DUPE TEST: Stila Tangerine Dream vs MAC Morange

Hello,

If you have read my last blog post you would know this one is coming!  I have reviewed the Stila After Glow Lip Colours (you can read my thoughts on them here). While I was swatching I came up with a suitable (and quick) dupe test to share with you! *drum roll...*

Stila After Glow Lip Colour in Tangerine Dream vs MAC Amplified Creme Lipstick in Morange

If you have at all read my blog before (or know me), then you would likely know of my love for Morange. It would have to be my all-time favourite lipstick and the colour is awesome! No disgusting yellow undertones here! Woohoo! I am always hunting down orange lippies for the next best thing (yes you can still get Morange but it's just an impulse of mine to look! haha). Inadvertently, I had purchased Tangerine Dream because it seemed nice and bright and glows under UV (lets face it if Morange was blacklight reactive I'd be set for the rest of my life! haha).

Anyway, let's get cracking!:

Tangerine Dream (Left) vs. Morange (Right)

Before I swatched them I thought they were close, but they really aren't as close as I thought. Morange is infinitely times brighter (and looks so bright next to Tangerine Dream even though it's not well conveyed in the photo) and more opaque too. Tangerine Dream has a redder undertone, which is definitely visible in the picture (but don't let it fool you, it's not red!). Apologies too for the staining from the other Stila colours! (My hands hold onto EVERYTHING!).

Size & Price:

Stila: 2.9 grams of product for AUD$25

MAC: 3.0 grams for AUD$36

Availability:

Stila: Mecca Cosmetica (in Store and Online)
MAC: Select Myer/David Jones Stores and Online

VERDICT: Definitely not dupes! Stila though is a good alternative if you a) don't want to fork out for the MAC or b) you want something a bit sheerer that still delivers a good pop of colour.

Have you got any dupe test suggestions? I would love to hear them!
Love,

Your PM x

UNDER THE MICROSCOPE: Stila 'After Glow' Lip Colour (Review & Swatches)

Good Day All!

I've still been a bit flat chat with life at the moment (hopefully soon I can reach a nice equilibrium between being a hermit and being social! haha), but I have been trying to wear lots of new products and test them out so I can report my findings to you!

Today's "Under the Microscope" are the new Stila 'After Glow' Lip colours. Stila is not a brand I am overly familiar with, in fact, these lippies were my first purchases from the brand! (Now, however I find myself logging onto beautybay.com quite frequently and adding a few bits to my cart. Whoops!).

These were marketed at festival-goers for the warmer weather (sorry, but festivals are not my deal!). But what attracted me to these was the fact they glow under UV light. YES THEY GLOW! Woohoo! (and now that I've acquired a UV torch I can actually provide proof of their claims! haha). I am a sucker for anything UV and I was sucked into these too, no exception!

There are six colours in total available and I have three I will review for you today.



Stila After Glow Lip Colour

The packaging is pen-style (a la Clinque, Nars, Bite Beauty and the like). I don't really have a problem with this as long as the lid stays on! (Which this one does). It's glossy black packaging with co-ordinating colour print depending on what colour you have! (This is a nifty feature for makeup hoarders like me because you can look in your bag and pull out the right colour and be confident you get it right the first time! lol). They have a pointed tip (which is good as long as you keep it that way!) and they WIND UP! Awesome! Anything pencil style that winds up gets a big thumbs up from me as wastage is minimal (You could sharpen up the point if you needed to but then you will waste some!).

Cute Chubby-Stick Style!

Electric Pink: A bright medium barbie pink.

Vivid Violet: A slight red-based violet. It's vivid (as it's named) but I wouldn't say it's overly bright. You could easily get away with wearing it in winter that's for sure!

Tangerine Dream: A bright orange. It's almost like a sheer version of Morange... (I smell a dupe test!).

L-R: Electric Pink, Vivid Violet and Tangerine Dream

I am actually suitably impressed with these. They are pigmented, but the opacity is not as intense as what I usually go for. However I find myself not minding. They are a bit more balmy, and don't feel quite as drying as most lippies (these are a good option if you can't really deal with matte lippies). A good option if you still want a decent, bright/colourful lip but don't want bold! UV wise, they do work! They are not as strong as UV dedicated lippies (I have some Kryolan ones which are so bright they almost want to poke your eyes out!). However, the not-so-strong UV is actually a good thing to avoid those embarrassing my-lippy-has-gone-bad-and-now-it-stands-out-like-a-sore-thumb moments! Electric Pink is the brightest of the bunch, but there is enough fluorescence in the others to still make an impact!

