Dior 2014 Christmas Collection Lipstick

Dior Christmas Collection Lipstick in 006 Ardent Shock - £29.00

I already reviewed this lipstick in the shade 008 Mysterious Shock, but wanted to share this little post about the shade 006 Ardent Shock. 

Since I've already raved about the beautiful formula, which is just as beautiful in this shade as in the other, the beautiful packaging and the whole 'two colours in one' phenomenal idea I won't go on too long.

The red shade was always going to catch my eye, the matte shade (again, it's a matte shade not a matte formula, still the same nourishing one as the last!) is such a classic red, perfect for Christmas or, if you ask me, any other time of year. When I went to Disneyland Paris this year this was the shade I popped in my travel bag and it's a perfect true red.

The other side was great for days on holiday when I didn't want to be thinking about my mouth - the other side is much more peachy, low maintenance formula with a heavy enough dose of shimmer running through it to make it shimmery, without being gritty or frost finish-esque.

I love both sides of this lipstick and it's a perfect one for travelling, and also probably perfect for any make up lover - the combination of a peach lipstick with the matte red means that even those who wouldn't do red as an every day option like me still have a dressing up shade, but their every day colour comes in pretty special packaging! 

Dior Christmas Collection Lipstick - Mysterious Shock

 

Dior Christmas Collection Lipstick 008 Mysterious Shock - £29.00

The Dior Christmas Collection 2014 is a pretty beautiful one, and I've indulged in a few pieces, but I decided they all deserved their own posts - especially the lipsticks which are actually a two in one product. This review concentrates on Mysterious Shock, the deep berry shade in the right hand side of the photograph.

The lipstick is beautiful - although it's pricey at £29 as you can see you get two colours of lipstick, each side of the bullet is different. 

The first photo of me is me wearing the matte shade, which, although I love both sides, wins as my favourite. Although the colour is matte the formula isn't, it's creamy without being too creamy - I'm not scared it's going to move all over my face during the day but it's not drying in the slightest. 

The second photo of me is me wearing the other side of the lipstick, it's from the same colour family and is still a pretty highly pigmented berry shade but it's got that shimmer finish and it doesn't make the same impact as the bold matte colour does. It's still pretty bold though and I think anyone who likes bold lips like me will love this lipstick. The shimmer side does have more grit to it in terms of formula but it still feels comfortable on the lips and doesn't cause flaking the way some shimmer lip products can.

The sales assistant at Dior explained that these lipsticks are meant to be used in an ombre look, the bold colour all over with the lighter, complimenting colour in the middle to enhance the lips and make them look bigger, so you essentially get the three looks in one which makes this lipstick ideal if you're jetting off over the holiday season. 

They don't bleed and you don't require a lipliner as the squared off edge makes the lipstick super easy to control and can we all just take a moment to appreciate that packaging? They're pretty much Christmas decorations in themselves if you just happened to leave these lipsticks on your mantel.

Overall it comes down to whether you like these colours, there's no point spending nearly £30 on this lipstick if you're only going to use one side of it. However I think it's a beautiful choice for party season, and even if this colour doesn't appeal they do have more nude choices available. The formula of the two colours I've bought are equally good, so it doesn't seem to be a case of the formula differing between colours as can sometimes happen and generally... I think it's pretty much lipstick love for me!

NudeStix Lip & Cheek Pencil Review

Nude Stix Lip & Cheek Pencil - Love - £24.00

I received this as a gift with purchase from Space NK (as a regular customer gift with purchase, not a blogger gift, which is why there's no * next to it, you'll always be given full disclaimer for anything featured that was sent to me via a PR for the purposes of blogging, this one was just a regular free gift) and wasn't that interested at first. I had noticed the brand when it first popped up but wasn't all too fussed, I'm not the type of girl whom the whole concept of 'nude' appeals to - I'll always reach for full coverage foundations over light tinted moisturisers and I will always own double the amount of red lipsticks than I do of all other colours combined, #sorrynotsorry - but I gave it a go a few weeks ago and have been forced to admit that first impressions might not make the whole story.

