Velvet Ribbon- Lisa Eldridge Plush Matte Velvet Lip Colour

After five long months I'm finally back to blogging. It was a completely unintentional break but one I think was needed. That being said I've greatly missed writing more in-depth reviews despite writing for Bean Magazine and keeping my Instagram up to date. So when my Lisa Eldridge lipstick order arrived on Friday afternoon, I was immediately inspired to write a blog post about it because if there's anything that can get you excited about blogging again it's a beauty release from the queen of makeup herself.

When I saw Lisa Eldridge had created her own line of limited edition lipsticks AND that they were reds AND that they were matte, I knew I'd want to buy them. She released three shades, Velvet Ribbon which is a "vibrant classic neutral/blue red", Velvet Morning, a "hot and fiery, bright orange/red" and Velvet Jazz, "a muted, earthy brick red" inspired by the 1930s reds in Lisa's vintage collection.

I love all three, and of course wanted to buy all three but I couldn't really afford it so I went for Velvet Ribbon as I tend to wear classic reds most often.

Let's begin with the packaging, the case is a beautiful pale matte gold and the lid has the most satisfying magnetic click. The top of the lid is embossed with Lisa's signature monogram. It's sleek, modern, classy and has that weighted feel too.

Once you open it up, it's not your ordinary lipstick bullet, Lisa has explained that she tried for a long time to have a velvet effect on the lipstick bullet. I have no idea how, but she managed to achieve it and it looks unlike any lipstick I've seen before. It's a small detail that was probably unnecessary but has taken this lipstick to another level. I love that she has that attention to detail. It makes these lipsticks incredibly special. I tried to photograph the texture as best I could with macro filters on my lens so that you can see the velvet effect. I think you'll agree it looks like actual material!

It's supposed to be a creamy, saturated and highly pigmented matte with a slight sheen, long lasting and not drying. I'm going to be honest I've only worn it for one day, but it was enough to know it's all of those things and more. It's so comfortable and lightweight, it applies smoothly and easily and doesn't drag on the skin at all. You can achieve full opacity with just one application.

(L-R: Velvet Ribbon, Charlotte Tilbury Red Carpet Red, Pat McGrath Elson, No7 Brick Red, MAC Ruby Woo)

This is hands down the best matte red liptick I own. I understand that's a hefty claim having only had it a couple of days, but it doesn't take long to figure out if you like a lipstick. As you can see above I swatched the most similar shades I could find in my collection. I think it's most similar to Ruby Woo and Red Carpet Red and a bit lighter than Elson. It's probably the most similar formula to Elson, but I actually found Velvet Ribbon longer lasting and the packaging of Elson broke on me after only a few uses so I now find it very difficult to use as it takes a lot of fiddling around to twist it up and down and for that price I'd expect more.

It works out less expensive than the Charlotte Tilbury (€32) and Pat McGrath (€35) counterparts before shipping at £26/€29.40 (€39 with shipping). It arrived within a few days of ordering and yes the shipping is expensive at £8.50, but for that you get a signed for DPD courier delivery with a text that gives you a one hour window of delivery. Much more convenient than other online retailers. Shipping is free over £40 too.

Obviously unless you're a big LE fan, these lipsticks probably won't interest you but if you have followed her for any amount of time, you'll know she's got so much experience in the beauty industry and has never sold out or put her name to anything sub par. She's clearly put her heart and soul into this collection and has done something different to anything currently on the market. I'm clearly a fan, and matte red lips are my favourite so this is my dream collection. They are also cruelty-free which is great to see from more brands.

With all the Black Friday "sales" recently it's very easy to get caught up in wanting things we don't need and can't afford. With all the excesses of the blogging and "influencer" community I'm trying to be more conscious about what I spend my hard earned money on instead of getting caught up in the never ending new releases. I'm hoping to bring you more quality content with detailed unbiased reviews to help you decide if you really need that new palette or lipstick or if you're better using what you have instead like I'm trying to do. That being said, I'm completely biased here because I admire Lisa Eldridge so much, but I'm so delighted her collection didn't disappoint me.

Let me know if you've bought one (or all three) of these or if you're thinking of it.

Emma x

Watch Lisa's video below for more information!

