Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet Lipsticks ~ A Review

Hello lovelies, 

Liquid lipsticks seem to be everywhere at the moment, so many brands have launched a liquid lipstick recently but one brand I seem to be hearing and seeing everywhere on blogs and You Tube channels is Bourjois and their liquid lipstick offering the Rouge Edition Velvet Liquid Lipstick. I have read so many blog posts and seen so many videos where these have received rave reviews and people saying they last hours even with eating and drinking and they get up in a morning and the lipstick is still on (slightly gross) so I decided I would yet again give in to blogger hype and try one. When I went to pick one up two shades caught my eye and I couldn't choose between them, then I noticed they were on offer for buy one get one half price and since I was paying with Boots points I bought two, things are free with Boots points are they not? 

The colours I got are Ole Flamingo and Pink Pong. Both are bright pink shades, I love a bright lip colour and both of these appealed to me immediately. Ole Flamingo is more of a red toned pink where Pink Pong is more of a blue toned pink and reminded me a little of girl about town by mac. 

Ole Flamingo

Pink Pong

Application & Wear ~ 

As you can see from the above photographs the lipsticks have a doe foot applicator, I noticed that the applicator picked up quite a lot of product and I needed to wipe some off on the side of the tube, no problem though just beware or you may end up with more than you need. I found the lipstick easy to apply without any problem at all, as with all lipsticks I applied one coat, blotted it off with a tissue and then applied another coat. I loved both the colours and found them easy to apply without any mess, I have been known to end up with these on my teeth so I would say definitely check before leaving the house, or filming a you tube video in my case, slightly embarrassing! 

The first colour I tried was Ole Flamingo.

Wearing Ole Flamingo

I wore Ole Flamingo on a day where I was going to be filming a you tube video and also my friend was visiting so I knew I would be doing a lot of chatting. I applied the lipstick at around 10 O'clock in the morning, filmed a video and chatted to my friend, spoke to Simon and the girls and generally went about my day as normal. At 6pm I asked Lissy to take a photograph of me wearing the lipstick. 

Ole Flamingo at 6pm

As you can see in the above photograph by 6pm ( 8 hours ) after I first applied the lipstick, the colour payoff was still strong, however the lipstick had started to bleed around my bottom lip, despite me not eating anything at all and only drinking through a straw. I didn't take any more photographs but I ate my evening meal at around 7.30pm and afterwards went to remove my make up, it had bled much more and around my top lip also and the colour had come off a lot but you could still see the colour. 

I then tried Pink Pong.

 Wearing Pink Pong

Again the day I wore Pink Pong I was filming a you tube video and I was also going to visit my mum in the afternoon. So again lots of chatting was on the cards, again I didn't eat during the day and only drank through a straw but the difference this time was that I had a drink mid afternoon at my mums and didn't use a straw, when I got home from my mums at around 3.30pm and asked Lissy to take a photograph.

Pink Pong at 3.30pm

As you can see from the above photograph, the lipstick had bled badly where I'd drank from the glass, it was also starting to bleed in other areas around my top lip if you look very carefully you'll see it. 

My Overall Thoughts ~

I'll start at the beginning with packaging, I didn't mind the packaging of the lipsticks, I didn't think it was amazing or particularly bad, it didn't wow me, I am a sucker for nice packaging, I wouldn't say this was nice, I'd say it's standard plastic packaging, it's ok but didn't wow me. I found the applicator picked up a lot of product so would say beware when using the product and wipe the excess off on the side of the tube as it could get messy otherwise. 

As I said I found the lipsticks fine to apply and didn't have a problem, you do obviously have to take care when applying as it is a very wet formula but I didn't have any problems, just be sure to check your teeth! With every lip product, I apply one layer, blot with a tissue and then apply another layer. 

The lipsticks felt nice on the lips they weren't drying at all, they do dry down but I thought they took longer than I expected to dry down, again once dry I didn't experience any feeling of dryness, however I don't have any issues with dry lips as a rule. 

I thought the wear time of the lipsticks overall was good but as I said I didn't eat anything and only drank through a straw and when I did use a glass the colour bled badly, this was around 4 hours after application too, I hadn't just applied the lipstick and drank from a glass, it had plenty of time to dry. The lipsticks are marketed as 24 hour wear, I wouldn't wear any make up product for 24 hours anyway but I think you may be left with a stain of colour after 24 hours but not the colour as it is on application. 

I removed the lipstick with my L'oreal make up remover and it removed without any problems at all. 

I loved the colour of both the lipsticks they were both amazing colours, Pink Pong is a gorgeous fuchsia pink colour and like I said not too different from girl about town by mac, and Ole Flamingo is more of a red toned pink, both gorgeous colours and both looked lovely and are great for the summer, I received a lot of compliments on both colours when I wore them, they are very highly pigmented and one swipe gives the deep colour you see in the photographs. 

