In the mood for Melt Darkroom (A review)

Melt owners Lora 
Arellano and Dana Bomar

Darkroom is 
here to stay

When Melt Darkroom was launched late last year everyone got excited about this beet colored lipstick thanks to the creative minds of Melt's lady bosses Laura Arellano and Dana Bonar who are professional MUA themselves. Just an FYI, Laura is Rihanna's makeup artist and behind most of her looks in her music videos so you know what to expect from ladies who know makeup so well. 

Nope, it's not a shoe box. 
Just my lippie!

Freebies

My first purchase of Melt are By Starlight and Space Cake because Blow and DGAF were out of stock during that time. I instantly fell in love with both, it screams 'me'! I don't care whenever I get weird stares from people like I'm from another planet or something. I love wearing daring lipsticks not because I want attention but I just love make up so much someday I swear I will make a living out of it, lol. I became obsessed with super pigmented lipsticks and eyeshadows I tried other makeup brands and lippie shades such as Five 11 Cosmetics' Free (Almost blue green in color) and Manic Panic's After Midnight (Electric Blue). I've been stalking Melt's website to see what's new until about a week ago they reached 1 million followers on Instagram so they had a 24 hour SALE offering 25% off on every product just by using the code "meltmilli". I wasted no time and bought Darkroom immediately before it's sold out.

Darkroom swatch

My Melt box came via USPS a week after I placed my order which is fast for international orders it usually takes a month to arrive. My very first Melt package came in a white box, now it's black so there's quite a mystery in there. Unboxing this product is the most exciting part. What I loved about Melt is that no matter what the quantity of your order, you always get a postcard and a cute freebie, (sweet!). I got a pocket mirror then, this time it's a mini Space Cake lipstick keychain (yay!). Melt just so love their customers you will feel it at the very moment you opened that box. I'm just really happy with the packaging to start with. 

The signature scent of vanilla and clay stays with Darkroom. I still like the gooey texture it glides easily but compared to By Starlight, it doesn't leave a pink stain when you remove it like a lip tattoo or something. It's still long wearing though not as matte compared to other liquid to matte lipsticks (read my previous review about La Splash Cosmetics in Ghoulish). Great news is, Darkroom doesn't leave your lips dry but applying a small amount of lip moisturizer before and after wouldn't hurt. A lip primer is a must for every MUA but I think any Melt lipstick is good to go with or without it. 

NYX Siren is a good dupe for Darkroom 
and Maison for Limecrime's Salem

Lovin' my Darkroom

Melt Darkroom is good to have especially if you like to play with colors a lot just like myself and would like to try something different, either you're going for a grunge look or simply want to look elegant on a night out. Price wise, there are cheaper alternatives in the market but bear in mind that quality makeup ain't cheap although surprisingly, some cheaper brands can come up with a better version so it would really help to read product reviews before buying. Better yet look for a product's 'dupe' (duplicate) but make sure it is safe to use. Since I'm an animal lover I go for cruelty free, vegan makeup just like Melt and Limecrime. I've been a NYX fan because their makeup is affordable and the quality is good too. I've purchased NYX Siren in the past and I noticed that it is a good dupe of Darkroom. I have NYX Maison too because I was so in love with Limecrime's Salem then. La Splash in Ghoulish became so popular because it is the best dupe of Limecrime's Cashmiere at the moment.

I'm still a Melt fan and looking forward to try their new products in the future. I'm still in the hunt for cheaper alternatives because makeup is forever. So there. 

RD Mode On

Summer is still on although the month of May is nearly over. I love spending my rest days enjoying this wonderful view plus the weather today is perfect to stay home and bathe my cat Atari. Summer is also the 'flea season' so twinnie and I make sure to give our cat a good bath at least once a week if possible, to somehow ease the discomfort. I don't get enough sleep everyday, I'm not sure if it's just the weather or it's just not normal to sleep while the sun is still up? My work shift starts on wee hours of the morning and ends at noon so imagine how painful it is for my eyes to stare at the sky without wearing sunnies. I'm not a vampire anymore since I'm no longer in the graveyard shift but I guess I'm still enduring its side effects! I'm not a morning person nor a night owl so I don't really know what works for me. What I love about the morning is that I can be like any normal human being. I can run errands after my shift and wander around the city. When I was in GY I can sleep really late. I can go to the marketplace early in the morning after my shift to buy fresh produce or take a morning jog. I make the most of my rest days at home by doing my nails, fixing my brows and eating healthy if possible. Am I being productive? Lol. What I like about my life here up north is that it's more laid back compared to my life in the south where everything moves pretty fast and there's no room for people to slow down or you'll get lost in the jungle city. I don't wrestle with traffic unless it's the tourist season in the summer capital of the Philippines! But for the most part, life here is chill as the weather. 

