FOTD - Where's My Coffee? Ft. Coffee, Black by Portland Black Lipstick Co. + a review!

I know a deep coffee coloured brown isn't something I would have seen myself wearing 3 years ago, but I love this new trend of bold lip colours and this is one of the great ones!

I stumbled upon the indie brand Portland Black Lipstick Co. when one of my favourite instagram makeup artists I follow @jessicahazemua posted a few of their shades that she had sampled. After doing a bit more research I decided to make a purchase of a few shades for myself!

After a bit of a rocky start (the order took around 6 weeks to arrive, however I received extra samples as a means of saying sorry, and a lovely email from the company apologising for the delay caused by a backlog of orders) I received the 3 colours I ordered in the full size - Artificial Amethyst (a metallic dark purple), Indigo Bridge (a dark metallic blue bordering on black),  and the colour pictured above Coffee, Black (a very dark brown with warm undertones).

Swatches from L to R: Indigo Bridge, Artificial Amethyst, and Coffee, Black.

I also received samples of Gilded Lily (a gold foil), Pewter Couldron (described as the colour of duct tape by Portland Black Lipstick Co. Haha), Bad Penny (metallic copper), Perfect Foil (metallic silver), and Graey (a light grey). Samples can be purchased of any colour for $2, and I had selected a few but was also gifted with several by the company as an apology for the lateness of the products. I think samples are such a GREAT idea. When ordering very odd lip colours like this especially, it's not likely that you will go through a whole tube of metallic gold lipstick for most people.

As you can see from the wide selection above I was drawn to this brand for their very unique colour range. I had not seen metallic lip colours like this from any brands in Australia, and was excited to try them out.

The packaging on these lipsticks is a little odd. It's more like an old school chap stick than a luxe lipstick, but I believe that's part of the company charm. If you visit their website you'll see what I mean. I definitely use a lip brush to get a neat edge with these, so if you're not familiar with using a lip brush these might be a little tricky. Worth the extra effort though in my opinion.

The packaging is much the same as a "chap stick" and the lipstick within is flat to the tube.

These lipsticks all wear so well. They are incredibly pigmented, rich and moisturising and stay on for quite a while. I'd say they are no where near a long lasting all day lipstick like a velvetine, but compared to a normal lipstick, say a MAC lipstick for instance, these wear longer than that for me. Even eating isn't too damaging to the lip colour. It will however leave a mark on any glass you drink from, and edges must be kept neat unless you have a perfect matching liner (hard to find I think!).

This has turned more so into a review of the Portland Black Lipstick Company lipsticks instead of a simple face of the day post but oh well, it's a 2 for 1 kind of day! Haha.

Products used for this look: 

Primer: Smashbox - Photo Finish Foundation Primer 

Foundation: Nars - Sheer Glow foundation in Mont Blanc

Concealer: Bare Minerals - Correcting Concealer in shade 'Light 1'

Powder: Bare Minerals - Original Foundation powder in shade 'Fairly Light'

Eye Primer: Benefit - Stay Don't Stray

Eyeshadow: MAC - 'Scene' eyeshadow all over

Lashes: Benefit - They're Real mascara

Brows: Anastasia Beverly Hills - Brow Powder Duo in shade 'Medium Brown'

Cheeks: Tarte Amazonian Clay 12 hour blush - in shade 'Blushing Bride'

Lips: Portland Black Lipstick Company - Coffee, Black

What do you think of this take on the bold lip? Have you tried any great indie lipstick brands lately that you've loved? x

Tried & Loved - Urban Decay - Naked 2 Palette

[Left to Right: Foxy, Half Baked, Bootycall, Chopper, Tease - in natural light]

[Left to right: Snakebite, Suspect, Pistol, Verve, YDK, Busted, Blackout - in natural light]

The Naked 2 palette from Urban Decay is the follow up the ever popular Naked palette which was first released in 2010 (it still sells out on Beauty Bay all the time!). Being such a fan of the original Naked palette this was something I couldn't pass up on buying too, and I'm glad that I did. 

