Exploring Greek brands: the lip liners. Which one is the best?

In keeping with supporting Greek brands, here's part 3 of my attempt on mapping out some possible gems among makeup brands like Erre Due, Seventeen and Radiant; you can also have a look at part 1 and part 2.

This time, I'll be reviewing 3 best-seller lip liners that I specifically picked out from each aforementioned greek brand, so as to be fair and show some love to all ;)

The candidates are:
Seventeen Supersmooth Waterproof lip liner, #14 Pure Red
Radiant Softline Waterproof lip pencil, #06 Salmon
Erre Due Silky lip pencil, #64

I'll go through each shade separately, starting with my personal favourite:

Radiant Softline Waterproof lip pencil, #06 Salmon
It's not an exaggeration to say that you need this in your collection! This lip liner has the most beautiful pink-to-coral shade, which looks bright on the lips but is oh so wearable! It can be worn on its own or blended in with a pale lipstick like Creme d' Nude for a more pastel finish. The texture is soft, smudgeable and pretty long-lasting. <3 <3 <3 it!!!

Seventeen Supersmooth Waterproof lip liner, #14 Pure Red
A classic red shade. If lining your lips is not your thing, you simply cannot ignore it when it comes to shaping the perfect red pout- been there with Russian Red! The good thing is that this particular lip liner seems to match both warm- and cool-toned red lipsticks. Texture-wise, it's identical to the Radiant lip pencil- quality is excellent.

Erre Due Silky lip pencil, #64
This is your usual pink shade that is close to the lips' natural colour. It works with so many lipsticks and I do like it, but here's the thing: as it's slightly more creamy than the previous two, it's not as long-lasting and it also swatches a tad shiny, thus making it impossible to "cheat" and outdraw your lips to make them fuller. Still, it's the best formula for beginners ;)

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All in all, these are lovely lip liners of excellent quality- and for once, I find their price tag matches the brands' "affordable" orientation (around 5-6E each). I'm very satisfied with all three purchases and would urge you to check these out if you're in need of a lip liner. In fact, I don't think I'll be browsing into other brands for my lip liners from now on!

   Swatches from left to right: Radiant, Erre Due, Seventeen
   The pic doesn't do justice to the gorgeous Radiant pencil!

Now, to conclude with the question on this post's title,
which one performs the best?

Well, I could never be 100% sure about this, but I have a strong feeling that all three lip liners are made by the same factory in Germany!
Ιn other words, excluding the ever so slight creaminess of the Erre Due lip pencil, the only difference between all three lip liners may lie into their colour range!

So there's no real winner between these- but if I had to put them into some kind of order, I'd say Radiant has the biggest (and most interesting) colour variety, the Seventeen lip liners have the prettiest packaging and the Erre Due Silky pencils are a great choice for begginers.

***All three lip liners share the new silicon-infused formula that is embedded in a plastic pencil, not wooden. For more info about this innovation and how lip liners are produced and marketed by makeup brands, you HAVE to read this article (if you haven't already):  http://beautyandthebullshit.blogspot.com/2011/03/pencil-pornication-sequel.html

So, where do you shop for your lip liners?
What's your opinion on greek makeup brands in general?

Evi   xx

November 2011 favourites!

My my, how time flies by!
I can't believe it's December already; it doesn't feel like it, I'll tell you that... I mean, it hasn't rained for weeks and it's not that chilly yet; so when are we gonna get snow? There's no Christmas without snow, dammit!

Ok, rant over...
On to my November favourites:

Seventeen Waterproof lipliner, shade Pure Red: until I got my hands on Russian Red, I settled on this one. By the way, I find the greek "drugstore" lip pencils to be of excellent quality, give them a try if you're in need for one!

(p.s.: oh yes, Russian Red is crossed out of my X-mas list! hehe)

Elf Studio Matte lip colour, shade Natural: a pretty matte nude

"office-appropriate" lipstick that I used a lot in my morning makeup routine. Doesn't feel dry at all, and to be honest it makes my lips look fuller than good old lipgloss ;)

TBS Baked eye colour, shade Sapphire: my go-to choice for a navy smokey eye during past month. The thing is, I came to the wrong conclusion that baked eyeshadows photograph so much nicely than the regular pressed eyeshadows- but, after seeing the latest Pixiwoo vid, I realised it wasn't the baked formula that was to blame but the light coordinating shade blended in the crease. I urge you to try this method instead of blending the dark lid colour with your usual light brown shade, you'll be amazed by how much nicer it looks in photographs!

