E.L.F Lip Primer & Plumper// Review & Roadtest

There are many different beauty products out on nowadays that are made for marketing reasons as they are gimmicky, for trends such as mood activated nail polishes & lipsticks or to help makeup application easier like roller foundations & one-sweep eyeshadows. Not sure where I am going with that as this is not exactly a gimmick, The E.L.F Lip Primer & Plumper serves as a purpose to help prolong the wear of your lipstick & to make your lips look fuller, although there are other things out there & techniques that you could easily use instead. I purchased this simply because I was curious as to whether it would help my lipsticks last longer or not, and how effective the lip plumper is.

Primer
The primer in this is opaque in the colour 'natural' with a concealer stick-like formula that helps to create a blank canvas, although it can mix with the lipstick colour to change it.
It has a very distinctive smell & when I first opened it, it reminded me of being on the farm & of sheep, which I thought would be lanolin in the product which it strangely doesn't have. So I warn you, it is an extremely strong smell but goes away with lipstick application.
Personally I think regular concealer does the same job, or you could even use your eye primer such as MAC Painterly or Essence's I <3 Stage eye primer which both blanket out imperfections on the eyes so it would help even out the lips.

Plumper
I think I prefer plumping lip glosses as opposed to a stick like this, as you can use a lip brush to apply it from the wand without worrying about tarnishing the product & transferring the lip colour back into it. With a stick formula you can't exactly apply with a brush to get the same result. So when you do apply straight from the stick, your lip colour gets all over the tip which you have to wipe after each use, wasting further product & just being annoying. The glossy look also helps in making the lip look plumper.
As opposed to the primer, the plumper is clear & smells strongly of cinnamon which only clasts for a little bit. You also feel a slight sting like with any plumper, which is just it doing it's job, but I find it only feels strong within a few seconds of applying,

How to Use
I didn't get any after pictures, this was mainly to see how the product looked when first applied & to show the different steps.

 Step 1; apply primer over the lips. Lip balm applied & blotted before anything probably would have been a good idea, you can see how dry it makes my lips. Also you don't want too much otherwise it will mix into the lip colour & dull it down.

 Step 2; work it into the lines of the lips using your fingers for even coverage. Make sure to smooth it into the corners of your mouth to avoid that white line, like what I had here.

 Step 3; Apply your lipstick colour as you normally would. You can use lip liner over the top of the primer if you'd prefer. I used a fairly moisturizing lipstick so that replaces what the primer took away.

 Step 4; Apply plumper over the top if you wish. I just applied it to the middle. It's hard to tell if it's made a difference, but the lip colour looks slightly lighter. Could also be lighting issues.

Ingot Lipstick in 253

Roadtest 1

I tested this with Revlon's Colorburst lipstick in Fuchsia, which is one of the least wearing (is that how you put it? haha) lipstick that I own. This is how long it would last normally, so the primer didn't add much to the longevity of the lip colour, and I didn't have anything to eat during this time so I'd expect a colour to last a lot longer than this. I almost always never have any lipstick on after a good meal! And you may note my lips are chapped before, but as the lipstick has worn off they look 100x worse. Eek!

Revlon Colorburst lipstick in Fuchsia

Roadtest Test 2
Firstly please ignore the blatant over-lip lining. This was to see how well my lipstick help up after eating.

 This was taken after a very light meal... one piece of toast to be exact, so I was making sure I was eating carefully. You can see a slight wear right between the upper & bottom lip which is always going to happen. I also had a drink & had no lipstick transfer to the glass. (That's a pretty big deal!)

And after a heavier lunch, as you can see it did not last well!! This was about 4 hours after the original photo so you can see in the top picture how it looked right before eating & then afterwards. So gross!

Kate by Rimmel in 09

Roadtest 3- The Plumper
I am so sorry the before is out of focus, I hope it doesn't affect the look of the outcome.

I actually think that I can see the tiniest bit of plumping, but not enough to make it noticeable. I suppose on somebody with thinner lips you may be able to see more of a result. It mainly adds a bit of gloss, which you can apply regular gloss to the center to get the same results.
As I wasn't wearing any lipstick I wasn't worried about the stick so I could press it firmly, and once again I felt the light stinging sensation for a few minutes but it wasn't uncomfortable for long.

