GOING BACK TO THE BEGINNING

In honour of my blog turning one year old on 23rd August I am going right back to the beginning and writing a sorted of updated version of one of my earliest blog posts from September 2013, in September 2014.

I started my blog when Maybelline's Baby Lips had just launched in the UK and were a massive cult favourite. As per everyone else I wrote a couple of blog posts on them but overall I wasn't taken with them; I haven't used them in a very long time (though you can go back to the start of my blog to see my thoughts then) but I remember thinking that, while they were nice, they just weren't worth the hype and there were much better products out there.

The UK is always behind on makeup collections, everything gets released in the US and then takes at least a year to come out over here, plus we never get the whole collection or we get a slightly changed version. Maybelline's Baby Lips is a prime example of this, they were a cult favourite in the US for quite a while before being introduced to the UK in summer 2013, and there has also been at least four or five new Baby Lips collections in the US while the UK has only just got its second one- the Electro collection.

Not going to lie, I was fully prepared to pass this trend by, but I found colours that were too pretty not to at least try (plus Superdrug had a buy-one-get-one-half-price offer). While the US has a collection of six Baby Lips Electro balms, the UK only has four; not entirely unfortunately that we in the UK have missed out on neon green and yellow tinted lip balms, a strange choice that we can all probably live without. I'm not sure how long the Electro collection has been out in the UK (I bought mine in August and they hadn't been out long then), but we have four colours: a hot pink, a coral pink, an orange and a purple. Everyone knows my love of purple but I decided to give that one a miss as I already have a purple tinted Body Shop lip balm and I also passed on the hot pink as that has never been my thing. The orange and coral however...

Oranges and corals are some of my favourite colours for the likes of lips and nails so I couldn't pass up on the idea of these, especially since the name of the coral one. I love a good orange lipstick in the summer but you have to be quite brave to wear it (I currently have the neon bright orange lipstick that is Topshop's 'Infrared') so 'Oh Orange' definitely appealed in its promise of a sheer orange tint; 'Strike a Rose' (see, amazing name) was also a definite winner for me colour-wise as you can never go wrong with a rose/coral colour. Luckily for lip product addicts like me I was able to justify my purchase with Superdrug's buy-one-get-one-half-price offer.

(If you note on more or less every review post I start a paragraph with 'one thing I must say is...' so here you go). One thing I must say is that you need to have perfectly smooth lips to wear these lip balms as they drag on the areas of dry skin that (I personally) sometimes get round the edges of my bottom lip and you them get a patch of neon coloured dry skin with is obvious to everyone and does not look good. With smooth lips, though, they're perfectly fine.

Comparrison of the American (left) and UK (right) packaging- the UK one is miles nicer

There's not all that much I can say on these lip balms as, to be honest, I'm still not wholly taken with Baby Lips. I'm comparing them to the clear Baby Lips in Hydrate (which I actually have an American version of- I don't know if this affects anything?), but the consistency of the Electro Baby Lips feels thicker than that of the clear one. Personally I prefer a thicker formula as I feel like the product is more likely to stay in place, and I don't feel like my lipstick is about to slip off the top.
The products have an okay scent, for me rose scented things can be iffy but 'Strike a Rose' does actually have quite a nice smell (the smells fade after a while on your lips which is good), I'm less keen on the scent of 'Oh Orange' and I hate to say it but I think the smell has got worse over time, it still has a tangy orange scent but it just doesn't smell anywhere near as good as it did when newly bought.
Though I have been quite negative about these products so far, I have to say that I actually really like the colour of 'Strike a Rose' on the lips (it is by far my favourite of the two overall), it gives a very pretty cross between very-pigmented-and-sheer colour that I think looks really nice on; 'Oh Orange' has quite a nice colour as well but there's something a little weird about it and, though I love it as a lipstick colour, it will never be my go-to for a tinted lipbalm but I see it could be wearable.

Though I will carry on using them, these lip balms are too high maintenance for me for what they are. I personally just want to whack on a tinted lip balm for a tiny bit of colour on more chilled days, and I don't like the fact that I have to spend so much time making sure my lips are super smooth before I use this product. 

SKIN MONTH | EVERYDAY ROUTINE

So this post isn't going to be very interesting but as it's Skin Month I thought it was only right that I addressed by daily skin routine...

(Apologises for the half-used products) 

1. Boots Tea Tree and Witch Hazel Foaming Face Wash- tea tree is super good for your skin, I use this twice daily and then wash it off using Boots cotton wool pads.
2. Boots Tea Tree and Witch Hazel Cleansing and Toning Lotion- it is always good to use toner on your skin, I use this once every morning and dab a couple of drops of it onto a cotton wool pad.
3. Boots Tea Tree and Witch Hazel Exfoliating Face Scrub- (yes there is a trend going on) as I wrote here, I am not a great fan off exfoliating products for your face so I only use this about once a month but exfoliation is good and you should not run away from it just because it feels weird.
4. (A new one) Vitamin E Gentle Facial Cleansing Wipes- I use these in the evening to take off my eye makeup and then give my face a quick wipe before I wash it properly, I love these wipes so much.
5. Neutrogena moisturiser- favourite moisturiser, not much else to say about that really.
6. Burt's Bees lip balm- I just have the normal, original, no extra stuff, whatever you want to call it one and I lovelovelovelove it sososososo much, I use it every night before I go to bed so I have super smoothy lips when I wake up. I also use it as a base if I'm going to be wearing lip gloss because I find that some lip glosses dry your lips out a bit and this just prevents it.

