Tag: red lipstick

lip products, lip stains, Uncategorized

YSL Tatouage Couture Velvet Cream Matte Lip Stain “01” | Review

Karissa

Hello friends!

Sorry for my little hiatus, as mentioned in my goals post I tend to have phases of obsessing over beauty and then phases where I want nothing to do with it. I’m excited to get back into sharing my thoughts on beauty, but spoiler alert, we’re starting with quite the doozy.

Color: The 01 shade is a classic YSL shade; bright red as described by the Sephora website. Normally I would add a little more of my own thoughts but honestly, I think bright red is about as descriptive as you’d need! It’s got a pinky/orange base to create the incredible vibrance.

Finish: On application, due to the way the formula is (more on that later), it is high shine but dries down to a completely matte finish.

Packaging: The sample packaging I have varies from the full size packaging, unfortunately! My product is a clear tube with a shiny gold lid and a black YSL sticker on it. The full size tatouage product is a square shape, with a gold metal lid and “YSL” engraved into it. I will admit it does have a beautiful and luxurious look to it!

Applicator: The applicator is another huge difference between sample and full size, which I can’t help but wonder might be why application was so different and uncomfortable. The sample size product is a regular fluffy doefoot, which absorbs a lot of product and I think applied way too much. The full size applicator looks to be flat and mostly plastic, with just a small bit of fluff for comfort on application; I imagine this also regulates how much product will apply onto your lips.

Continue reading “YSL Tatouage Couture Velvet Cream Matte Lip Stain “01” | Review” →
bullet lipstick, lip products

MAC Cosmetics Retro Matte Lipstick “Ruby Woo” | Review

Karissa

Hello friends!

As mentioned in last week’s review, I love finding popular, still available makeup at TJMaxx! When I saw Ruby Woo sitting on the shelf, not swatched or touched by other people as the makeup there so often is, I had to grab it.

This is one of those colors I feel like anyone who knows about makeup recognizes! MAC’s Ruby Woo feels iconic to me, so when I pulled this out to review, I couldn’t help but be excited!

Color: On the MAC website, Ruby Woo is described as a “vivid blue-red”. This color is absolutely a classic, in-your-face red, with a slight pink undertone that’s hard to notice at first, but becomes more obvious as you wear it.

Finish: They call this a retro matte and they certainly mean it. The finish from application until I take it off is completely matte; there was not even the slightest bit of sheen on my lips while wearing this color!

Packaging: The packaging of this is the iconic MAC shiny black bullet with tiny silver glitter flecks throughout, a silver ring where the cap meets the tube, and MAC printed on the cap. The bottom of the bullet has a sticker with the product name and information on it.

Applicator: As with the majority of any bullet lipstick, the shape of the product is a standard teardrop.

Continue reading “MAC Cosmetics Retro Matte Lipstick “Ruby Woo” | Review” →
lip liner, lip products

Smashbox Always Sharp Lip Liner “Crimson” | Review

Karissa

Hello friends!

I’m back again! This time, I’ll be sharing my thoughts on another Smashbox product – one that I’m not sure ever got as much buzz as the brand had hoped. While I do find the idea of a built in sharpener interesting, I’m not sure I love it in practice; that said, let’s just get into the review!

Color: The name gives it away – Crimson is a blue based red. It’s a very classic shade; the kind of color you would immediately think of if someone said red lipstick. I do feel like while it is pigmented, it doesn’t quite compare

Finish: The finish of this product is completely matte, with no dry-down time or shine at any point.

Packaging: The entire gimmick with this product is the cap having a sharpener on the inside. The pencil is plastic and the product matches the color of the lip liner. The cap is definitely heavier than a standard one due to the built in sharpener, and feels hefty.

Applicator: This is a twist up lip liner that has a built in sharpener in the cap. That means whenever you twist the cap off to use it, the product will sharpen into a point and make getting a straight line easy; as the name suggests there will always be a sharp point. I am curious how much product ends up being wasted by getting stuck into the cap, though.

Application: If you’re just using this as a liner for the edges of your lips, I think it works pretty well. The issue that I began to have is when I wanted to fill in all of my lips with it. I found that the amount of product that you have available is enough to fully fill in only one lip, and I had to put the cap back on, screw it down, and screw it back up to get more. Additionally, the product I got for my second lip wasn’t sharp and crisp, so I had to twist the cap back on and off again. At this point the product was sharp enough and had enough exposed for me to fill in my top lip, but it was a tedious process.

Continue reading “Smashbox Always Sharp Lip Liner “Crimson” | Review” →
bullet lipstick, lip products

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick “Fire & Ice” | Review

Karissa

Hello friends!

One thing I love about really popular, classic brands like Revlon is that they’ve been around long enough to establish cult products. One such product, though less popular than another red of theirs, is Fire & Ice!

I was fortunate enough to find this color on clearance, and knew I needed to snatch it up right away!

Color: Fire & Ice is a warm red that leans a bit coral – there is a strong orange-pink undertone to it.

Finish: This lipstick is a cream finish. I’d say it would lean a bit more towards matte than lustrous like a gloss, but it’s not quite satin. Interestingly, it’s also relatively sheer.

Packaging: The packaging looks incredibly classic. The tube is a glossy black, with a clear window on the top of the cap so you can see the lipstick color when looking down at it. When you pull the lid off it’s a shiny gold with Revlon printed on it.

Applicator: This is a standard cut bullet; there’s nothing special or unique about the shape.

Application: I found application on this lipstick to be as easy as any other traditional bullet lipstick. The point is just sharp enough that you can get a crisp line relatively easily, though I imagine that the more you wear it down the harder it will be to get that even line.

One thing that I struggled with was needing to build up opacity on this particular color. I would typically swipe about three times to get the opacity level I wanted. While it would look opaque from normal talking distance, when looking up close you could definitely see the darkness of my lips poking through still.

Continue reading “Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick “Fire & Ice” | Review” →

lip products, liquid lipstick

Colourpop Ultra Matte Lip “Creeper” | Review

Karissa

Hello friends!

Colourpop took the world by storm a few years ago when they released their super shock shadows & ultra matte lips at an incredibly affordable price.  Another thing Colourpop is known for?  Limited edition!  So many colors that I’ve purchased have been discontinued.

One color that is still around though is Creeper, which is one of the original colors they released when they first started!

Colourpop Ultra Matte Lip "Creeper" | Review - A Midwest Belle

Color: Creeper is a bright, blue-based red.  It has a definite pink appearance, and when the product transferred it left behind a pink stain.

Packaging: Colourpop’s packaging is notoriously bad; the writing on the tubes rubs off incredibly easily.  Other than that, it’s a nice, very standard silver cap and clear tube that looks functional and basic!  I own the sample size of this color, but packaging is identical between this and the full size; just smaller.

Colourpop Ultra Matte Lip "Creeper" | Review - A Midwest Belle

Applicator: The applicator is also an incredibly basic doefoot shape.  Nothing too interesting to report there!

Continue reading “Colourpop Ultra Matte Lip “Creeper” | Review” →