theBalm Meet Matt(e) Hughes Liquid Lipsticks 'Chivalrous', 'Devoted', and 'Committed' | Swatches and Review

Hi Everyone!

Hope you all are well :)

It's not often that I get requests for reviews on the blog but recently I was asked by a lovely lady called Sharon if I could review some more of the Meet Matt(e) Hughes Liquid Lipsticks from theBalm. A couple of months ago I reviewed one of the shades that I bought, 'Adoring' and if you want to check out that post you can do so by clicking here. Since then theBalm has sent me out three other shades from the collection to try out so that's what I'm bringing to you today!

In the last review I talked about the packaging, the lasting power, the scent of the product, etc all in depth. When I tested out the three other shades that I was sent out I noticed that the formula was pretty consistent throughout the range. For that reason I won't be going into as much detail in this post because I feel it would be a repeat of my other review. I will be outlining the slight differences I've spotted and other additional information that I may have left out in my original post. 

Chivalrous - Bubble Gum Pink

Devoted - Classic Vibrant Red

Committed - Medium Peachy Brown Toned Nude

One thing I forgot to mention in my review of the shade 'Adoring' was that when you take the applicator out of the tube it doesn't look squeaky clean like in the picture below.

Three out of the four liquid lipsticks applicators looked like this and I didn't think it was a big deal. There was a minor amount of product on the applicator after it was removed from the tube.

However, the shade 'Devoted' had a serious amount of product on the applicator. The stick was filled with product and I had to remove some of the lipstick so that I could apply the product evenly to my lips using the doe foot applicator. With this particular shade it was just extremely messy and I found myself wasting a lot of product each time I wanted to wear this colour. I don't know if it is down to the tube being over filled with product or what the issue is but it slightly put me off picking up this shade, which is a pity because it's a gorgeous colour.

Swatches L-R

(Chivalrous, Devoted, and Committed)

Chivalrous

Devoted

Committed

As I mentioned above the formula is quite consistent throughout the various different shades. As a whole I didn't find these liquid lipsticks to be drying, they were quite comfortable to wear on the lips. The only shade that was slightly drying was the pink shade 'Chivalrous'. Wear time wise each of the shades wore well up until the 4-5 hour mark and it was around then that I felt the need to reapply. The shade 'Devoted' bled a little out of the corners of my lips after a couple of hours, a problem which I didn't have with any other shade so that is worth noting.

I'm very happy once again with the quality of these products and I will repurchase once these run out. The only colour I probably wouldn't buy is 'Devoted' just because of the issue with the build up of product on the applicator, and then the wastage, the bleeding etc. Other than that though I'm pleased with the colours that I have tried from the range:)

theBalm can be purchased from Debenhams online or in store and their products can also be found on Cloud10Beauty.com.

Until next time,

Eimear x

Hourglass Opaque Rouge Liquid Lipstick 'Ballet' Swatches and Review

Hey Everyone!

Hope you all are well :)

Ever since I tried out one of theBalm Meet Matte Hughes Liquid Lipsticks I've fallen in love with the idea of liquid lipsticks and I have been itching to try out some from other brands ever since! Recently when I was browsing through the beauty section in TK Maxx (how unlike me) I spotted this Hourglass product. I literally couldn't believe my eyes, I had never seen anything like this in there before. Tk Maxx is my all time favourite place for beauty bargains and this was one I just couldn't resist. €9 I paid for this particular liquid lipstick I kid you not. Even though I wasn't hugely pushed on the colour sure I couldn't leave it there for that price! Any excuse haha!

First of all I was actually surprised by how small the product actually was, particularly for the RRP. The packaging is really cute though, the liquid lipstick comes in this gorgeous metallic bronze tube and it's nice and slim so very suitable for popping in your hand bag for top ups when you're on the go. There is a doe foot applicator inside the tube and this one is unlike any other I've used before. It is extremely flimsy therefore it bends when you are applying the product to your lips making it very hard to apply an even layer of the liquid lipstick. I'm not sure if this is just a problem with my particular one or if the applicators are of poor quality in general. To apply the lipstick I need to transfer the product from the applicator onto a lip brush and then apply it that way instead.

The only shade on the shelf was 'Ballet' which is a dusty pink colour. Not a colour I would often wear but it is a nice colour to wear especially the Spring/Summer months.

Freshly swatched it looks like it is a liquid lipstick that has a semi matte finish to it but after about 30 seconds the product sets completely matte.

After applying one coat of the liquid lipstick I noticed it didn't apply too evenly you definitely need two coats to build it up the colour and to give a nice even coverage to the lips. With two coats of the product I was very happy with the opacity and the wear time? Phenomenal. It didn't really transfer onto cups when I was drinking or onto food when I was eating which is usually the way with any lipstick that I apply. I didn't use a lipliner and I had no issues with bleeding thankfully, as that is a big pet peeve of mine. Hourglass claim that this lipstick has a 14 hour wear time, but I'm not sure about that now. I didn't wear the lipstick for 14 hours but I did sport the colour for 8. Around the 8 to 9 hour mark the product started to crumble and flake on the inner parts of my top and bottom lip. That was when I felt I needed to reapply!

