Bite Lush Lip Tint in Juice

Larie recently had a blog sale, and I picked up a couple of Bite lippies I'd been wanting to try (and, because she's amazing, she included a pile of other wonderful goodies!). I figured I'd start the reviews with this Lush Lip Tint. I like sheer lipsticks for low-maintenance days, or when I'm wearing bold eyes, and I don't have a lot of lippies in this particular color family (being warm/nude pinks).

Quick Review: Korres Quince Lip Butter

I've been wanting to try Korres' lip butters for years, but never got around to it. Until I was in Sephora, and they had 4 shades to try, and I had 15% off, and I figured why not. I debated between the deep red Wild Rose and the lighter, warmer pink Quince, and obviously decided on the latter. I figured I had enough reds already, and I wanted something "natural" but pretty.

It gets smudgy after you've used it for a bit. Sorry.

Skincare Saturday: Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment SPF 15 in Original and Rosé Review and Swatches

I think everyone was super psyched when this year's Sephora birthday gift was announced at the end of last year. I know I was, at least! I've heard pretty much nothing but good things about the Fresh lip balms, but at $22.50 apiece, they're just too expensive for me to want to purchase if I'm not sure they'll work out. Enter the birthday duo!

Fresh Sugar Rosé and Original Lip Treatments

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Crush Review and Swatches

I already have, like, way too many lip products, but when I saw a full display of the new Balm Stains from Revlon at Rite Aid during the Revlon 40% off sale, I couldn't resist picking one up.

Oh fer pretty!

I love balms, and stains, and though I already have several lippies in this style, I wanted to see how this compares.

Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Crush

Currently Coveting: Fresh Sugar Coral Tinted Lip Treatment

Currently Coveting is a sporadic feature on products that look interesting, whether new, classic, or something in between!

image via Sephora

Really, I want all of the Fresh Sugar lip treatments (especially Rosé, Passion, and Plum), but the newest edition is just so summery and beautiful that I figured it would be most appropriate to post about it! I've heard nothing but praise for this line of tinted lip balm, and the only reason I haven't tried it yet is the price ($22.50 for tinted lip balm?! Whyyyy). But I'm breaking my own boundaries all over the place (if you'd asked me a year ago if I would ever spend $30+ on a lipstick, I'd have laughed in your face, but I am now in possession of 3 such lipsticks, purchased with my own funds, and Lord, that's disturbing), so I no longer find the price quite as prohibitive. May cave and pick one up during a sale or if I get a gift card (my birthday's in July, hint hint!). $22.50 for 0.15 oz, available from Sephora

More Product Mini Reviews

Hey hey, it's time for another post of mini-reviews! I got to try a lot of products during my New York visit, thanks to L's impressive collection, and will remark on them in a succincter-than-usual fashion. I've decided to post this rather than a monthly favorites/empties (or Skincare Saturday, for that matter, though there are several skincare products here), mostly because I'm sick and don't have the energy to write a new post. Here they are, in no particular order:

Philosophy The Microdelivery Exfoliating Wash

$25 for 8 oz, available from Sephora

This is a very nice, gentle exfoliator. I only used it the one time, since I spent 4 out of 6 of my nights at Z's, but I found it to do its job without unnecessary irritation. I'm not sure I'd want to spend that much myself, especially since I have my Clarisonic which takes care of my physical exfoliation needs, but if you don't have a Clarisonic and want something mild to exfoliate, Microdelivery is definitely worth checking out!

Sort of Skincare Saturday: Bliss Fabulips and High Intensity Hand Cream Reviews and Pictures

This Bliss Santa's Little Helpers set came out for this past holiday season; Neiman Marcus still had it in stock online when I ordered my Deborah Lippmann polish, and I figured it was worth getting to check out, since I'd heard good things about the balm, and I'm always happy to try new hand cream! The set was $11 and had 1 oz of the hand cream and a full size Fabulips. The hand cream is $8 for 1 oz ($18 for 2.5 oz), and the Fabulips balm is $16, so I got a big discount, which makes me feel somewhat better about my mixed results with the products.

