Estee Lauder Vanilla Truffle lipstick

(Swatches are 3 different lipsticks, read on for more info)

Price: £18.50

Availability: Debenhams, HOF

 I'm SUCH  a sucker for giving in too easily to pretty things when they're talked up by the lady at the counter, especially when they're was SO nice! I absolutely love my nude based lipsticks, but I'll admit £18.50 is a little steep when I already find Mac lipsticks dear (though you can't fault their quality).

First off, if you take a look at my swatch picture, you'll see the insane similarity between Vanilla Truffle, Mac's A Perfect day on the left, and Mac's Shy Girl on the right (leaving Vanilla Truffle in the middle!) So did I need to really buy this and part with £18.50? I don't think so, but any makeup addict would agree with me it's difficult at the time to leave something you find so pretty alone!

You can't fault the amazing quality packaging of this, nor the sweet smell, even the way it applies very creamily, and this is something I would've found AMAZING if I didn't already have so many nudes, but really, I could've gave this one a miss! I'm not saying it isn't gorgeous, because it is, but thinking back I've really overdone it spending so much on one lipstick! The one thing I will say is, if you were dying to get your mits on (and I mean dying enough that you'd want to spend £18.50) on getting Mac's A Perfect Day but you missed it, that and Vanilla Truffle are almost IDENTICAL.

So yeah, I'm a little dissapointed in myself that I caved so easily to buy this, since I never even hear of Estee Lauder lipsticks being bigged up in the blogging world, but because I have so many nudes anyway, I could've given this a miss! It is BEAUTIFUL though and I'll make it my number one priority to wear it as much as I can!

Holly x

Mac Morange Lipstick

Price: £13.50

Availibility: Mac website

Morange is a gorgeous bright, orange, amplified finish lipstick, which can appear a little terrifying as it is so bright in the tube! Convinced I didn't suit this, it has been left neglected in my little lipstick box for months now. I was inspired to give bright lipsticks another go with Summer coming up, and because the ever so lovely Amy from Flawsandall payed me a visit the other day, and was rocking a lovely bright lip! (Girl about town).

Obviously accompanied by that familiar, sweet vanilla scent that Mac lipsticks always have, Morange being an amplified finish is again a winner, as it applies with ease and without tugging, whilst also not being drying one little bit! Did I mention it lasts a long time too?

Now I'm not one to really have my head round this whole warm/cool skintone business 100%, and I didn't think Morange would be my skins cup of tea, but I was amazed to see how well it worked today with my pale skin and blue eyes! Let me tell you if you have blue eyes, try this out, I promise it will make your eyes twinkle!

Do you have Morange? I think it may be my Summer 2012 lipstick!

Hol x

Rimmel moisture renew lipstick in Funtime Fuschia

Oh my god am I obsessed with this lipstick! Gorgeous blue undertones = instant teeth whitening! I was browsing the Rimmel stand in a Pharmacy near mine looking for a new lipstick and this one instantly caught my eye! This Rimmel lipstick doesn't have the same sickly scent the that their lasting finish ones have, which was a plus as the smell of those make me feel a little ill. Still that horrible typical powdery makeup smell but I'd rather that than sickly sweet!

I didn't find this drying at all and it lasted me AGES! I paired this with a little bit of Mac's Currant lipliner to help it stay and to add a bit of depth, but honestly, it didn't really need it in the first place. After a while I found it kind of dried/set to almost a matt finish, which I don't prefer but I can't resist the colour.I'm planning on getting a lot of wear out of this as I see it as a fun Summer colour, but also a slightly vampy lip colour for colder months? I' not sure?! All I know is that I LOVE THIS. It's so affordable too, at £5.29.  I forget you can get some brilliant high street lip colours without having to splurge £13.50 on a Mac lipstick.

Holly x

Barry M Lip paint in Pale Nude/154

I am officially in love with this lip paint! It looks a tad washed out on here, but on my skin tone it appears as a pink based nude, even though it does look a tad more peachy on my skin tone! Every flippin' nude I swatch on my arm always shows up way more orange!

As always the annoying thing with Barry M Lip paints are that they have no indication of what finish they are, and luckily this applied similar to how Mac's Myth does, which is a Satin finish. Basically it give's very good colour payoff and it's lasted me a good hour or two! It didn't tug on my lips too bad and I found it settles on them beautifully. I might even go as far as to say that I like this nude better than all the other nudes I own from Mac! I've been searching for a colour like this for ages, this is the closest I've came to my dream nude lip.

This is the perfect lip colour for you to go to town on those eyes and brows ;) Oh, and can anyone point me in the direction of any good website that may teach me how to use an SLR camera? Or is it trial and error? I'm still getting to grips with this one but I feel like I'm looking washed out in natural light!

