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!

Swatches: LIME CRIME Velvetines 'Salem' & 'Wicked'

Hello, hello! Massive disclaimer: I am not a makeup expert by any stretch of the imagination. I like makeup but I have no professional training or education and therefore if I stumble over technical language and end up sounding like I'm talking rubbish - it's probably because that's 100% accurate. BUT. This will be a review based upon my own personal opinions and preferences and that's the gospel truth. Also, while I know all about Lime Crime's dubious marketing strategies and customer relations reputation, this review is not going to discuss any of it, because like the makeup thing, I'm no expert.

Okay! On to the review! Excuse the selfies. Photographs of just my lips look absolutely horrendous.

Lime Crime's Velvetines have tempted me for ages now, but I always felt like the colors offered (Red Velvet, Suedeberry and Pink Velvet) were a bit too bright for me. Pink lipstick always makes me look like an odd, sad clown. Not cute. So I was happy to see this year's new collection, 'The Clueless Witch,' included shades that would hopefully not clash with my skin - Black Velvet, Salem and Wicked -  all of which are dark, muted tones. The collection has named these Velvetines 'Gothatines,' I guess to fit with the whole retro 90s aesthetic they're emulating?

These lipsticks are marketed as a 'Liquid-to-Matte Lip Stain.' I've always been a sucker for matte lipsticks, and so I was really hoping that these would live up to their reputation and actually have some staying power. Also, I figured my boyfriend might be happy that his clothing/face wouldn't be stained in smudges of red and purple.

If you care about this sort of thing: the packaging of these lipsticks is super cute. Classic Lime Crime pink, cutesy box adorned with roses.

Salem (left) is a chocolate-y brown colour. When I checked swatches online prior to purchase, the shade looked as though it may be a tad too light for my skin tone - as in, it appeared like it might blend into the rest of my face entirely. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was darker than expected, a gorgeous deep, rich color that would probably suit most skin tones quite well. I suppose it would look significantly more 'gothic' and edgy on lighter skin tones, but looks decidedly more muted on mine.

Wicked (right) is a rich, brickish-burgundy colour (wow, you can really see how much of an expert I am... naht). I own a tonne of red lipsticks and hardly wear any of them because they're just not quite right (my sister has taken most of them hostage and it angers me how much better they look on her) but this is one red I can totally get on board with. The matte finish makes it a lot more subtle (maybe a dumb thing to say for a red lipstick but it's true) and it's a seriously flattering color for any skin tone.

Application: The Gothatines come in a matte glass and plastic tube, with a doe-foot applicator brush for application. The brush makes it easy to apply sweeping strokes easily, but make it very difficult to be precise around the fine edges of your lips. I suggest using a lip liner in similar color first, then applying the lipstain slowly and carefully around the middle, fuller parts of your lip. I usually then use a lip brush to grab a bit of product, then apply it around the edges for greater precision. I find that two coats of the lipstain is enough, as it is a highly pigmented formula. They apply as liquid and gradually dry to a matte finish in several minutes. Two coats takes longer to dry than one, which goes without saying, but I guess I'll say it anyway. In my opinion, the finish is not drying, but is actually quite pleasantly smooth - not quite 'velvety' but soft nonetheless. My lips are usually shockingly dry but these do not exacerbate the problem further.

Wear and tear: I find that these lipstains can literaly last hours without the need for re-application. The color does not fade nor bleed into the edges of your lips which is fantastic. The only time I've needed to touch up is after eating food that is a bit greasy or oily, or after using a straw. Even then, all that's needed is a tiny bit of color on the very middle. They're a bit of a nightmare to remove entirely, but I usually use liberal amounts of baby oil to do the job.

Below are some photos after I've just applied Salem and Wicked. I was planning on making my sister be my model because she generally has a nicer face and lips than me, but she ditched me for the week with her friend so, here we are.

If you got to the end of this post, congrat-u-frickin-lations! What a long, dull read. I apologise profusely. But thank you! Seriously, I highly recommend these Velvetines/Gothatines if you love pretty lipstick that applies well and stays ridiculously well and looks gorgeous.

#doilookedgyyet

#sahhipster

#hashtag

Purchased: Don't wear hats on windy days

I have a massive problem with hats. I own a handful or so, but hardly ever get to wear them because the weather is so tempermental here, and there is usually at least one bout of extreme windy weather during the day. And I typically make bad decisions, and wear hats on the most extreme of these windy days. So I kind of purchased this ASOS hat really hestitantly, knowing I would probably wear it only once or twice in the winter months to come. Hashtag 'I make silly decisions when there is a 20% off sale.'

ASOS: Felt Fedora Hat, currently $29.41  (link)

I usually have a great experience with ASOS and have only had around 2 complaints in the past 4 or so years I've been purchasing from them. Usually this arises from a discrepancy between the photos provided on the site, and the actual quality/fit of the garments themselves. The fedora photographed above is pretty accurate to reality - although it's a lot wider brimmed on me than on the model. However, it's also quite stiff - the felt is not very pliable and I'm not too sure if it'll relax and become more 'floppy' as time goes on. I hope it does though, because the brim looks a lot nicer when it's relaxed rather than very stiff and awkward all around. I do love the pinched top though, and it seems like it'll go with a lot of clothes in my wardrobe.

PS: Sincere apologies for the crappy Photobooth photos, but my iPhone is atrocious when it comes to focusing and my camera charger has disappeared into Narnia or something. *bows out apologetically*

Swatches: Sally Hansen 'Triple Shine' nail polishes: 'Reef-Raf' and 'Dive In'

I went into Priceline a few weeks ago and noticed that Sally Hansen (whose top coats I swear by and whose formulas are consistently great) had a new range of nail polishes named 'Triple Shine.' There were only a few colours (mostly glitter) the first time I went in, but since then there is a full 29 colour range, including glitters, cremes and shimmers. Which is ten kinds of awesome for me, and ten kinds of despair for my bank account!

Triple Shine is marketed as a "High Shine Nail Enamel with Patented Gloss-Tech Brush to maximize shine with smooth colour application for a flawless finish." Phew! Basically, it's just extra shiny. I usually use a top coat anyway to seal in colour and prevent rapid chipping, so this isn't really a massive selling point for me. However, I can't really fault the colours I bought - they really are super shiny and well packaged. The brush is the same as the brushes in the Salon Manicure range - a thick flat, wide brush so that colour is evenly distributed and is consistent.

I purchased these two colours at Chemist Warehouse, as they were having a 2 for $15 sale. These usually retail at $9.95, but are currently on sale at Priceline for $6.95 I believe!

RIGHT: 'Dive In' LEFT: 'Reef-Raf'

 

 I tried using 'Reef-Raf' as the base for some Valentine's Day themed nail art today. The formula is pretty good. I used two coats for full opacity, and waited for the first coat to dry before applying the second, as it seemed to pull and drag if the first coat was still mostly wet. The picture below isn't that colour accurate - it's a pretty hard colour to capture on camera! Reef-Raf is a bright pink, not as neon as the photo suggests. It looks quite coral-leaning in yellow lighting. For a girl who's not a massive fan of pink, I do love this colour! Reef-Raf also reminds me a lot of Essie's 'Off the Shoulder' from a couple of years back. 

Must. Not. Go. Back. And. Buy. Them. All.

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