Battle of the red tinted lip balms

Hi girls!
Remember my blog post on 'battle of the eyeliners'? If you haven't seen it yet, give it a reed here :) Well, since I've bought a gazillion tinted lip balms the past couple of months, I thought I'd do a comparison of all the red tinted lip balms I have.

I have 7 contestants who are ready to take on each other. Are y'all ready? GO!
Here's the overview of the lip balms. They're swatched according to the separate reviews down below. Just in case, here's the list with all the brand names:

On the left you'll see the original swatches and on the right they were all put to the test whether they'll last after swiping it away with saliva.

 

 

 

 

* NYC

* HEMA

* Korres

* Bourjois

* Maybelline

* Essence

* Canmake

 

 

 



 

Let's see how they perform: 

I didn't pay a lot for this lip balm, but I can tell you that you're definitely getting your money's worth. The color pay off is quite stunning and has a very sweet scent to it. The packaging is okay, it's clear that this is meant for teenage girls who like cute stuff. When it was it put up to the saliva test this was actually the only lip balm that didn't even smear a little bit. Next to the packaging and the pigmentation, it doesn't dry out the lips after wearing off. Yes, it wears off, after a 4 hours and after having a meal. Nonetheless, for a drugstore lip balm, this is not bad at all. 7,5/10


NYC Applelicious: Big Apple Red

HEMA is a Dutch drugstore and I've seen this lying on the shelves. I thought it was interesting in how the drugstore's version would work. This is a the crayon type of lip balm and I really like these types. It makes the application just that tad more fun. These are not as hydrating as I want them to be, but they'll be okay if you apply a clear lip balm underneath. They do have a some what vanilla scent to them. Unfortunately they do wear off after an hour or so, so don't expect to last for the entire night. Very affordable but worthy a 5/10

HEMA: red

Yes, I already admitted I'm a lip junkie. And no lip balm collection would be complete without ONE high end one. I splurged on a Korres lip balm because I heard such good things on it.
I used to love those little pots where you had to dig in with your finger to get product out. Until I learned about hygiene in the beauty department and I switched to stick forms very quickly. But that doesn't take away my love for those little pots. If the product is good, I'll try it. And man oh man, am I glad I purchased this. This is hydrating, lasts long and gives a great color pay off. They have a slight scent to them, but nothing too much. If only these came out in a stick form. You're probably going to say: Lily, you're not kept up to date well? They do exist. I know! BUT, they don't have the same formula :( They're simply not as good as the pot versions. If this would have some UV protection, this would have been my HG. A well deserved 9/10

Korres lip butter: Pomegranate

You know I love me some drugstore goodies. When the crayons by Bourjois came out, I had no clue how they performed. I got myself one and ended up buying 2 more. That says it all, right? I love the color pay off, they're very well pigmented but they're not lipstick va va voom. They have SPF, wear long on me, has a subtle sweet scent and are surprisingly very hydrating. You see in the saliva test that the Bourjois lip balm actually stained the back of my hand a little bit more than the others. Hands down, my favorite product by Bourjois this year. 9,5/10

 

Bourjois Color Boost: Red Sunrise

For all those Baby Lips fans out there, I got your back! They finally came to Europe and we've waited a long time for them! I do own some Asian Baby Lips as well, but they don't carry the pigmented versions...boo! Luckily Belgium got the opportunity to dispatch them as well and I'm sure a lot of European lips are smiling their teeth off :) These Baby Lips are worth the hype: hydrating, longwearing, good color pay off and are strongly sweet scented. The only thing I wish I could check off as well is a UV-protection. They're very affordable and I have these lying around my bed just in case my lips decide to chap. Good stuff! 9/10

Maybelline Baby Lips: Cherry Me

One of the most affordable lip balms I own are the ones by Essence. But don't judge a book by its cover! This lip balm makes sure your lips stay hydrated with the desired color on them.  No SPF and slightly sweet scented, but worth a 8,5/10

Essence Glow Tinted Lip Balm: 01 Light Up!