    Swatches from left to right: Seventeen lip liner, Elf Matte lip colour,
    Elf Celebrity eyeshadow, TBS Sapphire baked eyeshadow duo

Elf Mineral eyeshadow, shade Celebrity: when I first opened this little pot, instantly a contemporary makeup icon came to mind: JLo. This is THE most perfect shade to achieve that JLo look- both in terms of colour (golden light brown) and shimmer (sparkly but not glittery, almost metallic). Like all loose pigments, it creases after a good 5hour wear-
but who cares? Seriously, everyone should own Celebrity!

Dior Amber Diamond shimmer powder: my precious... My collection of highlighters is complete with this baby. Although after using it a lot the last couple of weeks, I noticed it looks "too much" for daytime wear- but it has that depth that enables me to pair it with a nice bronzer and just skip blush altogether.

I also popped into H&M and among other things, I bought these cute lipbalm tins with Disney's Bambi on the front- love the packaging and their scent, hate to admit that they dry out my lips so bad! Thank goodness for Apivita balms, they always come to my rescue...

So, what have you been loving during November?

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Spring haul

Over the past few days I did some spring-appropriate make-up shopping!
Here's what I got:

Mac pro eye makeup remover: I opted for this water-based solution, since my previous dual-phase remover by Bourjois made my eyelashes fall in triplets! AND it caused me some nasty milia spots...

TBS Moisture Foundation SPF 15: I couldn't tolerate any longer my oil-free foundation by TBS, so it was a good chance to try out a different formula. This one promises light to medium coverage with a dewy finish. We shall se how it performs on my combination skin ;)

Radiant lip pencil in 06-Salmon: I'm in LOVE with this shade! A bright lemonade pink, that's how I would describe it- not exactly coral, not thoroughly pink... Am I making any sense here? I pair it with Elf's Hypershine gloss on top and it instantly brighens up my complexion! Oh, and it glides beautifully on the lips. I highly recommend it!

TBS Metallic eye definer in Glowing Amethyst: I was partly dissapointed in this eye pencil; the colour is gorgeous but sadly it doesn't show up on the waterline, if worn alone. However, I can make it work on top of a black kohl pencil.

TBS Baked eye colour in Jade: these two shades are a combination of green with blue hues and let me tell you, if you're brown eyed like me, these colours are bound to make your eyes pop! I can see myself using it a lot during summer...

Have you done any spring make-up shopping recently?

Oh and by the way, does anyone know whether Mac skincare items are eligible for the Back-2-Mac programme?

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February favourites!

So, past month was pretty busy-
make-up wise, I couldn't bother with eyeshadows on my morning errands,
and as you can see...

    ...the focus was on cheeks and lips!

Erre Due Wet&Dry Sparkler for cheeks in #410: I've blogged about this lovely product here. In case I was misunderstood, I'm not bashing it; it's the price tag that keeps me from jumping around the house from excitement, lol!

Seventeen Waterproof lipliner in #14-Pure Red: I was pleasantly impressed by this product, it's definitely among the best lipliners I've ever used! More about that on an upcoming post. I like to combine it with a reddish balm, much like the next one...

Korres Mandarin lip butter stick SPF 15 in Rose: you already know I'm a huge fan of this Korres line of lip balms in the stick form; but now I've fallen in love all over again thanks to their revamped packaging! Every balm has its own pattern on the cap, and the typewriting on the twisting mechanism is just lovely. Korres, you did an excellent job at redesigning these cuties ;)

Elf Hypershine Gloss in Bubblegum: I really enjoyed wearing it during past month, and I suspect its low price has a lot to answer for that... Is it the little "bargain lover" inside me who takes great delight in the Elf products? I hope I'm not the only one experiencing that!
Korres Wild Rose concealer: it took me a while to figure out the best way to apply it (always using new product by twisting the wand, blending it quickly on the skin), but finally I've come to realise that I love it. It provides high coverage for both under-eye circles and the occasional spots.

