Hello it’s that time again for our monthly style report with Cindy and Sarah. This month we are talking about lipsticks!
Ancient History
Do you remember your first lipstick? I remember exactly what mine was. I was nine. I know. Well it began in my fourth grade class where we were doing collages with magazines, (something I loved), and my chic teacher, Mrs Reyerson had magazines like Vogue to cut out and I was in love with the photos and the fashion. I went home and wanted to buy Vogue too, but mom said I was too young.
We met in the middle with a Seventeen Magazine subscription. That was back in the old days when magazines were huge and oversized and glossy. I poured over those pages, and could spend hours on my bed looking at the images of college girls in their knee high socks and pendleton skirts wishing I was a teenager. (I should have been doing something more productive, but hey it was the 70’s…) Thats’s why in 1974, or ’75, Yardley Pot O’Gloss was all I wanted. I could be persistent about these things and mom finally gave in, with the agreement I wear it ONLY in the house… I nay have broken that rule a few times.
This was the ad for it back then.. Imagine my mother when I showed her this.. She was a patient mom.
Later on my friend Laurie Montilla and I learned how to make our own lipgloss in third grade. Her sweet mom let us take ALL the lids of the family salad dressing bottles and mix vaseline with blush and eyeshadows to make our own colors! I thought this was the coolest thing on the earth. Later we progressed to Maybelline Kissing Potion with the glass roller ball in middle school. Remember that goopy stuff? And then there were the big Bonnie Bell Lip Smackers.. I believe I had Dr Pepper on a rope!
I felt I had reached the lipstick pinnacle when mom took me for some real makeup for my first dance in tenth grade. She said if I was going to wear makeup, it better be something of good quality, so we went to Macy’s and I was allowed Borghese Opalescent lipstick with a matching eyeshadow. I think my mom liked it as it had little color and I wasn’t looking too made up. I was in heaven and that was 1981.
Flash forward to now, and I own just about ten lipsticks! I don’t like to hang onto things and clear out my drawers every 6 months or so. During the pandemic I wore balm a lot, but I really need lip color as I have zero lip tint and I’m a beige blob essentially.
Do you Know Your Best Colors?
Even though I’m fair, light pinks don’t really pop on me and I need something middle of the road. I like colors with a cooler base with my skin. For some reason bricks and orangey reds don’t do well on my skin, though I have gold undertones.
Are you aware if you look better in cool or warm lipstick colors? If you are, it can help you from making mistakes when shopping for makeup. One way to tell is go to the colors you have always loved and feel good in and notice if they have a warm base like bricks and corals or a cooler one, like fuchsia that has a closer to purplish base. You’ll know the you have the right tone on, when your eye color will pop a bit and your skin looks good.
Also I have lipsticks that have changed color while on my lips. That can happen. Everyone has a different PH to their body and if so, take that lipstick back. They count on people not doing it, but I always save my boxes, just in case. Sephora and Blue Mercury are both great about that- as long as half the product is still there.
Where to Shop?
As summer is nearly here and the change of seasons, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to throw a new lipstick or two into my mix. I can get into a rut with colors and brands. One of the perks of this blogging stuff is I’m forced to do a bit of research, and this lipstick post got me into the store and blotting away at all kinds of brands and colors. I normally do not have the patience…and seeing myself in the department store mirror…can be frightening. LOL… and I’m not always keen on the help, though they mean well.
I spent some years working in cosmetics at Macy’s and Nordstrom while I was going through college. I worked the counters at Lancome, Estee Lauder, and Borghese. I wore a lot of makeup back then, and did a lot of applying on myself and others.. Now I’m more inclined to shop small instead of at the mall or just order online.
I did find a few new things in this adventure. I spent some amount of time at my little local Sephora and Blue Mercury. I find both those places to be less stress, easy to get in there to try things on my hands with accessible alcohol, Kleenex and remover. They let you play around without too much intervention and I kind of like that. I highly recommend them. if you’ve got makeup counter aversion like me.
Here’s what I came home with..
Three new lipsticks I bought and love..
