Loaded on lipsticks

I’ve always been that girl who was completely clueless about make up. Following the lead of my friends in high school, I slicked some mascara on my top lashes, and smudged a little black kohl in the bottom corners of my eyes. I couldn’t say whether I ever bothered to moisturize, the only real “regime” I had was washing my face with a light organic scrub. Over the years, this evolved little by little. I discovered bronzing powder, which has become a daily necessity so that I don’t look overly pale, kohl pencil was replaced with liquid eyeliner on the eyelid, and a bit of luminous gold under the eye.

One thing I always shied away from though, were lipsticks. Finding the right shade seemed to always elude my many efforts, and for a time, I all but gave up. It wasn’t until I went to America two years ago that I finally committed to buying myself at least one lipstick during our many visits to MAC stores around the country. My first purchase was ‘viva glam’, a lipstick with a subtle shimmer, enough to have a slight sheen on my lips but not so shocking as a vibrant red would have been. A couple more lipstick purchases from MAC followed, but nothing of any significance, and those I purchased seemed to be reserved for those few days on which I actually remembered that I owned lipstick of some variety.

Over the last two months, that’s all changed. My lipstick collection is now bulging at the seams, thanks to some top ups from Fashion Week, PeadPR and a spree on StrawberryNET. In favor of sporadically using a lippie from MAC, my current (almost) daily go-to seems to alternate between L’Oreal and Clinique, a combination of punchy summertime brights and deep luscious reds. Since I appreciate a good beauty tip – as virtually any beauty knowledge is new knowledge to me – I thought I’d share with you what I’m currently loving.

Clinique Chubby sticks – Most Antipodean bloggers I know swear by these, stocking up big time on their frequent visits to Sephora while in the USA. I love that these are incredibly moisturising, and give your lip a subtle bit of colour, and their double duty as a lip liner. I’m currently using these in ‘chunky cherry’ and ‘super strawberry’

Clinique Long Last lipsticks – These lippies are virtually what convinced me that I needed to have more in my beauty box. My first, a collaboration between Clinique and Karen Walker which had a zingy tangerine hue to it, slicked on rather effortlessly and stayed on for hours and hours. No lip liner necessary, these were like Lipstick 101 for me. My two current favourites are ‘party red’ and ‘runway coral’, depending on the occasion.

L’Oreal ColorSensational – Definitely not for the wallflower, or for the girl whose afraid to put a bit of colour on her lips. What I love about these lipsticks is that they are incredibly moisturising, and the colour just seems to pop; such a quick and easy way to add a bit of brightness into what is often a dull winter day. I’ve been swapping between ‘vivid rose’ and ‘shocking coral’, as I can’t decide which one I like most. One has a pink toned base, the other, orange.

L’Oreal Infallible in ‘ravishing red’ & L’Oreal Color Riche in ‘intense plum’ – Pretty much my ideal winter lipsticks. Both glide on smoothly, with no need for lip liner and seldom require top ups through the day. Having spent a long time looking for the perfect red lipstick, ‘ravishing red’ has pretty much become my go-to, which considering I tend to find a lot of red lipsticks overpowering, says a lot. For days when I’m wearing a lot of black, which honestly is most days at the moment, I’m enjoying wearing the Color Riche ‘intense plum’ lipstick (for Brunettes), slightly gothic with its deep and rich berry tone. Like it would suggest, it seems to complement my dark hair perfectly, just as much as the pale tones of my face.

MAC – These have rather unfortunately slipped to the wayside, as I’ve found the lippies to be far more high maintenance than the others I own, which is a shame as my favourite berry hue is MAC’s ‘positively dashing’. In my experience, aside from the Lustre lippie in ‘viva glam’, these tended to dry out my lips rather quickly, and weren’t ideal if I was planning on a night out with the girls. Also, lip liner is totally required, and considering how low maintenance my beauty regime is, I haven’t really gotten that far..

While my experiences using lipstick isn’t as extensive as that of others, I find it doesn’t take long to find a product you like so much that it is almost like a second skin or an extension of yourself, akin to one of those morning rituals you can never seem to break.