Makeup and Beauty Blog | Makeup Reviews, Swatches and How-To Makeup
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Connor Claire carries her soccer ball ⚽ everywhere. When we play outside, she kicks it around and chases after it, laughing the entire time and smiling with her eyes. It’s the cutest thing!
I’m wondering if this means that I’m a soccer mom now and can legit rock this gloss by Lune + Aster called Soccer Mom?! I’m going to go with a “yes.”
Two more days ’til National Lipstick Day! 
I must confess… Sometimes when I drink too much coffee, which I did today, I get so hyper that 1) I annoy myself, and 2) my hands get really sweaty, and when my hands get sweaty, I have a hard time opening the Hourglass Confession Lipsticks.
They look so cool, but man! — they’re slick.
Shout-out to the person (or peeps) who decided to put these in bullet-shaped packaging, though. Very clever. 🙂 A bullet-shaped case with a lipstick bullet inside? Oh, the symbolism. The layers within layers. That kind of thing gets me every time (it’s the former English major in me).
Huh! I almost just called this shade “Dragon Roll,” and I do that every single time I wear it…
Why!?
Contrary to what my brain thinks, this is not a delicious sushi roll. It’s a lipstick from NARS called Dragon Girl.
I guess I just really love sushi?! (I do.)
Dragon Girl is in the NARS permanent line of Velvet Matte Lip Pencils — ya know, the ones that look like a crayon that you sharpen.
They have a matte finish, but it’s not just any old basic, flat matte finish. It has a kick to it — a light stain that gives it a softness that you don’t get from truly flat mattes. I think it makes it more approachable.
But that’s not even the main reason I’ve been all about this shade for years. Seriously, it’s my favorite NARS red, and NARS is well-known for their reds.
I’m just sayin’. There’s so many good ones!
Dragon Girl is a chameleon color because, depending on what I’m wearing on my eyes, cheeks, and even my clothes, it can look very different. Sometimes it’s a blue-red. Sometimes it’s a pink-red, or an orange-red, or sometimes it’s got a berry tone. It’s a red that works with everything, and for a desert island challenge, if I had to pick just one NARS red to wear ’til forever arrived, it would be Dragon Roll —
Girl! Dragon Girl. I did it again… 🙂
Question: why isn’t every day National Lipstick Day? Because it should be. Every day should also be National Tubby Tabby Day, National Doughnut Day ? and National Black Stretchy Pants Day.
Every. Damn. Day.
But seriously (as if), National Lipstick Day ? is a thing, and it’s almost here! It’s Saturday, July 29th, and I’m kicking it off by wearing some of my favorite lippies, like this cutie from Tom Ford called Paradiso, a.k.a. the current BFF of my dry-lipped life, because it’s so moisturizing that I feel like I’m standing underneath a tropical waterfall whenever I wear it…
OK, so, maybe that’s a little over-dramatic, but it really is moisturizing, and look at that dreamy finish, ooh-la-la!
Paradiso is a smooth coral Moisturecore Lip Color in the four-piece Tom Ford Paradise capsule collection, an online exclusive available now.
Because it’s Tom Ford, I have to warn you… Take a deep breath (*inhales sharply*), because it’s $55.
I know!
But it’s massively more moisturizing than most moisture-rich lipsticks. The inner core is packed with potent passionfruit oil, and the outer lip color contains a blend of melon fruit extract and murumuru butter.
Tastes and smells like yummy vanilla, too.
Sexy Mother Pucker, shakin’ that @ss! Shakin’ that @ss! Shakin’ that @ss!
Haha! I love that Prince song, and with a name like Sexy Mother Pucker, you know I had to go there.
I. Had. To.
Funny thing is, whenever I hear that song, I always think, “Why are these people yelling at me to shake my butt?” Although, I guess if there were anything to get really fired up about, it would be butt shaking…
WHOA
OK, so normally with plumping glosses, you expect a little, ya know, tingle, or maybe even a slight sting, but OH, MY GAWWWW, I feel like I’m making out with a beehive for the first two minutes after I apply these. Seriously.