L'Oreal Colour Riche (Le) Balm in Plush Plum Review and Swatches

I've spoken before of my love of Revlon lip butters. Sugar Plum is my HG MLBB shade, and I have 3 (yes, 3) of them in my possession. If they ever discontinue it, I will have to buy, like, 10. Fortunately, they're a new product, so I think I've got at least a few years before I have to worry about that!

Revlon's lip butters may be the most talked-about of the new drugstore lip butters, but L'Oreal has put one out as well, called (Le) Balm (nowhere on the packaging does it say "Le," but it's referred to as Le Balm on lots of blogs). There are 8 shades, compared to Revlon's mind-boggling 20. I'd read reviews before saying that L'Oreal's were much sheerer, lighter, and slicker than Revlon's, so I knew I had to get one of the more pigmented in the range, since I find sheer-to-the-point-of-invisibility lip colors to be a complete waste of time (that's what I have my Jack Black for, thank you very much). I ended up choosing Plush Plum as a potential MLBB.

L'Oreal Plush Plum Balm

Neutrogena Naturals Lip Balm Review

I already have an HG lip balm (Jack Black, because I'm a bblogger stereotype), but when I flew back east over winter break, one of the many unfortunate things that happened on the trip was my leaving a nearly-new tube of Jack Black Shea Butter & Vitamin E (limited edition and everything, waah!) lip balm on the plane. The night I had to spend in Denver, I was without any balm, so I made do with my Le Métier de Beauté lip crème, which worked admirably, but is far, far too expensive for me to want to use as a lip balm. So, naturally, the first thing I did after landing in DC was head to CVS to pick up a few staples, including lip balm. I saw the Neutrogena Naturals balm and, thinking it was the Neutrogena Norwegian balm, bought it, only to realize once I actually read the label that it was not what I thought.

What, they look the same, right?

But, having already forked over the $3.50 (plus tax, lame), decided I might as well try using it. I did, a couple times, when lo and behold, I found an old Jack Black in my coat pocket! The Neutrogena was promptly stuffed away and I didn't think about it again until I found it in my small purse a week or so ago, whereupon I decided to try it for the blog.

I used it one afternoon, and while my lips felt dry, I figured it was just the weather (this isn't very good foreshadowing, sorry). After using it that night and then the next morning, it slowly dawned on me that, hello, it's raining, and that sure as hell shouldn't be making my lips drier. Just to be sure, I applied the balm a couple more times and one more night, and the next day, my lips were dry, tight, scaly, and miserable. It took 3 days of regular Jack Black application to get them back to normal. Altogether, it was 5 days of chapped or near-chapped lips. That is how much I love you guys. And how much I hate that frickin' balm. It may even be worse than Nivea Cherry, as hard as that is to believe, but I'm not about to try to do a comparison test between them––my lips have suffered enough.

In case that last paragraph didn't make it clear, this stuff was just terrible for me. I cannot recommend it, except as a gift to someone you hate. As always, these are just my opinions and the product may work better for you than it did for me! But I wouldn't count on it.

Have you tried Neutrogena Naturals lip balm? What did you think? What's your favorite lip balm (or, more appropriate to this post, your least favorite?)

Currently Coveting: Sephora Color Reveal Lip Balm

Currently Coveting is a semi-daily feature on products that look interesting, whether new releases, cult classics, or anything in between!

image via Sephora

In what is clearly an imitation of Dior Addict Lip Glow, Sephora has just released a new product, a lightly-tinted pink balm that supposedly shifts to become your perfect color. The whole pH-ideal-beauty concept is bunk, but I can't say that a flattering MLBB lip balm doesn't sound great anyways! Unfortunately, $12 for a sheer balm is a wee bit more than I want to spend, especially on Sephora's own brand (yeah, I'm a snob), but I will definitely be stalking the web to see what other bloggers think of it and whether it's worth picking up myself!
$12 for unstated size, available from Sephora

How do you feel about "customized" shades? Does this balm intrigue you?

Nivea Kiss of Flavor Cherry Tinted Lip Care Review and Swatches

Long-time readers will know that I am kind of OCD crazy about lip products. I am always looking for my new HG lipstick/balm/gloss, as I have yet to find the One and Only. There are several products that I have and really like, even love, but I still yearn for that One True Lipstick. I was not really expecting Nivea Kiss of Flavor Cherry to fill that hole in my heart, but I had thought it could join my arsenal of trusty sidekicks, providing moisture and a hint of tint.  Spoiler alert: it's been sitting unused on my bathroom counter since just about the day I got it.

