Posts Tagged Lipstick
Huzzah! MAC Morange Has Finally Been Conquered
I almost gave up. For months I tried and tried to make it work, without success. But this past weekend, my friends, I finally managed to wear my nemesis down and make her bend to my will. I AM VICTORIOUS!!
…I’m talking about the illustrious MAC lipstick shade, Morange, of course! No world domination yet! 
Who hasn’t heard of Morange before? The ‘Loudmouth Orange‘ shade with an amplified creme finish is nearly if not as popular as MAC’s other iconic classic, Russian Red. While orange isn’t your standard classic color, nevertheless somehow this has become a well-known staple for the runway and real-life beautistas alike. I managed to snag it for my very own in a swap several months ago, and I have since spent several agonizing months trying to make it work without running screaming in terror from the mirror. Ladies, this shade has SERIOUS attitude.
In swatches, it doesn’t look that daunting to me. It’s bright, yes, but surely no more so than my new fave Quince. However, getting it to look at once eye-catching yet without it taking over my whole face was a major beauty challenge – probably one of the most difficult to date.
Eeks! I just find this plain scary.
Perhaps I should have known how challenging this shade would be, given how retina-searing it is, but I have several other shades in my stash that come very close to this (albeit at a significantly decrease saturation):
Left to right: MAC Morange, Dior Delice Addict Extreme, NARS Wonder Lipgloss
Through this months-long experiment is how I’ve confirmed that I do not have a warm skintone, as I’ve always generally thought, but rather a more neutral tone with a slightly cool leaning. To say it plainly – orange just ain’t my shade. While more recent trends have leaned toward wearing colors that clash against your natural skintone, and for the most part I love this effect – I have to admit, though I’d love to say I embrace that kind of boldness, but I’m just not there yet.
However. I am nothing if not persistent, and after trying various different application techniques and various makeup looks, I finally figured out the mystery of Morange. It all comes down to: a light touch and A HECK OF A LOT OF BRONZER.
It is absolutely imperative to warm up your face when wearing Morange, if you don’t already have that kind of skintone to begin with – though I have read that shades like these look great on more olive-toned skin. I found when I bronzed the shit outta my skin and added a touch to my eye area, it managed to pull it together much more seamlessless. In addition, instead of going for a full-on opaque pout, which is normally how I wear a bold, bright lippie, I applied one thin coat and blended for a more muted look. It’s not necessarily my preference, but in order to get the POW! from the orange without blinding people, its just the way it’s got to be.
The result of this mega-effort I think is well worth the hassle. It was a beautiful sunny, warm spring day here Sunday, and the orange lip looked so season-appropriate and fun! Morange overall is a nice lipstick, and goes on smoothly, if a bit thicker, and doesn’t dry out my lips. I’m super-stoked to have figured this conundrum out and to incorporate this happy, summery shade into my repertoire this year!
What recent beauty challenge have you faced? How did you handle it?
Another Rave Review for YSL’s Rouge Volupte Shine in #8 Pink in Confidence
Posted by Latoya in Lips, Spring 2013, YSL on April 21, 2013
Hallo everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend 
Mine was good but effing busy – I helped my friend clean and move into her newly built house (gorgeous!), who’s wedding I also happen to be standing in next month (my first time [since I was a kid] – I’M SO EXCITED!!!!!!) – so I also spent some time preparing for her bachelorette/wedding. It’s such a fantastic experience, all of it, but its quite involved! On top of all that, I’m also training for that half marathon I’m doing in Ottawa at the end of May, so every weekend I have to find time to do a long run – this weekend was 15k so at this point it starts to take up a fair chunk of time. But, running is honestly the best thing I have EVER done for myself, so it’s well worth it. *Just as an aside – if you even have a remote inkling that you might like to run, or if you run at all – casually or more routinely – I highly recommend signing up to do a half (or, if you’re super-ambitious, a full) marathon, it is an amazing experience and I love it so damn much. This will be my third half, and every long run is better than the last – this is the best training I’ve had yet and I really think I’m gonna rock the shit out of the race!! Fingers crossed for me
Ok, moving on. As many of you know, I went on a bit of a lippie binge in the past couple weeks, and I’m still working through the reviews of each. Today I’m going to show you a shade that’s been pretty talked up in the blogosphere – YSL’s Rouge Volupte Shine #8 Pink in Confidence. Since I’m certain many of you have read reviews on both the RVS formula (ultra-hydrating, antioxidant-full, sheer to medium coverage glossy lipstick) as well as this shade, I’m going to keep the chatter to a minimum and let the pictures do the talking.
