6 shades of NYX soft matte lip creams swatched and reviewed.

Ok NYX is fast becoming one of my favourite brands, next to Inglot of course. And I loved these soft matte lip creams so much that I bought all colours that I thought would work on me. I now own 6 of these. Yes, six! In fact, I do this with everything. I see a dress I really like, I need to pick it up in at least 2 colours, if not more. Once, I bought this one particular shirt in all 5 available colours. Yep, I'm pretty mad that way. Oh but I digress. So I'll quickly swatch all the 6 shades and briefly review each. You can read a full review of these here.

Stockholm: A Peachy nude shade that is perfect for Indian tones esp around nc40 coz this is the perfect nude without giving you "concealer lips". The light peachy tones give this colour. This shade goes pretty opaque and would cover any pigmentation on lips too. Dries soft matte like all other shades.

Antwerp: A medium peachy pink shade that is perfect for the office with neutral eye makeup or even smokey eyes. Very versatile shade. One of my faves. Goes on slightly sheer but can be built up and dries to a nice matte finish.

San Paolo (I think they mean Sao Paolo): a bright coral pink shade that again is not too dark nor too light. I like pairing this with shimmery eyeshadow and a winged liner. Goes on fully opaque. But I'm not such a fan of this shade coz corals don't flatter my cool-undertoned complexion so much. Might work well on most Indian skin tones though. I'm a freak, yes. :/

Milan: A blue based light pink shade. But not milky light, you know what I mean? When the colour is lighter than your skin tone. I'm nc40 and this is a nice light pink on me. Works great when worn lightly as a stain with lip balm over it.

Addis ababa: This is a bright fuchsia (pink with strong blue undertones) that really works well against my NC40 skin without looking too loud. On someone fairer, it might look too bright. But the best part is that this can be worn as a stain or as a full on matte lip colour. This is probably the sheerest of all shades so it gives the effect of a stain rather than a full on matte lipstick which actually works pretty well for this shade. Love love.

Monte Carlo: This is a blue based red with pinkish undertones thats completely opaque and can be used as a stain (it'll look like a deep pink) or as a proper matte lip colour. Intense pigmentation and beautiful colour. Works well against my skin and I think it'd suit all skin tones. However, if you want a warmer orange-red, look at Amsterdam. I didn't buy it coz I already have a warm red matte lippie in my stash.

So these shades I think would work on most Indian skin tones. Which ones are you picking up?

Oh and a quick thanks to everyone who's following my blog. I'm gonna be hosting a giveaway very soon as a little token of appreciation. Would be including mostly NYX stuff. Eye stuff and some nail paints.. Just getting those things in so I can take photos n tempt everyone. :p

NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream- Addis Ababa and Monte Carlo: Swatches and Review

I'm in love. And not just with one, but 2 guys! And my lovers are not from around here. One's from Addis Ababa and the other's from Monte Carlo. Yeah baby! pssst.. But dont tell the husband. I just cant get enough of these guys. Wherever I go, I wanna take them with me, flaunt them. They make me feel sexy and beautiful. I'm talking about NYX's soft matte lip creams you guys! These are seriously the best lip creams I've ever tried. Oh and I've tried quite a few.
I've got these in 2 bright shades right now. Why bright shades? Coz bright shades work best when they're matte coz that way they stay on longer and dont smear or transfer to your teeth or chin or glasses or bleed. Matte is the only way to go when you're doing a bright lip, in my book atleast.

Addis Ababa: This is a bright fuchsia (pink with strong blue undertones) that really works well against my NC40 skin without looking too loud. On someone fairer, it might look too bright. But the best part is that this can be worn as a stain or as a full on matte lip colour. Goes on fairly opaque and does a good job of coverign any lip pigmentation. Bought this from BeautyJoint for $4.50 which is about Rs.300.

Monte Carlo: This is a blue based red with pinkish undertones thats completely opaque and can be used as a stain (it'll look like a deep pink) or as a proper matte lip colour. Intense pigmentation and beautiful colour. Works well against my skin and I think it'd suit all skin tones. The texture of this is slightly different from Addis Ababa's in that its sort of oilier feeling. I dont think it has any oil content but just smooths on more easily and feels lovely on the lips, not drying at all. I picked this up from UrbanTouch for Rs.600.

NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in Monte Carlo and Addis Ababa

Ingredients

Doe foot applicators

Swatches: Addis Ababa and Monte Carlo

Addis Ababa- natural light, no flash

Monte Carlo- immediately after application

Monte Carlo- after 20 mins, dry

Yay for:

• Packaging is very nice. The top part is in a soft matte finish rubbery plastic which feels very expensive. And the tubes themselves match the colour of the lip cream.
• Intense pigmentation. Goes on completely opaque.
• Can be used as a stain (with just one coat) or a proper matte lipstick
• Doe foot applicator makes application a breeze even with dark colours and you dont need a lipliner
• The texture of these is just dreamy. Its like a whipped mousse and feels silky smooth on the lips.
• No clumping or balling up.
• Feels completely light on the lips. After a while doesnt feel like you have anything on at all! 
• Not drying like other matte lipsticks. But not moisturizing either.
• Has a nice warm vanilla fragrance.
• Applies wet but in about 20 mins dries to a full matte finish.
• Once dry, it gets 90% transfer resistant. Wont transfer to cups or glasses. 
• Once dry also gets water resistant. So even if you accidentally lick your lips, it wont come off.
• Last about 6 hours or till your meal, whichever is earlier.
• Easy to remove. Comes off with soap and water or any make up remover.
• Quite inexpensive. Especially if you buy it from sites like Beautyjoint or PorkDaisy.

Nay for:

• Like any other matte lipstick this too may settle in the fine lines. But doesnt really look thaat bad. Doesnt make the lips look like the Sahara or anything but you might want to use a non glossy balm underneath to protect your lips.
• Comes off when you eat and fades unevenly. You're left with a ring of colour (like a thick lipliner) after a greasy meal.

Overall, I love these and I'm definitely buying more. I think these are available in 11 colours. I strongly recommend the bright shades in these. 

You can buy these at BeautyJoint, PorkDaisy or UrbanTouch. The cheapest is BeautyJoint though.

My Rating: ****

P.S: I recently heard that VOV has the exact same dupes for about Rs.100. Has anyone seen them? Does anyone know where I can find them in Chennai? I'd love to explore shades that are not available in NYX. :)

Bourjois Lip Creams: Brun Raffine and Prune Sophisticate- Swatches and Review

Continuing with my search for the perfect lip cream, I chanced upon these at the Bourjois counter at my recent trip to the mall. I'd also read some decent reviews for these on other blogs and after swatching all the shades I picked up Prune Sophisticate and Brun Raffine. My shopping style post-baby has completely changed. I used to amble along stopping to look at stuff through store windows and imagining them on me, and if I think it flatters me I'd go in and try it on, twirl around.. oh you know the drill.. But now, it's- go in, find something I like- pick it up in at least 2 colours, no time for trials so check for store's return policy, rush to billing counter, pay and leave. Why? Because the baby sleeps only for 2-2.5 hours at a stretch and I need to be back home by then. And no, I can't take the baby with me. Too much hassle.
Anyhow, so where were we? Oh yeah the Bourjois lip creams. So I was doing my hurry-shopping when I saw these. Swatched them and picked 2 shades and paid and left. But only when I came home I saw that the pieces I got were very old! The mkfg date was more than a year old! Ugh! I wanted to kick myself for not noticing at the store. And the tube looked old too. How could I have not noticed this?? Stupid me! And these feel like they've dried out a little. Esp Brun Raffine coz it's nearly 2 years old!!!! Aaaargh! Don't you just hate it when you feel you've been ripped off? Worst. Feeling. Ever.
These cost me 600 and contain 6mL in each. Below are the pics followed by a review. Pics are clickable.

Bourjois Lip creams in Prune Sophisticate and Brun Raffine

The doe foot applicators

Swatches: Prune Sophisticate and Brun Raffine

Prune Sophisticate: Its a rust red shade with pink undertones. Neither too bright, nor too subtle. Suitable for day wear as well as night time.

Brun Raffine: When I saw this on the website I thought it was a dark brown shade but I was pleasantly surprised when I swatched this. It's an MLBB kinda brown shade. Sorta like caramely brown, not nude brown. Looks very nice, not like my lips have gotten dark from smoking or something. Muted and sophisticated. Suitable with formal wear and for no-make up looks.

Bourjois Prune Sophisticate

Bourjois Brun Raffine

Alrighty then, how do these perform?