And last but not least, the Stay On Balm Rouge by Canmake. This moisturizing lip balm gives your lips the most natural red you have seen. I love color, but I still prefer natural looks over over-the-top looks. This lip balm has a great color pigmentation. As longevity, this actually stayed on my lips after eating. It wasn't until I wiped my lips that the color came off. And another plus? This actually has an SPF protection. So no worries, Canmake to the rescue! 9,5/10

Canmake Stay-On Balm Rouge

Drugstore or not, they're all quite good. For those who want to step out of their clear box but are afraid of bold lipsticks, try the tinted lip balms. I like how you can build up the color by applying a light coat or you can go over it 3 to 4 times to make it pop.

Top 3:

3. Korres lip butter
2. Bourjois Color Boost
1. Canmake Stay On Balm Rouge

And Canmake has won the battle! I know I gave both Canmake and Bourjois the same points, but the winner beat at the packaging department. This Korean brand is known for its cute packaging. Bourjois is stepping up their game with their latest beauty goodies, so hopefully they'll keep up the good work. And Korres can join the top 3. This lip butter goes on smoothly, but for hygienic reasons it didn't take the crown.

Hope you all enjoyed this article! But do tell me, what's your favorite tinted lip balm? :)

FeelUnique haul

Hello there beauties!

About a month ago FeelUnique had their summer sale on, so I went a little bit crazy on the website :)

First off, I ordered everything over a month ago, but it took over 5 weeks to arrive in Belgium. The sites claims it takes about 5 - 10 days to ship within Europe. After waiting for 2 whole weeks I mailed customer service and they kindly asked me to wait 28 days before taking contact with them again. I waited, waited and waited... 4 weeks later I contacted them again to ask why my package hasn't arrived yet. Since it took so long, they said it was considered lost in the postal system. I reordered everything without any costs and one week later ... BAM, I got my package in the mail. It took a long time to get the package to me, but happy ending anyway.
I will continue ordering at FeelUnique, because I think they have good products for reasonable prices. Anyway, this intro has been long enough. Let's have a look at what I bought:

FeelUnique haul

Most part of what I bought isn't available in Belgian stores. Or the ones that are available in Belgium were significantly cheaper online. I worked with what I could find. Let's get started, shall we?

I have quite the oily scalp. It can actually look greasy the next day, and that's the main reason why I'm digging those dry shampoos, my savior! I've tried a lot of shampoo that should fight against oily scalps, but next to Head&Shoulders there's no other shampoo I really like. I've been on the hunt for another shampoo so I could switch my shampoos so that my scalp wouldn't get used to 1 shampoo. After doing some research I decided to get me this one:

Redken Scalp Relief Oil Detox shampoo

If you've been following me for a while, you'd know I like taking my Clarisonic to pamper my skin from time to time. I've had my brush head for quite a while now, so I ordered another brush head. Only this time I got the Deep Pore Cleansing one. In the beginning of my Clarisonic time, I was scared the brush would be too harsh for my sensitive skin, but apparently my skin has been loving the little tool. I truly hope my skin reacts just as well to this head brush :)

Clarisonic Replacement Brush Head: Deep Pore Cleansing

Since I'm still on the hunt for my HG moisturiser I bumped into the following product:

Murad Oil Control Mattifier

Supposedly this should mattify the face like nobodies business AND it contains SPF. It should control the oils on the face, so I'll give this a go and hope for the best.

We have Rimmel in our drugstores, but for some reason they don't carry the Scandaleyes waterproof eye liners. They have the non-waterproof ones, but my watery eyes will turn it into smudge town in seconds. I've heard a lot of good things about these eye liners, so I'm hoping my sensitive eyes will bare with these and make me fall in love with them :)

Rimmal Scandaleyes Waterproof Khol Kajal Eye Liners: black and purple

Being a lip balm hoarder I just had to get me some lip balms.
I got the Burt's Bees tinted lip balm in Hibiscus. I heard so much about this product, I just had to give this goodie a try. It's a lovely tinted old spiced rosy color that's very moisturizing on the lips.

