Lip Balms: One Hit One Miss

I have mentioned before that I have an obsession with lip balms. I don't have as big of a collection as some of you may, but I do love to find good lip balms that will cure me of the dry, chapped lips that I often get. So far I have found one that I really like, the Blistex medicated lip ointment, but after using it for a while it doesn't seem to be working as well as it did when I first came across it. When a deal on Hautelook came around that gave me a $40 gift certificate for the price of $20 at beautybar.com, I decided to splurge on some new lip balms. The first one that I got is the Peter Thomas Roth Pink Bombshell Lipbalm. 

I should have known from the name that this was going to be a waste of my money. But, I wanted to see what an expensive lip balm would be like, and the pink balm inside a little glass pot appealed to me because it reminded me of the much raved about By Terry lip balm. I was choosing between this one and the Philosophy Kiss Me Tonight, and now I wonder whether I had chosen wrongly. This lip balm is interesting, but nothing special and certainly not worth the money. It has a very hard waxy texture, which makes it hard to get the product onto your lips. If you look closely it has little shimmer particles that are hardly noticeable on the lips but do create a nice sheen-y effect. It smells sickly sweet and gives a slight minty feeling. It is nice as a primer for lipstick, but I find that I cannot take it seriously as a lip moisturizer/treatment. 

The next one I bought, which I was much mored excited for was the Ole Henriksen African Red Tea Exfoliating Lip Salvation. 

There were a lot of great reviews for this one, and it kind of balanced out my disappointment with the other one. This has a much more workable texture and feels like it has little grains in it that contribute to its exfoliating effect. It has a lot of natural ingredients and I like it because it is exfoliating, but you don't need to tissue it off or anything - you can leave it on and eventually it will wear off and sink into your lips. It does leave a raspberry tint on your lips, which I usually hate, but for some reason I actually like this one. Plus, I use it mostly when I am at home so I don't mind the initial gritty feeling or the stain on my lips. My lips have been a lot smoother and I've been going for a few days without chapped, flaky lips! I really like this product and I would definitely repurchase even though it is on the expensive side for a lip treatment. 

What are your favorite lip balms that you think I should try? 

~Vida

Revlon Stormy Pink

Revlon makes the best drugstore lipsticks in my opinion. They have a wide variety of shades that are on par with current trends, the formulations are nice, and the packaging is sleek and has a nice weight to it. They are also the only drugstore brand I have found that carries a large selection of matte shades. 

This is one of their Super Lustrous lipsticks in stormy pink and when I first saw this shockingly magenta color I immediately thought of Candy Yum-Yum from MAC. I have recently been really drawn to these bright pink/magenta lip colors and I'm glad I got to try out this one first before I shelled out the money for a high end lipstick. 

The lipstick goes on surprisingly sheer, has a texture similar to a lip balm, and is super buildable. At first I was a little disappointed that it didn't come out as strong and creamy as I had expected, but then I realized that the formula is what made this matte lipstick not so matte (drying, flaw accentuating, flat). I am strangely mesmerized by it because of its stunning color - it is definitely a "weekend" lipstick. 

Next to get on my magenta lip list? MAC Chatterbox, Impassioned, and MUFE Aqua Cream #7 fuschia.

~Vida

A Very Nude Lip Combo

Hello everyone! For the past few weeks since MAC's Quite Cute collection has launched, I have been captivated by a few things from the collection - Playing Koi & Candy Yum-Yum lipsticks, Bubble Tea plushglass, and a few of the blushes. When I felt that I could no longer look from afar, I decided to go to the MAC counter to see what they had left. There wasn't much, but that was probably a blessing in disguise.
I walked away with these two items that are good on their own, but even better when paired together.

