COLOURPOP UK Haul: Impressions and UK shipping (basic starter kit for dark skin)

Woop woop finally guys, finally I have some ColourPop in my life! 

As I said in my Blogger Beauty Box post.
 February is my birthday month and I went into full "treat yo'self" mode.
I just decided to get myself a few little things here and there and let the parcels roll in all month.

I have been waiting a long time to get my hands on these.
As I am pretty sure like many bloggers have.

I remember seeing a woman on youtube, who had pretty much every colour in early 2014 I believe.

I promptly sent it to my friend like uhhh yes, we need some of that sexiness ASAP and waiting for it to become available in the UK....

Unfortunately ColourPop still don't deliver to the UK.

(They have our spelling of colour but you don't deliver here?!)- woe is me yada yada, you get it I just couldn't wait any more.

So as the clock struck midnight on February 1st, I took the plunge and placed my first order.

The only way to get it to the UK is to use a courier service.
As you can imagine.

I have had a lot of time to check out courier websites and ColourPop, reviews, swatches and hauls and compile a list of things I wanted to try.

I decided to chose things that would be the foundation of collection.
A basic starter kit for dark skinned folk, if you will.

I went through my original list and cut it down ruthlessly, to things I really wanted and that would fit that brief.
Making sure I stuck to a reasonable budget.

This is also important to keep your overseas shipping costs down.
I am happy to say there are many products on the website, that cater to several skintones.

This time around, I mainly chose lip products as I will get more use out of them.

The products on the website are between $5 and $8 for individual items, which is incredibly affordable against the pound.

At this time this is an equivalent of £3.47 to £5.55.

I also signed up for their newsletter which snagged me a $5 welcome discount.

I am really into grungey tones and the colours I chose work well with this.
I chose liquid lipsticks and matte lipstick formulas as I love a matte lip!

Colourpops strength definitely lies in their liquid lipsticks. 
From the selection I picked up I am most impressed with the liquid lipsticks and highlighters.
 That is not to say however I don't like the matte lippie stixs, I just don't think they are the second coming.

*Each product type in order of favs*

Ultra Matte Lip $6 each

Lax -vampy darkened brown berry

Limbo -neutral chocolate brown

Tulle -dusty pinkish mauvey brown

Chilly chilli - orange pinkish brown

The ultra matte liquid lipsticks are very forgiving and not as drying on me as other formulas.

Chilly Chilli seems to have a more watery formula than the others and has started to separate on occasion. However hasn't leaked yet and I am keeping it at an angle to be safe. 
It isn't streaky thankfully just a lot more watery.

I also luckily haven't had any issue with the LAX formula.
Which has had reports of being patchy. My one applies great.

Tulle is also interesting pink tone, that warms up in tone the longer it is on my lips, making it a little darker and more appealing to we wearing it more often.

I tested out the ultra matte lips thoroughly and found that they are pretty much immovable unless you eat greasy/ oily foods. I had them on for at least 6 hours
. Then I saw some transfer and rubbing off in the middle of my bottom lip.

Which makes sense as you remove them with oil based products. 

On myself however I didn't require a touch up as the area that rubbed away was small and not visible to anyone else.

Matte Lippie Stix $5 each

Ellarie - deep browned berry red

Bichette - dark red

Pitch - 60% dark chocolate and a splash of milk

They have a vanilla scent to varying degrees, similar to the famous MAC scent.
Browns/ neutrals are my my jam but surprisingly I wasn't blown away by Pitch.
It is nice to have in my collection but yeah.

In terms of the texture, I would say they are very creamy and moisturising and take a fairly long time to become matte.

I would describe them as semi matte as it took at least an 20 minute before I noticed that the sheen had settled to a matte.

In future I would be more interested in the colour pay off which is good rather than the level of matte.
Bichette is a really beautiful statement red and Ellarie looks even more striking with a lipliner.
Both stain the lips when wiped off.

Highlighter $8 each

Avalon - warm golden peachy bronze

Butterfly beach - mid tone silver/ gold flecked iridescent combo

The highlighters are just beautiful and super pigmented. 

I chose 2 stunning  pearlised shades. 

One gorgeous peachy warm toned bronze shade and a mid toned light iridescent gold tone.

They have they same texture as the ColourPop eyeshadows.

The highlight texture is so different to the touch, just like that of their eyeshadows and it is encouraged to apply with the finger. 

However they can be applied with a highlighting/ fan brush.

I really like the fact that ColourPop display the pigments on a variety of skin tones.

 Although limited to 3, they are far ahead of most companies that don't display on models of different ethnicities or solely showcase the product on a Caucasian model. 

At least you can see how the product changes tonality and work from there on how it will look on you.

Shipping

Shipping was very easy and quick, it was 9 days from ordering to delivery at my house.

A simple breakdown of ordering to delivery:

Ordered from ColourPop website - 1st Feb (midnight)

ColourPop dispatched to Borderlinx - 2nd Feb

Borderlinx hub received and  processed the shipment - 5th Feb

After a clarification email to ensure postage was correct and releasing my order, shipment was then released on the 5th feb (evening) .

Final Arrival - 9th Feb (Morning)

*please remember that Americans add their VAT at checkout.

It isn't inclusive like here so budget for that.

Although ColourPop is inclusive of VAT, Borderlinx was not and VAT was added at checkout.*

My Borderlinx experience was very easy.

From signing up, to the explanation on how the service worked and receiving my individual overseas address.

I found out about this courier service myself and saw a first hand review from The blushing giraffe.  

There wasn't a sign up fee and my sign up was done in seconds.
I also picked up a few presents for friends that will not be shown on here, that put my delivery price up a little.

My postage etc came to $40. Making each individual item (shown) about $7 (approx £4.87) including postage each.

I wasn't charged customs fees luckily, as I would have been fuming.

Thankfully I have never been charged. Fingers crossed. 

You will also find that Borderlinx has many discounts for shipping once you sign up too.

For an alternative shipping company checkout Jasmine talks beauty post, who always gives thorough info and reviews.

Colourpop is also available from individual sellers on Amazon and eBay, if this whole process sounds like a palava and you are absolutely desperate to try something. 

However I am not willing to be swindled, shegged and scammed by opportunists who target beauty lovers and tack on astronomical mark ups. 

So just be prepared to be absolutely ripped off. 
In my most deepest desperation I won't pay silly prices like those being bandied about. 
Not paying £35 for a $5 product!
So it worked out cheaper for me per product to order from the USA and also allowed me to choose from the full selection of products on the website.  

So that was my ColourPop haul!
My starter kit that caters to POC, especially darkskinned people such as myself.
Products that I know will suit me and that have surprised me with their versatility too.
I have been so excited to really test out these products and am really loving the their liquid lipsticks and highlighters.

Have your got any ColourPop products?

Smooches

Stephanie aka Wednesdays Girl

xoxo

Don't forget to come find me and  Follow @GirlWednesdays