April Favourites | The Lipstick Hub

Here are my makeup favourites for the month of April, these were a little hard to choose because some of these products were supposed to be in March's favourites and some items didn't arrive until yesterday. Though May's favourites are going to be amazing because so many more products are arriving.

1. Violet Voss Holy Grail Palette - This was the product was supposed to arrive in March but that's a whole other story. Anyway this palette, is amazing! What really caught my eye was the Wine N Dine shade, it's such a beautiful shade and watching Jeffree's video on it made me really excited about this palette. The palette was quite expensive to get my hands on, you could only buy one, the palette retails for $52 (though it's $42 with the code HOLYGRAIL10) and shipping is $35 so it's $87USD for the entire kit and kaboodle. The palette has 20 shades in there and the names are awesome. As someone who doesn't do neutral looks very often, this palette is very appealing to me.

2. Bobbi Brown University Eye Palette - This palette is definitely a costly one, retailing at $99 at Mecca. That's a lot for a palette with 12 eyeshadows and the pans are also smaller than the Violet Voss one. I did pick this palette up for the shadows Antique Rose and Black Plum (there is a little bit of a colour scheme going on here). The shadows aren't the most pigmented but they do blend out easily and create a seamless look. The colours aren't what you'd expect to find in a palette but I like that, it's great for travelling when you can create so many different looks with taking multiple palettes.

3. Bhcosmetics x Shaaanxo Lip and Eye Palette - I was so excited when Shaaanxo started showing this little beauty off on her channel. This palette is such a creative idea, it's double sided, one side has 9 eyeshadows and the other side has 9 lipsticks. The palette itself looks beautiful, the pink tint with the lights from her background. The eyeshadows are more on the neutral side, there are 3 mattes and the rest are shimmers. One shade in particular is a duochrome shade, it reminds me a lot of MAC's blue brown pigment. The lipsticks are a little bit more pink based, though you do get a lot of variety with the palette, a red shade, a burgundy shade and some neutral mauve shades. This palette is a win for me especially seeing as it's only $14.50 USD. It's so cheap and you get tons of product.

L-R Swatches: 2 from Shaaanxo's Palette, Wine N Dine and So Jelly from Violet Voss, and Black Plum and Antique Rose from Bobbi Brown

4. Benefit Hoola - This product is a holy grail product for a lot of people, including me. The reason why it's in this months favourites is because it's personalised with my name on it. It also comes with a personalised brush as well. Other than that, it is a great bronzer or contour shade depending on your skin tone. It's buttery and so easy to blend out.

5. Rimmel Sculpting Palette in 002 Coral Glow - This is new to Australia, and I'm in love with it. It has 3 compartments, a highlighter illuminer, a contour sculpter, and a blush colorer. It's part of the Kate collection. The packaging is quite nice, with a copper bronze edge around it. The highlighter isn't intense but it gives you a lovely glowly-sheen to your skin. The contour shade does have shimmer so it might be more of a bronzer for some people but it's a great shade for pale people. It doesn't go cakey and it's not too dark, though don't go heavy handed with it, it's quite pigmented. The blush is also lovely, its really a peachy-pink colour that isn't too pigmented but you can definitely build it up.

6. Girl Scouts Lip Smacker Tasty Trio Collection - My inner child screamed out to me when I saw this pack. It includes a Lip Smacker in Chocolate Peanut Butter, a Liquid Lip Smacker in Thin Mints, and a Lip Smacker Lip Pot in Coconut Caramel Stripes. The first one, the Chocolate Peanut Butter, smells amazing, it really does smell like a Reese's. The quality is like any other lip smacker, I do use them more for novelty, taste and smell rather than actual hydration and treatment but it's cute nonetheless. The Thin Mints lip gloss smells exactly like a Thin Mint biscuit, not just mint but mint with chocolate. I feel like it would be perfect as a lip plumper as well because of the mint which gives you that tingly feeling in your lips. The last one, the lip pot, looks so freaking cute as the packaging is a cookie. I can't put my finger on what it smells like but it smells amazing.

7. Bite Matte Creme Lip Crayon in Cafe - This colour is so pretty, it's a pinky brown nude. I don't know if this is a permanent colour, though I think it is, because I got it in last year's Bite Beauty Christmas pack. The formula is beautiful, its a creamy matte formula, so it doesn't drag on the lips and the colour stays on all day. I've already talked about these quite thoroughly so I'm not going to go into detail too much but you should definitely check these out.

8. NYX Liquid Suede Cream Lipstick in Pink Lust / Passion Rose - NYX always seem to get it right with their lip products. The liquid suede lipsticks are incredibly pigmented and neon in colour. These are really creamy but they do transfer, however when they do transfer they leave a stain on the lips which looks beautiful. They dry down to a semi matte when dabbed with a tissue or something along those lines.