First up, I have been wanting to try Pillow Talk by Charlotte Tilbury. Pillow talk is the most popular lipstick in America. They say a tube is sold every two minutes and apparently its appeal is the nude pink shade that is flattering on many skins and a secret matte formula made with orchids, that isn’t drying. Bonuses are the beautiful tube, quality ingredients and long wear for $34.
I bought the original formula and though it looks quite dark in store and on my hand (weirdly online it looks almost beige), it was the perfect medium tone pinky color. In the bathroom at home, it looked even better. (Me in my unfiltered glory… I apologize I really didn’t know a better way to show the colors!)
Secondly, what I was missing in my lipstick wardrobe was something with a little sparkle. Working at the Borghese counter and there was one color with sparkle all the women were mad for called Fiamma Garnet and we just could not keep it stocked!
There is something to having a little sparkle, but not too frosty that looks great on everyone. So I hunted Sephora for something similar. (Honestly, right now there are a lot of muddy matte colors are out there..) I found a wonderful dupe, Spark, by Sephora. It’s prettier on than in the tube and almost kind of neutral. It’s a lovely formula and only $9. You can also layer this over a more long lasting lipstick for a little gleam. I love many in the Sephora house line and you can find it all here.
While I was looking I found Nars Pour Toujours, which has a mauve sheen and is matte. I forgot to model it, but this is the online pics. It is more matte than Pillow Talk, but goes on softly and is deeper mauve than these photos show.
Nars lipsticks are formulated without toxic ingredients and wear fantastically for $26.
Favorites I already own and love..
I have one lipstick I have been loyal to the past couple years and that is LIKE, from Glossier. Love the formula which is called Sheer Matte that feels good, looks natural. I’m just crazy about this color, which seems like your lips have been blotted, and I haven’t found anything similar. I’m not crazy about the other shades, but the Jam color is a deeper version of this.
Also Glossier has one of my favorite mascaras which makes your natural lashes look pretty and long and wears so well, never flakes or runs, yet easy to remove.
Another fave, Clarin’s Natural Lip Perfector is a forever love. It’s the one gloss that isn’t sticky. It has the perfect consistency and I love the sponge applicator. I love the natural and all the colors in this soft balmy gloss which lasts and feels great. I have one in my bag all the time and for tennis too. (By the way Clarin’s Total Eye Lift is my eye cream of choice and it’s wonderful for sensitive eyes. It’s fabulous and I hope they never stop making it.)
I also love Chanel’s Lip Duo, which has ultra long wear color and the prettiest gloss on the other end to dab on top. I save this for when I’m going out. This is also one of the best selling lipsticks and at $42 pricier, but so good! I don’t own a lot of Chanel makeup, but everything I have has been worth the cost!
I recently rediscovered this gem, all time best-seller and universally flattering Clinique’s Almost Lipstick in Black Honey. It’s appeal as it looks unique on every person and is a sheer balm that feels great on.
My go-to lipliner for years has been MAC Whirl, which is described as a dirty pink and the closest to natural lips and so I stick with it. I like to line my lips from the corner in after lip color is on, blot, go back to add more to the center and a bit to the edge and cupid bow and blot. You just never want to notice it. I love their pencils, which never break and last forever. I’d say I buy one of these a year. The whole color range here
I am always looking for brands that are better for the planet and use less toxic ingredients. Beauty Counter is a good one and I love their Sheer Conditioning Lipstick. I have had the raisin and the clear and need to try this petal color next.. Love the quality of their things and mission to get toxins out of beauty products, lipsticks especially!
Please share in comments, what are your favorite lipstick colors and brands and if you prefer mattes, glosses or balms? Have you found anything new lately?
I’m always curious where we are headed in the lip department as it seems that’s the one thing that we continue to buy, during recessions, wars, etc…except during the height of the pandemic when we were in masks. Apparently lipstick sales have rebounded since. Kind of an interesting story of how they chart lipstick sales and sometimes even when they surge it means people are saving money in other places.. Full story here on Forbes
Well, I hope you enjoyed this lip chat, now please see what Cindy and Sarah have for you in the lipstick realm. I can’t wait to see what they love…
Thanks for being here!
Kim
You might also like last month’s Signature Style post on Crossbody Bags.
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