Final Verdict- I think the E.L.F Lip primer & plumper definitely is not a necessity in your collection & it can be substituted for applying concealer first to blank out the lips, and a different plumping gloss on top. I do however like the idea of it in a 2-in-1 product that can be used on the go.
Of course, I don't think anything you do for your lipstick will protect it from wearing off during eating & drinking, but this should help most lipsticks last a good 4-5 hours or more during the day if you make sure not to touch them.

If you still want to try this, I bought mine from Beauty Joint for $3.99, & check out more reviews here.

Thanks for reading! Have you tried this product or thought about purchasing, and has it helped you or do you agree on the points I stated?
xx

Small Haul: Mac & Sportsgirl

On this weekend (2 weekends ago) we did the quickest roadtrip in history. 1400 km there & back in just over 24 hours to Perth! And that reason is... well, you will find out at the bottom of the post! But lets just say it will be the best thing for us for summer :D
So on this rush trip I was still able to get a bit of shopping in with my brothers' girl Kadie, we got to go to Garden City where I remembered they had MAC (again) so I had to buy a few things.

 Firstly I wanted Mineralize Skinfinish in Soft & Gentle but they had sold out :( The S.A was showing me some other loose powder highlights that were meant to have a wet finish but they looked a bit too glittery. So I settled on Lightscapade which is a beautiful, soft shimmery highlight. I still want to get soft & gentle eventually, although I think it will take me forever to use this baby up.

 Next I thought I would finally buy Paintery paintpot because I see so many people rave about it. I haven't properly experimented with it yet, unsure if I would prefer to use it on it's own or over a primer. It would be perfect for neutral, matte eyelooks. Don't think I could ever use this up, either!

 And from the start I knew I wanted a bright lipstick. I asked for Impassioned (been lemming this for a loong time!) but she said it was limited edition- say what?? Not sure I should believe that one! Maybe it is in Australia, I don't know. So then I asked for Vegas Volt, but changed it to Morange soon after because I had been wanting this for a long time as well. & I am so glad I got it- It is the perfect orange for summer! I also got Kadie to buy her first MAC product, Honeylust (I swore that was the name but it's only showing eyeshadow on google :S) lipstick which is perfect on her.

& I never intended to post this picture as I do not have anything at all on my face, but it's always nice to see a full-faced picture of the lipstick. I did not use any other lip products with it here.

So everybody knows makeup is more expensive over here, but I will share the total anyway.
These 3 products came to the cost of *drumroll* $118.00 0.o. Lightscapade being the most expensive at $47 holy moly I knew it was going to be a bit but I bit the bullet, although I believe that the total cost, if I were in the U.S, would be $62.50 so I had lost $55.50 but it is always nicer to go in store, you don't have to wait for shipping & worry about damages & I had good service so it was worth it-- sort of.
www.ozsale.com had a sale on MAC a couple of weeks ago although there was barely anything to choose from, I did purchase a couple of lipsticks & blush so hopefully that wont be too far away!

I also went to Sportsgirl because of Sleep & Water & Mishelle from Mishelle's sleepy time. I was going to buy a couple more lipsticks but I thought I had better not this time, although I wish I did now.

 I swear I saw a review on this from somebody, but can't remember who, so I had to buy The Scrub Up Body Exfoliator. It is vanilla-flavoured which is a scent I normally like, however it is almost over-bearing in this product. However I can easily look past the smell. This is quite a soft exfoliant so you may want to use a Salux Cloth with it, which is what I used the second time around.
You get a huge amount of product for only $9.95, the only downside is being in a tub I always get water in it while using it in the shower.

 I also bought the Pout About It! Lip colour in Fruit Tingle for a good price of $9.95. Although, when I got home I realized I had similar colours already. I haven't worn this properly yet but it is a good, muted orange-y matte colour. But now I wish I had bought something different instead, the bright pinks & reds look gorgeous. This looks quite neon, but I've seen it look muted on others so I think I will add a nude lipgloss over the top when I wear it.

