Why is this post so late, and why didn’t we have one yesterday?
Well. It’s a bit of a long –
Not that long, actually, more of…
It’s sort of that I am possibly thinking about maybe blending a moisturizer for my sister and I and this may have distracted me shhhh don’t tell anyone shhh.
I thought you ladies might appreciate this one! If you’re already on their mailing list, you’ve seen it, but if not – perhaps this’ll help settle your worries a bit. Click to enlarge.
I think it takes a particular kind of fantastic for a brand to respond to a fan uprising in such a calm, collected way, so my hat’s off to Urban Decay! (I have no idea how I shoved so many different, weird elements into a sentence… but somehow, I did. The English language be damned!)
I’m sorry; today’s just one of those days. Talk to you soon (& hopefully when I’ve calmed dow a bit) xx
As promised, here are swatches of Caramel! It’s available on its own or in Burts’ Shimmer and Shine set. If you’re having a bit of deja vu – please note that parts of this review (the formula, and part of the verdict) are the same as they are in the review of Peony and the Shimmer and Shine post, as they’re the same product!
The shade: Caramel is darker than Peony, imparting a sheer (but less so) wash of colour. The brown tones neutralize my lips a bit, resulting in a slightly darker colour than my bare lips, but never pulling too mauve or too orange. The shimmer leaves my lips looking very full, but there isn’t so much shimmer or pigmentation that I need a mirror to apply this.
bare lips / Caramel swatch
The formula: As I’ve mentioned in the Nutmeg review, Burts’ Lip Shimmers are less moisturizing than their original balm, but still quite moisturizing. For those with really dry lips, you may need to use a different balm at night or underneath these, but aside from that I think you’d be fine! The colour wears for 2-3 hours on my lips, but the moisture lasts a touch longer (about four hours).
bare lips / Caramel swatch
The verdict? Caramel gets a definite YES! from me in the set (it works out to be under $5), but I’m not sure if I’d have purchased it on its own. As I’ve mentioned before, Burt’s Bees Lip Shimmers are one of my favourite tinted lip balms, but I think I would have opted for something more pigmented if I was buying a single tube – this shade happens to be fairly sheer. I prefer the brighter tone of Peony a bit more, but I like that this has a bit more depth.
As promised, here are swatches of Peony! It’s available on its own or in Burts’ Shimmer and Shine set. If you’re having a bit of deja vu – please note that parts of this review (the formula, and part of the verdict) are the same as they are in the review of Caramel and the Shimmer and Shine post, as they’re the same product!
The shade: Peony is a sheer pink with plenty of very fine shimmer. I find that it sort of “brightens up” my natural lip colour, never looking obvious, and layers well over matte lipsticks! The peppermint in the Lip Shimmers does increase blood flow (often making my lips look a little more pigmented for a while), but the shade itself is extremely sheer.
bare lips / Peony swatch
The formula: As I’ve mentioned in the Nutmeg review, Burts’ Lip Shimmers are less moisturizing than their original balm, but stillquite moisturizing. For those with really dry lips, you may need to use a different balm at night or underneath these, but aside from that I think you’d be fine! The colour wears for 2-3 hours on my lips, but the moisture lasts a touch longer (about four hours).
bare lips / Peony swatch
The verdict? Peony gets a definite YES! from me in the set (it works out to be under $5), but I’m not sure if I’d have purchased it on its own. As I’ve mentioned before, Burt’s Bees Lip Shimmers are one of my favourite tinted lip balms, but I think I would have opted for something more pigmented if I was buying a single tube – both shades in the Shimmer and Shine set are quite sheer! That said, I do reach for it quite a bit, and I’d definitely re-buy from the same line if I ever lost mine (or managed to use them up). I like Peony a bit more than Caramel, just due to its tone, but the difference on my lips is fairly negligible. (Peony is a little lighter and brighter; Caramel is a shade darker.)
This morning’s review was supposed to be for the new Burt’s Bees Tinted Lip Balm – I have a tube of Pink Blossom begging to be featured! The catch is that I wasn’t happy with the way my photos of it turned out, so I’ll be sharing two other fab Burt’s products with you instead. (I took photos for all three at once, but by the time I made my way to Pink Blossom, the sun was already on its way down. Winter in Edmonton, you kill me!)
What it is: Burt’s Bees Shimmer & Shine set, which contains two full-sized Lip Shimmers (Caramel and Peony).
About the shades: I’ll be posting lip swatches and full reviews of these two shades later today (update: check out the reviews here and here!) as I didn’t want this post to get too image-heavy, but I have to admit that the discrepancies within the Lip Shimmers drive me nuts. They’re described as sheer tinted lip balms, but some of the shades are actually quite pigmented – while others are really, really sheer. These two fall into the latter category, while Nutmeg (which we reviewed earlier) definitely qualifies in the former. I don’t inherently mind that there are differences, but I’d like to know what I’m getting!
Perhaps if Burt’s split their Lip Shimmers line into “sheer” and “regular” (like Marcelle has done with their Lux glosses?)
Caramel / Peony
About the formula: As I’ve mentioned in the Nutmeg review, Burts’ Lip Shimmers are less moisturizing than their original balm, but still quite moisturizing. For those with really dry lips, you may need to use a different balm at night or underneath these, but aside from that I think you’d be fine! The colour wears for 2-3 hours on my lips, but the moisture lasts a touch longer (about four hours).
top swatch: Peony / bottom swatch: Caramel / side swatch: Nutmeg
The verdict? Burts’ Lip Shimmers are some of my favourite tinted balms, no matter if they’re sheer or if they’re more pigmented. Lip Shimmers retail for about $6 each here in Canada, so the $9 price tag that this set boasts is a steal!* Consider this approved.