Pink in Confidence is described as a dusty pale pink, and I think that’s pretty accurate. Somehow, I didn’t own a nice soft pink shade, so this has been a much needed addition to my collection. As you can see in the lipstick bullet itself (picture below shows it better), there is a very fine micro-shimmer present, but I find it shows up on the lip very minimally.
While the Rouge Volupte Shines have a translucency to them that allows your natural lip color to show through, they’re actually more opaque than I thought, and this shade can mute my natural lip tone quite a bit if I layer it on (above, it was swatched first with one swipe, then several, to show how it can be built up). I’m a touch concerned that it may be a bit too light for my skintone once I get tanned – or perhaps it just might be a great nude. Time will tell.
The uber-long list of ingredients makes me somewhat nervous; however, I did not notice any irritation or roughness over the course of wearing this a few days in a row, even with the inclusion of fragrance (which, by the way, smells totally delicious. It makes me think of the lip balms I used to wear as a young teen ). I did find the formula mildly hydrating, though by no means as moisturizing as the claims made by the brand (which was to ‘seal in moisture for up to 8 hours’). The wear time is minimal – perhaps an hour or two at best, though I knew going into the purchase that these would likely require continuous application, which I’m OK with. I have never tried the Chanel Rouge Coco Shines so I can’t compare, but from reading reviews it sounds like these might be superior in terms of hydration and longevity. But – don’t quote me on that.
Overall, I’ve found this lipstick exceptionally wearable and notice myself reaching for it quite often. It filled a much needed gap in my lippie arsenal, and while it’s not perfect (could be a touch deeper in tone and wear a bit longer), it will definitely get a lot of use. I’m not sold on the $39CAD price tag, and if I didn’t have the 15% VIB discount I may not have gone for it, but I don’t feel any guilt in the purchase either so obviously it’s doing something right
Have you tried the Rouge Volupte Shine’ formula yet? Do you plan to? Have you tried both these and the Chanel Rouge Coco Shines? How do they compare?
Ka-POW Lips: BITE Beauty’s High Pigment Lip Pencil in Quince
Posted by Latoya in BITE Beauty, Lips on April 18, 2013
Apparently, this spring I’m bringin’ my A-Game. That’s right – I’m rockin’ the SHIZ outta this season. Its been sunny and kinda sorta warmish this week, so I pulled out my AMAZING printed pants that I bought down in NZ – I did show you a picture – and wore them yesterday with pride. Even though they’re so loud and crazy and some people actually looked at my pants first before looking at my face (LOL), I didn’t care if they loved or hated ‘em because I felt KICKASS. Good times.
Over the past month, I decided I absolutely NEEDED a bright pink lippie. It would give me mega-spunk times 10, right!? So, last week I finally took the plunge and picked up BITE Beauty High Pigment Lip Pencil in Quince, $28CAD (which also happens to be a Sephora ‘hot pick’ or whatever, but I LIKED IT BEFORE IT WAS COOL *just sayin’*), a matte bold fuchsia lipstick.
BITE Beauty lip colors are known for their exclusion of baddie chemicals, and make the claim that the ingredients they do use are ‘healthy enough to eat.’ …cool? I mean, it’s great that they’re kind of like a ‘clean’ beauty brand, for sure. Just…yeah. ANYWAY, the High Pigment Pencils are designed to be long-wearing, paraben-free, and contain ‘super’ antioxidant resveratrol – each pencil contains enough of it to amount to five glasses of red wine (does that mean if I eat it then I’ll get drunk??????? 
). So there’s a whole whack of good reasons to get on board, and it was high time I did it.
Aside from all the great ingredients in the pencil, there’s also the fact that THIS COLOR IS AMAZING. This is the EXACT color I wanted in a bright pink lippie. I find the shade uber-flattering on my skintone and super-wearable (also due to the fact that the finish is more of a demi-matte than totally flat) while still being totally stand out.
I wore this shade last Wednesday, and found it relatively long-lasting – it survived fairly intact through a meal, but began to fade shortly thereafter. Despite being sick and dried up like an old prune, it was comfortable to wear, for a matte, though it was not hydrating. However, note that BITE Beauty does not make claims that it should be, which is a key point. It actually states that you should prep your lips first with [their] balm and then apply the lip color. Since they don’t make a claim they can’t live up to, plus the fact that I actually didn’t find this problematic to wear on my drier lips, they get a gold star from me 100%.
