After my last swatch-a-palooza, my poor arms were in rough shape (literally), looking like I had a case of serious carpet burn.  They’ve finally healed, so I thought that spending the afternoon swatching all my lip glosses, balms, and lipsticks was the perfect way to spend a lazy Sunday.  This finishes up my makeup color collection (see previous posts on my blush/bronzer, eyeliner, and eyeshadow collections!) – I hope you enjoyed sneaking a peek into my stash as much as I did going through it all (swatch-burn aside).  This has been the absolute perfect way to curb my spending, revisit neglected shades, and get inspired by what I already own – you may have noticed I’ve been playing a lot more with color and posting more FOTD’s for your viewing pleasure.  I highly encourage anyone with a more than moderate collection to indulge in a similar practice!!  So, so fun

As these posts can get a little picture-heavy, I’m splitting up  my lip colors into two posts – first, my lipgloss collection, which will include the few colored balms I have as they all have shiny, sheer finishes (which is what I consider the general definition of a gloss); the second post will contain all the lipsticks I own (which incidentally includes one product that is called a gloss but I find far too pigmented to dub it so).

Let’s start with the neutrals, which are often the gateway shade when one is starting a makeup collection:

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I was surprized to find that I had so many neutral glosses – I always feel like I’m looking for one and never quite get what I need.  Laura Mercier’s Discrete is probably the best shade of the bunch when I need something but want to keep the lips lowkey (but not nude), but I wish it were a creme and not with that shimmery finish.  I also like Benefit’s Hoola which is essentially clear but with a hint of sparkle to keep it interesting.  The rest of these I’m pretty much ‘meh’ over, sad to say.

Cool-toned glosses:

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The three baby pinks on the left are all quite nice and each look different on the lip – the Benefit gloss is pretty basic; the Tarte gloss has a sheer pink base with gold shimmer for warmer looks; and the Buxom gloss is a bit more opaque with quite a bit of silver sparkle, which I love in winter and for nights out.  The MAC lipgloss here I picked up ages ago (the name is worn off, so I’m not 100% sure, but I think it was Prize Shine), and I got it because of this promo pic:

Actually, it was this girl with this makeup but the shot was at a different angle (which I can’t seem to find online).  Anyway, she looked AMAZING and since her skintone is close to mine, at the time I thought it’d be a great idea.  Uh…. It is one SERIOUSLY METALLIC lipgloss, which makes it exceptionally hard to wear :S  However, back then I was determined to make it work, and picked up…ah damn, I can’t remember now, but it was *like* C-Thru but it wasn’t that.  Anyway (getting rambly here!), I paired the pale milky sheer nudeness of *whatever it was* with Prize Shine, and BAM!  We got this:

Me circa 2006! Check out those majorly groomed eyebrows and purple shadow (wonder what shade that was). Also, that gal with me is still one of my besties – I would have shown her full face (hate cropping people out) but I don’t think she wants to have her mug online all the time like mine lol.

It probably seems crazy that I can remember what I was wearing for a lip color in a photo from 5 years+ ago, but that’s the life of a beauty obsessed gal.  What can I say?  In any case, this was a combo I was totally infatuated with, but  you only needed the tiniest bit of the metallic purple, so I’ve still got about 1/3 left of this gloss (which is LE by the way) – I ran out of the other shade long ago.  I’m determined to finish it this year!

The last two shades are nothing to write home about, the but 3rd from last – Illamasqua’s Divine – will be getting it’s own post.  I got this on mega-sale a couple months ago and I LOVE IT SO MUCH.  Best cool-toned pink ever!!!

Lastly, we have the warmer-toned glosses:

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This shades of gloss are clearly my fave.  I went through a big kick wearing Sephora She Sparkles last Christmas, but haven’t worn it much since.  NARS Wonder and MAC Luscious Spark (LE) are lovely in summer, and I highly enjoy MAC’s Lychee Luxe – so much so that it’s almost finish (yay!).  I’m going to play around with Illamasqua’s Plentiful this spring, as if you recall it was a touch light for my skintone, but I think I can make it work.  I want to love the YSL Glossy Stain, but the fragrance is a little off-putting (mainly because it makes me nervous), and I wish I had chosen a more punchy shade.  I’ll probably pick up another over the next while and I’ll reevaluate my feelings on them then.

So that’s my gloss collection!  It’s actually not SO huge, at 24, considering.  Maybe I’ll set a mental ‘max’ at 25 – so I better hop to is using some of these up!  I’m actually not huge into gloss right now, opting more for a bold lipstick, or even bare lips, but here and there I’ll throw one on, as they can be a convenient way to perk up your look.  My wishlist has very few glosses on it and many, MANY lipsticks, so topping off at 25 should be a piece of cake

I don’t think I’m desperately missing any shades here, though not because it’s such a vast array, but more so because as mentioned, I’m just not terribly concerned with gloss.  A nice nude may help round it out, and I have one in mind actually – Becca’s Ultimate Color Gloss in Fallen Angel.  There!  25 it is.

Do you prefer gloss or lipstick (or neither)?  What shades tend to be your go-to’s?