9. Seraphine Botanicals Carrot + Rose Hydrating Cream - This was something I got in an Ipsy bag, as well as the NYX Liquid Suede. I didn't expect to like this as much as I did. It's not a brand I've heard of before but I'm already in love. I'd never thought of putting Carrot and Rose together, but it smells amazing and feels like cashmere. Its not a thick lotion but it's about the same consistency as every other moisturiser. The hydrating cream almost has a blurring affect to it where it makes your face look flawless. I would definitely recommend this.

10. Essence All That Greys Nail Polish in Roaring Red - The last product for the April favourites is the new Essence nail polish from the All That Grey's collection. I really love this collection but in particular, I love this nail polish. It's a pearly matte finish. Its a deep burgundy colour with red reflects. It lasts a really long time and doesn't chip too much. I think it's amazing for such a cheap price. If you're interested in the collection you should check it out before it leaves stores.

Indie Brand Impulse Cosmetics Haul and Review | The Lipstick Hub

Today I'll be showing you guys my Impulse Cosmetics Haul. Impulse Cosmetics is a brand that I found on Instagram, they are a small, indie, and up-and-coming brand. They are hand-made which I think is amazingly impressive. I ordered a few products so that I could really test out their products and give you guys my thoughts. 

The first product I have to show you guys is their Matte Lip Lacquer in Julep, it's a bright mint colour and is incredibly pigmented. The only problem that I have with the lip products from this brand is that they don't have the shade names on the products which gets annoying when you're trying to post Instagram photos or you know, write blog posts. The packaging isn't too bad, it's just plastic with stickers wrapped around; which I don't mind at all. The full sized Matte Lip Lacquer is only $11 USD so I'm not going to complain about an indie brand's packaging unless it's faulty. The formula is a nice change, it's quite thin but pigmented and it feels really lightweight. It doesn't feel drying or heavy after a long time of wearing them.

The next lot of products I bought were the Duochrome Matte Lip Lacquers. Because I wanted to test out a few of them, I bought samples sizes which is a super cool thing about this brand. It's like a try-before-you-buy. The sample sizes are only $3 USD each for 1.2ml of product, which isn't bad. They come with mini doe-foot applicators so you don't have to worry about how to apply them. The formula is the same as the Matte Lip Lacquer, it does seem a little bit chunky when you first apply it, but when you even it out, then its the exact same. These are super pretty and I'll definitely need to be ordering more ASAP.

L-R: Charisma, Exploit, Hypnosis, Superstition (Duo-chromes), Julep (Matte Lip Lacquer)

The next products are eyeshadow collections, I got the Deathly Hollows sample eyeshadow collection (Halloween, 2015) and the Once Upon A Time sample eyeshadow collection. I picked one eyeshadow out of each collection to swatch because the OUAT collection comes with 10 eyeshadows ($12.50) and the HP collection comes with 12 ($15 USD). The Harry Potter set has a lot of darker colours and has more earthy tones whereas the Once Upon A Time Set has a lot of lighter colours. They don't have matte colours, all of them are like a duochrome eyeshadow with a lot of sparkle which is really awesome. I didn't buy something like a Morphe palette, that I expect to have neutral transititon colours and crease colours etc, I got these collections to have fun with some lid colours or to use as highlighters etc. They are a little difficult to open and they will spill everywhere if you aren't careful.

Once Upon A Time Collection

Harry Potter Collection

Left: Marauders, Harry Potter    Right: Sugarplum, Once Upon A Time

Out of everything I can not fault any of these products. They are all so wonderful and I'm already planning my next order from Impulse Cosmetics. I hope you guys found this mini haul/brand review useful and let me know if you got anything from them in the comments below.

New Hydra Matte Liquid Lipsticks by Gerard Cosmetics | The Lipstick Hub

I'm back again and with new products to talk about to you guys! I'm talking about the new Hydra Mattes by Gerard Cosmetics for their spring/summer collection. They released 4 colours though I was only interested in two, 1995 and West Coast. 1995 is by far my favourite lipstick from them so I was super excited to hear that they were making a liquid lipstick version of it. West Coast first interested me because of the name, and its the name of one of my favourite Lana Del Rey songs, then I saw the colour and I was in love, from the photos it looks like a very neon coral pink shade which I'm excited to put to the test.

I'll start with West Coast, it is a very neon shade, so if that isn't something that you're into I would give this a pass. However if you don't mind a pop of colour, this shade is stunning. The Hydra Matte smells a lot like the Lime Crime Velvetines, which I don't mind. It's very light weight and has a very liquid-y consistency, not at all like the Ofra ones. It didn't dry immediately but it still dried down to complete matte. I do think that it's a lot more pink than it is coral but a lovely shade nonetheless.

As for 1995, I think they made a wonderful colour though it's not quite the same as the 1995 lipstick, it comes off a lot darker. Thought if you put the lipstick on top of the liquid lipstick, there is absolutely no difference to the liquid lipstick on its own. I think that they did a wonderful job in making this shade and it was definitely a great idea from a business stand point, but it is darker than the actual 1995 lipstick.