Burt' Bees Tinted Lip Balm: Hibiscus

My second lip balm (because I just can't get enough of those tinted lip balms) is another one by Korres. I already own the lip butter in pomegranate, but since I'm in love with that one, I decided to get myself a second one. This is the mango scented one and looks a little bit orange. I lovely texture that goes on smoothly on the lips.

Korres Lip Butter: mango

If you're into lip stuff, I'm sure you've heard of the Rimmel Apocalips Lip Laquers before. They've been raved about in the beauty community for months and they've caught my attention as well. Unfortunately the price got my fully attention as well, since they're about 5€ cheaper on the website than in the Belgian drugstores.

Rimmel Apocalips Lips Lacquer: Celestial

As for my last item, it's not quite a beauty item. I bought an insect repellent pump spray since I'm on holiday. I saw this popping up when I was about to check out and thought it would be handy to order as well so I wouldn't have to go out and buy it. Pure laziness, I know!

Mosi-guard Natural Insect Reellent Pump Spray

Anyway, that was my haul from FeelUnique. Should you want me to do a review on any of the products, let me know in the comment bar below and I'll get back to you asap :)

Favorite products of the month: September 2013

Another end of a month means another listing of my favorite products of the month!
Maybe you've noticed that I haven't been doing these king of post every month, that's because I usually use the same products for quite some while.

The products that do make it to the 'favorite products of the month-post' are or awesome products I use on a regularly basis or I've discovered them recently and I just want to share them with you.

Anyway, enough chit chat for now, let's jump right into it :)

My face has been very bad to me the last couple of weeks. I've been using my Benzac which contains 5% benzoylperoxide to treat the blemishes, I've been using my Clarisonic more often and I've rediscovered a scrub to get rid of the dead skin cells. You've probably heard of this scrub before, it's the St. Ives Fresh Skin Apricot scrub. This scrub is the Allure readers' choice award winner and yes, it is quite good actually. It comes out as a pinkish white cream with orange beeds in it to exfoliate the skin. As the name gives it away it has a pleasant apricot scent which isn't too overwhelming. After using this scrub my skin feels very soft. A good alternative to my Nivea Visage Pure Effect Peel Soft which is more a mattifying scrub than it is an exfoliating scrub.

For facial make up products, the waterproof Jealousness gel eyeliner has been taking care of my smoky eye looks. These eyepencils go on very smoothly, no tucking, no going over the same place more than one time to darken it up, good pigmentation, ... By far, one of my favorite eye pencils! I got this pencil from an online Asian beauty shop, if you want to try it out as well, click here :)

Jealousness: waterproof gel eyeliner: black

I've been digging the Bourjois cream blushes. They're a cream to powder blush and the old spices color Sweet Cherry is a wonderful color for my complexion.

Although summer is coming to an end, the oils on my face haven't decided to call it a day. They've been excited to come out since summer has started. To solve this problem, mattifying papers have been my best friend. I've been using several ones, because I keep a certain brand in my purse and some in my make up bag. Catrice, Sasa, Clean and Clear, ... they all get the job done, so I don't really care what brand they're from.

I have been loving lip stuff lately, well actually always, but I've discovered some great lip goodies the last couple of months. Not just the regular lipbalms, but the tinted versions.
One of Korres' best selling products is the lip butter. These are little pots with a scented and tinted lip balm in it, but dang...they're good!

Korres lip butter: Pomegranate

I've done a blog post on the Bourjois Color Boost glossy lipsticks before. If you'd like to give it a read, click here. They have a good pigmentation, are quite cheap and they're cute looking. If you haven't seen them before, they're basically like a big fat crayon to color in your lips.

Bourjois Color Boost glossy finish lipsticks

These have been my fav's of the month. I'm still trying out a bunch of new products, time will tell whether they will make it to my next favorite products of the month! Until then, see you soon!

Top 5 lip balms

For those who know me, you had to see this top 5 coming :)
As for the newbies to my blog out there, I'm a lip balm junkie. I will buy pretty much every lip balm out there just to give it a try. I'm afraid of counting how many I have, because I think even I will be flabbergasted. So, let skip the count and jump right into my top 5!