The colour, although it looks quite baby pink in the pencil itself (the shade is called Love btw, which I really like as a name) actually comes out as a nice pinky/peach hybrid - definitely more pink than peach but not insipid and it actually works nicely on my pale skin as opposed to draining me altogether, which is what I thought would happen from the look of it in the pencil. The colour is actually turning out to be my number one factor in why I love this - since it isn't the type of colour I'm usually drawn to it it fills a gap on my collection quite nicely as as a cheek colour it's the perfect compliment to every day make up or playing the background runner to a stronger look that doesn't need a strong cheek to be added into the mix.

Anyway, enough about the colour  - let's talk formula. It actually blends beautifully into the cheeks, it goes on and feels almost wet at first while you blend it in (I used my fingers) but it does dry down and settle - but with plenty of time for you to work the colour to where you want it. The longevity is surprisingly good, it's not on par with something like Tarte but for a such a liquid-y formula it lasts a good 6 hours before it might be time to reapply, and for all the room the pencil takes up in your bag it's hardly a chore to take it with you, especially when you don't need a brush and can use it as your lip product for the day too. 

On the lips it also lasts a reasonably amount of time, it lasted through two glasses of diet coke for a start and was still on the lips when i came back from a 2 hour shopping trip. Again, it's not a matte formula so it isn't a case of apply it in the morning and it'll still be there in 12 hours time, but it's comfortable on the lips and as it fades it does so really evenly, meaning you're not left with a strange half on/half off look. It feels similar to Nuxe Rev de Miel lip balm when applied, is faff free and doesn't need a liner.

I pulled this one out of my bag in my What's In My Handbag video, so you'll possibly know the last thing I want to talk about already if you've watched that but, in case you didn't, I just have to mention the packaging. The little tin with the massive mirror taking up the whole lid is ideal for throwing in your handbag (and there's room for a concealer in there too, meaning for me that I can skip the make up bag entirely) and it also comes with a sharpener, which you can actually use as a lid - it's the lid on one end and the sharpener on the other, meaning you're less likely to lose it. I am a massive fan of this as I hate products that you then need to go purchase something else to use, especially since I constantly lose make up sharpeners and always get side tracked by more sparkly products (like red lipsticks) when I go into a shop with the intent of buying one. 

Lastly, let's talk price. It's £24 which I think may be slightly more than I'd want to pay for it - I thought it would have come in to the £18-£22 category as I hadn't actually looked up the price of it before beginning to type up this review, but I do love it. I think it'll last for ages as I've been using it a fair old amount lately and haven't have to sharpen it yet and it does come with such nice packaging too. For me it's a beautiful, blend able product and the colour has really filled a gap in my collection so I can honestly say I will repurchase it when it's done, but unless you're after one of the individual shades I don't know if it's an exciting product I would rush out to buy. But then, I've got so many exciting products that I rush out and buy that a peachy/pink pencil filled a basic gap in my collection, so if you're in my boat then maybe it is something to rush out for!

Stila Acai Crush Lip & Cheek Stain

Stila Acai Crush Lip & Cheek Stain - £16.00

It is a truth most commonly acknowledged that dual purpose products must be in want of something in one or other department. That is to say, in a less Pride and Prejudice inspired way of speaking, that they're usually designed for two things and pretty much only good at one thing.

This Stila product leans probably slightly more favourably to the cheeks but I actually do like it on both. 

On the lips the stain is dry and sinks into lines, as you can see in these pictures. Having said that a good lip balm underneath to smooth out lines and dryness does take care of that. It can be applied straight from the tube onto the lips with the brush applicator provided, though be careful - this stain is a Stain (note the capital S!) and that little blotch that goes slightly out of the lip line was something I was stuck with until scrubbing it off on my return home that night - following dinner out and multiple cocktails.

