Maybelline Colour Sensational Vivid Lipstick Review – Shocking Coral (910)

When I first saw this colour advertised, I became obsessed. I do tend to wear the odd bright lipstick and I could not help but desperately pine for this. Fortunately, Superdrug have a 3 for 2 offer so I picked it up as part of that.

I have never tried Maybelline lipsticks. I know my flatmate depends on them (she likes ‘Hollywood Red’) so the quality could not be that bad. However, at £7.19 each I would expect them to be long lasting.

Maybelline Colour Sensational Vivid Lipstick: Shocking Coral - the packaging doesn't really match the lipstick.

Maybelline Colour Sensational Vivid Lipstick: Shocking coral - the packaging doesn't really match but it's still pretty cute.

The packaging is cute. The cap is see through and, in my mind, does not represent the colour of the lipstick. It doesn’t really make it easy to find if you have a few of the colour sensational lipsticks. However, as far as packaging goes it’s nice.

The lipstick is incredibly pigmented. It is possible to apply it lightly but it looks fantastic if you apply it fully. I am just in love with the colour. It is definitely a coral – pinky orange. I find coral colours are quite flattering on many skin tones but you need to be brave to try out this colour. I’ll explain.

Maybelline Colour Sensational Vivid Lipstick: Shocking Coral - vivid? More like neon!

Maybelline Colour Sensational Vivid Lipstick: Shocking Coral - Highly pigmented and glossy (yet not very sticky. Hooray!)

 Okay, these lipsticks are called ‘vivid’. I personally would call them ‘neon’. When I first applied it, I almost screamed. It was so bright. My friend actually thought I had used a glow stick for a lipstick. However, the more you wear it, the more you get used to it and now I am wearing it most days – even in this awful weather. I’m just a ray of sunshine in this beautiful weather.

The lipstick is relatively long wearing. It will last a good few hours. However, you do need to reapply if you eat/drink anything. Your lips start to appear orange and you can tell that the lipstick has definitely worn off. It doesn’t look awful, but if you are like me and have to have perfectly applied lipstick at all times you might want to give it a quick touch up.

I wouldn’t call this lipstick overly moisturising. Sure, my lips don’t feel dry when I’m wearing it but they don’t feel overly moisturised/nourished either. I guess it’s nice to not finish the day with overly dry lips.

Overall, this is a gorgeous lipstick that is highly pigmented, incredibly bright and perfect for summer. It is creamy and glides on smoothly and easily to give a lovely colour that looks almost exactly the way it does in the tube. Sure, it’s a tad expensive for a student but it is a beautiful colour that is perfect for summer. Just pair with some mascara and you’re done! I’m very tempted to add blue eyeliner and see how that looks – although I think I might feel like a scary doll.

Maybelline Colour Sensational Vivid Lipstick: Shocking Coral - the lipstick is a very similar colour to my nail varnish (my life now feels more put together) Barry M Gelly in Grapefruit.

Have you tried any of the Colour Sensational Vivid lipsticks? What are your opinions on the colours? Let me know!

Rachael xoxo 

Max Factor Colour Elixir Giant Pen Stick – Passionate Red review

That is a bit of a mouthful isn’t it? What is a ‘giant pen stick’? Surely ‘pen’ is the same as ‘stick’? Well, name aside - I love this product!

Superdrug have a 3 for 2 offer in store and online at the moment. In my eyes, this is dangerous and caused me to buy 2 lipsticks and a lip gloss yesterday. I hate my life. However, take advantage whilst you can! I certainly will (unfortunately).

Max Factor Colour Elixir Giant Pen Stick - Isn't the packaging just lovely?

Max Factor Colour Elixir Giant Pen Stick - It is just a lipstick crayon. It's not as chubby as the Revlon lip balm/stains

Max Factor Colour Elixir Giant Pen Stick - A bright, deep, cool red with gold shimmer.

According to the Max Factor website, the Colour Elixir Giant Pen Stick is for “bold, defined colour for lips that pop.

·      Bold, larger-than-life colour

·      Strong pigmentation

·      Sculpted top for definition

·      Smooth formula glides on

·      Line and fill lips in-one

·      Texture allows for building”

https://www.maxfactor.co.uk/make-up-products/lips/lipstick/max-factor-colour-elixir-giant-pen-stick

I wore this lipstick on a night out last night and I can honestly say it fits all of these criteria. I love it!