I wanted to be wowed by the lipsticks, I had read so many rave reviews from people saying they had worn the product all day without any problems and it looked exactly the same 12 hours after applying, but unfortunately this wasn't the case for me as you can see from the photographs. Yes the colour payoff was amazing and as you can see from my photographs the colour was still amazing hours later but they did bleed, something I was really disappointed with. 

I think the shade range is also quite poor with only around 6-8 shades available, theres a red, a couple of orange tones and a nude as well as the 2 colours I picked up so not really a massive choice and I feel not something for everyone as apart from the nude the shades are all quite bold, I love a bold lip colour but not everyone does, I think I nice pale pink and maybe a nude/pink would be nice too and maybe a berry tone would be ideal shades to add to the collection. The price of these lipsticks is £8.99 I find this quite expensive for a "drugstore" lipstick, I think considering the plastic packaging they could have been at least a couple of pounds cheaper. 

Overall I wasn't wowed and wouldn't buy them again, I wasn't massively disappointed and I loved the colours and loved the wear time but the bleeding put me off massively, had I paid half the price it probably wouldn't bother me as much but for £8.99 it does, they aren't cheap and when I wear a lipstick I want to be able to put it on and go, not keep checking in a mirror to see if it's bled. 

If you would like to try one of the Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet lipsticks you can find them here for £8.99. 

Have you tried these lipsticks? If you have let me know in the comments what you thought, be sure to check back as I always reply to all my comments/questions. 

Thanks for reading, much love

Zoe x

A Fabulous Deal With Feel Unique

Hello Lovelies, 

As you know I love all things beauty related and I love online shopping, and one of my favourite beauty websites is Feel Unique, they have over 500 brands and sell everything from make up, skin care and nail polish with loads more in between, they are a fantastic site and definitely worth a look if you haven't before, especially with the news I have for you today. 

Today I have an exciting opportunity for you to save £5 when you spend £20, all you need to do to save the £5 is click the image below and register your email, simples! I am definitely going to register. 

Happy shopping and let me know in the comments what you ordered, as you know I love a cheeky beauty purchase. 

Thank you for reading, much love

Zoe x

Cocoa Brown Lovely Legs ~ A Review

Hello Lovelies,

This may come as a bit of a surprise to you but I am a complete fake tan novice, I have never ever tried fake tan, I have tried one gradual tan which I had a horrendous experience with (see that post here) but I haven't tried any sort of fake tan. Recently I received three products from a company called Cocoa Brown, I was very excited as I'd read a lot of good things about their products, and I couldn't wait to try all the products I received. 

I decided that I would try the Lovely Legs first, Lovely Legs is a tanning make up spray that was created for ladies who want some coverage on their legs and also something to help hide any imperfections and considering I have plenty of those I thought this might just be the thing for me. It says on the can "Tanning makeup for flawless pins" and I have veins down my left leg that I am really conscious of so I was eager to see if the lovely legs could help conceal those at all. 

Cocoa Brown Lovely Legs*

Application ~ 

I had been using my exfoliating gloves in the shower in the days leading up to me trying the lovely legs and paid particular attention to my knees and ankles as I know they can be tricky areas when fake tanning.

It said on the can to spray the lovely legs onto a tanning mitt and then buff the product onto clean dry skin, I used a St Tropez  soft tanning mitt to apply the lovely legs as that is the only mitt we had. I have since been kindly sent a Cocoa Brown Tanning Mitt which I shall be using next time and will use to apply all the other Cocoa Brown products I have so I am super excited to try that. 

I sprayed the lovely legs onto the mitt and buffed it into my skin, I was pleasantly surprised at how little product I needed to cover my leg, and I would imagine that a can of this would last absolutely ages. I tanned my leg from mid thigh to my toes, I don't have the figure to wear hot pants so I felt I didn't need to tan my whole leg. The lovely legs comes out of the can a brown shade so you can see exactly where you are applying it, I found this so helpful as a newbie to fake tan, it applied really well and buffed in effortlessly. I was really shocked at how little time was needed to apply the product, it was so easy to use and buffed in beautifully in no time at all. I was inevitably left with some product on my hands after I'd finished applying the lovely legs but it came off  easily with soap and water so I wasn't left with any staining on my hands at all. 

Results ~ 

I was extremely happy with the results the lovely legs gave me, I had never used a fake tanning product before and was worried I would end up looking orange with horrendously patchy ankles and knees, but I didn't need to worry at all, my legs were a lovely golden colour and I was very pleased with the results. Below are photographs of my legs before using the lovely legs.

