Toss the Gloss! Part Two

In yesterday's post I started looking culling my makeup drawer to clear room for my recent Sephora Friends and Family sale haul.  With only one tossed lipgloss and four saved ones, I'm not sure I did much in the way of making room, though I did rediscover a couple of products I'd misjudged/forgotten about.  On to Part II!

A reminder of the products I'm reviewing:

From the top going down:

• Bobbi Brown Plum Metallic Lip Color (Party to Go Palette)
• Bobbi Brown Pretty Pink Metallic Lip Color (Party to Go Palette)
• Bobbi Brown High Shimmer Lip Gloss in Midnight Violet (Party to Go Palette)
• Smashbox Lip Enhancing Gloss--Sheer Color in Lust
• Josie Maran Argan Natural Volume Lip Gloss in Voluptuous
• Josie Maran Argan Natural Volume Lip Gloss in Optimism

Bobbi Brown Plum Metallic Lip Color from the Party to Go Palette

 
This is such a pretty purpley pink gloss that I can't imagine anyone wouldn't like it.  It has just enough color to warm up my otherwise listless lips, and is perfect for really casual days.  Plus, like all of the Party to Go glosses, it's highly moisturizing.

Verdict: KEEP!

Bobbi Brown Pretty Pink Metallic Lip Color from the Party to Go Palette

 
This one is such a light, sheer pink that it's almost nude.  It adds just a hint of color, and like its plum counterpart is perfect for really casual weekends.  I can't say that I'd pay full price for a whole tube of this color, but it's an excellent addition to the otherwise dark Party to Go Palette.

Verdict: KEEP!

Bobbi Brown High Shimmer Lip Gloss in Midnight Violet from the Party to Go Palette

Ugh.  I'm really not sure what happened with this one, but it was a hot mess to apply.  No matter how I worked it, this color wouldn't go on evenly, which resulted in the weirdness you see at the bottom right and top left corners of my lips.  If it wasn't part of such a cute set I'd toss this one immediately, but since I love the rest of the Party to Go Palette my verdict is:

Verdict: Keep--albeit reluctantly

Smashbox Lip Enhancing Gloss--Sheer Color in Lust

 
This is a gorgeous pinky color with a slight shimmer that came close to being tossed by virtue of its painful, horrible applicator.  I finally used a lipgloss brush instead of the plastic brush applicator that screws into the lid because it was so stiff and unyielding.

Verdict:  Keep for the color, not for the packagaing

Josie Maran Argan Natural Volume Lip Gloss in Voluptuous 

I'll say this for Josie Maran--her products aren't sticky, but WOW do they have added scent.  I almost gagged at the overpowering cupcake/vanilla smell of this gloss.  Neither scent is a favorite of mine, and I really have a problem with adding smells to every beauty product.  If I want to smell like something other than soap I'll wear perfume, thankyouverymuch.  This vibrant hot magenta pink really doesn't do anything for my skin tone anyway, so unsurprisingly...

Verdict: TOSS!

Josie Maran Argan Natural Volume Lip Gloss in Optimism 

To say that "optimism" was on my mind when I tried yet another Josie Maran gloss would be an understatement.  This shade unsurprisingly has the same scent issues as "Voluptuous" but I quite liked the sheer champagne-colored shimmer of "Optimism."  I just wish it didn't smell!

Verdict: Keep...for now

Overall I looked at 11 different lipsticks/glosses, and wound up tossing only two.  Four more are on the fence for either scent or application issues.  I was hoping to cull more from my lip collection, but am satisfied for now that at least I've refreshed my memory about a few gems in my collection.

Later this week: a look at Sephora's Give Me Some Lip set.  Any gloss colors you're loving lately?

Toss the Gloss! Part One

In light of my recent Sephora purchases, I've spent some time this weekend culling my makeup drawer.  My goal was to get rid of products that I don't use or even really like, but the project had the unexpected added bonus of reminding me about things I really liked but hadn't used because they were tucked away behind my daily wear products.

I've always been something of a lipstick junkie, and have quite a few tubes that I didn't go through just because they're in various purses that I (again) don't use often, so these are mostly lip glosses that I've purchased either alone or as part of a set.  On the whole I've never been a huge fan of lip gloss, mostly because of the stickiness factor, and was pleasantly surprised by how many of these I actually liked once they were on.

From bottom to top:

• Smashbox Doubletake Lip Color in Mulberry
• Givenchy 18 elegant Rouge
• Smashbox Limitless Long Wear Lip Gloss in Endless
• Korres Liquid Lipstick--Raspberry Lipgloss
• Josie Maran Magic Marker Lip Stain with Argan Color Stick in Quickstep
• Josie Maran Argan Natural Volume Lip Gloss in Optimism
• Josie Maran Argan Natural Volume Lip Glos in Voluptuous
• Smashbox Lip Enhancing Gloss--Sheer Color in "Lust"
• Bobbi Brown High Shimmer Lip Gloss in Midnight Violet (from Party Palette to Go)
• Bobbi Brown Pretty Pink Metallic Lip Color (from Party Palette to Go)
• Bobbi Brown Plum Metallic Lip Color (from Party Palette to Go)

Smashbox Doubletake Lip Color in Mulberry

This is a double-ended pencil/crayon that includes both the lip color and a liner, which I like since I never know which color liner to choose with a new lipstick.  It's a medium-dark maroon color with pink undertones, and quite moisturizing.

Verdict: KEEP!

Givenchy 18 Elegant Rouge

A classically packaged lipstick, this is a moisturizing magenta red that has a lot of staying power (though feathering issues if lips aren't exfoliated well before applying).  I actually have two tubes of this color because I love it so much, so the verdict here shouldn't be surprising.

Verdict: KEEP!

Smashbox Limitless Long Wear Lip Gloss in Endless

 
As you can see, this is a very sheer gloss that really needs to be layered over something for it to provide anything other than a sheen on my natural lip color.  It's very sticky, as are most Smashbox glosses that I've tried, but the flip side to that is that it stays on forever.  I actually wore this from around 9:00 am through 4:00 pm yesterday without retouching once, even after a meal.  Amazing!

Verdict: KEEP!

Korres Liquid Lipstick--Raspberry Lipgloss

 
I'm really not sure whether this is supposed to be a lipstick or a gloss, but that point is moot because I hate it.  The color is incredibly intense raspberry pink which doesn't work well at all for my skin tone, and the application is just bizarre.  It goes on super wet--like soupy wet--but dries out my lips almost at once.  Plus, there's added vanilla-y scent that I really don't enjoy. 

Verdict: TOSS!

Josie Maran Magic Marker Lip Stain with Argan Color Stick in Quickstep

This product easily wins the "weirdest application" award of the day.  It's another double-ended product, with what is literally a magic marker on one end and a tube of chapstick on the other.  I actually remember disliking the color when I first got this one, but quite liked the medium pinky red when I tried it today.  My only complaint is that the marker left a bit of lint behind on my lips, plus an odd alcohol taste.  The argan chapstick could stand to be more moisturizing, but did the job of sealing the marker color well.

Verdict: Keep--for now

Stay tuned tomorrow for Part II!