Spoiler alert: I really like these! Ultra Satin Lip is the latest lip product from indie cult favorite makeup brand ColourPop. I recently treated myself to two colors and the matching lip pencils, and now that I’ve tried them out, I’m ready to review them for you.
London Fog and Marshmallow.
Ultra Satin Lip is a liquid lip formula. Unlike all the matte formulas currently on the market, it has a satiny sheen and is not budge-proof, but it’s also not as drying as a matte lip. Because I have dry lips and currently live in a very dry climate, this formula is better for me even if it doesn’t last as long as my lips. Let’s look at the two colors I picked out: London Fog, and Marshmallow.
London Fog!
London Fog is a vibrant blue-based red. It might be the reddest red that I own! It’s bright and beautiful and bold, and my husband couldn’t stop staring at my lips. This is a great one for stage, and I think burlesque and pin-up gals may want to give it a look too because it’s such a classic color. It applied really nicely, both the pencil and the satin lip, and dried down quickly to an almost-matte satin sheen. I found it a bit drying, but I did not prime my lips with a moisturizing product beforehand. Also, I decided to wear this when going out for pizza and the grease from my dinner basically destroyed it, so if you’re going to eat out, plan to re-apply after your meal!
So. Red.
I think this color is going to be a great one for summer as it is so vivacious. The challenge may be figuring out what sort of eye color to pair it with… Maybe something gold?
Marshmallow lips!
Marshmallow is a weird one. It’s a greyed lavender color, and I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to wear it, but once I put it on I fell in love with it. It’s got a sort of gothy spooky look, so it’s a nice option if you like to go Goth but you’re not into the dark lip look. I also think it would pair nicely with some of the pastel eye shadows that are on the market right now. I love the idea of this with a silvery lavender eye for an elegant ghostly look.
Wrist swatch.
Although the pencil looks darker than the liquid product in the swatch above, they wore together just fine (I’m wearing both in the example image above).
Ultra Satin Lips come in a plastic tube with a rather standard doe foot applicator, nothing special but it works well. Because it’s only $6 for the Ultra Satin Lips and $5 for the pencils, they’re an affordable way to add some good color variety to your collection.
After the cosmetics companies got all of us to invest a lot of money into contour kits that were primarily focused on shadows and subtle highlights, they switched towards the end of last year and suddenly the focus was highlighters and strobing. A lot of artists and enthusiasts seem to have reacted to “strobing is the next big thing!” with a big “LOL that’s just highlighting, we already own products for that, thanks!” but that hasn’t stopped companies from either making new products or more heavily promoting their existing highlighters.
I’m not about to go crazy over highlighters, but they do appeal to me more than contour powders. For one thing, contour powders are not very exciting and there’s not a lot of variety. The idea is to create the illusion of shadow, so once you finally find a product that creates a convincing shadow on your skin tone, you’re set. You may want varying intensities depending on whether you’re doing a lightweight contour or a full “I must withstand the glare of stage lights” contour, but that’s about it. However, with highlighters you have a lot more options, whether you want to just echo the natural effect of light hitting the high spots of your face, or whether you want to sparkle like a magical faerie.
I think we both know where I fall on that spectrum, so today we’re looking at two shimmering, sparkling highlighters. I thought it would be fun to splurge on a luxury highlighter and compare it to a budget highlighter. You can probably find more expensive and cheaper options, but these are two popular options.
Although I chose two really pale options because I am a really pale girl, both of these brands have a variety of highlighters to choose from. Shimmering Skin Perfector by Becca comes in 7 shades and ColourPop Highlighters come in 20 shades, so there’s an option for everyone.
Becca vs. ColourPop.
Let’s look at the two products side-by-side first. Shimmering Skin Perfector is $38 for .25oz of product. It comes in a compact with a mirror. It’s a pretty sleek presentation, matte black with a metal insert. Very sophisticated. ColourPop highlighters are $8 for 1.5oz, so you’re getting 6 times the product for $30 less. It comes in the same packaging as all ColourPop products, a white jar with a twist-off lid that has a clear window decorated with the CP logo.
Top: Becca Bottom: ColourPop
I did not choose colors that are exact duplicates, but I did choose two colors that I thought would suit me well. From Becca I chose Pearl, which is a pure shimmering white, neutral leaning towards cool. From ColourPop I chose Stole the Show, which is a cool golden white with iridescent pink, gold and silver. Pearl is like crushed pearls while Stole the Show is more like crushed opals. Both could be made with magical pixie dust for how sparkly they are.