Birthday Holiday Hongkong Getaway

Leaving Manila

Tune Hotel

Chillin' after a 7 hour tip at Holiday Inn Manila Galleria

Silka Fareast Hotel Tsuen Wan, HK

Our room

At the Avenue of Stars

I've been working so hard and I deserve a break so I decided to take time off from work for 2 weeks for my birthday. My twin sister and I usually plan our travel at least 2-3 months in advance. While I decide on what country to visit and most of the research about the area as well as local hotel reservations, she takes care booking our flights and coordinating with the travel agency that will take us to where we are going. We were in Siem Reap, Cambodia last year but it was only for 2D2N and we didn't go through any travel agency because the hotel we stayed at offer tour packages to Angkor Wat and it's cheaper to arrange it there plus we'll be more comfortable not joining a group. This year, we decided to go to Hongkong and have it arranged with a travel agency for a 4D3N Free and Easy package. Despite our schedule difference I'm glad that we made it work, thank God our vacation leaves filed 1 year ahead got approved. We left Baguio at 7AM via Victory bus and it was a 7 hour trip to Manila. We checked in at the

Etude House, Mongkok

Sampan boat ride at the Aberdeen Fishing Village

Holiday Inn Manila Galleria in Ortigas overnight and took advantage of our employee benefit. Our elder sister and niece slept over then we head to Tune Hotel in Aseana, Paranaque the next day because it is closer to the airport (NAIA T3), our flight to Hongkong is at 7:25AM via Cebu Pacific. The weather was very cooperative and perfect for me to take aerial shots since I am seated beside the window...just right by the fire exit! Yes, my sister told me that she didn't know, geez. Although I was a little uncomfortable seated by the fire exit at first because the cabin crew will sit in front of you during take off and landing, I also realized that it's not so bad after all, I have a lot of space so I was able to stretch my legs. It was an easy, breezy 2 hour trip. When we 

The Big Buddha, Ngong Ping, Lantau Island

landed at the HK airport and as soon as we got passed immigration we purchased 2 Octopus MTR cards and a local sim card so we can get in touch with our travel agent that will take us to our hotel and get some rest. We were supposed to withdraw funds from NAIA but the Immigration Officer didn't allow me to go out anymore since we already have our boarding passes so we thought we'll just do that at the HK airport. Anyhow, it took us roughly 45 minutes to get to our hotel in Tsuen Wan aboard a mini van together with other Pinoys and our Chinese driver. We stayed at a 3 star hotel called Silka Far East which is quite nice. As soon the front desk staff swiped my credit card for incidental fees and gave us our breakfast vouchers we settled in our teeny tiny room and we can't be 'choosy' because we know what to expect since we've checked this hotel's website already and learned from reviews that most HK hotels aren't spacious anyway. We scoured the area after resting for a few hours but we're unable to withdraw funds from the nearby ATM machine we called BPI and have our ATM cards activated for international withdrawal unfortunately, we are still unable to withdraw and we got stuck with whatever HK bucks that we have until the next day. We woke up early to grab breakfast at the hotel before our tour. We waited for our bus and tour guide at the hotel's lobby. Day 1 is the start of our half day city tour. A tour bus with an English speaking Chinese tour guide drove us to our first destination which is the Avenue of the Stars where we took pictures for about 15 minutes. Thank God for our monopod we were able to take a lot of pictures together using my phone and we took turns in taking a few individual shots using our digital camera. I didn't bring my DSLR with me anymore since we can't use it for our monopod anyway and it's quite heavy. Next stop is the YSL 

