bailey bee

beauty, home and lifestyle blog

MY BITE AMUSE BOUCHE COLLECTION

Back at it again with a collection post! Today’s collection showcase is of my Bite Beauty Amuse Bouche lipsticks. If you have a soft spot for bullet lipsticks like myself, you’ve gotta try this formula by Bite. These lippies are comfortable, pigmented and come in such a fun range of shades. My personal collection is a good example of that, I think!

bite beauty amuse bouche lipstick bullets in sugarcane quince pepper lavender jam and kale
On-arm swatches of bite lipsticks lavendar jam, kale, pepper, sugarcane and quince

The first Amuse Bouche I bought was Sugarcane. Sugarcane is my favorite, natural kinda pink.

Unfortunately, I failed to realize that Quince was not a part of the AB formula. Quince is a brighter magenta that I don’t believe is even available any longer (sorry! Major F-up on my part) A dupe for this shade in the AB family appears to be Radish (thanks Temptalia!) The best part of the real formula of these lipsticks is that while comfortable, they are also fairly thick and hold their position on the mouth aka no bleeding even for the brightest or darkest of shades.

Pepper is that 90’s “greige” that we all seemed to love in 2016 made a bit warmer to allow your look to appear a bit livelier.

My funky colors are Lavender Jam and Kale. I’m realizing now there is some kind of food theme going on here… but anyway, Lavender Jam is such a fun color. It’s pretty blue which IMO makes it fairly less wearable than a warmer purple so I don’t go for this shade that often but I like having the option for a fun purple pop whenever I want it without having to buy a cheap costume-quality lipstick. Kale is a deeeeeep forest green. Really deep. I bought this at TJ Maxx at a discount otherwise I probably wouldn’t have ever bought it. I love me a dark lip– Deep wines, purples and even black are my thing. The issue for me is that my lip shape requires a bit of overlining for shades SO deep and I am at the point in my life where I don’t rock a deep lip (especially one that requires extra work) as much anymore but just like Lavender Jam, I enjoy having this in my collection as an option for whenever the right time comes.

On top of the great options for shades, Bite’s Amuse Bouche lipsticks get released fairly often as part of different promotions so there’s always a new, exciting shade to be looking to purchase. I was tempted to buy their ‘Cancer’ shade in July from their on-going Horoscope collection but decided against it as it was similar to Pepper. LMK below your personal Amuse Bouche recommendations for me to try out next!

BITE BEAUTY LIQUIFIED LIPSTICKS IN ‘ECLAIR’, ‘FLAMBE’ AND ‘BRAISED’

Welcome to my first feature of Bite Beauty on Beautymunson! I had been slowly building up a collection of Bite products when they released their Amuse Bouche Liquified Lipsticks. Not a LIQUID lipstick, a liquified lipstick. Do you remember where we all used to be before the liquid lipstick trend? Here!

I bought my typical, mid-Pink aka ‘Èclair’, a fun red-orange aka ‘Flambé’ and a deeper (and my go-to) red aka ‘Braised’.

I really like these. One of the reasons I really like this product is because of the gel-like texture and the easy application. The product is very thick and luxurious, which is nice because the colors stays on your lips and doesn’t travel outward. ‘Braised’ does feather a bit so I would recommend a liner with the deeper colors.
Now, would I say to wear your hair down and drive in a convertible rockin’ ‘Flambé’ on your lips? No. But I recommend that anytime? No! I hate convertibles! They’re always ruining my hair and makeup. Windows up, AC on— please.
If you want to try out the formula of this product without owning full sizes, Sephora has a holiday set out that features four minis including ‘Flambé’ and ‘Braised’ for only $22!!!
I’m all for a good, budge-proof liquid lip but I’m excited to see brands come out with different formulas alongside them as well.

LIME CRIME DIAMOND CRUSHERS IN TRIP, CHOKE + LIT

Ooooooo baby I am EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’ll admit it. I have been going a liiiiittle crazy with makeup purchases this year. Anything I want, I buy. Aside from the obvious spending that my attitude requires, the more important issue is that when I feel like spending, I don’t have anything else that I want to buy! This has led me to buying some regrettable products but also I’ve been able to broaden my horizons and have gotten some things that I wouldn’t have prioritized and thus, purchased in the past.

