Declutter & Swatches Part 3 – Astor, B., MUA, NYC, Rimmel, L’Oréal

Hi there! Today’s post is about a bunch of beauty products I swatched the other day. And here they are!

Astor Color Last VIP 240 Desire

Wow, what a bright and velvety red! Beautiful formula and beautiful colour. This is a good lipstick.

MUA MakeUp Academy Power Pout Intense Tint & Balm Crazy In Love

This is supposed to be a tinted balm. It’s a nightmare to apply. The colour is uneven and you’ll have to go over your lips 10 times to get the colour right. Not good.

MUA MakeUp Academy Power Pout Intense Tint & Balm Rendezvous

Just like the tinted lip balm above, this one wasn’t good (for the same reasons).

MUA MakeUp Academy Power Pout Intense Tint & Balm Broken Hearted

3rds time’s the charm? Nope. Another disappointing tinted lip balm from MUA. Also, this is by far the worst with respect to the uneven colour. It’s very streaky.

MUA Sheer Finish Lipgloss Let’s Meet

This lipgloss is a bit too sheer. You would need a lot of product to get any visible colour on your lips. But good if you don’t really want much colour with your lipgloss.

Superdrug B. Lipstick 054 Eton Mess

This is a light red. Not bad but not really my colour.

NYC City Duet Eyeshadow 799B Vintage Style

This is a small eyeshadow duo. An off-white shade and a brown shade.

These are actually quite nice!

Rimmel Glam Eyes Quad Eyeshadow 018 Romantic Cool

Another small eyeshadow compact. This one’s from Rimmel.

3 shimmery shades, 1 matte shade (3, grey). The shimmers are surprisingly highly pigmented, but the chalky matte shade isn’t.

L’Oréal La Couleur 015 Flashback Silver

This is a great eyeshadow – it’s bursting with pigment. It’s also easy to blend and I haven’t had any fallout!

And this is it for today’s swatchfest. Thanks for stopping by! xx

Mrs Strawberry Blonde 💙💛

NYC City Mono Eyeshadows 915 Broadway Look, 918 Front Raw, 906 Luxury Reborn & Astor Couture Eye Shadow 120 Cocoa, 750 Glam Grey, 800 Pearl

Hi there! Today’s post is about 6 eyeshadows – NYC City Mono Eyeshadows 915 Broadway Look, 918 Front Raw, 906 Luxury Reborn & Astor Couture Eye Shadow 120 Cocoa, 750 Glam Grey, 800 Pearl.

Let’s start with NYC City Mono Eyeshadows 915 Broadway Look. This is a medium to dark grey which has both matte and metallic facets (swatch in photo 4). This is a weird eyeshadow. I won’t keep it.

NYC City Mono Eyeshadows 918 Front Raw is a bright and sparkly piggie pink (swatch in phopto 4). In terms of quality it’s not bad, but I don’t like it at all.

NYC City Mono Eyeshadows 906 Luxury Reborn is a beautiful light brown (swatch below). The eyeshadow has a creamy look to it. It’s so pretty!

I think Front Raw (2) and Luxury Reborn (3) look nice in the swatches, but Broadway Look (1) is just weird. Apologies for the pinkish hue in the first swatch – this is a scar.

Onto Astor Couture Eye Shadow 120 Cocoa which is a medium brown. This shade has a creamy texture and a shimmer-free metallic look (swatch in photo 8). Really nice!

Astor Couture Eye Shadow 750 Glam Grey is a metallic light grey shade (swatch in photo 8). Not bad but not a favourite.

And the last eyeshadow today is Astor Couture Eye Shadow 800 Pearl which is a shimmery white (swatch below). If it wasn’t so poorly pigmented, I could use it to make white stamping polish, but… I really have no use for this eyeshadow.

Cocoa (1) and Glam Grey (2) look nice in the swatches, but you can see that Pearl (3) is not a great product.

I will keep the 2 brownish shades – Luxury Reborn and Cocoa. I will incorportate the 2 grey shades – Broadway Look and Glam Grey – into a few more looks, but I will not keep these eyeshadows for long. And by the time this post is published, the pink and white eyeshadows – Front Raw and Pearl – will have been binned.

Mrs Strawberry Blonde 💙💛

Declutter & Swatches Part 2 – Maybelline, B., Astor, Manhattan, Rimmel, & Technic

Hi there! Welcome to part 2 of the inofficial major declutter and swatchfest of 2021. I’m going through my stash – I’ll bin everything that I don’t want anymore or that has gone off. Let’s see how these products fared!

1 Superdrug B. Brilliant Rich Colour Lipgloss 185 Bambi

I regret not having used this lipgloss when it was new. The colour is nice! But it’s old now, and it has to go!

2 Superdrug B. Lipstick 186 Rose Quartz

Same as above! I should have given this lipstick a try when it was new. Now it has to go.

