Review Canmake Stay-On Balm Rouge

I'm sure you've all heard of the Revlon lip butters :) Apparently the Koreans have found a dupe for these. I'm talking about Canmake Stay On Balm Rouge.

Canmake Stay On Balm Rouge

Before I get into the product, let's just enjoy the moment and look at the cute little tube of lip balm. Canmake is known for its cute packaging and I have to say that they didn't fail on that department this time. The simple flower background is a subtle way to make it look more appealing to customers. Sneaky marketeers, those Asians!

As the product itself, I have to say that I freak-ing love this lip balm!
Not only has it a good color pay off, but it moisturizes my lips as well. And I have to say that the color stays on for about 4 hours, which isn't bad at all! I had a meal with this lip balm and it didn't come off until I wipes my lips with a tissue. You don't feel like you have anything on, hence the lip balm, but this one is there to stay.

Another thing worth mentioning: SPF protection. This has a UV shield. It doesn't say how much, but just knowing it has one, makes it more easy for me to reach for this one than for a lip balm that doesn't have SPF protection at all.

The little tube is handy to throw in your purse for touch ups during the day. And frankly, it's one of mine cutest lip balms ever.

Here's a swatch of the balm:

I've swatched this twice on my hand so you could see that the color is actually buildable.
On the top I've swatched it only once, but on the bottom you'll see a deeper color because I went over it for about 4 times.
I don't have the balls to wear a bold lip, but these tinted lip balms are a great try out. They're not translucent but the color isn't as in-your-face as lipsticks.
You can easily wear it sheer during daytime, but when the lights go out...BAM, that's when you and your Canmake Stay On come in and make every head turn your way, haha!

I think it's a great lip balm. I've used the Revlon lip butter before, but you have to admit:
Asians rock at packaging. That little effort convinced me on sticking with Canmake lip balms.

What do you prefer: Revlon or Canmake?

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!

Hits & misses Jan-Jun 2013

Well hello there everyone and welcome back to my blog.

Today I'd like to share my hits & misses of the former month. I recall putting up a favorites of the month post last year for June 2012. I can't believe it's already been a year since I posted my favorites. Talked about consistency...woopsie!

Anyway, last month there were products I liked, but there were products I didn't like as well, so I decided to put a blog post on my hits&misses.

Let's cut the chit chat and jump right into it, shall we?

Hits

This month my lips have been dry as ever! It even dried out to the point that my corners started to crack which hurt like heck whenever I tried to open my mouth. I decided to put some Nivea lip butter on the lips so my lips could suck up all the moisture. It's not completely healed yet, but I'm getting there... As the name doesn't gives it away already, the formula is like butter, it's very creamy lip balm. Plus, it tastes so good, haha!

 

Nivea lip butter - vanilla & macadamia

Recently I caved in and bought some Embyolisse products. I'm still on the fence about the lait-crème on which I'll do a review soon, but I have been liking the hydra-mat emulsion.
It's a gel for normal and mixed skin which leaves the skin soft and matte.
It supposedly to leave the skin matte because it contains a natural derivative of corn starch which will absorb excess sebum and will reduce the shininess on your face. The apricot oil will tone and boost the skin and it contains the antioxidant vitamin E as well.

I've been liking it so far, although it doesn't keep my face matte ALL day long. I'm one happy chappy for this product keeping me matte for half the day!

Embyrolisse hydra-mat émulsion

If you've read my last year's favorites, you know by now I've been using the Clarisonic for almost a year now, and yes, I'm still a huge fan of this tool. It takes the dead skin cells off for me to look fab, hahaha! And I still like to combine my Clarisonic with my Bioré Acne gentle care oil control facial foam.

I've been treating my skin with love, but no product can keep those hormonal breakouts away. Here's when the Vichy Normaderm comes in, on which I've already done a review.
This baby dries out the imperfection so you can swing by life zit free, hahaha!

Vichy NormaDerm

Next to skin care products I do have a make up item to mention as well. I don't often think a product is wow-this-knocks-my-socks-off-like-nothing! But, I'd like to take the time to praise the one who made the Jealousness waterproof gel eyeliner (my review on it can be found here). This is the only eyeliner that will stay put on my waterline. As soon as you've put this into your waterline, it will not budge or whatsoever.

You probably know by now I have very oily eyelids and this causes for any eye product to give me panda eyes as the day goes by. Luckily this Jealousness eyepencil does NOT go anywhere unless you've want differently :)

I got mine in BK (black), but there are 6 other shades as well. And don't worry, one swipe of this eyepencil and you'll have a very pigmented waterline already.

Frankly, this is by far the best eyeliner I've ever used. For those who would like to give this baby a try, check out this website to get a hold of this eyeliner (Disclaimer: I'm not being sponsored for doing this blog post. All opinions are my own.)

Jealousness waterproof gel eyeliner - BK (black)

As I'm going from the top down, let's talk about nails :)
I've been ob-sessed with pastel colours recently. I still like to wear bold colours, but for some reason I always go back to my pastels.

Recently I've been rocking Diorlisse by Dior like crazy. It's a beautiful pastel pink colour which looks classy and put together, and will match with pretty much every outfit you wear.

And if I'm feeling like going crazy, I'll go pastel purple with Essie's Go Ginza! ;) It's a gorgeous lila that give your nails that hint of colour but still doens't look overdone.

As for my last hit of the month, let me just take a minute (and spray on some more, haha!). I'm talking about the Victor&Rolf's perfume called Flowerbomb.

Victor&Rolf - Flowerbomb

I accidentally picked up this bottle, smelled, sprayed and fell in love.