A prime example of that last sentence are some of my most recent pick-ups.. Lime Crime’s Diamond Crushers in Trip, Choke and Lit. To say I’m impressed by these would be a large, huge understatement.

Diamond Crushers are the more fun sibling of Jouer’s Skinny Dip and Tan Lines lip toppers. They’re liquid heaven that can be put over liquid lipsticks or simply on bare lips as well as the cheekbones and eyes. They dry down (!!!) and are water-based so there is no excess tackiness adding gross texture to your application zone.

On top of the product itself blowing me away, I was caught off guard by how much I adore the packaging. I’m not even a packaging kinda gal. I usually do not care at all but these come in the most elegant, luxurious feeling tube with BEAUTIFUL pink foiled effect lid. I get entranced holding onto these babies.

lime crime diamond crushers lit trip choke

on-arm swatch lime crime diamond crushers lit trip choke

Trip is a blue iridescent in a purple base. Choke is a blue iridescent in a clear/pinkish base. Lit is a gold shimmer in a coral/pink base. Out of the three, Choke is the best to wear alone for a barely there effect and Lit is the best to wear alone to get the most coverage. The coral/pink base in Lit makes it good enough to replace a lipstick (coverage-wise).

I swatched each color on bare lips and overtop of two lipsticks out of my collection that I felt the Diamond Crusher would pair well with. Here they are:

lime crime trip diamond crusher lip topper over different colored lipsticks

Trip over Bangkok SMLC by NYX is unreal. Favorite combo out of them all.

lime crime choke diamond crusher lip topper over different colored lipsticks

lime crime lit diamond crusher lip topper over different colored lipsticks

As you can see, Lit overpowers anything that you put it over. I couldn’t seem to figure out how to sheer it out. It’s meant to be the star of its show.

It’s a rare time when I purchase three products of something I’ve never tried out before but this time it definitely paid off. There are three more colors that I also want to try out.

TL; DR GO BUY THESE.

ALL 36 NYX SOFT MATTE LIP CREAMS // NYX SOFT MATTE LIP CREAM VAULT

The NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams have been one of my favorite lip products since before matte lips were even “in”. They’re cheap, come in fun colors and used to be my go-to for night’s out when I wanted my lip color to stay on without me having to think about it the whole time. So when NYX first released their SMLC Vault, I was very excited. For $70 you could get every SMLC that has ever been released (there are 36 of ’em). I loved the idea but didn’t initially jump for it.

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Fast forward to the week of Thanksgiving and Black Friday when NYX released on their Instagram Story that they would be releasing more of them exclusively at Ulta on the biggest shopping day of the year. Seeing as I hadn’t paid attention to the vault since it’s release, I was confused. Turns out, it was impossible to find this collection of products anywhere. I don’t believe in shopping Black Friday or Thanksgiving all that much so I told myself that I wouldn’t be getting the vault and maybe I could check Ulta later that weekend for it.

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Ulta opened at 6pm on Thanksgiving night. I was in North Carolina with my family and found myself bored at 5:45 so I journeyed over to the store and waited in line to get this puppy. As everyone in front of me in line veered towards the prestige side of the store, I wandered over the the NYX endcap, grabbed the vault and checked out. I was successfully the first customer to check out on Thanksgiving evening.

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I still wasn’t sold on them. I think NYX should have released the vault with the lip creams in color order so it wouldn’t be SO overwhelming. When trying out new colors I hadn’t tried before, I found myself frazzled and uninterested suddenly. After being swayed by my Instagram followers (check me out at @beautymunson) to keep the vault, I started the swatching process. I organized everything by color to make it more appealing to us all!

