Currently Loving: Avene Cold Cream Lip Cream

Product Sent for Review

Recently I held a contest with Avene (which I'm not even going to link to because it's long over), and as a surprise Avene sent me the prize as well! Usually you wouldn't think that the summer is when you need soothing and super hydrating skin products, but it is the perfect time for a little extra pampering!

Despite slathering on lip balm, my lips take a beating when I spend a lot of time outside, and my normal go-to balms don't seem to be cutting it. I've started adding in extra moisture with a little bit of Kiehl's Midnight Recovery on my lips, but I need a balm to add over the top.

I've been really loving the extra hydration offered by Avene's Cold Cream Lip Cream. It's a white balm that comes in an angled tip tube. It has a little bit of a cold creme scent but really no flavor. It isn't greasy at all and while I can feel it on my lips I don't think it is at all sticky or oily. Since using it I've noticed that my lips are softer and have been less chapped, definitely a bonus!

Avene
Product Sent for Review

Ask a Beauty Blogger: Stop Feathering Lippies!

Fortunately, this is a problem I only seem to have with a few red lipsticks. No matter how young you are, or how perfectly you line your lips, there is always a lipstick that will bleed on to your skin. Luckily there are a few reverse lip liners to prevent this from happening. While concealer will sometimes help, what you really need is a product that basically creates a barrier around your lips to prevent your lippie from bleeding out all over your skin.
My favorite is the Soothing Lip Primer from Simply Vera Wang. Some reverse lip liners are just that: a lip liner. A waxy pencil you line carefully around your lip, honestly that's kind of annoying.

The Soothing Lip Primer is a lotion (that does have a very slightly waxy feel) that goes on with a fingertip on the skin around your lips, this makes it much easier and faster to apply. I use it over makeup, and you really only need the very smallest of amounts. A pea sized amount is about 8 or 10 applications for me. So, yes, very little! Smooth it around and you're done.

1 little tube is $32.50, but will last for pretty much forever. You can only get it at Kohl's.

Soothing Lip Primer from Simply Vera Wang

A Month of Red Lips: MAC Eden Rouge Lipstick

The MAC Mattenes are usually very pigmented, last for about 5-6 hours (at least for me) and are... well... dry. On me they often look like I could use a good balm. This one really shocked me, it somehow wasn't super matte? It felt a tad hydrating? Definitely a good thing!

MAC

A Month of Red Lips: TIGI Luxury Lipstick

Luxury is a little bit lighter and pinker than what I expected based on how the lipstick looked in the tube. But, it is very pigmented, pretty hydrating for a lipstick and it lasted for about 3 hours without needing to be retouched.

TIGI Cosmetics

A Month of Red Lips: L'Oreal Refined Ruby

So, my tube of Refined Ruby was a little worse for wear after the cap fell off while it was coming to my house. Luckily most of it was intact, because this is a beautiful color! Well pigmented and like other L'Oreal lipsticks, it is hydrating and lasts for hours.

L'Oreal

A Month of Red Lips: Sonia Kashuk Classic Red

Sonia Kashuk's Classic Red lipstick really is just that- a classic red that you can't go wrong with. It applies very smoothly, though I did think it was a tad dry (easily overcome by applying some balm first).

Sonia Kashuk

A Month of Red Lips: Revlon True Red

Super pigmented, very smooth and a bit hydrating. Lasts for hours. Pretty amazing.

Revlon

A Month of Red Lips: Essence Red Carpet Lipstick

With a name like Red Carpet I had expected a true red lipstick. But it wasn't quite red in the tube, and once applied I'd definitely say there's a bit of... what looks like coral? In this red? And some pink?

It isn't red, but it is definitely pretty! It can be a bit translucent, so I have more applied here, but I think it makes it pretty wearable for those afraid of red lips.

Essence

Month of Red Lips: By Terry Red Ceremony

I was a bit surprised by this red lippie! Red Ceremony looks a bit like a darker brick red in the tube, when I swatched it on my arm it looked a little berry colored and didn't apply very smoothly. But...

When it applies, it is super pigmented and smooth. It feels a bit... hydrating. And silky. The color just applies perfectly and looks amazing. It is more of a dark true red, and the shine is amazing for a lipstick. It lasts for about 4 hours before needing touch up.

It also has a lot of little details that you expect from such a high end lippie. The By Terry writing on the site (it actually say "Terrybly" which is the name of the lipstick product), the magnetic closure that snaps the lippie closed and the heftiness of the tube. All of those are great details that I loved.

By Terry

Makeup Wars: Battle of the Red Lip

For this week's Makeup Wars post we're taking a look at one of beauty's classics: the red lip. It is always a big trend in the fall, and I have to admit that this year I really love the red lip!

This gloss is the one I recommend to anyone wanting to try a red lip, it's the one I wear frequently and if you saw my Google Plus Beauty Hangout with The Blush and My Beauty Bunny on Friday, it is the lippie I was wearing that day. (In case you missed it, you can watch the beauty hangout over on YouTube. Also, I pop in and out a few times... my ISP was a bit spotty and Safari kept reloading? So annoying! Next time I'm just going to use Firefox.)

This gloss is very pigmented and I actually use it as a stain a lot! I apply it once, let it sit for about 5 minutes, and then wipe it off. I then reapply a second time, and that's the gloss I'll wear. Applying the first layer and wiping off really does a great job of staining my lips, and makes it a lot less obvious when the lipgloss is wearing off.

The gloss is a little thicker than most glosses, really more of a lacquer. I don't think that it's sticky, and it doesn't really have any flavor. Even with drinking, it lasts for a good 4-5 hours. It's not quite a true red, I think it has a very tiny amount of blue in it, which makes it a little easier to wear. For some reason the fact that it is a gloss makes it look much more polished on me than a lipstick.

I've been loving red lips so much that starting today I'll be featuring an entire month of red lippies! Now I'm off to start snapping lippie pics...In the meantime, check out the favorite red lippies of my blogging friends!











L'Oreal Paris USA

Makeup Wars: My Favorite Summer Lippies, Visual Kei & Lollipop-Pop by Fyrrinae

For this week's Makeup Wars posts, we've decided to highlight the lippie we've been reaching for over and over this summer. I'm going to cheat and feature 2 lippies, I really couldn't pick!

What I've pictured here are 2 Lip Lustres from Fyrinnae, and while I had initially purchased the $2 samples just to try out the color (that is what you see here), I've since purchased the full sized versions. I've been grabbing these two colors almost every day since I got them, which is about 3 weeks or so. They are definitely worth the $6, and I want Fyrinnae to make a huge range of more wearable colors. I want a few more like pinks and peaches, a couple of different reds and since it is so "in" for fall, we'll need about 5 dark vampy lip shades to pick from ranging from red to burgundy to a deep plum. Please and thank you.

This formula is unlike any lippie I've ever used. It's pretty much exactly what I had hoped that YSL stain glossy thing was going to be... but wasn't. Lip Lustre is like you took a lipstick, stuck it in a blender and whipped it around a bunch. It's like a fluffy, airy lipstick. Not really a gloss, but also not really a liquid lipstick either. It is not at all sticky, it's super pigmented, and it takes about 3 hours to wear off. When it does, it is pretty hard to notice because it really acts as a stain as well, so you'll have at least some color all day long.


I initially purchased the sample sizes of Lollipop-Pop and Visual Kei, when I bought full sizes I bought both of these, Dragon's Blood and Less than Three. It is a little hard to tell the two apart in the swatch pic, but when worn the Lollipop-Pop is a brighter and lighter pink while there's a bit of darker magenta/red added to the Visual Kei.





Suddenly that super bright summer lippie has been so much easier!