I'm Back

Hey guys,

So I guess I have some explaining to do. I stopped blogging for a number of reasons, one of them feeling like the pressure of posting on a schedule and being crushed by my other workload felt like I couldn't focus on my passion.

I took a couple years... or like five... to find my passion again, and to find the need to post again. I'm not doing it on a schedule or anything like that. I'm going to post things that I feel should be brought to attention, or maybe if somebody makes a request for a specific review, or something along those lines- then I'll post. But I want to keep this platform a happy place for myself and you guys. Everything that I post is going to be something that is completely thought out, and something that I'm putting all of my love and effort into.

I've done a lot of decluttering in the last year so my makeup collection has decreased but, I will admit, is still more than the average user. But I'm looking forward to grabbing some new products to review or put to the test. I've thought of a few ideas already for this space. A website remodel will probably be in the works very soon.

This blog is going to be purely my own thoughts spilled onto electronic paper. So if you don't appreciate it, you're more than welcome to click the little 'x' on your tab. There's no need to spread negativity, that's what 4Chan is for.

Watch this space very soon for some much needed makeup loving xx

- Amber

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.

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Real or Fake? Lime Crime Velvetines from Ebay Review and Comparison | The Lipstick Hub

Recently I ordered a few Lime Crime Velvetine duplicates from Ebay. I would like to preface by saying that I am aware that these are fakes, I do not truly believe that there are genuine Velvetines being sold for about $1. If you would like to buy genuine Lime Crime products, then you can go to limecrime.com/stores to see their retailers or buy directly from their website. I would also like to address that I am aware that bad chemicals can be found in knock-off products, and that they have caused allergic reactions previously in some cases, however that is why I spot-test before applying directly all over my lips. It is also up to the buyer on whether or not they would like to purchase the product or not, I am not promoting these in anyway, I am simply comparing what is being sold on Ebay to the actual Lime Crime Velvetines.

So now that that little disclaimer is over, lets get into the actual review and comparison shall we? You can purchase these really cheap Velvetines from Ebay or Aliexpress, those two are probably the most common places, I'm unaware of any others. I bought three, each of my most used Velvetines, Red Velvet, Pink Velvet and Cashmere.

L-R: Red Velvet, Pink Velvet and Cashmere

My first impression of the packaging was fairly okay. The box that Cashmere came in was clearly old and fading but I didn't mind it. They said they were sample sizes on Ebay but these are full sized Velvetines. I did notice a few differences between the real ones and the fake ones. 

L-R: Fake Red Velvet, Real Red Velvet, Fake Pink Velvet, Real Pink Velvet, Fake Cashmere, Real Cashmere

There are a few differences that you can see, especially in the flash photo. Firstly, the fake Red Velvet doesn't have a matte tube, it has a very cheap plastic tube. The colours also come off a lot more vibrant through the real tubes. The closest tubes were the Pink Velvets. The font is different on my real one because it is from their original packaging from a couple of years ago. However there is a difference in the colouring of the roses on my fake Pink Velvet, it was a lot less red and more of a deep pink, there is a comparison photo down below. Another difference is between the Cashmere's and the Red Velvet's and thats the height. They were actually taller than my real ones.

Fake Pink Velvet next to Fake Cashmere for heigh difference and difference in colour on the roses.

Swatches of the fakes next to the real deal. First up we have the Red Velvets, the fake one only dried down to a semi matte, rather than fully matte like the real one. It was also quite patchy and was a bit darker than the real one. As for Pink Velvet, the fake one was more like a chunky gloss rather than a liquid to matte lipstick. The texture wasn't pleasant, it had no colour payoff, it was almost a completely different product. The fake Cashmere was by far my favourite out of the three, the colour was pretty much what I wanted Cashmere to actually be. The colour was a little patchy, though you do get that with high end brands as well, it just happens with lighter colours in general. You could definitely add a second coat to make it more opaque and pigmented. It was a lovely shade, I wouldn't call it a dupe for Cashmere by any means. Cashmere was also the only fake to dry down to a complete matte formula.

To summarise, it could be worth it, especially for only a couple of bucks. Its a bit hit and miss though. Also as they are coming from Hong Kong, they do take a while to arrive and mostly likely they won't arrive all in one package. I'm disappointed in Red Velvet and Pink Velvet but I don't really mind because they weren't expensive and I didn't have high expectations for them anyway. Cashmere was surprisingly nice.

If you've ordered these let me know what you thought of them in the comments down below! I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences.

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.