Best Lipstick Formulas 2019

Destashing makeup is emotionally hard for me year-round, but it becomes a little easier in the spring, as do most things. The lengthening days bring a new zest for self-improvement: I exercise more, I consume less sugar and alcohol, and I grow more decisive about streamlining my makeup collection. I recently decided to destash eight (!) neglected lipsticks, as well as a lip balm and an eyeshadow. Here are most of the victims: In this post, I'll outline my reasons for parting with these products, as well as the lessons each one taught me. I've linked to my original reviews where available: brace yourself for some potato-quality photos from 2014! (Not that my current photos are Temptalia-level clear, but they're a little better.) First, the lipsticks. L-R: NYX Amethyst, Maybelline Gunmetal, NYX Alabama, Kiko Chocolate, Revlon Fuchsia, & Other Stories Droguet Purple. Swatches, same order: Next, MAC Candy Yum-Yum (left) and Rebel. These are missing from my other photos bec...

Since the beginning of 2017, I've maintained a lipstick inventory, noting how often I wear each of my lipsticks, which ones are new to me, which I've destashed or finished, etc. Some people use a spreadsheet, but I prefer the humble Word document. As you can see, I place an asterisk next to a lipstick every time I wear it out of the house. Keeping this record has given me a much clearer picture of which colors and finishes I actually wear. For instance, I think of myself as a bold-lipstick devotee, but these were my 10 most-worn lipsticks of 2017 (I was trying to pan Jam and Sultry): Glossier Jam (18 wears) Revlon Sultry (17) Urban Decay Rapture (15) Milani Matte Naked (12) Urban Decay Amulet (11) Urban Decay Backtalk (11) Wet n Wild Rebel Rose (11) Glossier Cake (10) Maybelline Naked Coral (10) NARS Dolce Vita (10) L-R: Jam, Sultry, Rapture, Matte Naked, Amulet, Backtalk, Rebel Rose, Cake, Naked Coral, Dolce Vita. Huh. Notice anything about these lipsticks? That's right: n...

Since my last post, I've crossed a few thresholds: the autumnal equinox, my 30th birthday, and my dissertation deadline. (For the record, 30 feels exactly like 29, and I was so busy in the weeks leading up to my birthday that I didn't even have time to freak out over becoming an Old.) Now that the worst of the semester is over, I think I'll have more time for blogging, though I doubt I'll be able to post more than once a week. At least that's better than never. I thought I'd ease back into my posting schedule (if it even deserves that name) with a quick update to the Project Pan post I wrote two months ago. In early September, I resolved to pan four lipsticks by the end of the year: Glossier Generation Gs in Cake and Jam, Revlon Matte Balm in Sultry, and NARS Sheer Lipstick in Flamenco. On September 8, the lipsticks looked like this: L-R: Cake, Jam, Sultry, Flamenco. Almost exactly two months later, they look like this: As you can see, I've made significant...

I don't know about you, but I find it much easier to destash makeup when I'm in a foul mood. The angrier I feel at the world, the more readily I can accept that a certain lipstick will never work for me and doesn't deserve a place on my shelf. In that spirit, I'm removing nine lipsticks from my collection today: The three Topshop lipsticks and the mini Givenchy are fairly recent acquisitions, but the other five have been kicking around for years and are very well-loved . In fact, all five were favorites of mine at one point or another, but have outlived their usefulness in my collection. It's hard to part with those lipsticks, but I know from experience that decluttering the makeup I no longer wear makes my collection less visually overwhelming. From left to right, we have MAC Pink Nouveau, Topshop Plastique, Topshop Boardroom, Maybelline Vivid Rose, Topshop Motel, Revlon Primrose, and MAC Creme Cup: And two stragglers, Revlon Red Velvet and Givenchy Noir Révélateur...

...oh, and two eyeshadows, but who cares about those? I took a lipstick inventory six months ago and got rid of six products. But that didn't come close to eliminating all the lip colors I no longer wore, and I returned from my travels last month with a clearer sense of what I could trust myself to wear and what I could live without. Today being Labor Day, I put aside my academic work to clean the house, including my makeup shelf. For some reason, I found destashing much easier than I had in March, and I ended up with a pile of 15 lipsticks and glosses to toss or give away: The warmer colors: L-R: Topshop Wink, Revlon Mischievous, NYX Peach Cobbler, Rimmel Across the Universe, NARS Flamenco, NARS Last Tango, NARS Rikugien, Maybelline Nude Lust. Swatches, same order: L-R: Wink, Mischievous, Peach Cobbler, Across the Universe, Flamenco, Last Tango, Rikugien, Nude Lust. And the cooler colors:   L-R: Topshop Plastique, Revlon Raspberry Pie, Maybelline Lilac Flush, NYX Raspberry Tart, ...

I'm told that it's May, though you wouldn't know it from the weather, which has been utterly miserable for over a week and promises to carry on being utterly miserable for another week to come. Every day is the same: between 45 and 60 degrees, completely overcast, raining on and off, humidity around 90%. After one glorious week in mid-April, I thought I could settle into the certainty of not having to wear pants again until my UK visit in June. Then nature said "lol j/k" and I found myself fumbling in my closet for my down coat and pulling MAC Eugenie out of retirement. (I really have been loving Eugenie recently, as a complement to my leather jacket and end-of-semester scowl.) But the calendar proceeds apace even if the weather doesn't, and it's time again for my monthly roundup of beauty purchases! New Makeup/Polish: NYX Liquid Suede in Amethyst : $5.50 (with CVS coupon) Formula X Lively : $11 Too Cool for School Milk Tint in Milky Lavender: $8 Glossier...

"A Journey Through Purge-atory" is my ongoing, if not exactly regular, destashing series; here are my first and second posts. Today, let's get rid of some lipstick and polish! Lipsticks, left to right: YSL Glossy Stain in Rouge Gouache, Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Mauvy Night, Revlon Colorstay Ultimate Suede Lipstick in Supermodel, Maybelline Colorsensational Vivids in On Fire Red, Milani Amore Matte Lip Creme in Crush. YSL Rouge Gouache is three years old now, and the formula seems a little off: it's thicker than it used to be and it doesn't quite set on my lips. We had some good times together, Rouge Gouache, but I didn't wear you enough while you were still in decent condition, because it turns out that I like opaque glosses only in theory. Revlon Mauvy Night is one of my oldest lipsticks: I bought it in the summer of 2011 after seeing Midnight in Paris and falling in love with Marion Cotillard's dusky lip color. I did not, however, fall in lo...