I don’t know about you, but I feel the need to be wearing a red lipstick on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. It just feels like a seasonal requirement, you know?
Bite Beauty Amuse Bouche in Mistletoe
Over the years, I’ve changed up what red I wear on that particular festive day. Sometimes it’s MAC’s Russian Red, sometimes Too Faced’s Melted Berry (which is arguably more berry-toned than RED-RED, but hey, whatever!) or the cheap-but-beautiful Wet n Wild Stoplight Red.
Bite Beauty Amuse Bouche in Mistletoe
This year I’m going a bit deeper in tone with Bite Beauty‘s Amuse Bouche holiday release, the aptly named Mistletoe! Isn’t is a beauty? It’s a beautiful deep, dark red with a faint hint of brown.
As with the rest of the Amuse Bouche range, Mistletoe is exceptionally comfortable to wear and has a light citrus scent and taste. It also has a satin finish, but I would personally classify it as more of a cream since there’s a bit more sheen to the lips than I would expect for a satin.
For me, nothing beats a festive red lip and Mistletoe is a definite stunner!
So how about you? Are you a red lip fiend for the holidays like me? Or do you wear another staple colour throughout the holidays? Let me know! And since today is Christmas Eve, and regardless of whether or not you actually celebrate this holiday, I’d like to wish you a wonderful time spent with family and friends. 🙂
Alright, we are getting down to the wire for Christmas gifts (ones to pick up for yourself AND for others! ;)). Bite Beauty always puts out gorgeously cute mini sets for the holidays and this year was no different!
Bite BeautyAmuse Bouche Lipstick Duos in Gold/Sour Cherry, Opal/Jam and Rose Gold/Fig
One of the more enticing and unique items that Bite puts out are their Lipstick Duos. They’ve updated these duos to include their Amuse Bouche lipstick formula as well as update the colours available.
Bite BeautyAmuse Bouche Lipstick Duos in Gold/Sour Cherry, Opal/Jam and Rose Gold/Fig
Each lipstick is double ended and you have to keep in mind that they are mini versions of the lipstick itself. A lot of people are shocked when they first open the package (as was I when I got my first one years back), but I’ve found these tiny bullets to be so freaking handy when I’m on the go. And let’s be real here: sometimes you don’t need a full lipstick tube!
Bite BeautyAmuse Bouche Lipstick Duos in Gold/Sour Cherry, Opal/Jam and Rose Gold/Fig – swatches
Each duo comes with a primary lip colour which is your more standard every day lip shade, but on the other end it comes with something the makeup community has started calling a lip topper. Sure, you could wear the gold shade on its own, but when you put it on top of Sour Cherry, it adds a little extra oomph to the lipstick!
Wearing Bite Amuse Bouche in GoldWearing Bite Amuse Bouche in Sour CherryWearing Bite Amuse Bouche in Sour Cherry with Gold on the center of my lipWearing Bite Amuse Bouche in OpalWearing Bite Amuse Bouche in JamWearing Bite Amuse Bouche in Jam with Opal on the center of my lipWearing Bite Amuse Bouche in Rose GoldWearing Bite Amuse Bouche in FigWearing Bite Amuse Bouche in Fig with Rose Gold on the center of my lipBite Beauty The Perfect Bite
While the Amuse Bouche Lipstick Duos are readily available online right now, you may find the highly coveted Perfect Bite set is a little bit harder to come by (check your local Sephora stores!).
Bite Beauty The Perfect Bite
Encased in a beautiful tin with an enormous mirror on the inside, Bite‘s The Perfect Bite set is a holiday staple for the brand. They include four mini sized lipsticks in some of their more commonly sold shades which makes this a great way to try the brand out.
Bite Beauty The Perfect Bite – Fig, Pepper, Honeycomb and Nori
I’ve been raving about Fig for quite some time, but I’ve never picked up the other shades so I’m super happy to be able to try them all out without committing to a full size lipstick.
Bite Beauty The Perfect Bite – Fig, Pepper, Honeycomb and Nori – swatchesWearing Bite Amuse Bouche in FigWearing Bite Amuse Bouche in PepperWearing Bite Amuse Bouche in HoneycombWearing Bite Amuse Bouche in Nori
So there we have it! Bite‘s adorable holiday presents in the form of bite size lipsticks. You can still purchase the duos online at sephora.ca for $17 CAD each or on sephora.com for $14 USD each. I no longer see The Perfect Bite set online, but definitely call up your local Sephora to find out if they have stock!
The products featured in this post were sent to me for consideration.
I swear, every time I turn around, NYX is releasing a brand new product! How they keep up with the trends and fads, I’ll never know!
NYX Bright Idea Illuminating Sticks
This time, NYX has released their Bright Idea Illuminating Sticks. They come in a total of 12 colours (I have 9 of them) although the colour selection may be considered a little oddball by some. The shades are bucketed into bronzers (four of them), highlighters (another four) and blushes (also four).
