Special shout-out to MBB reader Tatiana for reminding me in the comments yesterday that sometimes all you need is mascara, a bright lipstick and a smile.
So right, Tatiana. 🙂
Bright lips are a good idea any time of year, but I think they’re a great idea in summer, especially if you’re into the makeup minimalist thing. You can throw on a bold, bright lip and skip the extra steps, because the lips can carry the whole look and make anything else you happen to include — mascara, brows, BB cream, highlighter, what have you — gravy.
These long-wearing matte Milk Makeup Lip Colors (I know I’ve been on the Milk Makeup train lately, but I hope you can bear with me. I love ’em!) are all in the permanent line and $22 each. And they totally work for this type of look because, dude…they’re intense! I can picture someone on the Milk Product Development Team saying, “Man, let’s load these up with as much pigment as humanly possible. I don’t want to layer!”
And that’s just what they did. One layer is all ya need.
I’ve tried four of them — hot pink Freshhh, orange-red Name Drop, fuchsia Gnarly and peachy nude C.R.E.A.M. The unscented, unflavored formula lasts about four hours, depending on what you’re doing with your lips (like whether you’re eating, drinking, smooching or just chillin’).
The matte lipstick category is SO crowded right now, but these look instantly “worn in,” and I think it makes them stand out. They almost look like matte stains, and it’s super cool and kind of unusual for a lipstick.
You know the other day when I talked about how applying MAC Relentlessly Red with a lip brush and patting it in with a finger, the color and texture look realistic, for lack of a better word, like they aren’t simply a product sitting on top of your lips? Well, when you apply one of these Milk Lip Colors straight from the bullet, you get that same worn-in, lived-in look directly from the tube. They start out looking like you’ve been wearing them for hours (but in a good way).
Now, could they be more moisturizing? Hell, yeah, because like most mattes out there, these are on the drier side of Lipstick Land. An extra shot of moisture would have been very welcome, but there’s an easy fix for that. Just start with a layer of lip balm beforehand.
These lippies don’t glide along as adeptly as a MAC Matte or a MAC Retro Matte Lipstick because they feel thicker than those and waxier. There’s some resistance when I drag one across my lips. Not to say that it’s a bad thing, but just an FYI if you like slick, slippery mattes.
The Milk Makeup Lip Colors are available in eight colors at Sephora stores and the Sephora website right this very second.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
Name Drop is gorgeous!
These look so chill!! Wish I had checked out Milk while I was at Sephora today… I just made a beeline for that huge Benefit face palette (which has been on my list for a while).
So, speaking of Relentlessly Red… I have a story.
I went in to the MAC store at Times Square today (happened to be in the neighborhood) and into my head popped Relentlessly Red. I found a sales lady and was like “oh hey, there’s this awesome red lippy I wanna try” and she was like “oh haaay girl that color’s amazing!!” And I was like “I KNOW, I’ve seen it! Can I try it?” So we put it on my lips, agreed it was spectacular. Much discussion was had on it being the best not-red a red could be. Then sales lady was like, “you know we’re doing a buy-two-get-one-free on lip products right now, right?” and I was like “NO WAY” so she showed me the selection of free lippies on display. (Only 5 or 6 choices, but they were all pretty great!) I picked a freebie color, she talked me into buying prep + prime lip; all was well with the world. I checked out at the counter (with an admittedly super-disinterested cashier guy, but hey, it’s Times Square) and I waltzed on out of the store with my purchases, happy as a clam.
Until I get on the train and started looking at the packaging.
She gave me RUSSIAN RED!!!! :O
“Noooooooooooo!!” I cried as the train swept me away from Manhattan into Queens.
I was SO SAD.
sigh.
So I’ll have to stop by the MAC store again to swap out the INTERLOPER for Relentlessly Red. Needless to say, I’ll be going to the store on the Upper East Side (near my work), not the one in Times Square. I should say: not necessarily because I got the wrong lippy – it was a mistake anyone could make! But Times Square is the armpit of Manhattan and no way am I going back there if I’m not in the ‘hood. I feel like this was a sign that I was messing with my luck by trying to “get things done” in that area!
OMG. best makeup horror story, including the yell-to-the-stratosphere, “NOOOOOO!!!” I’m sorry you have to trouble yourself, but thank you for that cautionary tale.
I hate when they give you the wrong color and you don’t notice it until your miles away.
Is Times Square still the armpit of Manhattan? I thought it was supposedly cleaned up? When I lived in NYC ages ago (won’t say how many years it was) it was all peep shows and porn shops. Ugh!
I used to live in the Kew Gardens, Forest Hills, Rego Park area.
Name-drop is giving me life!
Name drop and Freshh are such beautiful colors!
Milk seems to have quite a few nice pieces! Btw, are you wearing Dinoplatz in these pics? I feel like they’ve changed the formula since my first purchase. But maybe I’m misremembering.
I like Name Drop and Freshhh.
Oh Dang! Now I need to go check out Name Drop and Freshhh!! They’re so bright, like a tropical flower! Good thing I tossed some old lipsticks last week and there’s a bit of room in my lipstick drawer.
I just wish it wasn’t so hot, because I do not want to move. Although now that I think about it my car has AC and the Sephora store near me blasts it’s AC, too.
BTW, I love your brows in these photos.
Milk Makeup as such fun products! The colors are all beautiful!
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You look SO GOOD in all of these 😀 loving the eye-and-lip combo!! Those are my two favorite staples right there- a good mascara and a kickarse bright lipstick 🙂 you go girl!!