The Urban Decay brand is something you might not have heard of before if you're from Australia as, unfortunately for us, it's not stocked in any shops here! Quite a shame really as I've loved everything I've tried from them so far. The Naked palette is definitely my most used eye shadow palette and I'll review that one soon too. :) I am a frequent beauty blog lurker though and ever since hearing the rave reviews about the Naked palette I have been trying to get my hands on more from the Urban Decay brand. Luckily for me, I came across a stockist that ships to Australia - Beauty Bay! 

The Naked 2 Palette is described on the Urban Decay website as: 

"The most anticipated sequel of the decade. Naked2 has 12 pigment-rich, taupe and greige neutral eyeshadows, including FIVE NEW shades. 

Our palette proves once again, neutral is anything but boring, (and is downright sexy when worn Naked). Feast your eyes on our shades ranging from pale to deep, matte to sparkly. This collection lets you achieve lots of neutral looks, smoky dramatic eyes, and everything in between. Let's just say there's a whole new way to get Naked! 

The case has an art-school inspired look with hinged lid - taupe metal with embossed chocolate brown artwork. It's smooth, modern and cool to the touch - a real tactile experience. Plus, our palette also features a travel-size Lip Junkie Lipgloss in Naked, AND a double-ended, cruelty-free Good Karma Shadow/Crease Brush (available only in this palette). Any self-respecting makeup lover will have to have both palettes to get their complete neutral fix!"

The colours in this palette as swatched above are: 

• Blackout - Blackest black with matte finish.
• Booty Call - Shimmering cork.
• Busted - Deep brown shimmer.
• Chopper - Copper shimmer with silver micro glitter.
• Foxy - Cream bisque with matte finish.
• Half Baked - Golden bronze shimmer.
• Pistol - Light grey/brown shimmer.
• Snakebite - Dark metallic bronze shimmer.
• Suspect - Pale golden beige shimmer.
• Tease - Creamy pale brown with a matte finish.
• Verve - Oyster shimmer.
• YDK - Cool bronze metallic shimmer.
• Travel sized Lip Junkie Lip Gloss in Naked - Sheer neutral pink shimmer.
• Good Karma Shadow/Crease brush - exclusive to Naked Palette 2.

As you can see in the swatches above, there really is a nice range of colours and finishes in this palette. I feel like more of these colours are on the bright metallic side than the original Naked Palette, so this is a palette that I use more so when I am going out instead of as an every day palette, but for me that's a good thing. There's more than enough variety than I could ever really need in 2 simple palettes! 

Unfortunately for me, on my pale skin some of these colours really don't show much at all, so the colours 'Foxy' and 'Bootycall' (aren't the names sassy! haha) don't really get any use for me personally, and that also means I don't really have many light base colours to work with once they're eliminated - that's my only gripe with this palette I think. What I'm left with is perfect for smoky eye looks though or sultry shimmery peepers. 

I think the original Naked palette has a better combination of colours that easily work together. With that palette you can literally use any colour as a base, and any colour as a contrast and it will look amazing, with this one I feel like I have to think about it a bit more, but the end results are usually still great. 

The eye shadow itself is super pigmented, smooth, and a little goes a long way with blending. The swatches above were from a single swipe of colour with my finger, impressive yes? Some of the colours that have more glitter in them can be a little bit soft, so be careful and watch for a little fall out with those (Chopper, Verve and YDK especially, as you can see above). I have had my palette for at least 6 months now though and I'm not even close to using any of the colours up as the product is so pigmented that you really don't need to load your brush up to get good colour pay off. This palette will last me for years, so it's definitely a great investment. 

I find that with a primer the colour of this will stay perfectly all day long without creasing, and without primer it's almost just as good. I've often applied my eye makeup early Friday morning before work, and still had it perfect and ready to go for dinner and a night out straight from the office that night!  

The brush that comes with the palette is really good quality, and I often use the flat end to apply my base colour, then the round end to blend where required. If I needed to I think I could do a whole eye look with just this brush which makes it great for travel, but I've never had to so far as I love my normal eye brushes so much I take them with me everywhere. :P 

The packaging is really sturdy without being too heavy and the top clips into place with the base meaning it won't fall open in your bag. I've taken this travelling with me a few times now, and even dropped it once or twice (oops!) and haven't had any colours break or run over into each other.  It's a bit of a strange finish being made of a soft metal, and I'm still not sure that I love it, but it's super easy to keep clean and sturdy for travel and storage so no complaints here. It's just not really pretty which I think more of my other palette's are. 

