Clinique Chubby Stick: Woppin' Watermelon | BEAUTY

Hello!

" Just as I expected - I was not sold."

There was definitely a phase of tinted lip balms. You know the time, when Maybelline BabyLips was sold out pretty much everywhere? Well, Clinique had jumped on that bandwagon and released these beauties - the Chubby Stick. Although the packaging is a real beauty, the product itself? Not so sure...

I'm not going to lie, I never had much of an interest in the Maybelline BabyLips phase, and still to this day would rather just use my trusty Burt's Bee's Pomegranate Oil Lip Balm - good for the real moisture and adds a little bit of a tint. Perfect.

Being a subscriber of Glamour Magazine, this popped through my letterbox one morning, and I was reluctant to try it. Having had a history of allergies to many lip balms (yep, Carmex is not my friend), I didn't know if this could be trusted. Anyhow, I went for plunge and tried it out. Just as I expected - I was not sold.
(For the record: No Allergic Reaction in sight!)

"Although the packaging is a real beauty, the product itself? Not so sure..."

Maybe it was the shade they send, or maybe it was the actual sheerness of the balm that put me off. It was super sheer, and although I was pleased with the lack of sticky-gloss feeling, it still wasn't a winner in my eyes.

If you're a fan of the glossy look (I'm more of a matte girl myself), and need something you would like to apply regularly throughout the day, giving a slight tint but not much - this is the one.

For me, it just left a greyish colour on my lips, and although it was slightly moisturising, something about it didn't feel right. Plus, as I'm not a biggie on that shiny lip-gloss look, this product was probably never going to work in my favour.

"although I was pleased with the lack of sticky-gloss feeling, it still wasn't a winner in my eyes."

If this product was more pigmented, I think I would have liked it. As shown above, this is a swatch of many layers of the balm - and if that came out in one swipe, I might have been sold.

In terms of packaging, it's a seller - no need for any sharpening and it's a cute little pencil.
I think it's one of those 'love it or hate it' kind of things, and at £17 a stick - I'm not quite loving it. Oh well, you can't win every time!

Tell me, are you a Matte or Glossy kind of person? 

No 7 Auburn Whispers: POTW

Hello!

Being a creature of habit, I'm not much of a person to switch up lip colours really often.  At the moment I've been wearing Bourjois Nude-ist (post about it here) pretty much all the time. Eye makeup? Yes! Give me a new mascara and I'm good to go.. for 3 days until I swtich up the routine again! Yet, give me a lipstick, if I love the colour, I'll be wearing it for a pretty long time.

This lipstick was totally an impulse buy. Actually I was in the store and stumbled across the 'buy one get one half price' section, so just picked it up because it was, well, half price! Having never owned No 7 Lipsticks before, I was skeptic about their quality. Non-the-less, a swatch or two later, the texture of them seem just right! Moisturising with great colour payoff! 

Nothing too bold, and by dabbing the colour onto the lips rather than applying the colour properly, you can get a light wash of colour that looks almost-natural.

So, if you see me around after I've given this colour a whirl, you may see the same colour for a long time! 

Tell me, are you a creature of habit when it comes to lip-colours, or do you like to switch up really often?

Manicure Monday - the Brightest of Purples

Hello!

Happy Monday! I hope you're well and enjoying the Spring Weather (or Winter weather, depending where you are in the World)!
Considering that it is Spring in London, I wanted to pick a colour that would suit the season and my preferences! I love deeper colours and this one really was exactly what I wanted!

This Barry M shade caught my eye, and it turned out beautiful! 

I did put on quite a few coats as I like the colour to be opaque, yet one/two coats would have easily been enough!

I love the shade range that Barry M have, a lot of which I have acquired in my collection!
I love that the shade is perfect for this season and suits my preferences!

What's your favourite nail polish brand? 

BeautyBuys: Rimmel London Apocalips!

Hello!

As for posting a Fashion Haul last Friday I thought I'd show you a Beauty Buy that I picked up during the weekend. I went shopping and as soon as I saw this on the shelf I knew I wanted it. Okay, I want a lot of things but this was something I REALLY wanted! So, I got it!

This product had a huge phase in the beauty blogger world and at the time I didn't pay attention to it! Now, however, I thought I'd pick it up - better late than never?

All the colours are very vibrant and it is said to be a lipstick in a lipgloss form. This is good as lipgloss always tend to be easier to apply colour evenly on the lips - and this was no different.

I went with Stellar, a deep red (slightly pink) shade, which is perfect for this season, alongside other makeup trends you can view here. Also, every girl needs a red shade in their beauty cabinet!

So, yes, I don't have much else to say about this product other than the application is easy (as far as I can tell with the one time I've used it so far!), the colour is bold/intense and the packaging is nice! You can pick one up for £6.49, have a choice of 13 shades and can buy more than one from here!

What's your favourite Red Lipstick? Leave a comment!

Haul: Longchamp Le Pliage

Hello!

I thought I'd write my first haul on this blog for you to see - don't you think it's pretty fun to see what other people buy? Or am I just really nosey like that (...no need to hide it!) ?! Anyway, we have a little festival, called Raksha Bandhan sometime in August where the sisters tie a 'bracelet' around their brother to represent ideas the the sister will care for the brother, the brother returns protection of their sister - we do this every year! As well as that, the sister offers the brother a sweet treat and the brother gives a present - often money.... basically, the girl gets money - yay! haha Who would say no to that?! 

I am the only sister out of 6 brothers. Well, I have one brother and 5 cousins who don't have sisters, so I also tie the bracelet on them - more protection for me! Anyway, so this year I received money, the same as every year, and surprisingly: a present! The present was totally unexpected. It was a gorgeous Bare Minerals gift set! Watch this space for a post if that too...

Anyway, so I decided to invest some of the money I received on a designer bag! I don't really have many big branded bags and wanted to treat myself! I chose the popular Longchamp Le Pliage bag...

I know that everyone and their mother seems to have the Le Pliage, but many people have fake bags and that's one thing I find irritating - I mean, you can buy look-a-likes as much as you want, but if you're going to buy one with the logo of a designer brand yet at a very small fraction of the price, it is likely to be made in sweatshops where people are exploited. Essentially, buying these fake brands we're encouraging sweatshops...
Not only that, the bag would not be as much value as to if we were to save up for the genuine thing!

I chose mine in the colour 'Taupe'. To be honest I was not sure which colour I wanted to purchase - there are a wide range of colours to choose from in the Le Pliage range, seen on the website, and I wanted to invest in one that I would use a lot.

At first I had these colours in mind: Red, Plum, Black, Beige/Cream. I did NOT want the Navy one what-so-ever as they're too common these days! I was torn between a bold colour or a neutral! Hence you can see the split between the colour choices I had.

I went to the store, thinking that the colour I love would just stick out to me - however, as we all know, the perfect bag doesn't just fall out of the sky and land in our shopping baskets - so it wasn't as easy as I thought! Yet, I've got to admit I wasn't too fussy: I asked the shop assistant which she recommended out of the first three I picked up after a quick look at the collection:  Black, Camel and Taupe.

She said that the Camel was very summery, the Black would go with everything but may be too plain and the Taupe is great for all seasons. Instantly my heart fell for the Taupe.

The Taupe goes with many outfits, is a neutral yet not to plain nor too bold - just perfect! I love the material of the bag and moreover, I love that I know it's genuine - and I'll use it loads.

Additionally, it is so practical! I bought the large as all my college work fits in with ease as well as if I don't need it I could fold it up and out of the way! LOVE, LOVE and LOVE!

So, tell me, what colour would you pick?