I know what you’re thinking… it’s that time of the year when shop shelves are lined with flip-flops, beach bags & bikini’s yet I’m still obsessing over deep berry shades when I should be shopping for colours like ‘bubblegum’ and ‘watermelon’. Thing is gals, when I’m glamming up for a night out I’m always lured back to the deep sultry tones regardless of whatever season it is. Oddly enough (as many of you already know) I’ve always been slightly intimidated by wearing darker lip colours. Maybe it’s my pale skin, or maybe I’m just not nudging myself enough to try something new more often? However, on a recent swatching session in Boots my eyes were drawn in by the gorgeous purple packaging of the Maybelline Colour Sensational Lipstick range. It’s a purple vision, wouldn’t you agree?! *happy sigh*
Of course being a tad wary as to the shade name ‘Midnight Plum’ I instantly assumed it would be something of a striking blackcurrant colour that my pale pink lips would shrivel in fear of. Much to my delight the swatch proved a little more sheer than the name suggested, so into the basket it went with the matching lip liner *kerching*
Come Saturday night, the plans to catch up with the bestie felt like the perfect opportunity to test out the Colour Sensational Midnight Plum to see exactly how it would perform. From experience, swatching lippies on the back of the hand is a bit risky as quite often it looks so very different on the lips due to the colour of skin. Low and behold it turned out a little darker than I thought but not dark enough to make me whip out the baby wipes and start scrubbing.
Moving onto the rest of the make-up I decided to opt for more of a soft platinum shade on the eyes with blended berry tones on the outer crease to give a little bit of depth. Considering that the lip colour is quite a deep rich tone I tend to like to keep the rest of the make-up softer. I seem to live by the rule of having either feature eyes or feature lips but never (or very rarely) both.
For this I used the gorgeous Makeup Revolution Iconic 2 palette, the super-duper dupe to the Urban Decay Naked 2. If you fancy checking out another one of my recent looks with this palette *Click Here* for more info! The soft cool shade of a champagne/platinum made the perfect all over coverage whilst the Boots Seventeen Eye Shadow Trio in Enchanted Smoke lent the best blend of soft plum to compliment the lip colour without taking away from the overall look
Onto the cheeks and I opted for yet another raved about product from Makeup Revolution; the Ultra Blush Golden Sugar Palette. I LOVE this palette. The pigmentation is utterly gorgeous & it adds a perfect wash of colour to the cheeks with a subtle hint of dewy highlighter. I choose a slightly more mauve shade (as you can see with the halo of dust!!) again to compliment the berry tones of the lips and eyes.
For those of you who love to keep your brows on fleek, you should really check out this Brow Duo Pencil from Billion Dollar Brows. One end is a concealer, and probably one of the best for covering up a multitude of brow sins… and I have many!! *sigh* The opposite end is a highlighter, and although I’m not a fan of highlighting under the brow this is such a subtle yet effective product it gives the under brow a slight lift without any horrid over-reflective obviousness. At £20 from Beauty Bay it’s one of the most expensive pencils in my brow collection but it works!
Considering that I’m hoarding a small army of mascara’s, I decided to start using up some old favourites that haven’t seen the light of lashes for a number of weeks. For those of you who are on the lookout for a super affordable ‘HD’ mascara that adds length but still allow the lashes to retain a natural looking whispy-ness then I’d highly recommend you part with a mere £6.99 and invest in the Seventeen Falsifeye HD. This also comes highly recommended by the lovely Wayne Goss, and if it’s good enough for a celebrity MUA then it’s certainly good enough for my ‘mere mortal’ lashes 😉
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The Finished Look…
I have to admit, for a plum lippy this really wasn’t as crazy as what the name ‘Midnight Plum’ conjured up. If anything it seemed more of a deep raspberry (but without grumbling) that worked perfectly for me! As for longevity this is certainly worth the money, I applied it at 8 pm and by 2:30 am it was still going strong – and after a few nibbles and glasses it held up much better than I expected! It didn’t feel drying or uncomfortable, though I did run a little EOS balm over my lips every couple of hours to keep them feeling fresh rather than reapply which prevented any dryness and flaking. For £6.99 this really worked its socks off, felt incredibly comfy on and smelt like the inside of a sweetie factory… what’s not to love?! I’ll certainly be topping up my collection with a few more shades pretty soon!