Pearl.
Let’s talk about the Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector first, since I tried it first. It came with a little plastic insert that I threw out but probably should have kept, because the product is a little powdery and now there’s highlighter on the mirror and the outside of the compact. This is a fine pressed powder and surprisingly a little goes a long way. I applied it lightly with a fan brush and still got a noticeable glow across my cheekbones. It may be only .25oz of product but I suspect it might last you forever if you take good care of it.
Open Stage Makeup.
I suspect this product could be built to a much more opaque coverage, based on the arm swatch (both swatches were applied with a finger). As such, it’s pretty versatile. Brush it on lightly for non-performance makeup or small venues, then build it up for brighter lights or just because you want to be extra sparkly. If you’re in the market for a luxury highlighter, definitely give Becca a look.
Stole the Show.
Like other ColourPop products, Stole the Show is a creamy moussey product. As such, while the package holds a lot more than the Becca compact, I suspect it may dry out before you can use it all. I applied it with a finger then blended out with a brush, as ColourPop recommends fingers, but you can use a brush if you’d rather not be poking your makeup. I was worried it would be too intense when I saw it on my finger, but it actually diffused out nicely and I didn’t feel crazy wearing this for Valentine’s Day.
So shiny!
I can see this one really building up to greater, ridiculously sparkly intensity. Because it has a light, creamy texture, you may even be able to use it as a base for glitter if you’re going for a real fantasy stage makeup look (I’m thinking of that one picture of Rachel Brice with a glitter cheek highlight). I wouldn’t be surprised if you could also use it on your eyes. The glitter in it is a fine shimmer, so I wouldn’t be worried about fallout, but since it’s not a specific eye product, use your own best judgement. If you’re looking to get into the highlighter game without breaking your budget, definitely check out ColourPop.
Ultimately, I feel like either of these products would work well for a belly dancer who wants a really shimmery highlight for her performance makeup, while also being able to do double-duty for cocktail parties and other formal occasions. They’re probably too shimmery for daily wear, unless your usual look tends towards the glamorous or sparkly. Dancers who prefer a more natural highlight will probably want to check out other formulas that have less shimmer.
Mi Vida Loca palette is probably my favorite purchase for the year.
Today I had planned to give you a little sneak-peak at some things I purchased from ColourPop, but despite the fact that my order was supposed to arrive today, the tracking info hasn’t been updated since Tuesday! Who knows when my makeup will arrive? My Makeup Geek order that shipped this morning might even arrive first. We’ll see. Anyway! On to Plan B! Well, Plan B and a Half, really. Because I was going to do “favorite purchases of 2015” but then I realized I liked a whooooole lot of things, so I narrowed it down to just eye shadows.
Let’s start back in January and work our way forwards. I’ll link to my original review of the product and then give an update on how I feel about these shadows after repeated use.
ColourPop Super Shock Shadows. I didn’t realize I’d had these for about a year now! So the good news is, I just used one the other day and it hasn’t dried out. Sealing the jar really does do the trick even in this super-dry AZ climate. That said, I probably should make sure to use them more often because who knows how long they’ll hold out? Chipper remains one of my favorite colors. I don’t use the others as often. I think I would use them more often if they weren’t in individual jars. That’s the big limitation of this formula, it can’t be made into a palette and I can’t de-pot it and put it in a Z-Palette. I wouldn’t want to travel with more than 2 or 3 colors in addition to a regular palette. But the colors are amazing and I still really appreciate that the company is cruelty free and made in the USA.
Kat Von D Metal Crush Eye Shadows. I haven’t carried through with my promise to buy ALL of these, but I am up to 4 colors now. I really like how rich and metallic these are. I don’t think I have room for the entire collection, though. I may have to de-pot them and give them their very own Z-Palette if I want to buy the whole set. Oh, and they finally released the 11th color, it’s a metallic rusty orange. My most recent purchase is the blue one. I want to combine it with the green one to make a cool jewel beetle themed eye look. Once I figure it out I’ll make a tutorial.
Kat Von D Mi Vida Loca Palette. Look, I really like Kat Von D’s eye shadows. I still regularly use the Monarch palette (I just took it on a long weekend trip). And Mi Vida Loca is just an amazing palette. I did bring it along on my 3.5 week PNW adventure and I used it for all my photo shoots and performances. It’s pretty big to travel with, so I wouldn’t take it along for most trips, but I am definitely going to keep using it at home.