I am madly in love with this lip pencil – I love the color, I love the formula, and I love the ease of application with the pencil. I am most definitely picking up a couple more of these – I’ve seen pics of Pomegranate that look stunning, and Zinfandel (electric coral) and Corvina (bright coral pink) are totally up my alley!
Have you tried any BITE Beauty products? What is putting some pep in your step this spring?
Dior’s New Addict Extreme Lipstick in Délice is a Triple Threat!
Posted by Latoya in Dior, Lips, Make-up, Spring 2013 on April 16, 2013
Lately I’ve been finding my lips have been really chapped – dry, rough texture, the works. Growing up I always had serious chapped lips; you know, the kind where you licked above your lip and got that awesomely sexy red rashy line. Yeah, that. I tell ya guys, I’ve come a LONG way.
I decided this week to start testing all of my lippies to figure out which was the culprit. I was sick, fair enough, as that’s not terribly helpful for the cause. But I get this problem off and on and frankly, it’s getting old. It makes all of my lipsticks look like shit and I’M NOT HAVING IT ANYMORE. First on my list was my new Dior Addict Extreme lippie, 433 Délice ($31CAD).
First off, let me preface by say that this is one sexy lipstick bullet, and I would be tempted to cave to other Addict Extreme lipsticks even if it caused me a bit of lip pain, just so I could have a few more of these in my makeup drawer. RAWR.
I have one other Dior lipstick, a Rouge Dior, and the packaging does not rock my world like this does. Yowza. You pull the lipstick bullet from inside the tube, which is cool and reminiscent of the old-school packaging – but this is much more edgy and SHINY. Anyway, perhaps it’s just me – nonetheless, I sure do love pulling this baby out! It is pure luxury – score one for Délice.
I wore it last Friday when I was just coming out the other side of my cold – I needed a pick-me-up and this juicy reddened tangerine shade was just the ticket. It really perked up my face and I fooled several people who were surprised to hear I had been (and still was) sick. I don’t tend to wear orange lip shades much and was pleasantly surprised and how much I enjoyed wearing it – it actually boosted my mood! The finish is more of a balmy shine versus full on gloss, and it has medium opacity (it still shows a bit of my natural lip tone) which makes it very wearable all around. I find I can swipe it on and go, it requires very little fuss. Another +1 to this gorgeous lippie.
Due to being ill, I couldn’t get a good read on the hydrating / chapping qualities of this lipstick, so I wore it again today to reassess. Happily, this lipstick not only sidestepped any lip roughage (and, due to the shorter-wear time of the product, I reapplied fairly often throughout the day), but it left them feeling softer, smoother, and more moisturized than ever, I guess due to the ‘hyaluronic microspheres.’ I was honestly shocked at how good my lips felt all day, and continue to feel this evening – usually by this time my lips will show signs of discomfort even after having removed the product. Not so here! Sweet friggin’ deal.
Edit: I meant to include the ingredients the first time, sorry!
So, in summary, we have a lipstick that screams luxury, is essentially the perfect spring/summer shade, and also is a treat for you lips – are you sold yet? The only downside for me is that though Dior claims this is a long-wearing product, I find the wear time to be just shy of two hours, without food or drink. But honestly, it doesn’t bother me that much because it wears away evenly (no dreaded lip ring) and I love reapplying from that sexy tube! And it might actually mean I use up a lipstick for once
Have you tried the Dior Addict Extreme formula? Any shades you can recommend? What is your favorite hydrating lipstick?
ALL THE THINGS: An Abundance of New Lippies (But First: An Apology)
Posted by Latoya in BITE Beauty, Dior, Lips, MAC, Make Up For Ever, Make-up, Sephora, Spring 2013, YSL on April 14, 2013
I have to admit that sometimes I’m a jerk. Sometimes, when people seem to be making excuses for things, I judge *just a little bit* Case in point: in the past, when reading posts in which the blogger noted that they had been sick and gave that reason for why they hadn’t posted in a while, I always thought ‘Jeez, you’ve been home for a week and you were so sick that you couldn’t even type? Pfffffft.’
Well, consider this my sincere apology at my secret douchebagginess.
*Did you know that when you google douchebag images that you get 99% pictures of guys? So maybe douchebag can’t apply to females, I dunno. Let’s just stick with jerk shall we?
