Stuff I Use Daily: Revlon Super Lustrous Lipgloss

The Revlon Super Lustrous Lipglosses have always been one of my drugstore favourites. Great texture, lots of colours, and nice shine, all at a decent price - what more could a girl want? And, they always have a couple of limited edition colours every season, just to keep you buying (it works for me, anyway). I realized I haven't actually yet featured these drugstore staples on my blog despite these being a staple in my makeup bag for sooo long, so I am now rectifying the situation!

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipglosses - check out the super old tubes!

I have two colours that are my favourites, and I bought both of them a loong time ago. Like, at least a couple of years back. The first one is a super-old-from-long-ago-limited-edition colour, Pearl Plum (my tube is almost all gone!), while the second one is a permanent colour (I think it's perm, anyway), Glossy Rose. Just look at those ancient square tubes, man!


Revlon Super Lustrous Lipgloss: Swatches of both Pearl Plum and Glossy Rose

Hong Kong Haul: Lavshuca and Revlon (Yes, Revlon)

I recently spent 2 weeks in Hong Kong, and I really enjoyed it there. The food is awesome, you don't need a car to get around, and there's something for everyone - shopping (both high-end and low-you-must-bargain-at-markets-end, sight-seeing, scenery, plenty to do both day and night! I totally ate til I was stuffed! The only thing is that the houses and apartments are really small (so by extension your hotel room won't be too large), and that not everyone there has a good command of English, so if like me you don't know any Cantonese, it can be a little daunting. But I loved it, and I have a small haul to show you!

Now you know I rarely do the huge hauls, because I already have a looot of makeup, but I can't resist adding to my collection every now and then. So here you go, a small haul! (I have to tell you. I am so, so proud of my self-control. You know how much self-restraint it took to not buy up everything in sight, huh? Huh?)

First, I got a couple of Lavshuca items. Lavshuca is one of the subsidiary brands under Japanese skincare and cosmetics brand Kanebo, but targeted at the drugstore market. You gotta love the pretty packaging! It was soooo hard picking just a couple of items, but I did it!

The first item I got was the Lavshuca Cheek Color in RD-1. They had 4 shades in all (PK-1, OR-1, RD-1 and RD-2) and this was my favourite. Although the name might make you think it's red, it's actually not. I'd call it a soft pink-coral. Very pretty. Best part? This was less than SGD$10 (~US$6-7), so it was a great deal!


The next Lavshuca item I bought was the Custom Selective Eyes Duo in BR-2. Lavshuca has so many eyeshadow palettes, but a lot of them had excessively glittery, unpigmented shades I knew I wouldn't use. And I didn't want to buy a palette knowing I'd only use half the shades in it. But then I saw this little baby, and it was love at first sight.

The Custom Selective Eyes Duos come in a sliding mechanism, so you can slide the entire lid off. What I love about BR-2 is that it's got both lovely colours, and the shades have gorgeous texture and good pigmentation. The first shade is a light antique golden brown, the second is a deeper brown. Now this is love at first sight!


Other than the makeup, I also got nail polish! I know it seems weird to get Revlon nail polish in Hong Kong, but these colours never reached Singapore, and they were discounted, so they were super cheap at only SGD$4 (~US$2-3). I know the US girls are used to picking up cheap drugstore makeup from Costco or the Dollar Store, but in Asia the makeup sales are extremely miserable by comparison - if you're lucky the drugstores give you 20% off, that's it. And this is not even considering the fact that US brands tend to jack up their prices in Asia, sometimes quite recklessly. So sometimes, even with the sales, it's not that great a deal compared to what folks in the US are paying. But anyway, enough with my ranting.


I got Whimsical (the Deborah Lippmann Glitter In The Air dupe), Naughty (Chanel Paradoxal dupe), and Popular (not a dupe of anything, but so pretty!). Yes, I know these have come and gone in the US, and are in the discount bins in Hong Kong, but they haven't even reached Singapore yet (and probably never will). See how sad my life is?

