Flower Cosmetics – Nail Polish

I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but Drew Barrymore has launched a new line of cosmetics called Flower. It’s going to be sold only at WalMart beginning January 31st. That’s the official launch date, but I’ve already found an end cap with Flower products on it at my local store. I’m going to do a longer post in a few days with a few more products, but I wanted to show you a lovely new polish I picked up.

Flower in Gorgeous Gerbera – two coats

This color is Gorgeous Gerbera and retails for $4.98. It’s 0.4 oz. There are 16 shades in the collection at the moment, and most of them are nudes and pastels. There are some deep shades, but I loved that spring is coming soon, and there are so many lovely pastels. I thought it was a fantastic idea to start the collection with some beautiful pastels for spring and early summer.

I think that if you’re looking for office appropriate colors, you’ll find something you can wear. I love that there are also some beautiful deep colors that catch the eye. Many of these colors can be worn by so many women. I also think that the $4.98 price is so affordable.

The formula was a little thick for me, but it definitely needed 2 coats. I used a quick dry top coat, and it turned out perfect. I love that this polish looks glow-y on my nails. I just can’t stop looking at them. (in a good way)

I picked up a pretty lavender shade that I’ll probably wear tomorrow.

Once I get a chance to take some more pictures, I’ll show you the lip products I got from Flower. I’m excited to see more of these products in my local Walmart.

If you want to find out more about the Flower cosmetic line, check this out.

I can’t believe that I have 4 new lip products from Flower that I haven’t even opened yet! That’s unheard of for me. I’ll have to correct that soon. Let me know if you’ve tried out the new brand of nail polish. I’d love to hear from you!

Glitter Nails

I feel like I should change this blog name to “The Nail Polish Gal”. I’m constantly posting about polish. I’ve been doing that lots recently. I promise, I do have several makeup related posts brewing in my brain right now. They just need some time.

Earlier this month I mentioned that Zoya, my favorite brand of polish was having a Color Your World promo for the New Year. They offered 3 polishes for free, and asked that you pay $10 for shipping and handling. It was a fantastic deal since each polish is normally $8 each. I just checked, and after receiving the 3 I got with the promo, I now have 52 shades of Zoya polish. A little over board maybe, but I love everything about this polish line.

1. They are vegan
2. They are 5 Free , they don’t use toluene, camphor, formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin and DBP (dibutyl phthalate)
3. They offer color spoons (check out the video)
4. They have amazing promos regularly (like the one that got me 3 amazing polishes for $10 shipping)
5. They have over 300 colors to choose from
6. They have amazing customer service

Here’s one amazing color I got during the promo called Aurora. 

I was debating if I needed another purple, but look at that! It’s amazing. Oh, and I loved the glitter. I find that I love glitter polishes more than I thought I ever would. After deciding to wear it the other day, I wanted to pair it with something else. So I pulled out several other colors. I had to swatch them all to see what would look the best with it.

Starting on the left, every other swatch is Aurora. The first non-Aurora swatch is Zoya Katherine. It’s a jelly in 2 layers. It might have looked better in 3 layers. Next is Zoya Toni. Then China Glaze Glistening Snow, China Glaze Champagne Kisses and Color Club Put a Pin In It (Birchbox Exclusive).  I even asked my husband’s advice, but didn’t take it. He was leaning towards China Glaze Glistening Snow, but Champagne Kisses works better with my skin tone.

If you haven’t had the chance to try Zoya polish yet, you can in a extremely easy way. If you click this link, you can receive a free bottle of polish with your first order.

Here’s what the Zoya website says about the “Share the Love” link.

“When someone clicks on your personal link and sets up an online account, a coupon for a FREE Bottle of Zoya Nail Polish will automatically be placed in their account and can be used immediately on their current order. TIP: If you use this coupon and add 2 more polishes to your order, you get free shipping too! The coupon will appear in the “My Coupons/ Promos” section of their “My Account” Page.”