3 Superdrug B. Lipstick 083 Tagine

Wow, what an unflattering lipstick shade! Binned.

4 Manhattan X-Treme Last & Shine Lipstick 56T

Not a terrible lip colour, but not really my colour. Also – it has micro shimmer which I find ugly on me. Binned.

5 Manhattan Soft Mat Lip Cream 95M

I’m not the biggest fan of matte lip products but this shade looks nice. I’ll give it some wear over the next few weeks.

6 Astor Rouge Couture 104 Satin Fuchsia

Wow, what a colour! Unfortunately, it doesn’t look good on me. I’m a pale girl, and this lipstick gives me neon lips. Unfortunately, this one has to go.

7 Astor Colour Last VIP 345 Provocative

Not a bad colour, but it doesn’t really look good on me. So it has to go too.

8 Technic Juicy Sticks Plum

Technic is a super cheap brand with so-so products. This moisturising lip colour is not terrible, but the shade is awful on me. Another product I’m saying goodbye to.

9 Rimmel Vinyl Gloss Mirror Shine Lipgloss 115 Snog

“Mirror Shine” – not true! I didn’t care for this one. Binned.

10 Maybelline Colorsensational Lipgloss 550 Watermelon Punch

This looks amazing – but it has to go because it’s old.

I’ll do a post about eye products shortly. Maybe next week? Let’s see how far I get with those! Thanks for stopping by today! x

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Declutter & Swatches Part 1 – Rimmel, Essence, NYC, Manhattan, Astor, Beauty UK & W7

Hi there! I’m in the process of going through my almost bottomless stash of cosmetics – and will throw out what I don’t want anymore or what has gone off. A few products will be kept. Lots of swatches too – all swatches were done on a well moisturised forearm! OK, let’s take a look!

1 Manhattan X-Treme Last & Shine Lipstick 94P

What a beautiful lipstick! I wish I tried it sooner! I will keep this one and start using it asap!

2 Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick 330 Sloane’s Plum

This lipstick looks almost black. But when applied, it’s a medium plum shade.

3 Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick 860 Auburn Breeze

A reddish brown in the bullet, but a sheer brownish red on skin.

4 Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick 680 Precious Brown

Precious Brown is a bit too pale and too sheer for me.

5 Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick 840 Burgundy Shine

Not a bad colour, but too vampy for me. I’m very pale, and this shade gives me an unwanted goth look.

6 NYC Cityproof Twistable Intense Lip Color 050 Park Slope Peach

Now this is one ugly colour! Binned right away!

7 Astor Rouge Couture 301 Nude Silk

Nude Silk is a beautiful shade. I will keep this one too.

8 Astor Colour Last VIP 344 Classy Red

I like this one! It’s a nice, wearable red. I will keep this one for now.

9 Beauty UK Eye Shadow Palette No. 4 Earth Child

This is what the eyeshadows look like.

Top row swatches – decent shades and pigmentation!

Bottom row swatches… yikes!

This palette will be binned!

10 Essence All About Nude Eyeshadow

Not sure if this is mould (top right), but this eye palette is not only new and unused – it is still sealed! 🤢

And the last two for today… Essence Silky Touch Blush 20 Babydoll. It was my go-to blush until March 2020. But I haven’t touched it since – because I work from home permanently, and whenever I don’t have to be on camera, I don’t bother with make-up. Anyhoo, I’m now saying goodbye to this pretty blush.

I’m also letting this W7 Silky Eyes Bare It All eye compact go. I haven’t touched in since March 2020. I loved the 2 brown shades so much! But it’s goodbye now!

I’m happy that I started to go through my stash. It’s not always easy to let things go, especially when there are hidden gems which I never even tried… but it has to be done. By the way, I’ve also binned about 20 products which I didn’t find swatch-worthy – not too bad!

Thanks for stopping by! x

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Astor Perfect Stay Transferproof Lip Tint & Care 105 Pink Bloom, 150 Bois De Rose, 151 Blushing Rose, 260 Tequila Sunrise, 301 Warm Sand, 350 Flirty Beige

Hi there! Today’s post is about a bunch of Astor Perfect Stay Transferproof Lip Tint & Care lip stains. I bought one which I liked – and then I bought all the colours… Let’s take a look at some of them!

Astor Perfect Stay Transferproof Lip Tint & Care 105 Pink Bloom is a beautiful raspberry shade. I like it a lot! I will keep this one.

Astor Perfect Stay Transferproof Lip Tint & Care 150 Bois De Rose is a dark, dusty rose shade. It actually looks really nice on me, so I will keep this one too.

Astor Perfect Stay Transferproof Lip Tint & Care 151 Blushing Rose is a soft rosey shade. The name Blushing Rose is perfect. I will keep this one too because it suits me well.