Makeup Geek Duochromes. Pressed shadows and pigments alike, these are a GREAT product! I haven’t used them too much more since the original review, as I haven’t been doing my makeup much lately. I will probably pick up a few more colors over time, although maybe only pressed shadows as I think my pigment drawer is full right now (might be time to clean out some of the colors I never wear). I really think these are a great option for belly dancers as they are an easy way to get a lot of depth in your makeup look.
So those are my favorite eye shadow purchases of 2015. How about yours?
Ok, last week we talked about a ColourPop product that didn’t really work for me. This week, let’s talk about one that does work! So far I am really digging the new ColourPop Creme Gel Liners. I picked them up in DTLA and Over Board. I also got one of the Creme Gel Colour pots, but I haven’t tested that one yet so just pretend it’s not in the picture, OK?
Liners.What they look like under the cap.
These liners come in a pretty simple white plastic pencil, with the color on the end. Inside, it’s a twist-up so you don’t have to worry about a sharpener. The packaging isn’t the nicest, because it’s a $5 eye liner, but they’re pretty good.
Now let’s talk about the product! It’s smooth. It’s creamy. It’s well-pigmented. It applies well to the water line. Yeah, that’s right, forget the $20 Urban Decay Waterliner and get these babies instead. They come in more colors, apply easier, and last longer. I’ve worn both Over Board and DTLA in my waterline for hours with good results.
DTLA is a nice deep navy blue, a good option when you want a dark color but don’t want a true black. It has a nice matte finish. Over Board is a metallic bronze.
Wrist swatch.
If I have one complaint, it’s that because the product is rather soft and creamy, it can break off when you’re applying it if you’ve twisted too much up. That’s what happened when I was swatching Over Board for the above photo. So do be gentle with them!
I used Over Board for my Steampunk Halloween look.
Personally I think these liners are going to be great for belly dancers. At $5 each you can easily buy a ton of fun colors, as well as getting a good basic black or navy for regular use. ColourPop has already released some beautiful limited-edition colors for the holidays in both the liners and the pots, so I have a feeling they’ll do new releases of these about as often as they do new eye shadow and lippies.
DTLA pairs well with purples.
I did give DTLA the sweat test, as the above was my look for Open Stage. It held up well to a night of dancing. I’ll definitely be pulling both of these colors out for future wear, and adding more to my collection soon.
I’m generally a fan of ColourPop, and generally a fan of matte liquid lipsticks (because my hair never gets stuck in them), so I decided to order the ColourPop Ultra Matte Lip in Tulle and wear it for November’s Open Stage. Tulle is described as a “dusty mauve burgundy” which is just the sort of color I like for Fall and Winter gigs when I’m not feeling a dark berry or deep red. I think of it as a dark neutral.
It’s pretty!
When I applied this product, I wasn’t sure how much I liked it, it didn’t go on quite how I wanted it to and I thought it was a little streaky and emphasized my lip lines too much. However, a couple people told me they really liked the color on me, and I definitely appreciated that I was able to enjoy a drink during the show and my lip color stayed put — in fact, I still had a pretty good amount of color after dancing, drinking a beer, going out for dinner, having a big meal and a chai, and then going home at the end of the night.
See? Lip lines.
But here’s the thing… by the end of the night my lips were also feeling super dry. And then although I slathered on some heavy-duty lip ointment, when I woke up the next day, my lips hurt from having been so dried out, and continued to hurt for the entire day no matter what lip balms and ointments I tried on them. My lips tend to be pretty dry normally so I have to be careful with matte lip products, and I think this one is just too matte and drying for me. If your lips are not super dry, you may find this to be a good formula for you, as it is a budget-friendly $6 and comes in some really cute colors and lasts well for a long night of dancing. I’ll probably still break it out on occasion when I can count on getting home and taking it off within a couple hours to save my lips, because it is a good color on me, but it’s not going to become a go-to product.
There’s so much beauty stuff going on right now, I have to do one big round-up post to cover it all, and then I’ll elaborate on some of it in the coming weeks.
First, I wrote a guest post for oVertone! How to Use oVertone With Long Hair not only covers my hair dyeing habits, but it also discusses long hair care in general and answers some FAQs about my hair. Plus there’s cute photos! I really like the one I used above and the one of me braiding my hair. I’m really happy I painted my nails nicely before that shoot, let me tell you!