So try Zoya and get a free bottle of polish. If nothing else, set up an account now for the times they do amazing promos. If you follow them on Facebook or Twitter you’ll hear about them there. I also love their Pinterest account. I love looking at amazing pictures of nails. Especially if they are lacquered up in my favorite polish.

I Heart Nails!

OPI Don’t Pretzel My Buttons and OPI Die Another Day

I was tired of the dark polish I had been wearing for the past several weeks. I’ve  been sporting black, dark blue, jeweled purple, and wine tones. I thought something lighter was in order. This OPI shade in “Don’t Pretzel My Buttons” always makes my fingers look so long. I was also hankering to do some nail art. By the time I started painting my nails last night, it was 10:30, so I didn’t do anything elaborate. I pulled out my dotting tool and grabbed “Die Another Day” from OPI’s Skyfall Collection. Making hearts are so easy.

This manicure will only last until the end of the day tomorrow, but lots of friend saw it today and loved it! It reminds me of Valentines day!

What are you wearing on your nails these days?

I Have How Many Top Coats: Top Coat Challenge

I finally decided to do it, a top coat challenge. After months of being on a search for a Seche Vite replacement, I realized I had 8 top coats and one arriving any day in the mail. It was definitely time to find out how they performed against each other.

I won’t lie, I love Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat. I love that I can put it on, and my nails will be dry in a matter of minutes with a glassy shine. I’ve always joke that it’s cancer in a bottle. That’s even before I read the warning on the bottle. The warning says it contains ingredients known by the state of California to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm. My husband and I called it quits in the baby department 3 years ago when our youngest was born, so I’m not worried about the “birth defects” part, but I suppose just knowing it’s got bad stuff in it makes me wary.

I started this top coat challenge 4 days ago on Thursday, January 17, 2013. I wanted to make sure I didn’t give any of the top coats any unfair advantage, so I didn’t use a base coat or color by any of the nail companies featured in my challenge. I assumed top coats would work better with color and base coats from the same line. For a base coat, I used Orly’s Bonder.

My main goal was to see who had the best wear, and overall shine and texture. I realized after the fact that I should have picked a cream color for this post. I was thinking about which polish I could manage to wear for 4 or 5 days straight instead of which polish would photograph the best for my purposes. For selfish purposes, I chose OPI’s The World Is Not Enough from the Skyfall Collection.

Base Coat – Orly Bonder
OPI – The World Is Not Enough

On my left hand starting on my thumb to my pinkie:

CND  Air Dry Fast Set Top Coat
China Glaze Fast Forward Top Coat
Zoya Armor Top Coat UV Block
Qtica Extending Top Coat
Essie Good Top Go

On my Right hand starting on my thumb to my pinkie:

Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat
Sally Hansen Mega Shine Extended Wear Top Coat
Sally Hansen Nail Shine Miracle Top Coat
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat
no cop coat just the OPI color

I polished my fingers starting with the Orly Bonder base coat, then three thin coats of OPI’s The World Is Not Enough, and each finger got one coat of the appointed top coat. I started at 8 pm, and was done by 8:50 pm. I started checking to see how fast the nails dried. Here’s the order they dried.

• 9pm – Seche Vite
• 9:05 CND Air Dry
• 9:06 China Glaze Fast Forward
• 9:08 Sally Hansen Insta-Dri
• 9:08 Essie Good to Go
• 9:09 Qtica Extending Top Coat
• 9:35 Zoya Armor
• 9:45 Sally Hansen Mega Shine
• Went to bed at 11:45 and Sally Hansen Nail Shine Miracle was still tacky. I woke up with sheet prints and fuzz stuck to it

I found that Seche Vite and Sally Hansen (SH) Insta-Dri had the thickest formulas. The thinnest formulas were China Glaze, SH Nail Shine Miracle and Qtica.  It was hard to evaluate shine because of the micro glitter in this OPI polish, but I liked Seche Vite, CND, Qtica and SH Insta-Dri the best for shine.