NYX Bright Idea Illuminating Sticks
NYX says their Bright Idea Illuminating Sticks are a “creamy-soft shade [that] goes on smoothly and sets right away for an instant, lit-from-within glow”. While I agree that they’re creamy and soft, rest assured that they do not set right away, so you’ve got plenty of time to blend out the product. Texture-wise, I found that the product stayed relatively tacky on my skin. It wasn’t so bad that my hair would stick to it, but if you touch your fingers to your cheek, you will feel it, even hours later.
NYX Bright Idea Illuminating Sticks come with 6g of product.
Each stick comes with 6 grams of product which is PLENTY. I mean that is seriously a lot of product and you’re not likely to get through it any time soon. That being said, I always get a bit of product shock when I roll up the whole thing and I’m left with what looks like a small amount of product! They make the packaging so big that you’d think there’s double the amount in there!
NYX Bright Idea Illuminating Stick – swatches
As you can see from the swatches, pigmentation is excellent. I wish I had more of the blush shades to show off (there’s a red I don’t have that I know I would’ve loved). There are some shimmer particles in the highlight and bronze shades, but nothing overly like “BANG IN YOUR FACE GLITTER”.
Wearing Coralicious and Chardonnay Shimmer
In the shot above, I’m wearing Coralicious on my cheeks (applied with the elf small stipple brush) and Chardonnay Shimmer on top to highlight (dabbed and patted on with my fingertips). I wasn’t able to catch the highlight that well on camera, but if you want to see the INCREDIBLE sheen properties of that shade, head on over to Steph’s post to see her glorious cheekbones!
Coming soon (seriously, I cannot find any launch information to save my life), Coming December 28, 2016, Charlotte Tilbury‘s pre-packaged sets to help you get out the door looking poised and polished in five minutes!
Charlotte Tilbury Quick ‘N’ Easy – The 5 Minute Makeup Revolution
And who doesn’t need a little help to get out the door just that much quicker?? (Heck knows I do since I’m eternally late for everything in my life!) I’ve got one of the four Quick ‘N’ Easy Makeup – The 5 Minute Makeup Revolution sets to walk you through today – the Natural Glowing Look.
Charlotte Tilbury Quick ‘N’ Easy – The 5 Minute Makeup Revolution
Jam packed with some of Charlotte Tilbury‘s best selling products, you’ll find these Quick ‘N’ Easy sets are complete no-brainers when it comes to doing your makeup. The Natural Glowing Look kit comes with:
Wonderglow (mini – 15 ml)
Legendary Lashes (mini – 4 ml)
Beach Stick in Moon Beach (full size – 6.5 g)
Matte Revolution Lipstick in Very Victoria (full size – 3.5 g)
Colour Chameleon in Amber Haze (full size – 1.6 g)
A plastic Charlotte Tilbury makeup bag
Charlotte Tilbury Quick ‘N’ Easy – The 5 Minute Makeup Revolution – Naturally Glowing
The products come perfectly matched so you know they’re going to suit each other!
Charlotte Tilbury Wonderglow
I’ve previously reviewed Charlotte Tilbury‘s Wonderglow (so you can read a full review here), and I use this on and off as foundation primer. In this review, in sticking with the five minute makeup theme, I opted to use this without foundation and found that it gave my face a very, very subtle sheen. Do not expect to get a discoball face with this one!
Charlotte Tilbury – Colour Chameleon in Amber Haze, Matte Revolution Lipstick in Very Victoria and Beach Stick in Moon Beach – swatches
In swatching the other products, I was especially delighted to find that the Colour Chameleon in Amber Haze was incredibly smooth and pigmented. No need to worry about having to drag this colour across your lids to get pigmentation!
The Matte Revolution Lipstick in Very Victory was also a lot more pink than I was expecting from the bullet (which I’m VERY pleased about!). I also found it slightly more emollient than the rest of the Matte Revolution lipsticks I’ve tried (Lost Cherry here and Miranda May here). No difference in wearability – just that it felt a bit smoother gliding onto my lips.
And lastly, the Beach Stick in Moon Beach. This product can be used on your cheeks and lips, but I always prefer to stick to just one kind of usage and stuck to applying it on my cheeks. It’s easy to blend on to my cheeks, but I did find a needed a few layers to really build up the colour. It’s gorgeous though!
The Natural Glowing Look
From nothing to naturally glowing!
And here’s how it all played out on my face! On the left I’m wearing absolutely nothing but a smile. On the right, I’ve got the whole Naturally Glowing Look on plus my eyebrows cuz… well I wasn’t going to leave that out now was I?
Wearing Charlotte Tilbury’s Naturally Glowing 5 Minute Face
Although I’ve not been one to rave about Wonderglow before, I do feel like it works with this particular makeup look to bring some life into my skin. I feel like it works especially well with the Beach Stick to get that little extra oomph of colour onto my cheeks.
