LIP DUO TAG

Lovely Ashleigh from Le Beaute Luxe tagged me to do this tag she created about our favourite lipstick+lipgloss combination for different colour categories.

Aren't you jealous you didn't come up with this idea first?? Because I am haha, I love this tag!! :-D

So here are my picks:

Lip Duo Tag

1. Nude
Nyx Summer Love + Barry M Lip Gloss 2
The lipstick has a satin sheen, and the lipgloss has a gorgeous subtle silver shimmer - and I see some pink and green particles too - which helps giving your lips dimension and prevents such a pale nude from sliding into concealer effect territory and wash out your face.
But the reason why this is my favourite nude lipgloss is its scent. It smells like the birthday cake of your dreams like you want to eat it with the entire tube, seriously.

2. Light pink
Mac Angel + Nars Turkish Delight
Kim Kardashian famously said this is her favourite lip combination, and yes, it really is the most beautiful and flattering milky pink.
Nars lipglosses are a little on the pricey side, but they have an incredible mirror shine and are very longlasting.

3. Coral / Orange
Mac Dreaming Dahlia + Mac Star Quality, from their new Fantasy Of Flowers collection.
For these two, words fail me. You can only stare at them in silence, wondering how such a unique shade of a blinding coral-y orange could happen. Just looking at them gives me life.
This is the look I created with this duo My Mac Neon Orange look + dupes

4. Bright pink
Mac Impassioned lipstick + Mac Impassioned Lipglass
This is one of the most iconic shades by Mac, I have an entire post about the lipstick here Mac Impassioned lipstick
The lipstick is part of the permanent collection, the lipgloss was released in limited edition as part of the Fashion Sets collection in spring 2012.

5. Red
Mac Russian Red + Mac Pro Longwear Lipglass in Driven By Love
Once you put on statement lipstick Russian Red (again, I have an entire post about it here (Mac Russian Red vs Ruby Woo), it's not like you feel the need to top it up with another product.

But if there's one thing that can top up Russian Red, that's Driven By Love lipgloss.

This formula is literally real paint. It coats your lips with a dangerously hot patent shine like I have only seen in portraits by David LaChapelle.

One time I wore it, I had girls coming up to me in the street to ask me what I had on my lips!!!!

6. Berry / Purple
This duo is actually a mauve shade. It is Kiko Unlimited Stylo in 13 Cocoa + Kiko Extra Volume Lipgloss in 13 Pearly Peony Pink.
The lipstick is my new favourite lipstick, I am wearing it here My #nofilter #selfiesaturday make up
I love the shade and I love the formula.
The lipgloss looks equally beautiful in the tube (I used it so much that the inner vial containing the gloss came off the outer part of the tube!), but once applied to the lips it's barely visible, so when I first got it I was pretty disappointed.
But now that I have Cocoa Unlimited Stylo, super pigmented and super opaque, just a thin coat of gloss in the same shade with a little shimmer is PERFECTION.
Definitely my most used lip combo.

7. Most unique colour in your collection
Mac Violetta + Mac Revenge Is Sweet Lipglass
My beloved Violetta!! One of my all-time favourite lipsticks and favourite things in the world!!
It is a divine magenta shade with a blueish pearlescence to it, please see it up close here Mac Violetta lipstick
And I course I couldn't pair it with anything else other than Revenge Is Sweet, the lipgloss it was released with in the Venomous Villains collection which took the world by storm in fall 2010.

I hope you liked my picks, thank you again Ashleigh for tagging me, I loved doing your tag!!

Super sweet Danielle from has already done this tag too The Love Of Lipstick - Lip Duos!, go check out what lip duos she picked!!

And now I am going to tag my favourite girls

BeautyAddict29

Amira

Annika (HoSt Home Of Style - Liebste Lippen Kombis)

Anoushka

Emily

Lyndsey

Lottie Mayy

Marta

Rachel (YouTube video Not Two Normal - Lip Duo Tag)

Amanda

Linzi Louisa

Justine

Tahana Lee

to show us their favourite lip duos!!
All of them have a make up collection that could bring a dead back to life, so I can't wait to see what their picks will be!! ^_^

Hugs to my girls and hugs to everybody else who's reading this, please write me in a comment the link to your blogpost or YouTube video if you do this tag too!!

Thank you for reading :-)

Love

MJ

HARLOT OCC LIP TAR

Harlot OCC Lip Tar

It was only a matter of time before I wrote a post about my first Lip Tar, the uber-famous liquid lipstick by Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics - haha don't you just love their name! ^_^

Lip Tars come in a tube and are out-of-this-world intense and pigmented.
And no matter how many times you have heard how pigmented they are, and how much you therefore expect it, the first time you try them for yourself you will still be amazed!! :-O
The smallest dot is enough to paint your entire lips. Seriously, if you put more than this on your hand or on the brush you will waste it!