Second, an update to my review of the Kat Von D Mi Vida Loca palette. I carted it along for my 3.5 week Pacific Northwest Adventure and I really love it now that I’ve used it some more! I used it for both of my photo shoots and my performance and I was really impressed by the pigmentation of the colors and the versatility of the palette. Also Skulls is my new favorite inner corner highlight color. It makes my eyes glow. I’m going to see if I can do a video tutorial to replicate the look I did for my photo shoot with The Dancer’s Eye because my eyes looked amazing.
Third, I was so excited about the Makeup Geek duo-chromes that when they arrived after I left on my trip, I actually asked my husband to forward them on to my bestie’s house so I would have them for Waking Persephone. Full review coming soon, but I love them! I got a mix of pigments and eye shadow pans and I used them for eyes, lips, and even as a face highlighter. I need to try more colors before I do my review, but the ones I used so far worked well.
Fourth, ColourPop just released eye liners! I placed an order for three colors (one gel, two pencils) plus one of their ultra matte liquid lip colors today. Those reviews should come along within a month.
Fifth, don’t forget that it is almost BELLY DANCE CHRISTMAS, aka November 1st, the day when all the fabulous Halloween eye lashes go on clearance sale. Don’t miss out!
As part of my most recent ColourPop order, I picked up the Lippie Stix and Lippie Pencil in “Wet.” This is described as “a cool-toned taupe gunmetal with a pearlized finish” which is pretty accurate. It’s darker than the first image in the listing, but pretty much matches the lips and swatches shown. I bought it because I thought it was really beautiful and would look awesome for steampunk or faerie stuff… In fact, I really wish I’d had this color for my FemBot performance, as it would have been perfect.
Handy hand swatch!
My feelings about this color are complicated. It’s very beautiful, but it’s also very difficult for me to wear. As pale as I am, it really washes me out. I need to really build an entire makeup look around it. Here’s what happened when I was just playing with random products and put on Wet with a soft eye color and minimal blush:
Living dead girl!
It’s not a very flattering look right there. I got a lot of advice on ways I could build a makeup look around it, and I definitely want to try them, but sadly did not get a chance to in the day between trying Wet and writing this blog post.
What I did find is that because the Wet Lippie Stix is semi-sheer, I could layer it over a red lip pencil and create a cool red-bronze look.
That’s better.
The red pencil in question was, well, kind of crummy, so I threw it out, but as a proof of concept, you can see how this is a much more wearable color for normal circumstances. This could be a good way to deepen a bright red, or add a shimmer to a matte color. I’m curious to see how it would layer over other colors, too.
This is definitely a situation where you should buy the lipstick and liner together, as to get the best color saturation you’ll want to cover your entire lip with the pencil and then apply the lipstick over the top. It’s disappointing that Wet is such a sheer lipstick, as I’d expect a dark color like this to be more intense, but then again, I may be expecting too much for a $5 lip color.
When ColourPop announced their Spring collection of pastel colors, I of course had to order the least-pastel eye shadow in the bunch. Snap Dragon is a gorgeous mid-tone blue-based green in a matte finish. I was wanting to try their relatively new matte formula and this was the perfect excuse!
Arm swatch, no primer.
I really like this color because it’s unlike any of the greens I have in my collection of palettes. It’s a great minty, seafoamy sort of shade with a perfect matte finish. I found that the color applied well with my fingers, with good intensity and smooth application.
Well, it WAS matte, before I got shimmery lime green eye shadow all over it.
I wore Snap Dragon for April’s Open Stage, doing a fun spring-summer look with bright greens and glitter. It held up pretty well although at the end of the night I noticed one of my eyes had a weird sort of splotchy, marbled Easter egg look to it. I hesitate to say that this is a problem with the shadow, though, as it may have been caused by the fact that I had to use some makeup remover to clean up an eyeliner blunder and then applied more shadow over it. There could have been an interaction between the remover and the fresh layer of eye shadow.
Weird splotchies.
Anyway, I was over all pretty happy with the wear of this shadow, so I’d say that if you’re looking for some matte pastel colors, ColourPop is a good choice. Of course I’m still waiting to see how these cream-powder hybrids hold up to my dry Arizona climate!
