My favourite go-to lipstick

Do you need confidence in buying certain items of makeup? I do. I could walk into a high street shop (I have yet to combat my fear of beauty counters) and buy every eyeshadow and nail polish in sight but when it comes to lipsticks, I need more help, I need personal recommendations from friends and I need to see it worn real people whom I trust, as opposed to magazines which I rarely identify myself to.





When I saw my best friend Jo, wearing this gorgeous darker than nude lipstick, I just had to find out what it was and give it a try. Little that I know that it was going to become then my favourite lipstick.






Introducing the gorgeous Velvet Teddy from Mac which I simply can't get enough of. Velvet Teddy belongs to the matte family of lipsticks and delivers a gorgeous darker than nude colour which will pretty much go with anything.


For going out at night, or on special occasions, makeup looks for the blog, I like to pair Velvet Teddy with Lip Inflation Extreme, in sheer bare from Sally Hansen, a £1.99 bargain I stumbled upon before my nearest TJ Hughes shop before its recent closure.





If you've never tried an lip plumper product before, boy, you're in for a shock. I knew I had to expect a stinging sensation but I didn't expect to be that intense. First time I wore it, I asked myself why on earth women would want to go through such a discomfort.






To add to the stinging sensation, Lip inflation has the most unusual spicy flavour/scent, reminiscent of Christmas spices. So all in all, the first I wore felt really felt I was wearing tabasco on my lips. As for the plumping effect, I think it's working but I feel the effect lasts as long as you can feel the light 'burn' on your lips. There is no way I could wear Lip Inflation on a day to day basis, too glossy, too intense, too much but at night time I really like to wear it. I've become really fond of the whole stinging spicy experience now and I wish I had picked more of these before the shop closed.


And this my beloved Mac Velvet Teddy and Sheer Bare worn together on the  lips






Where’s the rest of the head gone? Click here if you want to see as part of my ‘Safari Look’.


Off the top of your head, what is your favourite lipstick, which goes with anything?


top photo credit: lipstick (beautyflorist seller on ebay) and teddy bear.

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Poll & Chrismas Party Nails - Elf 'Red Velvet' NOTD

After my huge disappointment with my first nail polish from ELF (I am convinced I got a dodgy bottle) I didn't expect much at all from £1.50 'Red Velvet' Nail polish from Elf, recently released a few months ago. I was pleasantly surprised. The colour and the application is a dream and I can't stop looking at my nails. I love it. Just look at this baby here and look at me in the eyes and tell me it's not gorgeous! Excuse the overdose of pictures, please stay till the end for the poll on elf products and your responses. The following photos show 2 coats of red velvet and 1 coat of seche vite.





I genuinely can't believe how this is only £1.50 and I really want to get some more polishes from elf. I am thinking of moonlight, twinkle and glitter glam, as beautifully swatched by drew692 here.





 


and now for the obligatory claw pose…






While I was having fun playing with Red Velvet, I was asking myself a question and I wanted to know your opinion about it: If Elf products were to be made available in high street shops, let's say superdrug or boots if you live in the UK, do you think you would buy more products from the range? This is what some of my lovely followers on twitter had to say about it. I hope you can read it. If not, click on the picture to enlarge it.





Talking of internet swatches I wanted to show you the reality of 'red velvet' compared to the swatch on internet. Now I have never been more grateful for the beauty community to share their swatches with the world.





Have you blogged about an elf polish yourself? Feel free to leave me the link to your blog post about it, then I can have a nosy ^_^
What about you? If Elf products were to be made available in high street shops, let's say superdrug or boots if you live in the UK, do you think you would buy more products from the range?

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