tl;dr: Tom Ford's Lips & Boys Lipstick in Jack and William

Lips & Boys: Jack (left) and William (right)

Lips & Boys: William (right) and Jack (left)

Swatches of William (right) and Jack (left)

Wearing William (could I look anymore miserable?)

Wearing Jack

So many boys -- baddies, goodies, loners, exhibitionists, simpletons, nerds, freaks, hotties, cuties, narcissists, liars, heartbreakers, flirts.. the list goes on. Jack and William, they both wooed me during an intense swatch session so much that I smuggled them home in my suitcase.

Do you know Jack?

• Of the Fuchsia to Magenta Family
• Creamy
• The big spoon to the little one
• Lasts for six hours
• Loud, but never obnoxious

William? I could just kill him..

• Of the Metallic Family
• Manspreader 
• Wears unevenly
• Pash and dash
• Exotic looking, but when you hover near him you notice he wreaks of garlic
• Wash his number off your hand

Vanilla scented, smaller in size (clutch-sized), and please try before you buy.

Lips & Boys, they're all the rage. Just keep in mind some don't behave as well as they ought to.

The Bagful breakdown:

Total amount for Tom Ford's Lips & Boys:

• $45.00 AUS / $32.00 USD

Value for money spent (performance and quality):

• Jack: 8 out of 10 bags — likes long walks on the beach.
• William: 2 out of 10 bags —  all talk and, no action.

Would another purchase be on the horizon?:

• Hey now, Giacomo.

YSL's Volupte Tint-in-Oil

YSL's Volpute Tint-in-Oil in (from left to right) No. 8 Pink About Me, No. 6 Peach Me Love, and No. 1 Drive Me Copper

New year, new lips?

Earlier this month YSL released Volupte Tint-in-Oil, a hybrid lip formula designed to hydrate whilst delivering a whisper of colour to slightly enhance what your mama gave ya. Eight varying pastel-y shades steeped in apricot kernel oil, coriander fruit oil, jojoba seed oil, and possiflora edulis seed (passion flower) oil work together to give the lips a stained glass effect. 

Volupte Tint-in-Oil does more than just hydrate, it also treats, and ties your everyday makeup into a picture perfect bow.

The packaging

Instead of relying on lucite, YSL pulled the silver curtain on Volupte Tint-in-Oil. Despite this slight deviation from its predecessor, Gloss Volupte, the tell-tale logo embossed into the coloured band corresponds to the contents inside. A helpful, and subtle classification necessary for the girl on the go.

The screw top cap remains unchanged -- it twists and locks into place to avoid product spillage, and seepage. The final click proved to be invaluable when I accidentally stowed one of the tubes upside down. 

Note to self: always screw cap tight to avoid a potentially messy situation. #handbagsalvation

The contoured applicators

Hinged at the cupid's bow to create a concave/convex ladle, the applicator serves up a much-needed helping of product. Meanwhile, the tip manages to embrace the trickiest spot, the corners of the lips.

The lip shaped applicator has to be the most fun(ctional) thing I've ever come across. A thoughtful, and memorable feature which sets YSL apart from other luxury makeup brands.

Volupte Tint-in-oil Swatches from left to right: No. 1 Drive Me Copper, No. 6 Peach Me Love, and No. 8 Pink About Me

Of the eight shades available for purchase, I chose Drive Me Copper, Peach Me Love, and Pink About Me in order to skip across the spectrum of colours on offer.

Wearing Shade No. 1 Drive Me Copper

Drive Me Copper when swatched is a semi-translucent burnt copper with golden orange and red shimmer suspended throughout, but once applied onto my lips it pulls redder. Simply delightful when paired with a bronze-y glow.

Wearing Shade no. 6 Peach Me Love

Peach Me Love is a sheer watermelon red with orange undertones to give it that peachy hint. Golden shimmer rounds out the oil slick to enhance its glass-like finish.

Wearing Shade no. 8 Pink About Me

Pink About Me is a baby pink with lilac undertones, and an almost discernible blue shimmer -- I had to hold a flashlight up to a swatch to be absolutely sure.

The finish on all three is as wet as you'd expect, but quickly dries down within the first twenty minutes after applying. Once the wetness subsides, a slight sheen is punched up by an intensified tint which lasts for a good three hours. Prior to completely wearing off, the sheen turns a touch sticky, but not annoyingly so, this is only an observation. The tint-turned-stain for all three lasted around eight to nine hours, call it two meals, a piece of fruit, one coffee, and several glasses of water.

Volupte Tint-in-Oil was never drying, features the signature Sweet Tart scent, and wore evenly as the hours progressed.

If you like Smashbox's O-Gloss, then YSL's Volupte Tint-in-Oil will be right up your alley.

Looking for a few other colours? Sabrina of The Beauty Look Book recently reviewed Oh My Gold, I Rose You, and You Drive Me Copper.

The Bagful breakdown:

Total amount for YSL's Gloss Volupte:

• $49.00 AUS (I suspect) / $32.00 USD

Value for money spent (performance and quality):

• 10 out of 10 bags — I have big love for YSL lippies, despite the price their products are truly splurge-worthy.

Would another purchase be on the horizon?:

• Cherry My Cherie, and Crush Me Orange, I have my eye on you.

Lipstick week

A handful of my recent purchases

Apologies for my recent absence. Between my post-holiday crash and burn, and my return to work my mind increasingly became muddled, overwhelmed, and unable to grasp ahold of the words.

The words, why do you escape me?

This week let's take a closer look at some of the lip products I picked up during my trip to Hawaii.

A glimpse at the lips: MAC's lipstick in Lady Bug

MAC's Lady Bug

To date I've only come across a few beauty-related items that have never ceased to amaze me, and NARS' Flamenco was a lipstick to behold, cherish, and stop other women in their tracks to ask precisely, "what are you wearing on your lips?" My hopes of replacing such a special candied red were dashed when NARS stopped manufacturing Flamenco, or so I thought.

A few weeks ago I was tinkering about at my local MAC counter when my eyes haphazardly locked on Lady Bug, "a juiced yellow tomato" -- better yet, Flamenco's doppelgänger.

Swatch of Lady Bug

Lady Bug's boldness is tempered by its lustre finish -- sheer, and subtly glossy.

Wearing Lady Bug

When I was a kid I wholeheartedly believed in the luck all lady bugs possessed. Here's hoping this tube comes with a bit of it.

The Bagful breakdown:

Total amount for MAC's Lady Bug:

• $36.00 AUS / $16.00 USD

Value for money spent (performance and quality):

• 10 out of 10 bags — Wear it alone, or layer it over an even more intense red liner. <3

Would another purchase be on the horizon?:

• I recently built my own blush/eyeshadow palette during our Hawaiian holiday. I'll share my picks with you really soon.