ColourPop released a line of blushes a few months back and I finally got around to trying one out. I decided to go with Between the Sheets, which is described as a “mid-tone beige pink in a matte finish” and had received positive reviews from some other pale redheads. It seemed like the sort of color that would be a really good daytime choice for me, while also being buildable up to a lightweight performance makeup look.
Comes packaged like this.
Super Shock Cheek is the same kind of product as the Super Shock Eye line, a strange cream-powder hybrid. I definitely noticed that these products are a little softer in the heat, so definitely do not leave them in a hot car or sunny window or any other situation where they could melt! Like the eye products, they’re also designed to be applied with the fingers, although you can also use a stippling brush for a different effect.
Beige pink? Looks more muted coral to me.
I decided to apply with my fingers, which was a weird feeling because I have always applied using a brush. You’d think it would be easier to get it in the right spot with your hands, because blah blah blah fine motor control, but no, somehow it’s an all-new alien world. Still, I managed to get the blush where I wanted it and then I gently blended it out with a brush to diffuse the edges and cover up any mistakes I’d made.
Between the Sheets, on the cheeks… Wait, didn’t I just use this photo last week? I’m a lazy blogger!
Between the Sheets gave me a nice, natural flush. I feel like it was well-suited for last week’s Open Stage event, because if I had done a really intense blush with the sparkly eye shadow and the BRIGHT coral/orange lips, it might have been too much for the small stage. I wouldn’t use it for a show like Tribal Fest with a huge crowd and a raised stage, but I would definitely wear it for a daytime outdoors show, or of course, for normal daily wear. It held up well to a warm night of dancing.
One thing I really like about the Super Shock Cheek line is they have some unusual colors, like really deep reds and bright purples and orangey oranges, so it’s a good way to experiment without breaking the bank. I also appreciate that each listing shows the color and several similar ones swatched on pale, medium and dark skin all next to each other, so you can get a really good idea of how the color looks on different people and which ones are well-suited to you. They have matte, satin and pearlized finishes, so there’s really a lot of variety and at only $7, you can pick up a few and decide which one you like best. Honestly, I wish these had been around last year when I was looking for a super dark blush for my TF look because I could have bought a good 5-6 colors for the price of the one Nars blush I ended up buying!
This post is going to be a little brief and lazy because I am feeling really sick today, but I still wanted to post something, so I’m just going to use this photo from the eye shadow review and write some thoughts, OK? Next week should be a more proper beauty blog.
So I bought the Brink Lippie Stix and Lippie Pencil from ColourPop with the thought that it might be a nice Pantone Color of the Year 2015 Marsala sort of shade, but it’s really not quite marsala, it’s maybe more terra cotta or something? They call it a taupe on their website but I think of taupe as more grey-brown and not nearly this reddish. Whatever you want to call it, it’s a neat matte color and I like how it looks on me. If you’re looking for something earthy, or something for the 90s grunge throwback look, this is a good choice for you. I think it’s good for tribal belly dance looks when you really want a more subtle color palette instead of red lips.
I really appreciate that ColourPop has pencils available to match ALL of their lip colors. As such, I’ve been able to do the trick of coloring my entire lip area with the pencil and then putting the lipstick over it. This came in handy last night since I had to emcee at the last minute while coming down with a cold, so I was drinking tea in between performances, which means I was losing lipstick but you couldn’t tell because there was pencil underneath. I also appreciate that they’re only $5 each, so you can buy both the stick and the pencil and not break the bank.
I’m also pretty happy with the product in general. Both the pencil and the lipstick apply really smoothly, and even though this is a matte color I didn’t find it excessively drying. When layered together they seem to wear well for the 4-5 hours I’ve worn them for. I haven’t done an all-day test yet because I really don’t do lipstick on a daily basis, even though I’ve been doing a “makeup every day” challenge for myself, I usually apply it in the afternoon and remove it sometime in the evening, and often just do a tinted balm.
I’ll probably pick up at least one more color from this brand next time I order some of their eye shadows. At the price, it’s definitely a good way to try out some more unusual colors that I’m not sure about, or a specialty color that I need for a character piece but won’t wear often otherwise.
Also, I filmed a video of myself getting ready last night and I wanted to link it in this post, but YouTube has been processing my edits for about FOUR HOURS now. I really don’t understand YouTube. What does processing edits even mean? Why does it take so long? At this rate, maybe it will be ready for me to share on Monday’s blog post.
