bubz von chubsss

I'm a massive liquid to matte lipstick fan. In fact, 90% of the lipstick I wear is usually liquid lipstick. I love the wear and longevity on them, and the matte finish is my favourite for a lip product. Recently, after hearing so much about them, I decided to order some of the LA Splash Lip Couture liquid lipsticks to try, and I wasn't disappointed!

I picked up both OG Ghoulish and Ghoulish (I couldn't choose between them) and Latte Confession. 

The packaging is a little hit and miss for me. It's a standard liquid lipstick tube. The font use definitely make them look high quality... but then the overly shiny yellow-gold lid? Slightly tacky in my opinion. That said, it doesn't affect the product so I'm really not all that bothered by it.

 I really love these! I definitely want more of the range, and I'd go so far as to say that I can already tell they're going to be my favourite, most reached for out of all my liquid to matte lipsticks. LA Splash has nailed these beauties! 

LA Splash Lip Couture lipsticks can be purchased in the UK from Love Makeup and Cocktail Cosmetics.

Now, I'm well aware that Baby Lips are posted about in every corner of the blogosphere... but I wanted to post about them, so I'm going to. They've been a bit of a cult classic for a while now, but until last year were only available in the US, which sucked for us UK beauty fanatics. We wanted in on the action too, and finally Maybelline granted our wish, and Baby Lips were launched in the UK. Hurrah! So why am I only posting about them now? Well, because I personally only gave into the hyper very recently. 

I mean, they're just a lipbalm right? And priced at around £3 each (sometimes a little more or less depending on where you get them from) it just seemed a little expensive to me. I've never been one for lip balms, instead relying on my trusty Chapstick, priced at around £1. It just didn't seem like a sensible purchase for me. I mean, a lip balm is a lip balm, right? Well, I'm glad I finally stopped resisting the urge and grabbed my first Baby Lips because I couldn't be more wrong! Winter's been pretty cold here, and that teamed with me wearing more matte lip products had taken it's toll on my poor lips and they were a bit more battered than usual. I picked up Cherry Me, since I'm a sucker for anything cherry-scented, and figured I'd try it out - best move I made. Since then, I may have taken advantage of a cheeky 3-for-2 offer in Superdrug, bringing my total of Baby Lips to four. I regret nothing.

I didn't bother swatching Mint Fresh since it's colourless. The slight colour was something that definitely won me over on Baby Lips though. They're so pigmented, I tend to think of them more as very sheer lipsticks, but super moisturizing... plus they smell delicious! Mint Fresh is a lovely minty smell, though not overpowering as I can find some mint-scented products, Cherry Me smells like cherry drop sweets (some of my favourites!), Pink Punch has a tropical scent, and Peach Kiss reminds me of peach iced tea, so that's definitely a winner!

My lips have been vastly improved by these guys. It's not often I believe the claims a product makes, but I have to say Baby Lips do what they say. I use them twice a day - once before bed, and once when I'm getting ready, either under lipstick or usually on their own - and my lips are lovely and soft. No more flaky lips when I use matte products! And my lips don't feel so abused after wearing matte stuff either which is always a bonus. I never expected them to become part of my every day routine, but I'm pleasantly surprised, and glad that they are. 

My swatch sticks came, so, as promised, here are the swatches I promised you guys of the Models Own Hypergel collection! After all, I always keeps the promises I makes. 

Confession time: I've never really swatched nail polishes (or anything!) before, so I apologise if they aren't the greatest swatches in the Universe. Still, I've done my best to show the colours as true as I can. And the shine too. Oh, the shine... So pretty! Nothing beats a nice shiny, glossy, gorgeous manicure.

All swatches have two coats. The majority could have covered in one coat, but I like to even them out with a second. I don't know, I just have a thing where I don't like having just a single coat of polish. 

I have to admit, I was pretty blown away by the shine. While I was applying the polishes, I couldn't help but think that they didn't really have that gel-like sheen - it seemed to be nothing more than the shine you can achieve with a good topcoat. Once they were dry, however, and in the natural light... WOW! 

I've worn some of the shades on my own natural nails over the past few days, and noticed there are a couple of things to bear in mind about these Hypergels.  One is that drying time is a little slow. They stay in that awful smudge-prone stage for absolutely ages. I have yet to apply one of these to my nails without them smudging at some point. Another thing is they chip terribly. Well, more peel. In great big pieces. I was so disappointed! Personally I change my polish most everyday so it doesn't really effect me, but I was genuinely hoping to get more than 12 hours out of these. 

On the plus side, most of these are one coat polishes. The only exceptions, I found, were Lilac Sheen, Naked Glow, and Pink Veneer, although this is to be expected with pastel shades as they do tend to be more sheer.

Another thing I couldn't help but notice was that a couple of the shades seemed very similar to some of the Hi Shine Gelly shades that Barry M released in 2013, notably Cornflower Gleam, Naked Glow and Lilac Sheen. I don't own Blueberry, so I can't compare, but I'd hesitate a guess that it's pretty close to Cornflower Gleam. As for Naked Glow and Lilac Sheen, I can compare.

Although both comparisons are quite close, I wouldn't go so far as to call them dupes. Both Barry M shades are slightly darker, plus I found the formula to be very slightly thicker on the Barry M Hi Shine Gelly's. Not to mention Prickly Pear needs about twelve coats to be opaque, and Lilac Sheen is opaque in two. 

Overall, I'm excessively impressed with the Hypergels, their shine, and colour range.

What do you guys think of the swatches? Which colour is your favourite?