 The Boots tea tree and witch hazel range

Personal favourites

Available at Boots or Waitrose- I love these

 

 

Now moving onto make up, I don't wear all that much to school because I have no time if I actually want to sleep in the morning.

The bare minimum

1. Body Shop concealer- I have spoken about this before but it's really good and does not cause excess breakouts like some concealers do.
2. Body Shop black eyeliner pencil- Just on the lower lash line and water line, I have super sensitive eyes and this is a good quality eyeliner without being overpriced like many other sensitive eyes products (COUGH No7 COUGH).
3. Mascara- I don't often wear mascara but when I do I wear No7 sensitive eyes in black, the one thing I hate about mascara is you can never seen when you're nearly running out.
4. Maybelline Baby Lip in Peach Kiss- perfect everyday lip balm, tastes good and has a teeny tiny shimmer to it in certain lights.
5. Body Shop Born Lippy in Guava- I absolutely love these but I have so many and never manage to finish them (my friend gets through a whole pot in about three months which is quite impressive considering how much is in there and how little you need at a time). Guava has got to be by far the nicest Born Lippy (I have about three pots of the strawberry one, however- yummy) but I find that they dry my lips out so I just whack on a layer of Burt's Bees and it works like a dream team.

Looks amazing and smells amazing I absolutely love this product (guava flavoured)

NOT BABY LIPS AGAIN...

I apologise for the awful quality of my photos.

American packaging

 

I wrote here about my first Baby Lips 'Quenched' (or 'Hydrate' in the UK) and I mentioned how I was thinking of better another one (and in my haul post which is yet to be uploaded, you'll see that I did but 'Peach Kiss' like I said I would). I feel like I've written about Baby Lips far too much recently but I couldn't not compare the too once I had them.
I have actually found some quite significant differences between my two Baby Lips, Quenched/ Hydrate and Peach Kiss; I don't know if it's the two different flavours and what's in the product or the fact that one is from America and the other is from the UK.

English packaging

First up, the packaging is different. When I bought Quenched (the blue and pink one), I wanted the packaging to look more like the English one does; the American one had a blue tube with pink writing on it, when you take the lid off you expect the writing to just be on the lid, but the lid is actually also blue with the writing still on it. Peach Kiss (the purple and orange one) is how I though Quenched would look, the tube is purple and the lid is clear with just the writing on it. Personally I prefer the packaging for Peach Kiss, which is the one I bought in the UK.

Peach Kiss (English)- This is what I am talking about with the lids

I have found that they feel different on the lips. When I wrote the first review I said that it felt quite thin on the lips, but Peach Kiss actually feels a little bit thicker than Quenched; it's not the thickest of lip products but it doesn't feel as thin as the other one. Despite the strong colour of the product and all the swatches people have done on their hands over time, I have not found Peach Kiss to be that tinted, and it is not sparkly like everyone online said it was; neither of these are a problem for me, however, as I do not particularly want brown, sparkly lips.

Quenched (American)- This is what I am talking about with the lids

The product itself, I actually think that the American one is a slightly wider product, not too noticeable unless you study it as strongly as I did. The smell of the peach is very strong in the tube, possibly a bit overly strong but not as sickly as the other one smells, however the smell wears off after a while; this is something that many may have a problem with but I like because it means I don't have to go around smelling overly strong peach under my nose all day.

You can sort of see it but Quenched (the blue one) is slightly wider

I much prefer Peach Kiss to Quenched, after I bought Quenched I was a bit put off Baby Lips but I love Peach Kiss and my faith in Maybelline's Baby Lips has been restored.

MAYBE IT'S BABY LIPS?

I apologise for the awful quality of my photos.

 

Whilst I was in Florida this summer, Maybelline's Baby Lips came out in the UK, I'd heard a lot of people rave about them on Instagram and so I read a few reviews and decided to get one. I was actually so surprised when I heard that there were waiting lists for Baby Lips in Boots and Superdrug in the UK because I simply strolled into Target (an American supermarket) and picket one up from the masses they had in stock there.

I haven't used the Baby Lips very much (I got the clear one called 'Quenched' which I think is called 'Hydrate' in the UK, the blue one anyway) as I also got a Burt's Bees at the same time. I would describe the smell as being quite sugary and a little bit citrusy, a bit like pink lemonade. This sounds gross but it feels sort of like a roll-on deodorant when you apply it as it is a little bit smooth and slimy, but in a nice way. It is very thin on your lips, unlike most lip balms which feel quite thick on, and is kind of like a lip gloss that you buy as a child or one free from a magazine.

The bright, block colours of the packaging give a fun, pop-art vibe that is eye-catching on the shelves, another eye-catching point is the price, costing only £2.99 each I personally think that these are very reasonably priced for such a longed for and sort after product.

Despite my so far seeming-quite-negative review, I do actually like this product and am tempted to buy a tinted one. I am not as taken with it as much as everyone on Instagram so far (Instagrammers LOVE it, many of them own all six), but my views may change over more time of using it.