Face Off: Battle of the Liquid Lipsticks

Hi Everyone!

Is it just me or are liquid lipsticks just showing up on the makeup market in dozens? Lately it seems like there have been tons of brands coming up with these liquid lipsticks, so I decided to put them to the test. I have been testing them out for myself and I thought I’d share what I’ve found.

The three I’ve been trying are:

Kat Von D Everlasting Liquid Lipstick- Outlaw

Lime Crime Velvetine- Wicked

Rimmel Provocalips- Dare to Pink

Outlaw, Wicked, Dare to Pink

About the Lipsticks

Kat Von D Everlasting Liquid Lipstick- Outlaw

The first of the three that I picked up is from Kat Von D.  The shade I chose is Outlaw which is true red. This claims to be hydrating, full coverage and matte. It retails for $24CAD

Lime Crime Velvetine- Wicked

The second I tried I ordered online from Lime Crime’s website. Wicked is a deep vampy burgundy. This claims to be completely matte, transfer proof and long-wearing. This retails for $20USD

Rimmel Provocalips- Dare to Pink

The last one I picked up (and the drugstore option in this test) is by Rimmel and it’s light-medium rosy pink shade. This one claims 16 hour kiss proof wear. This retails for about $8. I will note that these were hard to find and when I did find them, most of them were open so I had limited shade selection. Also as a side note, some of the shades in this line do have glitter or shimmer in them. You can kind of tell the finish by the coloured part of the outer packaging, but swatch if you can.

Application

One of the biggest difficulties I have with liquid lipsticks is the application. I don’t have particularly huge lips so I have a hard time staying in the lines. I will note that I do wear a lip liner with all of these because my lip line is uneven. I pretty much wear a lip liner with everything. That step is up to you, but for me, I just like a really clean edge.

Kat Von D

I really struggled to apply this one neatly even with a lip liner. It has a ridiculously long applicator that gathers a ton of product. Even when I scraped it off, there was just too much for me to apply neatly. I had to go really slow to get this even and not gloopy. Once I got this spread out, it dried evenly with no streaking.

Lime Crime

This one is my favourite one to apply. It has a very small doefoot applicator which makes it super easy to be precise. The formula glides on evenly and dried without streaking.

Rimmel

This one was also easy to apply. It does gather a little too much product for my liking but once I scraped a little off, it applied perfectly with no gloopiness. This issue was very minimal.

Verdict:  Lime Crime

Feeling on the lips

Kat Von D

This one is somewhere in between the Lime Crime and the Rimmel. It’s not Sahara matte, but it’s also not initially tacky either. It’s on the drier side, but not super dry. I don’t find this uncomfortable to wear, but you can feel it on your lips.

Lime Crime

At first I didn’t notice exactly how dry this felt. But seriously after a few hours it’s like the Sahara Desert on your lips. It could not be drier, I swear. The weird thing is that it doesn’t dry my lips out. When I take this off, my lips aren’t dry it just felt dry while it was on. I love the ultra matte look of this one, so I wouldn’t want to put a gloss over it or anything to deal with the dryness.

Rimmel

At first when I applied this one it felt super tacky, which is kind of a gross feeling. I figured it was just drying so I left it alone. Once enough time had gone by that I felt like it should be dry, I took the Step 2: Lock and Shine and put it over top. Any tackiness was instantly gone. This one feels like velvet on the lips. you know it’s there, but not in an uncomfortable way. It feels very soft. This one does accentuate lip lines a little while the others do not, but provided your lips aren’t super dry, it doesn’t seem to be a big issue. If your lips do feel dry, you have the Step 2 option to add moisture throughout the day, a step not included with the other 2 lipsticks.

Verdict: Rimmel

Wear Time

Okay so the one main claims all of these make it that they’re long lasting, so that’s an important part of this review.

Kat Von D

I put this to the test at a sushi lunch and despite it’s claim of long lasting wear, it really didn’t look so hot after lunch. It wore off in the most uneven way imaginable, meaning I had to touch up immediately. It really cracked and melted off towards the centre of lips and sort of smeared around the edges, leaving me with completely blank patches. Not pretty at all. The total wear time was probably less than 3 hours.

Lime Crime

Despite being really dry, this had pretty good staying power. I put this to the test with a burger for lunch and all I had to do after was touch up around the edges with my lip liner. The lipstick itself was just fine. I touched up and continued to wear it throughout the day and it made it to dinner without anymore touch-ups. It did not make it through dinner though. I’d say this one lasted a good 8 hours.