I haven't pictured the lip gloss that comes with this palette, but I absolutely LOVE it. It has a bit of a minty feeling when you apply it and the colour is quite nice on my lips. It's quite sticky on the lips which some people may not like, but it lasts forever which is not the case with most lip glosses. I've applied this before bed and still had it on my lips in the morning! It's tiny though and I always lose it in my bag, and there's no spot to keep it in or with your palette so it gets a little lost for me. I think I might look at purchasing a full size version of the gloss so it gets a bit more use, and less left in the bottom of my bag alone. 

In the picture below I've just used shades from this palette along with a liquid eye liner to create this look. I can't remember the exact shades I used as it might have been a bit of a mish mash, sorry about that. But you might be able to work the colours out from the swatches above. 

Overall I am super happy with this palette and this along with the original Naked palette is pretty much all I use for all my eye looks now. 12 shades is a lot to play with, and for a beginner it's a great way to start building your eye shadow collection with quality pigmented eye-shadows without it costing too much. Or as a bit of a collector like myself, I find it's an easy way to have quality colours that I know will work together well all in one palette.

As I said earlier, I use this more for bolder eye looks, and not as much for every day, but that's not to say you couldn't use it as every day eye shadows as well, I just prefer the original Naked palette for that purpose. If I had to pick, I'd still pick the original Naked palette as a first preference, and have even gifted it to my friends because I love it so much I want to share the love. 

I purchased this palette from Beauty Bay for $59.20 and free postage for Australia. If you think about it, that's just under $5 for each colour. The single Urban Decay eye shadows sell for around $20 each so this is a perfect way to test a large slab of their range for a quarter or the price!  The Beauty Bay site stocks most of the Urban Decay range including the original Naked palette and is the only site I've found so far that will ship it to Australia, and free! I can't wait to try more from this brand, and I've definitely got my eye on the new Smoked Palette for smoky eye looks. 

Have you tried the Naked or Naked 2 Palette? What's your favourite Urban Decay product? Have you heard of this brand before today? x

NOTW - American Apparel - Smoke Dazzle (Metallic range)

 

[with flash]

This weeks Nail Of The Week is American Apparel's - Smoke Dazzle - from the Metallic collection. 

I wasn't sure if I liked this nail polish when I first put it on as I'm mostly a fan of cream nail polishes and other finishes often just feel cheap and strange, but after wearing it for a week I can say I definitely fell in love a little! 

The colour is a nice dark silver in most light, and reflects as a dark grey, green, pink/purple depending on what light you're in and how you move the angle of your nails. I guess you could definitely describe it as a duochrome for that reason, but not as much of a shift as some others I've seen and almost impossible to photograph the colour shifts as you can see in my attempts above! Quite impressive though really. Most metallic nail polishes I've tried have this lovely transformation about them, but depending on the colour and finish it can look a bit cheap, but that's not the case here. 

The formula was really easy to work with, and for a metallic nail polish it was relatively streak free which is a definite bonus. You generally get the streaks from the brush in the nail colour, but I didn't really work hard to avoid this and as you can see, there are barely any brush strokes to be seen. I only used 2 coats of this colour to achieve the look above. You could layer it over a black to get a more intense look too which would be interesting.

I thought this colour would be quite comparable to Chanel's 'Black Pearl', but Black Pearl is definitely darker, less silver and more green. 

American Apparel nail polish is Manufactured in the USA. Cruelty free, DBP, toluene and formaldehyde-free.

Overall I think this is a perfect metallic nail polish that would be a great addition to any nail polish lovers collection. I will definitely be looking to get a few more American Apparel nail polishes now, as this was my first one that I've tried. The Neons look super pretty too! 

I purchased this from the American Apparel store in Melbourne in a deal of 3 nail polishes for $28, or it was $14 for the single nail polish. You can also see their range and order online here. 

What do you think of this metallic colour? Have you tried any American Apparel nail polishes? What's your favourite metallic colour? x

Tried and Loved - Face Of Australia - Sheer Gloss Lip Crayon

 

Having spied these little beauties being raved about by a few other Aussie bloggers like on the Crosswire Dreamer's page I knew I had to get my hands on them and try them out for myself! 

