Lips

Get Glossy Gorgeousness AND a Creamy Finish With the NARS Velvet Lip Glides

August 17th, 2016 by Karen 32 Comments

You know what happens when you say to Siri, “Yo, Siri, take me to the nexus of liquid lipstick and gloss!” and you hop into your Honda Civic (that you lovingly refer to as “Murray”), and Siri keeps saying nonsensical things like, “Keep right, then keep right,” and even though you’re thinking, “Siri, you WACK, girl,” you listen to her anyway, because you have a feeling that you’ll still end up someplace good?

And then you roll up to this little slice of NARS heaven known as the NARS Velvet Lip Glides, and you think to yourself, THANK YOU, LAWD, FOR HOOP EARRINGS, PIZZA SLICES AND THE NEW NARS VELVET LIP GLIDES?

nars velvet lip glide doe foot — The NARS Velvet Lip Glide doe-foot

Yup, NARS did it again.

Just plunge an arrow — and don’t even bother with the bow — straight into my makeup-loving heart, because these liquid lipsticks (Or are they glosses? It’s hard to tell…) are true love. Like, I could dance with them at a wedding, and I’d see our entire future together.

nars velvet lip glide danceteria — Wearing NARS Velvet Lip Glide in Danceteria

Basically, these are… Honestly, I can’t figure out how to classify them. They feel like medium-weight, non-sticky glosses similar to the MAC Cremesheens, but they pack a lot of pigment and look like liquid lipsticks…except that they have a creamy finish, so they don’t dry up like liquid lipsticks, which means that your lips don’t end up looking like a cat butt. 🙂

They start off moderately shiny and stay that way for about an hour before wearing down to a soft matte finish. I find that I usually have to reapply them after about three hours.

nars velvet lip glide bound — Wearing NARS Velvet Lip Glide in Bound

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What’s Nude From bareMinerals? The New Gen Nude Lipsticks, Lipglosses and Lip Liners

August 3rd, 2016 by Karen 14 Comments

bareminerals gen nude — Some lusicous lip treats from the new bareMinerals Gen Nude collection

Unsolicited advice of the day
Next time someone asks you to send them some nudes…

Keep your clothes on (generally, this seems to be a good idea).
Send them a pic of the new bareMinerals Gen Nudes lipsticks, lipglosses and liners instead. It’ll be hilarious, I tell ya (well, at least you and I will be laughing, hahaha!).

This one’s a MASSIVE 60-piece lippie release of products bound for the bareMinerals permanent line, including 20 Matte Liquid Lipcolors ($18 each), 20 Radiant Lipsticks ($20 each), 15 Buttercream Lipglosses ($18 each) and 5 Under Over Lip Liners ($16 each) in a bashful-busting array of nude mauve, pink, peach and beige shades.

That’s A LOT of lip nudity, and even if you’ve never found your perfect nude pout before, you might find it here.

bareminerals gen nude buttercream lipgloss — bareMinerals Gen Nude Buttercream Lipglosses in Snarky, Popular and Far Out ($18 each)

The non-sticky, moderately moisturizing bareMinerals Buttercream Lipglosses feel heavenly on my lips, but I could have done without the Red Vines aroma (I’m not a licorice fan) or the faintly plastic flavor, which brings back major memories of the old-school NARS glosses, but both the fragrance and flavor fade quickly, so I can deal.

bareminerals gen nude lip liner on point — bareMinerals Gen Nude Under Over Lip Liner in On Point ($16)

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Make Up For Ever Artist Rouge Lipstick Lip Swatches

August 1st, 2016 by Karen 45 Comments

make up for ever artist rouge m100 — Make Up For Ever Artist Rouge Lipstick in M100

This is what happens sometimes when you can’t figure out what lipstick to wear with your eye makeup. It starts out with you trying to find one of the new Make up For Ever Rouge Artist Lipsticks that won’t clash with your eye makeup but turns into a full-on swatch fest.

make up for ever artist rouge c601 — Make Up For Ever Artist Rouge Lipstick in C601

I did figure out that M100 and M202 make me want to drop down to my knees and thank the universe for lipstick. ?

I LOVE those two.

Oh, by the way, I’m also wearing quite a few new products in these pics that were released for fall this year. The eyeliner is bright blue Urban Decay Razor Sharp Liquid Eyeliner in Chaos, which I layered on top of Too Faced Sketch Marker in Mermaids Don’t Cry (a matte medium blue) and Too Glam to Give a Damn (a matte navy).