Passionate Red is quite a dark red with a bit of a gold shimmer in it. I do like a good shimmer lipstick every once in a while – and although I don’t generally do shimmery reds – I love this one. I feel like it is a bit Christmassy but it applies so well I just don’t care. I have quite a cool skin tone, and this is quite a cool red so I feel it suits me well enough to wear. However, due to the gold shimmer it should suit warmer skin tones too – how clever! The pigmentation is so strong. One glide and your lips are a really bright (yet dark) red. It really doesn’t use too much of the product – fantastic! You can build it up to create a more pigmented colour but you really don’t need to. To a certain extent you can apply it lightly – but it looks best with full pigmentation.

The formula is so soft and creamy. It is a dream to apply. If the stick was any thinner it would just break – that is how soft it is. I could just apply it all day. That is how lovely it is to apply. The softness means it probably is very easy to blend with other colours and do a two tone lip. I could imagine it looking very good with an orange/pink/gold.

According to the website it is a 2-in-1 lipstick and liner. I can agree to this. I had very little/no feathering/smudging. It stayed still and didn’t end up all over my face (although I did get some underneath my cheek. I must have rubbed my hand on it or something.)

These pen sticks retail at £6.99 – a very reasonable price for a Max Factor product. I would buy this in a 3 for 2 deal but maybe not full price on its own. As a student I don’t really have the money. I can get a nice red lip from Natural Collection in boots for £1.99 and then it really doesn’t matter if I lose it. However, this is such a lovely lipstick, I am so happy I picked it up yesterday.

If this product has one fault, it is that the staying power is pretty awful. If you eat/drink anything it is on the glass/straw and not on your lips. It is pretty high maintenance – especially on the middle of your lips. Fortunately, the edges of my lips didn’t need reapplying. That would not be easy after a couple of cocktails (or a fishbowl).

Overall, this is a lovely lipstick with a strange name. I want to have a look at the other shades and see if they are worth picking up – although I really don’t need to add more shades to my lipstick collection. The packaging is super cute as well – I am not ashamed to have it in my make up bag.

Rachael xoxo

My life in Instagram (okay - the past month or so)

I've always wanted to do an Instagram post. I have finally gotten round to it! This is more of a description of why I haven't posted in the past couple of months and how my last semester of uni has been. Now I'm finished for the year, I'll hopefully have much more time to post and keep up to date. These pictures are more for the last month or so - exam season. I have plenty of photos from Florida to upload too. Today is going to be very productive it seems.

1. I went out for my friend Ellie's birthday last night. It was super lovely and I got to wear one of the new lipsticks I bought yesterday. Pictured is the Maxfactor Colour Elixir Giant Pen Stick in Passionate Red. If I'm honest - I love it! Review to come.

2. Fun played UEA just a few weeks ago and - i'm not going to lie - it was pretty damn good. I love the LCR as a venue. It's pretty small. If you get on the steps around the stage you have a seriously good view and it takes less than 10 minutes for me to walk home. Next year it will not be so quick but it's still quicker than popping up to London!

3. I'm home for just a few days whilst my flatmates are finishing their exams. I was finished as of Thursday and it feels fantastic. I finally got to chill with my Boo (my cat is called Boo) for the first time in a month and a half. She just can't stay away when I'm reading a book. She never looks at cameras and she is in this photo - my mind is blown.

4. As I said EXAMS. This was about half of the notes I had for my organic chemistry exam (see picture 6). I think that if I piled all my notes from all 3 exams (which were 70% of my grade in my cores. Erghhh!) they would probably be as high as the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Okay - that is an exaggeration but my God I did a lot of work. I just hope I've done enough to get a good grade. I'd rather not just get onto the second year thanks.

5. As posted last year, I got a massive ELF haul when it was 50% off. This is one of the lipsticks above that I bought at the time and hated. Both of my flatmates wear quite dark lipsticks whilst I go bright but recently they have inspired me to go a tad darker with my lip colours and now this lipstick is a staple in my make up bag (well for the moment). It doesn't look that dark in the photo above - but it's more of a dark vintage pinky mauve and super strange. It looks much better layered under a gloss than on it's own. I'm not a matte lipstick kinda girl.

6. And yes, I'm back to exams. This is my mechanism for the synthesis of Prozac - feel free to correct me if I'm wrong! I think I lost a few carbons or gained a few somewhere but I was more concerned with getting the conversions correct. Like I said, exams took over my life but now they are over with and I can breathe until July time when I assume I'll get my results back and I'll know if I need a resit - I hope I don't!

So that's my (month?) in Instagram. I'm hoping to do these weekly from now on! We'll see how that turns out.

Oh, did I mention I'm getting to see QI being filmed on Tuesday. I bet you are jealous!

Rachael xoxo

p.s. don't forget to follow me on instagram: rachaelwowzie