L-R: 1995 Hydra Matte, 1995 Lipstick, 1995 Hydra Matte with 1995 lipstick on top, West Coast

Other than that I have nothing bad to say, shipping time wasn't horrible seeing as it was coming from America. I think the shades are wonderful and I'll definitely be getting a lot of use out of 1995 this Winter here in Australia.  

March Favourites! | The Lipstick Hub

Finally doing a March Favourites, I haven't done a favourites list in a long time so I'm excited. I do believe mostly that I haven't done one based on the fact that I do Hidden Gems which is sort of like a favourites list, but alas, this month I feel like so much makeup just came right at me that doesn't really belong in Hidden Gems because they are well-known makeup products that everyone's been loving this month. So let's jump right into it shall we?

1. Kylie Lip Kit in Koko K
This was my very first Lip Kit that I ordered and I'm so glad that I ordered two because I'm absolutely freaking in love. I can't get enough of this beautiful shade. I'd also like to give Kylie credit for her valiant effort with these Lip Kits. She restocks almost weekly, they smell heavenly and look so freaking beautiful. There are so many swatches and reviews out on these but there was no doubt about it that these were going in my favourites list. To be honest the Lip Kits are probably in my top 5 liquid lipstick formulas already.

2. MannyMua x Makeup Geek Eyeshadow Palette
I know every Youtuber, blogger and makeup junkie has been raving about this palette, but it is for a good reason. This palette is to die for. I literally bought this palette for the shade Mars because I have been wanting a burgundy eyeshadow that is pigmented to hell and isn't too brown based. The rest of this palette was just a prize really. Manny did a fantastic job with the palette and I couldn't be more proud of him. I'm absolutely in love with how versatile the palette is and the fact that it works well on so many different skin tones.

3. Charlotte Tilbury Bar of Gold Highlighter
My god this product was hard to get my hands on, and that's coming after the Kylie Lip Kits and MannyMua palette, so that's saying a lot. I've been wanting this highlighter since about mid-last year and I was only able to get my hands on it in freaking March. That's insane. I was disappointed in the packaging, it feels cheap and the magnet is really strong. However the product is beautiful, though pale skin tones can only really use this particular highlighter on top of bronzers because it is golden based.

4. Revlon Nail Art Shiny Matte in 530 Emerald Suede
I've already talked about this product in a Hidden Gem but I loved this nail polish duo. The photos in the Hidden Gems post show the colours nicely but it certainly doesn't do them justice. I'll be wearing this again very soon.

5. Savvy Mineral Baked Blush in Coral
This isn't at all a coral colour, its a very coppery-bronze colour. I actually didn't buy this product with the intention of using it as a blush, I used it as a baked eyeshadow during the Mecca x Smashbox event. I haven't used it as a blush so I can't really give my thoughts on that particular use of the product but I can tell you that if you wet your brush, it makes a fantastic pigmented eyeshadow.

6. Makeup Forever HD Foundation (The original formula)
I managed to get my hands on the original formula which I am so happy about because it's a great foundation. I got the shade N115 which is amazing for pale skin tones, I haven't had to mix anything with it which is amazing to me. I love the formula, I wish that they hadn't taken over with the new formula.

7. Ofra Long Lasting Liquid Lipstick in Laguna Beach
This colour is very, very similar to Koko K but it's a bit lighter and a little bit more pink than KoKo K which I wasn't expecting. Though the formulas are very different. The Ofra one is a lot creamier and has a more mousse consistency, whereas Koko K has a more watery consistency. Though I really love these formulas equally.

8. Lorac Pro Matte Palette
This is a little hard to get your hands on if you're in Australia but it's definitely worth the effort. The eyeshadows are so buttery and pigmented. They look stunning, especially for a more nude palette. This is definitely my new travelling palette for when I want a neutral look. Even the feel of the palette is beautiful.

9. Laura Geller Baked Gelato Swirl Illuminator in Gilded Honey
While this product looks freaking amazing, it's also just a plain ol' great product. Being a lighter skin tone I can only really use this on top of bronzers but oh my Lord it is stunning. This product makes me want to fake tan so I can really see it's true beauty, but I'll just have to wait for Laura Geller to make ones that are a little more friendly towards pale skin tones.

10. Kmart Body Mist in Just Peachy
I will be doing a Hidden Gem's post on this at a later date but the new Kmart body mists are so nice especially for $4 each. Ever since I started wearing Just Peachy I have been getting tons of complements. It's also incredibly strong so you don't have to use much but offt it stays on for hours.

Unfortunately that's all the favourites for this month, until next. I did have a couple things planned to be in this month's favourites, though it didn't work out so it might have to be in the next month's list.