Pat McGrath Labs MatteTrance Lipstick

If you're a makeup fanatic like myself, you'll probably have heard of British makeup artist Pat McGrath. If you haven't heard of her, you will most definitely have seen her work at some point. It's no surprise, as it seems to be a continuous trend with successful makeup artists, that she started her own range of products two years ago. However in true Pat McGrath fashion, she didn't do it the usual way, instead she began her line with Gold 001, a single pigment sold as a kit with a spatula, mixing liquid and a container. 

She has since released limited runs of eyeshadow kits, highlighting kits and lip kits and most recently the MatteTrance lipsticks. I've been so tempted to buy her products before, but they're incredibly hard to get hold of here in Ireland. When I saw her first posting about the MatteTrance lipsticks on her Instagram I decided I'd have to treat myself (for my birthday) and buy one. It definitely wasn't difficult to decide on a shade, despite there being a selection of nine beautiful shades, my heart was set on Elson, a classic blue toned red. 

I placed an order from Sephora on the day they launched. There are a few options available when buying online from Sephora in Ireland. You could use the likes of Address Pal or My Mall Box which  both create an address for you to ship to in the US and then subsequently, ship your package to Ireland. I'm not sure about Address Pal, but I know with My Mall Box you can amalgamate your orders from several US websites and have them all shipped to Ireland together.

There are great advantages to using these services, first of all it means there are so many brands and websites available to us here in Ireland that ordinarily wouldn't be, it also means you can buy in US Dollars which most of the time saves you money. I'll definitely be trying one of these services in the future to order from Sephora, but this time I actually ordered from the Sephora Canada site and paid in Canadian Dollars which was $52. In USD the lipstick costs $38 so with the conversion it worked out at approximately €35. If I had ordered from the US Sephora, it would have worked out at around €31. So it was about the same price as a Charlotte Tilbury lipstick, not too extortionate in my book. Of course I don't live in Canada, but my brother does, so I had it shipped to him and he very kindly sent it on to me. 

When I was in New York I got a Sephora Beauty Insider Card and I had about 100 points on it so I got a free deluxe sample and three extra samples. There was another bonus perk for if you spend over C$50. I sadly missed my birthday bonus gift by about a week but there's always next year. That whole ordering portion of the post might not be of interest to you, but hopefully some of you will find it helpful for future reference. 

Now for the best part, the lipstick itself. I have to admit, when I first saw how the Pat McGrath Labs products were packaged I was incredibly excited to get my hands on them some day. I absolutely adore the way they are packaged inside a bag of sequins. It's such a unique and over the top way to package a product but I love it. 

Once you open the packet and try not to spill the sequins everywhere which I was entirely unsuccessful at doing, you are presented with one of the most gorgeous lipstick cases I've ever seen. As you can see below, it's a sleek black tube with gold trim and gold lips. Another unnecessary detail, but one that lipstick lovers will most definitely appreciate. As much as I'm not fussed about packaging once the product is great, if I'm spending over €30, I do expect the packaging to be something special and this lipstick is just that, truly unique and beautiful. Pat McGrath doesn't do things by halves and her love of makeup, particularly extravagant and over the top makeup, is glaringly apparent with the way in which she has designed her products. So much thought has gone into every last detail. 

As you can see Elson is such a stunning shade. I went for red because I know no matter what I'll wear it. As for the texture, I was of course wary with it being a matte finish lipstick because it can go either way, however matte formulas are improving all the time and we've come a long way from the drying, difficult to apply MAC matte formula (even though I still love and wear Ruby Woo all the time). I can honestly say this was the most smooth and easy to apply matte lipstick I've ever tried. It glided on  easily and the pigmentation is so rich you only need one layer. Like with most pigmented lipsticks I used a lip brush to perfect the edges and because the formula is so smooth it was easy to do as it didn't drag on my skin. Although it's matte, it definitely doesn't look too dry, it has a sheen to it that gives dimension so that your lips don't look flat. 

I absolutely love the shade, it's a true blue red which of course is such a flattering shade of red because it supposedly makes your teeth look whiter. I also feel like everyone can wear a blue toned red, not matter what your skin tone or hair colour. As for lasting power, I did think that because the formula is a lot more smooth than the usual matte lipstick, it comes off a bit more easily. However I didn't wear a liner and I know that would help with the lasting power of it. The trade off though is that is it a lot more comfortable to wear all day than most of the matte lipsticks I own. It also doesn't have a scent which I know will please anyone with a sensitive nose. 

