NYX Mega Shine Lip Gloss Review and Swatches!

I've been loving these glosses from NYX recently! 

They come in a HUGE selection of shades (as much as 50 to choose from!!) and they are very affordable. They retail for $5.50 in the US, but they aren't nearly as inexpensive if you order from the UK site (£5.95, boo!). However, you can find some pretty neat deals on eBay, there is a bunch of online sellers who have amazing wholesale offers. 

Now, I'm not a huge sucker for glosses, but these ones really won me over. Why? 
Because:

- they are NOT sticky (which usually is an issue with lipglosses)

- they have decent lasting power

- they are generally very opaque (no sheer washes of colour here!)

- they have cute and functional packaging 

- again, the crazy colour range, with some pretty unique shades

There is a minor downfall to these ones, which is the smell. They smell like cheap plastic make-up, almost strawberry-ish. If you can bear a weird smell (it fades away though), then I would totally recommend these!


So, I've got four shades, which you can see in the swatches below:

Left to right: Clear, Beige Pearl, Plush Red, African Queen

Clear is just a plain clear gloss that looks lovely when dabbed on top of a smokey eye - glamour check. 
Beige Pearl is a shimmery warm champagne.
Plush Red is a bright cool-toned red (reminds me of MAC Russian Red lipstick?).
In my opinion the real star here is African Queen! It's quite difficult to describe, but let me try: a warm fuchsia with a blue/violet duochrome to it. This is VERY opaque and looks like vynil on the lips. I believe this would look absolutely gorgeous on women of colour (which the name in fact suggests). 


I also swatched these on my lips to show you how they actually translate (top to bottom: Clear, Beige Pearl, Plush Red, African Queen), but bear in mind that the last two colours are much brighter in person. Swatches were taken on moisturized lips, with neither lip liner nor lipstick on, so I am aware that the application does not look flawless, sorry about that.

(Please excuse the gross pimple at the side of my mouth, bad skin day).

Have you tried these NYX glosses? Which other shade would you recommend? Say it in the comments!

Mac Lip Pencil in Subculture - Review, Photo, Swatches

Mac Lip Pencil in Subculture is a great pick if you, like me, are new to lip pencils. I've had this one for quite some time now, I got it at one of London's airports when I bought my first MAC lipstick, and the SA matched me to this colour for a naturally defined lip.

It comes in the classic MAC sleek black packaging and the price was in line with the other MAC products, although I got it for less (I think around £10) at the duty-free shop. This is how it looks like:

The colour is a pretty rosey brown with a slight peachy undertone that looks great on fair to light-medium complexions and lips with average natural pigmentation. You won't be able to see this if you're darker than NC/NW25, I guess. It's basically the same colour of my lips, so it works great to give that tiny little bit of definition that makes a difference, even if I'm only wearing lipbalm. Texture is creamy, but not excessively moist, so the staying power is really good. 
Here comes the swatch:

Here I'm suggesting 3 possible ways to wear Subculture for an everyday look:

1) Line your lips with Subculture, smudge the line towards the inside of the lip, then follow with lipbalm or clear lipgloss for a no-makeup look.

2) Line and fill in your lips with Subculture, which will give a light hint of colour and apply lipbalm or clear lipgloss over it. It will look like the most natural nude lipstick ever!

3) The slightly more polished version of this is achieved by wearing Subculture all over the lips as a base for a neutral lipstick. It will definitely help the lipstick stay on longer and it will make the colour look saturate. This is a great solution when you're sporting an intense smokey eye.

As a general rule, layering an appropriate amount of a matching lipliner will help your lipstick last longer and prevent it from bleeding and fading!