My Top Lipsticks For Summer: Brights

Considering we're now almost half way through the month of May, I have well and truly got my 'must prepare for summer' frame of mind in place and am making all the changes from the colours in my wardrobe, to my footwear choices, to my daily make up picks, to even my breakfast decisions! - You can't eat porridge on a warm morning, it's just wrong.

As soon as the sun decides to come out and play from behind that big old black cloud then there is a handful of lip products that I know I will be gravitating towards with no doubt about it. You might sense a little bit of a theme with this post about what my favourite lip colours are, but here are my top picks for summer lips: 

 (I definitely did not originally spell 'Vegas Volt' wrong and have to correct it....)

MAC
Vegas Volt

My Mac lipstick collection is far from huge, but out of a small range of choices Vegas Volt easily comes out on top as my favourite shade. It's an amplied finish lipstick which means that the colour pay off really packs a punch with an opaquely pigmented shade but a creamy soft and long lasting formula. It's a lovely strong coral shade that can really perk up your day.

Topshop

All About Me

All About Me is a moisturising matte lipstick which again means that there's a strong colour pay off that's going to last all day - that's exactly what you need on a hot and humid day, you don't want pink waxy stuff smearing all around your mouth do you? All About Me is a gorgeously bright hot pink shade with blue undertones to really bring out the pink-ness in it. It's love.

Fire Cracker

Firecracker might actually be not so much of a practical choice, based on what I just said above about a lipstick having the ability to melt off your face as this is a moisturising velvet finish which means it's a lot more creamy, i.e. more slippy and slidey! But, there's no denying that the shade is absolutely to die for. It's an extremely bright red with strong orange hues that makes a huge statement and is a nice alternative to a classic pure red.

Rimmel
Kate Moss Lasting Perfect - Shade 20

Hey hot pink lips. You're my favourite. You can never have too many shades of hot pink lipsticks! I think I would go as far as to say that this is my favourite lipstick that I own. It's very similar to All About Me but it leans a tad more purpley and it is the most flattering shade of bright pink that I have ever seen. 

Kate Moss Matte Finish - Shade 110

More orange?! This is another coral shade but it has a bit more of a red base to it than any of the other coral shades that I own, and for such a bright colour I think that this is one of the easiest ones to wear and is definitely one of my most worn lipsticks, ever. Also the semi-matte finish of it means that it stands the test of time, even in the hottest weather.

Okay, so the running theme of this was post was that I love hot pink and bright coral lipsticks. I hope that you enjoyed my top 5 choices for summer lip products!
Which is your favourite?


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♥

Topshop Lips | 'Macaroon'

Hey, what's that? Hannah likes Topshop lipsticks? Oh really.. you should have said. 

Priced at £8.00 each (£7.20 if you're a lucky owner of a student card), lipsticks from Topshop are on the higher end of highstreet make up price spectrum, but they are every bit worth those few extra pennies. On par with the quality from Mac and with a huge range of shades and finishes available there is something for everybody to be found at the Topshop make up stands. Sticking with my standard colour of a bright pink, but opting for a different finish from usual (velvet), Macaroon became a new member of my collection a couple of weeks ago and was welcomed with open arms with summer days in mind.

Being a 'velvet' finish as opposed to matte, means that it has a lot more of a creamy texture and is far more moisturising on the lips, although the wear time is slightly compromised. It still lasts for a good 3 hours because needing to reapply (providing you're not eating or drinking in this time) and the colour gently and evenly fades away but does not leave a stain on the lips. It feels nourishing like a balm but with still quite a bright pop of colour and a glossy but non-sticky finish. This is a very wearable shade, suitable for every day wear and is a calm coral-y peach toned pink - I love it!

And here it is in action!

(Squinty squinty because it's sunny)

What do you think of Topshop lipsticks?

Do you have any recommendations for me? ..I'm think of trying Sartorial next!

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?

Costa Chic | New Mac Lipstick

I've been wanting to blog about my new lipstick for days now but haven't been able to get any decent pictures of it - I've been trying every single day for about a week but there's just no daylight. I've never noticed lighting before as much as I do now that I blog and try to take product pictures! In December it never really does get properly light at all throughout the day, but by half 3 in the afternoon if you've not taken your snaps yet then you can wave goodbye to the chance of posting on that day! Damn winter and it's early dark nights!! But I can't hold off any longer and I am going to make the best of what I have got, so here we go:

 

A couple of weeks ago I was a very lucky girl and I won Becca's 100 follower giveaway over at Becca Talks Beauty (go and follow - link!!) and her prize was any Mac lipstick of your choice, so I chose 'Costa Chic' after having it on my wish list for months and months!! When it arrived I could not have been happier with my chosen shade and thank you very much Becca for running this giveaway and allowing me to find a new lipstick love!

