♡Beauty Battle: Lipsticks♡ Lipstick Lovers? - Lava vs M.A.C

Heya everrrrrrryone :D

Welcome to our second post on ELLE-J LAND, the beauty blog for Elle-J.com!

I'm very sooooory for the late posting but let's get crackin'!!

And this week's Beauty Battle is on
 LIPSTICKS!!

Who looooves lipsticks?

I mean it should be more like.... Who doesn't loove lipsticks?!!! Right?

Lipsticks are a such a great item and a EASY WAY for anyone to spice up their look :)

From matte to creamy and pale to bright-as-ever, one lipstick can go soo many different finish and shade to create its own, unique style!

There are HEAPS AND HEAPS of brands out in the market trying to give us the best lipstick possible but I think MAC would be somewhere waaaay up in the front leading the market.

I guess the number ONE reason we craze for MAC lippy is its unique range of colours offered as well as the intensity and vividity of the pigmentation it gives on the lips.

It almost feels like every time I walk into MAC, I cannot take my eyes off that lipstick stand full of AMAZING colours and my lipstick-craving instinct urge me to just grab the lipstick stand and sprint for the exit to keep it in my room :$

OF course, we wouldn't wanna do that and end up like Serena, now would we?

But it is definitely TRUE that MAC lippy can be PRICEY (NZD40+) and are hard-to-obtainable for a lot of NZ girls as there are currently only limited number of stores in New Zealand :(

 

Companies like NYX have produced lipsticks for those girls who wanted an affordable alternative to get similar quality of MAC in colour and pigmentation which had been loooved by many MAC lovers all around the world.

Personally for me, NYX was GREEEEAAAT except for that "detergent" scent and also the necessity of re-application every now and then as the lipstick was extremely creamy that it rubbed off so well :'( However, for NZD7.90 I'd say it's still a GOOOOD Bargain

(you can get NYX lippies on Elle-J: http://www.elle-j.com/nyx-round-liptick/)

ANYWAYS, today I wanted to share with you guys LAVA lipsticks which I'd like to call it as

"THE EASTERN NYX" (TEEHEE) XD Haha but it is definitely well known among korean beauty bloggers for its similar colour as some of MAC's best-selling shades and have been affectionated by many girls :) 

To be honest-because I have used both NYX and LAVA- I think LAVA seems much intense in pigmentation and also longer-lasting than NYX.

SO TODAY

I am going to compare 2 MAC lippies-Saint Germain and Razzle-Dazzler with 2 LAVA which are known to be the dupes of them.

MAC DESCRIPTION vs PERSONAL OPINION

Saint Germain (Amplified): Clean pastel Pink- I think it's actually more of a neon version of pastel pink with a slight blue tone underneath.

Razzle-Dazzler (Lustre): Creamy light Coral- Very sheer (as its finish suggests) coral/salmon colour

From left- LAVA #9, MAC Saint Germain, LAVA #35, MAC Razzle-Dazzler

Right off the bullet of the lipsticks, LAVA #9 seems more vivid as in pigmentation close to hot pink whereas MAC Saint Germain seems a pastel, lighter pink.

Also, MAC Razzle-Dazzler seems more intense coral, salmony colour whereas LAVA #35 has more of a light orange tone.

Here is the comparison of the packaging of the lipstick.

This is the image of the lipstick after the bullet has been fully screwed up.
LAVA seems to be taller but both lipsticks have same weight of 4g.

Yes.... LAVA seems a bit boring with the plain black plastic case compared to MAC, with its classic, sleek black bullet-like tin package.






The lipsticks were applied to a piece of tissue paper for colour comparison.

The actual colours are more similar to that of the image-FLASH ON as in the FLASH OFF image, the colours came out a bit more yellow.
But for the colours themselves, both lipsticks seem very alike.






Well.... Would they look the same on the skin too?
LET'S SEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE....

Each lipstick has been applied ONCE onto the wrist.