As I noted in my last post, I was sick with a cold this week. Nothing life-hindering, just general shitty malaise with a seriously stuffed up (yet super-sneezy) nose, which meant some badass pressure in my head from all the congestion which made behind my eyes hurt, and the absolute necessity of on-hand kleenex at all times. Just your general bitch of a cold. I was off two days from work and skipped out on my extra-curriculars like yoga and running, yet I only posted once. It wasn’t that I couldn’t type. It was that I DIDN’T WANT TO. I didn’t want to do anything – I wanted to wallow in my own snuffling misery and drink lots of warm tea and feel kind of sorry for myself. I didn’t type nor did I read anyone else’s blogs (which is an admittedly passive, scrolling-finger-only kind of action). I watched a lot of Mad Men episodes and stayed on top of Big Brother Canada (which by the way is AWESOME – and the Nova Scotia peeps are ROCKIN’ it, woohoo!!!!!). And that was about it.
Long story short (this is what happens when I don’t get my chatty out on the regular), I am SORRY for judging you, my periodically sick friends. I recognize the error of my thoughts ways. Forgive me, as I get sick very infrequently and when it does happen, it lasts for 3 days max. I misunderstood – it’s not that you physically can’t, you just feel like doing sweet F.A., and I get it. I understand. So again I say: SO SORRY. My bad.
Ok, with that out of the way! Here is a sneak peek of a bunch of lippies I’ve procured over the past month or so. I went from not purchasing a lipstick since last August (!) to buying 3 in a week plus acquiring 1 via swap as well as 1 lipgloss via PR. For some, this is just another day, but for me it’s a lot. And they are all pretty damn sweet.
I plan on doing separate posts for each of them but for now I leave you with this:
Above: MAC Morange. I received this in swap and thought it was going to rock my world. I still think it’s an amazing color but on my face? OMFG IT IS SO INTENSE. And I’m not sure if that’s in a good way. It’s so frustrating, because in these swatches it seems like this color would be great on my skintone, and looking at it on others online it’s stellar. I WILL find a way to wear this, I just haven’t figured out how… In the meantime, I bought this:
One of the new Dior lippies, #433 Delice, in the Addict Extreme formulation. I bought this at Shoppers when I had a $10 gift card. They actually sent me home with the wrong version – the regular Addict which is more sheer – that thankfully I noticed before using it, but good grief Dior did you have to name them ALL the same name, same number? The poor SA’s… Anyway, no harm no foul on my end, but I would have been totally disappointed in the Addict shade; this Extreme one is more opaque and absolutely amazing on. It’s a more toned-down version of Morange and super-wearable, though I won’t give up on the former just yet.
Yay! I actually bought one of my wishlist items! Meet Quince, a High Pigment Pencil (matte formula) from BITE Beauty, my first from the brand. This is the exact fuchsia shade I was searching for, it looks SO good on – not too bright on my skintone, which was one of the major challenges, but also not so dark that it’s more berry. On me it’s just perfect. LOVE.
Yes, I caved and bought a YSL Rouge Volupte Shine since everyone and their dog seemed to be raving about them! I wouldn’t have probably picked this up if not for the 15% off VIB sale, which eased the painful $39CAD price tag down a bit. I initially didn’t think these were anything to write home about, but they’re actually more pigmented than I thought. I really wanted to get a soft pink shade as I don’t seem to own one, and #8 Pink In Confidence fit the bill. Very pretty and wearable.
Lastly, I received a couple of products from MUFE in shades that complimented the Pantone 2013 Spring shades. This is a Lab Shine Star Collection gloss in S0, which is essentially a shimmering beige. It’s fairly translucent but not clear, so it mutes my lip color a bit. I have to say that I do like the Lab Shine glosses, they have a nice smooth texture, feel hydrating worn, and have good staying power. This isn’t a terribly exciting color but it’ll be great for a casual look or for layering!
I think I’m pretty much set for spring with all of these lip colors, I finally have a few serious brights to play with, and also a couple muted shades to pair with any bright eye looks I choose. They’re all worthy of their own posts so keep an eye out! I wanted to get them up earlier but being sick my lips were so dry, everything I put on them just looked like a flaky mess. They’ve pretty much healed so I should be able to give you full reviews this week
What new lippies have you bought lately? Do you prefer brights or more subtle shades? Gloss or lipstick? Did you buy anything from the VIB sale?
My Lip Color Collection (Part II – Lipsticks)
Posted by Latoya in Lips, MAC, Make Up For Ever, Make-up, My Collections on February 25, 2013
Here is the second part of my lip color collection – my lipsticks, as well as a couple lip liners to boot (check out the first part – glosses – here) I am kind of surprized by the number of lipsticks I have – as in, how few I have, when it seems like I’ve been ogling rich, pigment dense lip colors for the last long while. I feel like I should have a lot more than I do considering the long wishlist of shades I’m dying to own – let’s hope this year I change this! You’ll see that similarly to my glosses, I tend to stick to a few shade categories – actually, even more so here. There is a WIDE gap in colors which I am all too happy to fill Let’s take a look!
