Catrice Beautifying Lip Smoother 020 Apricot Cream

This may just be one of the most comfortable lip product ever. I didn't really plan to get this as I already owned Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector in the past (way, way before the hype, when it was still 15 €), until someone nicked it and I never thought of it as being anything particularly special, at least not so much that I would run to repurchase it, but when I saw these Catrice ones in DM, I just instinctively grabbed one. I actually think it's a very good dupe for the Clarins one, but Taya did a more comprehensive comparison of the two.

Texture: It's a super creamy lip gloss and to me it's like a lip balm/lip gloss hybrid. There is none of that cooling wetness that some more shiny glosses have, just a really comfortable creaminess. It's going to sound strange, but it's like a cosy blanket for the lips (you'll get it if you already tried it). It think this is the perfect product for colder months, when the lips tend to get dry. 

Colour: There are three shades available and I decided on the peachiest one, however, I doubt there is much difference on the lips between the three. Apricot Cream is, as the name suggests, an apricot nude shade. On the lips there is very little of the actual colour showing, though it does have the nude effect. On me it's quite a draining colour since I'm so pale, as is the natural colour of my lips, but some people like that anyway (here is how it looks on Petra, whose lips appear to be not as pale as mine). Besides, the nude colour doesn't last long, although the creamy gloss layer remains.  

Staying power is nothing special for a gloss. Most of it wears off fast, although a thin creamy layer persists for a while. It certainly doesn't survive eating or drinking. My issue with it is that, the same as Clarins' one, due to that creaminess,  sometimes it gets a bit odd when it's wearing off, like it's peeling and there are weird bits on the lips, but then I just wipe it off and apply it again.

Scent: It has a gentle scent of vanilla, which I find pleasant.

Packaging: An opaque squeeze tube with a fluffy applicator. These fluffy applicators are very comfortable to use, however, I suppose some might object to them due to hygienic issues. I find it lovely.

Price and availability: Mine is from DM for 3.79 €.

It's such a wonderful, creamy and balmy lip gloss that it feels quite luxurious on the lips. The colour is very nude for my liking and wish they had shades with more colour, but it's pretty nonetheless. It's a nice drugstore buy, especially for these colder months and a great product for those who like more demure lip looks.

Have you tried it? Have a great day! 

L'Oreal L'Extraordinaire Liquid Lipstick 201 Rose Symphony

Lip gloss is something I pushed aside years ago in favour for the non-sticky, more long-lasting lipsticks. However, recently I have found myself very impressed by the latest L'Oreal's offering - L'Extraordinaire Liquid Lipsticks. I know the name suggests they are lipsticks, but they have a glossy finish and poorer lasting power than the real thing, ergo it's a very pigmented lip gloss and I have been thoroughly enjoying wearing it from the moment it first touched my lips.

This such a creamy lip product and I would describe it as lip balm/pigmented gloss hybrid. It's almost fully opaque upon application and you get a nice punch of colour if you layer it, but it wears off to a semi-opaque shade after a while. I have to say I am slightly in love with the creamy gloss shine finish it has and I in general do not like glossy finish on me, though  after a while the shine disappears and all it's left is a sort of a creamy stain. The formula of it isn't at all sticky, though it is thick.

Rose Symphony is a mix of rose, warm pink and a hint of coral with a touch of gold shimmer. There is  something about this colour that makes my eyes appear more blue. I love this shade for any occasion really, even if I'm having a no makeup day, I love wearing this on the lips because it just looks so damn good.

The scent of it is amazing - it smells like peaches! Specifically like Haribo Peach jellies, which are some of my favourite sweets. I adore it.

Since it's a lip gloss type of product, don't expect an amazing staying power, though this particular one manages to cling on quite well and after a couple of hours you are still left with a stain on the lips, of course provided you didn't have lunch.

I find the packaging quite pretty and I'm fond of the gold tube with a little window where the colour is visible, even thought is collects fingerprints like nobody's business. The applicator is a soft larger flat doe foot one and it's easy to use.

I bought mine from Boots, but I hear they are available around Europe and I'm guessing the rest of the world. I'm sure people at L'Oreal were very busy scouring for young girls at the world cup to be their new faces only to fire them two days later  (hey, I don't appreciate 17-year-olds brandishing rifles either), but surely now that is over, someone might find the time to launch these lip products on Slovenia's market. It would be greatly appreciated. But for now I think the closest places where they are sold is in Austria and Italy (keep in mind that the shades name are probably different).

Well colour me impressed. It was love at first swipe. As a hardcore lipstick lover, to have a lip gloss excite me is quite an accomplishment and I wouldn't object to owning more of these. Though I would love to give Maybelline's and Dior's versions a go. Could it be that my interest in lip gloss is rekindled? Well see what the future holds.

Have a great day!

Makeup Revolution Salvation Intense Lacquer A Love Like That

You may have noticed by the lack of posts about lip gloss that I'm not a fan of them. I'm a (liquid) lipstick  kinda girl, matte finish being my favourite of course. I think gloss is just too much of a hassle, they're sticky (I have long hair) and they wear off soon. But I gave this lip lacquer a go anyway and it's not that bad.

