Jamie from Polished Beauty Reviews Hello Waffle's Revamped Tinted Balms!

Hey, guys! I'm so excited to share my first guest post with you! Jamie from Polished Beauty wanted to share her swatches and review of Hello Waffle's new tinted balms. These have been reformulated to be less streaky and gritty, and from these swatches, I think Christine did an awesome job. Now I want to pick some up, myself!

So, all pictures are taken by Jamie, and I took the liberty of turning her photos into handy dandy collages. The majority of this review is written by her, but I'll pop in and give some of my own commentary as well. I'll specify who's saying what so you guys don't get lost. Let's jump right in!

Jamie: Hey, all! I'm guest posting on this blog today about Hello Waffle's newly re-released lip balms! Christine originally opened up shop with lip balms, but discontinued them last year to reformulate them, as they were getting grainy over time. This Spring, Christine re-released her balms in a new formula with both previous shades and some new colors as well in new new slim-line tubes for $5.50 CAD (about $4.40 US currently).

The shiny new slim-line tubes!

Comparing the old and new Maraschino formulas, from left to right

Jamie: Maraschino is described as a warm orange-toned red. I had an old sample from the original release, so I decided to compare the colors. While the formula is completely different (duh), the colors look identical to me, both on my arm and my lips.

Destiny: I'm really impressed that Christine was able to change up the formula so much, yet still be able to keep the color the same. It seems like formulations often result in color changes (Kat Von D Lolita, anyone?), so kudos to Christine! I also think it's great that the new balm is more moisturizing, and it's also more pigmented. For a lot of indie balms I've tried, the more moisturizing they are, the sheerer they get.

Jamie: Ginger Kitties is described as an orange-toned peach. I know with the original formula I had, the color was more orange than peach due to dye differences in the batches. The new formula shows up a nice, soft peach on me.

Destiny: I think it's interesting how pink this looks. The site description says it's orange-toned, and even the picture is fairly orange, almost a coral. The site swatch is an orange-red. I haven't been interested in Ginger Kitties at all, but now I'm rethinking it if it's going to be such a lovely pink!

Jamie: Orchid is described as a vibrant, warm purple. I would describe it more as a bright magenta-pink color. It's not a purple-purple, but instead a more purply/magenta color.

Destiny: Hrm. I'm not sure where I would place this on the color spectrum. I'd say it's a warm-toned fuchsia. (Also, what is up with the spelling of fuchsia? Fuch-see-ya. What is that?)

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Jamie: All the colors went on full opaque and seem to "dry" in place. They all stain as well, which I prefer in a lip color. (After washing my arm with soap and water, you could still see the color from my swatches.)

Destiny: Alright, that wraps up today's Guest Post! I'm so glad Jamie reached out to me, and I'd love to do more posts like this in the future. I'm also going to shamelessly link her site, where she sells awesome nail polish marbled necklaces and pendants (and is having a sale!). Stay tuned!

Let's Try Out Kae Q's Beso Balms!

Lately I've been trying to expand my collection to more than just eyeshadow. Lip products have been a major draw for me, and after hearing a lot of lovely things about Kae Q, I snapped up a 6-pack of samples to give them a try.

Kae Q is owned and operated by Nicole Fiori, who runs her business out of Miami, Florida. Nicole is big on reducing her carbon footprint and using organic materials. Not only are her ingredients local, but she mixes all the oils found in her products herself. Right now her catalog consists of tinted and untinted balms, a clear lip liner, local farm products, and some sweet stickers (because who doesn't want a sticker of a heart-shaped beet?).

Nicole is a lamb, and she puts her heart and soul into everything she makes. She's been really open to customer comments and suggestions, and I feel like she's constantly coming up with new ideas and striving to make her company the best it can be. Her products really show it. Let's check out what I got, shall we?

Swatches are taken over exfoliated and moisturized lips. All quoted descriptions are taken off the Kae Q Etsy Store page, which you can check out here!

My six Besitos (samples of Nicole's Beso Balms)

Nicole is awesome enough to include applicators with orders of Besitos!

I thought they looked pretty after using them, so here's a before and after.

The sun was beating down through my window today, and I forgot to take my little Besitos out of the light. So, they were a little melted when I used them. Honestly, I'm going to try to warm them up every time I use them from now it. It gave them the consistency of Fyrinnae's Liquid Lustres, and that consistency is life. All colors were completely opaque with one swipe, with the exception of Mulberry and Passionfruit. Don't let the "balm' name fool you. If you told me these were lipsticks, I wouldn't question you. Not only are these crazy opaque, they're also very moisturizing. My lips feel luxurious after swatching these.

The swatches really speak for themselves, and Nicole's formula is very consistent, so I won't have a lot of commentary this time around.

T-B: Mango, Lychee, Snapdragon, Mulberry, Indigo, Passionfruit

Mango: "a gorgeous vivid red"

This is a beautiful red-orange on me. This was super easy to apply, and I was very impressed. I quickly found out they're all like that. Nicole has really outdone herself with her formula.

Lychee: "a classic matte brick red"

A gorgeous brick red. I'm not sure if I like this color or not on me. I'll have to take it for a spin sometime to make my final call.

