Lippies Experiment: Final FOTDs!

Guys, I did it! I wore all my lippies this month! HURRAY! Let's see how the last few panned out.

What do you mean I can't have a bunny?

Clinique After Party: This is a delightful vampy plum, with one caveat: gold shimmer. So much gold shimmer. It doesn't migrate, thankfully, but it does remain after the lipstick wears off. The formula also isn't moisturizing, so after a full day of wearing just this, my lips were quite chapped. And very shimmery. I think it's a lippie I'll keep in mind for shorter events––it looks awesome for a couple of hours, and my lips can survive that long just fine. Definitely has inspired me to get another non-shimmery vamp, though! Got my eye on Hourglass Empress.

NYC Sheer Red with L'Oreal Golden Emerald on my eyes and NARS Deep Throat on my cheeks. This was an impulse buy after reading about it on some blog and happening across it during a 40% off sale. It cost me $0.59, so my expectations were pretty low. It smells gross, like cheap drugstore lipstick (go figure!), but it's quite pretty on. I didn't end up wearing it all day so I can't speak to its long-term comfort, but I'll be holding on to it as a nice sheer red. Though I do think I prefer Jordana Sweet Strawberry, which I threw out once it started smelling weird. Methinks I should pick up another from Walgreens...

On Sunday I wore Chanel Dragon (with Le Métier de Beauté Corinthian on eyes and MAC Subtle Breeze on cheeks), because it's high-maintenance and so very dramatic and I don't feel comfortable wearing it to school. With Revlon Red lip liner underneath, it lasted about 2 hours with drinking tea before I felt I needed to apply. It's so gorgeous, but the formula is just a little slippery for my taste (and my lip-rubbing tendencies). It was my first really high-end purchase, though, and guys, the color is gorgeous, so I shall wear it whenever the occasion is dramatic enough.

It's raining and sunny at the same time? Cue befuddlement.

Liz sent me a couple of lippies, one from Elizabeth Arden, Rosy Shimmer 13, a nearly-frosty rosy nude that looks surprisingly nice on (I say surprising because colors like that usually wash me out), and a Smashbox gloss (Crowned, so named, I assume, because of the crown-embossed charm attached). I found the lipstick to be a bit grainy and haven't worn it all day so can't report on the wear or long-term comfort, but I shall update once I have worn it. The gloss is a nice light peach with subtle shimmer; I find it lightens my natural lip color when I wear it alone, which is a bit too corpse for my taste, but it made Revlon Tutti Frutti a really lovely peachy-coral shade, not as bright and orange as it is on its own (and I wore Deep Throat with this look as well, since it matched the gloss really well!). It's not too sticky, and it lasts a nice amount of time (I got about an hour and a half of noticeable glossiness), and smells like caramel kettle corn––I'm not sure how I feel about the scent, even though I adore caramel kettle corn, but it thankfully fades quite quickly. It's also made me realize how handy pale glosses can be: it's such a delightful way to hack lippie shades that can be hard to wear! So now, of course, I want more glosses for such a purpose (LMdB Lip Crèmes, to be precise). RESTRAINT.

I wore Revlon Red Velvet one day and failed to take a picture because it was during my particularly blue time. I love, love, love the shade of Red Velvet, a gorgeous cool deep red, but the formula just doesn't cut it for me––I need something longer-lasting and less creamy for such a rich color. I found it faded from the inside of my lips more quickly and left me with a bit of ring-around-the-mouth syndrome, and it's not moisturizing enough to forgive the short wear time. So into the giveaway drawer it goes! And now I am on the hunt for a similar shade in a better formula. Any suggestions?

um, just ignore the terrible skin and out-of-focus dead eyes and weird lighting, thanks

The very last lippie was Dior Rouge Favori. This is a rich, vibrant, cool red tinged with magenta. It is stunning. And very bold. It's what I wore to the wedding I went to with the boy. The problem with it, as is true for all bold lipsticks, is that I am in a constant state of concern about whether it's fading unevenly or settling into lip lines, so I delegated the boy to watch out for that. I wore it with the Revlon red lip liner around the rim, but in the future I think I will fill in my lips with the lip liner, too, because after a few hours of eating, etc., I was left with an unfortunate red ring. Rouge Favori itself, however, is a magnificent formula, creamy enough to spread easily, not so creamy that it migrates, moisturizing, long-lasting, rich in pigment, and supremely comfortable. It has high-end lipstick smell, which I'm not crazy about, but that fades after 10 minutes or so, and it lasts several hours without needing reapplication (less if I eat). It's definitely not transfer-proof, though, as the boy can attest! I'm planning to wear this to my stats midterm on Thursday (tomorrow, when this posts), because even if I crash and burn, I'll be looking mighty fine. Plus, red lips require confidence, which is bound to help on my test, too. (I'll have a full review of Rouge Favori up at some point.)

So that's the end of the Lippies Experiment! I'm glad to call it a success. I think it was a good way for me to reacquaint myself with what I have, as well as what I need, and it was a nice way to decide what to pass on to someone else! Now I must ponder what to do for November...

Hope you all have a safe and fun Halloween! Mine will consist of going to the dentist and studying for my stats midterm, which is Thursday morning, and probably eating lots of candy to make myself feel better about the whole stats midterm thing. And then regretting eating lots of candy. Which is pretty par for the course for Halloween!