Easter Show Beauty Show Bag Haul | The Lipstick Hub

At the Easter Show I got a few beauty show bags, but also some fitness ones and some other ones. I thought you guys would be interested in the show bags I got and what is in them. I do apologise for this being late and coming out on the Tuesday instead of the Friday last week, but it was a public holiday, Easter Long Weekend, so I hope you can forgive me. But after this it is pretty much back to your regular scheduled program.

The first bag I got was Elle ($20). If you want to see what's included in the bag you can look at the bag's information on the Easter Show website. I was really excited for this bag, I love Elle magazine especially because Kylie Jenner was on the cover. The bag also included dry shampoo, sun glasses, magnum chocolate and an RY voucher. The amount of things you get in this bag is amazing, especially because it's $5 cheaper than the most expensive bags.

The next bag I got was the Designer Brands show bag ($20). I was a little annoyed because I specifically got there early so I could get the contour kit instead of the snowflake palette but I had already missed out before it was even mid-day. I think this bag would be great if you don't have a lot of DB stuff which I don't, so I'm excited to try out the nail polish, lipstick and mascara.

The next one is the Dolly show bag ($20) This bag had a couple of choices, like the backpack and the cap, I opted for the 'denim' backpack and the 'On Fleek' cap. The denim bag isn't what I thought it would be like, it's more a print on a canvas bag than an actual denim bag. I didn't know that one of the Dolly magazines would have an Essence freebie with it, so that was a nice surprise. The little 2016 dairy and washi tape is pretty cute. I'm also pretty happy that it had an RY coupon.

This one is the Girlfriend show bag ($15) which I think may have been the cheapest out of the lot and it's understandable why, it didn't have a whole lot in it. Though I was quite interested in the Sinful Colors nail polish, the Biore sample and the Instax magnetic pegs. I could have bought the items individually but the nail polish was a bit of a mystery colour, I really liked the design of this bag and I did want the magazines.

This bag may not be recognisable instantly because it had so many choose your owns but this one is the Young Designers Collective Fashion Bag ($25). This one was probably my favourite bag because it has so many things that are practical. I'll start with the choose your owns, so you got to choose out of two things for the bag, hat, sun glasses, purse, scarf and the Clearasil Superfruits line. I was really happy with the things I opted for, I like the chic marble design. I think the floral sunglasses are hella cute. The food and drink weren't too bad. Toothpaste is always a good thing to have a backup of. I did have to throw the coloured hair shampoo out because mine leaked which sucks but overall, definitely my favourite bag.

This bag is the Spirit State Killin It bag ($25), there were two Spirit State bags and I did purchase both of them, which means there were a lot of double ups. I'll show you the two bags side by side so you can see what I mean. There were some differences between the two like bag styles, bag and drink bottle designs. In the Killin It bag you got a phone strap for your arm where as in the Sweat More bag they offered skipping ropes. If you want to see the differences up close you can have a look at the Easter show bag website.

This bag was The Kylie and Jackie O bag ($25), it did have a lot of branding in it which kind of annoyed me. But in this bag it had a lot of practical things that drew me to it. For example, the headphones, the Bio-Oil, the Natural Paw Paw ointment, the Sunglasses, the travel charger and food I could actually eat. So if you can look past the branding, it's actually quite a good bag.

This next thing wasn't so much a showbag as it was just a stall at the Easter Show. After last years Lush boom, I was really excited to see this, the store was called Get Drenched and it was very similar to Lush, the had bath bombs, soaps, candles and lip scrubs. I picked up two of the bath bombs and the bubble bath bar for $18 all together. The bath bomb on the left is very similar to Lush's Sex Bomb so I'd like to see if it's a good dupe for it.

That's it for this year's Easter show, why don't you guys tell me what you got in the comments down below, or if there's anything that you'll be picking up?

New Bhcosmetics Products | Haul and Review | The Lipstick Hub

I did a little shop around Bhcosmetics recently and saw that they had some new makeup like the contour palette and the collaboration with Pride + Prejudice + Zombies. I picked some stuff up and I thought I do some swatches for you and give my opinion on the products.

I'll start with the contour palette. The packaging is pretty cheap but I do like that it's somewhat see through, though I generally only need that on an eyeshadow palette, not a contour palette. I like that you have to click a button in for it to open, which makes it really nice for travelling with, though it is pretty wide. When you open the palette, it has 4 highlighting shades and 6 contour shades which isn't too bad. The palette does come with the typical banana shade that everyone loves, but I do like that it includes an orange shade which is something not many other contour palettes include. I did swatches of the contour shades only and they are pretty nice. There's a lot of diversity between the different browns. Some are really warm toned and some are really cool toned. They are incredibly buttery and pigmented. The first contour colour wasn't too pigmented on the first swipe but it's definitely buildable. I'd say it's a great contour palette for darker skin tones rather than pale skin tones seeing as there's probably two, maybe three, colours I'll be able to use. I would say for the average makeup lover, you could probably do without this if you have other contour palettes, but if you're a makeup artist I would say this is perfect. So many different colours for clients and it's perfect for travelling in which the palette won't pop open at any time. Also the palette doesn't have colour names which can be annoying.