Also when I got home I had realized that I have another lipstick from a different brand that had the same exact packaging, although the Sportsgirl one at least had a label you could see properly. The one on the right is in the colour Sunburst from the David Jones makeup line & I *think* it was $14.95 when I got it. I don't use it that much, though. The only label on it is a barcode sticker but it doesn't even say the brand so luckily I could remember it. The only real difference between the two is Sunburst is a tiny but darker.

L-R Sportsgirl Fruit Tingle, David Jones Sunburst.

So that's it for my latest haul, until I go back up to Perth in less than 2 weeks, where I hope to pick up a few products for a future giveaway :D

I did mention at the start of something else we bought up in Perth, so here it is!

 Our new baby, a Jetski!

& the first time I've ever driven one, trust me I was actually terrified lol


Thanks for looking! xx

Roadtest: Essence I love Stage Primer Review & Comparison

I have been an avid fan of Too Faced Shadow Insurance for the biggest time, before I seriously got into makeup I don't know how I could have lived without it. Before TFSI I tried L'oreal Decrease & because I didn't know any better it worked alright. I've only tried a few over primers (Australis Eyeshadow Primer, Face of Australia matte & shimmery eye primers) but I could never stray away from my love.
When I was hauling last time I came across the Essence line & thought I'd give the primer a go. Only because I'd like to have a reliable backup that I could places with TFSI from time to time (my first TFSI did last for 2 years, though).

Packaging: Essence I <3 Stage (EI<3S) Eyeshadow base is in a plastic bottle with a doe-foot applicator. It has 0.13 fl.oz/ 4ml of product, which is surprising because TFSI is 0.35 oz/ 11g. The only downside with the packaging is that it would be harder to get all the product out towards the end, unlike being able to cut open a tube. However the wand is quite flexible so you should be able to dig it out from the corners lol.

Texture: EI<3S has a consistency of a liquid concealer so it is really easy to spread all over the eyelid. It blankets imperfections on the eyelids such as veins & discolouration which so you could use it on it's own if you'd like. All you need is a few dots to spread it all over the eyelid. It doesn't take too long to dry but I like to make sure it is still tacky so my eyeshadow sticks. It would also be nice to use as an under eye concealer on it's own (if it matches your skin tone, of course).

Compared to TFSI I think EI<3S is on par. Although it had mainly bad reviews on makeupalley.com I think if you couldn't get your hands on anything else that this is a really good primer. I had no problems with creasing and my eye makeup lasted all day with a good colour payoff.

Here is my roadtest with Essence I <3 Stage primer review.

Day1

 On top of my primers I used Maybelline Colour Tattoo in Tenacious Teal, MUG Mermaid, Seamist & Razzelberry.

 Lunch time ~4 hours later. Still holding up nicely on both eyes.

 ~9 hours later. Not as fresh- definitely on the lower lash line but I can't remember how much primer I put there, & minimal creasing. The color tattoo was an unfair advantage so I had to test it again.

 Day 2- - I applied too much Nyx Jumbo Eye Pencil (french fries) to the eye with TFSI so obviously that creased hideously, creasing is not normally that bad with TFSI.

~9 hours after application. So the TFSI wouldn't have performed that terribly but you can see EL<3S still looked nice hours later. I used shadows from the UD Naked 1 palette.

Day 3

 These sets of pictures were 9 hours apart, and I didn't use any other base for fair testing. The colours both stayed on pretty well, but the Essence eye looks fresher.

All in all, I think Essence I <3 Stage is a nice primer that helps my makeup last & prevents creasing, and  I would probably buy it again to alternate between my TFSI. It's definitely worth a try for $4.95 compared to TFSI ( I buy it on eBay for ~$9.95 not incl. shipping), although noting the amount of product in each one they both work out around the same value for money. You can buy it from Target or Priceline in Australia.

Thanks for reading! Let me know if you've tried this and what you thought.

*Disclaimer: Product bought by me, not affiliated with Essence. All thoughts & opinions are 100% my own.*