Now, I've kept the best item of the bunch for the end...

You're looking at Pink Nouveau by Mac,
swatched as a... cream blush!

I wonder why I didn't think of this sooner... Those bright lipsticks with a drier texture look absolutely beautiful when worn lightly as a blush! I'm making a mental image of how Morange or Impassioned would look on the cheeks- and I'm lusting after them even more! Now that spring is on its way, I'm going to make a lot of use from this old-school trick ;)

So, what were your most loved products during February?
Have you ever used your lipsticks as cream blushes?

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Current Wishlist

Hello my lovelies!


How you've been?
Me, I've been extremely busy/ lacking Internet service, hence the lack of posts during past week :(


So here's a lazy wish-list of products I want to try out during October-November:


The Body Shop Nutriganics range



Apivita Express face mask sachets- recommendations are welcome ;)



L'Oreal Lash Serum- let me know if you tried it!





The Body Shop Metallic Eye Definer. All shades, preferably!


A hot pink lip liner, like hers. I wouldn't mind wearing this makeup all winter!


Lastly, I want a green nail colour. Ok, maybe two... I love green!


Please do share your current wishlists, I'd love to read them ;)

Hint hint hint: If you are Greek and you love Mac, click here and report back your thoughts.

Excited? Bored? Anticipating more material?



Happy blogging and reading and commenting to everone!

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September favourites!

Hello my lovelies!

This is my first "monthly favourites" post, hope you enjoy!

...Family pic  =D

First off, during September I started layering my blushes and I love it! I found that the end result is more interesting than a swipe of one colour on the cheeks.

Favourite combination:

a matte coral as a base (Biotherm blush, left),

with a topping of a coral/gold shimmer (Seventeen blush in Coral, center- see my review here),

or a pinky/icy shimmer powder (The Body Shop Shimmer Waves in 02- Blush, right- see my review here).

My favourite makeup look that I wore during September was the easiest and quickest to do:

A little foundation and concealer,

eye primer and mascara,

a rosey cream blush (Manhattan Mousse Rouge in Apricot, left),

and a darker pink lipstick (Biotherm lipstick, discontinued).

I look pretty and polished in 5 minutes' time!

 

I also discovered a way to do the perfect smokey eye with brown eyeshadow!

You see, if you have brown eyes like me, you soon find out two things:

One, that you have to stay away from warm-toned eyeshadows, and

Two, that a smokey eye with brown eyeshadows doesn't really make brown eyes pop :(

But with a little experiment, I dished both of the above rules.

So, this is my improved version for a brown smokey eye:

a dark base on the lid (smudged black pencil, cream eyeliner, anything),

a cool-toned brown on top (The Body Shop eyeshadow in Chocolate, left),

a warm-toned medium brown in the crease (The Body Shop mineral eyeshadow in Bronzed Amber, right)

black eyeliner, mascara... and you're done!

See, I made a ridiculous demonstration on the back of my hand...

Seriously, it looks like a prehistoric creature living in the deep seas, lol!

Anyways, moving on:

During September I bought the Body Shop's blender brush (see my review here),

and Carbon eye pencil- the softest I've found, although not the blackest...

Nevertheless, love them both!

I also found a new use for my Korres lip butter stick:

wearing it on top the Erre Due Silky lip pencil in #61.

See? A nice sheer brown-nude shade, perfect for daytime.

Skincare-wise, my favourite product of the month has to be the Apivita exfoliating cream with olive and lavender. Its granules are from crushed olive stones and give a deep exfoliation, just how I like a proper face scrub to be!

It also contains Menthol -which gives a "cooling" feel on the skin- and Salicylic Acid -a big surprise, thumbs up Apivita!

Last but not least, the lovely fellow greek blogger Stella sent me this beautiful ring by Mark Jacobs from an older giveaway that I won. Thank you so much, girl!!!

 

Needless to say, I wear it every-single-day since I got it!

 

On the diameter of the ring it's inscribed the Latin phrase "Veritas Inlustrat", which probably means "Shining Truth". I'm not sure though, I've never had a Latin class!

I'd love to read you favourites of the month,
please share them below or post a link to your September favourites post ;)

Happy blogging and reading and commenting to everyone!

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