Category Archives: Makeup

Bite Beauty’s Agave Lip Care Range (inc. new Lavender Lip Mask!)

May 9, 2018Makeup, Reviews, SwatchesBite BeautyChelle

Bite Beauty Everyday Agave Lip Collection

My jaw just about fell on the floor when this PR package by Bite Beauty showed up a few weeks ago. It’s a lip care lover’s loveliest dream: every single shade of their Agave Lip Mask (including their new Lavender shade!), the Agave Sugar Lip Scrub and the Agave Lip Balm. Sadly, the entire package you see above isn’t available for purchase, but it does give me the opportunity to talk more in depth about Bite‘s glorious Agave range.

The Agave Lip Masks are billed as “an intensive nightly recovery lip mask to soothe lips and replenish moisture”. The formula contains agave nectar and jojoba oil which nourishes and hydrates the lips so that you wake up with softer lips. I do actually wear these overnight (and I’ve been busting through a previously purchased Maple one), but they can also be worn as a regular ole lip balm throughout the day.

While Bite‘s price point is a bit up there for some people ($30 CAD/$26 USD for one of the lip masks), there’s actually a ton of product in these tubes! There’s 15 grams/0.52 ounces which may not sound/look like a lot, but in terms of measurements… that is HALF the size of a regular bottle of foundation! Bet you never thought of it like that!

Bite has released more and more shades/flavours over time, and the Maple one has definitely been a staple of mine since it launched with the Canadian lipstick collection a few years ago. Bite‘s latest shade launch is Lavender, and oh wow does it EVER smell like lavender! The Agave Lip Masks, for the most part, smell and taste very sweet – the Lavender one is quite different in this sense as it smells a LOT like lavender with only a little bit of sweetness.

Bite's Agave Lip Mask comes with a sealed tube for freshness! — Bite’s Agave Lip Mask comes with a sealed tube for freshness!

One last note on the packaging – all the Lip Masks come sealed which helps to keep the product fresh. Turn the cap over and pierce it with the needle-like nub on the inside of the cap and you’ll be able to poke an easy hole through the seal.

Bite Beauty's Agave Lip Masks - swatched — Bite Beauty’s Agave Lip Masks – swatched

As you can see, some of the lip masks pack more colour than the others, but these are incredibly heavy swatches. On the lips everything becomes far more sheered out – even the darkest two colours (Smashed and Maple) become very, very sheer washes of colour. This makes for easy application on the go, which is something I always appreciate in a lip balm/mask!

Bite Beauty Agave Sugar Lip Scrub and Agave Lip Balm

Rounding out Bite‘s Agave range is their Sugar Lip Scrub (a potted scrub) and Agave Lip Balm (a stick balm much like their Multisticks).

Sadly, the Agave Sugar Lip Scrub isn’t really to my liking. While it tastes phenomenal on the lips, fundamentally I just don’t like that there isn’t enough scrubby sugar particles in the formula. I feel like the base is quite thick and luxurious, but overall I personally like a lot more sugar particles in my lip scrubs so this one gets a pass from me.

The Agave Lip Balm is much easier for on the go than the Lip Masks, which may suit a lot more people. I know not everyone likes using their fingers to apply lip balm, so this may be an easier option for slapping on a nourishing lip balm. It has a slightly firmer texture than the Lip Masks (makes sense – it is a solid balm after all!).

Final Thoughts

The Bite Beauty Agave Lip Masks are some of my absolute favourite lip care products in the world. Like a true Canadian, my favourite flavour is Maple and that’s the one I’d recommend the most… but honestly they’re all of the same excellent quality. It’s just a matter of finding the shade and scent that suits you the best. I know there’s a lot of lavender lovers out there, so you guys are going to be over the moon for the new scent!

As for the Agave Lip Scrub, that one gets a pass for me, but the Agave Lip Balm is a quick and easy lip saviour for on to the go. It’s one of those toss in your bags and use as needed products – quick, easy, and efficient.

Giveaway!!

Since I already owned a few Agave Lip Masks before I received this PR package, I wanted to do a small giveaway!

One person will win:

Bite Beauty Agave Lip Mask in Natural
Bite Beauty Agave Lip Mask in Maple

Giveaway Rules

This giveaway is open internationally!
This giveaway starts on May 9, 2018 and runs for one week.
Please be aware that all entries will be double checked to ensure fairness.
Once the winner has been contacted, they will have 48 hours to provide me with their mailing address. If the winner fails to respond within that time frame, I will pick another winner. (And so on.)
“Giveaway accounts” will not be considered for this prize. (If you want to know what I mean by that, please click here.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Products featured in this post were sent to me for consideration. Post contains affiliate links.