5. Kiehl's lip balm #1
This lip balm has put its brand on the beauty map. I'm going to be honest, this is purely vaseline. But, I like to put this on my lips before going to sleep to hydrate my lips whenever they're chapped. I received this lip balm in my Deauty box a long time ago, and it's still one of my favorite products I've received from them. Not a bad product at all Kiehl's :)

Kiehl's lip balm #1

4. Maybelline Baby Lips
People have been raving about these Baby Lips in The States and in Asia like crazy. So, I can't not blame them for me wanting to try them, right? :) I've noticed that The States release other lip balms than in Asia. On my last trip to Hong Kong I grabbed about 6 Baby Lips (yes, 6!). If all those beauty guru's like it, I must like it! And yes, I'm weak like that :D

I must say, this is one of my favorite lip balms which are twistable and where you don't need to put your finger in it to get some of the product out. Plus, they smell goooood! I've seen that Maybelline's has released new Baby Lips and my hands are itching not to buy them online...

Maybelline Baby Lips:
left: Cherry
right: Berry

3. Nivea lip butter
I've never really liked Nivea, because they were always too greasy for me. The face cream was too thick and too oily, the body lotion just didn't do much for me. But since my lips can always use some moisture, I thought this time Nivea would be good for my lips. And I'm glad I was right :) These lip butters feel like butter (literally!). I usually slap this on my lips before going to bed so when I wake up my lips feel supersoft and moisturized. Nivea, you have done my lips proud!

Nivea lip butter: Vanilla & Macadamia

2. Smith's Rosebud Salve

Never did I expect to fall in love with a product as much as I did with this one. A few years ago I saw this on the counter one day and I was probably in the mood for 'I want to buy something to make myself feel better (don't tell me I'm the only one out there girls!). As soon as I used it for the very first time, I couldn't get enough of it. 2 years later, I have made a nice dent in my lip balm, but I still have a good amount of product. I got the strawberry scent since I'm a sucker for sweet scents. But honestly, a great investment!

Rosebud Salve lip balm

1. Korres lip butter
I haven't been into the beauty world that long, but one of the most talked about lip balms is the Korres lip butter. I just had to know what the hype was all about and I caved in to buy myself one. Man oh man... Let me tell you... this baby has changed my view on lip balms since I got this in my hands. No lip balm can beat this lip butter. It gives your lips a silky feeling, for those who don't like the greasy feeling on the lips. This does give your lips a little hint of color, but don't expect anything too bedazzling. Admitting that these aren't cheap, but let me tell you that they are worth the buzz in the beauty community.

Korres lip butter: Pomegranate

I don't mind if I feel the lip butters sitting on my lips, it makes me feel like they're actually doing something to them. The only thing I don't like about my top 3 is that you have to dip your finger into the little pots. It's quite unhygienic and you have to wipe off your finger afterwards (as in: wipe it off on someone you dislike, mwoehaha!). But frankly, in spite of the pots I still really like the formula of the top 3 lip balms. I guess you can use a lip pencil for every time you want to slap on some butter on those lips of yours, or you can have some wet towelettes on you to clean your hands with. Up to you!

Lippies

If there's one beauty thing I won't be able to live without, it would be lip balm.
Every single friend of mine knows I'm addicted to those lip sticks, and it's even better if they'd have a nice scent :)
Here's some of the lippies I bought or was gifted over the past few months:

Waterlip: Peppermint

First up are Lip Ices: I have them in Peppermint and Apple scent.
They last quite some time on the lips, are hydrating and the scent is lov-e-ly!

Lip Ice: Apple

Peppermint: The strong peppermint scent is quite strong, but very cooling on the lips.
They say mentholatum is used for severe chapped lips: smack some waterlip on and bye chapped dry skin!

Apple: This mentholatum lip ice has got an apple flavour (duh?!) and it contains SPF 15 to give some extra protection for the lips against harmful sunray.


Second up is a lip butter from Korres. I bought this because I head so many good reviews on it. I have it in the Pomegranate scent, and I ADORE this lip butter! It's hydrating, creamy yet not sticky.

