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Recently I was fortunate enough to be sent a selection of goodies from local brand Mellow Cosmetics to try out so I thought I'd share my swatches and thoughts on all of them today. If you've been reading the blog lately, you might have already spotted the lip products in my Lipstick Lover's Gift Guide - I really like them! I've tried a few things from Mellow before when I've received them in Lust Have It subscription boxes but some of these products are completely new to me.
Swatched on bare skin under daylight bulbs: Ultra Matte Lipstick in Blossom, Matte Liquid Lip Paint in Shanghai
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Shanghai Matte Liquid Lip Paint
The Matte Liquid Lip Paints ($19.63NZD) are exactly what they sound like, a liquid to matte, long-wearing formula with good colour payoff. I'm quite keen on the tubes, which are chic and simple with their gold caps and matching lettering, plus the shade name on the bottom is coloured to match the lipstick inside. Always a handy feature for those of us storing a bajillion lip colours! The doesfoot applicator is small and precise without any ragged edges, I found it very easy to work with.
Shanghai is a warm light-medium brown that will be an ideal nude on deeper skin tones, although I like how it looks with my fair skin too! It has good colour payoff and is fairly forgiving if your lips are a little dry and chapped, as mine were when I swatched it.
This formula is supposed to be hydrating and non-drying but after seven and half hours wear I found it to be noticeably drying on me. There definitely wasn't any hydration going on! It wore for another hour after that and faded gradually over the course of wear, there wasn't any of the flaking that sometimes occurs with liquid mattes.
As for texture, it's thick and a little paint-like, but spreads out easily enough. It's tacky during the dry down, which takes a few minutes and remains ever so slightly tacky after it sets. It has a somewhat chemical scent but it's not particularly strong.
Blossom Ultra Matte Lipstick
The Ultra Matte Lipsticks ($18.25NZD) got swish new packaging and a new shade range early this year, I believe - I previously tried the discontinued shade Atomic Rose with a Lust Have It sub and they came in black & silver rectangular tubes then. The new tubes have the same shape and proportions as a MAC lipstick, but in neutral pale pink with gold trim. My favourite touch, however, is the Mellow logo engraved in the bullet - I'm such a sucker for the little things!
Blossom is a vivid coral with excellent colour payoff and a smooth, creamy texture. It wore for six and a half hours on me and wasn't drying. I love the scent of this lipstick, it's a little coconutty and slightly fruity, kind of like Hawaiian Tropic sunscreen, and the colour is SO me.
Black Mineral Eyeliner
This is my second time trying one of Mellow's Mineral Eyeliners ($9.70NZD); I previously tried Navy when I got it in a Lust Have It subscription box (read the review here) and I found the colour payoff and quality of that shade to be really good. Unfortunately Navy appears to be discontinued and Black (pictured) is the only remaining colour. It's much sheerer in its colour payoff, although it did last fairly well.
The Mineral Eyeliner is packaged in a slim, matte black twist-up tube and has a fine point for precise application. Sadly, you can see the state my tube was in after opening it four times. It was fine the first time and then on the second and third occasions, the top section came away each time I opened the tube but seemed to come right when I put it back. On the fourth occasion it completely fell apart upon opening (and I was not being rough whatsoever!) and this time it was unsalvageable. The eyeliner was squashed, the parts wouldn't go back together, there was nothing for it but the bin. Even with the price point being so low, this shouldn't be happening after only a few uses, although it's worth noting that I haven't had the same problem with Navy so it could be an isolated issue.
No arm swatch for this one because it broke before I'd gotten around to it!
I'm wearing Black on the waterline in this look with Scaredy Cat Cosmetics Dee's Nuts on the outer half of the lid, Baroque Cosmetics Dark Chocolate Truffle on the inner half of the lid, Abyssal Realm Uneeda Medical on the outer half of the lower lashline, Esoteric Aesthetic Maiden on the inner half of the lower lashline, ColourPop I Heart This on the inner corner and the LORAC Nude Skinny palette for additional blending. The lashes are these ones from Born Pretty Store.
Peach Powder Blush
Finally, we have the Powder Blush ($13.86NZD) which comes in three shades: Peach (pictured), Bronze and Pink. These are described as soft, sheer blushes which blend easily into the skin and they come in simple glossy black compacts with a raised design in the powder.
Peach is a bright coral with gold shimmer and excellent colour payoff. It blends out easily and is flattering on the skin but kicks up a lot of excess powder in the pan. It faded quickly too, lasting five and a half hours before it was noticeably faded and disappearing completely after seven hours total wear. I want to love it because the colour is gorgeous and I couldn't be happier with the payoff and blendability but the rapid fading left me unimpressed. If you don't mind carrying a blush with you for touch ups and like the price point, it might still be one to consider.
I've paired Peach with the Collection Highlight & Sculpt Contour Kit in this look.
Mellow Cosmetics are available on their website and they offer free shipping on orders over $40 to New Zealand, Australia, the USA and Canada. On orders under that threshold, they order flat-rate shipping, which I was really impressed by ($4 in NZ, $5 to Australia and $8 for international). You can also view prices on the site in AUD, USD or NZD which makes life a bit easier.
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Lani
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