First up, we’ll start with the neutrals again:
Flash
Natural light
The NARS lip color is called a gloss, but it’s far too pigmented and not really all that glossy, so in my opinion it’s more of a lipstick. This is not true for all of the NARS gloss pencils though, as a note. Out of all of these, I actually only really wear the Buxom lip pencil regularly (which is actually a nude shade on me rather than ‘neutral’) – I think the others are supposed to be kind of ‘my lips but better’ shades, but they just aren’t nailing it very well for me. Thankfully, out of the four I only purchased one (the NARS), so it’s no real hardship. But once I use up one or two of these, I’ll be investing in a really good every day shade – every girl’s gotta have one!
Next, we have another shade category of which I think every gal should own at least one color – RED:
Flash
Natural light
I have a hard time not buying every single gorgeous red on the market – I LOVE me some red lips! Though as you can see, my stash is very homogenous – where are the orange reds!? I didn’t realize that all the shades I owned were essentially true reds or even blue-leaning until I did this swatch session. It’s interesting actually because I think my skintone leans warm, which typically means that I should be choosing a more orange-based red to get the most flattering effect. However, I do feel the colors I have are great and I feel very good wearing them, so I’m not going to concern myself with it too much. But, it gives me great pleasure to realize that I have this gap, as it gives me free reign to buy a few more
I would say I wear all of these reds equally as often, except for perhaps Russian Red, which I feel is a more ‘special event’ red as it’s so bold. The Aqua Rouge is also very ‘in your face’ but because it’s so long-wearing I’ve put it in more regular rotation because it’s so low-maintenance. The Dior Addict shade, which has since been discontinued, is the sheerest of the bunch, but with a flushed cheek it looks just perfect (though it’s a bit gritty feeling with the gold sparkle).
Yet another ‘must-have’ shade in my humble opinion, is a good vamp:
Flash
Natural light
MAC’s Bing (an LE shade) was my first vampy shade, and as you can see I pretty much dove right in! It’s VERY dark and mysterious and…insanely hard to wear. I either blot it down to wear as a stain (as you saw here), or I mix it with other shades to tone it down a bit. I still dream of being able to wear it full force, however, reminiscent of the looks in these pics below:
LOVE this photo all around – fabulous makeup on Leighton, and he-LLO Ed Westwick!!
Chanel Noirs Obscurs Winter 2009 collection
I’m not too upset by the difficulties of Bing however, because I have found MY best berry lippie shade since – Ellis Faas’ L102. I get so many compliment on this lip color, it’s crazy!!! You’d think I’d wear it every day, but it’s almost like I’m trying to ration it or something, because I don’t. Silly, I know. In any case, when I do wear it, it honestly makes my day. You always have to have one of those kinds of products in your back pocket, right? The Dior #976 is actually a similar color but doesn’t have the same impact, somehow, perhaps because of the golden shimmer.
The Shu lipstick is very sheer and not really my style, but I don’t own any Shu and I got it in a swap, so I’ll hang onto it for now (note that it is no longer available). Funbathing was also procured via swap (and LE), and I really like it’s berry-bronzey goodness, but it feels fall-ish to me, and I haven’t really had a chance to wear it since I was away for most of the fall and was doing the whole *next to no makeup* thing. It’ll get it’s chance next year!
And now…CORAL. While it isn’t the typical ‘you gotta own one’ color, trust me – you gotta own one!
Flash
Natural light
These kind of look pink in my swatches, but IRL they definitely have a coral leaning. Crosswires is described as a ‘clean pinky orange’ but I don’t see any orange when I wear it at all. Chanel’s Empire (LE) is described as a ‘pink-peach’ and MUFE’s N36 an ‘iridescent coral’, but to me they’re all in the same vein – coral-pink. In any case, these are highly wearable shades and seem to go with almost any look I choose (well, Crosswires is a bit bright, but the rest are good to go). I love them all and enjoy each of these shades immensely! No favorites nor duds in the bunch.
I have one straggler shade here, and sadly it’s also one that I wish would just DIE already – it’s a mauvey purple shade, and I’m not hating on the color, just this one in particular:
Ehhh…it’s just not my thing! It’s got too much grey in it, which I have to steer clear of (which tends to rule out a lot of mauve tones) – it just washes me out and doesn’t do me ANY favors at all. I try to wear it occasionally to use it up, and pair it with brighter shades and bronzer in order to keep me from looking dead and blah. I’d love to have a great purple shade, as I’ve seen it look truly amazing, but just not this one. Think more like this:
Gah. Such an awesome look. SO not like that lipstick I have. Must rectify.