As MAC Saint Germain is an amplified finish (A very pigmented creme finish), it goes on denser and thicker compared to LAVA #9 which I would say its finish is similar to MAC's cremesheen (they are creamier and shinier than amplified with a slightly less pigmentation)

LAVA lipsticks have a overall finish as MAC's cremesheen so LAVA #3.5 had a nice creamy texture with a fairly vivid pigmentation.
MAC Razzle-Dazzler was a bit more sheer and creamy than LAVA #35 but they seemed pretty similar as for the texture.

The colour itself was pretty same for both lipsticks




After swatching it on my wrist, I wanted to try it on my lips because that is OBVIOUSLY where we put the lipstick on and the skin on our wrist is very different-as in tone and texture- to that of our lips. 

So to maximise the true pigmentation of the lipsticks and minimise my natural lip colour interfering with the lipstick, I applied my EOS lipbalm (which will be available on ELLE-J fairly soon!) and our Super BB cream (http://www.elle-j.com/skin79-super-plus-b-blash-balm-triple-function/ ) to prime my lips and neutralise my natural lipcolour (I have naturally a very red lip.)
This step has been repeated prior to every lipstick application.



After EOS lip balm +  BB cream

LAVA #35 and MAC Razzle-Dazzler seemed VERY VERY similar except for that MAC was much more sheer on the lips and was applied a couple of times to intensify the colour.  
The application was very similar as that both lipsticks felt extra creamy on lips and went on very smooth.

LAVA #9 and MAC Saint Germain also had a REALLY similar colour as you can see in the image above. LAVA seemed a bit brighter and more vivid in the image but in real life, it's actually just a matter of a slight difference.
LAVA seemed like a REAL PINK pink whereas MAC seemed to have a white hue over the pink colour-more of a NEON pink with a slight blue undertone (You can see that MAC looks a little more blue or cool-toned than LAVA)
As for the application, MAC had more jam-packed pigmentation whereas LAVA was more creamy.








CONCLUSION & PERSONAL OPINION
OF ELLE-J

Both lipsticks were REEEEAAAALLLLY similar-almost same-as for the colour itself.
The only difference was the finish of the lipstick which controlled the different amount of pigmentation. LAVA lipsticks had a very creamy texture overall with a fairly intense vividity of pigmentation and I would DEFINITELY recommend it to anyone who LOOOOOVES MAC for their full-on pigmentation of colours.
It is not a very long-lasting lipstick (although it is much better than NYX) because it is really creamy but still for NZD10, I honestly think that it's worth the money INDEED :D

And this sums up this week's Beauty Battle :)

I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful and informative!

Comment for any questions on the post

and for our LAVA lipsticks <3

Or if you have any suggestion for any particular product that

you want us to compare

for next week's Beauty Battle!!

To visit our website www.elle-j.com

To visit LAVA lipsticks product page and check out the full range of shades: 

http://www.elle-j.com/lava-lava-lipstick-macs-cheaper-version/

THANKS FOR READING

HOPE YOU GUYS ENJOYED IT XOXO

♡Beauty Battle: Gel Eyeliner♡ Which one would you choose? - Tony Moly vs Maybelline vs Bobbi Brown

Heya all you beauty looovers <3

Welcome to our first post on ELLE-J LAND, the beauty blog for Elle-J.com!

This is our first Beauty Battle post.

Beauty Battle is all about comparing our products with similar products of

different make-up brands (drugstore and high-ends) to really TEST OUT the qualities

and to make sure you guys can have "enough and clear" information on our products

and what they will do for you before you buy them!

So......this week's (and our first-ever) Beauty Battle is

on GEL EYELINERS!!!

Eyeliner is one of the most essential and most-used makeup product.

Did you guys know that

over 85% of women chose eyeliner to be their most-reached makeup product?

And that eyeliners are the most purchased makeup product each year?

I thinks eyeliner is one of the most important steps of make-up because

with just a line, you can create countless looks from subtle and innocent to bold and edgy!

You can really change your eyeshapes by enhancing, elongating, enlarging, narrowing,

defining and more.

We often say our eyes are the door to our hearts

so it kinda makes sense on why we spend so much time on our eye make-up

and who would want their eyeliner smudging and leaving you with panda eyes?

ARRRRRRRRGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Plus, your eyes are one of the most sensitive and delicate areas of your body

so it is VITAL to have a trust-worthy and good working eyeliner!

Right........

So how do you define a "GOOD EYELINER"?

1) The intensity of the colour/pigmentation

     How intense is the colour?

     Is it opaque?

2) The controllability on the thickness of the lines

     How easily controllable would the gels be?

     Would you be able to create a defined, thin lines?

     And also would you be able to create a very thick lines???

3) Water-proof? In other words, sweat-proof?????

     All of the products that we are comparing today claimed to be

     water-proof and sweat-proof so we wanted to test out if they

     were true!

4) Long-lasting?

    Another classic phrase used in every eyeliner ads- This will make your eyelines

    last all day without a budge!

    Would they smudge throughout the day?

5) Is it easily removable by cleansers?

    We don't want residues remaining on our eyelids and lashes

     as they are the key factors causing all sorts of eye infection and PLUS

     residues of eye-makeup that you fail to get rid of will speed up the ageing

     and wrinkle development :( so although we want an eyeliner that is water-proof,

and long-lasting without smudging, we DEFINITELY want it to be easily removable

So by testing out the three gel eyeliners, each representing:

Drugstore(Low-End): Eyestudio by Maybelline New York/3g/ $19.99($20)NZD

ELLE-J: Party Lover Gel Eyeliner by Tony Moly/4g/ $14.50NZD

High-End: Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner by Bobbi Brown/3g/ $45~ NZD

I wanted to see if each products did actually

fulfill all the criteria mentioned above and as they claim it on their ads.

 Let's see who'll be the winner in this Beauty Battle

From left to right: Eyestudio by Maybelline New York. ,Party Lover Gel Eyeliner by Tony Moly, 

 Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner by Bobbi Brown.

 all in the colour, BLACK

Just by a glance, we can see that Tony Moly looks the biggest

and it actually does have an extra gram compared to the other two eyeliners

whereas it is the cheapest at only NZD14.50.

When you unscrew the lid, only Tony Moly has an extra plastic cap  for double protection

to prevent the gel from drying up!

TIP/ It is really, really important that you minimise the gel getting exposed in air

because it will dry up the product making the gel harden up

and end up not working....... :(

In the 1st image, squiggly lines were drawn on the back of my hand to see the controllability.

Easier controllability is often relevant to how smooth the gel goes on the surface of the skin.

Because gel eyeliners are for that delicate skin around your eye area, it is important

that the consistency of the gel is moist and smooth for easier application to minimise irritation.

All 3 products had a good controllability and they were all smoothly applied onto the skin.

Personally, I'd pick Maybelline for the best controllability of the application

as it felt really creamy and smooth.

In the 2nd image, I've tried drawing a very thick line and then a very defined, thin line.

 Bobbi Brown was able to make very thin, defined lines

and  Tony Moly had the most thick and intense lines

As for the pigmentation, I'd say Tony Moly is the most intense black!

And then...  I gave enough time for the eyeliners to set

and dry on my skin before moving onto the next 3 tests.

1) Long-Lasting :

Long lasting effect is another important quality of a good eyeliner.

We wouldn't want to be worrying about our eyelines coming off

when there are so many other things to take care of!

To test for long-lasting effect, I left the lines to completely set and dry on the back of my hand

and then gently rubbed the lines to see if they smudged.

2) Water-proof :

Being water-proof is one of the best quality any eyeliner is promoted to have.

As it can be related to having longer lasting effect and not smudging out which is the last thing

on the list for a good eyeliner.

For this test, I literally put few drops of water on the dried and set lines on the back of my hand

and tried rubbing the lines to see if they smudged and came off in water.

3) Removability :

Having the above 2 qualities, the eyeliners should be easily removable by cleansers

so that the residues are not remained on our eyes.

  For testing removability, I used some cleansing oil on a cotton pad

and rubbed onto the lines on the back of my hand very gently as I'd rub on my eye area.

