LA Splash Liquid Lipstick Review

I have a confession to make - while on the outside I look like a more conservative work type with slight hippie tendencies, on the inside I am obsessed with makeup. Ok, for anyone reading this blog that's probably not a surprise, but I'm especially obsessed with makeup looks I see on models and makeup artists online. I secretly strive for that look that a lot of the models on the Dolls Kill (a favorite) website wear. The models on that particular website have inspired many makeup looks in the last year. Since my body type can't work for a lot of the clothing that they wear, I instead stalk the shoes, accessories and makeup on the site often, patiently waiting for a sale.

In the last month and a half I was granted two, and so I bought a slew of different products, two of which were L.A. Splash liquid lipsticks. They looked like beautiful, easily wearable colors and the prices were too good to pass up.

LA Splash Lip Couture in Rose Garden: $14

This is the most worn shade out of the two, and this one was the first one I used. I must say, these are the most comfortable liquid lipsticks I have ever used. They're not drying and they don't feel weird at all. True to form, they don't transfer, however, I noticed when I drank and ate the inner part of my bottom lip had some of the lipstick come off. It wasn't very much though, and the rest of it remained on there with the color staying strong.

 Reapplying the product was quite easy and it layered nicely, however, because with my job I talk all day, I noticed flaking. Excessive flaking towards the end of the day was kind of a problem. OH GOD THE FLAKING. The interesting thing is that when it flaked off, it didn't leave behind any patchiness, so I think the flaking happened from the second layer I applied, but it took a long time for that to happen. 

The ONLY way I was able to remove the flaking was by removing all the product from my lips and starting over again. The only thing that works well with these lipsticks are oil makeup removers, so that is something to keep in mind.

LA Splash Lip Couture in Lollipop: $4.20

This shade is so bright lovely, and just like Rose Garden it's unbelievably comfortable on the lips. The same flaking problem happened with this shade too. However, this shade didn't flake quite as much as Rose Garden. Once again though, the only way to get the flaking off my lips was to remove the all of the product completely and start over. Both of the shades seem to be pretty much identical in formulation with how they wear and layer, as well as their intense opaque pigmentation.

Extra Pros

Long wearing - I wore all of my liquid lipsticks to bed on the back of my hand. When I woke up the next morning, the only shades that were still going strong were the LA Splash liquid lipsticks.

Vegan & Cruelty-Free: I emailed the company asking them about their animal testing policy and their ingredients for their liquid lipsticks. This was the response I received from their customer service:

"Dear Ashley,

 

Thank you for taking the time to contact us.

 

Our Liquid Lipsticks do not contain any animal by-products, beeswax nor carmine colorants; which, are the ingredients of concern among the Cruelty Free and Vegan communities.

 

The ingredients for our liquid lipstick are listed below for your reference:

 

C10-12 Alcane/Cycloalkane, Trimethylsiloxysilicate, Dimethicone, Silica Dimethyl Silyate, Quaternium-18 Bentonite, Propylparaben

 

We do not test any of our products on animals.

 

Our ingredients are FDA approved and cruelty free as well."

 

Verdict

I LOVE these liquid lipsticks, however, if you are wearing them throughout the day and you will be talking a lot, it would be smart to bring a tiny bottle of oil or oil makeup remover and a cotton wipe or two for the flaking issue that happens later on in the day. Aside from that, these are totally worth every penny.

Product Review: Chanel Precision Lip Definer

Last year when I moved back to California my mother gave me a slew of products that she didn't want anymore. As I was told, there was nothing wrong with them, she just used her favorites more and found several items collecting dust.

Enter one eager makeup-loving daughter who was especially surprised that one of those products was a Chanel lipliner. Yes, Chanel, that luxury brand that buying one piece of clothing might mean going without food for a year. This gift was one that I was initially very excited to test out and give a full run-down review on, and I have used this product many times since being gifted it.  I'm not a brand junkie by any means though, I am someone who will be brutally honest if the $400 product is worse than the $4 product, no matter their name. 

***As a disclaimer before I get into the product, I found out about 2 months ago that Chanel cosmetics are NOT cruelty-free. I stopped using this product immediately after finding out and set it aside for this review. If this not being cruelty-free doesn't bother you, then keep reading***

Chanel Precision Lip Definer 

 

Chanel Precision Lip Liner: $31

The first thing to note is that this doesn't have a weird smell, or any smell at all, which is one positive for this item. To be honest though, I've never encountered a lip pencil with a smell, ever, of course there could always be a first. An immediate downside before even testing this item though is that if you run out and need to replace it, it's $31, and this particular color is no longer being made. This means you'll have to wait for it to show up on Ebay, Amazon and other resale sites, which could mean you'd get if for less, but it could also mean it might cost more than $31. That's pretty darn pricey for a lip liner. Just sayin'. Price aside though, this is the hardest lip pencil I've ever used in my life. Swatching on the back of the hand felt stiff but I was willing to look past that since it had nice, even pigmentation. On the back of the hand that is.

Trying to use this product on the lips was the worst lip experience of my life. To get color payoff I had to press down hard and it was painful, catching my lips and leaving uneven product in the wake of it's application. I tried so many times (before finding out it wasn't cruelty-free) and it each time I was left feeling frustrated with awful-looking lip liner. Even if this was cruelty-free, this wouldn't be worth $3.10, let alone $31. One slight positive is that the other side of this lip liner has a smudge brush to smudge out any lip product you might put on top of it. That's one nice touch, but it doesn't make the price worth it.

(Can you see that uneven patchiness around the edges on the bottom lip? I didn't wear it on my top lip so you could see the difference. Uneven towards the top of my bottom lip too, I can see my natural color showing through. Ugh)

Final Verdict: Nope. The color was pretty, but the pencil was terrible and cleaning that little brush is such a nightmare since the bristles are so densely packed. Getting any gloss or lipstick out of those bristles is a pain. On top of that, my lips hurt every.single.time I used this pencil. On top of that, it's not cruelty-free, which means this bad boy is going in the trash.

 Go use Colourpop, go use Wet & Wild, go use Urban Decay, go use Too Faced, use anything other than this one.