Review: H&M Cream Lip Colour in Sandstorm and So Cocoa

H&M Cream Lip Colour

in 'Sandstorm' and 'So Cocoa'

Ever since I first saw H&M's completely revamped line of makeup that I've been wanting to try their lipsticks. When swatched at the store they seemed so pigmented and creamy, I immediately felt like they had a good formula. After watching some reviews online they really seemed just as good as I first thought, but at 10€ a lipstick, I kept delaying my purchase, even though I've been looking at Sandstorm for the last 3 visits there.

Fortunately, H&M was having a Black Friday sale this year, with 20% off everything in store, including the makeup, so I decided to take the opportunity and buy a couple of shades.

And yes, I know that 20% off is a disgrace to call a "Black Friday discount", but many shops and brands in Portugal do these small sales and try to advertise it as if it were anything like it is in America. I personally don't go crazy on these fake Black Friday sales because many times they are actually a rip-off. DECO Proteste, an entity in Portugal that protects consumers, found out last year that some stores were bumping up the prices of items every week about a month or so before "Black Friday", allowing them to suddenly lower the price of items abruptly, making it look like you saved 200€ when actually they just added 50€ a week and that "sale price" was it's original price or the price they had it on sale for just a month before.

I find these practices despicable and tend to run away from these sales unless I already knew what it was selling for before that moment, which was the case with these lipsticks.

Okay, I've ranted enough! Let's get to the review!

First thing I liked was that the testers at the store, although they weren't impeccable, were very useful. Even though the boxes have a seal on them with the name and number of the lipstick that is supposed to match the color of the lipstick, they aren't always accurate, and most shades they had available had a matching tester available as well, so that certainly makes the job of finding the right shade for you much easier. Each lipstick has a sticker on the bottom in the color of the lipstick itself, so it's easy to find a shade without having to open the lipstick.

The packaging is nice and simple, white and gold, and I personally adore it. It also has a bit of weight to it, so it seems sturdy to toss around even in the most chaotic of bags. You get 3.5g of product, which I think is a bit more than average (for example: MAC lipsticks are 3g).

They had so many beautiful colors available, and I swatched every shade that was either a nude color or a brown, shades I tend to prefer lately. 

I really liked Sandstorm more from all the nude colors, because it is more of a brownish nude than a pinky nude, and I already have enough pinky nudes in my collection. I think it matches my skin tone closely, which can end up giving me "dead looking" lips sometimes, but I find that when it's applied it doesn't look ashy, thanks to the subtle shine and very little hint of pink and brown so I enjoy wearing it.

I also bought So Cocoa, a shade that I chose on the spot, also very unique. I chose it mainly because I've been looking for a rich brown lipstick that resembles a Lime Crime 'Salem' fake that I have, which shade I love, but is so sticky, drying and needs 2 coats to look opaque that I tend to not wear it (I'll probably do a review on it, and other fakes I bought, in the future).

I think this shade is similar, maybe not a dupe for it, but it's DEFINITELY going to be easier and more comfortable to wear on a daily basis. It is more brown than red, which opposite is more common to find.

Swatches without flash under LED lightbulbs. Top: Sandstorm. Bottom: So Cocoa

Same swatches, with camera flash.

Each lipstick swatched beautifully and felt so creamy and moisturizing that I couldn't wait to wear these to really see how they last.

I have yet to use Sandstorm on it's own for a day, but I have used So Cocoa and was impressed how well it stayed on my lips. 
I have crooked lips, so sorry if my pictures look a little ugly. I had to apply it very carefully with a brush around the edges of my mouth because it is so pigmented and kept looking extremely crooked in photos. It took me a few tries to get it more even, but once I was satisfied with the result, it stayed that way. I have a feeling that this shade would look very pretty on darker skin tones.
Sorry about the crappy photos but it's the best I could get. Here's how So Cocoa and Sandstorm look on the lips:

So Cocoa

Sandstorm

To wrap this up, I think these lipsticks are definitely worth 10€ and I'll definitely buy more in the future. They are comfortable to wear, moisturizing, pigmented and wear beautifully. I recommend these to anyone!

Also, I got a 5€ gift card to spend on a 30€ purchase. That was a nice surprise!

Each lipstick costs 9.99€, I got mine for 7,99€ each with the 20% off special.

Until next time!
xo

Review: Oriflame Spiced Citrus soap bar and hand cream

Review of Oriflame Spiced Citrus

Soap Bar and Hand Cream

For this holiday season Oriflame launched a hand cream and soap bar duo with a new scent, this time revolving around citruses and spices. I love citrus scented cosmetics in the winter, so when I tried the scent of these new products on a "scratch and sniff" kind of sample they placed in the last catalogue, it seemed like a heavenly scent to me. I decided to get both and try them out and here's my review after using both for a few days now. 

The soap is a glycerin type, so it's slightly transparent and looks very appealing. I read the ingredients and I might be wrong but I am pretty sure the little black dots are palm kernel that act as a scrub. It is in a cute shape and looks like a slice of orange, which I quite like.

My problem with this soap is that I'm not a big fan of the hard kernels, and although they are not damaging to the skin, they are hard enough to be noticed while using the soap, so if you prefer smooth soaps like I do, take that into consideration. 

However, this is the only thing I found negative about it. 

The smell is just divine. 

It has just enough of a punch of citrus and spices that will linger on the skin shortly after a shower but won't give you a headache. 

My skin felt nice after using it, nothing special, but the smell left was definitely very, very pleasant!

The hand cream has the exact same smell. It has a white, orange-ish color and medium consistency. The smell lingers on the skin for a quite a while. 

Not exactly sure if it hydrates more then most hand creams since only Lipikar Xerand by La Roche Posay works to keep my hands hydrated due to a chronic Dyshidrotic Eczema that I have on both hands (maybe someday I'll make a post about that...). Nonetheless, my hands feel soft after I use it.

Final thoughts:

I would definitely buy the hand cream again but I'm not so sure about the soap. It will depend on how many uses it lasts and if I get used to the kernels.

The soap contains 75g and costs 3€, I got mine on sale for 0,95€.

The hand cream contains 75ml and costs 7€, I got mine on sale for 1,95€.

Until next time!

xo