I found that I had the least tip wear with Qtica, Essie, SH Insta-Dri.

All my pictures were taken at the end of a 24 hour period. These were 24 hours after I first painted my nails.

Day 1 – After the first 24 hours

Day 1 – Tip wear, and chip – index finger, left hand – China Glaze Fast Forward

Day 2 – 48 hours after application

CND on the left verses Seche Vite on the right. More tip wear visible on right.

Day 3 – 72 hours after application. I was losing large sections of polish. The first section to come off was from the left hand’s index finger. The one coated in China Glaze’s Fast Forward. A few hours later, SH’s Mega Shine also had a huge chip taken out of it. By the end of the day, I was also sporting a noticeable chip out of my right Seche Vite thumb.

Major chipping along with tip wear. Day 3

Day 4 – 96 hours later.

Losing large chunks of polish. I was aiming for 5 or more days, but I can’t stand it anymore.

I was intending to go for at least 5 days with this top coat challenge, but I just couldn’t. Finding both my index fingers in such a terrible state was heart driving me crazy. I also lost significant parts of my right thumb and middle finger. Both pinkie fingers had small chips on them, but something I could have over looked for a few more days. Six of my ten fingers chipped.

The top coats that didn’t chip were:

• CND Air Dry
• Zoya Armor
• Qtica Extending Top coat
• SH Insta-Dri

I had more visible tip wear with Zoya and CND. I was surprised that SH Insta-Dri performed so well. I wasn’t expecting something so great from a drug store brand, I’ll definitely be getting more of this. I was amazed at Qtica Extending Top Coat. It was my first time using it, so I’ll have to use it again before passing judgement, but so far so good. It had the least visible tip wear of any of the top coats, and had lots of shine. I didn’t see any shrinkage, and it didn’t take forever to dry.

If I had to rank these 9 top coats here’s best to worst based on the last 4 days.

1. Qtica Extending Top Coat
2. SH Insta-Dri
3. CND Air Dry
4. Zoya Armor
5. Essie Good To Go
6. Seche Vite
7. China Glaze Fast Forward
8. SH Mega Shine

I won’t even score the SH Nail Shine Miracle because it never really dried. That stuff is going straight in the trash. If it won’t dry 3 hours after the fact, it doesn’t deserve to stick around! Do I still love my Seche Vite? YES! I just picked up another bottle while this top coat challenge was going on. It’s for the nights I do a 10:45 manicure and still want to get to bed before 11:30. Seche Vite saves me from sheet prints.

Since I also change my polish every other day, I rarely run into the problem of them chipping. I don’t go for long wear, I go for fast drying and shine.

Do you have a favorite Top Coat? How long do you wear your polish in between changes? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Just let me know in the comments below.

Up Late, or Early?

I’m not sure what to call it, but I’m still up. Is it late, or early? I’ve been missing from my blog for the past week or so. I’ve been feeling icky. Yes, that’s the technical term.

I had my second round of Botox for my chronic migraines today. I had two full syringes injected in my forehead, frown line between my eyes, crows feet, and then all over my head, neck, and shoulders. More than 40 injections. Oddly enough, it’s for medical purposes and not cosmetic. But I know that by 10 am this morning, I won’t be able to move my upper forehead much, and my crows feet will vanish again. Hopefully in 10 days my head won’t hurt anymore either.

By the time I made it home from work and picked up my two darling girls from the nanny’s house, I started feeling super icky. Turns out my kidney stones were acting up. I was diagnosed with two large-ish kidney stones the day after Christmas, and have been biding my time waiting for them to come out. Since they haven’t, I had emergency laser surgery this evening.

Thankfully it was out-patient surgery, and after having my two stones removed, I was up and about the house tidying up my bedroom, bathroom and doing laundry. Crazy I know.

I always thought surgery would knock me out, but since there was no incision, just a scope, balloon and a laser, I’m feeling like my old self again. That last sentence sounds terrible. Like some trained monkey was doing my surgery. I assure you, I had a real surgeon. The best part was the anesthesiologist. He gave me the best anesthesia of my life. It’s the fourth time I’ve been under general anesthesia, and I woke right up without being groggy at all.

