Swatches - Rimmel Lasting Finish and Rimmel Kate Lipsticks

Every now and then, on the very rare occasion where I'm not too phased by the lack of funds in my bank account and a little voice inside my head whispers the words 'treat yo'self' in a very Tom Haverford-like manner, I purchase a high end makeup product. Mostly foundation or concealer, or primer or brushes - items that are more 'essential' to me. I only own three expensive (well, to me) lipsticks and two were purchased when I was prowling through numerous Sephora stores in NYC, so the price was far more reasonable than it is in Australia. 

But for the most part, I stick to mainstream, 'drug-store' brands, easily available and more reasonably priced for my very stretched wallet. And none of these items have ever failed me. Sure, it's nice to own something a bit flashy, a bit more lush and luxe but I love the cheaper lipsticks I own. My lipstick collection isn't too extensive but the brand that is definitely the most prominent is Rimmel, because I find that the quality is so consistently great. So, on a rainy day (it's the last day of summer but #Melbz) I gathered them all up and did a little swatch-fest. For what purpose, who knows. But I hardly ever wear the lipsticks I own, which is tragic and so typical of me, so I thought maybe it was time to bust 'em out and reconnect a little.                    

From left to right, shades: Matte Finish 112, Lasting Finish 120 'Cutting Edge,' Kate Moss Lasting Finish 11, Kate Moss Lasting Finish 60,  Matte Finish 106 and Kate Moss Lasting Finish 04. 

These lipsticks all come in a compact plastic tube. The Matte Fnish shades are in red tubes, Kate Moss editions are in black and the regular Lasting Finish shades are in a deep eggplant coloured tube.

Top row: 112, 120 and 11

Bottom row: 60, 106 and 04

Overall, the formula on these lipsticks is great. They are moisturising (even the matte shades), don't tend to bleed out the edges, have a good colour pay-off. The swatches above were all done by applying the lipstick straight from the tube with a lip brush and concealer for minor cleanup. 

The matte shades are not entirely matte (the colour will still smudge or come off when you touch it) such as the liquid-to-matte formulas of the Lime Crime Velvetines or Australis Velour Lips but they are still a lovely, subtle alternative to more glossy shades. I will nearly always choose a matte lipstick over a glossy counterpart. Just personal preference. 

The photographs above are mostly accurate to real-life colour, with the except of '04' and '11.'  These shades were difficult to photograph in daylight, and are both significantly darker in person. '04' is a pretty deep, dark violet colour - very similar to M.A.C's 'Cyber' lipstick and '11' is a deeper burgundy colour. My pick of the lot is definitely 'Cutting Edge' - it's super pigmented and it's such a witchy kitschy shade without the grunge of '04.' 

Swatches/Review - Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear 'Electric Summer - Sea Bloom'

Long time no post! Because I'm the laziest human being in the world. I can't actually believe it's nearly the end of February and the amount of productive things I've accomplished so far in 2015 is a tragic number that I'd rather not spend too much musing about. Because I'm too lazy for that. 

But anyway! I know this 'Electric Summer' collection by Sally Hansen is about nine months old but of course, living in Australia, I definitely only spotted it in chemists/pharmacies at the end of last year. So despite it being very late to land to our shores (which is not at all perplexing), I guess it was just in time for our summer! 

The collection boasts eight new shades, and below I've swatched four of them. I've also included an old green shade from Sally Hansen which is incredibly similar to the one in the collection, so I couldn't justify buying near duplicates. For the most part, I found the formula in these to be quite consistently good, as with all of my Xtreme Wear colours. They're all super creamy, a little thick but still needing two coats for full coverage and no bare spots. I really love the colours too - they read like dusty, slightly muted pastel neons - bright but not outrageously so. 

On to the swatches, ahoy! For each shade, I've photographed one photo with one coat, and a second photo with an additional thicker coat, clean up with acetone and a fast drying top coat. 

Wet Suit -  this is a fantastic bright pastel blue! The first coat went on a little runny, and spilled over the edges of my nail quite easily. The second coat filled in the bare spots brilliantly and built up the colour to a great hue.

Mint Sorbet - This is NOT from the 'Electric Summer' collection, but from an older spring collection of Xtreme Wear shades. A very dusty pastel mint colour, definitely more green leaning than some other mint shades (i.e. Essie's Mint Candy Apple, which is more blue leaning). Two coats, easy.

Floaties - I absolutely love this peachy colour! An extremely faded version of the traditional colour of water floaties. This one needed three thin coats for full coverage. First coat was really thin, second helped to build the colour a bit but there were still bare spots that showed streaky colour. For some reason, it really reminded me of the way that China Glaze's Flip Flop Fantasy looks in some photographs. Obviously FFF is a thousand times more intense and neon but I kind of see Floaties as it's more introverted, shy cousin.

You're Crabby -  Hm. This one is a bit boring to me. It's still a great, easy two-coater and is quite a pretty, dusty, rosy sort of pink. But I'm not a massive fan of pink shades so this is probably one I'd use for nail art or watermarbling but not for a plain manicure.

Water Orchid - Normally my sister and I swear off buying pale purple shades because they just have a habit o making our hands look kind of ghostly and ghoulish. But I'm relatively fond of this shade. Another two coater, this one's another dusty pastel. Slightly grey leaning but still bright enough to accompany the other shades in the collection.

The other shades I haven't included in this post are 'Pearl Up' (a white jelly polish), 'Peachy Babe' (which looked quite similar to You're Crabby, but lighter), 'Teeny Bikini' (yellow pastel) and 'Kelp Yourself' (muted mint green).

Overall, I really like these colours and the formulas are probably what give them ticks in my book. The Xtreme Wear formula continues to be fantastic - most boast fantastic coverage in two coats, and are consistently thick but not gloopy (brilliant vocabulary). I find it interesting that for a summer collection, they're all relatively dusty, muted pastel shades as opposed to bright neons but somehow it works! My pick: Floaties. Not only because I can't swim very well.

Happy polishing!