Top 5 – Favourite Lipsticks.

Featured image credit – Best Products.com

If there’s one thing I have a lot of, then it is lipsticks. Lip sticks, crayons, liners, pencils, paints. I’ve got them all and more. So today, I thought I’d share my top 5 favourite ones. Some are old favourites, some are new discoveries.

1: Nyx Soft Matte in Prague – £5.50

Now, this was a really hard decision. I’m a big fan of Nyx products, and own quite a few of them, but when I had to choose between either Cannes or Prague, I just thought the bright pink colour piqued the title.

Prague is a total deep pink Barbie pink that is such a statement look. I’ve gone through a good few tubes of this colour, and always reach for it if I want a pop of colour.

The NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream’s are such good lipsticks if you don’t want to spend a lot of money, but want a good moisturing liquid lipstick. And with a range of colours, they can appeal to a wide variety of customers.

Image credit – Paula_sbi

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2: MAC Velvet Teddy – £15.50

This is my go-to colour for the days I want to just slap on the makeup and go. As a fairly matte texture, it does require just a dab of lipbalm underneath, but this lipstick lasts well throughout the day and can really be paired with any makeup look. From what I’ve seen, this shade is a combination of hues, and can look completely different on a variety of skin-tones. I usually pare this with my trusty MAC ‘Soar’ lipliner.

A brilliant staple for your makeup bag.

Image credit  -Polyvore on Pinterest

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3: Maybelline Vivid Matte Liquid Lipstick in Nude Flush – £6.99

This is quite a new addition to my collection, but I’ve found myself using it more and more. This Vivid Matte line is quite similar to the Soft Matte’s from Nyx, as they provide a good balance between the matte effect, without really drying out your lips. Nude Flush is quite a subtle shade, and it has been rated as a good dupe for the Kylie Cosmetics ‘Koko K’ lipstick and for £6.99, you really can’t go wrong!

 

Image courtesy of Popsugar on Pinterest

 

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4: No7 Classic Rose – £9.95

I’ve preached about this lipstick in my My 9 Staple Beauty Products, and through that review you can read everything about it. But this is such a beautiful pink colour. I find it flatters my skin-tone a lot, has good pigment and despite being mattifying, it doesn’t massively dry out your lips.

 

 

 

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5: MAC Russian Red – £15.50

When it comes to red lipsticks, I always go for MAC. Now, for this blogpost, it was a real toss-up between Ruby Woo and Russian Red. However, recently I’ve recently favoured the latter shade just to the slight change in colour hue. For me and my skin-tone, Russian Red is a real, true Marilyn Monroe red, and isn’t as drying as Ruby Woo. I’ve worn Russian Red on nights out, and have been eating, drinking and kissing and there’s only been slight colour loss. MAC lipsticks are mid-range in the price point and I think they are so worth the money.

Image credit – LittleMissChickas on Blogspot

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If you’ve got any lipstick shades/brands you like, then please let me know! I’m always in the market for buying and testing new ones out, and I’d love to hear your opinions.

 

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2016) – Film Review

Title: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Cast:Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, Alison Sudol, Ezra Miller, Samantha Morton, Jon Voight, Carmen Ejogo 

Director: David Yates

Genres: Fantasy, Harry Potter, Magic

Rating: 5/5

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If there’s something that you should know about me is that I’m a massive Harry Potter fan. Like, huge. So big that I’ve met JK Rowling, been an active member of Pottermore and the Harry Potter fansites for year, own a wand and a set of Hufflepuff House Robes, along with casual wear.

Yes, I know.

So when it was announced that we were going to get a new Potter movie, albeit a ‘prequel’ to the Wizarding World as such, I was so excited. I remember receiving my copy of the original Comic Relief textbook and devouring it. I loved the idea of Magical Beasts, and always thought that if I was in the Harry Potter Universe, I’d become something of a magizoologist under Hagrid’s schoolings.

I went to see Fantastic Beasts in my Hufflepuff t-shirt (as the lead character was also housed in Hufflepuff), and was thrilled from start to finish.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is set in Pre-Depression New York. English magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) has travelled to the Big Apple in search of a rare birthday present, and is equipped with his battered suitcase, in which he’s placed an Undetectable Extension Charm to house his vast collection of magical beasts. However, this is not a fail-safe holding for some of his creatures, and thanks to a switch-up between the suitcases by oblivious No-Maj (Muggle) Jacob Kowaski (Dan Fogler), some of the animals escaped. It is then up to Scamander and Kowaski to re-capture the beasts. However, there is something more sinister and deadly prowling the streets of New York, and along with Scamander and Kowalski, they rope in down-to-earth disgraced Auror, Tina Goldstein (Katherine Waterston)  and her carefree sister, Queenie (Alison Sudol) to discover what this terrorising the population of New York, without revealing the highly secretive magical community.

The first thing I discovered about Fantastic Beasts is that it has the right tone for a Potter movie. It had all the majesty, magic and realism of the original 8 films, and despite being released over 5 years since the last Deathly Hallows one, it didn’t feel as though any time had past.

Eddie Redmayne played the bumbling, oh-so-sweet and nervous Scamander amazingly. He really showed a man who was far more comfortable being with his creatures, rather than society, along with being an unsung hero for the entire film. His passion for the protection of animals was almost visceral. The rest of the cast slid into their roles as though they are built for them. The airy yet touching romance between Queenie and Jacob was also a bittersweet undertone for the entire film, and I hope we get to see more of them in the sequels.

Once again, Rowling and director David Yates did some fantastic world-building. This was the first time that we saw the Wizarding World outside England, and the slight differences were obvious but enough to make it all feel fresh and unique. Having a female Minister for Magic (over the pond they call it the Magical Congress of the United States of America) was a fabulous addition, and this film had enough of the original Potter-ness to make us feel safe, but was vastly different.

The film was fluid in its progression, and although it wasn’t particularly action-filled constantly, it was brilliant watching. There was enough jump-scares to keep the audience on it’s tone, but not off-putting for younger watchers.

It also set up for a sequel well. I’m so excited to see the world of Newt Scamander get revealed to us, as Harry’s was to readers, and I hope they keep up with this high standard for the proposed 5-film series.

All in all, a brilliant movie. Scamander is vastly different to Potter, but that is what we, as the audience needed. I personally hope they keep Redmayne as the title role, as he has now firmly cemented my love for this bumbling magizoologist.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is out NOW!