VIDEO: ARTDECO Liquid Camouflage Foundation First Impressions & Wear Test

May 3, 2018Makeup, Reviews, YouTubeARTDECOChelle

BECCA Dreamsicle (Review, Swatches & Comparison to Champagne Pop)

May 2, 2018Makeup, Reviews, SwatchesBECCAChelle

BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed in Dreamsicle

The latest launch in BECCA‘s Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed formula is Dreamsicle! What initially confused me about this launch was why there’s a big “?” on the box – but maybe I missed the build up to it? However, the back of the box indicates that “100 lucky BECCA Beauties will find a Glow Ticket inside – follow the directions on your Glow Ticket for a BECCA surprised & a chance to go to our next BECCAscape!” So maybe the “?” is an “are you a winner?” type question?

The “mystery” BECCA shade comes in white plastic packaging with their signature gun metal round sphere on top. It’s an interesting choice from the brand, but I do like the summery vibe it gives me when combined with the shade on the inside.

The new Dreamsicle highlighter is a “a soft, tangerine shade infused with white gold pearls”. It’s a limited edition product thought… or at least it’s listed as such. BECCA is renowned at this point for creating a limited edition highlighter, testing the market with it, and then re-releasing it several months down the road as a permanent product. That being said, you can’t always rely on them to go that route, so it’s always worth picking up asap if you’re super into the shade.

Of course, I love the imprint on the powder – I’m an absolute sucker for embossed powders! It adds a little extra flare to an already gorgeous colour.

BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed in Dreamsicle and Champagne Pop - swatched — BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed in Dreamsicle and Champagne Pop – swatched

When I first saw Dreamsicle, my initial reaction was that it was incredibly gorgeous, but I had to wonder just how similar it was to Champagne Pop. I was also really curious if this would work on my skin tone too. I love colourful highlighters, but there’s something about this shade that made me think it might not work so well on fair skin but may be better suited towards medium-deep.

Swatched out, you can see that Dreamsicle is definitely more orange and deeper than Champagne Pop. Champagne Pop has a paler cast, and I can definitely see more gold in Dreamsicle. While they are different, I wouldn’t call them dissimilar really. Dreamsicle is the bigger sister with more experience when compared to Champagne Pop.

The real test was on my face though. Fundamentally, Dreamsicle lacks the amount of reflective power that Champagne Pop has, and I think it’s just because on my skintone is fair, and Dreamsicle is deeper than my skin tone. The colour is beautiful, and it does impart a tangerine hue to my cheeks, but it’s a softer, subtler look than I’m used to with Champagne Pop. I feel like deeper skin tones would love this shade a lot because the colour would appear lighter on them without coming across ashy.

Final Thoughts

The limited edition Dreamsicle colour is as buttery soft and smooth as BECCA‘s previous highlighter launches and just as easy to apply with no glitter particles in sight. What’s different for me with this launch is that the reflection on my cheekbones is a bit more subdued, but that may be down to the colour being darker than my own skin colour. Regardless, it gives off a beautiful hue, and while I think it works on my skin tone (around a MAC NW/NC20), I think this would look even better on someone who is medium to deep in tone.

The BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector Pressed in Dreamsicle can be purchased on sephora.ca for $46 CAD or on sephora.com for $38 USD.

The product featured in this post was sent to me for consideration. Post contains affiliate links.

Swatch Sunday: tarte Be A Mermaid & Make Waves

April 29, 2018Makeup, SwatchesTarteChelle

tarte - Be A Mermaid & Make Waves

Lately I’ve been finding myself more and more drawn to tarte‘s limited edition palettes, and I really think it’s because they’ve started incorporating more colour into them (especially when you compare them to their permanent palettes). Maybe it’s a way for them to test how their customers react to the addition of colour, but for me I can only hope that it means we see more and more colour from tarte!

tarte‘s latest limited edition offering is the Be A Mermaid & Make Waves palette. Fundamentally this is a neutral palette at heart, but they’ve done a little bit more than just adding a single pop of colour – they’ve actually got a solid three in there AND I’d venture to say that some of the neutrals are on the more interesting side of things (reds!!!).

While I loved the tarte Make Believe In Yourself palette, one of my chief complaints was a lack of mattes as there was only in that palette. Thankfully, with the Be A Mermaid & Make Waves palette they’ve upped that number to three!

Onto the swatches!

tarte – Be A Mermaid & Make Waves Swatches

tarte - Shore Thing — tarte – Shore Thing

tarte - Beach Please — tarte – Beach Please

The tarte Be A Mermaid & Make Waves palette can be purchase at sephora.ca for $50 CAD or on sephora.com for $42 USD.