The only thing I got from the collaboration with Pride + Prejudice + Zombies collection was the palette, mostly because the only other thing they had was a lip gloss pack and I don't like lip glosses. It's an eye and cheek palette and again it doesn't have colour names so that's a little annoying. Inside it has 12 eyeshadow colours and 3 cheek colours, a mirror and a cute quote by Elizabeth Bennet underneath it. When I first got the palette I mostly got it for collectors purposes but the swatches quickly changed my mind about this palette. I swatched a bunch of random eyeshadows and then three of the cheek colours on the right. They are so pigmented my jaw dropped. The colours are so buttery and bright I'm in love. There are definitely more shimmery colours than mattes colours but that doesn't really bother me. This palette doesn't really speak zombies to me nor does it speak early 19th century to me. So I don't know what it has to do with the movie in anyway but I still think it's an amazing palette, especially since I got it for about $15 AUD.

I don't really have much to say about the Pop Art lipstick seeing as I've already got one but I do really like them. This time I got the shade Zap and I'm in love with it. It's a bright teal-ly green and it's absolutely stunning. It's hella pigmented, I swipe is all you need trust me. The lipsticks can drag a little on your lips but they aren't a really drying matte, more of a satin-matte.

I got two of the liquid lipsticks that Bhcosmetics came out with a little while ago. I got the shades, Serena and Clara, although I didn't order Serena, I actually ordered Princess because Serena was out of stock but I don't mind that I got Serena instead of Princess. I'll just order Princess next time. Both of the colours are variations of nude. Clara is a bit of a dark-ish brown nude and Serena is a more pink and coral based nude. The liquid lipsticks are really light weight, they don't feel heavy on your lips at all and they don't make my lips feel like the Sahara desert. I'd say they are pretty damn good especially for the price.

All in all I'm pretty happy with this haul, the P+P+Z palette really surprised and definitely stole the show. I'm in love with all the lip products I got, and even though I won't be able to use about half of the contour palette, I still look forward to using the other shades.

MOTD | Bold Bright Pink Makeup | The Lipstick Hub

Today my makeup was a bright pink look, pink eyes, pink lips and blush. If you don't like pink makeup then you probably will hate this look. I really enjoyed doing this look and just messing around with some new products that I had gotten. Criticism is welcome but this was just an experiment. Let me know what you guys thought of it. I didn't do a tutorial on this because I didn't really have a full face planned, I just knew what products I wanted to use.

The products I used, in order of use, were:
- Maybelline Dream Wonder Foundation in 10 Porcelain Ivory
- BYS Translucent loose powder
- Maybelline Fit Me concealer in 10 Light
- Anastasia Beverly Hills Contour Kit in Vanilla to set my undereyes and then Fawn to contour
- Urban Decay Gwen Stefani blush palette in Cherry
- Hourglass Ambient Lighting Edit palette using both Iridescent Light and Luminous Finish to highlight with
- Loreal Brow Artist Plumper
- Makeup Forever Brow Seal
- Benefit Stay Dont' Stray eye primer in light/medium and then set it with BYS Translucent loose powder
- For eyeshadow palettes I used a few, Be Indulged Summer Pop Eye Palette, Too Faced Chocolate Bon Bons, Sleek Ultra Mattes V1 and finally Too Faced Sugar Pop
- Essence eyeliner pen extra long lasting
- Revlon Bold Lacquer mascara, this didn't quite do the job for me so I added Loreal Miss Manga black mascara
- Benefit They're Real mascara for the bottom lashes
- Chi Chi Glamourama lip liner
- Mac Tats lipstick

Palette Dupes | Stila Vs. Chi Chi Vs. Be Indulged | The Lipstick Hub

I had my eyes on the Stila Eyes Are The Window 'Body' and the Chi Chi LE Summer eyeshadow palettes for a little while now. I did get these a little while ago, both roughly around the holiday season but then I came across the Be Indulged Shimmer Eye Palette. The thing all these palettes have in common are the colour schemes in them.

L-R: Chi Chi, Be Indulged, Stila

Each palette has at least a pink champagne colour, a purple colour, a blue colour and a bronze-y colour. There are a couple other colours that are similar in a couple of the palettes, but those particular colours are similar in all three palettes.

The Chi Chi palette is limited edition but as of right now, you can get the palette in the holiday set online in their Sales tab. Chi Chi is an Australian brand but their website does ship internationally. This palette is $30 but in only comes in a set with a jumbo bronzer and blush, so you are getting your money's worth for sure.

The Be Indulged palette is a new brand from Kmart Australia. I do believe that it's Kmart's own brand but I'm not 100% certain. I'm also not certain on how much this palette was but it's between $15-$5, I know that it's definitely the cheapest out of the lot.