So now I’m home, taking narcotic drugs for the pain, and I can’t sleep. I’ve been catching up on some TV shows on Hulu. I rearranged my makeup collection. I’ve decided to swatch some new nail colors that arrived from Zoya.com after their recent promotion. Look for that in the next few days. I’m also going to be doing a review/trial of top coats. Just a few things I’m planning for my blog. I hope it will be something you can look forward to.

It’s nearly 4 am, and I’m going to attempt to sleep now. I’ll take more strong drugs and try and doze. Thanks for reading my mid night ramble. When I re-read this tomorrow morning,  I suppose I can chalk this all up to narcotics. I always talk too much when I take these types of drugs. After 7 surgeries, I’ve had my fair share of these drugs. Here’s hoping I can go another 6 months without getting admitted to the hospital again. 🙂

Lipsticks and Glosses Part 3: Reds

I’ve been waiting for this post. I won’t lie, my favorite shade of lipstick is red. I have many other shades, but when I want to feel strong and beautiful, I reach for a red. I love that anyone can wear red. I know that many women are afraid of red, they think it’s off-limits because it’s so intense. Don’t ever think that you can’t wear it. There is a shade for everyone, you just have to find it.

Most of these are reds, but there is one non-red in the bunch. I decided this was the closest place to group it with.

Bite Beauty Creme Lipstick in Cin-Cin

Here’s that one odd-ball. It’s not really an odd-ball, but a non-red. I think if falls well into a bold lip category. It’s a beautiful terracotta color from Bite Beauty called Cin-Cin. What I love about this color is that it’s very versatile. It wears well with so many colors. Clothes, makeup, just about anything I pair with it I love it. It’s a soft, creamy lipstick that’s fully opaque. It lasts for several hours without need of reapplying. I love the Bite Beauty Lipsticks. I’ll be getting a few more.

Ilia Lipstick in Arabian Knights

I picked this Ilia lipstick up in November while I was on vacation. I found this adorable boutique called Preen Apothecary that carried high-end makeup, beautiful accessories, and housewares. What I love about this lipstick is that it’s as much a lip conditioner as a lip color. It’s very hydrating. The more you swipe the lip bullet over your lips, the more sheer color you build. It also ends up as a bit of a stain when it wears of. I like this if I manage to have most of it come off during a meal. I know I’ll still have a stain of color left on my lips.

Be a Bombshell Lip Gloss in Hot Mess

A friend of mine signed me up for My Glam Bag from ipsy.com as a Christmas gift. My December bag was my first, and this lip gloss from Be a Bombshell in Hot Mess was in there. It’s a true red gloss with lots of shine. It is a bit sticky, but that depends on how much you layer on. I also found that it does best when I wear a lip liner with it. I like this one from Lipstick Queen. It keeps it from feathering outside my lip line, and doesn’t alter the color of the gloss. For all of the pictures in these lip posts, I only wore the lip color. No lip balm, no lip liner, just the color I was photographing for you.

Clinique Chubby Stick Intense in Mightiest Maraschino

I love, love, love this new line of Chubby Stick Intense from Clinique! I especially adore this red. I’m sure I mentioned it in part 2, but chubby lip pencils are like lip crayons to me. They make me ridiculously happy, and are so easy to use. Even this bright red that I would normally apply with lots of care is made simple with the chubby stick. This Chubby is also very hydrating, and the color lasts quite a long time. it’s my new go to red. I can apply it while I’m driving in my car without worry about messing up. I don’t do that with any other red.

