Give Me Some Lip! Review

I am a sucker for sample kits.  I can't tell you how many I've purchased over the years, only to be disappointed with 99% of them.  Initially I was prepared to be disappointed by the Sephora Give Me Some Lip set too, particularly since I could easily see from the promotional photo that it contained one lipstick I knew I'd never use and one gloss from a company I'd sworn off buying glosses from a long time ago. 

So what made me bite the bullet and shell out $25 (actually $20 because I used a Friends and Family code) for this one?  Two words: Tarte Moody.  I freaking love this color, and the prospect of having a purse-sized tube plus getting at least one or two other products I'd keep using was enough to convince me that Give Me Some Lip was worth purchasing.

So how did it stack up?  Surprisingly well.  First, swatches!

Left to right: Tarte LipSurgance in Moody,  Smashbox gloss in Fame, Kat Von D Painted Lipstick in Celebutard, Buxom Lip Polish in Leslie, Benefit Benetint in Rose, and Lancome Juicy Tube in Raspberry Ice.

First, the bad.  I hate, hate, hate the Kat Von D shade.  It's a nude, but not a my-lips-but-better nude.  It's far pastier than my natural lip color (which isn't dark) and wasn't flattering at all.  This was the one shade I knew wouldn't be a hit from the minute I saw the photo online, though, so it wasn't as if I was disappointed when I tried it on and realized it was a no-go. 

I also didn't care for the Smashbox gloss in Fame.  I go back and forth about Smashbox glosses, because while they're really long-lasting, they're so incredibly sticky that I never wear them, even when I do like the color.  Fame didn't do anything for me as a shade, so it went into the reject pile too.

Now when I bought this set I made a deal with myself.  As long as I liked at least half of the box I could keep it.  With two shades down, I needed at least three hits (not including the Tarte stain that I already loved) or I'd have to send it back.  Thankfully, the rest of the colors and formulas proved themselves to be worthy of the "keep" pile.

The Buxom lip polish was, on first glance, a reject.  I tried it on over the Kat Von D (mistake number one) and didn't pay much attention to how much gloss was on the applicator before I put it on my lips (mistake number two).  When I looked in the mirror I actually burst out laughing because it looked like I'd gone back to 1989 and put on some of that candy makeup they used to sell.  Remember that?  It was gloopy and stringy and tended to stick stubbornly to the purse of the lip so you had to use your teeth to get it off.  Ick.  Not a look I would care to sport at 10, much less 30.  So it's no surprise that I was ready to lump Buxom in with Smashbox and Kat Von D.  Then, this morning, I decided to give it another try.  This time I wore it over a shade (to be revealed momentarily) that I really liked, and I made sure not to apply much at all.  Eureka!  What had initially looked like a gloppy mess turned out to be a very lovely champagne-sparkle shade that worked beautifully when lightly applied.  It does have a strong minty effect on my lips, and I could definitely do without the extended tingly sensation it provokes, but overall the color and lifespan of the shade (I'm going on five hours of wear time as I type, and it's even lasted through a meal) make it a keeper.

The real prize of the set, and the color I'm wearing Buxom over today, is the Benefit Rose shade.  Applying this one is really, really unnerving and I'm going to go on record here as saying that I dislike the whole application process.  Benetint is packaged in what really looks like a nail polish jar, and applies with a brush like a watercolor.  If you look at the photo above you'll see that it's a true stain, and dries in seconds once on the skin, but before that (and because the jar is full of this dark red liquid) I get very anxious that I'm going to either drop the jar or spill/drip some of the stain onto my clothing.  This might work better for me as a rollerball, to be honest.  Still, the shade is a beautiful pink/rose that looks really lovely on my lips.  Not only would I be tempted to keep the set for this shade alone, but I'm fairly certain that I'll be purchasing a full-sized version when this sample runs out.

Finally, the last hit of the kit is the Lancome Juicy Tube in Raspberry Ice.  The scent of this shade is almost overpowering (ARTIFICIAL BERRY!) but the color is really beautiful.  In the tube it looks like an electric peach with glitter, but on the lips it mellows out into a soft pink/peach that reminds me of nothing so much as NARS Orgasm blush.  The glitter translates into a subtle shimmer, and the overall effect is quite pleasing.  I was really surprised at how much I liked it, especially since I don't tend to gravitate towards peachy lip colors.

So at $25 for the set, this works out to a little over $4 per tube ($3.33 since I snagged it during F&F), which is definitely a price point I'm happy with.  The Tarte LipSurgence alone retails for $24 for a full-sized tube, and a sample this size would work out to $8 if the price was calculated proportionately.  All of which is to say that both mathematically and aesthetically I think the Give Me Some Lip set is a solid value worth buying if you're in the market for some new lip products.

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!

Primers--You're Wearing WHAT on Your Face?

Primer is one of those beauty products that sounds like an enormous crock until you try it.  Then, suddenly, you understand why everyone is spending gobs of money on something that is invisible.  The Emperor DOES have clothes, and when they work they're awesome.

That said, some primers are absolutely not worth the money.  For the beauty newbie, here are a few things to keep in mind when you're deciding which primer to purchase.

• Smashbox is the heavy-hitter for facial primers, partly because it was the first.  
• Many, many beauty bloggers have talked about using Monistat anti-chafing gel (NOT the yeast infection treatment!) in lieu of Smashbox primer as it supposedly contains the same ingredients.  I haven't been brave enough to try it myself, but my skin is acne-prone and I'm always leery of new skincare products when the one I'm using works well.
• Urban Decay is the major eye primer brand--samples of Primer Potion are packaged with most of its palettes nowadays.  
• Both Smashbox and Urban Decay have undergone packaging changes in the last six months (Smashbox went from a pump to a tube and UD went from a little pot with a doe-foot applicator to a tube) and neither product is working the same way it once did for me.  More on that below.