Nivea Kiss of Flavor Cherry Tinted Lip Care

30 Days Makeup Challenge: Day 3

For an overview of this series, see here!

Favorite everyday lip?
I've long had an obsession with finding my perfect MLBB shade (see entries under "HG Lip Search" for examples...), so I have several options for nice everyday lip color.

Left to right, one swipe each: Tarte Dazzled LipSurgence pencil, Jordana Sweet Strawberry Easyshine, Essence Fairytale lipstick, Revlon Sugar Plum Lip Butter, Revlon Berry Smoothie Lip Butter

My current favorite is Revlon Sugar Plum Lip Butter (second from right in picture above), as I find it gives me a really natural, subtle lip with plenty of moisture that I don't have to reapply every 30 minutes, but I also really like the others, too!

What about you?

Milani HD Advanced Lip Color in Modern Mauve Review and Swatches

Another item from my Milani 50% off haul, oh goody! I've been wanting to try this lipstick for awhile, but between it not being available anywhere near me and being $9 for 0.06 oz, I couldn't quite take the plunge. But half off with free shipping is an offer I can't refuse, so I did some research and figured Modern Mauve would be the closest thing to MLBB in the line for me. Herewith, my musings.

Milani Modern Mauve

Tarte Lip Service Limited Edition LipSurgence Collection Review and Swatches

Here's the long-awaited (can you hear the sarcasm?) full post on the LE Tarte LipSurgence collection, available now at Sephora and Tarte.com.  I've been pretty much wearing these non-stop since I got them so that I could get this review up before it sells out on Sephora again, but I also wanted to be sure to give as thorough and accurate a review as possible.  I think this is a happy medium!  For arm swatches and my initial thoughts, see here.

Left to right: Glitzy, Perky, Flashy, Swank, Dazzled

Three of these are Lusters and have shimmer, and two are sparkle-free tints.  I found that, overall, the lusters felt a little gritty from the shimmer, but they also seemed to stay moist on my lips for longer than the tints, which were not gritty, but lost their slip within half an hour.  The tints leave behind a lovely stain of color when they wear off, while the lusters last an hour+ (depending on the pigmentation) but leave behind less of a stain and a sprinkling of glitter.

They all have a very slight peppermint smell/taste, which gives the tiniest bit of tingliness when applied, but it's very mild.  They supposedly increase moisture by 6000%, which is just so ridiculous I can't even say.  They are moisturizing, definitely, more so than Clinique Chubby Sticks, but I do still rely on my Jack Black after a day of wearing these.  I'd initially thought their texture was softer than Clinique's, but I think that's only true for Perky, the light pink tint, as it seems to be softer than the others (and is also looser in its casing, so it has smooshed against the side of the tube a bit); I wish I could compare them, but, alas, I lost the Clinique one.  The texture is balmy, but firm, so there's no wasted product.  Overall, I would describe them as a glossy staining tinted balm, which is a mouthful, but I really think that covers all the pieces.

Pictures and descriptions of each shade:

Recommendation Thursday: Winter Skincare, Lips Edition

For a more thorough explanation of how to keep your lips happy through winter, see the TT post here.

I'll talk about lip balm first; I have a lot of personal knowledge of balms, so most of the products recommended here have been tried and tested by me, as the notes accompanying most of them will attest. I also included a few that are very popular and well-liked but that I haven't tried myself, because I am nothing if not thorough!  A note before I continue: all of the lip balms discussed below are highly rated on MUA (minimum lippies of 4/5, minimum buy-again of 75%), so you'll notice several popular products that aren't included (many Burt's Bees items, for example).  I have given notes on those that I have tried, and some of them I really disliked, but since the general consensus is contrary to my experience, I figured it was still okay to include them in a recommendations list.  And, as always, your own suggestions are very much appreciated!

Lip Balms with SPF (because your lips can get burnt, too!)

