I have much wonder and whimsey to share with you in the form of a haul from Lime Crime. I adore their cutesy packaging and really loved taking photographs of the adorable boxes and cases (as you will see). I decided to dip into the world of Lime Crime by purchasing some of their lip wares in one of my favourite colours; red.
Feel free to click on the images to see higher quality versions.
Enjoy!
Lime Crime are a brand that sells fairy tales and fanciful styling as well, as bright distinctive colours. This is seen in their personalised birthday present-like purple parcels with their girly fun logo, sweet messages and unicorns.
Even before you get to your products you are transported to a place where anything can happen and beauty is uniqueness and individualism (and making up words to describe such things.)
I really liked the touch of the lilac tissue paper to match the entire brand's look and give cohesion to all their products.
All these little things make receiving products from Lime Crime a special event not just a package in the mail.
For a short time around Valentines day a special little card advertising the Velvetines was slipped into our orders with a paper doll statue of Doe Deere showing you how it's done in a red lip. I can't wait until these beauties are back in stock and will definitely getting one of each as soon as I sniff that they're on sale. Last time I thought they'd be around for a while and I would pick them up when I had some spare cash. However, they were to damn popular and everyone had to have one. I digress, back to the review.
Then you get to the product boxes. I can barely bare to throw away the boxes for the the carousel glosses, but the lipstick is even harder with which to part. I actually am storing them in a box with some less used lip balms, just so I have them in my possession and can look at them occasionally if I wish.
I was seriously swooning at these gorgeous lilac parcels of joy. They're so girly but with a youthful quality that makes you remember dressup's as a little girl.
Lime Crime have much to choose from, lipstick and gloss wise. Check out their website here. However as this is my first purchase, I decided to abstain from buying their entire selection as I have so many purple and pink lip products, so I went for my weakness which is Red lip products.
All the products are Vegan and Cruelty free and not tested on animals and also made in USA (to my knowledge), if that's your concern.
Retrofuturist Opaque lipstick
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| Retrofuturist lipstick box |
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| Retrofuturist lipstick box top |
Going back to the packaging it's just so cute and unlike anything else in my collection. I'd love to have more lipsticks from this range especially Poisonberry (the dark purple one) because if I'm married to red lip colours, my mistress is definitely purple.
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| Retrofuturist lipstick case |
As you can see the lilac lipstick case which is adorned with a holographic unicorn and pretty lettering just brings out the little girl in you. What's great is that not only are the boxes pretty, but the lipstick tube is ridiculously gorgeous itself and not keeping it in the box doesn't make you cry as much. The packaging is definitely a large draw for this company and once you have one of them you can see why.
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| Retrofuturist lipstick case |
The lipstick I bought was Retrofuturist, the bright red in the Lime Crime collection. I was tempted to finally purchase this after seeing Maryam Maquillage's post on red lipsticks for Valentine's Day. She showed 10 red lispsticks with complete with lip swatches, which you can check out here.
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| Retrofuturist lipstick base |
Retrofuturist lipstick is a lovely bright red that claims to be a bright, true red and universally flattering. I would definitely say it is flattering to most if not all complexions as it is a beautiful cool toned red. It costs $15.99 and contains 3.5g/0.12oz of product. And as most people use MAC as a yard stick, a MAC lisptick is 3.0g/0.1oz and costs $36 in Australia (my country of residence).
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| Retrofuturist lipstick |
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| Retrofuturist lipstick |
It goes on the lips a pink leaning red with high colour pay off. With one swipe it's incredibly opaque and you can build up the intensity going over a couple of times to really saturate your lips as I like to do. The finish is very shiny, thus quite comfortable and not drying on the lips. You could dab this colour on your lips with a finger tip and create a lovely stain for day wear if you don't like a full on red lip.
Here's a lip swatch of the colour with no base or lip liner.
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| Retrofuturist lipstick |
The wear time was incredible and the lipstick survives snacking, eating popcorn at the cinema and drinking from a martini glass. It does it all while clinging to your lips. This colour stains your lips, which I think is a very positive thing. My Mac lipsticks do the same as do my OCC lip tars. I really like this property because if you eat a proper meal you experience fading but still have colour on your pout, instead of a ring of lipliner and nothing else. Most of the colour can be removed by oil-based/two phase makeup remover, there will still be some colour on your lips but that fades by the next morning more of less.
Back to performance, there was some feathering at the edges, however I would usually wear lipstick with my Mac Prep+Prime Lip base, which should help this problem. Also I should mention again that I tested this lipstick without lipliner at all and I'm sure you could improve the lasting time and performance with a matching or translucent the pencil.
I wanted to try this lipstick because I only have matte formulas and was very interested in trying a shiny one. The formula is very moisturising and not at all drying on the lips. I'm not disappointed in this lipstick all and it lived up to my expectations. I adore the shine and unbelievably gorgeous colour.
Carousel gloss
Here come the Carousel glosses, which are described as semi-opaque coverage and I find them to be incredibly opaque, especially for a lip gloss. I'm so used to lip glosses with barely any colour and that only provide shine. These darlings really are like a lipstick in a lipgloss form, as Lime Crime say. Both are comfortable to wear and don't dry out your lips. Once again I went for the two red options, Candy apple and Cherry on top. They are $16.99 each and contain 3.5g/0.12oz of product. A MAC Cremesheen glass is 2.4mL/0.08fl.oz. and costs AU$43 for comparison.
Candy Apple Carousel gloss
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| Candy Apple Carousel gloss tube |
Once again it has angelic packaging, with ornate writing and a unicorn on the cap. By the way, the most fun thing is to twirl the tube which totally looks like a Merry-go-round carousel post, or a Barber pole if you prefer. Very visually pleasing before you even get to the contents.