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Enough talk. Here they are— all 36 of NYX Cosmetics’ Soft Matte Lip Creams:

on-arm swatch of nyx soft matte lip creams
on-arm swatch of nyx soft matte lip creams
on-arm swatch of nyx soft matte lip creams
on-arm swatch of nyx soft matte lip creams

Let me know if you would be interested in on-lip swatches. For obvious reasons I did not do them for this first giant swatch party but I would be glad to do them for another post in the future. I hope you enjoyed!

KYLIE COSMETICS ‘CANDY K’ TRIFECTA: LIP LINER, STICK + GLOSS

Hi there and Happy Friday!

Today I am sharing with you my newest lip color trifecta.

After purchasing the minis from Kylie Cosmetics from Kylie’s Birthday Collection, I spent some time figuring out which shade worked the best for me. Although I love love love Kristen, I decided that the most “me” color was Candy K. It’s my exact “my lips” shade when my lips are flushed and not blending into my skin (which they do.. often). I liked Candy K the best so I picked up the matching lip liner and gloss since Kylie sells them separately now! I’ve never owned a matching lip liner and lipstick and man, gloss.. I haven’t really ever worn gloss in my life because I always hate that my hair would get stuck in it. I’m working on growing up so maybe lip gloss will be in my cards now haha
Here are the three swatched and on my lips step-by-step:
The lip liner is really as smooth and silky as I had heard it to be. It’s a hUgE contrast to the NYX lip liners that I use (and are the only ones I own) because those are very stiff and take a bit of tug to apply. I have accumulated so many of those and they are sooooo cheap that I simply never felt the need to get any duplicate colors from other companies with better formulas.
I’m glad I finally tried another one.
I’m really impressed with all of Kylie’s products that I have tried and I can’t wait to wear a glossy lip for a change! The gloss isn’t too slippery or sticky. I really enjoy it!

URBAN DECAY VICE LIPSTICK IN ‘714’

Hello everybody! Happy Monday.

Today I am sharing with you my newest lippie to add to my collection.

Introducing… Urban Decay’s Vice lipstick in ‘714’

Yeah. Lip lines ain’t crisp. Sorry 🙁

I got this guy in the 2016 Sephora Favorites Beauty’s Most Trending bundle and I love the color. It’s bright, festive berryish red and it really has a POP factor. It’s advertised as a matte but I never experienced it matte-ing down. It seemed to stay satin, which was fine. I was so impressed that I got a full sized lipstick (a fairly newly released one) in this Sephora Favorites group. You really truly cannot beat the $75 price tag for what you get, especially this year. If you’re looking to pick up one of UD’s Vice lipsticks, they are $17 each.

Another lipstick post: complete ✓

KYLIE COSMETICS BIRTHDAY EDITION MINI MATTE LIP SET

I am soooo thrilled to say that I finally got my makeup-obsessed hands on a Kylie Cosmetics product! After attempting to purchase these three previous times during the Birthday Collection/Edition releases, I finally got to get mine on the final chance.

Kylie’s Birthday products were special to me because of their beautiful gold packaging. I just had to have them. The mini matte liquid lipstick collection that I got was the most incredible deal, too and I couldn’t pass it up. I got 6 different lippies for just about $30. This was perfect for me because I have no idea which shade in her range is good for me because nobody who is pale and warm-toned like me reviews her products! I swear. By getting these small guys, I’ve been able to test out the following shades: Koko K, Candy K, Exposed, Dolce K, Kristen and Leo, her Birthday exclusive shade.

Seeing as I can barely make it through an entire bullet of my favoritest lipsticks, I knew the minis would be the ideal size for trial and error. If I really find myself liking one a lot, I can always buy the lip kit! That being said, the lipsticks are a lot smaller than I imagined…

Time for the important part. The on-lip swatches. For reference, here are my bare lips:

Koko K was the lightest color in the set and I was very impressed with the coverage that I got in one swipe. I didn’t know that Kylie’s products had such a heavy vanilla cake scent, though. It didn’t bother me TOO much but it seems like a lot and I know a lottttt of people won’t like the scent. But the product glides on the lips and stays intact and that’s all I’m looking for!