I never heard about this perfume before when I reached for this perfume bottle. As soon as I sprayed it, a magic of scents spread all over me and made me fall head over heels with this perfume.

As I suck at describing scents I looked it up and apparently it contains the following:
Notes: Sambac Jasmine, Centifolia Rose, Cattleya Orchid, Ballerina Freesia, Patchouli.
Style: Oriental. Gourmand. Floral.

It starts off quite sweet and dries down to a sweet, slightly vanillic dessert of amber and patchouli. The name Flowerbomb is suite misleading, as I don't smell a strong flower scent. Be assured that you don't have to like flowers to likes this perfume. If you're a lover of slightly sweet perfumes, this will be right up your alley.

Since every up has its down:

• quite expensive
• unfortunately the scent doesn't last very long on you

Nevertheless, this won't stop me from loving this perfume. Flowerbomb is the BOMB!

 

Misses

I have some dark spots on my face and when I saw these products I was too weak to pass it off. They're Garnier products which will treat dark spots, yeah right...

Garnier Dark Spot Corrector Daily Illuminating Moisturizer - Garnier Anti-Dark Spot Renovator Night

I'm not going to say that I expected immediate results, but these products just didn't do ANYTHING for my skin. The left one left my skin quite oily and the right product was just some gel I put on my skin before going to sleep. No no no, I won't be using these anymore.


Let's stick to the face and talk about another moisturizer. Yes, I did experiment quite a bit with moisturizers. I like to bring up the Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel on which I've already done a review.

I've heard so many people raving about this product. People who have combination to oily skin. I know by now that most gels work better for oily skins, but this was a bit too harsh for my skin.

Whenever putting this on, it moisturized my cheek area, but it dried out my chin area after 5 minutes. This forced me to put another layer of this gel or to put another moisturizer on the drier sides of the face.

I'm aware that some people use 2 different moisturizers for their face, but I like to use just one.

Besides, this gel had a rather chemically smell to it when applying. Luckily this disappears after the gel has soaked into your skin.

I'm not a fan of this Clinique product and has actually left me quite disappointed.

Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel

A few years ago I used the pore strips from Bioré. Apparently they changed their packaging, but I like to stick to products I know that work (normally...). I've been using the nose strips a few times and I'm not sure whether my little box is a bad one, but it just ... sucks! The date says it hasn't expired yet, so I'm hoping that mine is just a fault box.

Every time I use this, the white serum keeps sticking to my nose and when pulling the strip from my nose, the strip doesn't come off as one. The sticky side stays on my nose causing me to wash it off instead of tearing it off. It just didn't work at all. I can't do anything to help the product to come off more easily, because the strip is just too weak to be torn off.

A very big disappointment after being ecstatic for years about this product.

Bioré Pore pack

Last but not least, let's talk make up!
Who doesn't know CoverGirl? They're known for their Lashblasts and their red lipstick that Taylor raves so much about (for money, but still).

When I saw this eyeliner, I just had to pick it up, because who knows this is another great CG product. Well, it's not.

CoverGirl Perfect Point Plus eye pencil - 205 charcoal

I hoped this would be a dupe for my Benefit BADgal liner waterproof eye pencil, but unfortunately this smudged after wearing it for 2 minutes! No lie: I put it on my waterline, put the eye pencil in my bag, checked my phone for messages, looked into the mirror and saw a panda looking right back at me!

Luckily Taylor Swift isn't promoting this eye pencil, unless she's a panda look lover :)


These were my hits and misses for the first half of this year. What are your favorite products and what products do you really dislike and wouldn't recommend to anyone?

Butter 'em up please!

Nivea lip butters

Hi everyone!


Recently Nivea launched a few lip butters (I'm sure you've heard of them by now, but I still wanted to give a little review on them). I've heard that these have become a HG for some people out there, so as a huge lip balm freak, I  just had to give these babies a go.


There are 4 different scents:
the original, vanilla & macademia, caramel cream and raspberry rosé.


I got 2 of the lip butters, namely the vanilla & macademia and the raspberry rosé. (2 tins on the right)

Pro's:

• contains shea butter and almond oil, which makes it easy to glide on the lips
• lovely scent
• 4 different kinds to choose from
• although it's a tin, the cap is easy to take off

Cons:

• tin, which makes it quite unhygienic. You have to dip in with your finger to apply the lip balm.
• leaves milky cast which needs to be blend out
• absorbs just a little bit (it's mostly sitting there to protect the lips) 

Maybe these would be even a better success if they would come out in a stick form, since a lot of those beauties are quite fond of their hygiene :p

I must say, I've limited to using these at night because of 1. the milky cast and 2. I like the buttery consistency, but since it doesn't absorbs very easily I rather let them sit on my lips overnight to make them soft to start the day. (and yes, I do' apply other lip balms during day)

As you can see, these have their pro's&cons.
I like them, but I don't absolutely love them

Is this my HG? No.
Would I repurchase them? No.

Overall, they're ok, but not THE best lip balms I've tried :)

NOTW: Yummy Mummy

I have another NOTW for you beauties!

This week I was rocking Butter London's Yummy Mummy:

Butter London: Yummy Mummy

This is such a GORGEOUS colour!
It's a simple classic nude that goes with everything.

This is my first Butter London polish and I must say (unfortunately for my wallet) that I'm loving BL's formula. They go on smooth and opaque in just 2 coats (although I've only put 1 coat on the picture above). I must admit that this has been one of the best polishes I've used so far. It's just a shame that these BLs are so darn expensive!

I do have to buy these online as they don't sell this in Belgium (hint hint), so I'll have to pay for shipping costs as well...

Nonetheless, I won't be able to restrain myself when I see another must have color :p

LO-VING these and I highly recommend these polishes!

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! :)