So, when it came to picking my first Lip Tar, I wanted to go big and I picked one of their most BANG!!! shades :-D
It's called Harlot and it's the brightest neon coral-y red a human can ever create, isn't it stunning????

Harlot OCC Lip Tar

At a first glance, I thought I had already found in my collection some dupes for Harlot in Heartbreaker by Sleek Makeup and in Coral Blush 158 by Barry M.
These 3 do look pretty much identical in the tube, but as soon as you swatch them side by side it's clear to see they are by no means dupes.

Compared to Harlot, Heartbreaker (which is already a very very close dupe to Mac Impassioned, you can read my post here Mac dupes - Red, bright and dark lipsticks from Sleek) is more pink and more matte, while Coral Blush is a lot more sheer, and has some fuchsia to it.



Sleek Heartbreaker - OCC Lip Tar Harlot - Barry M 158 Coral Blush

But what I came up with is that when I wear Harlot I will then take either Heartbreaker or Barry M 158 with me in my handbag.
I find such a pigmented liquid in a tube a little impractical for touch ups - if you need them at all with this product, but you know, just in case.
Regular lipsticks in a bullet are much easier to use, so having one of those 2 with me when I'm wearing Harlot will do the touch up job if needed, without risking to bleed neon coral from all over my face when it's not Halloween!!

I hope you found this post interesting!
Do you have any Lip Tars?? If so, what shades??
Also let me know if you too wrote a blog post about them!!

And if you like this kind of bright shades see me wear an orange lipstick in New trend: how to make orange lipstick work for pale blondes / Iggy Azalea inspired make up :-)

Have a beautiful day :-*

Love
MJ

IN THE SKY WITH GLITTER / VICTORIA'S SECRET INSPIRED make up look

I wasn't going to write a post about this look because I thought the make up showed up too undefined in the picture, but since on Instagram it received so many Likes - even one from James Molloy (@molloysie), Director of Artistry for Mac Cosmetics in Asia, one of my idols! - I decided to do it anyway!

I find it's reminiscent of Victoria's Secret signature make up look, and they are actually having their highly anticipated annual Fashion Show today!!

I hadn't self tanned my face in a few days and my skin was at its palest (actually meaning natural hahaha :-D), so I had to make some adjustments to my usual make up routine because I am not used to working on my face when it's so light.

I still used my one and only foundation L'Oreal Lumi Magique in the same colour W3/D3 Gold Linen with my Real Techniques stippling brush, but I didn't use my Mac concealer in NC30 because it would have been too dark.
This time I used Clinique Line Smoothing Concealer in 02 Light, which I usually apply only to my undereye area, both under my eyes and on blemishes.

On my eyes I pulled all stops and went for full on gold with my Gold Trinity of Eyeshadows!!
L'Oreal Color Infallible 002 Hourglass Beige (called 888 Iced Latte in the US), the most beautiful champagne shade, to highlight my inner corner and my brow bone
L'Oreal Color Infallible 027 Goldmine, the most blinding true gold, on the centre of my eyelids and on the centre of my lower lash line
L'Oreal Color Infallible 024 Divine Bronze, the most divine bronze indeed, on the outer corner - top and bottom - and to define my crease.

On my waterline I applied Mac Chromagraphic Pencil in NW25/NC30.

Then I lined my eyes with my super thin and precise Japanese eyeliner Le Rose de Versailles from Creer Beaute. I draw a catline on the upper lash line, and I dotted it softly on the lower lash line.

For mascara I used another Japanese product, Lash Expander Edge Meister from Majolica Majorca, the drugstore section of Shiseido, available only in Asian countries.
It's very black and shiny, and it containes small fibres that do expand your lashes, I really like it!! How can you not love such a pretty packaging too!! <3

I didn't use blush or bronzer - no point in bronzing up such a pale skin finish -, and I only contoured my cheekbones with Mac Harmony blush.
Mac called it "blush" but it's a matte taupe ideal for contouring, I doubt anybody use it as traditional blush :-)

Then I went back to L'Oreal Hourglass Beige eyeshadow and used it as highlighter on the top of my cheekbones, down my nose and on my Cupid's bow.
It's my second favourite powder highlighter after Mac Soft and Gentle, with the bonus that it's perfect for travelling because it's so small and compact and it can't break. It's very inexpensive too!

On my lips I used NYX Summer Love lipstick, a GORGEOUS pinky nude. Just SO GORGEOUS.

I finished off the look with Barry M Glossy Tube lipgloss in shade number 4, another beautiful nude pink.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read, and if you would like to see another Victoria's Secret inspired look go to Winter Angel make up look :-*

Love
MJ