I really really like Candy K. This is the most natural color for me in the set and just like Koko K, I got opaque coverage in one swipe.

Going from one extreme to another, Exposed was my least favorite. While I will probably still wear it sometimes (I’m thinking about layering an orange-yellow gloss overtop of it), it did not flatter me well. It’s a warm, mid-toned browny nude shade. Still good coverage, though!

Dolce K was a huuuge surprise for me. I figured it would be a darker version of Exposed but it seemed to flatter my skin tone better. It’s more of a brown on me and I don’t own anything quite like it. That makes me happy! The coverage was slightly more difficult with Dolce K.

KRISTEN IS SO PRETTY!!!!! I didn’t expect it to be so bright on me because it seemed like every person I saw it on showcased it as a more brown-toned warm red but oh my goodness it’s beautiful on me. I LOVE this shade. Great coverage, too.

Lastly, Leo. 🙁 I was so excited for this shade that I almost tried buying the lip kit for it. Man, I’m glad I didn’t. I had such a struggle getting the color to apply evenly. While I am glad it showed up redder on me (swatches I’d seen showed it more browny), I’m going to need to figure out a way to apply this so it covers evenly. Such a pretty color, such a shame.

Overall, I’m very pleased with this set. I think it was a great value and I love that it was in limited edition packaging. If you need tips on how to score some Kylie products on release days, let me know and I’ll post about it because I definitely have figured out the way to do it.

Check out my instagram (@beautymunson) account for more pictures and swatches!

NEW! MAYBELLINE COLORSENSATIONAL LIPSTICKS: THE LOADED BOLDS

New ColorSensationals!!!!

Okay, yay. I am so excited about these! I recently grabbed four of the new Maybelline ColorSensational “The Loaded Bolds” lipsticks in the two lightest and two darkest shades. If you didn’t know, Maybelline’s ColorSensational line is my absolute favorite of all lipsticks. I’ve tried many and I prefer these over all brands and types (even liquid lipstick!). They are so consistent and offer a wide range of colors. The Loaded Bolds collection filled in any gaps that were left over. There are some pretty purple shades in this “collection” as well. But today…
I’m going to talk about these guys:

From L to R: Pitch Black, Midnight Blue, Nude Thrill and Wickedly White

I loved the navy shade from the start and decided to get the B&W to test out since I haven’t had very good luck with drugstore black lipsticks and have zero experience with white ones. Nude Thrill was a last minute decision and holy eff.. am I glad I got it. I’ll protest my love in a little.

Can we discuss how annoying it is that pure white lipstick makes your teeth look like lemons? or sunflowers? or something else that’s yellow? Ugh.

Anyway, Wickedly White. Clearly not meant to rock on it’s own. I just can’t get into white on ANY skin tone so much that I don’t even like white-based lippies on most occasions. That being said, whites are great for mixing if you want to lighten a shade a little.. or a lot.. and don’t mind the white base. I figured it was a staple that I needed to get. Coverage on it’s own was ‘meh’ but again, I would only be mixing this into other shades so I should be set.

Nude Thrill is an absolute dream. It’s now my favorite nude tone that I own! It wears super evenly and has just the right about of pink versus brown balance to look impeccable against my pale, but warm skin tone. I love love love love love you, Nude Thrill.

Midnight Blue is my current “adventure” shade. I’ve been “adventuring” into purples over the last year and navy seemed like the natural progression of my journey. I love jewel tones and thankfully, this deep sapphire has a lovely formula that glides so effortlessly across the lips leaving no patchy areas.

Lastly, Pitch Black. It sucks. I’m sorry. You can see in the photo how un-pitch black it really is. I will be returning this puppy tomorrow and my quest for a solid drugstore black lippie will continue 🙁 My natural progression through deep shades will be black after my navy era is over so it’ll need to be quick! Please let me know if you have any suggestions. I have my eyes on the new Katy Perry line with CoverGirl but I just don’t like CG… but if I hear it’s good, I’ll grab that next.

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed.
Check me out on Instagram: @beautymunson