Aaand, now for the non-haul stuff: sightseeing! For the food photos, I actually took those on my iPhone instead, so if you want to see those, do follow me on Instagram as I'll be putting up my food pics there (like I always do)! This was the best photo I could get of the Hong Kong night scene. This was at Victoria Harbour, near Star Avenue.


We also went to Ocean Park, one of the theme parks there. I skipped Disneyland because I've already went to the one in Anaheim, and if you've been there, the other Disneylands are just pale copies of the original (not to mention all the narration for the rides are in Cantonese, which I don't understand). This is Ocean Park from the entrance. Those mascots are kinda scary ugly looking, but it looks a lot better on the inside!


And there we are, inside Ocean Park. I did tell you the inside was much nicer than the outside right? There was a lot of fun stuff to do here - rides, look at animals (they have like a mini-zoo inside there - there). I really enjoyed it!


Photo of a panda at the Asian animals exhibit. I had to stalk Mr Panda while he was eating for quite awhile to get this shot, a lot of the other shots were blurry. I'll be posting the animal photos on Instagram too - you can see the goldfish pic I already put up!


And, a view of Victoria Harbour from Victoria Peak. Here you can really see how crowded Hong Kong is! I'm definitey a city kinda person, so I don't mind it :)


Lastly, a photo of the Star Ferry at Central pier. Remember when OPI put out that Hong Kong collection and a shade was called Meet Me On The Star Ferry? Yeah, this is the Star Ferry! (PS - I don't think anyone actually wants to meet on the Star Ferry. For one, it's not exactly a cruise liner and not that comfortable to meet someone on. And for another, the ride is like, 5 minutes? So I'm not sure how long you'd get to actually meet someone for on that ride...)


And that's it for this post! Hope you enjoyed it!

Maybelline Color Sensational Lipstick Swatches, Review

Maybelline is launching its Color Sensational line of lipsticks in Singapore, and I am so excited for these. Although we aren't getting in the whole range of shades (we are getting just under half of the 54 shades available), there's a wide array of shades guaranteed to have something for everyone.

The selling point of the Color Sensational Lipsticks is two-fold: first, the pigment in the lipsticks is supposed to give good colour payoff; second, the lipsticks are supposed to feel creamy and non-drying. Sounds great right?

The lipsticks come in rather clunky, brightly coloured plastic packaging. I have four colours, and the colour of the plastic packaging is different on each of them. That's a cute touch.



The lipsticks themselves come in a good range of shades. I have Pink Peony, Peachy Scene, Yummy Plummy, and Tinted Taupe - thus covering all the bases of pink, peach, plum, and neutral. I've read some reviews where the scent of the lipsticks were noted as being unpleasant. It seems to be a little hit-and-miss, depending on which batch you get, but mine smelled fine. The lipsticks I got had a slight vanilla smell, but otherwise they were mostly scent-less, if a little bit plastic-y.



Here are swatches of the lipsticks. As you cam see, they do have good pigmentation, and are fully opaque after a few swipes. And every single colour is very wearable, too. Maybelline have chosen their shades well.



L-R: Pink Peony, Peachy Scene, Yummy Plummy, Tinted Taupe

Pink Peony is a shimmery light pink, Peachy Scene is, as the name describes, a peach shade with shimmer, Yummy Plummy is a purply-pink plum shade (more purple leaning than pink, methinks), and Tinted Taupe isn't actually taupe at all, but a medium-dark MLBB (my lips but better) pinky-brown shade. Pink Peony and Peachy Scene both have shimmer, bordering on frost, while Yummy Plummy and Tinted Taupe both are cream finishes with no shimmer.

Here's Pink Peony on my lips. As you can see, the shimmer is more obvious on the lips than in the tube, and looks a little frosty on. The pink shade is very pretty, though.



Peachy Scene has the same almost-frost finish as Pink Peony. This peach shade would look better on warmer-toned girls, but even on me I think it looks quite wearable.