Wearing Charlotte Tilbury’s Naturally Glowing 5 Minute Face
I already knew I loved the Matte Revolution lipstick formula as it’s such a comfortable matte formula to wear, but I wasn’t sure what to think of Very Victoria when I saw it in the bullet. It seemed kinda… brown. On the lips it was such a different story – it’s a pinky-brown that is incredibly easy for me to wear with a wide variety of eye looks (I’m looking forward to pairing it with bright eyeshadow!).
The one thing I really, REALLY have to rave about is the Legendary Lashes mascara. It is SUPER black, slightly wet and it deposits the perfect amount of product onto my eyelashes. This stuff is fan-freaking-tastic! I’ve also noticed no flaking which is really unheard of on me. Two enormous thumbs up for this item!
Wearing Charlotte Tilbury’s Naturally Glowing 5 Minute Face
The Colour Chameleon was an absolute dream to blend. I’m not usually a fan of eyehadow pencils because I find them difficult to blend out with a brush and they often do not set the way I want them to. This one gave me enough time to blend it with a brush (and honestly, it was effortless), but it set shortly after I was done. It also layered well! I was able to add a layer, blend it with my brush, and then add another layer on to my lid to up the intensity. You can also see how it looks deeper in my outer corner? Yeah, I didn’t add any extra product – that’s just the Colour Chameleon proving how much of a one-and-done shade it is!
Final Thoughts
If you couldn’t already tell, I’m more than a little bit smitten by this selection of products. The Charlotte TilburyQuick ‘N’ Easy makeup set is not only foolproof, but it’s also a phenomenal way to try out a bunch of Charlotte Tilbury products all at once.
I’m sad to say that I do not currently have pricing or a release date, but as soon as I do, I’ll update this post with the information. The release date for these sets is December 28, 2016 and they’ll set you back $85 CAD. Thankfully, each item in this bag is a permanent product by the brand, so you needn’t worry about missing out on a particular shade!
Charlotte Tilbury products can be purchased on charlottetilbury.com and you can shop from a variety of countries in your own currency!
The products featured in this post were sent to me for review.
The fact that NYX continues to put out amazing, unique products in shades that challenge society continues to boggle my mind. It’s mindboggling because they’re pretty much the first brand to do it (remember the Macaron lipsticks? I swear those were the first most commercially available oddball colours), but also because people have accepted it with open arms which means they can keep producing out of this world colours for us!
NYX Liquid Suedes
The NYXLiquid Suedes are a cream lipstick with an elongated doefoot applicator. They glide on like a thicker liquid lipstick, but set to a slightly tacky matte finish. They’re not sticky, but there is a slightly tackiness to it which, for me, helps them feel more comfortable on the lips. Less like a liquid lipstick that feels like it might crack off your lipsticks, more like a solid cream that bends and gives with the shape of your lips as you talk. They are not completely transferproof when you start wearing them, but as they sink in and set over the first hour after application, they will become less and less transferable.
NYX Liquid Suedes
While the Liquid Suedes do come in a wide variety of “normal” colours (although they all pack a significant punch of colour), they also come in some truly unique/off the wall colours that I can appreciate.
NYX Liquid Suedes in Alien, Foul Mouth, Little Denim Dress and Respect The Pink – swatches
See what I mean? A black! A super deep eggplant purple! A SHOCKING BLUE!
Wearing Respect The Pink
If you’ve ever wondered if there’s a colour I feel the least comfortable in, it’s this shade of pink! Respect The Pink is a light pink with a lavender edge. It’s a beautiful colour if it’s a shade you’re drawn to, but for me I can’t help buy laugh at myself in it!
Wearing Little Denim Dress
I may feel awkward in a light pink, but I’m more than happy to sport a blue lipstick! Little Denim Dress is a beautiful shade, but you will need to wear a similarly coloured lip liner (or eyeliner!) underneath it because out of all the shades I tried, this was definitely the patchiest.
Wearing Foul Mouth
Foul Mouth is a really deep eggplant colour that sometimes looks kind of navy on me depending on the lighting. Completely opaque in one layer!
Wearing Alien
Could Alien be the be all, end all of black lipsticks?? I mean, it’s completely opaque in one swipe, there’s no patchiness and it’s comfortable to wear. Seriously… if you need a black lipstick for something – don’t go anywhere else – grab this one!
Final Thoughts
I’m really proud that an inexpensive brand like NYX continues to put out quality products in challenging colours for an incredibly reasonable price point (these’ll set you back about $10 CAD or so). I’m also really happy that these are a relatively comfortable liquid matte lipstick. There’s some give to the product while it’s on your lips that just isn’t there in the ultra dry formulas also out on the market (Colour Pop and KVD come to mind). I can press and lightly rub my lips together and not be worried about causing that HORRID sandpaper feeling!
I think the Liquid Suedes are a huge win – ESPECIALLY if you’re looking for a random, “weird” colour for a particular reason!