Rimmel

Lastly, the drugstore option. This one is extremely budge proof. I had meatballs for lunch and it didn’t even so much as fade. I then wore it throughout the afternoon, ate dinner which was pasta with an oil based sauce and once again- no budging. Not even slight fading. By the time I took this off, it was still perfect. They give you the lock and shine to add moisture, but I honestly didn’t need it after the initial application. I hardly felt it on my lips. When it was time to take this off, I had to scrub to get this off. A makeup wipe was no match for this.

Verdict: Rimmel

So there you have it! Rimmel is the winner! It not only feels nice on the lips, but it lasts for ridiculously long. I do love the shades that Lime Crime offers, over the options from Rimmel though. I would probably pass on the Kat Von D even though I love the shade, it’s just too messy for how long it lasts. For the price and wear, Rimmel definitely wins it, but I’ll give Lime Crime an honorable mention because it’s also excellent. Run, don’t walk and give the Rimmel Provocalips a try! Let me know in the comments below what you’d pick!

Bye for now!

Chelsey

NOTE: As of March 2015, I will no longer be supporting Lime Crime.

FACE OFF: Battle of the Sponges

Hi Everyone!

Today I have a duel for you…,two products are going to face off to see if one is really worth the extra money. Who will win?!? The Beauty Blender was for a long time the only sponge of it’s kind on the market with little to no competition. Then along came a $5 sponge from Real Techniques that has been challenging it ever since. So today I decided to see first hand if they are in fact dupes. In order to keep it fair, I opened a brand new RT Sponge and the Beauty Blender is fairly new as well. I am going to test foundation, concealer and then a final test of how much product they hold and use that criteria to determine a winner if there is one. I am not biased in any way, each side was given the exact same treatment and the results are fair. I would never manipulate a result one way or another. Okay so let’s get to it! Make your predictions now! No cheating! 🙂

Size and Shape

When wet (as pictured) the sponges are pretty similar in size, but do differ in shape. The Beauty Blender is egg shaped with a pointed end for concealer, while the Real Techniques Sponge features a flat edge as well as a pointed end.

The left side of my face is going to be the Beauty Blender (side with the hair clip) and the right side (no clip) is going to be for the Real Techniques Sponge.

Foundation

Okay so I’m going to start by testing them on foundation. Each side was already clean and moisturized prior to the test. Each side is going to get 1 and a half pumps of Make Up For Ever HD Foundation dotted onto my face from the back of my hand.

Let’s start with the Beauty Blender. One thing I noticed right away when holding both of them is the difference in texture. The Beauty Blender is a very soft sponge, whereas the Real Techniques is much denser. It’s almost like the Beauty Blender is springy-er or something.

Here is what the Beauty Blender side (left) looks like compared to the undone side (right):

Now onto the Real Techniques Sponge (right).

I honestly don’t see a real difference between the two sides here, they look pretty even. The sponges are a bit different in terms of application, I was finding that the RT just needed a little more work to make sure the foundation was blended and even. But for the foundation test, these performed very similar.

Verdict: Tie

Concealer

Now to see if one sponge can come out on top for concealer. For this test I’m using the LA Girl Pro Conceal. I put equal amounts under each eye, blended and this was the result.

I think for this test there is a much clearer winner.

Here is the left side that I used the Beauty Blender for:

It did a very good job and concealed most of the darkness.

Now onto the RT Sponge:

You can still see some of the darkness for this eye, so the coverage is not as good. The differences are very minor though.

Verdict: Beauty Blender

Product Absorption

For the last test I really wanted to see for myself how much product these sponges hold. To do this I took a white sheet of paper and stippled each sponge on half until no more product was being released.

You can see clear differences here. The Beauty Blender definitely holds more water, as it dampened the page more, but the RT Sponge definitely keeps more of your product. I’m sure that if you actually measured the difference between the two it would be miniscule, but it is something to consider, especially if you like expensive face products, as your product will get used up quicker by the Real Techniques Sponge.

Verdict: Beauty Blender

In all the Beauty Blender did win 2/3 tests. However I think that these are both great products and if you weren’t comparing them side by side you likely would never notice a difference. The price is a factor because there is almost a $20 difference, and I think the RT Sponge does an amazing job for only being $5. For this face off I really think it’s personal preference, whatever you are comfortable spending. I think if you purchase either of these, you can’t really go wrong because one is not miles better than the other.

Leave me a comment below if there are any other face offs you would like to see or what you thought of this post!

Bye for now!

Chelsey

FACE OFF: Battle of the Gel Eyeliners

Hey Everyone!

I’m back with a different kind of review. I recently decided to delve into the world of gel eyeliners and I picked up 2 different brands to test out and compare. I first picked up Maybelline Eye Studio Gel Eyeliner in Blackest Black for around $10. This seemed to be a popular choice in drugstore gel liners, so I figured this would be a good place to start. Then I stumbled across a full Essence display in Shopper’s Drug Mart and picked up their Gel Eyeliner in Midnight in Paris, also a black shade. This one was around $4. Despite being both marketed as gel eyeliners, they are incredibly different in texture, staying power and application.