The Stila palette isn't brand new, it's been out for a while now and it's definitely the most expensive palette out of the lot, marked at $78 currently, though when I bought it, it was $72. Mecca's prices are rising so it does make it a bit hard to justify $80 on a eyeshadow palette.

You are paying for packaging, the shadows and the brand name, so obviously Stila is going to be the most expensive by default. However is Stila the best palette? Let's do some swatches.

All the swatches are done in order of: Chi Chi, Be Indulged, Stila

There are 4 sets of swatches for the colours that are in all the palettes. By far the most pigmented is Chi Chi for sure. The colours are a bit hard to see because the colours are so shimmery but Chi Chi definitely takes the cake with this one. The Be Indulged palette is okay if you're on a budget but the colours in the palette are darker than the other two. The Stila one is barely pigmented at all, it might be better if you wet your brush and then dipped into the eyeshadows, but so far, I'm not impressed with the $72 palette. Chi Chi, you are amazing as always.

Mecca x Smashbox Event Night | The Lipstick Hub

On Friday night I went to an event that Mecca held for Smashbox cosmetics at the new Mecca at Chatswood. I just want to say thank you Mecca for the invitation and it was a wonderful night.

The red carpet setup

My makeup for the event

The night started off amazing, we had our photos taken professionally by a photographer and they took our names to let us in. They supplied soft drinks, water, orange juice and champagne as soon as you walked in the door. There were plenty of Mecca girls, not just from the Chatswood store to help you out if you needed it. They had some little nibbles that they brought out, and later on some little desserts.

Homemade Kit Kat

Macaroon

They really encouraged selfies that night and I loved it. They had a professional "Kylie Jenner" selfie light set up, it was a ring light with a mirror on it and a place to hold your phone. It looked so freaking cool and I definitely wanted to take it home. Once you took a selfie you could upload it to Instagram and tag it with #MeccaxSmashbox and they could print it out right then and there for you, it was like a little polaroid.

Rose and I

A little later, Davis, Will and Lori showed up and did a little Q and A, except Will had to speak for Lori because the poor thing lost her voice. They talked about some of their new products and why they started Smashbox Cosmetics. After they finished they called on 5 winners to spend some VIP time with them after the event, I believe. Davis, Will and Lori walked around and socialised with all of us which was wonderful, you even got to take selfies with them.



You got to redeem the $50 entry fee on some products (Just like at the Nars event, which you can read about here). I chose to get Smashbox's new Insta-Matte Lipstick Transformer ($38). It's described as "Smashbox's genius new release turns any gloss into a matte finish. Apply over your fave lip colour and BAM! A new velvet look. Kylie would approve." I definitely agree that Kylie would approve. This product is amazing. It definitely has that velvet feel to it. Will also said that if you wanted to moisturise your lips without having that glossy look, then this is amazing, works wonderfully for guys who don't want to look like they're wearing chapstick but still want to stay hydrated. It really is a multi-purpose product. You can put this on top of liquid matte lipsticks to hydrate your lips without losing that matte look or you can turn one of your favourite cream lipsticks into a matte lipstick. All you need is the tiniest bit and then dab, dab, dab. Keep dabbing till your fingers hurt basically.

I also got the Urban Decay B6 Prep Spray (30ml) because I had heard some really good things about this product, especially from Shaaanxo. So I can't wait to test that out.

As well as getting the redeemable $50, you also got a complementary brush set from Smashbox, which included a paddle foundation brush, a fan brush, an angled eyebrow or eyeliner brush, a lip brush and a eyeshadow blender brush. The brushes come with such a stunning design on them, I'm already in love. They come in such a nice variety which makes them great for travelling.

The night was spectacular, I really do have to thank Rose, all the Mecca girls and Davis, Will and Lori. I can't wait to do this again!

Collective Haul | From Sephora US, Priceline, Mecca and Daiso and Much, Much More! | The Lipstick Hub

Happy Leap Year Day! Get ready for this haul because it's huge. It's basically everything I got in the month of February. Grab some popcorn and put on some relaxing music. I'm going to have to go in order of shops because there is way too much here for one big pile dump, after stating what I got, I'll do a little mini review for you guys.

Forever 21: Two Clear Acrylic 9 Lipstick Holders, a Holographic Card Holder and a Handbag.
The lipstick holders and the handbag are really nice, I do wish that the lipstick holders had levels though so the back ones could be on display as well. The holographic card holder is a little fiddley because it can't hold a lot of cards and it's very stiff. You have to play around with it for a little while. All in all, the lipstick holders are definitely worth checking out and I'm in love with the handbag.

Sportsgirl: Marble and Rose Gold Phone Case and a Lip Chalk in Fist Date.
The phone case is so pretty, really on trend at the moment which is probably what drew me to it. The Sportsgirl lip chalk is something I wanted to try out since they came out, I don't expect them to be like Jeffree Star's Velour Liquid Lipstick or the Colourpop Ultra Mattes. They do state that it is a matte lip cream, so I expect it to be like the Nyx Soft Matte Lip Creams. They do dry down a lot which is nice and don't tend to transfer too much. They also have a very sweet medicine smell. The smell is very pungent so if you don't like fragranced products, stay away from these, otherwise they are very nice.

