Mac Halsey Lipstick | Ka-pow in a Tube

Hello all!

Exams are almost over and I can't wait to get back into the blogging scene. I was going to wait until exams were completely over to do this post, but I simply can't wait any longer. Nobody puts this tube of glory in a corner!

You've most likely rocked grey nails, maybe grey eyeliner, but get this: a statement grey lip. The past-me would probably have gone yikes and returned to the comforting embrace of a peach lippie, but the present-me has thought, I could give that a go. 

This lipstick is part of the four-piece Mac Future Forward collection, a collaboration with four rising music stars. Alongside Halsey, artists Tinahe, Lion Babe and Dej Loaf have released an eyeshadow palette, a Lipglass, and a gold eyeliner, respectively. 

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Enter the Halsey Mac lipstick: a slick AF blue-toned grey with a matte formula. One swipe delivers pretty good pigmentation, but the colour can be built up to give an opaque lip. The matte formula is not drying whatsoever, a quality I'm glad is present in all of the matte Mac lipsticks I've tried. 

The lipstick comes housed in a gorgeous blue paint-swirl box with what seems to be Halsey's signature in white. It's a nice touch that personalises the lipstick, as typical Mac lipsticks come in plain black boxes. 

Once the announcement came out on Instagram, I knew I had to get my hands on the lipstick. I absolutely love Halsey as an artist and a fashion/beauty icon, so it was kind of a no-brainer. Well, except for the fact that the lipstick was grey... it's not exactly your conventional lip colour. Eventually, I somehow justified placing an order.

I'm so happy to say that I love this colour! I've been playing around with more crazy colours recently (Nyx's soft matte lip cream in Moscow anyone?), so I was pretty excited to get my hands on this lipstick. In the pic below it's a little lighter and shinier than the arm swatch because  I a. left my lip balm on when swatching on my lips and b. applied with a light hand. I suppose it's way to test the waters, as it's not as in-your-face as a BAM grey. 

I like that the shade is not a Halloween-y shade; it's wearable without you looking like you're prepared to go trick-or-treating. When this shade's on my lips, I feel as empowered as Khaleesi burning down the Temple of Dosh Khaleen.

Don't mind the dark circles, that's what staying up late waiting for the release of Zoella's new collection on Superdrug will do to a gal (and yet I never made it).

So allow me to explain the ordering process. When Halsey released her own Instagram post, slaying everyone in the lip colour, she (at the time) specifically wrote that the lipstick would not be sold in China. It had something to do with how the lipstick was not tested on animals but China condemns testing, or something to that effect. I was hoping that HK would be counted as an independent country in this case, but alas the verdict was no. *tear*

Very honored to announce my collaboration with @MACcosmetics, can't wait for you guys to have it this March #MACFutureForward #EverythingIsGreyishBlue

A photo posted by halsey (@iamhalsey) on Feb 5, 2016 at 9:55am PST

I went through the Instagram tag #machk and eventually found an account that helped people order products from the US and had them delivered to HK. Typically, a Mac lipstick costs HKD$155; my total, including the local postage fee, was $167. Not bad at all, considering markups can be a lot higher! I ordered the lipstick off this Insta. The girl who runs the account was super friendly, and the lipstick was delivered to me at ease. Everything from start to finish took about 3-4 weeks, so if you're interested in ordering just bear that in mind. 

In conclusion: Halsey is queen, she and Mac have totally nailed this lip colour, and I will definitely be using this in the near future. World, get ready for this bold, beautiful lipstick!




Have an amazing day! x

Autumn/Winter Lip Product Picks

Hey there!

With the colder months here, a whole new set of lip colours is required to go with the change of attire. My pinks and corals are retiring for now, and I'm bringing out deeper, more autumn/winter-appropriate shades. 

Topshops's Matte Lip Bullet in Get Me Bodied is the perfect maroon shade, complete with a not-overwhelmingly-dry matte formula.

VDL's Expert Colour Lip Cube in 502 Hello Stranger is a nice bright red that's an alternative to the traditional scarlet. It's such a Christmassy shade and it gets me excited for the festive season.

When I first swatched VDL's Festival Lipstick in 501 Bordeaux, it immediately reminded me of Lorde; the name of the shade suits it very well! The shine of this product is fantastic, making it less Halloween and more vampy-glam.

Probably my favourite out of the set is Mac's Whirl. Dubbed as one of Kylie Jenner's 90s lip colours, I am absolutely in love with this neutral shade, along with Velvet Teddy. Whirl is slightly darker than Velvet Teddy, and Autumn and Winter are great times to rock those darker shades. 

Rimmel's Apocalips Lip Lacquer in 008 is a smooth blue-toned pink. The formula applies very well and the product is quite moisturising. 

L-R: Topshop bullet, VDL lip cube, VDL lipstick, Rimmel Apocalips, Mac Whirl

What lip products will you be wearing this Autumn/Winter?

I'll see you next time! x

Sick Beats and a Splurge | October Favourites

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Hello all!

Now that October has passed, it's only appropriate for me to do my October Favourites. Last month went past as a blur as two major things happened: I went to Borneo for a week with the school, and I moved house! I'm back and settled down, so prepare for a chatty post today.