Ladies Market in Mongkok

jewelry factory which I didn't enjoy at all because I'm not a jewelry fan and everything there was really expensive. The next attraction was just as boring, The Victoria Peak mid-level. We saw the Victoria Peach at a very far view you have to zoom in your camera lens or phone in order to appreciate it. I was getting bored of this whole tour already hadn't because of the Sampan boat ride at the Aberdeen Fishing Village. Honestly, I was quite hesitant at first to ride a boat but surprisingly I find it refreshing. Our half day city tour ended almost lunch time, our bus dropped us close to the Mongkok area so other guests can continue on with their Disney tour or whatever and we are starving we decided to have lunch and finally able to withdraw funds from a Standard Chartered ATM machine, yay! We realized that it was just that ATM machine close to our hotel that doesn't work with our bank (problem solved!). Our luck continues when I saw an Etude House in the area where I bought a black liquid eyeliner which is currently sold out in the Philippines and nobody can tell when it will be back in store again. Twinnie and I still have time to explore HK so as planned we went to visit the Tian Tian Buddha (Big Biddha) in Ngong Ping, Lantau Island. It was a long climb of 286 steps to get to the hugest buddha I've ever seen but it was well worth taking pictures when you get to the top where it sits comfortably overlooking the island. We had snacks and rested for a while then after dawn we went back to Mongkok to one of the shopping havens in HK at the Ladies Market for souvenir shopping. Back at the hotel we were so tired but we slept late. It's our birthday the next day and we travelled 30 minutes to Causeway Bay from Tsuen Wan just to see the Hello kitty Le Petit Cafe where we bought our birthday cupcakes. We originally wanted to go to the other Hello Kitty Cafe called Secret Garden but it is closed on Mondays and we're leaving HK the next day (sigh). Nothing much to do on our last stroll in HK we just had our last minute 'pasalubong' shopping. We woke up early on our last day because breakfast starts at 6:30AM and we don't want to miss it before our flight. The shuttle bus is supposed to pick us up at the hotel at 8AM because our flight is at 10:45AM but came late at almost 8:20AM we have  no choce but to hurry and look for the check in counter immediately at the airport as soon as we get there. We still have time after we checked in our luggages we had our MTR card balance refunded or our almost 100 HKD will be put to waste. We almost missed our flight back home and we're so not used to getting to the airport in less than 2 hours we came running to get to our boarding gate when we saw the LED light flashing 'Last Call' gosh! We landed safely in NAIA then checked in at Tune Hotel again so we can at least get an overnight rest before another 7 hour trip back home. Our HK getaway was worth it but of course there are still things that didn't go well as planned but that's part of the whole travel thing, you learn everytime. I might go back to HK but will possibly spend more on hotel accomodation somewhere close to the city and less on MTR fare. So where to next? Think tank.                    

LA Splash Lip Couture in Ghoulish (review)

I'm not a liquid lipstick fan at all because I don't like the feel of wet lips and I find it kinda hard to manage compared to matte. I've been following a lot of professional as well as self-taught MUAs (Make-up artists) like myself and there's a fuss going on about this new make-up brand called La Splash Cosmetics and their Lip Couture collection. 

What caught my fancy is 'Ghoulish.' I find this shade really interesting apart from the name which invites Halloween, I thought this lippie shade will go well with a dark, smokey eyeshadow or if you just want a nude-natural looking lips. 

I've been shopping online for 9 years and for the most part when it comes to makeup, I order directly from the brand's website unless the shipping fee is way more than the price of the product that I'm ordering then I shop for local sellers that sell it cheaper of course. I ordered my Ghoulish from a local Instagram shop given that I am an Instagram user. I bought this lippie for Php500 plus shipping fee. It was a Sunday and I got it Thursday which is not so not bad at all considering I am based up North. I got so, so excited I unpacked it immediately.

Sorry about the poor lighting

The bottle was pretty neat however, when I opened it I noticed that the lip applicator is covered with a thick amount of that liquid lipstick so if you're not careful at all you might end up spilling everything. I have a thing with smelling a lipstick before using it and this one smells like clay but almost odorless to me. 

In terms of quality, it was really liquid when you first apply it but it becomes matte afterwards. It dries out quickly so make sure to shape your lips and spread it evenly right away. I am impressed that it is really waterproof and smudge free, you can last a day without re-touching it after eating or drinking something hot (yay!). Since it is super matte, I suggest applying a little bit of lip balm before putting it on or as soon it dries out to avoid the dry feeling on your lips. You can use a nude lip liner to line your outer lips to make the color pop a little. 

To sum it up, La Splash Lip Couture in Ghoulish is a must try especially if you're into matte lipsticks and looking for a cheaper alternative of Limecrime's Cashmiere. That's pretty much it for now. I will post more makeup reviews soon so stay tuned!