Korres lip butter: Pomegranate

     

Besides the cute packaging, the lip butter's smoother than smooth. The tint is quite sheer, but smells sooooo good!
Definitely one of my favorites and planning on getting other scents :)






I received a Cherry Culture lip balm when I ordered at Cherry Culture, and I got this Watermelon lip treatment. It's an okay product. I probably won't be purchasing this on its own, but it's nice to have given this lip balm a try.

Cherry Culture lip balm: Watermelon

When I was in HK earlier this year I bought a Revlon lip butter in Creme Brulee. Unfortunately this color was far too light for my lips, so I decided to go for a darker color: Macaroon.

Revlon lip butter: Macaroon

It's like an old spiced rose color with gold sparkles in it.
I just love the creamy formula of these lip butters!

Swatch Revlon lip butter: Macaroon

After buying all these lip balms, I thought I'd be ready for the grown up version: lip sticks! Haha! I bought myself a coral lipstick by L'Oréal: the Caresse line. It's a bright coral color which is a freaking awesome color, but I just don't think it suits me. Back to lip balms I assume...

L'Oréal - 301 Dating Coral

As you can see here, you can choose how bold you want the color to be depending on how many times you go  over it.
     

Swatch L'Oréal: Dating Coral

In my Deauty box I got a Kiehl's lip balm...YAY!! I always wanted to try this, but I was just not able to spend that kind of money on one lip balm of which I wasn't quite sure whether I'd like it or not (thank you Deauty!). You probably guessed what I'm about to say: like like like! They're so hydrating and makes sure my chapped lips disappear like that! The thing is: I promised myself I'd use up all of my products before buying anything else. In spite of how much I like this, I noticed this does contain parabens (=chemicals used as preservatives in cosmetics). Will I be repurchasing this? Probably not, but can't help but loving this!

Kiehl's lip balm #1

Then my friend gifted me these 2 lip balms:

Yes, they're lip balms with cupcake and bacon flavour.
I must admit, my friend and I are both suckers for flavours, packaging and names, regardless of the quality :D

Are they the most hydrating lip balms? No.
Are they bad lip balms? No.
Will I purchase these myself? Probably not.

But I sure can scratch trying bacon lip balm off my to do list. Only in America folks! :)

Swatch NYX Mega Shine Lip Gloss: Natural

After seeing so much hype on YT on this lip gloss, I
gave in and bought it. Unfortunately I was quite disappointed by these lip glosses. Yes, the color pay off was very good, but I dislike the sticky feeling of this gloss. A big miss for me...

NYX Mega Shine Lip Gloss: Natural

My friend gave me a very cute lip balm:

Oh yeah, it's actually called moustache lip balm (just in case you wouldn't be able to recognize the shape of it, haha!)

Once a sucker, always a sucker for packaging? Yeah baby!

 Moustache lip balm: raspberry

These last couple of months I started getting obsessed with tinted lip balms...

First up is the:

NYC Applelicious glossy lip balm:
Big Apple Red

NYC Applelicous glossy lip balm in Big Apple Red.

They're like a glossy lip balm with a hint of color. The lip balm is actually quite interesting: it's got a apple shape lip balm in the inside which contains shea butter, jojoba oil and avocado oil and the outside has the color. For the price I paid (2,59€), these are the bomB (yes, with a capital letter b at the end!).

And my last purchase is ...

... the HEMA lip balm stick.

Which brand?

If you're not living in Belgium or the Netherlands, you probably won't know this one, but it's a Dutch (from Holland) drugstore with cheap cosmetics.

Swatch HEMA lip balm: reddish plum

It's a tinted and moisturising lip balm. Best thing about this is you never need to sharpen this since it's a twistable lip balm.

I bet this concept sounds familiar?

Yup, it's clearly based on the Chubby Sticks by Clinique. (Another dupe are the Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Lip Stains)
Since these are quite cheap, I probably will be repurchasing these goodies!



So, these are the most recent lip products I added to my collection. I told you I'm addicted to lip stuff, right?
Anyways, if you have any recommendations on lippies, please let me know in the comment section down below 'cause I'd be more than happy to try them out! :)