So it's been a while since I've done any regular blogging....if you're interested in the long story then I've got a couple of posts on here that explain in more detail but long story short, over the last few months I've had a really crap time that hasn't lent itself to blogging really. I basically had a mental breakdown over Christmas which resulted in severe suicidal thoughts that worried me drastically. Couple that with being incredibly let down by someone who claims to "care for" you but clearly doesn't actually give a shit equals a pretty bad time (I don't mean that to sound too harsh...I'm fully aware not everyone is going to care about me, but don't say it if you don't mean it yeah? That will always annoy me I think. Honesty isn't that hard surely??) I was quite surprised to make it to my 25th birthday really (and even then I was let down again! Nothing quite like the promise of a present that is clearly never going to appear to bum you out further! Haha!) Anyway the long and short of it is that I actually manned up and went to the Doctors to actually get some help. I'm currently on stronger dose of antidepressants now, which have really helped I think. The side effects are a bit annoying at the moment (headaches, lack of sleep etc) but I haven't been feeling suicidal or even the urge to self-harm and I'm a hell of a lot happier/more social then I was before, so that's the main thing I think! (It may help that I've decided to look after myself rather than putting other people first all the time. Turns out that I'm actually the most important person to look after....who knew right?! I mean, I'm not going to start stepping on people to look after myself or anything but I don't have to do things I don't want to just to please other people. It's weird when you change things about yourself, you kind of learn who your real friends are....how cliche!) I start another round of counselling (my 11th batch in 20 years maybe?? I do think it works but only if you're open to it...which I will be this time) soon too, which, in combination with the pills, I really do think will help. I'm also going to see someone about a free exercise programme next week too! Free gym membership for 3 months...depression does have it's advantages! Haha! Anyway, I know some people don't share a huge amount of their personal life on their blogs and I'm sure someone, somewhere will think I'm just trying to get sympathy or something, but I just like to keep you guys updated with why I sometimes just disappear and then come back, blog for a week and then disappear again. I'm going to try and set up a blogging routine as I do feel having a routine helps me stay focused whilst dealing with things. Not to say that routine won't change sometimes if my life calls for it, but I think I'll try to sort out with my Mum when I can steal her laptop to blog! (Seriously need a new one asap. I feel bad constantly stealing her laptop......and her Kindle....man those things are fun!)
Anyway enough waffling! I'm trying getting back into blogging by doing a few reviews of stuff that I have accumulated over the last few months or so as I've had time to use them properly and give proper reviews rather than just first impressions for you guys. I did promise a review of these a while back so it seems only fair to start with these (also I do love playing with lip colours so this was a fun start for me too!)
From top to bottom: Courage, Flair, Allure, Moxie, Ambition and Pizzazz (I couldn't find one of them at the time of taking this photo...how annoying! It does mean extra photos at the end of this post though...)
If you buy the Pretty Amazing's by themselves they come in a cardboard box, which I really thought i had saved to show you, but obviously not...if you scroll down in my London Haul Post you can see the box Moxie came in. Basically I like how the name of the lip colour is on the box with the actually colour that it is....if that makes sense?? (Seriously might need to go see that picture to explain it!) So you can get Courage, Allure, Moxie and Ambition as proper colours on counters or on the BareMinerals website but Flair and Pizzazz were limited Christmas colours (Flair was from last year I think...) I'm pretty sure I actually have Courage as a full size somewhere too but have no idea where I've put it so the mini is from another set I got at Christmas. I like how the packaging is fairly neat so won't get grubby in your handbag, but you can also see the colour on the bottom so you don't have to waste time trying to see the shade name/opening the tube to see the colour. My only gripe with the packaging is that you can't see how much you have left. This annoys me with any product really as I like to know when I'm getting to the end of a product in order to get a new one for stand by (if I really like the product that is....or rejoice in coming to the end of something I wasn't thrilled with!)
Standard end of the tube shot....
Snap to the photo description above...
Swatch shot! From left to right: Courage, Allure, Flair, Pizzazz, Ambition and Moxie.
