The Lip Product Addict Tag

The Lip Product Addict Tag was something that I saw on YouTube a while back and really enjoyed so I thought I'd bring it back:

Favorite Balm/Treatment - NUXE Reve De Miel Ultra Nourishing Lip Balm. It's the only one I've tried that actually works for in the long term, I find most lip balms just add a layer of moisture on top of the lips but the soothing feeling fades as the product wears off but this actually gets rid of dryness.

Best Eye-Catching Red - Chanel Rouge Allure in "97 Incandescente". I love everything about this lipstick. Firstly the tube is so luxurious with the black gloss finish and the gold detailing, the clicky function with the lid is a nice touch and the weight on this tube is just lovely. The shade is stunning as well, a warm red with a creamy finish - probably not as practical as a matte but it's such a fresh faced look.

Best Luxury & Best Drugstore - Best luxury need to go to the Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfectors, I have shades 1 and 2 and I wear these all the time. They're a creamy texture so they have a decent amount of colour pay-off for a sheer lipgloss and the shine on them is pretty but not over the top. Such a nice low-maintenance lip product. 

For a "drugstore" option I'd say I reach for the Rimmel The Only One Lipstick, specifically in the shade "700 Naughty Nude" the most out of all the lipsticks in my collection. I have a few shades of this lipstick and while I can't honestly say I love them all equally, I think this shade is so flattering on my skin tone and with it being a nude it goes with anything and everything. Love.

Best MAC Lipstick - I just have to give this to the shade "Lady Bug". It's a lustre finish red and it's just lovely. It's light and comfortable on the lips with just enough colour. It's a really good tone of red as well, not too warm but not too cool and it's a slightly deeper take on a sheer red. Definitely something to look into if you're in search for the perfect day-time red.

Most Disappointing - Lip Tattoos. If you want to make your lips feel like they haven't been exfoliated in about 10 years, you'll love these. Waaaaaaaaaaaay too uncomfortable for me.

Liner- Yes or No? Yes. My favourite lip liners are the No7 Precision Lips Pencils. Unless I'm down the sheer-and-shiny route, I pretty much always wear a liner, I just like the definition and they really help with lasting power.

Best Gloss - The Lipstick Queen Big Bang Illusion Lipgloss in "Creation". It's another one of those your-lips-but-better shades that's super low maintenance. I also like how these glosses have a heavy bit of shimmer to them but the glittery particles give great shine but are super fine so it doesn't feel grainy on the lips at all.

Something Extra - Lip Creams. I feel like matte liquid lipsticks are having a moment right now but I still love the good old lip cream formulas like the NXY Soft Matte Lip Creams or the Collection Cream Puff Moisturising Lip Creams. They might not be as long lasting as the matte ones but they're so much more comfortable on the lips. I have the shades "San Paulo" in the NYX and "Cotton Candy" in the Collection and I wear them all the time.

January Favourites

First month of 2016 is over and I've never been so glad to see the back of a month in my life. January this year brought me some big challenges but there's been some great product discoveries this month that have helped me along the way. We've also got one rediscovery in here too that I'm equally excited about. So let get into it.

My rediscovery this month was the Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation. I absolutely love this. The shade match it great, the formula is comfortable and it lasts well on the skin and the packaging is practical for travel. For a high-end foundation it's not too up there in price £32.50 for 30ml (although it was definitely more around the £26 mark when I first started wearing it so the price has crept up over the years). I use shade "03" and the shade range is really impressive. The lightest shade is white and the darkest is very dark, and the shade selection caters to everyone from the fairest of the fair to those with the absolute deepest of skin tones which is great.

I finally picked up one of the Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfectors, these have to be one of the most hyped lip product ever and for good reason. I have shade "02" which is a natural pink and theres a really nice amount of shine to these. They're a relatively sheer lipgloss/balm hybrid product that are super comfortable on the lips without being sticky at all. Also - the scent/taste on these, they're lovely and sweet without being overpowering at all. Best of all? They've just introduced a berry shade into the line and I will definitely picking it up shortly.

This one won't come as a surprise to those who read my review/rave on the Urban Decay Gwen Stefani Eyeshadow Palette (here - spoiler, it's a positive one). The packaging is amazing, the selection of shades is the perfect balance between wearable and fun colours and it really caters to my "fairest of them all" skin tone. My favourite shades have been "Punk", "Zone", "Steady" and "Danger". The formulas are amazing and most of these are shades I can see myself reaching for a lot. I've picked up a few more bits from the collection so check back on Friday this week to hear more about that.