Packaging

The packaging of these is similar, they both have a glass bottom and a plastic screw top. They both hold 3g of product, but the Essence container is much bigger. They are both in pot form, meaning that you use a brush to apply these, rather than some eyeliners that come in a pen or stick type form.

Texture

One immediate difference I noticed with these 2 products is the texture. The Maybelline is a lot sticker and firmer in consistency than the Essence. The Essence I found to be very mousse like and much more of what I was expecting a gel eyeliner’s texture to be like. The Maybelline formula is much dryer, whereas the Essence I find to have a fairly wet formula.

Application

As far as application, the texture of these products plays a huge role. Since the Maybelline is firmer, it needs to be worked with a little more to coat the brush evenly and then to make sure it applies smoothly to your lash line. The Essence is much wetter and softer in texture, so it’s easier to coat your brush evenly and scrape off any excess. Due to it’s texture, the Essence glides on much smoother and goes further when you’re brushing it across your lash line. I rarely need to re-dip with the Essence, but I always have to with the Maybelline, just because it’s thicker, so the brush can’t drag through it as easily. Just to show what I mean, I swatched each of these with a small liner brush, one stroke each in similar lengths so you can see exactly what I mean.  You can see that the Maybelline starts to wear out slightly more towards the end of the swatch. You can also see the difference in texture. The Maybelline looks much waxier, making it come across less smooth in the picture. For application, the Maybelline is more difficult to apply, but because it’s a dryer formula, it sets fairly quickly and I haven’t had any issues with getting it on my lid or anything. Essence is much wetter, so I’ve found that if I get it on my eye lashes (pretty hard not to do some days) then it will transfer onto my brow bone or eye lid making a bit of a smudgy mess. Waiting for it to dry is annoying to me since I’m usually rushing off to work or to go somewhere when I’m taking the time to add liner. The Maybelline needs times to dry as well and if I go to curl my eye lashes right after applying it, the product will come off completely. The Essence I haven’t found to have this problem, it just smudges easier until it’s dry.

 

Daily Wear

In terms of daily wear, I’m not that impressed with the Maybelline. I have normal/dry skin and if I’ve rubbed my eyes during the day or touched my face, any wing I’ve created doesn’t really make it through the day. If that happens on my skin type, I don’t think this product would fair well with oily skin. The product claims 24hr wear, but since it wears after less than 8 hours that claim seriously failed for me. The Essence does take longer to dry like I said, but once it’s fully set it stays put. It truly holds up to it’s waterproof claims and is pretty much budge proof after it’s set. To show their staying power I gave each a few wipes with a baby wipe right after they were applied and still wet so you can see how they fare.

 

I did the same test once they were mainly dry  You can see that they were both smudgy, but the Essence did fare better both wet and dry.

Colour

I next wanted to mention colour. Since all of us beauty junkies are on a quest to find the blackest liners and mascaras around, I figured this would be a good thing to mention. These are both highly pigmented and rich black. I didn’t find much difference between the two here. What I did find a difference in was the finish. I would consider the Maybelline to be a matte finish, but the Essence I would call a satin. It’s not shiny, but it reflects a little more light giving it a slight sheen. I figure then when they’re both on your lash line you probably can’t tell any difference in the finish, but I thought I’d include it, just as an FYI 🙂

Removal

Lastly the final thing to consider is the removal process of these liners. Neither of these are particularly easy to move, but the Essence liner is much more difficult. With a makeup remover wipe, the Maybelline liner will start to break down but the Essence doesn’t budge. To remove these I generally use coconut oil which gets them off easily. I haven’t tried an eye makeup remover, so I can’t say how that would work to remove these liners. Another important point to add here has to do with my brushes. I find the Maybelline to be AWFUL to get out of my brushes. Since it is so waxy, no amount of scrubbing and brush cleaner could get it all out. I worry that the amount of force needed to get this off might wreck my brushes over time. I don’t have the same issue with the Essence liner.

Verdict

Overall, I do like the Essence liner better. It is much smoother to apply and it stays put.  The transferring is annoying when it happens but it’s not a deal breaker for me. The Maybelline liner is incredibly popular, so it obviously works for lots of people but it just wasn’t my favourite. Maybe mine is dried out? I just found it to be difficult to drag across my lashline and end up with a smooth line. In this face off the Essence Gel Liner gets my vote! There you have it, face off-complete. Let me know in the comments if you like this kind of post because there are tons more of these I could do!

Bye for now!

Chelsey

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