Best Lipstick Formulas 2019

At this time two months ago, I had no firsthand knowledge of Glossier. I've now tried seven different Glossier products, at no cost to myself and with no affiliation with the brand, because I'm lucky and people are nice. I've already reviewed two of those products, Generation G in Jam and Boy Brow in Brown ; today I'm going to give you mini-reviews of all the other products. First, though, a caveat. I rarely blog (or read) about skincare for the same reason that I rarely blog or read about perfume: everyone's experience of these things is so personal that I'm not sure how much my opinion on a moisturizer or mask will benefit anyone else. Yes, I can specify that my skin is on the dry side of normal, but that doesn't mean that other dry-skinned people will love my skincare staples. There are so many other factors at work: climate, allergies or sensitivities to specific ingredients, etc. I just don't want to give anyone hives, you know? Plus, I'm not t...

As a beauty blogger, I often feel that I should be experimenting constantly with makeup, and that wearing the same lipstick two days in a row is tantamount to a creative slump, especially if that lipstick is a neutral shade. Since buying Milani's Matte Naked lipstick , I've worn it almost every other day, though nude lipstick usually feels like a waste of facial real estate. At first I justified my Matte Naked rut by telling myself that it would give me more leeway to experiment with eye makeup, but I ended up wearing the same neutral eyeshadows in roughly the same configurations as before. Then I told myself that my simple eye looks would inspire me to wear bold lipstick or gloss, but that didn't happen either. Finally, I was forced to conclude that my face was just going to be boring for a while. Basically, I've hit a period of late-winter aesthetic fatigue. It takes so long to suit up before going outside that I don't feel like spending fifteen extra minutes play...

But first, how my local CVS crushed my lipstick-collecting dreams for the 837th time. But first , how I ended up at the CVS, a place I do my best to avoid, for the 837th time. I was lying in bed a few nights ago, lamenting the state of my skin, when it hit me that I'd had my current tube of concealer for almost two years. Suddenly it all made sense. How could my complexion clear up if I kept applying two-year-old concealer to my blemishes? I also realized that I couldn't remember when I'd bought my tube of mascara. July? August? Maybe that explained why it had stopped working. The next day, when I popped into CVS to replace my concealer and mascara, I noticed that they were having a 2-for-3 deal on almost all makeup. Perfect! A chance to get Revlon Matte Balm in Unapologetic, a neon coral I'd been vacillating over for almost a year. But the two tubes of Unapologetic in stock had been opened and smeared on someone's hand, and the same turned out to be true of the two...

Name: Maybelline Color Sensational Lipstick in Nude Lust Date of Purchase: Jan. 25, 2014 Grade: A- Notes: In the first part of Don Quixote (she began, like a totally normal beauty blogger), Don Quixote and his squire Sancho Panza meet a group of prisoners sentenced to hard labor. The galley slaves are chained together, which arouses Don Quixote’s sense of injustice. He asks the men about themselves; the most brazen of them, Gin é s de Pasamonte, boasts that he is writing a thrilling autobiography that will surpass every picaresque novel ever published, and that he welcomes his ten-year prison sentence because it will give him a chance to finish his book. Don Quixote asks if the memoir is finished yet. “‘How can it be finished,’ answered Gin é s, ‘when my life isn’t finished yet?’” I find myself in much the same position as Gin é s de Pasamonte. I started my lipstick chronology with the intention of not buying any more lipsticks until I had taken a complete inventory of the...

Name: L'Oreal Colour Riche Lipstick in Fairest Nude Date of Purchase: Summer 2012 Grade: B Notes: A white lady complaining about the dearth of cool-toned nude lipsticks will not, and definitely should not, get much pity. Nonetheless: why are there so few cool-toned nude lipsticks pale enough for me? I'm not even the coolest of cool-toned pale people, yet almost all the nude lipsticks I've tried have pulled too peachy-warm. I've found one exception so far: L'Oreal's Fairest Nude, a gift from my mother, who has been loyal to L'Oreal lipstick since I can remember. It's the perfect color for me: definitely nude instead of MLBB, but with cool mauve undertones. Here it is in all its cheap '80s-tastic glory, next to my other L'Oreal lipstick, True Red: The cool-toned skin of my inner arm makes Fairest Nude look warmer and browner by comparison: But on my face, it's the perfect nude: slightly darker than my skintone, but light and opaque enough to ...

Name: Revlon Colorburst Lipstick in Soft Nude Date of Purchase: September 2011 Grade: B+ Notes: This was one of many Tumblr-induced lipstick purchases at the CVS across from campus. That summer, I’d kept coming across images like this one , from Creatures of the Wind Spring/Summer 2012: Now, if I asked you how you’d replicate this look (created by James Boehmer for NARS), you’d probably mention the model’s eye makeup first, not her lipstick. You’d say something intelligent about how the nude lipstick mutes her lip color so her gorgeous pastel eyeliner and gleaming cheekbones stand out. None of this occurred to me when I first saw the image. Instead, I decided that all I needed to imitate it was a nude lipstick. I chose a stark beige nude with no pink undertones. Oh, and I didn’t own any other makeup. Because I am a kind, giving person, I’ve reproduced the result for you. To quote the best vanity license plate I’ve ever seen: YEAH…NO. That said, this is not the worst nude lips...