New: Rimmel 'Apocalips' Lip Lacquers

Rimmel Apocalips The Hype

Released into Boots and Superdrugs stores nationwide on January 23rd, and via Rimmel's Facebook store a few days earlier, the 'Apocalips' took the beauty world by storm and are set to be a cosmetic highlight of 2013. With another quirky play-on-words name (I'm still impressed with the name for 'Scandaleyes' eyeliners) and unique packaging that takes them a step above standard lip product tubes, these bad boys deserve the attention they're getting. You'll be able to find rave reviews of these all over the Internet already, but hey why not add one more to the pile?

Rimmel Apocalips What Are They?

Dubbed as the high street answer to YSL's Glossy Stain, these 'lip lacquers' pack 3 different lip products into one handy tube; think lipgloss, lipstick and lipstain all in one and there you have 'Apocalips'. Say 'lip' one more time. Available from Boots and Superdrug, priced at £5.99 each (look out for 3 for 2 deals) these offer a high impact, opaque coverage of the lip in just one stroke, and they are applied to the lip using a doe-foot applicator that contains a little well for extra product so that there's no dipping back into the tube to go back for more. With each of these, when applied to the lip the coverage is so high and there's no denying that they are completely opaque, they feel lovely on the lips with a high shine finish but absolutely no stickiness. No wonder there's a hype! After a few hours when the glossiness has worn away these leave a matte stain of strong colour on the lips that lasts for hours and hours - brilliant for nights out.

Rimmel Apocalips The Shades

There is quite a vast shade range in this collection, with a total of 8 different shades ranging from what has been described by others as 'the most perfect nude', to gentle berry plums, to the bright and bold pink shades, all the way to a statement classic red. It looks like Rimmel have covered everything! I picked up four of the eight available shades and I am very happy with my choices, although there is one more that I would get if I was ever to go on another crazy lip product purchasing spree (Celestial, please). Big Bang can only be described as a 'true red', there's no other colour pigment in this one other than red, red and more red. It's very bold and very classic but unfortunately I've not found the perfect situation to be wearing this yet so this one has had the least use. Apocaliptic and Stellar can look quite similar in some lights, but there is a difference between them. Apocaliptic is a bright pink fuchsia, whereas Stellar has a lot more of a coral/orange base to it. Both of these are incredibly vibrant and I absolutely adore the brightness of these two shades - I've found both of them to be perfect for nights out. Nova is a little bit more muted than the rest and is one that I found a lot of time for in my every day make-up - it's been my every day colour of choice for a few weeks now. It's a dusky mauve shade and is incredibly wearable, being bright but not too 'in your face'. 

Swatches L-R: Big Bang, Apocaliptic, Stellar, Nova.

If there's any confusion with the swatches above, silly me swatched the shades in the wrong order from how I showed them pictured at the start of the post; the two middle shades, Apocaliptic and Stellar, are the opposite way around in the different pictures. To clarify, Stellar is the coraly one, and Apocaliptic is the bright pink.

Rimmel Apocalips My Thoughts and Views

This is not a 'first impressions' post/review; as much as I wanted to bash out a post about these on the day of their release and the day that I got my mitts on them, I instead chose to wait a few weeks to give these a thorough trial in different circumstances so that my review could be well rounded and informative. My first impressions were that I was not blown away, and my current opinion stands the same. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate them and I do use them (usage of the different shades varies), plus I think that the price is fair and it's worth having one in your collection, I just do think that there's a down side that I can't get around. Negative point out of the way first: these are so incredibly drying on the lips after after a few hours and seriously lack in moisture. If Rimmel finds a way to add in a lip balm quality to these then we have an unbeatable product. One more thing, is that I find the applicator to sometimes transfer a little too much product onto the lips, so I often apply using the opposite side of the applicator from the 'well' of product, but that's no big deal really.

Aside from that point, I have nothing but praise for these. I absolutely love love love the shades, they're spot on and I adore the bright ones, in particular Stellar, and I love the really intense pop of colour that they give to a look and how they're so long lasting. I'm not one for lipgloss, but these are the perfect answer and they have got it all right. They're a bit of a novelty with a unique applicator for a 'lipstick', but they're worth trying out if you haven't already. Depending on which shade you pick up they can be absolutely ideal for both a night out and for every day wear.

If you've tried these, what do you think?

And what's your favourite shade?

Review: Revlon Kissable Balm Stain - 'Love Sick'

 

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain - RRP £7.99

*currently on offer at all Revlon retailers for just £5.00 

As usual I am one of the last people to the party and have well and truly taken my time with hopping onto the bandwagon with the hype for this product. I dismissed these Chubby Stick rip-offs (and the Chubby Sticks themselves) for a long time and expected them to be nothing more than an over-priced fad. After caving and splashing out a full £16.00 on a Chubby Stick Intense and LOVING it (review to come in a couple of days) I thought that I had better test out Revlon's apparent dupes for them before contemplating buying another, and what better time to try them out than when they have nearly £3 off! 

To cut straight to the chase, I'm on the fence. I don't dislike it by any means but I'm not falling over myself in love with it either. I love the colour and I love the formula too - 'balm stain' describes it to a T -  but I personally think the reason that I'm not crazy over it is because I tried the high end version first.. maybe it's just me but if you try 'the best' first then nothing else can ever live up it! These and the Chubby Sticks are so highly comparable (like I said, review to come), but my preference is with Clinique's original take!

I will of course still get regular use from this and more than likely buy another shade too because they're just so easy to use and have an adorable packaging. It's like a chunky little crayon that just effortlessly glides onto your lips lovely and smoothly, much like a balm, and with quite a sheer coverage that can be built up with a couple of layers and the colour, i.e. 'stain', fares well with the test of time and fades gradually over the hours. 

It doesn't look like much really, and they are not as pigmented as your regular lipsticks, but nor do they claim to be. Revlon describes these as 'a pampering balm with a flush of colour that lasts hour after hour' which is a very accurate description. The finish is quite glossy but it feels smooth and nourishing on the lips and with a couple of layers the colour payoff is very good and lasts for hours. Even after the initial glossiness and the balm-like qualities have worn away the colour still remains and it is super quick and easy to touch up throughout the day.

Not the clearest of pictures in the world, but you can hopefully tell that the shade I got was 'Lovesick', a very vibrant hot pink - my favourite lip colour. The colour range that Revlon offer for this is pretty damn good with 12 shades overall, ranging from your nudes (Honey), to your brights (this one, Lovesick) and all the way to your vampy darks (Crush) and I am quite eager to try out Rendezvous next, a coral-y orange colour. 

Although I've mentioned above that I prefer the Clinique Chubby Stick Intense to this, I would purchase another of these Revlon balm stains and try out some more shades, but would not buy another of the Chubby Sticks despite preferring them, and this is mainly due to the price difference. Clinique's version is 3 times the price (when Revlon is on offer), but is not 3 times the quality and that much of a difference between two very similar products seems unjustifiable to me!