The product featured in this post was sent to me for consideration. Post contains affiliate links.

Maybelline Matte Inks (Review, Swatches & Old vs New Comparison)

April 25, 2018Makeup, Reviews, SwatchesMaybellineChelle

You may be tired of hearing me rave on and on about the Maybelline Matte Inks, but honestly… I’m just not tired of talking about them!

It was Rae of The Notice that originally pushed me towards trying these. I ignored her, of course – I have far more lip products than I need and my whole attitude towards them was just… how are these any different than all the other lip products out there claiming to be THE ONE? She kept yapping on about them though, so when (seemingly out of nowhere) the Maybelline Un-Nudes Matte Inks showed up in my mailbox, I realized just how eager I was to try them out.

If you’d like to see that initial review, I have a full video including lip swatches on my YouTube channel (see below). In short: these are the PERFECT lip product for me. They are comfortable to wear, non-drying, transferproof and longwearing. They are *everything* I need and want in a lip product!

After a few people saw my rave review video, friends and readers alike told me they were a bit surprised because they hadn’t liked the original Matte Inks when they were released. While the Un-Nudes collection features (you guessed it) a wide array of nude/neutral lip colours, their initial launch of the product showcased a lot more vibrant colours. So I reached out to PR and asked if they could send some over so I could do a comparison.

Maybelline Matte Inks - the originals — Maybelline Matte Inks – the originals

So that’s where we’re at now. I was sent six of the colours you see in this post, and I picked up one myself because I really wanted to show a balance of colours (and they hadn’t sent the red and I REALLY wanted the red).

My initial reaction was that these were slightly different than the Un-Nudes, but not drastically so. The tube and applicator are all the same, but I noticed that one shade didn’t have the kind of cake batter scent that I’ve come to adore with these (Heroine is the shade I’m referring to – it smells more like plastic). And the dry down time varied greatly.

Maybelline Superstay Matte Inks - Swatched — Maybelline Superstay Matte Inks – Swatched

Swatched out, you can see how some of them dry down a bit faster than the other (Pioneer in particular goes matte pretty fast). I do need to stress that these lip colours, although labelled a “Matte Ink“, are more on the soft matte side of things. They’re kind of like a matte with a rubber texture that has a lot of give to it.

Let’s go a bit more in depth on each shade.

Maybelline Matte Ink Lip Swatches

Loyalist is an easy nude for me since it’s got a touch of caramel colouring in it. Opaque in colour and easy to wear.

Dreamer is a bit more of a pink version of Loyalist with a hint of purple. I was hoping this would be a dupe for my Kat Von D Lovesick – but it’s really not a match.

Lover is the easy medium pink of the lot – easy to wear shade that matches a ton of eye looks.

Pioneer is the shade I was most curious about because I was wondering how on earth a red was going to stay transfer proof and not bleed throughout the day. And it performed perfectly! The only thing I would say is that this one dried down more than all of the other Matte Inks I’ve tried, which did make my lips feel a bit dry come the end of the day. That being said, it wasn’t dry like other liquid lipsticks so really this is almost hydrating in a sense.

Oh how I wish I hadn’t worn blue eyeshadow this day to take the lip swatch photos because I’m not loving how Heroine looks with my shadow! However… this is definitely my favourite shade in the bunch. It looks orange in the tube but comes out of a beautiful deep neon coral on my lips. LOVE!

Romantic is for those fuchsia lovers out there. Beautiful colour and completely opaque!

Although I hadn’t notice Creator having any patchiness issues when I wore it, there’s no denying them on my lips in the shot above. That being said, Creator is a wonderful shade and I loved wearing it.

Final Thoughts

Had people not said the formula was different, I doubt I would’ve noticed it honestly. I feel like Maybelline improved the formula SLIGHTLY with the Un-Nudes, but that could just be down to the colour of the pigments affecting the formula (I know very little about the creation of makeup, so I could just be spouting absolute BS). I felt like the Un-Nudes range was very consistent across the board, whereas the original formula had a few divergences (Pioneer was drier, Creator was a bit patchy, etc.). Fundamentally I wouldn’t say that I felt strongly against the old shades though – I love the colours they have and I can’t wait to see more! I hope Maybelline continues to put out more and more colours in the Matte Inks because this is IT for me for a longwearing liquid lipstick – this is the best I have tried and now I want it in every shade of the rainbow!

The Maybelline Matte Inks can be purchased at Ulta.com for $9.94 USD each.

The products featured in this post were sent to me for consideration. Post contains affiliate links.