Brand: Tom Ford
Range: Ultra Shine Lip Gloss
Shade: Rose Crush
Swatched by yours truly: akisa

• Tom Ford Ultra Shine Lip Glosses are intensely creamy, pigmented (or colour saturated as they call it!) with a high shine lacquer finish.
• The thick creamy texture has high grip – so much that it doesn’t smudge on teeth – and sculpts lips into a smooth finish.
• It is the stickiest formula I’ve tested to date, a trade off for long lasting pigmented shine.
• Rose Crush is a gorgeous warm beige on my skintone, perfect for those that love their neutrals.
• Available in 10 shades from neutrals to luscious reds, violets, pinks and corals.
• For those that love a good dupe, one that comes to mind is Bobbi Brown Rich Colour Gloss in Pink Buff which is slightly rosier.
  
• Verdict: It’s luxury in a gloss, exceptionally high in quality and definitely a collector’s item.  The stickiness is not for everyone, but I love the fact that you get a sophisticated finish that lasts all day with minimal touch ups required.  Just remember to have your hair up to avoid it being cemented into this highly sticky gloss!

Woops! Thank goodness I lined my light tent with paper!

A little gloss goes a LONG way! You only need half the usual amount of gloss to achieve the finish on the right pic.

This product was provided for consideration.

Brand: MAC
Range: Lipstick
Shade: A Perfect Day
Swatched by yours truly: akisa

• Available in 4 limited edition shades  launched as part of the Naturally collection, A Perfect Day is an opaque beige with an amplified finish.
• On my skin tone, this shade has more brown / tan hues in it, whereas on other bloggers  (eg. Temptalia) the same shade gave a very different result with pink tones.
• Verdict:  I recommend this only for those with pale lip tones and with minimal lip lines.  Unfortunately for me I have neither & the swatches turned out very patchy and could not be rescued even with gloss.  It looks so beautiful in the tube that I am gutted!

It swatched beautifully on my arms but patchy on my lips!
Not even a lip brush or MAC’s Lipglass “Fresh Air” could even it out on my lip lines and pigmented lip tone.
I recommend this only for those with pale lip tones with minimal lip lines.

This product was provided for consideration.

Brand: MAC
Range: Lipglass
Shade: Fresh Air
Swatched by yours truly: akisa

• Fresh Air is one of four limited edition shades launched as part of the Naturally collection.
• Fresh Air is a sheer light beige pink with very fine shimmers.
• Unlike other milky shades, this is not milky enough to noticeably sink into lip lines, making it a really wearable milky gloss.
• As with MAC lipglasses, the texture is long lasting thanks to the thick and sticky formula.
• Verdict: This gloss is so subtle it will appeal to those who appreciate a natural, subtletake on sheer nudes that have a translucent, luminous and a veil-like finish.

Do you like translucence when it comes to lip glosses?
Or do you like your glosses to be punchy and creamy?

Apologies (again) for the pale BB cream that caused my auto-white balance to give me pink tones!

This product was provided for consideration.

Brand: Estee Lauder
Range: Double Wear Stay-in-Place Lipstick
Shade: Stay Honey
Swatched by yours truly: akisa

• Smooth and creamy with up to 12 hours staying power yet silky smooth with a delicate satin shine.
• Stiff at first, but once you warm up the product & blend with a lip brush, this becomes surprisingly comfortable to wear.
• You don’t really need makeup remover, this also removes easily with cleansing wipes.
• Stay Honey looks like milk chocolate in the tube, and at first glance I thought it would be too dark for my NC20 skintone. But I was blown away by how easy to wear this shade is.
• Verdict: I don’t believe there’s such a things as THE perfect nude – I believe there’s several of them.   I own several beige shades which I consider “perfect”.  There’s the creamy “nudie nude”, and I also love my “caramel nude” and “sheer nude”.   As for Stay Honey – I’m calling this one my “milk chocolate nude”.
• Tip: To avoid lips looking blotchy with long lasting lipsticks, prep lips with a lip liner for an even wash of colour as a lip base.

Brand: Burts Bees
Range: Tinted Lip Balm
Shades: Rose, Pink Blossom, Honeysuckle
Swatched by the lovely: Bluebell

• Burts Bee’s new shea butter lip balms is 100% natural and gives a hint of colour with a soft glossy moisturised finish.
• Available in 6 shades – Hibiscus, Honeysuckle, Tiger Lily, Pink Blossom, Red Dahlia and Rose.
• The butter texture is simply delightful to wear. Highly moisturising, smoothing &  one of my top recommended stick lip balms.
• Thanks Bluebell for the swatch! 

(L-R) Rose, Pink Blossom, Honeysuckle

Rose

Pink Blossom

Honeysuckle