I can't believe how long it's been since I've updated this blog. I got overwhelmed with other life stuff, but I'm back now with a long backlist of posts I want to get up, so hoping to keep up with posting more regularly again!
First up, I wanted to bring you some more swatches of Honeybee Gardens lipstick. In the past I've ordered these from iherb, where they sell for a couple dollars cheaper than on the Honeybee Gardens website, but this time around, I ordered some samples directly from Honeybee Gardens so I could try out more colours. I really like these lipsticks, but the swatches on the Honeybee Gardens website are a bit lacking and I haven't seen many blogger swatches floating around either, so samples seemed like a safer bet.
You can find my initial review here for more information and hopefully this will help anyone who might have been considering these, but unsure about colours!
Sample Size
Samples are small slices of lipstick in baggies. They're a little awkward to apply, but you do get enough for several applications. Definitely worth the $0.50 cost!
Valentine
Honeybee Gardens describes Valentine as a medium matte pink. It's basically a deeper version of Soft Kiss (which you can see in my original review.) Soft Kiss is a great baby pink, but I sometimes have a hard time wearing it. Valentine is still a fairly light pink, but for me, the slightly darker shade is often easier to pull off.
Burlesque
Burlesque is described as a fuchsia sparkle. Looking at the sample, I can see sparkles, but on the lips, they really weren't noticeable. This might just be how it shows up on me, but I found it leaned more towards coral than fuchsia. One of my favourites of the bunch, nonetheless.
Risque
Risque is described as a medium berry matte. Sorry for the messy swatch of this one...not sure how I didn't notice that until I was editing the photo! To me, Risque isn't so much a berry colour as a blue toned, somewhat pinkish red. I did also get some feathering with this colour, so I'd recommend wearing a lip pencil underneath it.
Tuscany
Tuscany is my other favourite of the bunch. It's decribed as a red grape sparkle, though on me, it seems like a very natural, mauve-ish, my lips but better shade. Again, I didn't find the sparkle very noticeable on the lips.
Paradise
Paradise is described as a cool neutral pink rose. It's a pretty colour, but not a shade I'd personally wear. It leans a little brown and I don't find lip colours with any brown in them to be especially flattering on me.
Camelot
Camelot is described as a ruby plum red sparkle. From the description and swatch on the Honeybee Gardens website, I was expecting the colour to be a lot deeper and more vivid. I guess it's a sheer plummy red colour, but not really what I was hoping for when I chose it.
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| (L to R) Valentine, Burlesque, Risque, Tuscany, Paradise, Camelot |
The Bottom Line
I really like the formula of these lipsticks and there are definitely some gorgeous colours in the line, but I do think Honeybee Gardens could improve their website with more accurate swatches (and descriptions for some colours too.) For that reason, I'd recommend swatching them in store (if possible) or ordering samples before investing in full sizes.
