I couldn't help myself. Although I was slightly dubious about whether my purchase of Candy K and Koko K was worth it, I took the plunge and bought the two Kylie Matte Lip Kit shades I knew for certain I would love.

I have quite a pale complexion and I am always drawn towards brown, warmer toned nudes as opposed to cool toned pinks and mauves as I feel like they compliment both my skin and eye colour, which is what inspired my recent purchase.

Dolce K
Like I assume many of you would relate, I have been adoring the 90's brown lipstick trend. My younger self would squirm at the thought as her perception was that brown lipstick closely resembled the appearance of rubbing chocolate all over your mouth.
Dolce K was one of the first original releases, and I'm disappointed I was hesitant about purchasing it for such a long time. It's a lovely cool toned light brown, not too dark on my pale skin and contains just a hint of a warm tone so that it doesn't wash me out completely and make me look like a zombie.

Formula
Similar to the review I did on the other Kylie Lip Kit shades I purchased, the lipliner for Dolce K doesn't disappoint. It's smooth, creamy, pigmented, blends perfectly with the liquid lipstick, and is easy to sharpen.

Dolce K Lip Liner

This lipstick doesn't look drying, and doesn't flake, but it can look clumpy and cracked if you apply too many layers. With all these Kylie Lip Kits (including Exposed which I swatch below), I strongly recommend adding one or two very thin layers to the lips and that's all. I have found they look the best and most "natural", particularly if you're planning on overdrawing your lips with the lip liners, which I should mention is very easy to do.

Demo - Dolce K on the lips in different lighting

Dolce K Lip liner and Liquid Lipstick in natural light

Swatches: Dolce K (Left) Exposed (Right)

Exposed
Exposed, commonly described as an orange, warm toned nude is by far my favourite of all the lip kits I have bought so far. As you can see from the swatches below, it comes off more orange than brown, but I find that it's just the perfect shade to not wash me out or look too dark and daunting!

Formula
The product is virtually identical to its predecessors. The great thing about Exposed however is that it does not look dry or flaky on the lips in the slightest which is fantastic as that's typically the case with lighter, matte liquid lipsticks. Therefore it's easy to get away with not applying any lip balm underneath as the liquid lipstick won't dry you out!

Exposed Lip Liner

Longevity
With both Dolce and Exposed, they do come off when eating - I believe this is because I lick my lips constantly when eating (which I ought to stop doing). Even if you don't lick your lips, the product will slide off when eating oily foods.

Demo

Exposed Liner and Liquid Lipstick in natural light

Overall if you'd love to step outside your comfort zone and opt for a brown lipstick and are a fan of cooler tones, then Dolce K will be perfect. On the other hand, if you're pale and love warmer toned nudes, absolutely opt for Exposed as it will be your new favourite liquid lipstick. For darker complexions, the colour is likely to look more fluorescent and brighter but if you like browner/orange toned lipsticks then by all means give it a go.

Hope this has helped you all in some shape or form, and don't forget to check me out on instagram @australianbeautyblog for more beauty related pics!

Lexy xxxx

Hi!

MAC lipsticks are among my favourites and I always reach for them no matter what the occasion! I am a massive fan of nude lipsticks in particular so I thought I'd swatch and review my absolute favourites, as well as show how each of them look on the lips on paler skin as some of these lipsticks give off a completely different colour on different skin tones.

From left to right: Kinda Sexy, Velvet Teddy, Spirit, Mehr

Kinda Sexy - Matte finish
The first lipstick I'll talk about is Kinda Sexy. It has a matte finish and is a peachy nude. It isn't so light however to make you washed out so I think it's perfect for anyone looking for a pinkier neutral nude!

Kinda Sexy

Hello world! I'm going to recede the urge to provide excuses in regards to why I haven't posted in so long because I don't really have a viable reason. I've been on holidays for the past 2 and a half months and all I've been doing is watching T.V. shows. I watched all of Lost,  which was completely awesome so I'd definitely recommend it, and I'm 3 seasons into Grey's Anatomy. And may I just say that I am living and breathing it. 

ANYWAY it won't be a surprise to all of you that I saw this little Bourjois Happy Light Matte Serum Primer (15ml) diamond on sale at Priceline for $15. I snatched two of them up, one for me and one for my mother, but unfortunately it has gone back to $21 which is crummy but don't lose hope! More sales are always around the corner.

The Bourjois Happy Light Matte Serum Primer (15ml) bottle

Another cheeky shot of the bottle

Review:
Before I start, as you can see in the photographs above, a label on the lower portion of the bottle says that it's recommended for normal to combination skin. I have combination skin so it's suitable for me but might not be for people with oilier skin. Just keep that in mind.

When applying the product to my clean skin, it dried relatively quickly and as the bottle claims to do, it minimised my pores. It didn't completely eradicate my pores but they weren't as evident as they usually are.

I did notice however that after the product dried on my skin and "mattified" it, if I were to some reason rub my skin in the areas I placed the primer, the product would peel off immediately, leaving leaving plenty of white residue and flakes on my face. I'm assuming it does this because the primer creates a separate matte layer on top of your skin, so don't rub your face too harshly after the product dries on your face because it will come off and leave unpleasant flakes everywhere. Perhaps this is to be expected for matte creams but I've never used a matte primer before so I might be just completely ignorant on the matter... But I thought I'd point it out because I found it strange!

Appearance of the primer (in the photo it looks revolting but it's actually a light pink colour)

Pros:

• The consistency isn't too watery or too thick so it glides over the skin easily.
• Dries quickly
• It smells somewhat like baby wipes, but in a good way, it doesn't smell unpleasant in the slightest!
• Foundation glides on flawlessly
• Minimises pores slightly
• Make-up stays on and remains matte for a long time. If you're not doing anything strenuous your make-up should remain matte for a large portion of the day.
• The bottle pump releases the product in suitable quantities

5/5 stars.

I'm giving this a generous rating because it's by far the best primer I've used. It makes my make-up stay flawless all day, and though my skin gets oily after 7/8 hours, a powder can easily conceal the shininess. If you want to splurge and take the risk of this item suiting your complexion then go and buy it but if you see it on sale, I'd say to definitely give it a try and hopefully it works for you!

xx