Drugstore Beauty Finds

Forget “champagne wishes and caviar dreams.” I prefer “makeup wishes and Soft Lip Creams.” 🙂

In my wildest beauty nerd dreams, I’d visit each of the 11 cities featured in the new NYX Soft Lip Creams line ($6 each) just to be able to wear each color in the city it belongs. First London, then Amsterdam, Antwerp, Stockholm, Monte Carlo and Milan. From there it’s across the Adriatic to Istanbul, down to Abu Dhabi, further down to Addis Ababa, way, way east to Tokyo, and then all the way across the Pacific to end in Sao Paolo, Brazil.

Of course, to complete the fantasy, I’d fly business class, and Ben McKenzie would accompany me on the journey (sorry, El Hub!). On planes, in trains and automobiles, we’d talk for hours about The Hunger Games, and then, somewhere over the Mediterranean, he’d reveal his secret fetish for crazy cat ladies.

But seriously, here’s what really happened…

Today I wore Addis Ababa (a matte hot pink), Antwerp (a matte coral), Milan (a matte peach) and Amsterdam (a matte red) — not at the same time, of course — as I tooled around the sleepy Northern California town of Novato, dodging cookie-pushing Girl Scouts (OMG! THIN MINTS!), and walking a chubby cat named Tabs.

Okay, so that wasn’t terribly exciting, but these Soft Matte Lip Creams are. 🙂 NYX, a budget-minded, cruelty-free brand, just released the new line of creamy, long-wearing matte lipsticks for spring.

NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams from left: Addis Ababa, Amsterdam, Antwerp and Milan
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Remember a few years ago when it seemed like every other day a different celebrity would get caught accidentally flashing her goodies on camera? It usually happened while they were stepping out of a limo, falling from a barstool or slipping off of a couch in the club.

Now, I seriously doubt that L. Lo, Brit-Brit, or P. Hilt have had anything to do with the nude/neutral/naked eyeshadow palettes that have arrived on makeup counters lately, but it still makes me wonder: is this a case of life imitating art, or just another strange makeup coincidence? 🙂

Either way, I’m not complaining. I’ll gladly take another palette of good old-fashioned wearable nudes and neutrals any day of the week.

Buzz has been building for the latest one in the limelight, the NYX Nude on Nude Eyeshadow and Lip Palette for spring ($25). Some are calling it a dupe for Urban Decay’s more expensive Naked Palette ($48).

This isn’t the first skinny dip for NYX, aka their first naked rodeo (NOTE: I’ve waited my entire life to type the words, “naked rodeo”). NYX released a much smaller version of the Nude on Nude Palette last year with fewer shadows (nine versus 20) and lip colors (two versus 10), and I think that first palette, with its warm, rich bronzes and orangey browns, bore a stronger resemblance to Urban Decay’s Naked than this newer one does. It wasn’t an exact dupe, but it shared a similar vibe.

This year’s Nude On Nude is a naked beast! With 20 shadows (many of which lean cool) and 10 lip colors to choose from, it contains a much wider selection of colors than UD’s Naked at a much lower price.

NYX Nude on Nude: Product Pics

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