The month of October was a month I splurged on a couple of items. First is my Kate Spade Ceder Street Stacy purse. After several years of switching between Accessorize and Forever 21 purses I decided to invest in one that would last me a long time without going out of style. I decided on the Stacy because it's roomy enough for all things necessary in a purse, and still sleek and compact. Black was an obvious choice as a. it tends to hide stains, marks and scratches better than other colours, and b. black is a timeless colour. Another splurge is Mac's Velvet Teddy lipstick. Thanks to Kylie Jenner, I have found a nice shade that goes with pretty much everything! The matte finish isn't too drying, which I find is the case with some matte lipsticks.

From Borneo I brought home a few henna cones, and it truly is addicting to draw designs on your arm. It's a fun way to accessorise without all the commitment or pain of a real tattoo.

My TV show favourite of the month is ABC's 'Quantico', a thrilling series that follows Alex Parrish, an FBI agent who has been accused of a bombing in New York. The show very much reminds me of an all-time beloved, 'How To Get Away With Murder', as it is set in the present but flashes back to the Quantico training. Priyanka Chopra, who plays Alex, is gorgeous and it makes me happy that they cast a woman of colour as the lead; you don't see that too often!

After a month of dawdling I finally purchased 'The Wrath and the Dawn' by Renee Ahdieh. It had been on my books-to-buy list for quite a while, and I am so glad I did eventually buy it.  The story is an adaptation of the classic 'A Hundred and One Arabian Nights', revolving around Shahrzad, a girl who sacrifices herself to be the Caliph of Khorasan's next wife. The reason why I love this book so much is that the description is lusciously rich, similar to Erin Morgenstern's 'Night Circus', my all-time favourite book. I would highly recommend this book to anybody remotely interested because it truly is a hidden gem.

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In Borneo I rediscovered old songs from the group of people I went with, and discovered my appreciation for rap music. I started off with Kid Ink's tracks after hearing him on Fifth Harmony's 'Worth It', and after listening to his album 'Full Speed', it's safe to say he's now one of my favourite artists. Spotify has been my go-to app lately for discovering music because they've got hundreds of playlists made according to genre and mood. Through one of their hip-hop playlists I started listening to Big Sean's 'I Don't F*** With You'; granted, it's not a song you can go round blasting out of your speakers, but I can't deny that it's catchy! Macklemore and Ryan Lewis's 'Downtown' is a spunky, magical creation and the choreography videos I've seen on YouTube from the likes of Kyle Hanagami, 1Million Dance Studio and Matt Steffanina perfectly capture the different moods expressed through it. Tracks I've picked up from dance class are Dawin's 'Dessert' featuring Silento and Redfoo's 'New Thang'; I am an absolute sucker for danceable songs as dance is one of my favourite hobbies. Justin Bieber is making quite the comeback with the new releases off his coming album 'Purpose' and my favourite so far is definitely 'Sorry'. The hottest new track that literally everyone has been playing is Drake's 'Hotline Bling' so it's not a surprise that it's included in my Favourites. To conclude everything, my last favourite is Troye Sivan's 'TALK ME DOWN'. The Blue Neighbourhood trilogy is absolutely beautiful and heartbreaking, and, along with thousands of other fans, I am secretly waiting for a Part 4/3 because the ending to Part 3 was undoubtedly brutal. 

Ahhhhh, I've missed writing long posts! I'll see you in my next one! x

Topshop Lips: Innocent

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A few weeks back I read on a ton of beauty blogs that Topshop had its 5th Anniversary for their beauty line. Instead of launching new products to celebrate, they took their top five lipsticks, nail polishes, and a whole lot of other products from previous years, and revamped them with rose gold packaging. Pretty neat!

I don't know much about their makeup - or makeup in general - but Topshop's lipsticks are very nice. There's a whole rainbow of reds, pinks, and purples to choose from, and the formulas are generally good. I own Mercurial, a metallic-pink shade, Brighton Rock, a bright off-pink, and Twin, a not-as-dark-as-Lorde red-purple lip polish. I decided to reach out and try another colour; I returned home with Innocent, one of the top five lipsticks. 

Before we get into it, I would just like to apologise for the inconsistent lighting throughout the coming photos. The weather hasn't been great and the colours of everything were a right pain to capture!

As mentioned above, the top fives were packaged in rose gold. I'm not going to go into too much detail about it because a. it's all pretty self explanatory, and b. I rave about packaging more than I rave about actual products. This rose gold beauty is a straight A* from me.

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Innocent is one of those my-lips-but-better colours, or in my case, my-lips-but-better-and-paler. I wanted to swatch it on my lips to give you guys a proper look at the outcome, but I swear the sun went, "Nope, not today." The site describes this shade as an 'iced lilac'. On my hand it's a medium pink; on my lips it's a cooler-toned light pink that's very wearable on an everyday basis. 

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The formula was so good. When I first put it on, I was surprised by how creamy the texture was. A single swatch gives full coverage. It hydrates the lips with wear, which I'm thankful for because sometimes I find that some lipsticks are so drying. However the colour can sink into the lines of your lips or show areas of peeling, so exfoliating and moisturising your lips before rocking this shade will come in handy. 

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There is a slight vanilla-marshmallow scent to the product but it isn't overpowering at all. In fact, you hardly notice it when wearing the lipstick. I didn't really look out for durability or staying power, but the lipstick will come off if you eat or drink. I'm guessing it's due to the creamy formula, but I'm not complaining!



Have you picked up any of the Topshop Beauty 5th Anniversary products?