Well, almost.
And my lips (especially my bottom lip, for some reason) really does look plump and stung. I mean, it’s not Real Housewives of Orange County lips caliber, but I absolutely see a difference.
The Sexy Mother Puckers are $10 each, non-sticky and come in five colors, and the two I tried, Candy Queen and Rose & Shine, are so sheer that they more or less look the same on my lips.
Oh, and they smell and taste strongly of brown sugar…but I don’t really notice it half the time because I’m too busy talking myself through the intense tingle.
As a temporary lip plumper, yeah, THEY WORK, but I’m a wimp, so I’m not sure how often I’ll wear them.
If you’re curious (or, perhaps, a glutton for punishment), you can find the Sexy Mother Puckers with the rest of the Soap & Glory line at drugstores, Target and Ulta.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
I love ya, matte lips. I really do, but, like in most long-term relationships, sometimes absence makes the heart grow fonder, so…we gotta take a break. Just for a bit. Because when it’s hella hot out like it’s been here lately, matte lips just don’t seem right. But glosses and lip tints, like the Pixi GelTint & SlickGloss combos ($12 each), which are both, do.
Maybe it’s because hot weather puts me a minimal makeup mood, or maybe it’s because of these natural-looking colors. All I know is that on brows/mascara/gel blush/gloss days, I love these doe-foot duos.
There’s a lightly tinted liquid lip tint on one end and a sheer, non-sticky gloss with a smooth, lightweight formula on the other. You can wear the tint or the gloss by themselves, or you can layer the gloss on top of the tint, which is what I usually do. They smell and taste faintly of yummy mint tea, and all three duos are new to Pixi’s permanent line.
If I could suggest anything to help you get the most out of your first experience with the Models Own makeup brand, which recently crossed the pond from Britain and is available now at Ulta, it would be to stick to the powder products (like the eyeshadows and highlighters), but to think twice about the creams.
IMO, the cream products — the creamy eye palette, the lipsticks, lip pencil, liquid lipstick and lip sealer — could use a little refinement.
They’re affordable, which is one thing they have going for them. The cream products all range from $6.99 to $8.99 each, which means more money for CATS!!! But for me, the biggest hurdle with some of the lip products has been their flavor and scent. Most of the Models Own lip products I’ve tried have a cloying faux brown sugar/plastic scent that turns my tummy and brings back memories of old-school NYX lippies.
Anyway, I don’t usually get worked up about how products taste and smell, but if something smells like plastic or fake sugar, I just can’t hang (also, the Lip Finale Lip Sealer doesn’t have a flavor or scent, but the liquid lipstick smells like strong peppermint toothpaste to me).
Even beyond that, though, all of the cream products I’ve tried have left me wanting more. Like the Jumbo Stick Matte Lipstick in Titan Teaberry ($6.99 and available in five other shades). It’s smooth, pigmented, and I think it’s beautiful in pics, but the formula is SO drying and uncomfortable.
OH, MY GOSH. These new Too Faced Melted Latex high-shine lipsticks are fascinating. They are SO shiny and SO opaque, and when you wear ’em, it looks like you’re wearing patent leather on your pout.
The new line of cool, artsy, edgy lipsticks reminds me of thick, pigmented, sticky lip glosses with full-tilt coverage, and they’re available now in 16 $21 shades. Here are swatches of 14 of them.
I think they look super cool, but man! — they sure are uncomfortable. I can’t really have them on my lips for long, but not because they’re drying, because they aren’t, or because they taste or smell funny, because they don’t (they taste/smell like Hawaiian Punch, which to me is a good thing because it brings back childhood memories).
I can’t keep them on my lips because they’re just really, REALLY sticky, and really thick. Like, if you’re familiar with the MAC Lipglasses and how sticky they are, multiply that feeling by 10, and that’s how these sticky these feel.
I tried to make it through the day wearing coral Safe Word (swoon!), but I felt like I was making out with a jar of caramel all day long.
