Revlon Lip Butters

These lip butters are one of those things I've always wanted, and since I seemed to be on a lipstick buying spree I decided that I may as well go ahead and get them finally. I first bought Raspberry Pie, which is a lovely bright pink, and I liked it so much that I decided to get another one in a more red tone - Candy Apple

The packaging on these is unusual but quite nice, featuring the Revlon quilted effect. They're a bit annoying to open though, because the lid is so huge. They look nice next to my other lipsticks though, and it's easy to spot which colour I'm looking for which is great because I'm always putting on my makeup in a hurry.

The first colour, Raspberry Pie, has a stupid name but I really loved the colour. The payoff is great as well, which is didn't expect from such a balm like lipstick. I lined it a little around the edges but otherwise it doesn't really need much else other than a touch up from time to time.

Candy Apple, however, was a very different story. I wanted a red that was easier to wear and I assumed the colour would be as strong as Raspberry Pie. What I got instead was much more of a tinted balm finish, which was kind of disappointing. It came out quite streaky as well, which seemed not to stop however much I kept reapplying. I found that with a lip primer underneath it was less streaky, but it's still not quite what I thought it would be. I'd say that this lipstick would be great if you're a bit afraid of wearing red and you're not sure it'll suit you, because it still has a hint of the colour but isn't very powerful.

Top colour is Candy Apple, bottom colour is Raspberry Pie

It's kind of a shame because I was so impressed with Raspberry Pie. What I can't stand, though, are the stupid names. Why are makeup companies obsessed with naming products after food? Also none of the colours really appealed to me other than these two, there were some that were glittery, which looked kind of weird and others that were just strange tones.

Kind of disappointing, but as I've said, Raspberry Pie was great and I'd really recommend it, that at least was worth the wait.

Little Sparrow Cosmetics

It's been a while, but since I blogged last I've started two jobs and began moving out of my current student house, so I've been pretty busy! It's all starting to calm down now though, and I'm getting into a bit more of a routine, so I will still be blogging lots.

During the time I've been away I've been buying plenty of stuff, too, so I have lots of post ideas coming up.

The first thing I bought - actually quite a while ago, but I accidentally got them sent home so I didn't get to pick them up until last weekend - were some lip jellies from Little Sparrow Cosmetics. 

I'd first heard about Little Sparrow through a Tumblr post, of all places, which had a list of vegan cosmetic alternatives to Lime Crime. I'm not a vegan, I've barely ever gone a day without eating meat, and I'm not against animal testing for medical purposes, but I am against makeup companies testing on animals. Torturing animals just so we can looks pretty seems wholly unnecessary, so where I can find companies against animal testing I always like to try them out. 

I have a lipstick from Lime Crime which is ok, but it was quite expensive and the company isn't actually as good as it claims to be, so I'm now a lot more wary of them. Little Sparrow, though, seems like a very good alternative, and it's much cheaper, so I decided to try some of their lip jellies out.

Lip Jellies in Rust and Oh My Papaya

They're not really jellies as such, they're kind of packaged like lip balms, but the colour payoff is way better than a lip balm. I wanted to try out some shades I wouldn't usually get, as I tend to buy a lot of the same colours and one of the things I liked about Lime Crime were the unusual colours.

This first one I got was Oh My Papaya, which was a light orangey pink shade. This went on quite thinly, but has a really lovely texture and the colour is nice and subtle. It's a great colour if you want to try out more orange and coral toned lipsticks but are a bit scared of them (like me!)

The second one, Rust, was a bit more daring, as the colour payoff is a lot stronger and the tone is a bit more unusual. It kind of comes off as a browny red, which I was kind of terrified of at first but it's actually very flattering. I'd recommend it if you have warm toned skin, as I'm not sure how the brown would come off on cooler complexions, but otherwise I'm really impressed with it. The texture was again really amazing, it just felt like a balm. It transfers quite easily though so you'd need to keep topping up, but that's to be expected from a moisturising lipstick.

Top is Rust, bottom is Oh My Papaya

Overall I really like these lip colours and I'm looking forward to trying out more of the products. They ship from America so they took a few weeks to get here to the UK, but the prices were so good that I was ok with that. They even included a free little sample of one of their blusher/bronzer products, which I'm really looking forward to trying out.