A glimpse at the lips: Burberry’s Lip Velvet in Rose Pink No. 307

Slowly, slowly. Currently, I'm working my way through Burberry's Lip Velvet range. Eventually, I'll acquire all twelve shades -- only nine to go ;)

I won't bore you with the reasons why I love these lippies so much, but here's a recap to get you up to speed.

Pink Amber No. 306

Fuchsia Pink No. 309

Now, let's drool at the beautiful Rose Pink No. 307 together.

Rose Pink is a matte, balanced shade that would suit a myriad of skin tones. It lasts for hours and is low-maintenance -- swipe and go.

Final comparison from left to right: Pink Amber, Rose Pink and Pink Fuchsia

Which colour is your favourite?

The Bagful breakdown:

Total amount for Burberry’s Lip Velvet in Rose Pink No. 307:

• $30.00 USD / $50.00 AUS

Value for money spent (performance and quality):

• 10 out of 10 bags – My favourite lippie ATM.

Would another purchase be on the horizon?:

• Oh yeah, you betcha!

Day One @ Salon Melbourne

I got up bright and early today in preparation for Salon Melbourne -- it's "Victoria’s ultimate hair and beauty event. Bursting with products, shows, education and entertainment, Salon Melbourne is a one-stop-shop for sourcing, learning and inspiration."

• Products
• Inspiration
• Entertainment

What more could you want?

Salon Melbourne is a two day event which is currently being held at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre. If you're a beauty professional, lover of hair and beauty or just plain interested, then head on over if you have a few hours free today or tomorrow.

Can't make it? Lucky for you, I took lots of pictures :)

I stayed for a couple of hours as I got overwhelmed by the crowds and also wanted to keep my spending in check. There are so many great things available for purchase, unfortunately it's irrational to buy one of everything. Right?

The Hits...

• You can watch tons of professionals execute what they do best - hair, nails, makeup and loads more
• Purchase products at wholesale prices
• Rub elbows with your fellow beauticians
• Experience brands that aren't available for testing in-store
• Attend a class or two, keep your eyes glued on the catwalk or gawk at the beautiful models
• Head to the centre of the exhibit for cheese and bubbles

The Misses...

• The crowds - be prepared to wait a while at the insanely popular stalls. OPI, Makeup Forever, Napoleon Perdis and several brush stalls were hopping
• Bring cash as some exhibitors don't have EFT POS machines
• Don't bother wearing a jacket, you'll be too hot

In the end, I had a lot of fun. Tho, it would've been nice to share this experience with P-cakes or a good friend. There's always next year :)

*Special thanks to Maxted Thomas PR for the invitation.

A glimpse at the lips: L'Oreal's Shine Caresse Lip Colour in Princess

Over a year ago I was almost positive I was going to purchase YSL's Rouge pur Couture Glossy Stain. So, what happened? First, there's the scent (I couldn't get past it), it reeked like really bad red wine and second, it was expensive. The coupled negatives were enough for me to warrant passing on something which was voted the "2012 Breakthrough" by Allure readers. I hoped and prayed something would come out and rival this glossy to matte beauty -- the mothership, L'Oreal, delivered. Well, sort of.

L'Oreal's Shine Caresse Lip Colour in Princess (Coral Tattoo)

L'Oreal's Shine Caresse Lip Colours have swept the makeup world off its feet, but part of me has been left wanting so much more.

First impressions matter. For instance, let's start with the tube's shape. Intuitively, one would assume the wider part of the tube was the base; after I took the tester off the shelf I tried (unsuccessfully) to twist off the narrower end. Oops.

Strike that and reverse it.

The doe foot applicator is of the floral variety -- petal-like and contoured with a spine for optimal product delivery. Personally, I love this sort of applicator, because it expedites the application process and works well with my lips.

The magical wand

The product itself is interesting, take this as good, bad or indifferent. It slips on the lips easily due to it being water based, but after an hour or so, it becomes tacky/sticky on the lips. At this stage I find that I'm more aware of my lips and have this distinct feeling of being worn by something instead of things being the other way around. I hope you get what I mean.

There's also a vast difference in scent -- I purchased Princess (a.k.a. Coral Tattoo) from my local Priceline and ordered Berry Persistent and Pink Resistance from Ulta; Princess smells like Sweet Tarts, whereas the other two smell like baby wipes.

In terms of appearance and wear time the glossiness lasts for an hour, tops, a light sheen sticks around for a few more hours (the sticky phase) and eventually it dries down to a soft, matte stain. Another thing to be aware of is the colour pools within the dips and troughs of your lips. Just be prepared for the colour appearing uneven; I noticed this the most with Berry Persistent.

As for the colour, Princess is a heavy leaning orange coral. Not sure if you can notice, but I wore Princess to the Unico relaunch.

Swatch of Princess – heavy (left) and light (right)

Here are two other reviews with different takes on L'Oreal's Shine Caresse Lip Colour...

• L'Oreal Colour Caresse Shine Stains: Review & Swatches - reviewed by Kate of la beaute et le blogueur. Be sure to check out her application tips :)
• L'Oreal Shine Caresse: Swatches and Review Part 1 - reviewed by Jen of My Funny Valentine

The Bagful breakdown:

Total amount for L'Oreal Shine Caresse Lip Colour in Princess:

• $23.95 AUS / $9.99 USD

Value for money spent (performance and quality):

• 7 out of 10 bags – love the colour, just hate the inconsistencies.

Would another purchase be on the horizon?:

• Never say never.