Naked Liner lip pencil; Bubble Tea plushglass

I have been looking for a nude liner since forever, and this is it. Naked Liner is a true pinkish nude lip liner that is incredibly soft and creamy.The only other lip pencil that I own is from the Body Shop and it is hard and dry and no where near as nude as this one. This goes on with the lightest touch and I am so glad the makeup artist at MAC recommended this to me. 
It's not only pretty, but it's practical too - or as practical as makeup can be.  It is extremely matte and long lasting. You can use it to "over line" your lips to give the illusion of fuller lips, but this would probably only work if you are using a nude lip color because it can be slightly obvious. You can use it under lip glosses to make them hold better and last longer. And you can use it underneath any lipstick to make it brighter, and more true to color.
 I can't wait to experiment more with this, and maybe talk about it more in a future post. 

The plushglass is nice also, but nothing amazing - it was a purchase mainly to satisfy my need to try a plushglass. It is a beige pink, but comes out very sheer like many of the other plushglasses. These are supposed to be plumping lipglosses, but they don't really do much except give your lips a slightly minty feeling that may make you believe your lips are fuller. This is not such a bad thing, because I hate harsh plumping lipglosses. I love the packaging, the way it looks in the tube, the name, and the smell of it - it actually smells vaguely like bubble tea.
I would never have worn this alone, so I thought it would go perfectly with my new Naked lip liner.

It is evident to me after this post that I hate modeling my lips. But anyways, this nude lip takes a little more effort than just a lipstick would. But, I think that since it is a pencil, it is a lot thinner than a lipstick would be, so it doesn't look gloopy or too heavy and you can get into every nook and cranny of your lip using the point of the pencil. The gloss is also very thin, which is nice because I hate feeling like I am wearing layer upon layer of product on my lips.

Although the bubble tea plushglass is limited edition, I believe that the naked lip liner has become a permanent product which is perfect because I can see myself repurchasing it =)

What are your favorite lip liners/lip combos?

~Vida

Pink and Plaid

I'm currently loving bright blue-toned pink lipsticks. I used to think I could never pull off bright pink lips, but now that I've played around with some, I really enjoy wearing them when I'm in the mood. They brighten the face and I really like how they contrast with other colors, so you don't necessarily have to have the right outfit on to wear a bright pink lip. 

Here's a few I've been alternating through and I love and recommend them all =) 

(L-R) - NYX strawberry milk, Wet N' Wild Think Pink, MAC Creme Cup 

They all look kind of the same in the picture, but there are some slight differences between them. Strawberry milk is much lighter milky pink, and Think Pink is the same tone as Creme Cup but brighter. 

What are your favorite pink lipsticks? 

NYX lipstick haul

Hey guys =) I wanted to share with you the NYX lipsticks that I ordered. I get my NYX stuff from this ebay seller, joy017. If you're having trouble getting hold of NYX makeup, this is a great place to order from. She has so many items in stock and many of the items come in package deals so it is extremely inexpensive. Shipping is cheap and very fast and all in all it was a good ebay shopping experience. 

My NYX orange soda lipstick was running low and I wanted to get a new one. Another NYX lipstick that I loved, Circe, was brutally destroyed in a washing machine accident - I left the lipstick in one of my jean pockets and threw it in the washer. It was a disaster for my clothes, but I was able to undo most of the damage. 

And so, I was prompted to order 6 new NYX lipsticks. Here they are:

So far my favorites are tea rose and pumpkin pie, in addition to orange soda and circe. 

On my lips tea rose is a deep pink color, almost like a magenta - not really very rosy. 

Pumpkin pie looks very orange-y in the swatch above, but on my lips it is a slightly nude, my lips but better shade. 

Circe is a really nice brown-y nude, which I say would work well on medium to darker skin tones. 

I love orange soda, but it can be too much if you just slap it on all over. It is a lipstick that can accentuate the cracks in your lips, but if applied sparingly and blended out with your fingers it is a really pretty peachy nude.

Strawberry milk is like the name implies a very milky bubblegum pink - a fun lipstick, but not for everday, at least not for me. 

And thalia is way too dark for me, but maybe I'll find some way to make it work. 

The color variety of NYX lipsticks are so fun and at such an affordable price they are addicting to buy. Some of the colors are not always spot-on, but they are definitely fun to experiment with =)

What are your favorite NYX products?