And that’s Tarte Naughty Nude Blush in Seduce on my cheeks, and the foundation I’m wearing is the new Hourglass Vanish Seamless Finish Foundation Stick in Beige.

make up for ever artist rouge c503 — Make Up For Ever Artist Rouge Lipstick in C503

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Make Up For Ever Redid The Artist Rouge Lipsticks, AND THEY’RE FABULOUS

July 29th, 2016 by Karen 14 Comments

make up for ever artist rouge lipstick — The Make Up For Ever Artist Rouge Lipsticks are getting a sequel next month

First things first, my friend — happy National Lipstick Day! 🙂

(As if we needed another reason to love lipstick.)

Second, that mint green, though…

We live in extraordinary times. Not only can we roll up to a Sephora and buy a magnificent mint green lipstick like the one in the newly reformulated, repackaged (but still extensive at 45 shades) Make Up For Ever Artist Rouge Lipstick line, but today’s lipsticks just keep getting better and better.

Shout-out to the cosmetics chemists out there doing the damn thing to bring beauty lovers like you and me lipsticks that, not only last longer on our lips, but also pack more pigment into a creamier, more comfortable formula than their predecessors.

That’s the case with the Make Up For Ever Rouge Artist Lipstick line, which relaunched online this month (and arrives at Sephora stores in August) with a new formula and a new outfit.

The line of 14 mattes (not including a couple of limited edition shades) and 31 creams encompases a rainbow of colors — 45 shades in all — from reds, pinks, berries and nudes to edgier offerings like blue, lilac, black and, yes, cray-cray green.

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The New Tarte Tartiest Naughty Nudes Creamy Matte Lip Paint Line, and Things I Did in the ’90s While Wearing Brown Lipstick

July 27th, 2016 by Karen 27 Comments

tarte tartiest lip paint naughty nudes — The new Fall 2016 Tarte Tartiest Creamy Matte Lip Paint Naughty Nudes line ($20 each)

Things I seemed to always be doing in the ’90s while wearing brown lipstick…

Running to the bus stop (I was always *that close* to missing the bus).
Standing awkwardly in the corner of the room at house parties with a red cup in my hand.
Checking my pager, which I kept in the front pocket of the jeans I got using my employee discount at Miller’s Outpost (OMG). And I thought I was hot sh*t because my pager was white, LOL!
Falling asleep in the library with my head in an open chemistry book and waking up covered in drool.
Going to Tower Records (but never actually buying anything).

I’m getting all the ’90s feels from the new liquid lippies in the Tarte Tartiest Creamy Matte Lip Paint Naughty Nudes line ($20 each, available in five shades).

These vegan full-coverage mattes glide across lips with an unscented, unflavored, cruelty-free formula, and they feel like soft mousse. Plus, unlike many of the liquid lipsticks out there now, they stay wet and maleable while you wear them, so they don’t dry all the way down.

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A Bangin’ Good Time With the Bright Lipsticks in MAC Bangin’ Brilliant

July 15th, 2016 by Karen 11 Comments

mac bangin brilliant dreampot — The new MAC Bangin’ Brilliant Lipstick in Dreampot ($17)

I can’t remember — is wearing blue lipstick and blue eyeliner at the same time a do or a don’t?

Ah, the age-old question… LOL!

I don’t think there are any hard and fast, absolutely unbreakable makeup rules, so I’m gonna say “yes.” Blue eyeliner with blue lipstick is a total do.

I contemplated this conundrum the other day when I was wearing some teal winged liner (just for the heck of it) and decided to also try on a few of the lipsticks in the new MAC Bangin’ Brilliant collection.

You know that cray-cray lip colors are having a moment when you can visit a small mall and bump into a girl wearing a baby pink polo shirt and green lipstick (true story!), and the MAC Bangin’ Brilliants fit right in with that out-of-the box color movement happening right now.

The 29 new lipstick shades ($17 each) were recently added to the MAC permanent line, along with the Bangin’ Brilliant shadows and blushes.

With these colors, “basic” is about a million light years away. Of course there are bright pinks, oranges and reds, but there also blues, purples, a neon green, a midnight black, a stark white… Seriously, there’s some crazy sh*t up in the mix.

I don’t feel completely comfortable in some of them, to be honest, but if you have that runway stomp-walk kind of swag, they could look super cool.