As you can see I swatched some comparable matte red lipsticks so that you have a frame of reference. Left to right is MAC Lady Danger, MAC Ruby Woo, Charlotte Tilbury Red Carpet Red and finally Pat McGrath Elson. As you can see Red Carpet Red is very similar, in both shade, finish and price point, so it's a great alternative if you can't get your hands on Elson.  

Did I need another red lipstick? Absolutely not, I have more than enough that I could probably wear it every day of the year and never run out. But, this was my birthday treat to myself and I was incredibly curious to try the Pat McGrath Labs products.

The good news is, if you want to get your hands on these MatteTrance lipsticks which are currently all sold out, there is going to be a restock on the Pat McGrath website on September 16th at midnight EST and if you really want to guarantee you get one, there is a members only pre-sale happening beforehand if you sign up on her website.

In other exciting news, she is launching an "unlimited" edition collection of products later this month including eyeshadow palettes, LuxeTrance lipsticks and lip liners which all look incredible. I highly recommend following her Instagram to get a sneak peak at the new products and just for some amazing makeup inspiration in general.

Pat McGrath Labs is available from Net-a-Porter and Sephora as well as the Pat McGrath website.

Have you bought anything from Pat McGrath labs or would you like to?

Emma x

Face Of The Day- Lady Danger

The other day I went into Arnotts to get another MAC Prep + Prime Lip because I haven't had one for a while and I was really missing it. I had been saving up some empties for Back to MAC so I got Lady Danger lipstick which I've never owned before but have wanted to try for years. 

I tried it the next day with very minimal makeup and loved it immediately. It's the perfect yellow based red that I've been wanting for Summer. I had more time today to play around with my makeup so I went a bit crazy and paired it with some gold eyeshadow from the Lorac Pro palette. I thought it was a bit much at first, but I kept the skin and brows quite simple so it wasn't too overpowering. There's something completely clashing about the gold and red combination but because they both have warm tones it somehow works (hopefully!)

I went to an event for the brand Artistry last week, I had heard of them but didn't know much about their products and had never tried any myself. I got chatting to one of the Artistry ladies and she very kindly ended up giving my their Ideal Radiance Illuminating CC Cream to take home with me. I was so excited to try it out as I always love to discover new brands. I used this for the first time yesterday and I was hugely impressed with how my skin looked. It blended out easily and gave my skin a subtle luminosity. It has broad spectrum UVA/UVB protection and SPF 50 so it's perfect for trying at this time of year. I want to write a full review of this and compare it to the IT Cosmetics CC Cream which I'm also trying out at the moment so keep an eye out for that.

I curled my lashes with the Eyeko Lash Curler before starting my eye makeup. I used Glossier Boy Brow on my brows (you can read my full review here). Then I applied some Urban Decay Primer Potion and the Gold shade from the Lorac Pro palette. I blended it out and added some of the matte brown shade Taupe under my eyes with a little bit of Gold blended in too. I love this palette a lot, it's got a great selection of shades and the pigmentation, especially in the satin shades is amazing. I applied a thin line of Kat Von D Tattoo Liner and my current favourite lash combination Lancôme Cils Booster XL and L'Oréal Miss Baby Roll mascara (which you can read about in more detail here). 

I blended some Glossier Stretch Concealer under my eyes with a Real Techniques Mini Eraser Sponge. This was only me second time using it so I want to give it more time before I write a more in-depth review. To finish my face makeup I used the Collection Precision Contouring stick in Light which I've been loving recently. It's a great shade for fair skin and it's hard to overdo it because it's not too pigmented but is creamy and easy to blend so it looks quite natural. I added a small amount of the Bourjois Aqua Blush in CocoriCorail which is one of my all time favourite liquid blushes and if you don't have one do yourself a favour and get one, they're so amazing, especially during the Summer (see them in action here). 

I finished my skin with the No7 Instant Radiance Highlighter which I love for adding a quick glow to the tops of my cheeks, down the centre of my nose and on my cupids bow. It's subtle and blends easily so it's a great one for the Summer when you want a quick glow to your skin.

To finish I used my new MAC Prep + Prime lip and let it sink in for a minute before applying Lady Danger. I didn't use a lip liner because I didn't want the lips to look too overdone. This lipstick totally lives up to my expectations. It's matte so it lasts really well and doesn't feather but it definitely benefits from using the lip primer first otherwise it could feel quite drying. I think I'm going to be wearing it a lot in the Summer with just CC Cream and lots of mascara. 

