Best Lipstick Formulas 2019

Welcome to my second low-buy progress report for 2016! I used up a few things this month and needed to buy replacements, but I did a much better job of staying under my $40 limit for brand-new items. Oh, and I've added two new categories to this series of posts. In addition to chronicling my new purchases every month, I'm going to record the makeup I destash and the items I'm thinking of buying in the near-ish future. Without further ado: New makeup/polish: ColourPop Super Shock Shadows in Shop (top) and Eye Candy: $5 each ColourPop Ultra Matte Lip in Trap: $6 ColourPop Super Shock Cheek in Rain: $8 Zoya Kristen: $9 Total: $33 I'm pretty happy with everything I bought this month! At the beginning of the month, I made a ColourPop order. CP has come under fire for their deceptively bulky packaging, but I'd rather pay $5 for a deluxe-sample size of a crazy eyeshadow color than $20 for a large size. My surprise favorites from my haul are Shop, an almost-matte coral eyes...

I had such a bad experience with Milani's liquid matte lipstick last year that I...ordered another liquid matte lipstick earlier this month. Luckily, the universe sometimes rewards our lapses of logic, and I'm pleased to report that ColourPop's Ultra Matte Lip in Trap surpassed my expectations by a little and Milani's version by a lot. The Ultra Matte Lip collection debuted last June (Temptalia has swatches of the original 25 shades in one convenient collage ). The lipsticks sold out almost immediately, and ColourPop took a few weeks to restock, which only intensified the buzz and demand. But some deep-rooted perversity in my psyche ensures that the more hype a new product receives, the less likely I'll be to buy it —w ell, to buy it right away, at least. I'm not immune to hype, but I like to wait for the gushing praise to die down and the negative reviews to emerge before I make a purchase. Though I was immediately drawn to Trap, I didn't mind waiting seve...

Now that a new semester is in full swing, I thought it would be fun to do a roundup of my favorite lipsticks to wear while teaching. Here are the basic criteria I have for a Teaching Lipstick: not too bright — no fuchsias , flaming reds , or white-based candy pinks not too dark — no blackened browns or gothtastic purples , though I'm the TA for a science fiction course this semester, so a vampy or otherwise uncanny lip might be appropriate... either sheer or on the satin/matte side of opaque able to withstand a 50-minute discussion during which I can't be trusted not to go on a tangent about the Kantian sublime, sorry not sorry Like many aspects of grad school, the makeup I wear in the classroom is a low-stakes affair. Believe me, I wish the stakes were higher! It would make me feel more important! But they're really not. I'm not forbidden to wear certain colors or finishes of makeup in the classroom, and if I rolled in one morning with sparkly teal eyeshadow and vib...

Like many of us, I go through polish phases. Sometimes I prefer neutral cremes, sometimes bright pastels, sometimes dark shimmers. The category I'm most fickle about, though, is the glitter topcoat. I've accumulated quite a few over the years (so pretty in the bottle!), but I usually find it hard to wear glitter on ordinary occasions without feeling either childish or inappropriately festive. Recently, though, I've entered something of a glitter phase. Carolina and I have discussed the temptation to buy glitter during difficult emotional periods, and I think that's part of the reason I've worn so much sparkly nail polish since the late fall. It's brutally cold outside, I'm on the academic job market, I don't know where I'll even be living in six months —glitter makes it all a bit more tolerable. Yes, gross materialism and all that, but there's nothing wrong with making your aesthetic environment a little prettier to counteract whatever else is g...

After reviewing Revlon's newish Matte Balm in Fierce, I realized that I hadn't yet seen a comprehensive roundup of the recent changes to the popular Balm Stain, Lacquer Balm, and Matte Balm lines. So I returned to my local CVS today to do some reconnaissance, and here's what I discovered: Revlon is now referring to its Colorburst Balm Stains, Lacquer Balms, and Matte Balms as the "Revlon Crayon Collection." Instead of being separated by finish, the three lipstick ranges are all jumbled together on the shelf and arranged roughly by color instead. There are now ten Matte Balms, eight Balm Stains, and just four Lacquer Balms. That "new shades" boast is hilariously misleading —far more shades have been discontinued than added, and the new additions are all in the Matte Balm line. The current lineup of nudes and pinks (again, these are the Balm Stains, Lacquer Balms, and Matte Balms): L-R: Enchanting, Demure, Elusive, Honey, Cherish, Sweetheart, Showy. The ...

I kept reasonably good tabs on new makeup releases last fall (self-destructively good tabs, even), but there were a few that escaped my notice. One new development was the addition of four shades to Revlon's line of Colorburst Matte Balms. The new colors are Enchanting, a pinkish beige; Fierce, a warm cinnamon brown; Fiery, a reddish berry; and Passionate, a purplish berry. The new additions make sense to me, since the Matte Balm line has always been short on neutral shades, but Revlon also discontinued a few colors to make room for the new ones. Dark purple Shameless and bright orange Audacious are missing from the website , and I've heard that pastel orange Mischievous is gone too, along with a few of the Lacquer Balms (my beloved Coy is safe for now). Though I much prefer brown and berry lipstick to orange, it's always bittersweet to see color trends change. Remember when orange and coral were the trendy lipstick colors? When I first started paying attention to makeup...