Secret Kisses Lipstick - Haul, Swatches, Review!

I have been obsessed with searching around for good places to get alternative-coloured lipsticks for an AGE and never made the jump to buy any until a recent purchase from Secret Kisses, which has a dizzying array of colours from all over the rainbow. Want green or yellow lipstick? They have it. I've had my eye on blue and purple for a while.

The Choices

Lime Crime has a fantastic range but there has been drama with the company in terms of repackaging, online harrassment of competitors to name a few of many horrors I've read about them. Also, the lipsticks look like they require frequent reapplication and stain/bleed the lips. 

I wanted a creamy, opaque blue / purple lipstick and narrowed the search down to two: Ka'oir Cosmetics and Secret Kisses. However, I found out that allegedly, Keyshia Dior was a rep for Secret Kisses but then left the company to start her own, virtually identical line using the same manufacturer, and was subsequently being sued by Secret Kisses. So this left me with one choice: Secret Kisses Lipsticks! (Both Lime Crime and Ka'oir lipsticks are more expensive than Secret Kisses too!)

What I bought

Secret Kisses had a christmas sale selling lipsticks for $10.99 USD with free shipping if you bought more than five, so I snapped up a bunch of them (and got two for Suz/Donttheyknowwhoiam as well). I may have gone slightly overboard - blame exam time binge-spending.

The chip in Lavish was my fault - it was perfect in the packaging!

Follow me after the jump to see the review & swatches!

Universal lip color - L'oreal Paris Studio Secrets Professional

On my flight back from China, I saw a pack of 3 lipsticks for a very reasonable price - L'oreal Paris Studio Secrets Professional - Universal Lip Glow! I talked my little sister and mum into going in for a packet with me and we got one :D It's supposed to change to a colour depending on the pH of your lips, and although mine wasn't a dramatic change (I suspect few of them are very dramatic) it's a nice subtle upgrade to my lips and evens out the colour a little. Subtle also means wearable, so it should get a lot of use.

Follow me after the jump to see more!

If I could only have... BB cream?

Time for more images of my face! Are you sick of it yet? I am! 

Ok, for those of you not in the know, BB cream is "blemish balm", marketed as an all-in-one product that is a moisturiser / primer / foundation / sunblock / skin improvement serum. I'm a little skeptical about its skin improvement qualities (as with most skincare products) but I'm happy to treat it as a glorified tinted moisturiser with SPF. They became popular in the Asian markets first before more recently moving into the West. I'm a lot more keen to try the asian market brands as I recently tried Garnier's BB cream and was so disappointed with the patchy application that I threw it out immediately.

Today's experiment: does BB cream make a significant difference to my face?

My face does look a little more even and I look more fresh. It's subtle, but I definitely look more awake and refreshed (was sleeping 5 hours a night for several days before I did this). More info about the BB cream I used after the jump!

If I could only have... Mascara?

Many people swear by mascara as their go to makeup item (hey Sammy!) - but I think this mostly applies to girls who don't have dark coloured hair and/or have really long eyelashes that just don't show up as dark or thick as they would like. I have dark, shortish lashes - they're not bad length for an asian but are super short compared to average european lashes. Mascara barely makes any difference to my appearance - if I want to have visible lashes, I just go straight to luscious fake lashes. 

The evidence:

If I could only have... Liquid Eyeliner?

Today's IICOH experiment: Liquid eyeliner! This is the one piece of makeup I most commonly leave the house wearing, despite thinking brows and blush are essential - I like to highlight my eyes :)

Note: my rosy cheeks today are due to heat / dehydration, not blush!

More after the jump! Read on...

If I could only have... Brow pencil?

I was thinking I could come up with a catchy name or acronym for this little series of experiments but I'm settling on IICOH really isn't catchy at all. If you missed the last post explaining what it is, basically I want to find out which item of makeup is the most essential. Today's experiment: BROW PENCIL!

Here's what I'll be using today, my favourite brow pencil - as evidenced by the fact that there's only a tiny stub left - Korres Eyebrow pencil #2 - I picked mine up from Kit Cosmetics years ago. It's the perfect colour for us asian ladies with black hair - I prefer my brows a shade or two lighter than my hair colour. It also has a nice texture, applies almost like a powder!

Here's my face, clean and with the brows only:

My brows are already fairly well populated, so I'm not entirely sure that pencilling them in makes a huge difference, I suspect I actually prefer no brows.

Do you prefer the blush or brows so far? What do you want to see next? :)

♥ Sabrina / Rose