L-R: Electric Pink, Vivid Violet and Tangerine Dream

Unfortunately I haven't got a decent road-test photo! (But you can trust me that they're nice!). I wore Vivid Violet with a touch of Electric Pink over it, it was a nice combo! Wear time is not the longest compared to other lippies I have but you do get a few hours out of it before a touch up is needed (less if you eat of course). You also get a slight stain left but nothing massive. I can, however, offer a pic with me testing out the UV-ness! Pretty cool I reckon!

After Glow Lip Colour under blacklight!

Size wise, you are getting 2.9 grams of product for AUD$25 (Available from Mecca Cosmetica). This is actually quite generous/reasonable (for comparison MAC lippies are 3.0 grams for AUD$36). You can also buy these from beautybay.com (they do ship to Australia) and if you're a bargainista you may be able to snare them for a couple of dollars cheaper (depending on how good the Aussie dollar is! haha).

The other colours available are: Party Pink, Rave Red and Festive Fuchsia. (Festive Fuchsia may be on it's way to me soon... Whoops!).

All in all, these do get a thumbs up from me! Have you tried them? Thoughts?

Love,

Your PM x

FOTD: Illamasqua Speckled Liner

Hello,

Today I am sharing a FOTD with you. Since it was released with the I'Mperfection collection, I have admired Illamasqua's Speckled Eyeliner technique. Until now, I have not attempted it as I have not been overly confident with eyeliner. Looking at this (dodgy phone) photo I would say this is one of my best eyeliner attempts yet!

I used the following products:

FACE

• Illamasqua Matte Primer
• Kryolan TV Paint Stick in NB1
• Illamasqua Skinbase Foundation in #6
• Napoleon Perdis Camera Finish Powder in N2

BLUSH

• MAC Mineralise Skinfinish in Stereo Rose

EYES

• Kryolan TV Paint Stick in NB1
• Kryolan Translucent Powder in TL1
• MAC Eyeshadow in Satin Taupe (Crease)
• Bare Minerals Eyeshadow in Nude Beach (Lid)
• Napoleon Perdis Loose Eye Dust in Mosaic Gold (Highlight)
• Napoleon Perdis Mesmer-Eyes Mascara
• Napoleon Perdis China Doll Gel Liner in Equinox
• Illamasqua Precision Ink in Abyss
• Illamasqua Precision Ink in Scribe
• Eyebrows: Illamasqua Eyebrow Cake in Gaze
• Lashes: Lash Republic's 'The Hunter' (these are definitely my favourite lashes!)

LIPS

• MAC Lipstick in Embrace Me

The key to this look is the Precision Inks in Abyss (Black) and Scribe (White)! If you are keen, you can play around and use different colours (gold instead of white for example!). Either way, I feel liquid eyeliners would work best! (for the spots at least anyway!). Because the liner is reasonably simple, I paired it with a bright lip for a bit more interest.

There is a great tutorial for Speckled Eyeliner on the Illamasqua website which you can view here if you are interested!

Have you tried the Speckled Eyeliner? Do you want to?

Love,
Your PM x

UNDER THE MICROSCOPE: Illamasqua Lipstick in 'Esp'

This edition of 'Under the Microscope' is focusing on Illamasqua's new-ish lipstick in 'Esp', released in the Paranormal collection!

Esp is described as a 'vivid violet with a matte finish'. I also feel it's got a little bit of a violety-blue sheen hiding in there as well! According to the lady at the Illamasqua counter (where I bought Esp from) it is also glows under UV. I now have a UV torch to test this out and I can report that it does glow a bit (but it hides amongst the UV light so not much point in taking a photo), however the glow isn't enough to punch you in the face like other UV lippies (in other words, don't buy it solely because it glows).

Illamasqua Lipstick in Esp

Esp Swatch

These photos lean a little blue, but it is a really pretty colour as you can see! It's really bright and does have a glow about it.

Unfortunately, application wise, this doesn’t tick the boxes for me. The colour is beautiful but it went on rather patchy. I am rather fussy over lipsticks and if the pigmentation is not intense and even I find myself disappointed. This was one of those cases. It was an intense colour, but I couldn't get it even. From a distance, it would probably be less of an issue, but I am really pedantic about having my face presentable (when I put one on that is!).