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| Lid for Candy Apple Carousel gloss |
The applicator is a small precise brush instead of the sometimes clumsy doe foot applicator in some glosses. It's so much better this way because you want more precision using such an opaque product and it would be inconvenient to whip out a lip brush any time you want to reapply. It is relatively easy to apply this product and not make any more mess than usual and cleanup is easy with a cotton bud. Also cleaning the taklon brush is easy with brush cleanser or makeup remover, so you don't contaminate the lip gloss with other colours or bacteria.
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| Applicator for Candy Apple Carousel gloss |
Candy apple Carousel gloss is a described as a deep ruby red with crimson glitter and boy does it have a lot of sparkle! The deep red colour is a gorgeous lip colour on its own and has such amazing coverage. I'm really happy to find a gloss that isn't sheer as I said and not purely used for adding shine on top of another lip product. You can wear both of these glosses on their own and have high impact lips to stun them all. Also applying Candy Apple over a red lipstick is really breathtaking too!
I find that there is some feathering/bleeding with Candy Apple Carousel gloss without a lip base or lip pencil, but I always wear a base with strong coloured lip items anyway. The glitter in this gloss isn't gritty at all, but you do notice it on the lips when you rub them together as the gloss fades, but it's not at all bothersome. The consistency isn't too sticky to be uncomfortable and helps the wear time. This colour stains your lips as well and that allows the colour to fade gradually and not rub off in stark patches, so you're not caught with your pants down, I mean gloss down... or something. Basically no hot messes shall occur on the watch of this awesome gloss.
It's a gorgeous vintage red colour that's comfortable to wear and opacity that can't be beat in a lip gloss.
Here's a lip swatch of the colour, no primer or lip liner.
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| Candy Apple Carousel gloss |
The longevity is simply astounding, especially for a lip gloss, I can't say it enough! The gloss really lasts all night and you only need touchups if you are eating a full meal and are really pedantic about having full shine on your lips. I found that after drinking from a straw, eating snacks including a carrot (eh, what's up Doe?!), my lips still had plenty color coverage minus the shine, and had lots of glitter left too. The staining leaves you with some fading at the center of the lips with a subtle gradient, however from far away you can't tell there is anything wrong with your lip application at all.
Oil free makeup remover gets rid of all the glitter and gloss, and you can use a biphasic remover to get off every last bit if you prefer. There is a tiny amount of colour still left on the lips, however it blends in with my natural lip colour quite well and isn't very noticeable at all.
Cherry on top Carousel gloss
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| Cherry on Top Carousel gloss |
Cherry on top Carousel gloss is described as maraschino-cherry pink with rainbow sparkles. It really is a beautiful bright red colour that is brilliant on its own or as a lipstick topper.
There is some feathering with this gloss as well, but I find not as much as with Candy Apple. Once again this assessment is made without a primer or a lip pencil. The glitter feels finer in this one and it is quite pleasant on the lips. Not sticky or gritty but there is a bit of tackiness to the product. Most of the properties of Cherry on top are shared with Candy Apple and they're both amazing!
The sparkle is so darling and I really love this bright shade. I don't know if I see rainbow sparkles, however it's full of wonderful glitter that seems pink toned in certain light and really catches the eye. It's probably my favourite out of the two lip glosses, because I prefer brighter reds but really it's such a close call.
Here's a lip swatch of the colour no primer or lip pencil.
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| Cherry on Top Carousel gloss |
Once again an astounding amount of wear time for this gloss. You don't have to fear losing your pretty red lips over time or during some light eating. I adore that because I feel confident that I still look great and don't have too constantly check my pout in the mirror. The gradual fading of this product mixed with the delightful stain it gives to your lips means you're near perfect with a lot less effort over the night. I much prefer lip products that don't require a lot of maintenance and I can just look great and enjoy myself. The feathering isn't as much of an issue with this particular shade and with both of these you can easily clean up the edge with a tissue on the go.
This delicious juicy looking lip gloss has taken my heart and I'm so, so happy I bought it. I'm really enamoured with this fantastic product!
Cherry on top Carousel gloss is recommended to be paired with Retrofuturist Lipstick so here's a swatch of them together.
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| Cherry on Top Carousel gloss on top of Retrofuturist lipstick |
Conclusion
It's all fantasy, fun and femininity that makes me think of toys instead of serious make up stuff. I mean that in a good way; make-up should be fun and inspire pleasant feelings. The packaging is to die for, if that's your style, and even if not then it's unique sparkle and colour stands out next to any lip product I've seen, so you have to give it that. I can definitely understand that the distinct girly approach isn't everyones cup of tea, but I don't drink tea, and I like to dip into all types of styles.
I would definitely say I have a tendency to have lip products bleed on me, which is why I got Mac prep and prime lip base in the first place, so it's not unusual that these products would feather on me. The in Inglot AMC lip gloss and Rimmel Vinyl gloss makes MAC lip liners and lipsticks feather on me, so it's not a huge deal that these do some bleeding too. I would suggest M.A.C Prep and prime Lip or maybe even a translucent lip pencil, like the one from Too Faced (Borderline Anit-feathering lip pencil) to fix these minor foibles.
I would recommend all these lip products to any one who wants to capture the attention of the crowd as a complete sassy bombshell. The Carousel glosses are simply amazing and the opaque lipstick really lives up to it's name. All products are moisturising to the lips and don't have a drying effect as you wear them.
All three products will get a lot of wear from me, because I love having red lips and looking like hot stuff. They're very pigmented, really grab the eye, are easy to use and come in adorable packaging; what more could you ask for?! If I ever ran out of these I would definitely repurchase all of them and think they are fairly priced. And I am going to get my hands on more colours in the future.