Yummy Plummy is probably my favourite of the bunch, together with Tinted Taupe. It's a gorgeous grapey plum colour that's very wearable. And I love the finish too - it's creamy without feeling or looking matte.



Lastly, Tinted Taupe. This is a very wearable pink-brown colour, sort of like MAC Twig, but lighter and a bit less brown. In anycase it's in the same colour family, and has the same matte-but-creamy finish which I quite like.



Both Pink Peony and Peachy Scene glided on fairly well, but I didn't feel like they were particularly moisturizing or drying...they were just all right, I guess. In fact, I feel like the frosty glitter was more likely to accentuate the look of fine lines and dry spots on the lips. I felt like the cream finishes, Yummy Plummy and Tinted Taupe, were more moisturizing and didn't accentuate lines or uneven spots on my lips.

I'm pretty excited about the Maybelline Color Sensational Lipsticks, and I think they're pretty good for a drugstore range - they have good colours, a decently nice formula and are overall good value for money. If you find a colour you like, it's worth a try. Just cross your fingers and hope you don't get one of the stinky tubes.

(Product was sent for review. Review is my complete and honest opinion. I am not affiliated with/compensated by the company.)

Revlon Age Defying DNA Cream Makeup Swatches

Revlon has been making waves with it's Age Defying DNA Cream Makeup, which is a foundation that claims to have anti-aging ingredients, which will slow down and reverse the aging process with prolonged use. I don't know about you, but to my skeptical mind (really? A foundation can reverse aging?) this is probably the best excercise in marketing I've seen. Everything, from the bottle to the helix-shaped container to the copywriting smells like a huge marketing stunt to me. I should so forward their ads to the professors who taught me my marketing classes back in University. I'm sure they could use it as a case study for their classes, LOL!

Anyway, I can't be commenting on the effectiveness of the product, but I can provide you with some swatches. The first thing I noticed when swatching these is that they oxidize really fast on my arm, and when they oxidized they became slightly darker than they appeared in the bottle. It's not a huge difference, but it was one thing I noticed. I couldn't swatch all the colours (only 4 are available in this part of the world, anyway), so here's what I could get.

10 Bare Buff is a light beige, slightly lighter and pinker than my NC20 skin, although it oxidizes to look slightly closer to my shade.
15 Tender Beige would be about the right shade for me, although I think in all honesty I'm somewhere in between Bare Buff and Tender Beige.
35 Honey Beige is a tan beige that leans warm.

Another thing I noticed when swatching these is that all the shades have microshimmer. While the shimmer is quite tiny and individual particles aren't visible to the naked eye, the amount of shimmer inside ends up giving a somewhat shiny effect to the foundation. You can see this in the swatch photos, where the foundation looks kind of "wet". That's the microglitter shiny-ing up the foundation, which may be a plus or a minus, depending on the finish desired.

NOTD: Nubar Twilight Kiss and Revlon Grapefruit Glimmer

Nubar Twilight Kiss is one of those "in-between-the-season" colours - it's not too dark or dusky for summer, and it's not too light for cooler weather. And when overlayed with a sheer shimmer, I think it looks pretty good. So that's today's NOTD is! The layering polish is a really old (and probably discontinued) Revlon goodie, the Grapefruit Glimmer from their ancient Glimmer Gloss range.



Nubar Twilight Kiss is a dusky light purple, and I think it's actually a pretty colour, and quite wearable to work. I kind of think it's one of those colours you can sneak into the office. Revlon Glimmer Gloss in Grapefruit Glimmer is definitely an office colour - it's a sheer pink with very fine, faint shimmer. Honestly, it's so sheer it probably won't look like much by itself. But I think Grapefruit Glimmer has a lot of potential over darker colours.

Here, I'm trying it out over a light colour, and I think it looks quite good. Just imagine the possibilities this one has with dark colours! In fact, I think that if you layer it over a dark grey-purple, you'd get a shimmer similar to Chanel Paradoxal. I mean, it does have that similar faint sort-of-pink shimmer, no? Not identical, but close enough, perhaps?