The lipstick is very comfortable to wear and I didn't find it dried my lips out more than they already were. When you press your lips together they will feel ever so slightly tacky, not sticky though which I was delighted about.

It is a pretty price to pay for such a small product. I found the Hourglass Opaque Rouge Liquid Lipsticks on the UK Space NK website for £23 a pop. There are 9 other shades in the collection and in saying that I have already got my eye on another 2 in the range, Empress and Icon. The temptation is strong ladies and gents!

Until next time,

Eimear x

Urban Decay Matte Revolution Lipstick After Dark

Hi Everyone!
Hope you all are well :)

I recently had a look back on the posts that I've written and I noticed I've only reviewed a lipstick once a year since I started my little blogging adventure. I had never realised this before and its strange because I have drawers filled with every kind of lip product that you can think of! In light of this, today marks the day that the annual lipstick post is no more. Expect plenty of lipstick, lipliner, lip lacquer, lipgloss, lip treatment reviews for the foreseeable haha!

First up today I have this gorgeous Urban Decay Matte Revolution Lipstick in the shade 'After Dark' to show you all. I was sent this to try out maybe a couple of months ago or so now. I had never tried an Urban Decay lip product before so I was curious to see how this product would perform.

Starting with the packaging as always, the Matte Revolution Lipstick range is contained within this pearlescent black casing with the brand name etched onto the body of the case. There is a sticker on the base of the lipstick that clearly shows the colour of the product contained inside. This is helpful for those of you out there like myself that have a tonne of lipsticks to their name. Storing the lipstick with the label facing upward makes it easy to pick out among the sea of lipsticks currently in my collection. 

I'm not one to only wear certain colours depending on the Season, if I like a shade i'll wear it all year round regardless of what time of the year it is. I know everyone isn't like that though. After Dark is a gorgeous berry pink shade, perfect for those of you that enjoy wearing something a little darker for the Autumn/Winter months.

I suffer from dry lips all year round and due to this, prepping the lips prior to the application of a matte lipstick is essential. I exfoliate my lips, apply the La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Baume, leave that to work its magic for about half an hour and then I blot away the excess product. 

The range is marketed as a matte lipstick range but when I swatched the colour on the back of my hand I thought otherwise. It's definitely not fully matte, its quite creamy so I would say its more true to a satin finish.

I always line and fill in my lips with a lip liner before I apply any lipstick but when I'm trialling a lip product I skip that step in order to get a true feeling for how the product performs. I did find that the shape of the lipstick bullet actually made it quite easy for me to shape my lips. The lipstick itself glides onto the lips with ease and is highly pigmented.

On the day that the before and after pictures were taken, I applied the lip colour at 8am and I didn't remove the lipstick until 8pm that evening.  

Just applied: 8am

End of day: 8pm

Just applied: 8am

End of day: 8pm

Now, I don't know about you but I think thats pretty impressive. There is no denying that the lasting power of this lipstick is fantastic. I couldn't believe the wear time and along with that the lipstick felt very comfortable on the lips it wasn't drying in the slightest. Naturally I was eating and drinking during the day, I noticed that the lipstick did transfer onto cups but it didn't smear or bleed throughout the day. 

12 hours later the lipstick still looks pretty good. Yes, it has faded but it has left behind a nice even stain to the lips which sometimes isn't the case if you don't fill your lips in entirely with a lip liner before applying a lipstick.

Overall, I can't recommend this product enough. There are numerous other shades in the range so if this particular shade doesn't tickle your fancy, don't worry there are plenty of others to chose from. The Urban Decay Matte Revolution Lipsticks will set you back €19 a pop and I think they are worth every penny.

Urban Decay is available from Debenhams; debenhams.ie. For a direct link to the range you can click here. Also available from House of Fraser.

Have you tried out any of the lipsticks from the range?

Let me know!

Chat soon,

Eimear x

MUA Undress Your Skin Shimmer Highlighter

Hey Everyone!

Hope you all are well and enjoying the fine weather :)

Highlighters are the one makeup product I hoard…well, thats a bit of a lie actually I hoard a lot of products but in particular highlighters. I'm very fussy and unfortunately I am yet to find one that blows me away.

The problem is I usually find that some highlighters are too pink toned, some are too golden toned, some are too shimmery, some are non existent on the skin and the list goes on. I'm not fussy at all am I? haha! So lets see how todays bargain buy shapes up :)

A few months ago while on my stay down in Wexford, I was out and about in the town and came across a Superdrug. I didn't actually know there was a Superdrug in Wexford so you can imagine my delight. The closest one to myself is up in Tallaght so its a little bit of a journey and for that reason I've only been once. The excitement quickly faded once I realized this particular Superdrug didn't stock Sleek MakeUP but I still had an MUA stand, not too disastrous overall. Both times that I have been in Superdrug the MUA stand has been quite poorly stocked but I managed to pick up a few cheeky purchases all the same. One of which is this gorgeous little highlighter here!

