Review: Lipcote

One of my Christmas presents was this:

 

 Image from http://www.beautyhobby.com/beauty/make-up/review-lipcote-the-original-lipstick-sealer-photos-swatches-tests/

My mum has been using this since she was a teenager herself and loves it, so she got me one. This use of this is to seal your lipstick in and make it smudge and transfer proof. And it works! I've worn this over a lot of different lipsticks and it will take hours for them to fade, even when I eat and drink. Obviously eating and drinking makes the colour fade faster, but it's still there, which is great.

The application is simple, the product comes in a bottle which resembles that of a nail varnish, with a brush attached to the screw off cap. You can use the brush attached, or your own brush to apply the product, which is of a watery consistency. You cote your lips with a thin layer of this formula and wait for about a minute for it to dry. On the packaging it says that you might experience a sharp tingling feeling, however I don't feel much and certainly nothing uncomfortable or painful.

The product is a little drying, so I wouldn't recommending it everyday.

Now here's the great part, I thought that it would be owned by a company which is in some way affiliated with animal testing. I found a contact address an emailed lipcote, asking if they had ever tested animals, if they were owned by a parent company who test or contract people to test on their behalf and if they were sure that their suppliers were cruelty free. I got this email back the next day:

Dear Indigo

Thank you for your email.  You will be pleased to hear that Lipcote is not (and never has been) tested on animals, likewise we require our suppliers to confirm that the ingredients we use in making Lipcote not to have been tested on animals.  Matthews & Wilson Ltd, our company, has never undertaken any animal testing since it was formed in 1946.  Matthews & Wilson is owned by Matthews & Wilson Holdings ltd which likewise has never undertaken any animal testing.

We hope this sets your mind at rest, but if you have any further comments please let us know.

Kind regards

Ben Woodward

It was so nice have an email back from someone who was for forthcoming with information and I am happy with the answer that I received. There was no dodging the question, which I find quite often happens when a company is trying to sugar coat something because there is testing going on somewhere along the line.

So in conclusion, Lipcote is not along a great product, but a great cruelty free product and I love it!

Borderlands inspired makeup :)

I've wanted to do a tutorial on this for ages and have finally got round to doing it.
I did one of these game inspired looks last summer (for Bio Shock 2) and planned on doing more, but the idea slipped and I just never got round to doing on again. But I have a ton of ideas now, I've just started playing games more and there are so many things to take inspiration from.
Something that did put me off doing this series is that 'geek' is now all cool, or 'in', or whatever, and I didn't want people to think that I was just playing games because everyone else is doing it now. A certain Youtuber is now a self proclaimed 'gamer girl', despite having hardly any independent opinions of her own on games... But that's another story. My point was that I'm not. I do love games, and have since I played my first game on PS1 (Although I don't remember what it was, I was 5 and nither the PlayStation nor the games were mine, I was just given the controller)...
So here is the look, hope you all like it :)

Beware, big pictures of my spoty teenage face!

Too Faced cosmetics: Label whore dupe

Today I was in Boots, browsing makeup. I haven't looked at the high end part of the store in a long time - I hate those orange girls who look at me like I have a  disease and try to tell me what would look good on me (I know what I like and I didn't ask you for help!) ... Rant over, my point was that I spotted something which I don't remember clocking before: Label Whore. It looked duo chromed red-brown with a green tinge to it and very pretty in the pan, so I swatched it. I was immediately reminded of MUA (Makeup Academy, available at Superdrug in the UK) shade 12. Now I don't own Label Whore, so I can't do swatches of the two together and taking photos in Boots is a big no-no (it's in a complex where if you even so much as take a camera out of your bag security have confiscated it!) so I've stolen this swatch of LW:

http://bloggers.com/topics/label+whore

And MUA shade 12:

 

With flash

 

 

Without 

(this photo pains me to show you, I hate the yellow tint to it, however it's very late & I know I'll forget to do it in natural light.)

 

And this is what it looks like in the pan.

I am very tempted to take the MUA shade into town next time I go so I can swatch LW, then go outside and swatch the MUA shade next to it. If I do end up doing that I'll put up an edit here so you can see both shadows together...

On to the price; Too Faced single eyeshadows are £11 each in Boots ($16 on the Too Faced website) and you get 2.5g of product. With the MUA eyeshadows you get 0.5 less, but it costs £1, blends beautifully, is just as pigmented as LW and stays all day when I use a primer. I have other Too Faced shadows and I have to say I don't notice any difference between the two brands in terms of quality, so why spend £10 more than you have to?

Obviously this won't really help you if you're in the US, unless you can get someone to send you one, but if you do get the chance, go check out MUA shade 12.

And for those of you wondering, both brands are cruelty free :)