Image from Sephora

Jack Black Lip Balm SPF 25 is HG for me (and Christine from Temptalia, who is the one who inspired me to give it a try).  It comes in several scent variations, and all except the Natural Mint are flavorless and free of any ingredients that induce tingliness and possible irritation.  My favorite is Grapefruit and Ginger, though I've yet to try the Black Tea and Blackberry (but I included it in my Sephora F&F order, whee!).  Lemon and Chamomile was too sweet-smelling for me, though I've used it nightly for close to 6 months (can't let it go to waste!), and the Lavender and Vanilla scent is actually quite masculine to my nose.  It's $7.50 for 0.25 oz, but, as mentioned above, it lasts a very long time, and it is intensely moisturizing and stays on a long time as well as leaving lips soft and healed once it wears off.  Also: there's a set of 4 out for the holidays, including Natural Mint, Lemon and Chamomile, and two new varieties, Mango and Mandarin and Shea Butter and Vitamin E, and if you buy it during F&F, it's $20 for 4 balms, or $5 apiece, which is 33% less than they are individually!  The two new scents are exclusive to the set, though I suspect they release individuals of them once the holidays are over, as that's what happened with Black Tea and Blackberry and Grapefruit and Ginger.  So if you're wanting to give it a try, the set's a great way to acquaint yourself with the brand!

Tip Tuesday: Winter Skincare, Lips Edition

Up first in my as-yet-undeterminedly-long Winter Skincare series is How to Keep Your Lips Happy When the Temperature and Humidity Drops and They Start Wanting to Fall Off Your Face, or "Lips Edition" for short.  As it gets colder and drier (in most parts of the country, at least; here in the Pacific Northwest we get to look forward to near-constant rain, but that's neither here nor there), your skin and hair lose moisture and can get cracked, dry, itchy, scaly, and/or grouchy.  The first thing to go for me is my lips, hence why I'm discussing it first (that, and because I don't really have to do any research for it!).

You want to have a good lip balm, for starters.  This can be anything from Vaseline to ... whatever the opposite of Vaseline is (Burt's Bees, maybe?), but it should protect your lips from the elements and feel good on.  In olden times, people would use axle grease or lard to treat chapped lips; fortunately, things have gone uphill since then.  Petroleum jelly (aka Vaseline) and mineral oil are common ingredients, as are shea butter, beeswax, carnauba wax, and lanolin.  Many balms have ingredients that make lips tingly, which can definitely be fun, but those things actually irritate your lips further and leave you in worse shape than you started (generally speaking, at least; if the base is moisturizing enough, that effect is mitigated).  Menthol, which is used in Carmex and Blistex, among others, is a common culprit, along with camphor, clove oil, phenol, mint, and salicylic acid.  Ideally, you want to heal your lips, not just make them feel cool (pun intended), and especially in the wintertime, when they're prone to chapping anyways, finding a solid balm without tingly additives is key.

Lip balm with SPF is also recommended, especially if you live anywhere with snow and/or sun (though even those of us in dreary rainy states should wear SPF, too!), because your lips can get sunburned, too, and nobody thinks to put sunscreen on them (and, if they do, they soon realize that it feels disgusting).  Some people are sensitive to SPF ingredients, though, especially in higher concentrations, so be aware of that when trying balms out.  You can also use a different balm at night than you use during the day; I don't like carrying around a tube of Aquaphor with me, but it's extremely moisturizing and works great as an overnight treatment.

To help keep your lips from getting dry and scaly, you can make a homemade scrub from sugar, salt, honey, and/or various kinds of oil.  Mix a little in the palm of your hand and rub gently over your lips to exfoliate, then rinse it off and apply a nice rich lip balm immediately after.  Alternatively, you can brush over your lips with a soft-headed toothbrush in a gently circling motion for gentle exfoliation.

If you wear lipstick, try and stick to the more moisturizing varieties.  Many matte lipsticks can be drying, and put that with already-dry lips and you've got a recipe for flaky disaster.  A tinted balm works nicely, or layering lipstick over lip balm (this can cut down on wear time, but that's a small price to pay!).

What are your tips for keeping your lips in tip-top shape through winter?

Tarte Lip Service Limited Edition LipSurgence Collection Sneak Peek

ETA: For a full review write-up and lip swatches, see here!

