Lioele Real Vivid Matte Lipstick - cute as a button! :)

Hello lovelies!

Today I want to share with you a couple of really cute matte lipsticks. They're by a Korean brand called Lioele, who by the way have a lot of really good and really cute products (there will be more product reviews on products by this brand coming up) and just like with pretty much any Lioele product, the packaging is SO incredibly cute!

Here they are, my two Lioele Real Vivid Matte Lipsticks, in the colors #2 Milky Pink and #3 Peach.

The packaging/container

So let's start with that, the packaging. The lipstick comes in a little shiny black and pink box and inside the box you will find the sleek, matte, black lipstick tube. When you open the lipstick you will find the Lioele carriage and the brand name printed underneath it. As you can see in the pictures below, the packaging is very nice :)

These are the shiny black & pink boxes they came in. They have descriptions and ingredient lists in both English and Korean.

And here are the tops and bottoms of the packaging.

Also, the tube sort of "snaps" shut, so you won't have to worry about the container suddenly opening on its own in your bag/makeup bag.

The tube contains 4 grams of product, which - granted - doesn't sound like much, but it is very pigmented so it will last you a long time nonetheless.

These are the lipsticks twisted up as high as possible to show you how much product you get.

The colors and pigmentation/opacity

The Real Vivid Matte Lipstick comes in six colors: #1 Hot Pink, #2 Milky Pink, #3 Peach, #4 Red, #5 Lavender Purple and #6 Sandy Beige. I have the #2 Milky Pink and the #3 Peach (and I would love to try the #6 Sandy Beige next), both of which are really cute, girly pastel colors. I will swatch them for you in the picture below.

Here are a couple pictures with swatches, the one on the left taken in warmer lighting and the one on the right taken in cooler lighting. The swatch on top is #2 Milky Pink and the one on the bottom is #3 Peach.

I wasn't expecting the lipstick to be quite so pigmented, but is really is very highly pigmented, so a little goes a long way. Of course, you can go a bit heavier with it as well if you're looking for a really vivid color, but you can just as well go lighter and just get a sweet pastel "flush" on your lips. You can easily get a very opaque color with this lipstick if you wish.

Before I always thought MAC had the best/most pigmented lipsticks but this one really does compare in terms of opacity. Also, although most of my lipsticks are MAC ones (and I don't even wear lipstick that often, or if I do, I usually mix it with a balm, I'm more of a balm/gloss/tint kind of girl) I felt I still wanted to try these because the shades are just so delicious and also I haven't seen many similar ones out there.

For the purpose of really showing how much of a pop of color you can get out of these I have gone a bit heavier with the application in the demonstration pictures. Usually, I would just apply them waaay lighter and then sort of blend with a lip balm (or sometimes a gloss).

And here are some swatches on my lips. In the top picture I am wearing #2 Milky Pink, in the middle picture I am wearing #3 Peach and in the bottom picture I applied #2 Milky Pink to my top lip and #3 Peach to my bottom lip so you guys could see the colors right next to each other for comparison's sake.

In the picture above you can see what the lipsticks actually look like on the lips. I did however have slightly dry lips the day I did this review, sorry about that. I was in kind of a hurry as well and I didn't have time to exfoliate my lips and wait from them to go back to normal color from the crazy-after-exfoliation-flush and as I didn't want to compromise the color turnout of the lipstick I refrained from exfoliating prior to application (and yes I am aware of the irony as I do think it's a bit of a no-no to apply lipstick, especially matte ones, onto dry lips :D but oh well). I hope you can still get a somewhat good idea of what the lipstick should look like :)


Staying power

In my opinion, this lipstick has a pretty good staying power. Granted, it's not the same as when you use a lip tint, but then again, no lipstick is. However, I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by how well it stayed on, even after having applied lip balm on top of it and drinking water. Obviously you will have to reapply at some point during the day if you want the look of it to stay the same, but that's the case with any lipstick I suppose. I'm not really able to give you and estimate of how many hours it stays on in general, because I'm a bit of a food monster and I'm constantly eating, so I guess the staying power I experience is a bit shorter than for people who don't eat 24/7 :)


Consistency

The lipsticks are, as I mentioned, very highly pigmented and also matte and as the consistency is more on the heavier side (yet still creamy), you will want to make sure that the application surface - that would be your lips - really is nice and smooth. So if you do have dry lips, I would suggest that you exfoliate and moisturize your lips before applying this lipstick or you will end up with flaky looking lips, as the pigment will grab hold of your dry flakes and accentuate them. So make sure your lips are smooth and moisturized when using this particular lipstick (well, any lipstick in general, but usually the matte shades tend to bring out the dryness even more than shinier shades).


Price and where to buy them

I bought mine from a really nice and reliable online cosmetics store called RoseRoseShop, which you can find the link to right here. This is a Korean website, so you just go onto their website, pick out what you want and then they will ship it to you from Korea. The prices are very competitive and overall the price range is very very good. Also, the prices are shown in USD, which - at least to me - makes the whole shopping experience a lot smoother and easier. They carry a wide array of products and the customer service is also really good. Oh and one thing worth mentioning is that they offer international shipping and the shipping really is very fast! I've ordered from them several times and I have always received my packages in around a week or so and each time I have been super happy with the customer service as well. So this is definitely a website worth checking out.