 Below are photographs after I'd used the Lovely Legs.

The above photographs show my legs after I had applied the Lovely Legs, as you can see I have no horrible patches on my knee or near my ankle the tan had buffed in really really well. The top left photograph shows one leg before tan and one after, to show the colour difference. I loved the colour as it wasn't too dark, it was a nice subtle glow. 

The above photographs show the veins I am conscious of that I mentioned, on the left you can see they are quite blue and obvious but the lovely legs definitely makes them a lot less obvious I was really pleased with how well it covered them up as it is one of the things I hate about showing my legs. 

When it came to removing the lovely legs I just showered as normal using my exfoliating gloves and my usual shower gel and it washed off really easily without any problems and I wasn't left with any staining at all.

Overall ~ 

Overall I am extremely happy with the results the Lovely Legs gave me, I had a nice subtle glow and my veins looked so much better. I thought the colour was lovely and perfect for me but if you wanted more colour you could easily apply more of the lovely legs and build the colour up to your desired shade, it can also be applied over the Cocoa Brown 1 hour tan for a darker look so it is a very versatile product and one that would suit everyone. Cole came in to look at the results and she was really impressed too, so much so she tried some on her leg, Cole is super pale but the tan looked fine on her too, so don't be put off if you're very pale. 

The lovely legs was super easy to use and I didn't have any patchiness at all which I was amazed at, as I said this is the very first time I have ever applied any sort of fake tan product so I am a total novice but it just goes to show that anyone can use this product whether they are a hardcore fake tanner or a newbie like me. Something that has always put me off using fake tan in the past is the fear that it would make me orange and that I would have that awful patchiness around my knees and ankles, but the lovely legs was great, it was so easy to use, it applied like a dream and looked great, no patchiness or orange tones in sight. I am extremely happy with it and would 100% recommend this product to anyone, especially someone who is new to fake tanning like me and nervous about using fake tanning products.  The lovely legs is a fabulous product to own and really useful too for example if you were asked to go out at the last minute and worried you looked a little pale you could have bronzed pins in under 5 minutes, how amazing is that? 

I would definitely recommend the lovely legs and if I had to rate it out of 10 I would give it 11. Try it you won't be disappointed. 

If you have any questions or comments please leave them in the comments section below, I always reply to all my comments and questions. 

Thank you for reading, much love as always

Zoe x

*This post contains pr samples

OPI Top Coat ~ A Review

OPI Top Coat *

Hello Lovelies, 

You're already all aware that I have a bit of a problem when it comes to nail polishes and products and I do have a rather large collection of polishes now, some would say it's a little much but can a girl really have too many nail polishes? Ok don't answer that.

I adore Orly nail products and always use my beloved Glosser top coat over all my nail polishes and have done for many years, I have tried other top coats but have yet to find one I like more. 

When I was sent the OPI top coat to try I had high hopes, OPI is a brand well known in the beauty world and a brand a lot of people love. It is one of the more expensive brands with the top coat retailing at around £11 - £13 dependant of where you buy it. I don't own a lot of OPI polishes, a few years ago I did have quite a collection but as with all things we change things up and find new products and apart from a Christmas set with 4 minis in I bought around October last year, I haven't bought an OPI product for a few years so I was very excited to try the top coat.

I applied the top coat over my Orly polish, Choreographed Chaos. I allowed my Orly polish to dry fully between coats and also before I applied the OPI top coat. 

My Thoughts On The Top Coat ~ 

The top coat applied well and the first thing I noticed was that the brush is quite a wide brush, something I do like as I find wider brushes apply products much easier. I did also notice that the top coat seemed thicker in consistency than my usual top coat but seemed to apply well with no problems, I did notice that the OPI top coat didn't seem as glossy as my usual choice of top coat but hoped it would be once dry. Unfortunately the top coat didn't become any more glossy once dry, my nails did have a nice shine but nothing like the shine I have when using my Orly top coat. 

The most disappointing thing I noticed was that the top coat bubbled, it looked awful, not on every nail but 8 out of 10 of my nails had a horrible bubbled effect. 

my bubbly nails

As you can see in the above photograph my nails have a bubbled effect, it is worse on some nails more than others, but it looks terrible. I was very disappointed by the OPI top coat, my nails looked a mess and were no where near as shiny as when I use my Orly top coat. I had high hopes for the product as the brand has such a great reputation but my nails looked terrible. 

                                                                                          

I certainly wouldn't purchase this product, the shine wasn't great and I'm not one for bubbly nails to be honest so I will definitely be sticking to my Orly glosser from now on. 

If you do like OPI products and would like to try the top coat, you can find it here and here. 

What is your favourite top coat? 

Thank you for reading, much love

Zoe x

*this post contains a pr sample