Are you a fan of plum whatever the season? Have you tried any of the Maybelline Colour Sensational range? Whatever your thoughts do let me know in the comments below, or simply stop by and say a quick howdy!
Ps: Hope you’ve all had a fabulous weekend, and thanks so much for all the super supportive comments on yesterday’s catch up post, such a thoughtful bunch ❤
Cheerio chums…
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Catch me on:
Any lip colors with blue hues makes your teeth look whiter. Great post! For more helpful beauty tips and tricks to staying fabulous, visit http://wherefitnessmeetsbeauty.com/beauty/
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Thanks so much Heather – what a brill tip!!!! 🙂 XXX
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I have an obsession with plum/berry colours! I actually bought a berry coloured liquid lipstick when I should have been, like you said, reaching out for the more lighter summery colours. But I can’t heeeelp it!
I really like your finished look! the midnight plum/deep raspberry lipstick really looks nice on you. You should try more lipsticks in these shades! *here’s my nudging you to try more colours too* xD
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Awwh Varsha huni, good to see you – I’ve just emailed you too about half an hour ago!!! hehe Ahhh we all do it, this whole stereotyping colours to seasons needs abolished 😉 lol It’s just soooo pretty, hard not to love plum!! Ooh that liquid lippy sounds divine ❤
Maybe I'll give a few more a go… why not eh?! 😀 Thanks for the lovely comment huni *huge hugs* XXXX
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I love berry tones too – such a beautiful lipstick and a fabulous make up look Karen. You look incredible xx
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Awwh Em, thank you huni 🙂 It was sooooo nice just sitting putting my makeup on – even though I’m riddled with aches at the mo but getting glammed up really does help to lift the doom and gloom. As does a night in a good friends living room having a good giggle – where would we be without friends, lovely lippies and saturday nights?! hehe Thank you again for such a lovely comment ❤ *hugs* XXXXX
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So true Karen. I love nothing more than pushing through and glamming myself up to lift my spirits too xxx
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Absolutely girl!!!! Food for the mood me thinks lol XXXXX
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Gorgeous Karen! Midnight Plum looks and sounds lovely, I’m so proud of you for having the courage to rock a bold lip! Your eye makeup skills are actually perfect, are you sure you’re not a pro? Your cheeks have the loveliest glow to them aswell 😀 xx
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You always say the loveliest things Chanelle -never fail to brighten my day huni!!! Could literally screen shot this as a wee burst of inspiration hehe So glad you like the bold lip, you came into my head as soon as I saw it and knew you’d be chuffed at me branching into darker colours lol Awwh, that’s so nice you like the shadow though I’m afraid I’ve never done a moment of makeup school ever… mind you I’d LOVE to do a wee short course, just like a 6 weeks thing or even a workshop, just to brush up on some skills! I think it would be so much fun! 😀 Thank you Chanelle, this comment is exactly what I needed to read – so full of encouragement & feel good. You’re a wee gem *huge hugs* XXXXXXX
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Feel free to screenshot it! Everything is 100% true, it’s even more of a bonus that it made your day 🙂
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Awwwwwh,thank you huni ❤ *hugest hugs* xxxxx
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Gorgeous makeup look Karen! That lipstick shade suits you so much!
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great look! Loving the plum 😀
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Thanks so much Kathleen 🙂 Takes a bit of getting used to but it’s sooo pretty!!! XXXXXX
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That lip color looks amazing. It totally suits you too.
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Awwh thank you 🙂 It’s a lovely colour, very buildable! XXX
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You look amazing hun and love the lipstick 💄
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Awwh thank you huni 😀 XXXX
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