MAC Cremesheen Lipsticks - Creme In Your Coffee

Hello, everyone!

So, the entire beauty world seems to rave about MAC lipsticks. I can definitely see why just because of the color selection. There are a LOT of colors and textures to choose from, and this is really great for somebody like me that has really, really tricky coloring. I have dark skin, but I also have a dark brown top lip and a pink bottom lip. It's just about impossible for me to find a lipstick that will actually suit me, so it's really lovely to get the entire MAC color range to choose from.

I mentioned this before, but I have really horrible dry lips. I am always putting Vaseline on them (unless I'm lazy, in which case I wait far too long and then apply my Tropic Skin Care Lip Love). So, when I was at MAC after finally deciding to buy a MAC lipstick, I mainly looked at the Cremesheen texture because I read so many reviews on how it was "super moisturizing!" and things like that. And, on the few occasions prior to my venture into beauty when I had worn lipstick (for a play and for being a bridesmaid at a wedding), my lips had turned horribly dry by the end. It took a few weeks of Vaseline both times for my lips to return to normal - and I figured that if I bought a lipstick and wore it on a regular basis, it couldn't be like that!

I've had this lipstick for about six months now and wear it quite frequently. And I can say with absolute certainty that I don't think the Cremesheen formulas are moisturizing. At all. They do still dry out my lips, although I will say that they are not nearly as bad as the other lipsticks that I've worn in the past. But the fact remains that if I want to wear it comfortably, I do have to put a thin layer of Vaseline or some other lip balm underneath it. This is mildly irritating, and I am not sure that I will repurchase the Cremesheen because I have found a different lipstick that actually is hydrating (more on that later).

I will say, however, that the color I bought, Creme in your Coffee, is lovely. It's a dark pink rose color, perfect to slightly brighten my bottom lip color (I bought it as my evening lip color). I can lightly pat the lipstick onto my top lip and blend it so that it looks natural. The effect is not at all chalky. Here is swatch on my hand so that dark-skinned people can see what it looks like against a dark background:

And then against white skin so that you can see the "true" color:

So, I realize that if the entire beauty world is saying that something is moisturizing when it's not, it could just be because I have incredibly dry lips. It's definitely not as bad as a lot of lipsticks with regards to that, but it's not good, either.

I hope this was helpful, especially to those with dark skin and for those with super-dry lips. Thank you for reading!

Tropic Skin Care - Lip Love Balm

Hello, everyone!

I already did a post on Tropic Skin Care's amazing and fabulous cleanser, and there, I mentioned that I had bought two more bottles of cleanser on eBay. I bought one cleanser independent of any other item, but with the second cleanser came the Skin Revive Firming Nourishing Cream, the Vitamin Toner, and the Lip Love Balm and as a result cost a lot more. To be honest, I wasn't too crazy about spending more than I had to, but I figured that I'd never get the cleanser that cheaply ever again and that I might like the other products as well.

Up to now, I haven't really used the cream or the toner all that much. However, I have used the Lip Love Balm. And it is lovely.

It retails for £5. That's $7.78 (USD) - in my opinion, a heck of a lot for a 10 mL pot of lip balm. So, when I received the package about two weeks ago, I chucked the lip balm along with everything else in that package into my skincare box in my bathroom. I wasn't expecting amazing things from the lip balm - I mean, honestly, lip balm is lip balm, right? They all perform about the same - or so I thought.

Normally, I use Vaseline on my lips because it's very easy and cheap (and, I might add, a big pot costs about $3 at most). However, I had become a bit on the lazy side about putting on Vaseline for about a week, so my lips had gotten a bit more chapped than usual. I decided that, as I had it, I might as well try the Tropic Skin Care balm that I had gotten.

Within the first few hours, my lips had gotten a LOT softer - not unchapped, but they had become a lot softer, and when I rubbed my lips together, some of the excess skin came away very easily. I was quite impressed. Then I put it for two more days (one application per day). On the end of the second day, my lips were completely back to normal. COMPLETELY back to normal, and actually, they were softer than than usually were. By this time, I was EXTREMELY impressed. Three applications took my lips from quite chapped to wonderfully smooth? WOW!

This product has forced me to come to the conclusion that not all lip balms are the same - it was an absolute revelation, I can assure you, because I had tried a LOT of lip balms before deciding to just stick with Vaseline.

Although I'd love to use it every day, the balm is still rather expensive in my eyes, and it is very difficult for me to get. So, I've decided to only use this product when I really need it - when my lips really need help because they are chapped due to my laziness. Vaseline is still great at maintaining what the Lip Love Balm has done (I've tried this for the past week, and my lips have maintained that smoothness), but it doesn't do lip repair-work quite as well or as fast as this balm.

So, if you can get hold of it or if you live in the UK, go get the Lip Love Balm! It's really, really nice. Yes, it is £5, which is a lot for a lip balm, but it is definitely, definitely worth it (especially if you earn in sterling pounds and not the USD!).

I am not being paid by Tropic Skin Care to write this review - I bought the product with my own money, and these are my own pure, honest thoughts.