The MUA Undress Your Skin Highlighter is a gorgeous champagne highlighter that gives a pinky pearlescent shimmer to the skin. The product is housed within a white plastic container with a clear lid, very simple nothing flashy. With the addition of the clear lid and the beautiful embossed design of the highlighter this will be one product you'll be proud to whip out of your handbag for touch ups. I adore it however I am quite the sucker for packaging. I wasn't expecting much durability wise (klutz alert) but I have dropped this product several times and its still in one piece…pheeew!

With regard to the product itself I'm very impressed with the finish it gives on the skin especially for the price! In the picture above I swiped my finger over the product once and transferred it onto the back of my hand. It gives a beautiful subtle glow to the skin, perfect for every day use! However this product can be layered, when it is built up the pink particles are much more apparent which I think some people would prefer to wear as part of a night out makeup look.

The product lasts extremely well on the skin, between 7 and 8 hours for myself. This bargain buy set me back €2.20 as it was on offer at the time. It currently retails at just £3.00 over on the MUA site which you can find here.

Have I found my holy grail highlighter? No, unfortunately I am still on the search but I can't fault this product its definitely one of best in my collection. If you are looking for a budget friendly highlighter I'd highly recommend giving this guy a go, you won't be disappointed!

Bargain Hunter Byrne strikes again :D

What are your favourite highlighters? Let me know!

Eimear x

Benefit Bella Bamba Blush Review

Hey Everyone!

Hope you all are well :)

Not too long ago I decided to delve into the world of Benefit again. I only own a handful of their products and that is sorely down to the price. As a student with little disposable income I find it very hard to justify for example, spending €30+ on a blusher. If you have been reading my blog for a long time or even from the name of the blog, you will know I post about bargain buys. Sometimes I do purchase products from high end brands but for the most part I stick to the drugstore. I think we now have fantastic quality products in the supermarkets and pharmacies that are just as good as the high end brands but at a fraction of the price!

 But anyway thats just me I guess. A product has to be really special for me to fork out an arm and a leg. Back in August I attended Leeds Festival, there were a couple of makeup items that caught my eye in the inflight magazine on the way over so I decided if I had money left on the way home I would pick something up. To my surprise I didn't actually spend as much as I thought I would…well minus the fact I had to buy a new tent and blankets which I didn't foresee hahaha. If anything after some disasters I decided regardless I deserved some new makeup'y goodness :)

I cannot for the life of me remember the name of the Benefit set that was on offer, and even when I did know the name I wasn't able to find it online.

The Benefit pouch consisted of a range of different products from the company. Off the top of my head I remember it included the full size Bella Bamba you see here, a sample version of High Beam, a full size version of the Eye Bright pencil and a full sized Stay Don't Stray primer for around €30.

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY. 

Considering one of these full sized products alone is around that price I couldn't let this go. I tried to flag down the flight attendant as quickly as I could. While placing my order the lady next to me wanted a set too, and then my worst nightmare happened. 

"I'm afraid we only have one left." uttered the flight attendant. 

Holy Jesus my nerves, I thought it was going to be a fight to the death but the lady was going to be back on a flight next week for business so she let me have the set instead (God bless you)

Now that you know the background of how this product came into my possession….lets get on with the review! :)

 It comes as no surprise that the packaging is extremely cute, colourful and very pretty…very Benefit! The lid of this blush folds open opposed to coming clean off like other Benefit products before? Correct me if I'm wrong.

This 'new' packaging has its pro's and con's. The pro's are that its great for travel, for one it has a mirror and two you don't have to worry about the lid falling off and making a mess in your handbag. The con is that the lid is quite awkward and doesn't stay open without you having to hold it. When I was taking the product shot I had to take it upside down because the lid was casting a shadow over the blush…. #bloggerproblems

A brush is contained inside the little box too, again making it useful for on the go. I prefer this style of brush for applying my contour into the hollows of my cheeks. I'm not even joking it has become my holy grail brush for doing just that! However for my blush I want a brush that is rounded or slightly angled.

Bella Bamba is a beautiful peachy pink shade of blush with shimmery gold undertones. Its a perfect shade for daily wear and I can imagine will be universally flattering across all skin tones. The quality of this blush is outstanding, it is so highly pigmented. The first time I applied the blush I went a little over board not realising just how pigmented it was. Even though I had applied quite a lot of product by accident the problem was easily fixed with a little extra blending. After some blending I had a nice flush of colour to my cheeks, its definitely a blush you can build on! 

As I mentioned, this watermelon blush is very pigmented. In the above picture the product was only swatched once, which was then transferred onto the back of my hand. So you can see for yourself the colour pay off is excellent. I couldn't see myself running out of this product any time soon, not matter how often I used it!

This is by no means a new blush on the market, I'm just late to hop on the band wagon as always! Classic Eimear.

When I had a little look online I couldn't find an exact price…

I would say its around €30-34 mark. Is it worth that much you ask? I'm torn. It is such a beautiful shade, beautifully packaged and applies like a dream. But unfortunately I just don't think its worth forking over that much money for. Especially for someone like myself who isn't an avid blush fan. Once I run out I more than likely won't repurchase, i'll just end up finding a drugstore alternative but thats just the bargain hunter in me!

What are your thoughts? Is it worth €€€

Eimear x