Daiso: Three Mix Cheek Powders and a Charcoal Peel Off Mask
I haven't yet tried the peel off mask but I really hope that it meets my expectations, this basically the product I'm waiting for Biore to release. The mixed cheek powders were one of my Hidden Gem's in Feb so if you want my thoughts on them you can go to this post.

Colette by Colette Hayman: Cat Ears Headband
There's not much to say about this because it isn't a beauty product but nonetheless I felt it deserved a spot in my haul. It's absolutely gorgeous with the silver sparkles in the gold trim. I definitely feel like these will be making an appearance.

Lime Crime: True Love Velvetine trio and the Bae Bouquet (Perlees trio)
These were Valentine's Day sets so they are limited edition, you can buy the Perless individually. The Perlees that came in the pack were Mirage, Third Eye and Lady. All metallic creamy lipsticks. They are incredibly unique and definitely suited the theme. The velvetine's are limited edition shades and aren't sold individiually at this moment. The colours are beautiful and again are well suited to the theme. Swatches are provided below.

The left column are the Perlees from top to bottom: Mirage, Third Eye and Lady.
The right column are the Velvetines and the Sportsgirl Lip Chalk from top to bottom: Saint, True Love, Cupid and First Date

Dabry St Pharmacy: Mini Australis Velourlips Take Me Travelling Set in Nudes and Pinks
I was so thankful when I found this set because I didn't know it exsisted until after the holiday sets had finished but thankfully I had managed to get my hands on the last set. The set includes Mil-a-no, Hon-o-loo-loo, Ho-Chee-Min, Los-Angel-Es and Lun-Dun.

Woolworths: Montagne Jeunesse Cucumber Peel Off Masque
I've bought plenty of these and have mention these repeatedly, including on Instagram and on my blog, I freaking love this stuff but this one is huge, the normal one I get is 80mls and the one in this haul is 175mls.

MAC: Lipstick in Diva
I didn't want to get a whole lot at MAC, the reason I did go is because of a little blog post that will be coming up soon, so stayed tuned for that. I got Diva because, A. I only really like matte finishes from MAC but I don't mind Satin, B. I wanted a different colour to some of the other colour's I've gotten from them which are a lot of pinky-nudes so I thought Diva was a nice change of scenery.

With flash

Without flash

FB: Stila Eternally Yours Liquid Lipstick Set of 6
So the Eternally Yours set came out around Christmas time at Mecca and I didn't even know that they were out so I missed out on them because they seemingly never restocked them again. But I finally got my hands on the set from a lovely lady on Facebook.

Kmart: Four Body Mists, Love Pamper Face Mask in Peach, Botanical Choice Deep Cleansing Peel-Off Mask, Australis Take Me On Tour Contour Kit, Be Indulged Summer Pop Eye Palette
So apparently I was really into face masks because I bought two more from Kmart. I haven't tried them yet but I'm really excited. I was pretty interested in the eyeshadow palette because the colours are hella neon and I want to see if they compare to some other palettes I own. I got the contour kit because I wanted something that I could just quicky take on the go. The body mists however were amazing, they smell delicious. I've currently got 4 and I hope they release more. Keep in mind they are very strong and sweet smelling so if that isn't your thing, I'd probably stay away. Though if you do like that kind of thing, for $4 each you really can't go wrong.

Sephora US: Cinema Secrets Pro Starter Kit, Too Faced Beautifully Blushed and Bronzed, Kat Von D liquid lipstick in Requiem, also a bunch of samples.
I got the Cinema Secrets makeup brush cleaner pro starter kit because Shaaanxo talks about it a lot and this one comes with a tin that you can use for the cleaner. Speaking of youtubers, I got Requiem because NikkieTutorials always talks about KVD's Requiem and it looks stunning on her. I got the Too Faced pack because it is the cutest thing I've ever seen. It comes with two mini blushes, two mini bronzers and a mini Flatbuki brush which is perfect for contouring or blusher and it's genius. Some little samples I got were the Giorgio Armani lip maestro, Laura Mercier candleglow soft luminous foundation, Smashbox insta-matte lipstick transformer (I can't wait to see how this preforms), Becca aqua luminous perfecting foundation. I also got a little surprise which I wasn't expecting, it was an envelope full of 5 samples of perfume. So that was a cute little surprise.