Lastly, we have my few lip pencils, which I keep because it seems prudent to do so, but which get absolutely NO play from me at all (oops):
I think have have the gamut covered well here – a nude, a neutral, and a red. These will work with all the lip colors I own, if I ever do get the idea to wear one lol. Happily, none of these cost me a dime so I might as well keep them on hand and not worry about using them – it’s not like they take up a lot of space!
So – gaps. There is a lot (in my mind!). I’m thinking I need a true girly pink, a bright fuchsia, an actual nude, an orange-red (and – just an orange!), a coral-orange, and a fabulous purple…sound about right? Since I went with 25 as my ‘max’ for lipglosses, I don’t see why I can’t apply the same number to lipsticks. I’ve got 19, add these shades I’ve noted…well, that makes 26, but I’m sure I’ll finish one of these in time no problem ~schemes~
What are your thoughts? Any shades here you’ve tried and loved (or hated)? What color do you normally gravitate toward?
From the Pages of a Magazine: FOTD Inspiration
Before the online world took over, I used to be a voracious reader of magazines. First it was YM, which I only read for the ‘Say Anything’ section when I was about 11-12 years old. Then it progressed to Seventeen, then Cosmo, and then Allure – the latter which firmly entrenched my love affair with makeup eternally. Often, I would pull pages out of a magazine with pictures that evoked a certain ‘something’ – I can remember papering my walls with Calvin Klein ads for DAYS (OMG this is bringing back memories!); the models all seemed to fabulous and mysterious. As I grew up, I instead began to pull makeup looks from the pages of my favorite mags, anything that piqued my interest visually and was just begging to be attempted.
Though I don’t do this as often today (I have a subscription to only one mag now, and try to avoid buying any because – hello, internet!), I still do come across pictures in print that I clip out for future reference. I have a big photo album full of ‘em now, tied together as a collage – each page with a different theme (YES I KNOW I AM ORGANIZED/OCD/CRAZY/WHATHAVEYOU). This morning I thought of my album and pulled it out to get some ideas for the day’s look. What I decided on was this:
Every so often I go through the album and remove photos that I’m no longer ‘feeling.’ Amazingly, this actually doesn’t happen very often – even though the span of these photos is over probably 7+ years, I still love most of them and they don’t seem to become dated. The photo above is one of my oldest, and yet I think it’s still as relevant today, and I still totally love it. A flash of blue liner and a stained pout – simplicity at it’s best.
I wore this look today for the first time, and I’m pretty pleased with how it came out:
I did tone it down a bit by not bringing the blue all the way to the far inner corners; I was after all, at work today and my office isn’t terribly ‘creative’ (I know, totally not what you expect for the GOVERNMENT, right? Ha). But otherwise, I actually think I captured the look fairly well. The liner shade is exceptionally close (though I suspect she’s wearing liquid – while I used MAC’s Petrol Blue Pearlglide liner). I think I even almost got the lip stain right (MAC’s Bing Mattene lipstick), though it looks a little worn here because I reapplied and then forgot and ate some chocolate. Oops.
And an even more up-close shot:
I chose to bring the liner around to just the edge of my upper lash line, though I don’t think she has that in the photo. I liked the effect though. Overall, I liked the look – I don’t think I’ve ever worn anything like it, and it was a great way to use the MAC eye pencil as I’m trying to get rid of it (great shade, terrible wear on my eyes which tend to get smudgy at the corners). I wore an eyelid primer (NARS Smudgeproof) to prevent this from sliding down my face. I must admit, similar to my other blue look, I felt kinda badass wearing this, which is always a good thing in my books because if it gives you a little bit of a swagger, all the better
So what do you think of the look? Where do you get your inspiration from? Do you get any benefit from these kinds of posts? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
Illamasqua Lip Twin Sets Make for No-Brainer Pairings!
Posted by Latoya in Holiday 2012, Illamasqua, Lips, Make-up on December 10, 2012
Throughout my entire New Zealand trip*, I never purchased one cosmetic save for a mascara in the airport en route, so it was a nice end to my self-imposed purgatory to arrive home to three different holiday sets to play with. I was most excited to play with one of Illamasqua’s holiday Lip Twin Sets ($41CAD), which provide you with a matching gloss and lipstick to wear separately or together depending on your look that day. The set I received contained Obey, a pale peachy pink matte lipstick (reg. $29CAD), and Plentiful, a bright peachy pink gloss (reg. $27CAD).