Application was pretty good for both - but then again I'm partial to Nubars and Revlons, they are some of my favourite brands. The brush size, shape, texture of the polish just works for me. Lasting power is average, these lasted for about 3-4 days before chipping, which is normal for me.



I like Twilight Kiss well enough, but I personally think Nubar has more exciting colours (like their awesome duochrome shades). Twilight Kiss by comparison is one of their more subdued shades, although it's still pretty. And Glimmer Gloss is a great work shade for someone looking for a slightly more interesting pink sheer. Not a bad combination altogether.

KOTD: Revlon Plum Attraction and China Glaze 2030

Today's KOTD is a little old, but I thought I'd post it up anyway. I love this combination of purple and gold together - something about it makes the combination seem so regal and royal.

This has a base of Revlon's Plum Attraction, which is a beautiful plummy purple, and China Glaze 2030, which is a fabulous gold chrome that's opaque in one coat, and thus perfect for konading. I also used Konad plate M76 for the design, but I had trouble with it. My konading skills just aren't up to par :X

Anyway, here it is:



Plum Attraction was nicely opaque, and a very pretty plum colour with pretty subtle shimmer. China Glaze 2030 is a straight up gold chrome, but what I like about it is that the gold isn't too orange warm-toned even for cool-toned girls. It's really quite neutral for a gold, which is great for anyone looking for a gold but who might find most options too warm for them.

Application on both was good. This is two coats of Plum Attraction, which was opaque and went on smoothly. I think it could even be used for konading over lighter colours, because it's nicely pigmented. I didn't have any issues with wear either, this one lasted well on me.

Revlon Colorburst Lipstick: Lip Swatches and Reviews!

EDITED TO ADD: After receiving some feedback from readers, I realized I was stupid, and mad a typo error. I checked my tube, and the colour names of the lipsticks I have are Soft Rose and Rosy Nude. So all the times I wrote "Soft Nude", I really meant "Soft Rose"! What a silly goose I am, thanks for correcting me guys! This post has been updated to reflect that change:)

Revlon is set to launch its Colorburst Lipstick range in the UK - FINALLY, after they've been in the USA for months! I'm so excited - but there's only one snag to the story. It's that after I went through all the trouble of getting my US-based friend to buy and mail the Colorburst lipsticks to me from across the Atlantic, I find out that Revlon is launching these babies in the UK! Thanks a lot, Revlon. Advance warning next time please? Oh well, I guess it's just my enthusiasm to have pretty lipsticks that got me into this. I do hope Revlon brings them to Asia though, because the colour selection is pitiable when it comes to Asian drugstore lipsticks. We could use some good wearable colours.

Anyway, the Colorburst Lipsticks caused a little bit of a buzz when they first launched in the USA - it was as though every other blogger was covering them. And I can see why. In general, I do like these very much. The two shades I bought (all the way from the US, too!) were Soft Rose and Rosy Nude.

First up, here are pictures of the lipsticks in question:



Top: Revlon Colorburst Soft Rose, Bottom: Revlon Colorburst Rosy Nude

As you can see, they're pretty similar, although they aren't identical. Soft Rose is more brown, and Rosy Nude is a tad more pink and, well, rosy! And I wouldn't actually call these nudes, despite the name. To me they're more like My-Lips-But-Better (MLBB) colours. Which I prefer to nudes, actually, since nudes can wash out some people and visually age them. But with MLBB shades, you can't go wrong, and they go with everything! Also worth noting is that these are a cream finish. No shimmer, no glitter, nada - just the way I like it.

Now for lip swatches. Here's a picture of my bare lips first, so you'll have something to compare to when evaluating the level of pigmentation in the lipsticks. And now the whole world knows I know I have fish lips. What can I say, it's in my DNA:



Here's a lip swatch of Soft Rose:



As you can see from the photo, Soft Rose is definitely not a nude shade on me. But I really like it! This is a perfect neutral pinky-brown with a hint of rose, very work appropriate, and very wearable.