 

Costa Chic is a frosted finish lipstick and at first looks a very light coral shade but comes out quite differently once swatched and on the lips and is in fact a lot brighter and bolder than expected and it also a lot more on the pink side too. Bright corals are classically a shade for summer, but I'm going against the grain and wearing this now because I love it so much. I tend to stick to bright pinky/purple shades so wasn't sure at all if this would suit me when I saw how pale it looked, but it really is beautiful and I love how the vibrant colour instantly perks up my face!

 

♥

ASOS, Feel Unique & eBay Beauty Haul

Okay, we all know I've got a shopping problem, that was established a longgg time ago, and yes I am looking into rehab for exessive shoppers.. or maybe just confiscation of the bank card.

 

In this post are the little beauty bits and bobs that I have picked up in recent weeks and this was originally intended to be an 'online beauty haul' post ..until I accidentally stepped foot inside Superdrug too.

oops!

 

 

ASOS

- link -

How amazing are these super bright neon orange make-up brushes from ASOS? I absolutely love them! They were so inexpensive too; the set of 5 brushes originally cost £10.00 but I bought mine whilst there was a 20% discount code going around and got mine for £8.00 with free postage. The handles are quite short, making them easy to work with and the bristles are soo soft - plus, you'll never lose them in your make-up bag when they're this bright! The set includes: a powder brush, a lip brush, a shading brush, an angled brush and a blending brush.

 

 

Feel Unique

- link -

I moan lots about my She Said Beauty Box subscription but there is no denying that it has introduced me to some amazing products that I otherwise would never have tried! In November's box there was a sample size of Redken's new Smooth Lock shampoo and conditioner duo which I didn't think much of at the time of use.. but 6 days after washing when my hair was still perfectly styled, smooth, frizz free and minimal traces of greasy roots (nice, I know), I was very impressed. I could not stop running my fingers through my hair, amazed at how soft my dry and damaged ends were so I just knew that I had to purchase the full sized bottles. They're not cheap at about £11 a bottle so I never would have taken the plunge if I hadn't tried out a sample of them first. Available on Feel Unique at the moment is a gift set version of the duo with the full sized bottles available as a pair for just £17.00 saving you a huge 15% as RRP of the pair is £25.25.

 

 

SuperDrug

 

Ermmmm.. did somebody say '3 for 2'? Such an irresistable offer! I picked up the Rimmel Precious Stones nail varnish in 'Diamond Dust' because I already have the red one (Ruby Crush) and love it to pieces but on all swatches that I have seen this silver version looks much nicer so I thought that I would give this a try too as you can never have too many nail varnishes.

 

Another thing that you can never have too many of is lipsticks! I picked up this very bright pink shade from Rimmel's Kate Moss range in shade 20 as it is an apparant dupe for Mac's 'Girl About Town' at a fraction of the price - and look how well it matches my nail varnish! (See picture below)

 

My third, and technically free product was MUA's 'undressed' eyeshadow palette, which, as the name suggests is a dupe for Urban Decay's 'Naked' palette - why spend £36 when you can spend £4?? MUAs shadows are amazing quality, super pigmented and long lasting, and I was looking to extend my collection of their singles so just thought why not pick up a palette with 12 shades in instead.

 

 

 

 

eBay

 

I found a seller on eBay who I'm sure will gain a lot of business from me in the future: hairproductsonline_ltd and their stock is like a hair care and bargain lover's dream! I'd been eyeing up this Macadamia Infused Hair Brush on Beauty Bay (link) for literally months but was reluctant to spend £16.75 on just another brush when I already have so many ..so when I saw it being sold on eBay for £15.99 but with a 10ml bottle of the oil treatment too then I was sold and clicked purchase right away (link). Browsing this seller's stock I also noticed that they sold bottles of the Osmo Berber Oil Hair Treatment in various sizes. On Feel Unique this Osmo Berber oil costs £5.90 for 10ml but I found it for £3.20 on eBay (link) - if I can save £2.70 on something then I will; every little helps.