To completely finish off the look I lined my lower waterline with my KIKO Glamorous Eye Pencil in 401 which is a gorgeous bronze shade (and now seems to be discontinued) but I love how it looks against my green eyes. This is a lot more makeup than I would usually wear on a daily basis but I love playing around with different colour combinations at the weekend when I have a bit more time.

What do you think of this look? Have you tried any of these products?

Emma x

Lancôme Matte Shakers

Last year Lancôme released their Juicy Shaker lip glosses that quickly became a firm favourite of mine despite not usually being a lip gloss fan. The combination of nourishing oils and pigment encased in the most fun lip packaging ever, made for one of my favourite lip innovations of last year. Seriously, if you haven't tried them yet, I can't recommend it enough! Earlier this year I saw Lancôme were bringing out a matte version of the Juicy Shaker and I was very excited to see how the two would compare.

The Matte Shakers were released in May and come in seven gorgeous shades: Energy Peach (272), Beige Vintage (270), Yummy Pink (379), Kiss Me Chérie (374), Red'y in 5 (189), Pink Power (378), and Magic Orange (186).

The innovative Ultra Thin Film technology means that the emulsion is twice as fine and intense as a conventional lipstick to give a second skin texture on the lips with rich pigmentation for a bold colour payoff. The cushion applicator has been redesigned to give a more precise and easy application. Like the Juicy Shaker, you have to shake the bottle before application so that the cushion is coated with just enough product for one layer of colour.

I was sent all seven shades to try out (yes I'm aware how jammy that is!), I couldn't contain my excitement but I wanted to be thorough and take the time to try out each shade and wear them all properly before writing a review. As you may have noticed, I'm a bit of a lipstick fanatic and I think it's made me so much more critical of any lip products I try because if I don't love them, I just don't have room for them in my collection. 

Yummy Pink, Pink Power, Energy Peach, Beige Vintage, Kiss Me Chérie, Red'y in 5, Magic Orange

As I said I had been incredibly excited to try these out since I first heard about them. I was curious as  to how a matte formula was going to work in the Juicy Shaker packaging. When I saw they had the same cushion applicator I thought the application might be tricky, luckily I was wrong and the newly designed cushion has meant that applying it is so much easier than I thought it would be. 

The formula is so thin that you can apply one light layer if you don't want too much intensity but it's also easily buildable to allow for full opacity without feeling heavy. I was so impressed with how pigmented the formula is compared to how light in texture it is. It doesn't feel like you're wearing anything on your lips. 

Yummy Pink


Pink Power


Energy Peach


Beige Vintage


Kiss Me Chérie


Red'y in 5


Magic Orange

At first I wasn't sure about the colour range, I thought some of them were a bit too similar to each other. Although some of them look similar in the bottle, they actually are all very different. There is a shade for everyone here whether you like something subtle like Energy Peach or Beige Vintage or if you're a fan of bold shades, Yummy Pink and Magic Orange are so vibrant and perfect for Summer. The finish is more of a modern matte, it applies easily and then dries down a couple of minutes after application but doesn't look or feel too matte or drying.

I like that they've kept the range of shades small, usually with a lip collection there's at least one dud shade that I wouldn't wear but I think you'll agree every one of these colours is so beautiful. Another bonus to having such a light but highly pigmented formula is that the shades are easy to layer. The whole idea behind the Matte Shakers is that you can create easy lip combinations such as gradient and ombre lips and even duo lips with one shade on the bottom and one on the top. I've been wearing the Ombré look by applying a shade all over such as Red'y in 5 and then a lighter colour like Magic orange in the centre and blending it out for more dimension. This is a great and subtle way of making your lips look bigger than they are.

I'm so impressed by the lasting power of these. I don't use a lip liner with them but you can if you want to reshape your lips a bit first or to make them last even longer. I apply directly from the cushion and I'm amazed at how easy it is to get a precise line around the edge, I honestly thought it would be a lot more difficult and that I'd need lip liner every time. Sometimes I leave the edge with a slightly diffused look by running a cotton bud or my finger around the line of my lips to give a more undone and relaxed finish.

They do fade as the day goes on unless you reapply, however the fade is quite natural and the pigment remains so it's not that noticeable. They definitely stain your lips, I've found the pigment in the brighter shades difficult to remove if I've been wearing them all day. You'll need an oil based makeup remover if you want to remove all trace of colour. It doesn't bother me at all, but it's something to consider if you don't like products that stain your lips.