Snapdragon: "a muted pink"

This is such a great MLBB for me, and it's perfect for Spring. Snapdragon felt the most moisturizing of the bunch, so I'd say this is probably the most "balm"y of the Besitos I ordered.

Mulberry: "a wonderful berry-red stain"

Mulberry wasn't as opaque as it showed on the site. I packed a lot of product on the applicator, but it still went on fairly sheer. I'll have to give it another shot when the product isn't warmed, but the others applied very opaque despite being in the sun a bit.

Indigo: "a shimmery, deep blue"

This applied a bit darker than the site photo, but I'm 100% okay with that. I've been wanting to experiment with funky lip colors, and this is awesome. Indigo is a tad metallic whereas the other Besitos are matte and semi-matte. This would be an great alternative to OCC Technopagan for someone who doesn't want to deal with the application and feathering of Lip Tars.

Passionfruit: "a deep, yet bright purple"

This also applied a tad darker than the site photo, and it also applied fairly sheer. Because of its dark color, Passionfruit had issues with streakiness due to how sheer it was. This is another one I'll have to try without warming it up first. I love me some purple lips, so I have a mighty need to make this work.

Welp, this wraps up my Kae Q review! These Besitos were amazing, and I'll definitely be snapping up some full sizes for my next order. Nicole is updating her Beso Balm packaging to slimline tubes soon, and they are too cute. I'm excited to see what else she comes up with next! Now I'm off to gorge on Easter candy. Stay tuned. :)

Swatches and Reviews of AFK Cosmetics' Inconceivable Collection

When I was but a wee lamb, my mom introduced me to The Princess Bride. My mind was BLOWN. I originally grew up on Disney films, and I was not used to independent badass princesses like the lovely Buttercup. Also Westley was gorgeous. I mean, c'mon. Who doesn't love a sword-wielding, RoUS-slaying blonde? Me snagging some samples from AFK's Princess Bride inspired collection was a given. Here are my swatches and reviews!

As always, all photos are taken by myself and all quoted product descriptions are taken directly off AFK Cosmetics' site. Shadow swatches are done over bare skin on the left and Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy on the right. Lip swatches are done over moisturized, exfoliated lips.

As You Wish: "an orange-y apricot with a golden sheen"

This color pairs so beautifully with my pink shadows for a neutral look with a bit of pop. And it makes me think of Westley.. have I mentioned I love him a bit?

I'm Not a Witch, I'm Your Wife!: "an olive tone with a very bright blue/green shimmer"

For me, the shimmer wasn't bright, but it was definitely there. From indirect to direct light, this shadow shifts from a musty olive to something much more complex.

Have Fun Stormin' The Castle!: "a dark stoney grey with a light silver shimmer"

This shadow is almost a grey-blue. This picture doesn't really do its sparkle justice. Check out this shadow in its out-of-focus glory below to get a better idea of the sparkle.

Mawwage: "a shimmery pink based cream face highlighter"

Mawwage is wat bwings us togevva....todaaii. *ahem* Even though this is meant to be used as a face highlighter, I swatched it over Pixie Epoxy anyway, as I think it would look great as a sparkly inner corner highlight. The consistency of this powder is very fine and has a bit of a bouncy feeling to it. It reminds me of Make Up For Ever's HD finishing powder.

I've heard great things about Dena's tinted lip balms, and I hate to leave bad reviews, but I was pretty disappointed with both. If anyone can tell me how to get my swatches to look like the ones of AFK's site, please let me know. I couldn't get anything close. Read on, if you have the heart.

Is This a Kissing Book?: "a very soft pink/peach semi sheer tinted lip balm with a lovely gentle rose scent"

This balm was very, very moist. It almost felt like a gloss after applying, and applying wasn't easy. The rose scent wasn't enjoyable, and smelled almost identical to a Lime Crime Velvetine. Despite major consistency issues, I'll slap on this gloss-balm-thing every once in a while, but probably only because it's so sheer and it's easy to disguise it's consistency.

Mostly Dead: "a deep blue based red, reminiscent of dried blood"

This little balm was a bit of a trainwreck (read: trainwreck). The cap was so tight on the tube that opening it required Hulk-like strength and a lot of patience. Unfortunately, I had to grip so tight on the tube to wrestle the cap off that I ended up cracking the balm. My picture was taken right after the damage was done. Luckily (?) the balm is so liquidy that it mended itself after a few swipes on my hand. It's self-healing ability was it's only good quality, however. This balm is trying so hard to be moisturizing and pigmented, and I sympathize with the little guy, but it's a streaky mess. I applied it to my lips straight from the tube, then tried again with a lip brush.. and there's no taming this beast. The swatch on the AFK website looks beautiful, and this was the item from my order that I was most pumped about. I guess I'll have to agree to disagree with those whose rave about this balm formula..

Alright that wraps up my review of my little Inconceivable Collection haul! Some products thrilled me, some products were a total flop, but I'd still recommend AFK to any indie lover. I think I just had some bad indie luck this time around. You can check out the Inconceivable Collection here.