The whole point of primer is to provide a layer between your skin and the product.  This layer will both prevent product from settling into your fine lines and pores (thus eliminating cracks and creases in your makeup as the day goes on) while also providing a grippier surface for the product to adhere to.

So, do they work?  Well, yes.  I started using facial primer (Smashbox, original formula) several years ago, and even though a 6 month supply was over $50, I kept buying it because it unquestionably helped my makeup stay on longer.  Even when I transitioned from mineral makeup to a tinted moisturizer I kept using Smashbox because it really worked for both types of foundation.  When I began using eye makeup more frequently I started applying Primer Potion (because it came with the Naked Palette) before my shadow.  I was so accustomed to using a facial primer at that point that I didn't balk at using something on my lids before applying a base color.  Like the original Smashbox, Primer Potion did exactly what it was supposed to: it kept my shadow from creasing, and it kept the product on my lids all day long.

Do they STILL work?  This is a somewhat tricky question.  There have clearly been formula changes, and they haven't necessarily been for the better.  The consensus on beauty blogs I read (and I can vouch for this myself as well) is that the formula of Primer Potion changed when they switched from the pots to the tubes.  I never experienced any creasing at all when I was still using my sample-sized pot, but have had issues with creasing (only when using my MAC shadows, oddly enough) in the last month or so since I bought the tube.  When I use roughly double the amount of product I used to there's no creasing, but any less and my eyes look like a hot mess by the end of the day.

As for Smashbox, I HATE the tube.  I find myself wasting a ton of product around the mouth of the tube, and the formula feels like it's separating when I squeeze it out.  I'm not seeing the same kind of chatter about this that I've seen about Primer Potion, so it could just be my bottle, but at $49 a pop I'm not likely to purchase another when my current supply runs out. 

Do you use primers?  Which ones?  I'm clearly in the market for something new, and imagine that I'm not alone in that wish.

Products I Will Never Buy Again

We all have them lurking around our makeup drawers: the Products That Failed.  These run the gamut from way too expensive to cheap and not worth it at any price, but the one thing they have in common is that they didn't work.  Yet, if you're anything like me you keep some of these products hanging around, either hoping (even subconsciously) that somehow they'll become amazing by spending some time aging in your drawer, or that they'll serve as a talisman against future bad beauty buys.  My top three worst-performing products of 2011 thus follow, posted in the hope that you won't make the same mistakes I did with these:

#1: NARS Illuminator in Orgasm

Oh, how I wanted this to work!  I love NARS, and I love the Orgasm shade that was all the rage this year.  When I first saw it on Sephora.com I thought that it would be the perfect blend of peachy color and dewy illuminating look that I'd been craving in a cheek color.  How wrong I was!  While the illuminator does look breathtaking in the bottle, there's zero color payoff once you try to blend it in.  No matter how much I used, I still only wound up getting the faintest flush on my cheeks, and I suspect at least half of that was from rubbing it in with my fingers.  The illuminating qualities are interesting, and I will say that it did make my complexion look dewy for at least a couple of hours, but for $29 I expect something with more color payoff and longevity.

As you can see I've used around half the bottle, mostly in an effort to try to make it work any way I can because the pricetag still irks me.  At the moment I'm calling it a base and using it over my tinted moisturizer and under my Tarte cheekstain.  I can't say that it makes much of a difference, but hope does spring eternal.

#2: Bumble and Bumble Let It Shine shampoo, conditioner, and finishing spray

Thankfully I wasn't out any cash on this set as it was a 500-point Beauty Insider gift from Sephora.  Still, I'm kicking myself for spending those points on this worthless set of hair products.  Bumble & Bumble makes some wonderful products (their Sunday Shampoo and leave-in conditioner are two of my favorite beauty products of all time) but this stuff really doesn't live up to my expectations of their brand.  The shampoo lathers normally, but doesn't rinse clean.  You know that feeling your hair gets when you use a new product that rinses the residue of your daily-use product away?  Imagine that in reverse and you'll get an idea of how my hair felt after using the Let it Shine shampoo.  Even though I'd rinsed all of the product off, my hair felt sticky and dirty within a few hours of washing.  Since I only wash every third day, this was a bad sign.  I tried it twice, once with the conditioner and once without, and had the same results both times.

Aside from the fact that it didn't actually clean my hair, I didn't notice any particularly unusual shine to my locks after using the products.  Even the shine spray had roughly the same effect as plain water spritzed over my hair prior to blow drying it.  Boo.

#3: Smashbox In Bloom Palette

Oh wow, was I upset when this proved to be a big disappointment.  The colors are just gorgeous and a combination of matte and slightly shimmery shades.  Perfect for daily wear, which is pretty much the yardstick by which I measure most shadows.  The pigmentation is almost zero, though.  I had to pack a ton of product onto my brushes just to get the barest hint of color, even when using the darker shades.  It was my first experience with Smashbox eyeshadow, and will most likely be my last.  The only silver lining was that I purchased the palette on sale, so at least I was only out around $20.

Looking at all three products again, I'm probably most upset about the In Bloom palette's failure.  The colors are lovely, and I just want it to work so badly!  This may be worth a second (more like fifth, but who's counting?) try, and if I do give it another go I'll be sure to post some pictures and another review.

Which failed beauty products are lurking around in your makeup drawers?