Between the Juicy Shakers and revamped L'Absolu Rouge collection last year and now these Matte Shakers, Lancôme have really been dominating the lip product market for me recently. I credit a lot of the success and innovation to Lancôme's makeup Creative Director Lisa Eldridge who obviously has such a passion and talent for creating new and exciting products.

If I hadn't been sent these I definitely would have been buying at least one of the shades because I'm such a big fan of Lancôme at the moment and I'm always interested in trying something that's new and exciting for the lips. I honestly don't know if I could choose which shade is my favourite, they're all so beautiful.

As usual, you can buy the Matte Shakers from Brown Thomas, Arnotts and Boots for €22.50.

Have you tried the Matte Shakers yet? Which shade would you like to try most?

Emma x

Bite Beauty Amuse Bouche Lipsticks

This is my first review of the products I bought in Sephora when I was in New York. I didn't actually buy a lot in Sephora, after my splurge in the Glossier Showroom (read about my experience here) I just went with a select few products that I had wanted to try for a long time and aren't available to buy in Ireland. 

Bite Beauty is a Toronto based company founded in 2011 by Susanne Langmuir that solely creates lip products. The products are cruelty free, all natural, made with food grade ingredients and are apparently edible (although I haven't nibbled on either of my lipsticks just yet).

I had heard about Bite Beauty throughout the years from various bloggers and Youtubers and it caught my interest being a brand that focus on just creating lip products. The Bite products include lipsticks, liners, a primer, glosses, scrubs, a mask and lip wipes. I had originally wanted to go to the Bite Beauty Lip Lab in Soho to create my own lipstick shade, I even went in when we were on our way to get lunch to ask about it but they had no spaces that day so I researched it a bit more that evening. I read a lot of reviews and they were so mixed that it put me off. I didn't want to risk spending the money on something that didn't have glowing reviews so I opted to check out the collection in Sephora instead. 

When I visited Sephora I knew I wanted to buy something from Bite, I browsed the miniatures section at the checkout first and spotted The Perfect Pair Amuse Bouche Lipstick Sets both of which included two shades of mini lipsticks for $15. One of the sets had the shades Rhubarb and Thistle, the other which is the one I ended up getting contains Fig and Meringue. I went for that set because I wasn't mad about the shade Thistle in the other set. I wanted to buy the Agave Lip Scrub and maybe a full size lipstick but I thought it would be better to go for some miniatures because it's a good way to try out a brand without spending too much money. The 2 mini lipsticks are 1.55g of product each, the full size Amuse Bouche lipsticks are 4.35g for $26, so it's good value and I played it safe with shades I knew I would wear a lot. 

Fig


L-R Fig, Meringue

Meringue

There are 34 shades in the Amuse Bouche collection. They're made from 12 edible oils to keep your lips hydrated and nourished and triple milled pigments with added nutrients, vitamins and omega oils in a citrus scent from fresh pressed fruit. Fig is a rose toned nude and Meringue is a peach toned nude, both of which are very wearable and flattering shades.

When I first tried them I was so impressed with the pigmentation and texture, they're so easy to apply and feel creamy and hydrating. I actually really like the scent, it's citrusy but not overpowering at all. Despite the formula being "edible" I wouldn't be licking it off my lips, but it's good to know I'm putting quality ingredients on my lips that actually give nourishment as well as excellent colour payoff. I'd love to try one of the brighter shades to see what the pigmentation is like. I also love the packaging which is a bit different than the usual lipstick packaging. It has a matte finish in a charcoal grey and the little bite taken out of the lid is a cute detail.

Part of me wishes I'd gone to the Lip Lab, it seems like such a unique experience, you get to choose your custom shade, finish and scent which is a lipstick lovers dream. It's $150 for 2 lipsticks of your signature shade or $55 if you just want to choose from the Bite shade library and then choose your finish and scent.

Bite Beauty is exclusively available at Sephora which means it's difficult for us Europeans to get hold of, but I was informed by fellow Irish blogger Siobhan from BeautyLymin of a service called My Mall Box that allows you to shop online with US websites, consolidate your orders and they have them shipped over to Ireland. I feel like I'll definitely be using the service in the near future after discovering so many great brands in New York.

Has anyone else tried Bite Beauty? What do you think about the Lip Lab experience, would you try it?

Emma x