Now, here's a lip swatch of Rosy Nude:



Rosy Nude is a pinker, rosier version of Soft Rose, and it's less brown than Soft Rose. Rosy Nude is also a tad cooler-toned, but only by a smidgen. Once again, this is perfect for office wear.

Both lipsticks were very nicey pigmented, and surprisingly emollient, especially since they're drugstore. I really liked the smooth, creamy finish too.

Here are comparison swatches of both Soft Rose and Rosy Nude beside each other, just so you can see the subtle differences more clearly:



L - R: Revlon Soft Rose, Revlon Rosy Nude

I really liked these lipsticks overall, and I can't wait to check out the other colours there are once these enter the UK. (Revlon, please bring in the entire range, and not just a few wimpy colours when you come to the UK, OK? Ditto for Asia.) The only snag is that these smelled a bit off to me. Maybe I got a bad batch, but mine smelled a little plastic-y. However, as far as I can tell, no one else seems to have a problem with the smell, so perhaps it's just my over-sensitive nose. But the smell is bearable, and dissipates fast, so I don't have a problem with that.

Revlon Spring/Summer Collection 2010 Eyeshadow Quad and Super Lustrous Lipgloss Swatches!

Revlon has launched their Spring/Summer 2010 Collection this week. I happened to see this in Superdrug this week, and the collection was so on-trend with the colour range that I just HAD to swatch it. This collection has all the trendy colours for spring. Part of the collection consists of two nail polishes - one was the pale mint/jade green that's been popular lately, and the other was a pale pastel pink. I couldn't swatch those of course, but they also had a new addition to their ColorStay Eyeshadow Quad, called Summer Suede, and a few new Super Lustrous lipglosses, which I'm sure will be a hit among their many Super Lustrous lipgloss fans.

First up is the Revlon ColorStay Eyeshadow Quad for Spring/Summer 2010, called Summer Suedes:



This quad consists of a light pastel blue, a medium warm brown with a slight green duochrome (probably the most interesting colour in the palette), a pale pastel pink, and a bright coral. This quad is pretty unique, as far as quads go, and I especially like the duochrome brown. Although the duochrome is only very slight (it's more visible in the pan, but once swatched you can only see a hint of it), it's still pretty interesting in its own right - how often do you see a drugstore eyeshadow in a duochrome finish? It kind of reminds me of a much watered-down version of MAC Club, only that Club is much, much darker, less warm-toned, and has a stronger duochrome. They're not identical, but they're distant relatives in the colour family. Also the pale sky blue in the Summer Suedes quad is interesting. It looks like it was made to go along with the mint green nail trend, only that this colour is definitely more blue than green. The pale pastel baby pink is also really on trend, with all the pale pinks, pastels and lilacs this season. The coral colour is part of the "brights" trend that has been worming it's way into nail colour lately with collections like China Glaze's Up and Away.

I wouldn't personally wear this quad because coral and blue just aren't my thing when it comes to eyeshadows, although I do appreciate how on-trend and unique it is. I also really like how Revlon has combined the mint green/blue and bright coral colours with other more muted and neutral colours, so that you can actually create wearable looks with the palette. The pale pink works as a base or highlighter to go with either the mint green/blue or bright coral for a lid colour, and the light medium brown can feature in the crease. I think as long as you don't wear both the mint blue and the bright coral together, this palette coordinates pretty well.

The texture of the quad is soft enough, and not crumbly. They're not as soft as the Sleek shimmer shades, but they're not too bad. Pigmentation-wise, some of the colours were a bit weak, but they're buildable with some effort.