If you haven't heard of them before Face Of Australia Cosmetic's is an Australian made and owned company who is 100% against animal testing, and who are committed to bringing Australian beauty lovers up to date makeup at an affordable price without skimping on quality. That's definitely the case with these Sheer Gloss lip crayons! You can read more about the company and it's products at their website here if you're interested in learning more. 

Face Of Australia describe the Sheer Gloss lip crayons as:

"Lip colour has never been so fun and sweet with Face of Australia's NEW Sheer Gloss Lip Crayons. These wind-up lip tints are smooth, moisturizing and smell like vanilla!

Treat your lips to mouth-watering moisture and a hint of shine. In 3 super delectable shades these lip crayons are also infused with a vanilla scent."

I was a bit skeptical that these lip crayons could be moisturising at all, considering how cheap they are ($14.95 for the 3 pack!) but I was pleasantly surprised at the texture and moisture that they provided. They glide on your lips super smooth and keep your lips hydrated for a few hours I would say. I like that they're a little bit slick, not sticky at all, so they still give a nice shine on your lips without the usual tacky feeling that can come with it. As you can see in my first swatch below, it's probably a good idea to give your lips a quick treat to make sure they're free from any bumps before applying or the colour can stick a little, but if you don't have any bumps then you're good to go.

The colours are really pretty, and each colour has it's own cute name. 'Macaron' - a nice sheer red, 'Cupcake' - the lightest of all colours a sweet sheer pink, and 'Sundae' - a caramel brown that blends to a nice wearable colour on the lips. The packaging matches each colour which is nice, and each has a cute little picture and sheer cap. I haven't had any issues with the cap falling off and I leave it in my bag at times, and I haven't had any issues with the wind up mechanism yet either, but I can imagine the caps being not so tight at times so you may need to be careful. 

The scent is right up my alley - I love vanilla, and it's not too overpowering so even if vanilla isn't your favourite I don't think it would be prominent enough to turn you off buying them completely. 

I was able to wear these lip crayons alone for almost a full day, but by the end the product had built up a little bit too much on my lips gathering in places and I needed some extra moisture to sort it out. SO you can't rely on these for moisture alone, but they would be perfect to perk up an every day outfit though, or if you're heading out to dinner and want a light lip colour that won't stain your lips. :)

[Top: Macaron - Middle: Cupcake - Bottom: Sundae]

Overall I'm super impressed with the quality of these lip crayons for the price that they're selling. They're cute, fun and smell lovely. They'd be great to pick up as a gift as well I think, so I might grab another packet before they're gone forever, as unfortunately I think these are limited edition. 

I purchased these for $14.95 from Kmart, but if you're in Australia you can pick this 3 pack up for from Priceline, Big W, or you can check their website for the nearest stockist in your state on their website here. They are also sold online on the wesbite www.fashionaddict.com.au - I had never heard of this site before today but it seems quite good for Aussie brands! 

Have you tried these lip crayons? What's your favourite cheap or luxury lip product? What's your favourite Face Of Australia product? x

NOTW - Essie - A Crewed Interest & Essie - Shine Of The Times

[natural light]

[with flash]

This weeks Nail Of The Week is Essie - A Crewed Interest, with an accent nail of Essie - Shine Of The Times. 

Essie's 'A Crewed Interest' is from the Spring 2012 Navigate Her collection, which was full of nice lights and brights as can be seen in the full collection swatches here. A Crewed Interest is a beautiful peachy creme which applied quite well considering it is such a light colour. I was able to get an even opaque coverage in 2 coats, but then decided to put 'Shine Of The Times' over all my nails, then regretted it so did a top coat of  'A Crewed Interest' again on all the nails except the thumb and accent finger. Haha. I'm ridiculous I know! So that's why in the pictures the nail polish looks so thick! Sorry about that. 

The colour really is wonderful though. This is one of my favourites in a long time. It worked well against my pale skin, and was a nice colour in the sun, or in artificial light. Not too orange, but not too washed out either. If you're pale, I would definitely recommend this one! 