Yay for:

• Decent pigmentation. Goes on little sheer at first but can be layered for full coverage
• A total of 6 shades are available, most of which look nice.
• Sleek packaging, comes with a regular doe foot applicator
• This has the consistency of a whipped mousse when you first apply it. Goes on smooth. Feels very light on the lips.
• When it fades it leaves a stain-like effect behind and fades evenly.
• Can be blotted immediately after application with a tissue to create a stain effect

Nay for:

• This is supposed to be matte and I expected this to dry out in 10 mins and turn matte but it takes much longer to dry. More like an hour min. And if layer this over a lip balm for protection then it takes even longer. This isn't like a matte lip cream at all. Just liquid-y mousse-y lip stick.
• Once it dries, it emphasizes the dryness on your lips and gets a little patchy, especially lighter shades. Or perhaps i experienced this with Brun Raffine since it was old!
• Doesn't feel like there's much product in the tube when you dip the wand in. Maybe its all sticking to the sides and the opaque plastic won't allow you to see it either. No "glooshp" sound when you dip the wand in, unlike other lip creams from FACES and NYX. You won't be able to get all the product out, especially once it starts drying. Grrrrr.
• Slightly expensive at 600 for 6 mL
• Has the typical Bourjois lip gloss smell that's very synthetic smelling. Like sweet plastic smell? Little annoying. But fades in about 5 minutes.

Overall, I think this is an ok product, nothing great. This fares better than FACES lip creams but still nothing special. This will stay on your lips till you eat. Darker shades fare better coz they can be used as stains. I strongly suggest you look at NYX lip creams instead.

My rating: **

Faces cream matte lip gloss in "PUCE" and "PEACH LOVE" : Review and swatches

First of all, I don't like this looong name- faces cream matte lip gloss. What rubbish! Henceforth these shall be called faces lip creams. Much simpler and more effective. Capiche? Cool.

I've suddenly been obsessed with (amongst several other things) lip creams. Whats not to love? They're creamy, long lasting, pigmented and dry down to a matte finish. Sounds good in theory and many brands have jumped on this bandwagon but do all deliver? I'm in the process of researching this. How? By buying lip creams of various brands of course. Purely for research purpose you see. ;)
So the first ones that I'm reviewing is from the Canadian brand FACES cosmetics. These come in some 15 shades I think but I've never seen all of them at once, ever. Anyhoo, so I picked up 2 of these in shades 01-Puce and 05-Peach Love. The Puce I got from cosmetix.in and the other one from HealthKart. These online stores all offer varying discounts and I paid 343 for one and 391 for the other. The MRP is 399 for 4.5mL.

FACES lip creams-Peach Love and Puce

FACES lip cream applicators-Peach Love and Puce

FACES lip cream swatches- Peach Love(bottom) and Puce (top)

FACES Lip Cream 05 Peach Love

FACES Lip Cream-01 Puce

Puce is a mauvey pink with a bit of brown. I know it looks brown on my arm but on my lips it becomes more pink. It looks like a light mlbb type of shade. Very good for those no-makeup or all-natural looks.

Peach Love is a bright, almost neon peachy pink shade. I wore it and the first word that sprang to mind was Nicki Minaj! All I was missing was a fuchsia wig. This shade is light but still bright. Oh just see the swatches for reference. I still haven't worn this outside. This would need to be paired with the right eye makeup (sparkling blue liner?) and clothes to work. Definitely a night time shade, at least for me.

The pics below are clickable for a closer look.

FACES Lip Cream-05 Peach Love- in natural light, 10 mins after application

FACES Lip Cream 01 Puce - in natural light, immediately after application

FACES Lip Cream 01 Puce- in natural light, one hour after application

The good and the bad: Yay for:

• Good pigmentation. Gives full coverage.
• Decently priced
• Transparent tube allows you to see how much product is left
• Smells yummy- of Bourbon biscuits

Boo for:

• Very drying, needs a balm underneath. But this defeats the whole matte look purpose as it takes much longer to dry- about an hour
• Becomes flaky and crusty when it dries. Also turns patchy when it fades emphasizing fine lines.
• Lasts about 2 hours and then starts to fade.
• The mouth of the tube gets messy with the product coz every time you push the wand in, it makes a "glooshp" sound and some oozes out. So you really gotta be careful to not push the wand in too fast.

Overall, I'm not too happy with this product. I know it's got some good reviews on other blogs but didn't work for me. Maybe lips need to be really well exfoliated and smooth for this to work. I dunno. Or maybe I could make it work by layering a gloss on top. But defeats the whole matte effect. Sigh. Not. For. Me.

You can buy this online here and here. Also available at FACES counter at AMPA mall in Chennai, and at the Health and Glow outlet at Express Avenue mall. Not sure about other cities. :)

My rating: *