well – what can you do, right? It was “the one,” and memories don’t exactly grow on trees. (Though it would be fabulous if they did, wouldn’t it?)

Rose Tempest is an interesting shade; a rather plain-Jane my lips but better sort, but there’s something just so about it. Imagine if you crossed a yellow-based pink with an olive-brown nude, gave it a lovely satin-creme formula, and scented it lightly with rose petals and bright, juicy berries. You’d get Rose Tempest exactly; the perfect daytime lipstick, with an unexpected edge of versatility and luxury. (This would look brilliant on so many different skintones that it’s not even funny, and have you seen that tube?)

A single swipe of Rose Tempest

bare lips

One layer of Rose Tempest on lips

For a dupe, try something like Maybelline Warm Me Up or MAC Modesty. They’re not exact copies (I much prefer the Color Fever formula and scent to both, though of course it isn’t without its flaws), but the shades are almost spot-on.

The Maybelline is great if you’re on a budget, but I’m not fond of scent, and the formula feels much heavier on my lips; on the other hand, I’ve never been a huge fan of MAC lipsticks (I find most of their formulas too drying), and I prefer lip products that are lightly fruity than ones that smell like vanilla.

I don’t get a ton of wear out of Rose Tempest, because I’m rather afraid of what I’ll do when I run out, but, well. If either of these dupes are even half as lovely – you’re going to adore them.

Keep reading! »

This round of the Lipstick Bandits is all about layering lip products – one of my favourite pastimes! (Oh, the lives of beauty bloggers. I mean, gosh, how thrilling, right?)

(But no, seriously. I’m really into layering products; it’s ridiculous.)

The challenge was to find a red lip colour, preferably a lipstick, then layer a shimmery, sparkly, or glittery product overtop. I had a bit of a swatch fest with Annabelle Rouge Velours Lipstick in Adrenaline as my base colour, but alas…

…I didn’t end up going with any of those combinations.

Swatched R-L: Clarins Rouge Prodige Lipstick in Passion Rose, Clinique Lip Smoothie in Strawberry Bliss, Korres Cherry Lipgloss in Rose and Fuchsia, Benefit Ultra Shine Lipgloss in So Frisk Me.

Even after all that (and taking two full photo sets of Adrenaline + Korres Fuchsia), I ended up going with a new find that I can’t get enough of – the Bite High Pigment Lip Pencil in Pomegranate. (Review here). After a quick layer of Pomegranate, I layered Stila’s Brown Sugar Lip Glaze overtop for a bit of shimmer and shine. In retrospect, though, I should have picked something with larger shimmer particles – the change in texture is obvious, of course, but I feel like the shimmer could have “popped” more!

LEFT: Bite Pomegranate (only) / RIGHT: Bite Pomegranate + Stila Brown Sugar

LEFT: Bite Pomegranate / MIDDLE: Bite Pomegranate & Stila Brown Sugar / RIGHT: Stila Brown Sugar

Above: wearing Bite Pomegranate (only)

Keep reading! »

Happy Monday morning, my dears! We’re about to start this week off with a Lipstick Bandits feature – each blogger will be posting her favourite perfect-for-autumn lip colour, and this is mine.

Up until late last week, I wasn’t sure what I was going to write my post on. I’ve always had an idea in mind of what my “perfect fall lipcolour” would be, but I’d never taken the time to find it.

That is, until now.

The product: MAC Lipstick in Desire (Lustre finish)

The shade: Desire the exact shade I’ve been looking for in an autumn lip colour – just the right mix of brown, berry, and plum. MAC describes it as a warmed burgundy wine, which I’d say describes it pretty well. Like most sheer shades, it looks deceivingly dark in the tube, but it goes on with a surprising richness of colour.

The red tones of Desire are balanced out quite well with brown and plum notes, keeping it from looking too bright or too orange on my lips. (And trust me, my lips are difficult to work with! A good 3/4 of the shades I try on look too orange against my complexion.) The result is an effortless, muted burgundy – far from “barely there” but still coming across quite  naturally.

MAC lipstick swatch – Desire (heavily, then lightly)

MAC lipstick in Desire

The Lustre finish: I was pretty sure I’d walk out of MAC with either a Sheen Supreme (my second choice would have been Good to be Bad) or a Lustre, and needless to say, I was right about that! I’m not a fan the way really “obvious” lipstick looks on my lips, so I wanted to go with a darker, glossier shade that I’d be able to wear really sheerly.

Unfortunately, the slip of the Lustre formula means it settles into lines and catches on dry bits if layered on thickly, so keep that in mind if you (like I,) have dry lips. Additionally, despite the slip, I don’t find MAC lipsticks to be very hydrating – and this formula is no exception. They’re not stripping, per se, but I do need to keep a good lip balm on hand if I plan to be wearing a MAC lip product.

Bare lips (not even lip balm!)

MAC Desire lip swatch (applied sparingly) – this is how I’d wear Desire

MAC Desire swatch (applied more heavily)

The verdict?

It’s not “the perfect lipstick,” but I adore the effect created by Desire. It’s exactly what I was looking for – a shimmer-free, slightly glossy, muted wine, with just the right amounts of brown, burgundy, and plum to balance each other out. The wear time is definitely the cherry on top: despite the sheerness and the slippery formula, Desire leaves behind a gorgeous just-bitten stain that lasts just as long as a more traditional (read, heavier) lipstick formula.

All in all, I’m quite a happy camper about this one. And I’m tempted to go back and look for the Desire Tinted Lipglass! The swatches on the MAC site look quite similar (though the descriptions differ), so I’d be curious to see just how close of a match they really are.

Edited to add: See a full-face swatch of Desire here, & see it in a look here.

Keep reading! »

A little while ago, a few of my fellow bloggers and I stumbled into a rather interesting situation. (Liz, I’m totally blaming you for this one.) It involved six bloggers, a thread of very strange tweets, and one very important thing we all have in common: the ability to create lipstick lemmings in a super-stealthy manner.

(Because honestly, why would you need a mask if you’re not doing it stealthily?)

Of course, when you’ve always wanted to do mask makeup and the opportunity is dropped into your lap like this – well, you can’t just pass it up.

As I write this, I still haven’t seen the other five masks – so I’m just as excited as you are to see  how everyone else interpreted the challenge! To check out more black-mask-red-lip FOTDs, head on over to Eye Heart It, Beauty Reflections, Glitter Geek, call it beauty., and Makeup Morsels.

I’m willing to bet that Arianne and Dani (Glitter Geek and call it beauty., respectively) will be the only other ladies posting full-face shots, but hey, a girl can hope! :P Full-face or not, I know I’m in good company for this one, and I hope you enjoy (all of) the looks.

I actually created two versions of this, which in retrospect, was actually a terrible idea. Because now I want to just to share tons and tons of photos of each, which just… well. It’s a lot of images. I’ve chosen just nine images in total to upload, which is a feat in its own right!

One look (directly above) features strong, opaque red lip, and a half-lash of falsies – I went with Annabelle Adrenaline for the red, because all of my other favourites have long since been discontinued – while the other (at the top of the post) showcases a more translucent, glossy lip, with a bit of glitter along the top of the mask.

(Which one do you like more? I think I prefer the lighter lip, with the glitter liner and without the lashes.)

Products used »