Chi Chi: Meet The Girls Fragrance Collection, Soft Matte Lip Cream Collection, Glitter Eyeliner Gift Set, Spices Eyeshadow Palette, Liquid Lipstick Collection, Lip Liner in Glamourama (Not Pictured)
I didn't know that Chi Chi brought out two fragrance collections but apparently the one I got after Christmas was Meet The Girls 2, this is the first one. I will be giving my mum Peach and Mango because it's her favourite but I'm absolutely in love with the others oh my lord. I was so excited when I saw that Chi Chi had soft matte lip creams because they are so much nicer than their liquid lipsticks, they aren't completely matte but if you dab them with some tissue paper they do turn matte and they are so nicely formulated, I definitely need more of these asap. I still got the liquid lipstick collection because while they aren't my favourite formula, I still like them and they're mini so. I did stock up on my Chi Chi glitter eyeliners because they are so nice that I need back-ups incase I run out and they don't sell them anymore. Lastly the Spices palette, I wanted something to use for some Autumn looks  and this definitely speaks Autumn to me, Shaaanxo loves this palette and now so do I. I did forget to include the lip liner in this photo which I apologise for, it's a lovely pinky-red shade that just stood out to me. I've always wanted to get the rest of the Chi Chi lip liners based off the two I already own so I was pretty happy when I saw this shade.

Mecca: Kate Somerville Hydrating Firming Mist, UD Oil-Control Setting Spray, Josie Maran Pure Argan Milk 10ml, Too Faced Chocolate Bon Bons Palette, Nars Steven Klein Killer Heels Lipstick Set, UD Gwen Stefani Blush Palette, Bare Minerals Marvelous Moxie Lip Gloss in Hypnotist, Stila Stay All Day Liquid Lipstick in Rosa, Too Faced Melted Chocolate in Chocolate Milkshake, Too Faced La Creme Color Drenched Lipstick in Unicorn Tears, 2x Josie Maran Samples and 1 Kate Somerville Sample
Woah that was a lot to get through, so most of the things were stuff that I hadn't tried before but that I wanted to like the Josie Maran stuff, the Bare Minerals lip gloss, the Stila liquid lipstick and the UD stuff. I have tried the All-Nighter setting spray from UD but I wanted the oil-control one for my oily skin. The Kate Somerville mist is a top up because I got a decent sized sample of it from Sephora US and I fell in love with it. I did get all the new stuff as soon as it was released because I'm insane like that apparently

Priceline: Models Prefer Finale Make-up Setting Mist, Savvy Lipstick Kit, Savvy Mineral Baked Blush, Savvy Ultra Matte Lip Colour, Essence Blush Up Powder Blush, Maybelline Color Blur's in I Like To Mauve It, Partner In Crimson and Pink Insanity, Maybelline Super Stay Lip Liner in Rosewood, Rimmel Kate Moss Nude Collection in the shade 45, Revlon Mascara's in Blod Lacquer and Lash Potion, 3x Australis Banana Powder, Face Of Australia Calypso Bay Nail Lacquer in A Mermaid's Tail, Sinful Colors Nail Polish in Love Nails, Essie Winter Collection, Natural Glamour Bronzed and Beautiful Collection

I already did a review on the Natural Glamour Bronzed and Beautiful Collection which you can read here. Model's Prefer actually came out with a couple other things that I also wanted as well but were never in stock so I'll have to see what I can do about that later. The Essie Nail Polishes were absolutely perfect shades for me, I'm definitely digging the white, gold and maroon trends this Winter and Autumn. I was so happy to find the Essence blush because it's been discontinued for a little while and I'm a sucker for ombre blush. Speaking of blush, I totally didn't expect the Savvy Baked Blush to be a blush, I definitely thought it was more of a baked eyeshadow, it's probably what I'll use it for anyway. The Savvy Ultra Matte Lip Colour I've already tried on and I wasn't that happy with it I don't exactly know why, and I'll definitely be giving it another go in the near future but I just can't place why I wasn't happy with it. However the Savvy Lipstick Kit, I was more than happy to get my hands on again because I am in love with the Savvy mini lipsticks and never want to run out on those. I picked up the Revlon mascara's because I heard they're being discontinued and I didn't want to miss out, and almost every store I've been to haven't had them in stock so better grab them while you can! The other nail polishes I got, I got because they are perfect mermaid colours for some up coming events and the FOA one was only $1. The Rimmel lipstick I got because they bringing in other collections and I didn't want to miss out on it, plus again they're never restocked so I grabbed it while I saw it. The Maybelline Color Blur's I was so happy about because I've literally been waiting for them ever since Shaaanxo did a video on them and now they're finally here! I also picked up the lip liner because it looks like that perfect mauve, Kylie Jenner, brown nude shade that I, and mostly everybody else, am obsessed with. Now the Australis Banana Powders weren't intentional but grab what you can right? My family members did help out with those, so I'd like to thank them as well.

That concludes my haul guys, I hope you enjoyed it, let me know in the comments or on Instagram if you did! I know it was long but if you guys made it till the end, comment "Unicorn Tears" on my Instagram photo of the collective haul photo 😘

Thank you for bearing with me and I can't wait to do another one of these. I do have more things coming in the mail that I'll be doing posts about very soon.