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? :)

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?

YesStyle haul

Since I didn't do a lot of summer sale shopping, I justified it by shopping online (don't act like you don't do it!)

I didn't buy a lot of YesStyle, just a few things, but thought I wanted to share it with you anyway.
If you haven't heard of YesStyle, basically it's an Asian online shop where you can buy make up, clothing, health stuff, and so on from a wide variety of brands. I like it that they're all Korean, Japanese or Chinese findings, so the chance of having my European fellow habitants wearing the same thing will be a lot slimmer. Who doesn't like to feel unique? :)

Their shipping to Europe may take an eternity, but I like their website. It makes it all worth while :) Mostly it takes about a month time to ship a package without any costs.

But enough chit chat, let's jump right into it!

I only got 4 items, because I have another beauty haul coming up soon :)
Let's get started with the clothing:



YesStyle

If anyone would describe my clothing style, it would definitely be casual. I'm the kind of girl who likes to put on a white T, some shorts, sneakers and off I am. But, it's not because I like simple tees that they the image on it can't be special. This is a short sleeved white T-shirt with a cute little man on it who's wearing headphones. It's simple, but cute :)


My second clothing item is a playsuit (or a short jumpsuit). It's cobalt blue with a drawstring to synch in the waist to give it that feminine look to it. I think this look sophisticated, yet it'll be comfy enough to do whatever you want.





Then on to make up!

YesStyle

Whenever I'm buying online at an Asian store I have to look whether they carry my favorite eyeliner pencil. If you haven't seen my review/swatch on it, click here. This is by the brand Jealousness and is aaaaah-mazing!
I thought I'd buy a back up of this eyeliner so I'm sure I wouldn't run without it whenever I'm in the mood for a sultry look.


Last but not least, I've heard good stuff about the Canmake's stay on lip balms. And as a lip balm junkie, I just had to get this and give it a go. I really like it so far, but I don't want to give too many information since I'm planning to do a review on it. So keep your eyes peeled for it!


That was my haul from YesStyle! It was a very short one, but thought I would want to share it with you all, so ... hope you enjoyed it and stay tuned for more! :)

Top 5 blushes

Don't you love it how some girls have that beautiful flush of colour on their cheeks, like they've been running for a few minutes? Next to actually having to go for a run, you can achieve this look by applying some blush on the apples of your cheek

In my former blog post I explained how to apply blush. If you haven't read it, check it out here :)

Without further ado, let's get this blush party started!

5. Canmake
When I bought this blush I had no idea how big the brand Canmake was. Turns out it's a very well known brand and is famous for its cute packaged make up items. I have to admit I caved for this blush because of its packaging. It seemed compact and getting 2 colors for one, is something every girl with a budget can appreciate. It has a coral and a pink side. You can use the colors separately, but you can also mix these 2 colors together to get a light pink.

Canmake: 03

4. Physician's Formula
Even you didn't believe me when I said I'm a sucker for packaging, please let this blush be a great example to that theory. Look how freaking amazing this blush looks and you'll want it too, haha! It has different sizes of hearts and it has about 3 colors you can mix. It gives a lovely healthy glow to the cheeks and is just wonderful to have in your collection. This is perfect for those days you don't want a lot of color on you, but you still want to add a radiance to your cheeks too appear awake and happy of course :)

Physician's Formula Happy Booster: Natural

3. MAC
This blush is probably my most expensive blush I own. It's a matte corally blush that has a great pigmentation and will stay for quite some time. Just be careful when applying this because you have to dab in very lightly with your blush brush and you'll have more than enough on your brush. Yes, they're not expensive, but since a little goes a long way I don't see my finishing this blush any time soon. A good investment I'd say!

MAC: Melba

2. Tarte Amazonian Clay Blissful
Tarte is known for its blushes and I just had to get myself one to see what the hype was all about. Next to the pretty blush itself, it gives the lovely subtle sheen I love. I got Blissful and it's a very light coral color, so hence that it seems very light. This blush stayed on me the entire day. I'm withholding myself to get another color, must...finish...this...one...first. (which will never happen!). Another detail worth mentioning: this blush is formulated without mineral oil, parabens, petrolatum, phthalates, sodium lauryl sulfate and synthetic fragrance.

Tarte Amazonian Clay 12-hour blush: Blissful

1. Benefit Coralista
My number 1 blush... This coral color will suit a lot of skintones and just gives the perfect amount of color and sheen to your cheeks. A wonderful blush that has a pleasant fragrance as well. The blush will stay for a very good amount of time. I like this blush because it's a no brainer blush. You don't have to be careful when applying this. Just dab in your blush brush and apply to your cheeks. No matter how many times you go over it with blush, it'll look great!

Benefit: Coralista

Here's a swatch of the blushes I just mentioned above. The swatches are only 1 swipe because I usually go over my cheeks just 1 time:

Left to right: Benefit, Tarte, MAC, Physician's Formula, Canmake

It's obvious that MAC and Physician's Formula are more pigmented, followed by Benefit's Coralista. I like the 2 others because they give that healthy glow to the face.
MAC is a little bit darker and is more pink than the PF's coral blush. Coralista is a coral (duh?) with a sheen to it. Blissful by Tarte is more of a corally, almost golden sheen, while Canmake's blush is the pink version of it.

Anyway, these are my favorite blushes. Mind sharing your favorite blush with me? Maybe I'll turn out to like it as well!

HK haul

It's a luxury for a beauty blogger to get your hands on products which aren't available on the other side of the planet. I went to HK a while back, so I decided to make a haul for you guys!

FTP: Everything was purchased by me with my own money at Mannings, Sasa (http://www.sasa.com) and Colourmix (http://www.colourmix-cosmetics.com). All thoughts expressed are my honest opinion.

These are the beauty goodies I got from HK:

As you can see I went a little bit crazy in the HK drugstores :)

• Maybelline clear smooth BB silk shine free two way cake powder
• Maybelline baby lips lip balms
• Revlon lip butter
• Maybelline pure mineral concealer
• Shu Uemura concealer
• Aquamoist hyaluronic acid essence
• Aquamoist moisture washing foam
• Maybelline lasting shine gel eyeshadow
• Chanel long-lasting eyeliner
• Dolly wink liquid eyeliner
• Dolly wink eyepencil
• K-Palette real lasting liquid eyeliner
• Essential ultra honey & shea butter hair mask
• Sasatinnie pore cleansing brush
• Eos hand lotion
• Eos lip balms
• Shu Uemura eyelash curler
• Biotherm Aquasource gel
• Sasatinnie nail polishes
• Canmake blush
• Déjàvu Lash Knockout mascara
• Déjàvu Fiberwig mascara
• Fairy Drops Scandal Queen mascara
• Kiss Me Heroine mascara

Some of these products are new to me as well. I'll review them and keep you beauties posted!