Next up are the Super Lustrous lipglosses for Revlon's Spring/Summer 2010. As I'm sure you know by now, Revlon's Super Lustrous lipglosses have acheived some kind of fame - there's a huge following. Personally I'm not a huge fan, but I have a couple I quite like. Once again, the lineup of lipglosses this season looks like a list of the season's trendiest colours - fortunately, they're pretty sheer for the most part so they're more wearable than they look. Here are swatches:



Left - Right: Pink Pop 180, Coral Reef 170, Lilac Pastelle 200, Peach Petal 150, Firecracker 160

Pink Pop 180 is a bright pink that leans cool. This is not as sheer as the other Super Lustrous lipglosses in the series, but it's not totally opaque either. If you wear it, you'd still get a pop of colour.

Coral Reef 170 is a bright coral colour, and it looks like the lipgloss version of the coral colour in the Summer Suedes Colorstay Eyeshadow Quad. LOL. This is also one of the less sheer ones. Like Pink Pop 180, it doesn't provide complete coverage, but you will get a pop of colour.

Lilac Pastelle 200 looks like it was made for girls who want to match their lilac nail polish with a lipgloss! While I don't personally advocate the look, I think this lipgloss might be a good first start for anyone who wants to try out the lilac trend but is worried about looking like a corpse, because it's one of the most sheer colours in the line. It's probably about as wearable as lilac lipgloss is going to get.

Peach Petal 150 is also another sheer colour in the line, and this is a pale pastel peach, as the name suggests. It's a warm-toned colour, although I can see some cool-toned girls pulling this off too.

Firecracker 160 looks really bright in the tube, but it's actually quite sheer when swatched. It's a bright orangey red, with an emphasis on the orange. It's got pigment, but its transparency kind of reminds me of a lipstain, but only that this is actually a gloss.

One of the reasons why the Revlon Super Lustrous lipglosses are so popular is that they aren't sticky, and fortunately, these colours have the Super Lustrous formula, so they're not sticky at all, or at least as un-sticky as lipglosses are ever going to get. The downside though, is that they have a thin, watery texture, as opposed to a creamy texture. I personally prefer a creamy texture, but this is totally a matter of preference. Some girls will like the lightness of the Super Lustrous range.

Like I said, these colours were probably created with the current colour trends in mind, and if you're looking for a classic everyday colour, you're not going to find it in this collection. But for trend-conscious ladies, these are a cheap way to get into the latest makeup trends.

Revlon Snow Violet and GOSH Purple Haze KOTD

Today's KOTD is using my newly-arrived M57 plate, the coolest Konad Plate ever! Look Ma, Zebra stripes! Anyway, as my KOTD photo shows, I'm still struggling with the full-nail plates. Excuse the smudgi-ness, the blurry-ness, and the tipwear - I swear Sally Hansen InstaDri causes major shrinkage on me, but well, it's cheap and readily available, and it dries fast.

Revlon Snow Violet is the base of my KOTD, and I really LOVE this colour to bits. It looks like a pale pale white-lilac, but it's not (stupid camera). It's a pale cooltoned off-white with a violet flash. Yes it HAS a violet flash, I swear, I just can't get it to show up in photographs. (stupid me, and stupid camera) Also I think once I konaded over it, it lost its purple flash a tad. But it's really cool. This was one of their limited edition colours, that I bought maybe 7 or 8 years back, waaaay before I was into nail polish, and it's kept well since then. It was also one of my first 'proper' nail polishes (i.e. realy polish from a store, not kiddy-play-polish), so it has emotional value to me. Awwwww. But, this thing is a bit sheer and streaky, and what you're seeing is 3 coats. I'm imagining the possibilities over other colours...Mmmmm, purple flash.

GOSH Purple Haze is the design on the KOTD. Mmmm I know I've used it before in another KOTD here in this post, but I said that Purple Haze is a chamelon because it looks green in some konads and purple in others. Well, the last time I showed you that, it looked green, but now, it looks purple! I LOVE this colour. Unfortunately, I just use it for konading because when I do my entire nail with it, it just looks black :X

Once again, excuse the crappiness, tipwear, smudging, etc etc. I was just so excited that I finally got hold of the fabled M57 plate.