These have all been done with the applicator straight from the tube. these are about 3 or 4 swipes to get a bigger than one swipe swatch for you to truly see the colour of each of them. From the BareMinerals website the colours are described as such: Courage - A warm strawberry, Allure - Peach Nectar, Flair (not from the website) - A light neutral brown, Pizzazz - Crushed Raspberry (Can be brought in a set here), Ambition - Fuchsia and Moxie - Bright petal pink. You can see that the application from the tube is very pigmented and a bit thicker than normal lipstick. These are described as being more like a lip gloss but I would call them a liquid lipstick really. They do hold the glossiness but I don't find them sticky at all, which is a good thing for me! I do find you need to do the old finger trick to get rid of any excess lip colour as it will get on your teeth otherwise. I'm very impressed with the staying power of these colours. I can put them on in the morning and even after eating my lunch, there is still loads of colour left. I will still top the colour up after lunch but that's because I'm like that! However, with my job involving a lot of talking, I do find that if I've put on a thicker layer, I get that really horrible white stuff on the inner part of my lip (you know what I mean right?) This is easily fixed but can be annoying when I'm halfway through talking to a customer and realise it's there....you can really stop talking and sort it out so I spend the next 10 minutes being weirdly paranoid about it! My fix for this is.....
......putting it on with my finger in the morning instead! These are swatches of Ambition, Allure and Moxie after picking up the colour from my arm and putting it on my wrist with my finger. Now then, I would obviously never do this on counter but at home I have personally found these become more of a lip stain which is awesome in my books! I then either put a thin layer of the same colour over the top for glossiness or I just use a balm or lip gloss for the same effect and I love it! It stays on all day and I have none of the "I've talked too much" stuff. Winner all round! I also like how i can use these as an almost matte lip colour if I put it on with my finger too.
A quick shot of the colour Confidence I had misplaced but then found in my Mum's makeup stash (thief! Isn't it suppose to be the other way round??)
So this is the applicator that the Pretty Amazing colours came with. It's flat on one side which is great for all over colour on my bottom lip, but then has a thin edge which is great for lining and filling my top lip. I find the thin edge gives me a really precise cupids bow, which I love! I don't need to wear lip liner with these either which is a bonus....except for Ambition. For some reason that one bleeds on my top lip like an absolute mother! I have no idea why as the formula is the same as all the others but there we go. For lining my lip I use my Dior Universal Liner (best liner EVER! - Review soon I promise!) and it's all fine. I honestly don't know why it happens with that colour specifically because even Pizzazz (which is a very strong colour) doesn't bleed. Maybe it's just the bright pink aspect of it??
So here's a beautiful shot of my lips with Confidence on. Side note: It's only after I've uploaded a picture onto blogger that I realise I have a fluffy bit under my bottom lip (which I will be paranoid about from now on obviously...)...and a black cat hair on my chin too (totally checked in case it was attached!) I'm one classy lady!! Haha! One day I'll bother with properly taking photos (seriously, who would believe I have a Double Distinction in Photography?!) Anyway, back to the point...I applied this with the applicator straight from the bottle and used the thin side of the applicator to get that sharp point on my cupids bow area. Out of all of them this is probably one of my favourite colours as it's not so far off from my natural lip colour. I also really like Flair, which is practically unheard of for me as I generally prefer strong lip colours (obviously I love Ambition and Moxie....my love of bright pinks means these will always be at the top of any favourite lip colour list!) But Flair is really good for days when I'm going for a really nice natural look as it's nice to keep that going instead of having to go for a strong lip colour - I actually think this is the only neutral shade lipstick I really own except a reeeeeally old 17 lipstick from 2008....
So....it's always nice to finish with a good old fashioned pros and cons list as I find this helps me figure out if I'd want to buy something when looking at other people's blog reviews! The pros and cons list is going to be more tailored for myself and others might have another opinion obviously...
Pros:
- Very good colour payoff
- Colour exactly the same as what's on the box
- Easy to use
- Good lasting power
- Pretty good colour range (could be more though....)
- Little bit goes a long way so tube should last a while
- Nice packing - doesn't get lost in handbags!
- Non-drying
- Slight bleeding issue with stronger colours
- Issue with white stuff forming on lips when talking too much (what is that stuff called??)
- If you go wrong and get it around your mouth, it can be a bit annoying to sort out.
So for me personally, the pros far outweigh the cons for this lip product and I will be very interested in getting more (quite interested in the colour Fearless as it has a purple tone to it, which matches my hair well!) I have brought a couple of the Rimmel Apocalips which are almost exact dupes of Ambition (Apocaliptic) and Moxie (Nova) but found these to be very drying on my lips and both of them bled very badly on my lips (fixed when wearing my Dior Liner though) The drying effect of the Rimmel ones meant that I preferred to stick with my Pretty Amazing's despite the price difference as they are very moisturising on my lips (dry flaky lips are not a good look for me!)
Pretty Amazing Lip Colours are available at your local manned BareMinerals counter and online too priced £15 each.
So what do you guys think? Worth the money or not for you? Do you want a comparison of these vs the Apocalips so you can see how close the colours are?
Until next time,
xoxo
No comments:
Post a Comment
Feel free to leave a comment, I love reading them and try to respond to all of them!