I am really disappointed that this is not up to Illamasqua's usual standard. One thing I have noticed, is that the formula is different from other lipsticks in their range. I don’t know if they have permanently changed the formula (I asked one of the assistants when I was last at an Illamasqua counter and she couldn’t tell me). Posture and Esp (both new) have the same formula, which are both different to Kontrol (an older colour). I have also noticed, that purples tend to be a problematic colour. I have MAC’s Heroine, (another bright purple) which is also a pretty colour but is also disappointing in terms of wear.

This one really does perplex me because everyone I see it on it looks amazing but I am yet to make it work properly for me. If you somehow get it to work, it is a beautiful colour!

The going rate is AUD$25 for 4gms (quite reasonable value wise!).

You can purchase Illamasqua from www.illamasqua.com or in Australia from selected Myer counters or www.myer.com.au.

Do you have problems with purple lipsticks? Have you tried Esp? Have you got it to work?!

Until next time,

Love,

Your PM x

What I've Been Up To...

Hello,

It has been a while since my last blog post. Sorry if you have been hanging on the edge of your seat for a new one (just be glad you weren't holding your breath! lol). Anyway, I haven't lost my enthusiasm for blogging (I have still been thinking about plenty of posts, looks and comparisons!) but I have just been caught up in non-interwebz events so my time to get posts done has been at a premium. Luckily, my activities are makeup related so I can share them with you! (I could probably share non-makeup related ones with you too but you may find those not as interesting!).

For the past month or so I have been on the makeup team helping out with my local theatre's production of "Hairspray". This was super exciting for me as I love playing with makeup, I love to learn and what better way to do that than help out in the theatre?! YAY. My makeup knowledge is quite small, and theatre even smaller, but I was lucky because the looks I had to do were glamour related (fancy every-day makeup basically) so I didn't feel too out of my comfort zone! I felt I could also push my personal makeup a little bit, because I was backstage at the theatre (not really in public) and around a bunch of creative people who would probably appreciate it anyway! Because the makeup was for stage, it had to be a bit brighter here and a bit bigger there (so I'm probably going to overdo all my makeup now! haha). My biggest challenges were time constraints (lots of people to do and only a short amount of time to get them all done) and eyeliner (yes, eyeliner!). Eyeliner was a bit of a challenge as it's something I usually tend to avoid on me, let alone trying to get it on other people. Repetition paid off though and by the end of it I feel a lot more confident putting on eyeliner and sticking on eyelashes. Awesome!

All in all, my first help-out in theatre was a success! I have definitely learnt alot of handy tips, had lots of practise and met some awesome people too! It was also a really proud moment to see every one's efforts pay off on the big stage (I got to watch one night and it was FANTASTIC!). I even won the raffle at the cast & crew party so I have a flag to mark the occasion! WOOHOO!

I even did my own little "Hairspray" inspired makeup look one night:

Eyes Closed

Eyes Open

Sorry the photo is the world's worst (thank you yellow-toned and dim theatre lighting! lol).

I used the following products:

FACE

• Illamasqua Matte Primer
• Kryolan TV Paint Stick in NB1
• Illamasqua Skinbase Foundation in #6
• Napoleon Perdis Camera Finish Powder in N2

BLUSH

• MAC Blush in Hot Nights

EYES

• Kryolan TV Paint Stick in NB1
• Kryolan Translucent Powder in TL1
• MAC Eyeshadow in Satin Taupe (Crease)
• MAC Eyeshadow in Aquadisiac (Lid)
• Napoleon Perdis Loose Eye Dust in Mosaic Gold (Highlight)
• Napoleon Perdis Mesmer-Eyes Mascara
• Napoleon Perdis China Doll Gel Liner in Equinox
• Illamasqua Precision Ink in Abyss
• Eyebrows: Illamasqua Eyebrow Cake in Gaze
• Lashes: Lash Republic's 'The Hunter' (I think that's what they were...)

LIPS

• MAC Lipstick in Feel My Pulse

Feel My Pulse lipstick and Hot Nights blush are part of MAC's new Temperature Rising collection, which was released here in Aus on the 3rd of June. If you are quick, you might still be able to get your hands on these items... When I looked at the website last night they were still available! :)

I hope you haven't missed me too much and I have more posts to come soon!
Love,

Your PM x