*note: I’m fairly certain I’ve mentioned New Zealand in every single post since I got back – forgive me, I’m just hanging on to those memories for dear life!
The two shades are very close, albeit Obey is lighter, and compliment each other exceptionally.
On a pale complexion, or perhaps someone lighter with less pigmented lips, these shades would be quite pretty. They veer into nude territory without being dead-looking, and the effect would be very flattering. However, because the two lip products are so pigment-rich, the paleness of the colors in their opaqueness do not work well on me.
If blended out as I’ve done here, Plentiful is a nice peachy shade that makes me think of spring. With the makeup I have on in the photo, it actually works well as a more nude-natural lip. The gloss is fairly thick however, and must be applied carefully to avoid it looking milky and obvious (at least on me).
Obey, on the other hand, washes me out completely. If I had a smokey eye here, it *might* work ok, but I would have to sheer it out to be comfortable with the shade. As well, due to the somewhat chalky nature of the color, you MUST have your lips in perfect condition – otherwise flakes and other issues are entirely apparent. I had exfoliated and hydrated my lips for a good hour before trying this again, with the same patchy results. Again, I think if your lips are less pigmented than mine (and you hair a more fair complexion), you could wear this shade well. I don’t think it’s a total no-go, just a complete NO-NO for me.
On top of the general shade issues of Obey, I discovered that the Illamasqua lipsticks contain lanolin, another no-no for me. The gloss also contains linalool and limonene, two potentially irritating ingredients I try to avoid, and both the lipstick and gloss contain fragrance. Neither appear to contain parabens, however. Here is the ingredient lists for both products:
Overall, I love the idea of the twin sets and I think Plentiful would be a gorgeous shade on the right person. I withhold making a full judgement on Obey until I see it on someone with the ‘right’ skin/lip tone, but have my reservations. Even the lip swatches on the Illamasqua site don’t make it look all that appealing. However, if you’re interested in the twin sets, there is another available on the website with the shades Sangers and Succubus, a rich blood red duo (and much more up my alley!).
What do you think of the lip twin sets? Would you wear a matching gloss on top of your lipstick? What lip shades do NOT work on you and why?
Products were sent by PR company/brand for my unbiased consideration.
The Times, They Are A Changin’
Posted by Latoya in a-england, Aqua/Teal, Eye Liner, Lips, MAC, Make Up For Ever, Make-up, Musings, Nail Polish, Summer Polish Combos on August 28, 2012
Hello my neglected beauties! I am so far behind in everything in life it seems – isn’t summer supposed to be carefree and relaxed!? While I’ve had a lot of good times the past couple months, I’ve hardly had any time to address my ‘real’ life (guess that’s escapism to the max, eh?). I’ve flown out of the province three times in August alone (twice to Newfoundland and now to Ontario – I’m actually in the airport right now heading to Ottawa), and while I LOVE to travel, I didn’t realize how hard it is to get back on track when you return. Soon I’ll have been away from home for 12 out of 31 days – that’s a whole third of the month – and it’s kind of nuts. Fun – but nuts.
Look I did for a cottage party I went to – my friend’s family does a washer toss tournament every year, and this year there was a record 50 participants! As the cottage is right on a lake, I wore only MUFE’s waterproof Aqua Liner in #5 (diamond turquoise blue) and a touch of mascara – it gave enough impact all by itself!
To add to all that, recently my boyfriend and I broke up. So not only am I away physically but I’ve also mentally been not entirely present the past week or two. However, I know that everyone has ‘stuff’ that goes on in their lives and they keep on moving, so I don’t want to lean on this as an excuse. Most bloggers have busy lives and children and the like, and they post WAY more than me on a good week. I merely just want to explain my absence so you know it’s only temporary! Well…at least until October. Then I’ll be away for 35 days and you’ll be lucky if I’ve got a post a week coming out. LOL. But THEN! Then I will be blogger extraordinaire, I *promise.*
Mani/Pedi Combo with MAC’s Mischievous Mint on toes and a-England’s Saint George on fingers…see how often I wear the ‘Mint’ shade!? LOVE it.
The most frustrating part about all this is that while moving forward my budget will be next to zero for beauty purchases (paying for a condo on my own is NOT going to be easy), I bought a slew of fun, beautiful things in the past couple months I’ve been desperate to talk to you about! Actually, to be honest, a lot of those things I haven’t even had the time to experiment with myself, and they’re just in a forlorn little pile in my bathroom begging to be adored. Since I’ve been traveling so much, most of these items haven’t come with me because I’m crazy-anal about keeping my makeup pristine, and I’m nervous about things getting banged up or broken (I’m still sore over my MAC Early Morning blush being in pieces :S). Argh! I hate not being able to multitask. LOL!