Hourglass Femme Rouge Velvet Creme Lipstick in Icon

This Hourglass lipstick is another one of my November vacation lipsticks from Preen Apothecary. I know the name is Icon, but I’ve taken to calling it my Snow White lipstick. It’s really a beautiful cherry red color, and reminds me of the perfect color for Snow White. I love the way it feels on my lips. It’s so smooth and creamy, and although it’s a long-lasting lipstick, my lips never get dried out or chapped. I adore this red. It’s a high maintenance red, which means that if you smudge it at all, you’ll get high pigmented color just where you don’t want it. It’s one that I wear with caution. I don’t kiss my children when wearing this lipstick, or they will be sporting a huge red lip mark for hours. I usually wait to apply this one until after I’ve kissed my kids and husband goodbye.  That aside, I still love this lipstick. I will wear it until I have to dig it out with a lip brush, and then I’ll buy the refill. That’s the other thing I love about Hourglass lipsticks. Once you buy the full lipstick, you just have to purchase the color refill instead of getting an entire new tube of color.

I hope you enjoyed these bold colors. The full on reds are my favorites, but I’m glad I went through my stash to pull out so many other favorites. For someone like me who loves lipstick and any other type of lip product I can get my hands on, a series of lipstick reviews and lip color swatches were inevitable.

I do have a red lipstick video on my YouTube channel with (mostly) different options. Just in case you were looking for something you didn’t see here.

So let me know, are you a red lipstick wearer? Do you stay with softer, more nude shades? Did you discover a brand you want to try? Is there a lipstick I should know about that I haven’t mentioned? I’d love to hear from you. Let me know what you think.

Rebecca

Zoya’s New Year Promo

You may have picked up I’m a Zoya Nail Polish devotee. I love their range of colors, how the polish wears, and I think the formula is great. If you’ve never tried their polish before, now is the time to. They always have amazing promotions, and this new years promotion is fantastic.

I got Aurora, Flowie and Breezi. I already have 48 Zoya colors, so I was making sure I was choosing colors to fill a few holes in my nail polish color spectrum. This makes nearly half my collection Zoya polish. I suppose that says a lot about how much I love their polish. I also decided to pick up their Anchor Base Coat and Armor Top Coat. I also got Qutica Extending Top Coat to try. I’ve been trying to find a replacement for Seche Vite. I know there really isn’t a replacement for it, but I’m still searching.

I payed $28 dollars for 3 polishes, one base coat and 2 top coats and shipping. Normally during a non promotion time, this would have cost me $50 for the products and $6.95 for shipping. I love that I got it all for $28 dollars. The fine print for the promotions says if you spend more than $25 with this promotion, you get free shipping. So I got products I’d been wanting to try for a long time, but always got distracted by the pretty nail color. This time I get nail color, and the base and top coats.

Give it a try, you might find you like Zoya. If nothing else, just for their promotions!

P.S. I LOVE their nail polish remover. I don’t use anything else. I swear by it!

Lipsticks and Glosses Part 2: Pinks

As the new year started, I wanted to share some lipstick and gloss options. I had imagined that I would pick 4 to 5 beautiful shades and talk of my deep and abiding love for them. Why they were good choices because of pigmentation, longevity of wear, and comfort. As I stood before my vanity, I decided my criteria.

1. Only lipsticks/glosses that I regularly wear would be considered
2. Price point was not a limiting factor. (Didn’t matter if it was drugstore or high end)
3. I would only list products I hadn’t already blogged about before (specific colors)

I thought my criteria would make it difficult, but it didn’t. I forget that I have a lipstick habit, not a hobby. I’ve picked up enough new shades in the past months, and have enough in my collection that I truly love, that I had no trouble selecting potential tubes of color for this blog series.

I will admit, it was only supposed to be one post, but after finding myself with 17 tubes of color, I realized I would have to break it up into several posts. So here is part 2: Pinks

MAC Lipstick – Angel

This soft pink lipstick by MAC is called Angel. I know some of you might gasp when I say this, but it’s my one and only MAC lipstick. I do like the formula. It’s opaque, and easy to apply. There’s no dragging when you put it on, and it’s not a drying formula. It’s a very nice mid-priced lipstick. The only reason I don’t have more of these, is that my closest MAC counter is an hour away. I’m sure it won’t be my last.

