Revlon Kiss Plumping Lip Cremes

One of my very first lipsticks as a teen was from Revlon and since then, I have become a real big fan of the Ultra HD Gel Lipsticks (review here). The newest launch to come from Revlon is the Kiss Plumping Lip Cremes, which until they arrived, I had heard very little about, but they have now launched in the UK and Boots and Superdrug and are priced at £6.99 each.

Available in 5 shades, the Revlon Kiss Plumping Lip Cremes come with the following description: 

Get fuller, smoother looking lips in one gentle, easy step. Formulated with Volulip™ to visibly enhance the size of lips over time. 

What I like is that all five of the Revlon Kiss Plumping Lip Cremes that are available are all fairly neutral shades, there is no bright, bold or stand out colour. Each one is said to:

• Visibly enhances size of lips over time
• Formulated with Volulip 
• Pleasant cooling sensation for a gentle plumping effect
• Cushiony soft formula with a creamy shine finish

Each of the Revlon Kiss Plumping Lip Cremes are packaged in colour coded elongated tubes which makes it much easier to tell which shade it is you are likely to pick up but they also do feature the shade name on the back of the tube too. Unexpectedly though, each one the shades is much darker when they swatched than the original shade might lead you to believe it to be.

What I love about these Lip Cremes is that they as the name suggests, a creme and they feel lightweight on the skin with the minimal amount of stickiness. They are non-trying and apply like an absolute dream, without sticking to any dry pieces of skin on your lips.

The five shades are:

• Cashmere Cream which is a light peach shade and from the five, it is the lightest
• Nude Honey which is a warmer peach
• Peony Buff which is a medium Pink shade
• Barely Blush is a pinky brown shade
• Velvet Mink is a deep mauve shade and my favourite of the five.

The tube within which the lip cream sits is pliable so you can squeeze it but there is also an angled applicator which has a hole to dispense the product.  With this, you can apply it directly to your lips but my personal preference is to use my finger and smooth it on.

As you can see from the unedited swatch photos, one squeeze of the tube gives you quite a lot of Lip Creme, so I have had to learn to squeeze a little more lightly!  From top to bottom is Velvet Mink, Barely Blush, Nude Honey, Peony Buff and Cashmere Cream.

I have worn Velvet Mink the most, it works great on its own or with a Mauve coloured lipstick to which I add it to over the top.

Have you tried any of these Revlon Kiss Plumping Lip Cremes yet?

*this post contains PR samples and/or Affiliate Links unless indicated otherwise - you can learn more on my Disclaimer page here

Maybelline Be the Big Shot Gift Set

As Christmas has been and gone, the emails for Boxing Day and January sales hit my inbox long before the clock struck midnight, in fact, it was the beginning of December I had new offers emailed over to me every single day and that didn't stop on Christmas Day itself or even now as we approach the New Year.

If you have party plans for New Year's Eve or even New Years Day then Maybelline have a gift set that is worth looking out for.  Called 'Be The Big Shot' it sits within the Christmas Gift Sets but actually, it makes quite the gift at any time.

Be the Big Shot with this bold set from Maybelline New York. The perfect Christmas gift... Give it away... Or keep it all for yourself!

What I love about this gift set, other than the actual makeup contents is the sparkly clutch bag which on its own is great for dressing up outfits for going out. The Maybelline Be the Bit Shot Christmas Gift Set contains the following:

Burgundy Bar Eye Palette (£11.99) - Now this is one of the best highstreet palettes I have used in a very long time and admittedly, I wasn't expecting to like it. 

The palette comes with a reasonable twelve shades. Ten shimmer/metallic and two mattes. The colours range from light gold to cranberry to deep burgundy and they are all so wearable too.  In fact, I am so impressed with this palette, it has a blog post dedicated to it all on its own and it is there you will see the swatches.  The brush isn't that brilliant, but it is rare I would use an accompanying brush anyway, I prefer to use my own eyeshadow brushes.

The Colossal®️ Big Shot Volum' Express Mascara 9.5ml in Very Black (£7.99) - This is one of my favourite mascaras from Maybelline and it is all about the wand for me. 

The colossal brush is designed to deliver the collagen enriched formula, coating the lashes from the root to tip of lashes for fully loaded volume. What I love about this mascara is that you can build it without clumping and it doesn't flake or smudge.

Hyper Precise Eyeliner (£5.99) in Black - Eyeliner and I have a love/hate relationship and I have to be in the mood to wear it and even when I do, I don't wear a lot of it. 

This is a waterproof and smudge-resistant eyeliner which has an exclusive tip for mistake-free application and even for someone like me who has issues with eyeliner, this one is easy to use and apply. It uses Ink technology to keep the pigments super-saturated and it is safe for sensitive eyes and ophthalmologist-tested.

I think this is an amazing gift set and it costs just £19.95 which is an absolute bargain when you add up the cost of buying each product separately. You can find this one on Feelunique.

*this post contains PR samples and/or Affiliate Links unless indicated otherwise - you can learn more on my Disclaimer page.

SmoothSkin Muse IPL Intelligent Hair Removal Device

At the beginning of this year, I was introduced to the SmoothSkin bare UltraFast IPL Hair Removal Device which I used for a good few months before writing a review about it (here). Right now, I have the newer version, the SmoothSkin Muse Intelligent IPL Hair Removal Device and whilst I have tried it out, it isn't made for my skin tone or hair colour, so I have had a friend of mine using it for a similar amount of time as I used the Muse for.

When it comes to using a device like this, it has to be good enough to keep my attention. I don't want to have to spend an hour zapping my legs when to use a razor every few days is less than a ten-minute job. Equally, I want to see results and not just accept what the tests have to say, we all know that our own hair is different to that of our friends and therefore, we will all get differing results. But, because I was so impressed with SmoothSkin Bare and had continued to use it, I was keen to see what the Muse had to offer.