So the Oskia Renaissance Cleansing Gel has finally been knocked off the top spot. I have a review on the whole set coming up soon but the Tata Harper Purifying Cleanser has just jumped to the top spot in my skincare stash this month. The citrus-y scent is nice and refreshing for an AM cleanse and the formula is creamy and cooling on the skin. I saw a noticeable difference in my skin after using this cleanser which always puts a product on my radar. Obviously I take pretty good care of my skin so when something makes a really visible difference for me it's always impressive.

My last pick is also a skincare product and again it's one that been featured in a post recently: the Charlotte Tilbury Magic Cream. I only have the travel size for now and I'm rationing it until payday when I can go and treat myself to a full size. This is just such a lovely day cream, super moisturising, makes a nice base for makeup, smells amazing. What's not to love?

My Top 5 Festive Lip Picks

So as Christmas day gets closer and closer (one week to go!) I figured I'd go over my festive season lip product picks. The Christmas Day lipstick choice is my ultimate first-world problem because I'm the girl that wants it all with a lip product but even if you're on a chilled out Christmas day this year, I think I have a suggestion for you.

So for the girl who wants it all, I have two suggestions. We're obviously going red here and if you want that bright red lip on Christmas day I'd go for the Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet in "Hot Pepper". It's a matte finish liquid lipstick that's comfortable but wont end up all over your face when you tuck into your Christmas dinner, and the bright red shade is super festive. If that's a little in-your-face for you, the Nars Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in (you guessed it) "Cruella" is a sligtly deeper red but is still comfortable and budge proof.

If you want to go red but staying power isn't a concern (maybe you're having Christmas dinner at home then going to visit friends/family later?) then MAC's Lustre Lipstick in "Lady Bug" is a beaut. A slightly sheer, true red that's nice and glossy and almost balm-like on the lips, t;s the perfect balance between pretty and comfortable.

If red isn't your thing I think the Rimmel The Only One Lipstick in "700 Naughty Nude" would be a nice pick. It's comfortable and wears away evenly so, again, no need to worry about it going everywhere but it's a nice polished nude. If a gloss is more your thing the NYX Butter Gloss in "Tiramisu" is practically the same shade in gloss form, but that would be a sneaky 6th suggestion.

My final pick is for the lazy Christmas day. If your Christmas involves onsies, presents, food and general not-leaving-the-house, may I suggest the NUXE Rêve De Miel Lip Balm. If you're going makeup free this Christmas, the cold weather might still mean that your lips could do with some TLC and this is my favourite lip balm. AND it tastes pretty much like lemon drizzle cake.

30 Lips in 30 Days - Clarins Instant Light Lip Comfort Oil

When the Clarins Instant Light Lip Comfort Oils first launched, I was so excited to get my hands on one, but no matter how hard I looked, I just couldn't find the shade I wanted. These were released with two colours, a warm yellow "01 Honey" and a pinky shade "02 Raspberry" and the latter was near impossible to find in stores when they first released. After a while of searching I gave up and forgot all about them until the other day, when I found "02 Raspberry" at my local Clarins counter.

The packaging for these is lovely, a thick clear plastic tube with a gold lid and a large doe-foot applicator that fits the lips well. My only packaging complaint is that with the applicator being quite large, it can pick up way more product than you need. The product has a sweet raspberry scent that you will be able to taste when your wear the product so if you're not into scented lip products that's something to bear in mind. The formula itself is very much like a thick, non-sticky lip gloss, sheer and shiny, moisturising and comfortable on the lips and will need reapplying throughout the day the maintain the finish.

30 Lips in 30 Days - Soap & Glory Sexy Mother Pucker Lip Lacquer

Having been a fan of the Soap & Glory Sexy Mother Pucker Gloss Sticks for a while I wanted to give the lip lacquers a go to see how thy compared. The packaging is nice and simple with the black accents on the clear packaging and the doe foot applicator is nice and a good size for application.

The formula is a little thick on the lips but they are smooth rather than sticky. As the product has a slight thickness to it the shades are quite opaque and they last relatively well on the lips for a lip product with a glossy finish. I have the shade "Charm Offensive" and it's a medium nude with a slight hint of a rosiness to it which makes it a bit more wearable than the really brown-toned nudes out there. They have a light vanilla scent to them which I like but this doesn't linger too long on the lips after application if you're not a big fan of scented lip products.