Clinique Butter Shine Lipstick in Pink-A-Boo

This Clinique lipstick is so easy to wear. I originally picked it up to wear during the summer time. I find I wear it nearly year round. It’s very moisturizing, and if I remember my Clinique lady correctly, had Shea butter in it. I love lip products like this Butter Shine Lipstick from Clinique because they give color while letting my natural lip show through. It’s almost part gloss and part lipstick. I think that this product might have been the inspiration behind Revlon’s Lip Butters. They are very similar. If I had to choose, I’d still choose Clinique over Revlon.

Anastasia Hydrafull Gloss in Moi

This full size gloss was a Sephora freebie. It’s actually a beautiful color, and although I don’t care much for glosses, I find I use this one more often than I  expected to. This Anastasia gloss has been kept in my collection for two reasons alone. I love the color. It’s almost like my natural lip color, but better. The second reason I keep this, is because my lips feel so soft after wearing it. The two reasons I might never purchase this gloss, is it’s the stickiest gloss I own. Everything gets stuck in it. I’ve had gnats get stuck in this gloss. Really. The other thing I don’t care for is the applicator. It’s a silicone paddle. It feels like someone forgot to put the velvet on the doe foot applicator. It’s the strangest/cheapest feeling applicator of all the glosses I own. I really don’t like it.

NARS Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil in New Lover

This lip pencil from NARS is amazing! It’s my new favorite pink. Most of my pinks have been quite pale, leaning towards the nude end or very bold, closer to a red. This is a true pink lip. Something I thought I would never wear, and would never like. This feels like glossy lipstick going on, and has staying power. It’s not one to instantly fade. It’s very reminiscent of a crayon. Maybe that’s why I love lip pencils so much. I still love crayons, and I see these as jumbo lip crayons! There are more colors I have my eye on. If you haven’t tried one of these pencils, check them out the next time you can.

ModelCo SHINE Ultra Lip Gloss in Berry Pink

This full size lip gloss from ModelCo just showed up in my December Birchbox. I wasn’t excited to see it because it was a gloss. I was also upset because it was pink. Then I tried it on. The scent of the gloss caught me off guard. It smelled delicious. I was also delighted to find that it wasn’t a sticky gloss. The other smart and functional part of the packaging is a little mirror on the side of the gloss tube. I found that this gloss is so much more than it seems. The pink is very wearable, the mirror on the outside is so very handy, and the smell is divine. This is a lip gloss that I would gladly buy again.

The next two colors I have to share with you are also Clinique Butter Shine Lipsticks. Since I’ve already discussed the type of product it is, I’ll just post the photos. These photos don’t really fall into the “pink” category, but were a close cousin: purple/plum.

Clinique Butter Shine Lipstick in Perfect Plum

Clinique Butter Shine Lipstick in Crushed Grape

My last of this 3 part series will be on bold colors, mainly red. I’m looking forward to sharing my red’s with you. I hope these lipstick posts inspire you to consider a new shade, or a new line of lip products. I didn’t expect to find as many pinks in my collection as I did. I’m also surprised that I’ve been reaching for so many soft pinks. Nearly all of them qualify as neutral pinks. They’re nearly nudes.

Let me know what you’re reaching for these days. Do you have several shades of one color? Which one is it? Do you have a favorite brand? I’d love to hear from you. Let’s talk lipstick!

Rebecca

Lipsticks and Glosses – Part 1: Nudes

Happy New Year! Sorry I’ve been so absent from my blog. The holidays were busy for me, and health issues have been rearing their ugly heads. Let’s put all that behind us, and get down to the good stuff: lipstick!