Colour: A neutral red with a high shine finish and no shimmer. This is super, super glossy when freshly applied.

Pigmentation: It's strongly pigmented, so it's like a liquid lipstick and a lip gloss in one. About two coats are needed for almost full opacity on the lips.

Texture: It's a thick formula, though it doesn't feel sticky on the lips (but the hair still sticks to it). The thicker formula with intense pigmentation means longer lasting power than most glosses and it doesn't bleed.

Scent: A lovely vanilla scent that is strong and you can smell it when it's on the lips. Yummy.

Staying power: It's decent for a lip gloss. The intense shine wears off quickly, but the colour remains. It completely wears off in a few hours and it doesn't survive eating or drinking (at least not that well). No lip gloss lasts particularly long and don't expect this one to last intact for hours.

Packaging: My word is it cheap and rubbish! The stopper that wipes off excess product gets stuck in the cap all the time and I have to fix it constantly which leaves quite a mess to deal with. I'm actually afraid of closing it all the way because it pulls the stopper out. It has a standard doe foot applicator which is nothing special, but it works well. This is by far the cheapest packaging of a lip gloss I've ever seen. Too bad since the product itself is nice and it deserves to be in a better packaging. 

Intenzivni lip glossi Salvation Intense Lacquer lahko dobite na Ličila. si za 4,95 € in so na voljo v več odtenkih.
Salvation Intense Lacquers are available in Makeup Revolution store.

Have a great day!

*The product was sent to me as a gift and no conditions were set.

Catrice Made to Stay Smoothing Lip Polish 060 Mission PINKpossible

I fully expected I would dislike this, after all it is a stain type of product that I never got along with, but dammit I like it. I didn't even buy it myself. I saw them the day they were released in the shop, swatched them and due to the texture I decided against buying them. But then my cousin bought one and later regretted the decision of picking such a bold colour (which really suits her despite what her other friends might say), so she gave it to me. And I honestly thought I will just review it and then it'll lay forgotten in my stash, but I think this is going to get some wear. 

Texture: It feels like a lip gloss-stain hybrid. It's not as thin as a stain would be, but thicker like a gloss. It applies really evenly which pleasantly surprised me for such a product. The colour doesn't just stick on the driest patches, rather it looks like a regular intense lip gloss. It's slightly sticky from the start, but not any more when it sets/dries.

Colour: A bright fuchsia pink. The finish is glossy and the colour is really intense. The stain it leaves is really strong and it takes some rubbing to get it off.  

Staying power: It says it stays 8 hours. It does. Well, the stain does, but the glossiness disappears in an hour or so. The stain actually lasts way longer on me. This is a picture that I took 12 hours later (the first  one with the actual swatch was taken at 11:32 AM, and the second at 11.29 PM. I didn't do any retouching in the mean time). The stain was still intense by then, though it did leave the drier (flaky) parts of the lips with more colour as all stains do. However, due to the intensity of colour, it actually looked decent enough for me if not looking  from very close. 

Scent: It has a plasticy fruity scent that actually I kinda like. It reminds me of something, I think that some car cleaning stuff. I don't know, I'm weird.

Packaging: A black tube with a doe foot applicator. The applicator has the same kind of "depression" as Rimmel's Apocalips, which means that there is enough colour on the applicator for application.

Price and availability: These are sold in Müller for 5.19 €.

Yup, this gets my seal of approval. While I dismissed them in the shop, I'm glad I had the chance to try one out. I genuinely like it, even though it's lip gloss-like and I like this shade on me. I swatched all the colours in the shop and this was my second favourite colour, my favourite was the colour Petra from Adjusting Beauty did a review of - 040 Let's Red Loud!. I wouldn't mind having it in my collection.  By the way, she said that she felt some stinging of the lips on application, but I feel none.

Have a great day!

Red

There is nothing more iconic than a red pout and while I love my Manhattan Soft Mat Lip Cream in 45H, I wanted a really bright matte red. I had my mind set on finding a drugstore shade similar to Mac's Ruby Woo and some internet research pointed me into direction of Bourjois lip pencils. The shade is called 20 Rouge Soyeux - a matte blue toned true red. Another red I purchased along the way is Essence's Stay with me lipgloss in 07 Kiss Kiss Kiss.

Bourjois pencils are not the softest pencils in the world, but the colour does stay put for hours. It survives eating and drinking with no problems and most importantly it doesn't transfer (that is of course if you don't put any lipgloss or lip balm on top). It leaves a matte finish, this unfortunately does mean it's quite dry and your lips have to be perfect or it will emphasize every dry patch.

Here is a swatch of the combination of pencil plus Lip Smacker Coca-Cola Cherry.

And here is my growing collection of Stay with me lipglosses by Essence. I'm not a fan of lipgloss, I almost never wear it, but these are my favourite because they are very pigmented, smell really nice like fruity and candy, aren't too sticky and of course they are cheap. Here is a link to previous swatches and review click. 07 Kiss Kiss Kiss is a nicely pigmented bright red. It a nice way of wearing red without being too much. 

Thanks for reading!