Tuesday 12 January 2016

NYX Intense Butter Glosses

Everyone and their Granny know's about NYX Butter Glosses now that they are fairly easy to get a hold of in Ireland. However, I spotted a product that there hasn't been much talk about on the Boots website recently, and decided to give them a try, and they are the Intense Butter Glosses.
These are 7.75 and seen as I liked the original Butter Glosses so much I said I'd give these a go. Word of warning though, these are most definitely NOT for the faint hearted. If you want to know why, then read on!



I picked up two shades to try. Buying these online it was difficult to choose shades, as there wasn't any swatches on the Boots website, and I didn't really spend much time searching through Google for other swatches, I just went with shades that I didn't have anything like in my collection, and also shades that I thought would show a true reflection of pigmentation etc.
So the big question is, what are they like?



Well, the blurb on the website says:
Smother your lips with a silky gloss bursting with color! Our Intense Butter Gloss has the same mouth-watering texture and scent of the original formula with even more color payoff in 12 new delectable shades.






First off we'll look at the packaging. It's the same little tube that the original Butter Glosses come in, with the colour of the product being the colour that the packaging is also. The only difference is that the lid is silver as opposed to being the same colour as the tube like the original Butter Gloss. You get 8mls of product, which I think is plenty, as really, who uses up a full lip product?
The smell is just as amazing as the original too. That really creamy vanilla scent, I just can't get enough of it, I always have to take it out to smell it every so often!
The Intense Butter Gloss is most definitely intense, for something that's deemed as a gloss, it is extremely pigmented! One swipe of these is sufficient to cover the lips, and it's so easy to make a mistake with these, but slow and steady wins the race with these, so taking your time and concentrating on applying it is key here, and possibly using a lipliner too.
To me these are comparable to a liquid lipstick, just without the horrible dryness that comes alongside most of these. I don't think the texture is quite the same as the Butter Glosses, don't get me wrong it's comfortable, but it doesn't feel exactly the same on the lips.
Longevity wise, I've put this on around 9am, had lunch around 1/1.15, and still have colour on my lips in the afternoon. It has a  strong shine when first applied, and this does last a decent length of time also. It doesn't wear off funny either leaving you with those funny rings, which we all hate don't we ladies!
I picked up the shades Spice Cake and  Toasted Marshmallow. Spice Cake is a deep berry colour, almost a purple. And Marshmallow is more of a nude/brown with a hint of purple. Both of these colours are lovely, but not for the faint hearted. There's a couple of nude shades online that I'd love to try, just to see are they comparable in pigmentation and longevity.

                                                                          Spice Cake





Toasted Marshmallow





                                Toasted Marshmallow on top, Spice Cake on bottom in artifical light


Toasted Marshmallow top, Spice Cake bottom in Natural Light


I love these, and am very glad I picked them up. But as I said, for those of you who just like a sheer slick of colour, these may not be for you.
For anyone curious, you can pick these up on the Boots website.
Have you tried the Intense Butter Glosses?
Thanks for reading,
Alisha xxx





Monday 11 January 2016

2015 Beauty Favourites

Howdy all!
I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and New Year. Did anyone get up to anything exciting for it? We're finally getting back to normality after all festivities, so to ease us back in to reality I decided to do my top picks of 2015!
No matter how hard I tried to cull my make up buying habits in the last year, it just didn't work out, but I like to console myself with the fact that I could be spending my money on worse things! :)
So on we go! Just a head's up, I really only picked the things that I was obsessed with this year. There's so much stuff I love, but didn't feel I used it enough or long enough to justify putting it in here!



 Catrice Ultimate Shine Lipstick In A Rose Garden: This was my favourite lipstick this year, signs by that I've used a fair whack of it. It's the perfect every day lip colour. It's a nude but not so pale that it washes me out, it's just a shade or two darker than my natural lip colour and I just love it! The formula is beautiful too. Nice and moisturising with a good colour pay off.  I will definitely be getting a new one when this runs out.





Soap And Glory Solar Powder Bronzer: I never used to be a bronzer person really until 2015. I found a lot of them to be orange looking on me, and just didn't' look right. This one however is great. It has two shades in it, a bronzing shade which isn't too orange, and a nice highlight shade. I swirl the two together with a big fluffy brush and apply to the high points of my face and it just adds a nice glow to my face. Again this is something that I'm close to running out of, so I may repurchase at some point when I've used some of the other million bronzers I have.




Rimmel Wake Me Up Concealer: I've tried numourous concealers in 2015, and while most of them were good, I found that nothing compared to the wake me up for disguising my under eye circles! It's light, but yet still brightens up under the eyes and makes me look fresher and more awake. The foundation is also a great foundation too if  you're on the hunt for a bargain foundation! Unfortunately I don't have a recent one of these to photograph but I'll add in a picture from another source so you know what it looks like!

Max Factor Creme Puff Blushes: It took me ages to get around to trying these, and they were much hyped about by bloggers all over, and I can see why. They're soft and creamy, easy to blend and just beautiful on the skin. I only have one shade in this, and I think it's lovely pink, and it just adds a gorgeous pop of colour to my cheeks, with an ever so slight highlight too. It actually reminds me of my much loved Benefit Dandelion blush!





The Body Shop Virgin Mojito Body Butter: It took me until 2015 to try a body butter from the Body Shop, how bad is that! But I'm so glad it was this one, I've been using it non stop through the winter, which is random given it's a summery scent, but I don't care because it smells divine! It smells exactly like a mojito, minty, fresh, and citrusy! I've been trying to repurchase it but because it's on offer on the website it's out of stock! :(
























Rimmel Instant Tan Mousse: I think this may have been my ultimate stand out product for 2015. I've tried numerous tan's in my time, but this one is the winner for me hands down. It's a tinted mousse, and it's really easy to apply and dries practically instantly. It's a fool proof product to use, and this comes from someone who always used to make some sort of mistake with tan, but this one you could nearly use it with your eyes closed!




Catrice Even Skin Tone Foundation: I've really gotten in to Catrice foundations in 2015. This one and the Nude Illusion are definitely my two favourite foundations hands down. This particular one does a great job of reducing redness and also is meant to visibly reduce pigmentation marks after continous daily use for 12 weeks. I don't really have much pigmentation, I do have dark marks on the outer area of my eye, but I can't say whether I've noticed a difference or not. But I just love it for how much of a difference it makes to the redness of my skin, which I have a lot of! It's a medium to full coverage foundation, but doesn't look cakey which is always a good thing! Cleary my blogging skills are a little rusty as I forgot to photograph this, so I grabbed a picture from the Catrice website, so at least you'll know what the bottle looks like if you decide to purchase! (Which you should) :P

Photo from www.catrice.eu



Garnier Micellar Solution: This is the best stuff since sliced bread! It's just the easiest thing to remove make up quickly, and we all know how hard that can be. I've used a couple of the different types for various skin types, but the one for normal skin wins hands down all the time! Again, another product I forgot to photograph, but I think everyone knows what this looks like anyway!

So ladies, they are my top picks for 2015. I could have kept going, as I do have lots of make up, but as I said  before these are by the far the things that really impressed me in 2015. Other things that I haven't mentioned this time round will more than likely be mentioned at some point on the blog!
How about you lovelies?
What were your faves?
Thanks for reading,
Alisha xxx