But yes, back to the product, I bought mine at www.roseroseshop.com and one lipstick cost me $8.40, which is around 6 euros 35 cents. I think the lipsticks were on discount when I got them and that the actual price is $12, which is a little over 9 euros. However, I have seen these being sold elsewhere for a lot more, so I would say your best bet for getting a good deal would be RoseRoseShop. :)

All in all I would definitely say this is a product that I can recommend if you're looking for a very sweet and cute lip color, either a peachy one or a pink one. The price is not bad at all and the pigmentation is crazy. It has good staying power, the packaging is cute and practical and the colors are absolutely adorable. So I would say it's definitely worth a try :) The only thing I would recommend you really keep in mind though is to make sure your lips aren't dry and flaky when you apply this, because any lipstick - matte ones in particular - will accentuate the dryness and you do not want that.


Alright guys, that's all for now, I hope this review helped :) I hope you all have a wonderful week and please remember to smile, laugh, love and stay positive :)


xoxo,
Tanja

Nail Art

Cherry Blossom inspired design. Base: shimmery translucent peachy nail bed section, glittery midsection and a turquoise/minty tip. Decoration: cherry blossoms and branches.

Spring is finally here and the sun and warmer weather means lots of fun experimentation with nail art! Winter and autumn are of course also seasons when you can have fun with nail art and experiment, but I feel more people get excited about nail art when the weather gets warm and sunny - at least here where it's super cold half of the year and people sort of come out of hibernation mode in the spring time. 

Translucent pearly base, glittery tips with pink cheetah print design and the double C's on the upper nail.

I've been doing nail art actively for about a year now, before that I would just do a little something now and then (pretty rarely though). However, about a year ago I started getting into it and realized it was really fun and a way to express artistic interests as well. 

Mint colored base, pink and white striped tips and a rose on the upper nail on the index finger, middle finger and pinky. Roses and little white dots on the thumb and ring finger.

Beige base with pale pink and white stripe tips on the index finger, middle finger and pinky, pale pink bow and white dots on the thumb and ring finger.

Ever since I was little I've loved art, both art other people had created and art in everyday things and in nature. I also love drawing and painting and at some point it was a huge part of my life, I could spend hours a day just painting, designing and drawing. Gradually everyday things, school, work and chores started taking up more and more time and eventually I realized I hadn't had the chance or time for pretty much any kind of artistic expression in such a long time and this made me really sad. I tried working it into my life again and gradually found little ways here and there to incorporate art in my life again. Nail art became one of these ways. Now, I'm sure many people think nail art isn't really an artform and at first I was a bit iffy myself, but through experience I've come to realize it can be, it just depends on the artist. 

Turquoise/minty base, roses and white dots on the thumb and ring finger, rose on upper nail and a brown and white striped tip on the index finger, middle finger and ring finger.

Flower designs on the thumb and the ring finger.

For me, doing nail art has been an outlet for artistic expression, at least to some extent. Sure it doesn't replace painting on a canvas or drawing, but I never intended it to do so either, I just wanted to have a little extra something art related in my life. I like seeing beauty in everyday things and I like being able to create beauty in different ways. I taught myself what I know about doing nail extensions and gel nails by reading, watching videos and watching other nail artist work. I'm a quick learner and I like to observe and soak up information where ever I can. The art part just came from within. Inspiration is all around us, you just have to keep your eyes and mind open. I don't claim to be a superb nail artist by any means, there are lots of more experienced and more talented nail artists than me out there, but I do enjoy it and I take pride in what I do. Being a perfectionist I also try my very best at making a design just the way I had envisioned it.

Taupe base with white lace design and baby pink double C's on the thumb and ring finger.

Dark taupe/black/gold cheetah print design base on toes, pink bow on big toe. Dark taupe/black/gold cheetah design taupe tips on fingers, pink bows on the index finger, middle finger and pinky, pink heart with little crystals on the thumb and ring finger. 

I've worked with nail extensions as well and with UV gels, hard gels, soak off gels and soak off gel polishes. Usually when I've done the extensions though I prefer to work with forms instead of with tips. I feel like tips are the simple option, as they're quick and less work-demanding to apply than building the extension using forms. The reason I prefer the more time and work consuming option is that I feel it gives a more natural result. That's just my personal preference though. 

Opaque pearly pale pink base, black glittery tips with a pink ribbon on all nails and a pink ribbon with a bow on the thumb and ring finger.

As you can see I have posted a few pictures of some designs I've done throughout this post and if you guys have any requests on how to do a specific design (either one in one of the pictures or some other design you may have in mind), let me know and I will do my best to create a tutorial for you. These are just a few of the designs I've done, I haven't photographed all and I also have photos that I haven't posted, but I just wanted to post a few to show you some examples. I hope you guys enjoy them! :)

Taupe base with white dots and a pale pink bow on the big toes. Pink base with white dots and a pale pink bow on the big toes.

Happy spring everyone and remember to smile, laugh, love and stay positive!

xoxo,
Tanja