Make Up For Ever’s Rouge Artist Natural Lipstick in N10 (iridescent copper pink). It was the shade the MUFE Artist matched me with for my ultimate ‘MLBB’ shade. It’s quite pretty but I see to either veer lighter, darker or more bold with lippies for the most part. See link above for original review on formula.
But ladies (and maybe gents??)…there appears to be a silver-lining for you now. It was just announced that my flight has been delayed for 2 hours – surely I can pump out a post or three in that time!? Its not going to be any of the new, good stuff, but I have a boatload of photos from other items I’ve been meaning to show you. So sit back and get comfy…I have a lot of making up to do!
Pushing the Boundaries with Illamasqua’s Kontrol Lipstick
Posted by Latoya in Illamasqua, Lips, Make-up on August 5, 2012
Lately I have been feeling very run of the mill, very generic…every so often I get this way and I crave breaking the mold and doing things unlike the status quo. I think as a whole I always have an urge to go against the grain, but when I feel these particularly strong longings, usually someone or some persons are at the root of it.
This past week, I was really moved and inspired by some of my daily blog reads – they showcase things in a unique way, and played with makeup in a fashion that really got my attention and got my brain going. Karen at the Makeup and Beauty Blog pulled out some great looks that I really enjoyed, that were both wearable and fun. I especially like to see the looks she creates because our skintones are so similar and it gives me a great visual to work with. Kate at Drivel About Frivol is just an absolute genius at makeup as a whole, and seem to view it as an art (which is how I see it and want to approach it as such). She manages to come up with ideas that are both out of the box but still pretty, and they hold SUCH interest. I aspire to be as creative as her one day. These are just two bloggers of the infinite number that push me to really use makeup as a way to express myself, rather than to just wear to look ‘pretty’.
Another excellent source of inspiration for my lately has been the phenomenal promotional images churning out from Illamasqua for their new Fall collection Generation Q. I love that they’re using ‘real’ people, not models, and pushing the boundaries of age, gender, skin color…and good gracious, they look stunning! Can you even handle how sultry and sexy Patricia looks (and that mani!!)????
So. Full of ideas and drive to step outside my comfort zone and get a little crazy, I decided it was time to try out Illamasqua’s Kontrol lipstick – a creamy blue violet that looks pretty terrifying in the tube, I must say. It’s very, shall we say, eye-catching! But if I’m going to work on being unique and original, I’m going to have to learn how to be comfortable with being a bit more ‘noticed’, so no time like the present!
Natural light
Sunlight
With flash
First I tried wearing Kontrol on it’s own, with a very little made-up face – just a touch of concealer and powder, shimmering bronzed powder buffed into the cheekbones and temples, targeted glowing highlights on the brow and inner eye corners, and a whole lotta mascara. I applied it straight from the tube to keep it a little less intense, though I find the shape of the bullet allows for fairly precise application (a quick note: be sure to cover the entire mouth including your inner lip, as it can really look stark pink and noticeable otherwise). This shade, my friends, is BOLD. It is not for the faint of heart or the shy and demure. It’s definitely a color which challenges the idea of what’s ‘pretty’ – but honestly, after wearing it for a few minutes, and with the warmth from my makeup, I kind of liked it!! Super bad-ass
Above, in sunlight; below, artificial light (both with flash)
However, of course we must remember that I’m just dipping my toe into this new arena of originality, so for my first foray out of the house with Kontrol on, I toned it down and warmed it up with a bit of coral gloss.
Above, in sunlight; below, artificial light (both with flash)
I really liked the way this looked with the gloss; I think as a way to ease into wearing a shade such as this, it made for an easy transition – still edgy without feeling a bit too ‘out there’ for this against-the-grain novice. However, I don’t plan to rest on my laurels here – the whole point is to push the boundaries of what’s considered ‘normal’ and step on the other side of the line just so. I want to find that happy place that so many can achieve with fashion (which sadly I cannot master), where they draw gazes for their unique sense of style without also going so far past the line that they look ridiculous. I think I can get there, but I will have to take chances. I think Kontrol is an excellent place to start, don’t you?
What is your approach to makeup? Do you have any beauty goals you’d like to achieve?
Ridiculous face because I am, in fact, ridiculous – this was actually my effort at a ‘real’ shot, not being silly…how lame am I?!
*Product provided by the PR company/brand for my unbiased consideration
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