I dunno… One of these days, I might get the urge to wear a light purple to Costco to buy kitty litter and a jumbo pack of hot dogs.

You never know. Life is short. Might as well.

Matte fuchsia pink Breathing Fire and matte bright red Mangrove are my favorites of the shades I’ve tried so far.

mac bangin brilliant breathing fire — Breathing Fire

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Tom Ford Fall 2016 Orchid Collection Nightbloom Powder in Velvet Bloom and Velvet Orchid Lip Color

July 5th, 2016 by Karen 24 Comments

tom ford velvet bloom — Tom Ford Fall 2016 Orchid Collection Nightbloom Powder in Velvet Bloom ($80)

Is this jewelry, or is this makeup? — because sometimes with Tom Ford I just can’t tell!

Do wear it on my face, or do I dangle it from a chain and rock it as a statement necklace? I gotta hand it to Tommy-boy for nailing the whole luxury aesthetic. He’s got it down pat, especially when it comes to limited edition packaging.

Here’s a look at two of the lush and tasty (and expensive) purple and gold tidbits in Tom’s new Fall 2016 Orchid Collection.

The new nine-piece limited edition fall release (yup, fall!) just launched online July 1, and it arrives at Tom Ford counters this August. It’s inspired by Tom Ford’s Black Orchid Eau de Parfum, his first fragrance.

And fragrance plays a big part in the launch, as five of the nine pieces are perfumes, while the other four — two lipsticks and two blushes — are the goodies you can wear on your face.

The Tom Ford Fall 2016 Orchid Collection includes…

Black Orchid Lip Color ($60)

Velvet Orchid Lip Color ($60)

Nightbloom Powder in Black Bloom ($80)

Nightbloom Powder in Velvet Bloom ($80)

Black Orchid Solid Perfume ($190)

Velvet Orchid Solid Perfume ($190)

Black Orchid Eau de Parfum ($115)

Velvet Orchid Eau de Parfum ($115)

Orchid Soleil Eau de Parfum ($120)

I’m a “smoky eye till I die” kinda gal, so I always look forward to the dramatic eye pencils, eyeshadows and all of that fun schtuff I’m used to seeing for fall. So I’m a little bummed that this release doesn’t include any eye makeup for me to lust after.

tom ford velvet orchid — Tom Ford Orchid Collection Velvet Orchid Lip Color ($60)

Strangely, neither of these two pieces here — pearlescent rosy plum Velvet Orchid Lip Color ($60) and sheer, cool-toned pink Nightbloom Powder in Velvet Bloom ($80) — give me that same visceral desire that I usually feel for Tom Ford’s products.

Like the Velvet Orchid Lip Color? Yeah, it has all the hallmarks of a dreamy TF lippy, with its deliciously even application throughout, in and around the curves of my lips (none of that patchy nonsense!), its fabulously lighter-than-air formula, and yeah, the color, which is something I can totally see myself wearing in fall, but I dunno… I guess I was hoping for more.

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Look No Further for Your Perfect Summer Lipstick! The MAC Huggable Lipcolours Are All You Need

July 4th, 2016 by Jen Clark 11 Comments

I’ve taken a break from the heavy makeup lately, honestly, probably out of pure laziness (pregnancy saps my energy), but I’m kind of digging it! On days that I actually put on makeup, it’s usually dewy skin that showcases my new summer freckles, brows and winged liner (because I will always wear winged liner), some mascara, and an easy-to-wear lipstick like these $14 MAC Huggable Lipcolours.

You know those lipsticks that feel so good to put on that you can sit there for a few minutes and just smear them all over your face? These Huggable Lipcolours feel like that to me.

Weird, I know, but don’t judge me. They just feel so good!

They feel almost like a really luxurious, comfortable lip balm, and with a nice amount of color payoff, they’re the perfect lipsticks to keep in your bag and pop on throughout the day, whether you’re wearing more makeup or not.

I also have to commend MAC on the packaging. The gunmetal tube feels so heavy and expensive. I like it a lot more than MAC’s standard plastic lipstick packaging.

I really can’t believe you get such an amazing product and impressive packaging for only $14. That seems like such a good deal to me!

From left to right: MAC Origami Orange, Bonsai Bloom, Good Luck Mochi, What A Feeling!, Seoul-ful, Cantonese Carnation

There are 20 colors to choose from, and I have six of them here.

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