The Essie - Shine Of The Times flakie nail polish is a really soft highlight on this colour. Not too noticeable, but a gentle glimmer in the right light. It reflects a silver and gold mostly, and because it's over a light colour, the colour it reflects is a lot lighter too. 

This is definitely a nail polish I will be turning to again, and would work well with almost any outfit as it's so light and neutral. Essie nail polishes are yet to disappoint me and I can't wait to get more!

This is another nail polish I bought in my last haul (as seen in my post here) from mbeautylounge and was $7.10 ($US). You can probably also find this on ebay for around the same price, or BeautyBay.com are now stocking Essie and have A Crewed Interest available online for $11.90 ($AU) AND have free postage to Australia. Myer also stock Essie, but I'm unsure of their availability on every collection so just head in to your local store and see what they have. :)

What do you think of Essie's 'A Crewed Interest' and 'Shine Of The Times'? Have you got a favourite Essie nail polish? x

Tried & Loved - Clinique - Chubby Stick - Chunky Cherry

 

I was recently lucky enough to receive a Clinique Chubby Stick in the mail and boy was I excited to try this one out! Chubby sticks have been around for a little while now, but I missed out on purchasing with the initial hype about them and almost forgot I needed one until the recent competition on the Clinique Australia facebook that I posted about earlier in my blog!

Clinique describe the Chubby Stick as "Super-nourishing balm loaded with mango and shea butters. Just what dry, delicate lips need to feel comfortably soft and smooth. Eight mouth watering lip tints in all, each with a subtle sheen." The 8 shades are currently: Chunky Cherry, Graped-up, Mega Melon, Super Strawberry, Fuller Fig, Woppin’ Watermelon and Richer Raisin.

The shade I received was Chunky Cherry which is a nice sheer red which turned a little more pinky red once applied to my lips as can be seen in the swatch and then in the picture above. I would say that this looks to be the brightest of all the shades in the current collection, and probably not something I would wear everyday at work, but definitely something I would put on any time other than that (I work in an office of mostly men that look at me funny when I wear much makeup, haha). 

The packaging makes them super easy to apply, as with any other crayon or pencil type lipsticks/lip balms I've tried before, but the balm side of things makes these super smooth to swipe on in a hurry or on the go. I applied mine in the car after a hair cut in the picture above without the aid of a mirror and found it sat perfectly on my lips. Great to have in your bag for a quick pick me up with your makeup, or to go easily from day to night without fuss! You can easily layer the colour to be really sheer, or build up to show even more

The Chubby Stick is a wind up tube in the cute shape of a pencil, made from plastic and with a shiny metal feel and look cap and tip. The product just feels nice in your hand like you know it's quality materials, and you know it's going to last, but without being too heavy to keep in your handbag every day. The packaging is really one of the things that draws me in with these because it's so different to most other lipsticks or lip balms on the market. If you've got a Clinique Chubby Stick, you know it's a Clinique Chubby Stick!


Overall I think the product lasted fairly well on my lips and was quite comfortable. It was hydrating enough to keep wearing through out the day with touch ups only needed from the Chubby Stick, rather than a lot of products where I still need a lot more moisture so my lips don't crack or dry out - I think the mango and shea butters work nicely here for that. I also like the consistency. It's smooth enough to glide onto your lips with ease, but also tacky enough to stick around for a while and you can feel it lightly on your lips without being too sticky. It's almost like a matte lipstick once it's been on your lips for a while, it doesn't dry your lips out but it's not overly slick, so if you need a little more moisture than that through the day I would probably top up with something like the Clinique Superbalm moisturising gloss I reviewed earlier in my blog.  


As with most Clinique products I've tried these are not scented. Sometimes I love a little gimmick of smell, and with such cute names it'd be nice to have the scent to match, but I also don't feel like I'm missing out without a scent in these products as the product speaks for itself and is present where it needs to be without being overpowering in any dimension.


I know there is a lot of hype about hybrid lip balm/lipsticks at the moment, but from the others that I've tried so far this seems to be the classic, and the best for a reason. I honestly can't wait to get more of these and wear them everyday! 


I was given this chubby stick to review, but you can purchase these from Clinique stores Australia wide for $35. I think this will honestly last me ages as a little product goes a long way! You can find your nearest Clinque stockist on their website here or you can also buy directly from the Clinique Australia website as they usually have awesome bonuses and free samples going on with their web-store. 