30 Lips in 30 Days - NYX Butter Gloss

When I heard that NYX Cosmetics was hitting Boots I was jump-up-and-down type excited. I'v heard so much in the blog-o-sphere about NYX but they were near impossible to find in-store in the UK and even places that shipped online weren't great for us. I just picked up a couple of bits to begin with and the Butter Gloss in "Tiramisu" made the first cut. The packaging is nice with the very well colour co-ordinated lid for each shade and the clear plastic tube so you can see the colour of the product and the doe-foot applicator is nice and small so it's easy to apply.

The formula feels a lot like a liquid lip balm, thin and moisturising and really comfortable, my lips actually still feel hydrated after the product wears off which I love. Despite the product being so thin in texture the pigmentation is nice, these are still a lipgloss so they aren't going to be completely opaque but there is a nice amount of colour on the lips and you will be able to see a difference in each shade. I have heard that these glosses can sometimes be a bit streaky but "Tiramisu" doesn't seem to be for me. Very excited to see more from the brand after trying this product. Anyone with recommendations/requests for reviews from NYX let me know in comments!

30 Lips in 30 Days - NUDEstix Lip Pen

NUDEstix isn't a brand I here a lot about in the blog-o-sphere but I mentioned one of their lip and cheek pencils in a blog post I wrote a while back (clicky link here) and I figured I'd try some more things from them. The packaging for their Lip Pens is a sleek black tube with a click-y brush applicator, similar to the Stila Lip Glaze packaging. I like this applicator as it means you don't need a separate lip brush but do bear in mind that it's very easy to click out too much product.

The actual lip gloss formula is a bit thick and sticky and it has that menthol scent to it that a lip-plumping product would have, although for me it doesn't offer any lip-plumping effects. The shade "Buff" is a light nude with a glossy sheerness to it that makes it wearable but it's not a shade I see myself reaching for so often just due to how pale I am. I can see it working nicely as a centre of the lip highlight product. I'd love to try some other shades as it lasts quite well due to the thickness.

Top 10 Under £10 - Lips

As promised, this is the second installment of my top 1- under £10 posts here in Skint-tember, and this time we're focusing on lip products, I have a good range of products here from glosses to stains and hopefully everything in between, so lets get started.

So in my opinion, the absolute créme-de-la-créme of matte lip products is the Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvets, they're a super long-lasting, matte lip product that come in a variety of shades so there's bound to be one that tickles your fancy in the range. They're thin in consistancy which makes the matte formula relatively comfortable but they're  really pigmented too. Love.

A couple of matte-to-satin formulas I'd recommend would be the Rimmel Kate Moss Lipsticks or the Maybelline Colour Drama Lip Crayons. These are both nice formulas that bring saturated colour but don't have such a drying effect on the lips. I like these two formulas for those "I want something bright but my lips aren't in the best condition" days.

If you want something even more comfortable but that still has a decent colour pay off I'd point you in the direct of the Revlon Lip Butters these are somewhat of an oldie but a goodie, and Revlon are always releasing new shades so there's something in this line for everyone. They were marketed as a sheer lip product with moisture but they definitely have a lot more colour than you'd be expecting from that description. They're really comfortable and come in a variety of shades and finishes.

And then for the straight-up lip balm lovers: the MUA Sweet Sheen Lip Balms are lovely. These are a comfortable balm with a sheer hint of tint to them and they're the perfect your-lips-but-better product. They'll obviously need to be reapplied if you want to keep up the finish but I love these.

My Favourite line of high-street lip glosses are the Maybelline Colour Sensational Shine Glosses they offer that super shiny, almost vinyl finish but they have a nice tint to them and a super hint of shimmer and they're smooth on the lips rathe than thick and sticky. They also have a really pleasant sweet scent/flavour to them.

If you like the look of lipgloss but you just can't handle the sensation of them on the lips, I have two recommendations: the Soap & Glory Sexy Mother Pucker Gloss Sticks and the No7 High Shine Lip Crayons, these are very similar products that are basically the shiny finish of a lip gloss in a twist-up pencil format that feel more like a balm on the lips. These are great for entry-level lipgloss wearers who like shine but hate sticky.

And finally, lip liners. I have two recommendation for this category and they are the Rimmel Exaggerate Full Colour Lip Liners and the No7 Precision Lip Pencils the Rimmel option is slightly cheaper but the colour range isn't quite there for me, the only shade I like the look of is "East End Snob" the No7 are a little creamier and are a touch more expensive but the shade range is lovely, I have a few from the range already but the temptation to pick up more is there.