Holly x

Rimmel lasting finish lipstick in Pink Blush

Eeek, So I'm now going to try and carry on posting these close up "Lip swatch" photos, I've always wanted to do it but my stepdad's SLR battery had dissapeared off somewhere and I thought the pictures from that would be better! Does anybody else have a little wobble before they post such a close up picture?! I did! I'm going to choose not to care, nobody has perfect skin, and if it's going to help my readers pick out a nice lipstick then I don't mind! Im such a Mac person when it comes to lipsticks but recently I've started looking for some more affordable ones I can carry around and not be too fussed if I end up losing them! Pink Blush is a really pretty pink colour (Perfect for valentines day!) and I would love to say it had that familiar sweet vanilla scent that Mac does but unfortunately it doesn't. It isn't scentless, but I really can't describe what on earth it smells like! If they dont taste rank on your lips, smells don't bother me all that much. I would also love to say it applies like a dream (MAC!!), however there was a little bit of tugging, nothing major though,  it's just something I'm trying to avoid since my lips are looking and feeling pretty weathered lately. I don't have many Rimmel lipsticks so I can't comment on how this formula compares to the others, I did find that it's easily buildable and I don't find it too drying, unlike some of those awful Barry M lip paints. Depending on wether you already own way too many lipsticks, or you're looking for a pretty new colour for Valentines day that wont break the bank, how about trying Pink Blush? :) Holly x

Mac Naturally: A Perfect Day lipstick

Described on Mac's website as a light neutral pink, A Perfect Day is an amplified finish lipstick, meaning you get great colour payoff from the lipstick, it will pretty much apply to the lips exactly how it looks in the tube. As always by Mac it's a really great, rich formula that glides across your lips.

I went crazy for this colour when I first saw it on Temptalia, I thought it was going to be my perfect pinky nude, however upon buying it and testing it out on myself, I find it difficult to see the pink coming through at all! Maybe it's just my skintone, I always have a hard time getting to grips with this skintone business.

 I swatched a couple of lipsticks next to it on my hand for comparison, and on my skin it appears to be the most similar to Myth! I was really confused as on Christine from Temptalias lovely pictures, You can really tell that it's supposed to belong somewhere in the pink family.

Don't get me wrong I think this is a really pretty colour, I was just a bit put out as I was expecting something else, I hate not living near a Mac counter as it's hard to try before you buy. There was so much hype surrounding this colour I just didn't want to chance it selling out and missing out on something good! If you want to see A Perfect Day in action click here to go to my latest face of the day.

How does A Perfect Day show up on your skintone?

Holly x

Barry M Lip Paint in Coral/53

A bit of a battered, unloved lipstick that has remained at the back of my lip drawer for some time now, this lustre finish, coral toned lipstick has never been a favourite of mine. Even though it does a grand old job of making my blue eyes pop, I do not favour the colour on me at all. On the whole, I think the Lip Paints are probably the best product Barry M has to offer, however I do not like how there is no indication as to what finish the lipstick is on the tube, nor do I like how bad some of them tug on your lips!

Luckily this lipstick isn't the worst to pull, having dry lips I'm always very weary of being too rough with them. I actually think the formula is quite good even if I don't like it on me, but it's not really a lipstick that's meant to have an opaque finish. I love how it swatches and when I look back at the pictures of it I really wish it was a product I liked, it leaves a lovely shimmer and shine on your lips but unfortunately, is something that will remain unloved at the back of my drawer!

Do you have any products you forgot about?

Holly x

Things i've bought from Mac lately..

Just a typical shopping post to show a couple of things i've bought from Mac over the weeks, nothing too special, but you never know you may just see something you really love that you would like to buy for yourself!

Firstly Baby Sparks dazzleglass, a beautiful bubblegummy pink with flecks of glitter that the majority of the time look a gorgeous blue colour I always lean more to lipstick than lipgloss and shockingly this is my first dazzleglass! But i picked wisely because its absoloutly lovely.






Even though its winter now, i'm getting more and more in to bronzers as i go along! Now, i don't think Mac are too famous for their bronzers, infact im waiting for Nars Laguna to arrive which i feel like i've been waiting for forever, but since im on an adventure to find the perfect bronzer for me, i didn't think a Mac one would hurt. I got Mac bronzing powder in Solar Riche, it's a pretty golden brown with a slight hint of shimmer in it and it looks GORGEOUS on. I found that this teamed with a creamy golden highlighter (I used Topshops) gives a healthy golden glow, it makes you look really radiant, and this is coming from someone who is as white as a sheet!





Last of all, another one of my favourite Mac products, their lipsticks! I got Shy Girl, a peachy orange nude (Somewhere in that category hehe!) with a cremesheen finish! I wish i could say that there was a little more to this lipstick, don't get me wrong it is beautiful on but i'm still sort of a bit meh over it. It's not going to be a one that i take much pride in wearing (unlike my beautiful Myth!) Just something ill put in my bag and go with, depending on what colour makeup im wearing! I'm really sorry about the pictures of the lipstick too, my house is extremely poor for light and i'm not so sure that the pictures are true to its colour.





Thats it for now! I hope you enjoyed my little shopping post! For some reason i've really decided i don't like to use the word haul, i'm not sure why i just find it a little bit annoying and sort of..american?! I would love to you what everyone else has been buying lately, it takes me a couple of pictures or a video on an item for me to feel the need to rush out and get it myself!
Love, Hol xxx