Astor Perfect Stay Transferproof Lip Tint & Care 260 Tequila Sunrise is an ugly orange shade. I won’t wear it. In the bin it goes…

Astor Perfect Stay Transferproof Lip Tint & Care 301 Warm Sand is not bad at all. I’ll use it this autumn for sure!

And last but not least… Astor Perfect Stay Transferproof Lip Tint & Care 350 Flirty Beige is my favourite of the bunch. It’s an almost 80s kind of light brown. It suits me incredibly well. This one’s a bit lighter than Warm Sand, and it’s perfect for every occasion.

All in all, I’m surprised that I liked 5 out of 6! But I’m not complaining. I’m glad that these will finally get some use!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Astor Rouge Couture Lipstick 112 Lilac Tulle, 114 Aubergine Veil, 208 Red Vinyl

Hi there! Today’s post is about 3 lipsticks I used to love. I’m letting them go because I stopped wearing them some time ago, and now they’re simply too old to be used anymore. But since I loved them, here they are:

Astor Rouge Couture Lipstick 112 Lilac Tulle is a cute pink with a bit of shimmer. It’s a great shade for pale skin tones. Whilst I prefer brownish lipsticks, I liked this pink lipstick a lot!

Astor Rouge Couture Lipstick 114 Aubergine Veil is a powerful burgundy shade. I think this lipstick suited me quite well. However, I think this one would have suited someone with a darker skin tone even more.

Astor Rouge Couture Lipstick 208 Red Vinyl is a black cherry kind of shade. This is another shade that I think would have been more suitable for someone with a darker skin tone, but I think I wore Red Vinyl well too. And I’m glad I managed to dig up an old photo of me wearing it.

I really loved those lipsticks. The quality was outstanding, and they had the most amazing raspberry flavour. I’ll miss them!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Nail Of The Day – Astor Fashion Studio 112 Red Velvet & Essie Rock At The Top

Hi there! Today’s post is about a simple mani I did just last week.

For this mani I painted my nails with Astor Fashion Studio 112 Red Velvet (2 easy coats). This isn’t the most spectacular colour, but it’s a decent bright red.

The glitter top coat I used is Essie Rock At The Top (1 coat). It was impossible to capture the bright gold hex glitter, but believe me, in real life this glitter top coat looks much, much prettier than in this photo.

What colour nail polish are you wearing at the moment? Feel free to get in touch via the comments. And thanks for reading! xx

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Nail Of The Day – Barry M Boy Bye & Stamping With Nicole Diary

Hi there! I hope everyone had a good week so far! 😊 Let me show you a cute mani I did a little while ago…

For this mani I painted my nails with Astor Fashion Studio 201 (2 coats). I used this polish as a dusty lavender base underneath Barry M Boy Bye (1 coat). I didn’t want to waste the pretty colour-shifting polish by applying multiple coats.

And I double-stamped. I used Rimmel 60 Seconds 805 Grey Matter for the light grey circles and stars, and Revlon Colorstay 270 Stiletto for the black images. The 2 stamping plates I used are Nicole Diary 062 (ring and index fingers) and 067 (pinkies, middle fingers, thumbs).

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Nail Of The Day – Galaxy Nails Feat. Rimmel, Astor, Primark & Pop Rocks

Hi there! After yesterday’s Empties post, today’s post is about a mani I did a few weeks ago.

For this mani I painted my nails with Rimmel Lycra Pro 416 Night Flight (1 coat). Since galaxy nails aren’t about precision or perfection, I thought I could get away with 1 coat – and I did!

Then  I used a small piece of a make-up sponge to apply small blobs of white polish (Primark PS… Nail Polish Marshmallow).

Once the white polish had dried, I sponged pink (Astor Fashion Studio 002 Cotton Candy) and blue (Rimmel 60 Seconds 825 Sky High) polish onto the white areas on my nails.

And once the colour polishes had dried, I applied 1 coat of holographic glitter top coat (Pop Rocks With The Band) to add stars to the galaxies.

I liked this mani a lot. Whilst I’ve done better galaxy nails in the past, I did like the addition of a “proper” holo top coat. 🙂

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Nail Of The Day – Astor Fashion Studio 201, Models Own Goose & Stamping With Pueen 80

Hi there! I have another short Nail Of The Day post for you today. ☺️

For this mani I painted my nails with Astor Fashion Studio 201 (2 coats, middle and index fingers, thumbs). This is a nice polish. I like that it’s opaque in 2 coats. This was a nice surprise!

For the ring fingers and pinkies I used Models Own Goose (3 coats). I love this cute glitter polish so much!

For the images I used Pueen‘s 80 plate (which is part of their Buffet Leisure stamping plate collection). The black polish I stamped with is Revlon Colorstay 270 Stiletto.

Mrs Strawberry Blonde