As my blog name suggests, I love lipstick. Before I was allowed to wear lipstick at 14, I loved putting Chap Stick, Vaseline, and all sorts of little girl appropriate lip gloss on my lips. I had every sort. It’s the only thing I spent my allowance on. When I was 14, my mom took me to the Clinique counter and had the ladies in white coats help me choose make up colors. It was my first encounter with makeup of any type and I was hooked. That day I got my first real lipstick. It was a peachy nude lipstick that Clinique no longer makes. Sadly I don’t remember the name, but I wore it for 2 years. I re-purchased it several times. When I was sure my mother wasn’t going to die if I chose a darker color, I started branching out.

So in memory of that first lipstick I ever wore, I start this three-part lipstick review with just a few nudes from my collection.

Bite Beauty Creme Lipstick in Cava

I picked this lipstick up at Sephora in late November while on vacation. I asked the amazing Kevin who was helping me to suggest a lipstick to replace the Dior lipstick I was returning. I had ordered the Dior shade online, and hadn’t had a chance to try the color on. It was too pink for me in natural light, and I couldn’t let myself keep a $30 lipstick I would never use. Kevin immediate suggested a bright red, but I told him I had more than 12 shades of bright red, and was looking for something different. He suggested the new line of lipsticks from Bite Beauty. This shade in Cava has a bit of a lavender undertone, and is much lighter than my natural lip shade. I have to wear foundation on my lips when I wear this shade, but I love the look it gives me. All of the Bite Beauty shades I tried on were completely opaque. I loved that!

Revlon Colorburst Lip Gloss in Bellini

This is a drugstore pick I have been loving since I grabbed it in October. I haven’t been much of a gloss fan over the past decade, but I really like this one in Bellini. It’s not sticky, has a soft doe foot applicator, and has lots of product for the price. I might be willing to pick up a few more of these Revlon Colorburst Lip Glosses just to see how the other colors are. So far, the Revlon lip products are my top choice for drugstore lip products.

Lancome – L’Absolu Nu in Beige Tulle

This Lancome lipstick is very hydrating, and very sheer. This photo has several swipes over the lips to make sure the color came though so you could really see it. I normally only swipe once or twice with Beige Tulle for sheer color and just that hint of shine. I love this nude color with the slight peach tone to it. It’s not too peachy, and has a bit of shimmer. Just enough to make my lips look pretty and alive.

Bite Beauty Lip Shine – Champagne Pearl

This is another Bite Beauty product I picked up in November that Kevin steered me towards. It was as if he knew exactly what I was looking for. God bless Kevin at Sephora in Cincinnati! Love this color in Champagne Pearl. You can see that this gloss has more shimmer to it. I will say, I really don’t like the way it smells. That’s the only down side. I only notice it when I open the tube, I don’t notice it when it’s on my lips. (either it’s not that strong, or I get used to it) I like that it’s not too sticky. I can’t say it’s not sticky, because it is, but it’s not a major offender.

Clinique Chubby Stick Intense – Curviest Caramel

This is my newest addition to my nude lipstick collection. I got this just about 2 weeks ago, and I love it! I was picking up a last minute gift for a friend, and couldn’t pass up checking out the new Chubby Intense sticks from Clinique. If you’ve followed my blog in the past, you know I’m a sucker for the regular Chubbies, and when they came out with these Intense colors, I knew it was only a matter of time. I got another color as well, but that one will wait for Part 3 of this Lipstick series.

I think this neutral color in Curviest Caramel could be worn by many women. It’s a great “every day” color, and is so easy to apply. I’ve never had problems with the original Chubbies not lasting for at least 3-4 hours, but this new Intense Chubby will last even longer. I’m not a lip licker so most of my lip products last quite a while. Even though my morning coffee cup, and the afternoon water bottle. I like that this caramel color has a slight pink undertone so it’s easy to wear. It’s not one that will give your lips that dead look.

I’ve got more of these lip swatches to show you over the coming days. I hope they’re helpful, or if nothing else, at least entertaining. Let me know: do you wear more nude lip colors, or more bold lip colors. Do you have a favorite brand, or is your collection a free for all? I’d love to hear from you, let me know.

Always in search of the perfect lipstick!

Rebecca