*Well, to be quite frank, the $6 regular price tag’s a steal, too. Does that make this some sort of… double steal? Compound steal? Hmm.
I liked less of Elie Saab’s fall collection last year than usual – but the pieces that I did like, I loved. The materials are gorgeous (particularly the first; the perfect autumn explosion), and the movement of the dresses is stellar. I’m not a huge fan of long slits, but somehow, I think these work.
Clarins‘ gorgeous Holiday Rouge Prodige, Barocco, will be disappearing fast from counters – that is, if there are any left as it is! My apologies for getting these swatches up so late; I thought we had covered this with the rest of the collection, but somehow, I managed to miss it.
The Rouge Prodige formula is laced with an addictive, light, berry scent which I actually quite like. I usually hate scented lip products, but this one smells fresh instead of synthetic, and I find it pretty enjoyable! While the actual lip colour lasts a fair amount of ime for something so glossy (about three hours, plus another two as a stain), the scent lasts the perfect amount of time, for me – that is, it fades within five minutes. The only problem I have with the formula is that it’s a little too smooth for me; I press my lips together (nervous habit!) and this formula can slide around a bit if I apply straight from the tube.
Barocco is a rich red interspersed with fine gold shimmer. It’s a fantastic and strange chameleon, pulling more berry on cool skintones and more brick on warm ones, from what I’ve seen of it so far. The only reasoning I have for this? It could be because the glitter is gold (warm) but the base itself is neutral leaning cool… or it could just be magic.
(I hope it’s the latter, because magic is cool.)
What do you think? I’m not bold enough to wear Barocco around town, but I still think it’s breathtaking! If you did miss out on it, though, don’t fret – the Clarins Spring collection is equally lovely, and I’ll try to have some swatches and reviews up next week. xx
From this post. Barocco is third from the right.
The first cup that I wanted to review today was the size 1 clear Lunette, simply because I’m awful at saving the best for last. Of all of the cups that I’ve tried, this was by far my favourite! It turns out that it may actually be a good thing that this review is so delayed – the Lunette site has gotten a facelift recently, which should make picking one up a lot easier. (They’re hard to find in-store, at least in Canada.)
The shape: I wanted to give you ladies a really good idea of the size of the Lunette, so it went on a bit of a photoshoot with some popular beauty products ;) The Lunette ismore pear-shaped than the DivaCup – it’s the parabola to the DivaCup’s absolute value function, if you will. To each her own, I know, but I personally find that this helps it sit more comfortably (and makes removal a fair bit easier!)
It also has more of a “tail” than many other cups, but don’t let that scare you away (it’s actually a good thing). I find the longer end makes guiding the cup out easier, and despite my initial worries, you can’t feel it. It doesn’t stick out much, and if it does, you can trim it yourself at home. (Plus, you’ve already got fold-y stuff going on down there. A bit of soft silicone doesn’t make much of a difference!)
The dimensions: The size 1 Lunette…
A cost breakdown: I wasn’t kidding when I said that I bleed a lot; for the first two days of my period I go through about seven extra super tampons in a day, plus two pads and then another extra super and an overnight pad while I sleep. After that, I use about two regular tampons and one pad for the next three days or so.
Now. The Lunette is $39.99, which seems pretty pricy… at first. However, you can keep a cup for three years according to the FDA (though most cup users say that they’re good for about 10; the FDA’s probably just covering their arses!) so let’s do some math. AURGHHH I hate math.
Tampons: 1 box of Extra Super Tampax per month ($5 for 20), plus two packages of Always pads ($9 for 28) per year. Assuming 13 periods per year. TOTAL: $249 over three years
The Lunette: 2 cups (just in case), plus… say, six boxes of disinfecting wipes (2 per year) and a bottle of Feelbetter? TOTAL: $80 over three years
I rest my case.
Benefit‘s coming out with a very cute new product this March, and I wanted to share a couple photos with you before then! (The best part is that I can totally do this guilt-free, because all of the products are available on their own right now.) I’ll be testing the products over the next little while, and will have a (much) more detailed review for you lovely ladies closer to the actual launch.
Swatches of Benefit Finding Mr. Bright:
L -> R, swatched heavily and then lightly: girl meets pearl, posietint, high beam, erase paste (medium)
What’s the weather like where you are, lovelies? We’re knee-deep thigh-deep in snow, which is… less than optimal, to say the least. I mean, I adore snow, but this is pushing it – even for me! Hope your Monday’s going well tolerably (after all, it’s a Monday. Can’t expect too much!)
This post will be edited & updated through the night, so keep checking back!
I love this look so much it’s ridiculous. The messy hair, the lashes, the PERFECT lip colour… I’m not even a huge Lea Michelle fan; I just adore this look!
(Image filched from Temptalia. Hope that’s okay, Christine!)
And then there’s this:
(This one was stolen from Temptalia as well.)
Is she pregnant? Or is she just a normal weight? Only time will tell… (I’m really hoping it’s the latter, though. Not because I don’t want her having kids or something, just because I think it’s great to see a celeb with a reasonable BMI!)
(Actually, I take that back. Can you imagine how cute her kids would be?! Let’s not deprive the world of that.)
Also loving…
Okay; a bit of justification for those two: Chris Colfer is looking super-sharp in that suit & skinny tie (sharp enough to make me want that jacket, and I’m not even a boy), and I kind of unconditionally love January Jones. I mean, can you think of anyone else who would have gone so classic on the hair and makeup, and then pair it all with such a different modern racy weird experimental dress? It’s fantastic!
And hating (really, really hating)…
images from Jezebel unless otherwise noted.