Now, onto the cheeks. I love this on the cheeks  - it's gel based and doesn't seem as dry on the cheeks as it does on the lips. For application though, you need to be incredibly careful. First thing's first - don't apply this straight from the applicator onto the cheeks and don't deal with this product if you're in a rush because the pigmentation is crazy. The tiniest amount goes a long, long way and heavy handedness runs the risk of clown style make up. 

When you're first getting used to the product I recommend mixing it with a dot of foundation so you can temper the pigmentation until you get the hang of it. I use the Real Techniques Expert Face Brush to do this. You have to work incredibly quickly with this product as, similarly to the lips, once it sets, it sets. A lot of people recommend a stippling brush with these types of products. Using a stippling brush made me look like I had chicken pox.

As you can see in this photo I have applied the product to my hand and blended, but the place where I originally touched the brush to the skin can easily be outlined and although I blended straight away the edges aren't for feathering off. When I applied the product with the stippling brush all the little areas where the product first touched settled into tiny dots and made me look like I had a real issue going on. You can also get an idea from this photo of just how bright this product can be when applied heavily.

The simplest thing for me is to twist up some of the product, swipe it over the back of your hand and then pick it up from the back of your hand with your chosen dense brush and buffing it quickly like foundation in circular motions. 

It is worth mentioning that these Stila Lip & Cheek Stains are scented - I have the coconut one and it's divine when swatched and sniffed - but the scent doesn't really translate once it's applied to the face and mixed with other produces. I haven't found that the scent has irritated my skin at all but in the interest of full disclosure it's still something worth pointing out!

From The Archive - MAC Girl About Town

For those of you who read my original blog - Rose Keats - these posts may be a little boring, as they're copied straight over from it, mainly because I think they're good posts and, more importantly, good products that deserve a place on my new blog with it's beauty focus. 

Mac Girl About Town Lipstick - £14.00

Mac Girl About Town Nail Varnish - £10.00

Girl About Town is one of those infamous Mac shades that almost everybody owns and I love it. I think for so long pale, insipid pinks were the order of the day and I just didn't suit them at all that I'd convinced myself I was a reds only type of girl and that was it. Although reds are probably still the shade family I'm happiest and most comfortable in after years of avoiding pinks I finally plucked up the courage and bought myself Girl About Town and Lickable and I now don't mind wearing pinks as long as they're bright, rich pinks and not the pale, washed out look that was so popular in my formative make up years.

This is an amplified formula and of all the amplified formulas I own this one seems to be the slippiest, and most likely to move off the lips and onto the face so I find that using a lip liner then almost staining this on in layers is the best way to avoid disaster. Although this sounds like a more fussy process than just swiping it on it doesn't take long to get the colour payoff, and I'd rather do that than have it across my cheek somewhere. It is super pigmented and opaque so if you do end up with it somewhere it shouldn't be it will not just rub off, you will need to resort to layering concealor over the top of where the lipstick will have stained - hence why I'm particular about the application because as much as I can now embrace pink I don't necessarily want it on my chin.

The nail lacquer is a product I'd heard less about and didn't actually know existed till I picked it up thinking it would match Girl About Town lipstick quite well, only to find this was precisely the idea. I used the Essie no chips ahead topcoat over it and I got 3 days out of it before any chipping appeared - which is really good for me because I can manage to chip nails washing my hair, I'm just incredibly rough with them - but I don't know if that's down to this or the top coat or both. I know these nail lacquers don't have the best reputation but I can't add to that - I was impressed. At £10 as well these nail lacquers aren't really much more pricey than an Essie diffusion line polish, so I definitely don't mind the price at all.

The exact colour match really appealed to my OCD tendencies and love of all things matchy-matchy. Girl About Town isn't the only one to have a nail counterpart - there is also Morange, Saint Germain, Snob and Impassioned, amongst others, so if the idea of a perfect match appeals to you it may be worth having a look to see if your shade of choice is available.