[Full reviews coming soon]
 

Last but not least.. I fell for the Bioderma hype and bought the make up remover solution in the 250ml bottle! You can shop around for it on eBay but I found it for the cheapest price that I saw and it was £7.49 plus £2.79 postage costs totalling £10.28 (link) which is quite an expensive total for something which is essentially a bottle of glorified water that can take your make up at the end of the day, but I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I've been using this daily for nearly 2 weeks now and my views on are just a bit 'meh', it's okay but not worth the hassle of buying from overseas or the price tag.
 

 

 

 

 

 

I know I should be shopping for Christmas presents instead of bankrupting myself on superficial treats but all of these were just irresistable!

 

Have you ever tried and loved anything that I've bought here?

 ♥

 

 

Topshop Make Up | All About Me Lipstick

 

I recently had a little spend on some Topshop make up as a treat to myself and 'All About Me' is the lipstick that I picked up in this haul after a very heavy swatching session and a lot umming and aahing. I absolutely loveeee this little tube of pinky goodness! 'All About Me' is an extremely bright and bold shade, as the name would suggest it. It is a bright, bright pink - almost neon it's so bright. When I bought 'Brighton Rock' a few months back I thought that was vibrant.. but now I've seen this one it makes 'Brighton Rock' look pretty subdued! See the two of them side by side below for colour comparison; 'All About Me' is a lot brighter and a deeper, richer pink shade and the blue undertones within it are quite noticable.

 

It is a matte lipstick, but it's a 'moisturising matte', meaning that there is no tugging and pulling on the lips or emphasis on dry patches, but it still has the long term staying power and good colour pay off. Basically it has everything that you could ever want in a lipstick. Yesterday, I gave this lipstick the test of time, applying it at 10am and it did not need a touch up at all until around half past five. As the hours passed this lipstick gradually but evenly faded away and left a hot pink stain on the lips. I reapplied at 6pm and then ate a full roast dinner with pudding and a few cups of tea later and it was still looking good.

 

Topshop lipsticks all cost £8.00 each so are at the higher end of the drugstore price range but they're definitely worth it as they easily give brands like Mac a run for their money in terms of quality and I certainly wouldn't say that their make up is overpriced like a lot of Topshop's clothing items notoriously are. When it comes to the packaging I do think that this plays a part in the overall rating of product because if I'm going to pull something out of my bag for a touch-up, or have it sitting on my dressing table, then I want it to be visually appealing as a whole, not just when the product is applied onto my lips. At first I really loved the packaging on Topshop make up items; I thought they were 'cute' and different. But now, the novelty has worn off and I find that it makes them look a little bit immature and those lipstick tubes just don't have the durability factor to be able to withstand transport. I took one of these on just one night out in my bag and it is now disgusting to look at; it's scratched, scraped, dented, chipped and just downright grubby! So, I'd give these a thumbs down on the packaging, but other than that I think that the price, the shade, the colour pay off, the consistency and the wear time of 'All About Me' score very highly and this is one of my new favourites for a bright and bold lip colour.
 

 

 

See the other Topshop goodies that I treated myself to in my beauty haul - LINK.

Do you have any recommendations for other Topshop lipsticks I might like?

♥

Topshop, Superdrug and Yankee Candle Haul

Hi.. My name's Hannah and I have a problem.

I used all the willpower that I have inside of me and it was still no use in helping me to resist going for a little shop and buying lots of new things. I've been feeling a little down recently and the one thing that cheers me up better than anything else, yes, even better than Ben and Jerrys and a cup of tea ..is shopping! I had a little splurge on Topshop make up, picked up a few skin and hair care items in Superdrug, placed an online order with Yankee Direct, and also one with Models Own (eep!).

Topshop

 

I got myself two new nail varnishes (not that I need any more), one metallic shade 'Glimmer' (£6.00) and a matte shade 'Celestial' (£5.00). The shade 'Celestial' was chosen by my giveaway winner so I picked up one for her and liked the look of it so much that I got one for myself too. After much swatching and a handful of pink streaks down the back of my hand I decided on a bright pink matte lipstick in the shade 'All About Me' (£8.00). Finally, after eyeing up the 'Sunbeam' highlighter for about a year I saw Kayleigh's review on the 'Crescent Moon' one a couple of days ago and decided that one looked like a far nicer shade so changed my intentions and headed straight for 'Crescent Moon' (£10.00) instead. I held them side by side each other in the shop and there is quite a considerable colour difference between the two, and even the description on the packaging; 'Crescent Moon' is listed as 'white' and 'Sunbeam' is listed as 'yellow'.