SmoothSkin Muse is a smart, yet powerful IPL system. Providing a personalised IPL treatment, SmoothSkin Muse delivers treatment that lasts so long you'll never again worry about stubbly legs or prickly underarms!

Firstly, it differs in design completely. The Bare is much smaller and compact and fits into the palm of my hand to use, the Muse is a lot bigger but no heavier. For best results, SmoothSkin Muse should be used every week for 12 weeks to ensure all hair follicles are treated. After the initial 12 treatments, to maintain results and stay silky smooth, you’ll just need to top-up as required, usually once every 4 to 8 weeks. This is exactly what I have done.

IPL stands for Intense Pulsed Light and it refers to the flashes used to deliver hits of intense pulses of light that specifically targets hair and it’s growth and it is suitable for use on the arms, legs, bikini line and face. SmoothSkin Muse IPL Hair Removal device is designed to help break the hair cycle and prevent regrowth, giving permanent hair reduction and it is the word reduction which is important because some people assume that it gets rid of your hair for good and that doesn't always happen, over time, if you continue to use the device regularly, then you do notice the difference in hair reduction and how long it does take to grow back.

There are two different modes of the programme to choose from - Glide and Stamp or you can opt for the dual treatment mode depending upon your preference. The dual treatment mode is ideal for the larger areas you want to treat, then glide mode is perfect for the legs and stamp mode is best used on the underarms or bikini area, but again, it is all about personal preferences.

What I really like about the SmoothSkin Muse is that it scans your skin before each flash and automatically selects the light intensity best suited to your unique skin tone – maximising your results, safely. So, you don't need to guess which one might work the best for you, it does it all for you. But, before it comes to switching your gadget on for the first time, as with most beauty related products, you need to ensure you have prepped in advance and with this, it means doing a patch test (full details are given in the guide) and if there are no adverse reactions, make sure the area is completely hair-free. For best results we recommend shaving, but if you prefer you can also wax or epilate - just be sure to wait 24 hours after waxing or epilating before using your SmoothSkin device.  It doesn't hurt or sting to use, it doesn't burn the skin and the heat that you feel from the pulses of light is minimal in comparison to other IPL devices ive used.

This device is designed for people with naturally Brown or Black Hair rather than those with White, Grey, Blonde or Red hair (You need the Bare), but I have Dark Blonde hair and gave it a try and haven't suffered any reaction to it at all. That said, a friend of mine has dark brown, almost black hair and she used it for 3 months and her first words to me were "You ain't getting it back, it is amazing" well I have got it back as I needed to take photos, but her issue with hair removal was how quickly, whether she waxed or shaved, the hair grew back and when shaving on a daily basis has to become part of your routine, you need an alternative treatment, or so she said.  So, having used the Muse for 3 months and 2 days it has slowed down the time in which her hair grows back dramatically and if she was to go back to shaving, then it would be everything 3-4 days and not every day, so a worthwhile investment.

This device is available from both Boots and John Lewis for £399 and if you want a deal, Amazon currently has it on offer for £299 here.

*this post contains PR samples and/or Affiliate Links unless indicated otherwise - you can learn more on my Disclaimer page.

Feral Cosmetics x Arpi Limited Edition Collection

Feral Cosmetics is a brand I have loved getting to know and have featured them on my blog a few times now here, here and most recently here. Feral Cosmetics hail all the way from Los Angeles and are a cruelty-free and vegan beauty brand. Available here in the UK Feral Cosmetics can be found on Beauty Chamber. 

The latest launch from Feral Cosmetics is the two new products as part of their Feral Cosmetics x Arpi limited edition collection which are both priced at £14.95.  Admittedly until this collection arrived I had no idea who Arpi was, but Arpi Gabrielyan is a famous Armenian Actress, Singer and TV Host and she has amassed 325k followers on Instagram. Named R.P and R.P2 these lip products are incredibly pretty and I love the picture on the boxes.

The Feral Cosmetics x Arpi collection includes R.P which is Liquid Matte Lipstick and R.P2 which is a Lip Gloss Lip Topper. The packaging for both R.P and R.P2 is so sleek, keeping in design with the rest of the Feral Cosmetics packaging. 

Both of these products are absolutely stunning and I love the idea that you can have your liquid lipstick and then have something to accompany it to make it look even more fabulous as R.P2 does for R.P.  The swatch shown above is unedited and just as I took it so you can see both shades, the hardest part trying to not get the glitter particles to be captured in the flash, but annoyingly they did.

R.P. is a Beautiful Nude Liquid Matte Lipstick. It applies creamy smooth and is fully opaque with a matte finish and long-lasting formula.  For me, this shade has a slight peach undertone which becomes more noticeable as it starts to dry down.  On the lips, it does go a little darker in shade than that you see inside the tube, but it is a beautiful shade.

R.P.2 is a Beautiful Golden Shimmer Lip Gloss/ Lip Topper.  What I like about this gloss is that it isn't sticky or tacky when applied, one of my biggest bug bears with a gloss is having that feeling of having run a Prit Stick across your lips.  I have worn this Lip Topper on its own for my work night out and I love how it looked, the flecks of shimmer which are gold and silver just sparkle in the light and at no point was it uncomfortable, scratchy or hard to wear. 

I am really impressed with both of these products and I hope there is a lot more to come within the range, especially with the Lip Topper because of the two it is my favourite product and I would love to see others with more flecks of colour within them, especially for the Summer.

You can purchase both of the new Feral Cosmetics x Arpi lip colours from Beauty Chamber now.

*this post contains PR samples and/or Affiliate Links unless indicated otherwise - you can learn more on my Disclaimer page.