And the RESULTS for the 3 tests are......

 

 1) Long-Lasting: the area inside the pink dotted line in the centre of the lines 

As you can see, out of the 3 eyeliners, only Tony Moly still had some product remaining on my hand

followed by Maybelline and then to my surprise,  Bobbi Brown was almost completely rubbed off. 

Plus, Maybelline felt like the line was smudging as I rubbed (in the image, the line has black smudge around it) whereas for Tony Moly it felt like the line was breaking off in tiny flakes of dried eyeliner gel. (You can see that in the image, it has no smudges around it and the line looks patchy)

Obviously, this was bit of a dramatic way of testing for the long-lasting effect

 as it is very unlikely that we will rub our eyes in the first place with all the make-up on.

However, we can relate this with how effective the eyeliners will be against friction

and contact with external factors that we will be exposed to throughout the day.

2) Water-proof: the area inside the pink dotted line on the left side

All 3 products were pretty equal in the this test in which they were all rubbed off.

Bobbi Brown totally came off whereas the other two products had a bit of pigmentation remaining.

This was also a dramatic method of testing whether the products were water-proof

as normally, we wouldn't purposely put water on our eyes then rub it.

We only used these dramatic methods to really experiment and see the extent of these qualities.

3) Removability : the area inside the pink dotted line on the right side

Tony Moly  and Maybelline were completely removed by the cleansing oil

after few gentle rubbing.

However, Bobbi Brown still had some residues/remains of the product.

So the 5 points of defining a good eyeliner have been tested to the three products

and here is the

OVERALL RESULT:

(Winner for each criteria will be in bold red font)

PRICE

Tony Moly < Maybelline < Bobbi Brown

WEIGHT

Maybelline = Bobbi Brown < Tony Moly

COLOUR INTENSITY

Bobbi Brown < Maybelline < Tony Moly

LINE CONTROLLABILITY-SMOOTH APPLICATION

Maybelline > Bobbi Brown = Tony Moly

LINE CONTROLLABILITY- THICKNESS CONTROL

Maybelline < Tony Moly = Bobbi Brown

WATER PROOF

Bobbi Brown < Tony Moly=Maybelline

REMOVABILITY WITH CLEANSER

Bobbi Brown < Tony Moly=Maybelline

LONG-LASTING

Bobbi Brown < Maybelline (smudging to surrounding area) < Tony Moly (breaking off flakes)

HONEST PERSONAL OPINION OF ELLE-J

Bobbi Brown was definitely very disappointing regarding such a high price and

the high reputation of the brand.

Compared to the other two products, it was the least pigmented and intense which may be

a good thing if you prefer a natural eye makeup.

It does come off the fastest out of the three product but still stays put for at least 6 hours.

Maybelline was totally more than what I had expected.

Especially the gel was so smooth and creamy that the application was the easiest out of the three products.

If you find gel eyeliners difficult to apply, using Maybelline will be a good choice as it is just like

lining your eyes with a pencil eyeliner.

However because the creamy and smooth consistency of the gel, Maybelline smudges a LOT compared to other products.

Tony Moly is very, very intense BLACK and is very long-lasting.

It stays put and does not come off once it's dried.

This may be a problem when you have to fix up your lines because it won't budge

unless you use a cleanser. I always use a bit of cleansing oil on a Q-tip to fix my lines

when I use Tony Moly.

Also, Tony Moly does not smudge but rather come off in little flakes which only rarely happens

unless you actually try to rub your eyes out X)

This is all for this week's Beauty Battle :)

I hope you guys found this useful and helpful!!!!

Comment for any questions on the post

and for Tony Moly Party Lover Gel Eyeliner <3

Or if you have any suggestion for any particular product that

you want us to compare

for next week's Beauty Battle!!

To visit our website www.elle-j.com

To visit Tony Moly Party Lover Gel Eyeliner product page

http://www.elle-j.com/tonymoly-party-lover-gel-eyeliner/

THANKS FOR READING

HOPE YOU GUYS ENJOYED IT XOXO