Superdrug

I was disappointed when I got to Boots and found that their 3 for 2 offer isn't on anymore because I had a big long mental list of things that I wanted to get! However, I hadn't been browsing long when quite a scummy looking pregnant lady started causing a scene in the middle of the store. At first there was just a few raised voices and as I couldn't quite see where the commotion was coming from I just assumed it was a woman telling off her child.. but then the shouting continued and when I heard the line 'f**king touch me again and I'll kill you' I knew this was more than a mother and child incident! It continued to 'get your hands off me, I'm waiting until the police get here' and 'I'm pregnant, you've assaulted my baby' and because the voices were so, so loud the entire store had stopped what they were doing and were engrossed in watching this argument. Human nature prevailed and I peeked around the ailses to find the source of the trouble and it was infact between a woman and a security guard! I have no idea how this whole situation started off but I popped my head around the corner just in time to see her swing an almighty punch right in the security guard's face!! This is most certainly not something I am used to seeing at 1pm on a Friday in the middle of Boots! The security guard kept his cool the best he could while another guard ran to help the situation and the woman started angrily thrashing her arms around to get away and started pushing and kicking all of the surrounding stands! It really was quite an experience to see - Benefit and Clarins products flying through the air, lipsticks scattered everywhere, skin care smashing across the floor - wow! As curious as I was I thought it was best I scooted myself out of the store before it went any further as it was pretty certain she was about to be arrested and I didn't want to be one of those gawping members of the public that just stands and watches it all go down, so I quickly escaped and ran to Superdrug instead!

That was nothing to do with my shopping, I just wanted to tell the story! But incase you didn't know Superdrug is now running a 3 for 2 offer instead, only on cosmetics/make up though. I picked up three Nivea items; a raspberry lip butter (£1.25), a rich moisturiser to combat the dry skin that winter brings (£3.00), and their newly released moisturiser/primer that every girl and their grandma seems to be talking about recently (£3.99). I also picked up the VO5 moisture soak elixir (£4.25) that is regularly raved about by Lily - I did think it seemed a little pricey for what it is so I hope that it works! On a complete whim I picked up something I have never seen before and that is the Tresemme Liquid Gold Restorative Treatment (£3.45) and I only really got it because it was on offer and I liked the name 'liquid gold' *big sigh*.

Models Own

Following my ridiculous splurge during the Models Own 50% Summer Sale I have found a new favourite brand of nail varnish. I think they’re spot on with the quality and the price is great – plus their shade range seems to be never ending. It feels like only a week ago Models Own brought out the Mirrorball collection, a collection that didn’t really tempt me, but now they’ve brought out the Wonderland collection for winter and oh my. I. am. in. LOVE! The collection consists of five different types of glitter polishes and I wanted to exercise at least some restraint by not buying the entire set and only selecting two. After trawling the Internet for good quality swatches I settled for Jack Frost and Northern Lights. I am extremely happy with my choice and I just cannot stop staring at the beauty in a bottle. I don’t think that Northern Lights comes across as well as it could do in the pictures, but trust me it is beautiful! (£5.00 each).

Yankee Candle

Whilst in a spontaneously festive mood I ordered 11 Yankee Candle tarts from Yankee Direct which are predominately Christmas scented - it's never too early! The scents include 'Christmas Tree', 'Christmas Cookie', 'Christmas Cupcake', and 'Christmas Eve' - Christmas Eve has a smell? Really? I also picked up some others that are just generally seasonal appropriate: 'Cinnamon Stick', 'Spiced Orange', 'Sugared Apple'.. and the list goes on. (£0.90 - £1.10).

Random

I picked up Glamour magazine for £2.00 because of the free Nails Inc nail polishes that come with this months edition and these full size bottles retail at £11.00 a pop so it’s great deal, especially when Glamour is my fave mag to read anyway – it always makes me feel like a strong and independent woman after reading it. None of the four shades available particularly tempted me but in the end I went for ‘Glitter Glamour’ because you can’t go wrong with a glitter! I found this great post here: link that contains swatches of all four of the shades if you need help deciding. I also got two bars of the new Dairy Milk with Oreo because these seem to be like gold dust – I can’t find them anywhere! I don’t know why Tesco and Co-op don’t stock these. I found these bars for £1.00 each in Poundland.
 

 

My little student overdraft won't be able to withstand this addiction for much longer - get me to shopping rehab asap!

♥