Drug Store Lipstick Reviews and Swatches: Colour Riche Balm, Revlon Lip Butter in Peach Parfait, Covergirl Lip Perfection in Darling and Sweetheart

Hey everyone! Long time no blog haha. I've been putting this post off for a long time and finally had the time to finish it today. There's recently been a lot of reviews on new products that drugstore brands have released such as the Revlon Lip Butters, Maybelline Eye Studio Color Tattoo Eyeshadow, and L'Oreal's Infallible Eyeshadows. I am planning on posting a review on drugstore eye shadows but this one is going to focus on drugstore lip products that I've bought in the last couple months.

First up is the Covergirl Lip Perfection Lipsticks. I bought two shades: Darling and Sweetheart.

The packaging is really sleek and sophisticated, but it does scratch easily. If you plan on throwing this lipstick in your purse, I recommend that you try to put it in an isolated area away from your keys.

I find that the colors at the bottom don't exactly match the actual color you will get when you apply it to the lips. The color aren't totally off, but I can tell you that when I put Sweetheart on my lips for the first time, I was shocked at the frostiness of the color.

On top is a swatch of Sweetheart and the bottom is Darling. Sweetheart is a nice light frosty pink, but I find that it's a little too frosty for my taste and it's definitely not a lipstick I can pull off for an everyday look. Darling, on the other hand, is a nice rosy pink shade that I absolutely adore. It's a really gorgeous color on and I think it would suit a lot of skin tones as well. The formula has a creamy texture and it's not drying on my lips. For those of you that have drier lips or lips that crack easily, I recommend using a moisturizing lip balm before applying your lipstick. I personally like to use L'Oreal's Colour Riche Balm in #218 Rose Elixir, but I'll go over this one in a little bit.

Jen at Frmheadtotoe recommended this particular Revlon Lip Butter shade in Peach Parfait to me via Twitter and I went out to buy it at Ulta. I saw her review of these lip butters on her blog and videos and I really loved this color. This lipstick is very moisturizing and the color payoff is really nice. It's really easy to apply just a sheer coat of this on your lips or build up the color. I'd highly recommend this lip product to people who are just beginning to get into lipsticks or to those of you that are looking for a moisturizing lip product.

I tried my best to take a picture of my Colour Riche Balm in Rose Elixir but my camera just wouldn't focus so I decided not to post pictures of it. Anyways, here are swatches of Peach Parfait (top) and Rose Elixir (bottom).

Apologies for the bad lighting as well. The sun was setting and this was the best picture out of the different light settings I tried. Peach Parfait is a really nice peachy pink color, but I find that it has a ton of glitter in it that can feel a little gritty on the lips. I kissed my boyfriend one time when I had this lipstick on and his lips had glitter particles on them afterwards (oops). Rose Elixir is VERY sheer and I find that it has absolutely no color payoff on my lips. It is, however, very moisturizing so I use it on days whenever my lips are feeling dry and right before I put on a lipstick. It has a slightly greasy feeling, probably from the Argan oil, but it really doesn't bother me. The L'Oreal Balm was pretty expensive in comparison to other drugstore lip products and the fact that it really didn't have any color payoff made me kind of regret buying it. It's not a bad product, but I don't think I'd buy it or recommend it to anyone.

Hope this review was helpful to some of you and leave any questions/comments below.

Review: Make Up Forever Mat Velvet Plus Foundation and Lioele Triple Solution BB Cream

Happy New Years everyone! I hope everyone had an awesome Christmas and ended 2011 on a good note.

To kick off the start of the New Year, I wanted to do a review on the Make Up Forever (MUFE) Mat Velvet Plus foundation that I got during the Sephora Friends and Family Sale. I have a total of three foundations that I own: Bare Minerals, Lioele Triple Solution BB Cream, and the MUFE Mat Velvet Plus. I haven't touched my Bare Minerals foundation for a looooong time because it doesn't give me the coverage that I want and I find that it accentuates some of the flaky patches I have on my face. For the past month, I've been alternating between my BB Cream and the Mat Velvet to see which one I like better, but there are things that I like and dislike about each product.

Oil Control: The MUFE Mat Velvet Plus wins on the oil control. This didn't surprise me, and if it didn't perform better than the BB cream, I would've returned it because the most attractive selling point (for me, at least) about this product was that it was a matte foundation. I have combination oily skin and I really wanted a foundation that would help to prevent/control the shine that I get as the day goes on. This product definitely has a matte finish, but it doesn't make my face look cakey/powdery or overdone. It's a very natural matte finish and I don't have to blot at all whenever I wear this foundation. If you're really worried that this foundation won't stand up to the oils on your face, I'd recommend buying MAC's blot powder and using that to set your foundation. I use it all the time and it works wonders. I've found that if I don't set my BB Cream with the blot powder, I get oily around my T-zone after about 5 hours of wear. With the Mat Velvet Plus (MVP) I can go up to 8 hours of wear without using the blot powder and not look overly shiny.

Color Matching: Again, the Mat Velvet takes the cake for this category. The BB Cream was a little too light for my skin tone because of my tan from the summer so I have to use a small amount (half a pump) for my entire face. I believe my skin color right now is NC 30 but moving more towards NC 25 since it's winter time. I got the MVP foundation in shade #40 and I picked this color because Frmheadtotoe has about the same skin color as me. This shade matches me perfectly. The BB Cream I have only comes in one shade, so MUFE foundations obviously have a wider range of color selections.

Application: The BB cream wins this one. I like using my stippling brush to apply the BB cream to my face because it gives a nice even finish. For the MVP, I've heard that you can apply it using a stippling brush or your fingers. I've only used my fingers to apply this foundation because it dries extremely fast and I hate wasting product. I don't mind using my fingers to apply the foundation but I prefer using a brush to fingers.

Coverage: BB Cream wins this category. I find that it has slightly better coverage than the MVP for my acne scarring and it also minimizes my pores. The MVP doesn't accentuate my pores, it just doesn't do much or as much as the BB cream.

Price: The MVP is $34 while the BB cream (depending on where/who you buy it from) is about $30. You get more product in from the BB cream (50 ml) than the MVP (1.01 oz) so from the standpoint of getting more bang for your buck, BB cream takes this category as well.

I find myself grabbing for the BB cream more than the MVP lately, but it's probably because my skin is drier now that it's winter time. I'll probably be using the MVP around spring and summer time to help control my oily face. Some other things to consider between these two foundations are the features such as SPF, whitening and waterproof properties. The BB cream has 30SPF, whitening, and wrinkle care properties. The MVP is waterproof.

So, which one do I like better? As of right now, I prefer using my Lioele BB cream, but that's not to say that I don't love the MVP foundation because I do. I'm really glad that I took the plunge to buy it during the Sephora Friends and Family Sale. It honestly all boils down to what I need at the moment, and since it's winter time, I prefer the BB cream because it feels more moisturizing than the MVP, which has a drier feel to it.

I hope this comparison was helpful to some of you. If you have any questions about these foundations, leave a comment and I'll do my best to answer them.