Best Lipstick Formulas 2019

If there's one thing I've learned from living in central New Jersey for the better part of a decade, it's how to choose humidity-resistant makeup. (I would say "humidity-proof," but nothing is truly humidity-proof except mosquitoes.) In a part of the world where the humidity index routinely hovers above 90% and occasionally creeps up to 100%, it's essential to know which formulas won't slide off my face before I even leave the house—or, at least, will look semi-decent as they slide off. In addition to living in the muggy armpit of the United States, I'm also a person who sweats a lot, particularly on my face and scalp. After my 20-minute walk to work, my face is dripping and my hair is as wet as if I've just showered. All this is to say that if I vouch for the tenacity of a formula, believe me: it's tenacious. When choosing my makeup on particularly humid mornings, I look for formulas that a) stain the skin, b) dry down completely, or c) fade g...

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...

You know that feeling when you blind-buy a lipstick, hoping that your instincts are right and the shade will flatter you and fill a hole in your collection, and it turns out to do both of those things? That's a nice feeling. It's not a particularly interesting or bloggable feeling, which is perhaps the reason I keep putting off this post. But it's the feeling I get from Naked Coral, one of the ten shades in Maybelline's new Inti-Matte Nudes line. Coral! My sin, my soul, my most problematic lipstick shade. To the best of my knowledge, I have  dark winter  coloring with a slight olive undertone that leans gray instead of green. This means that I can wear almost any cool, saturated color, but corals and oranges will always present a challenge. The problem is, I love  corals and oranges, whether in vintage illustrations... Earl Christy for American m agazine, May 1923 ( source ). ...or modern editorials featuring k-pop stars (same color scheme, oddly): Hani of EXID for 1st...

Drugstore makeup has become a lot more interesting over the past few years, and I can't help but envy people who are just getting into makeup now and have access to so many weird lipsticks at affordable price points. I've always been drawn to slightly eccentric makeup, but in my early twenties it was impossible to find so much as a true purple lipstick at the drugstore, let alone the blues, blacks, and greiges that are available now. In fact, there were so few purply lipsticks on the shelves of my local CVS back in 2011 that I can remember the exact shades that were  available. There was Revlon Va Va Violet, which leaned more burgundy than purple and looked depressingly streaky in the photos I saw online. There was Revlon Berry Haute, a sort of purplish mauve. There was CoverGirl Divine, a bright magenta that looked purple if you compared it to a true pink. And that was it. The first real live purple lipstick I ever found at the drugstore was Maybelline Brazen Berry, part of th...

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, ...