The Work-Appropriate Berry Lip

The Work-Appropriate Berry
Lip

A berry color (Andersen used
Avon Rose Bouquet ) applied
with your finger is the simplest
way to ease into a bold lip—or tone down your favorite bright
color to a more office-friendly
hue, says Andersen. The key is
to press the color onto the lips
to create a stain effect. You can
layer on more to up the
intensity.

Makeup Collector

As a makeup  collector, I often forget about what I have sitting in my makeup drawers. Yep, I do. I find myself getting caught up by the latest and greatest, and forget about amazing things sitting in my collection. This year, I’ve vowed to make a change, and I’m doing this via Project Make a Dent. Two of my favourite bloggers, Lily and Kristen, have been doing Project Make a Dent over the months, and inspired me to do the same. I’ve put my own spin on it, however, and thought I’d share it with you.

Do you have an Everyday Lipstick?

Do you have an ‘everyday’ lipstick?  I wish I did. I tend to gravitate from one lipstick to another, falling in and out of love with various colours and formulas. But there are lipsticks in my collection that would fall perfectly into the realm of perfect, everyday lipsticks. These lipsticks are ones that aren’t too ‘out there’ in terms of colour (no fuchsia here!), but still give enough of a colour impact to look like you’re wearing something. These everyday lipsticks truly are ‘my lips but better’ colours.

NARS Audacious Lipstick

Dragon Girl from NARS has been on my wish-list for a long, long, time. It’s one of my recent acquisitions, and I’m a happy camper. It is absolutely, positively, gosh-darnit, beautiful.
Over the last month or so, I’ve been on a hunt. A hunt for a lipsticks. Go figure. The lipstick in question is a NARS Audacious lipstick called Brigitte, a nude rose.

A while back, I tried on Brigitte and loved it. But I was feeling like all responsible (I had already purchased two other Audacious lipsticks after all) and decided I didn’t need it. So I put it down.

Big mistake. Big. (I hear Julia Roberts when I write this.) You see, since then, Brigitte has been sold out — online at Sephora, at my local Sephora store and at Holts for weeks.

Gah! What’s a lipstick hoarder to do?

Urban Decay Lounge Eyeshadow

Urban Decay Lounge Eyeshadow ($18.00 for 0.05 oz.) is described as a “brick red with green shift.” It’s a rich, reddish-brown with warm undertones and a green-teal flash of shimmer on top that gives it a more metallic finish overall. It had good color payoff with a soft, buttery texture that worked well on bare skin and was easy to blend out. This shade felt slightly softer and not quite as dense as the other duochromes from Urban Decay in this launch. This shade was released previously in their older formula. Once upon a time, this shade may have been more unique, but now it is one of the most replicated duochrome shades. .

Urban Decay Sideline Eyeshadow ($18.00 for 0.05 oz.) is described as a “gold with green shift.” It’s a light-medium, yellowed gold with a green sheen–the gold gets lighter and darker (more orange-gold) as you angle the shade. The shift is definitely visible on the lid, but I would describe it as a moderate duochrome effect. It had excellent color payoff with a creamy, smooth consistency that applied well and blended out beautifully. The color lasted for eight and a half hours on me.

Urban Decay Beware Eyeshadow ($18.00 for 0.05 oz.) is described as a “warm brown matte.” It’s a medium-dark brown with warm, reddish undertones and a matte finish. The texture is very silky and finely-milled and has really good pigmentation. It doesn’t get powdery, but it wasn’t quite as blendable as anticipated. On me, it wore well for eight hours before creasing. This shade was previously released as a limited edition product. 

Urban Decay Riff Eyeshadow ($18.00 for 0.05 oz.) is described as a “brown-nude matte with floating micro-sparkle.” It’s a brightened, orange-brown with warm undertones and a dusting of gold micro-sparkle. A few of the sparkles will land on the lid, but you’ll need a primer if you want to really keep them/see them on the lid as they tended to disappear as I blended the color on the skin. It was nicely pigmented with a soft, silky texture that was very blendable and easy to use. It stayed put for eight hours before creasing slightly. 

Baiser Velours Lise Watier

Ever go into a drugstore to pick up essentials, and end up getting distracted in the makeup aisle, and ultimately hauling way more than you intended? Yes? Whew, I’m glad I’m not alone. A few weeks ago, it happened to me while at Shopper’s Drug Mart where my intention was to pick up some lady stuff and shampoo. One hundred dollars later I found myself with said products…plus three lipsticks and an expensive but well worth the price Nuxe lip balm. Gah!
The one product I was particularly excited about was a Baiser Velours, a new liquid lipstick from Canadian brand, Lise Watier.