As an added bonus, there are 8 (yes EIGHT!) new shades being released at the end of this month, and I was lucky enough to be sent a preview to share. These can be seen in the image below: 

[image courtesy of Clinique Australia]

Have you tried Clinique's Chubby Stick yet? What do you love / loathe about them? What's your favourite colour? x

NOTW - Deborah Lippmann - Candy Shop over Kit - Winner Takes

This weeks Nail Of The Week is what I can only describe as a party on the nails! This is quite fitting too as the main nail polish in focus here is from the Deborah Lippmann - Get This Party Started nail polish trio box set from 2011 which featured Candy Shop (Happy Birthday glitter in a pink jelly base) alongside Happy Birthday and Forget You (Happy Birthday glitter in a black jelly). 

I started with a lighter base than I have previously used with the Candy Shop jelly top coat. I used one of my very favourite pale pinks - Kit - Winner Takes. This is a really light pink that is pretty much the exact colour that it looks in the bottle. It goes on really opaque like all Kit nail polishes that I've used, which makes it easy to have a nice base with pale colours. I used 2 coats just to get a nice even finish before I put on the glitter top coat. 

The glitter in Deborah Lippmann's Candy Shop is definitely not lacking at all. One quick swipe was all I needed for the thick coverage of glitter that you can see on my nails above. It comes out nice and even and applies really easily. The pink jelly base with the glitter actually made my nails a more fluro pink than I was expecting over the pale pink base colour. I didn't know if I liked it at first, but it really grew on me and it's a nice effect in the end. I've only ever used this over a barbie kind of pink previously so the colour of the jelly base wasn't noticeable at all, but over this you can really tell that the jelly base has a colour of it's own. 

I'm still yet to use Candy Shop on it's own on my nails, but from watches that I've seen the jelly base builds up to quite a nice colour making it not too sheer. It might be something I need to think about trying in the future. There are some good swatches of the whole 'Get This Party Started' set here. 

I received the Deborah Lippmann 'Get This Party Started' set which included Candy Shop for my birthday, and it's from 2011 so I'm not sure that it's available online anymore, but it may still be on ebay! I know you can order Candy Shop on it's own from the Deborah Lippmann website (not 100% sure that it posts to Australia sorry!) or from 

The Kit nail polish 'Winner Takes' is still available in store at Kit and Mecca or online at Kit and Mecca too.

What do you think of this combination? What's your favourite glitter nail polish? x

Crush Cosmetics - 88 Shade Neutral Palette

[with flash]

[swatches in natual light]

When I first started collecting makeup, I was definitely a little more budget conscious than I am now (makeup loves me back right?! Haha). This was one of the first big purchases I made to try to build my collection quickly and for beginning and experimenting it's perfect!

The Crush Cosmetics - 88 Shade Neutral Palette is a collection of 88 eye shadows including a great range of netrals to suit all eye colours, from light creams to dark maroons. The palette includes 42 matte shades, the rest are a combination of shimmer and pearl. Having this range means the palette is versatile for an every day look, or can be built up to be a little bit fancier for a night out.

As far as the quality of the eyeshadows go, the pigment is quite good but it takes a little bit more to build some of the colours up on your skin. As you can see in the swatches the initial build up gives a nice colour pay off, but it fades fairly quickly, and some of the darker shades that do have a better colour pay off tend to crumble a little so be careful about fall out!

Overall this is a great place to start with eye shadow, and for the price you get a great little collection. I would definitely make sure you use a good eye primer though when using these to make the colours last, and if you have sensitive skin always test cheaper products before using them on your face or you may get a nasty surprise. I have not had any issues with these eye shadows personally, but better to be safe than sorry! 

I purchased this palette from Crush Cosmetics a few years ago now, but they're still in stock online for only $35.95 ($AU) making it less than 50 cents per colour! I believe they may be the same as or similar to the Coastal Scents - Warm Palette and the reviews online are great. I'm not too sure if their website ships here, but I have seen them on ebay for quite cheap too so look around if ebay is more your thing!  

Do you have any Crush Cosmetics Palettes? What kind of makeup did you first start with when you bought makeup? x