Last week, I ordered the LE Tarte LipSurgence collection from tarte.com with a 20% off code (create an account, put stuff in your cart, and then leave it there for a few days, and they'll send you a code! Thank you, Retail Me Not) because it was sold out at Sephora and I didn't want to miss out on it.  It's back in stock, fortunately, so my review won't have to be a "what you can't have" type thing, but if you want it, I would snag it soon, since I'm sure with the start of Sephora's F&F sale (it begins this Thursday and runs through November 2nd, but order early if you want to ensure you get everything you want!) it'll go pretty fast.  Normally, a LipSurgence pencil is $24 for 0.10 oz, but you get 5 full-size pencils/lip sticks for $29 in this set.  And with 20% off, that's a mere $23.20, less than one regular pencil!  So, seriously, I couldn't afford not to get it.

It only just arrived today, and I immediately took some pictures and swatches so I could post them for your enjoyment, since I don't know exactly how long it'll take me to test and review them fully and wanted you to have some idea what the deal is if you're planning on buying it soon.  Anyways!  Here they are; I'll post a more thorough review with lip swatches and product break-down once I've had the chance to play around with them some.

In their pretty box, left to right: Glitzy, Perky, Flashy, Swank, Dazzled

1 swipe each, top to bottom: Swank, Perky, Dazzled, Flashy, Glitzy

Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula with Vitamin E Swivel Stick Review

I suffer from perennially dry lips, and a nasty habit of rubbing my lips together, which together means I am somewhat of a connoisseur (wow, I spelled that right on the first try!  French is stupid.) of lip balms.  My HG is Jack Black lip balm in Grapefruit and Ginger, but as a beauty addict, I do stray from time to time to try others (especially because JB ain't cheap!).  A couple months ago I picked up a tube of Palmer's Cocoa Butter because I'd read so many gushing reviews on MUA that I knew I had to give it a try, and it as on sale, so I figured I could buy it and take it off my mental "to-buy" list (it gets crowded up in there!).  Herewith are my thoughts.

Image from Walgreens

Clinique Chubby Stick Moisturizing Lip Colour Balm in Super Strawberry Review and Swatches

Note: I've been wearing this pretty much constantly since I got it a month ago.  In spite of its shortcomings, it's been a wonderfully easy, flattering lip balm/gloss for me.  Sadly, when I was running to catch the bus, it fell out of the outer pocket on my bag that I'd stashed it in for easy access, and now all I can hope is that some lucky person comes across it, disinfects it, and uses it for themselves.  I don't want to think about it being wasted or run over by a car!  I still had 80+% left!  Lessons to learn here: 
1) Keep expensive makeup somewhere it won't get jostled out of
2) Maybe just don't buy expensive makeup, since apparently it'll just get lost (why couldn't I have lost one of my $2 lipsticks?!)
3) While the Clinique Chubby Sticks are expensive and you only get 0.10 oz, they should last several months with daily use (since a month of multiple-times-a-day application wore the point down to not even below the rim)

I would consider buying this again, especially since Sephora's Friends & Family sale is coming up soon (I'm not sure of the exact dates, but I'll post when I know), but I'm planning on getting the Tarte lipsticks of a similar style (value sets are awesome), so depending on how I like those, I may find myself not needing this again.


Okay, so that's my tale of woe.  Here's the review for my lost love...

After I'd found a lipstick that suited me at the Clinique counter, the SA asked if there was anything else I wanted to see.  The title of this post should indicate to you that yes, yes there was something I wanted to see: the Chubby Stick Gloss Balms.  I'd read so much about them on other beauty blogs, and thought they sounded right up my alley, so I couldn't pass up the chance to give them a try.  The SA applied Super Strawberry over After Party, which added some glossiness and softened the color a bit, but I bought it with the intention of wearing it alone, because a sheer pink-red gloss balm stick is everything I've ever wanted.

Clinique Chubby Stick in 07 Super Strawberry

Jordana Easyshine Gloss Balm in Watermelon Juice Review and Swatches

I recently made my way up to Kmart again, and while there picked up one of the Easyshines I didn't already have: Watermelon Juice, a sheer bright pink.  There were several other shades that I could have gotten, but they all had glitter, and after my experience with Berry Colada taught me to steer away from the glittery shades, and the only other colors I would have wanted were out of stock.  For my review of the other Easyshines, see here.

Watermelon Juice