I'm Sbitten!

One of the things that really annoys me, and I assure you, there are MANY things, is when I see a new product in a magazine and can’t find it ANYWHERE. Such was the case with Revlon’s new Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stains.

She’s A Stainiac, Staaaaaaiiniac

My friend Angela and I both received samples of Stainiac Cheek & Lip Tint (by The Balm) in our June Birchboxes. Before I had even tried mine, Angela was addicted to hers and raving about it, so I figured I should GET ON IT. I have an imaginary reputation to uphold! 

Everlasting Like

I know I told you guys I was never going to buy another kind of lip gloss after I found YSL’s Glossy Stain, but…

Balms Away!

I got a full-size sample of Neutrogena Revitalizing Lip Balm as part of the Neutrogena Bzz Kit (from BzzAgent.com) I mentioned on Monday. It’s available in six different shades, of which they sent me three. I chose “Sunny Berry” which was the darkest of the group, and passed the rest on to two lucky friends. Sorry, Other Friends!

The Sunny Berry color is nice. It’s actually similar to my favorite Clinique Chubby Stickshade, Super Strawberry, which, for the record, does not taste like strawberry. I am a grown-up. Sunny Berry is a bit more opaque and not quite as quenchy. (Not a “real” word, but a real feeling.)

The shape of the balm, a narrow oval tube, is a little funny. I guess it’s mostly because I’m not used to it? Still, it’s like one direction is too fat and the other is too skinny. This would be better in the thin kind of lipstick tube that has an angled top. (Says me, very specifically.) I also don’t like that the branding is a rectangular sticker glued to the side. Declassé! What’s UP Neutrogena? Unless their real packaging wasn’t finished so they sent out mock-ups? The sticker part has been photoshopped out of all the promo shots, so maybe. I want printing right on the package if you’re trying to sell me an $8.99 lip balm. This ain’t Chapstick.

On a brighter note, it has SPF 20, which is always awesome. And thanks to its "ion2complex" it’s supposed to make your lips look “softer, rosier, fuller and more defined” after one week of use. I did not notice any long-term effects, but it certainly looks that way while you’re wearing it, which is kind of good enough.

One thing you may or may not care about is that this has petrolatum in it, and it is in no way an “all-natural” product. Though, products that promise to make long-term improvements seldom are.

Overall, it’s a nice tinted-balm for a natural look if you don’t care about using natural products. I prefer a bit more shine, but if you like your natural look to be more natural-looking, this is a good one to try.

Glossed And Found

Lip Gloss in undependable. Sure it’s all fun and pretty and and sparkly at first. “Let’s go out and have fun!” Lip Gloss says. “You look GREAT!” Then you're one drink in, and Lip Gloss is nowhere to be found, leaving your lips stark naked and alone in public.

Of course, if you make it a priority to keep up with Lip Gloss, you’ll be okay. But go too long without giving Lip Gloss your attention, and it will totally bail on you. Lip Gloss is the high maintenance frenemy of the lip color world.

Tangerine Tango: A Chip Off The Old Chip

As a graphic designer, I was super excited when I heard about the Pantone collaboration with Sephora. I almost wrote about it right away, as a “coming soon” sort of thing, but that was approximately when the shit hit the fan with work right before I went on vacation, so I waited. And I’m so glad I did. Now I’ve had the chance not only to try it, but to thoroughly geek out over the packaging.

O.K. Coral

Every time Fresh comes out with a new Sugar Lip Treatment, I have to try it to see if it’s as good as my favorite, Sugar Rosé. Neither Original nor Honey won me over; they just didn’t have the same awesome texture as Rosé. Passion and Plum didn’t make it past the color test, in the store, on the back of my hand, so the texture didn’t even matter. Now there is a new member of the Sugar family: Coral.

Stuck on Me

I was fascinated by the new face stickers/decals/tattoos as soon as I heard about them, but at the same time, they really didn’t seem like a good idea. Too unnatural, too uncomfortable, just too weird. I decided it wasn’t worth it to spend money on them, even when they went on sale around the holidays.

But one magical day, a golden set of Violent Lips arrived in the mail, tucked inside my February Birch Box. On the punkahontas Facebook page, reader (and cousin) Jennifer commented that she really wanted to try the lip decals, but had received eye decals. We arranged to share our stickers via good old US Mail, since there were multiple decals in each packet.

Labbra di Lusso

 

I’ve written before about the joy I get from a fancy lip balm. My go-to has been Fresh Sugar Rosé for quite some time now. It’s been enough time that I thought I might mix it up a little.

I had heard about (and continued to hear about) Olio Lusso, the amazing and expensive oil blend by Linda Rodin, an ex-model, stylist, skincare maven and 63-year-old-lady-who-is-definitely-way-cooler-than-me. Olio Lusso means “Luxury Oil” in Italian, and it’s a $150 blend of essential oils derived from flowers and other botanicals that are “legendary for their soothing, softening, glow-giving, emollient and protective properties.” It is a blend of legendary oils that I will not be able to experience in the foreseeable future. However! The promise of jasmine, neroli, and other magical oils was enough to get me to try their (relatively) more affordable lip balm as my new fancy lip treat.

I Missed The Pow Wow

Lush made a lip scrub with Pop Rocks in it, and I didn’t get any!

Having A Ball

My new favorite drugstore impulse buy isn’t really an impulse buy at all. I had been checking out the eos lip balm for months, maybe even a year. The first few times, I knew nothing about it, but the shape grabbed me. It’s a ball! Why is it a ball? But I resisted. I didn’t need any new lip balm. Eventually, I started seeing ads and learning more about it. It has all the important “frees”: gluten-free, paraben-free, petrolatum-free, phthalate-free. And it’s 95% organic, 100% natural. It’s made with shea butter, vitamin E and jojoba oil. It really sounded like my kind of lip balm. Still, I resisted. I already have plenty of lip balm.

Color Change Glows On

Hmm. Well, it seems like I could have dedicated a week to glowing instead of changing colors, because our final product for the week has Glow in the name too. Dior Addict Lip Glow.

Drop Pick Up The F-Bomb

I really can’t remember the last time red lipstick wasn’t a “top trend for fall.” I feel like every fashion mag says it every year, like it’s a new thing. It’s not a new thing, it’s kind of never been a new thing, but there is always a new red lipstick. And this year, for me, the new red lipstick isn’t even a lipstick at all. It’s a lip… stick.

Headline

As I mentioned yesterday, I’m vigilant about protecting my face from the sun. But what’s holding my face on my body? Is that important too? Well, it's my head, and most of the time I consider it to be important and useful. Let's put it this way: I certainly wouldn’t want to be without it! Here are the things I use to protect my head, and it’s parts, on the beach.

Sugar Honey (Iced Tea)

One of the first posts I wrote for this blog was about my very favorite lip balm, Fresh Sugar Rosé. I still absolutely love it, though when I tried it’s original-flavor sister, which has a lemony scent and no tint, I was not impressed. I haven’t tried the Plum, because I’m not into the color. However, I recently discovered the newest member of the Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment family on Sephora.com. The latest is Honey, and it’s good.

Lip Stain’s Got Your Back

On Monday, we learned you can use Lip Spackle to extend the wear of  lip gloss too, as opposed to only using it with lipstick. But what if you don’t want the opaqueness that comes with it? Or the color lightening effect? The pastelification of your sheer gloss? I recently heard another long-wear trick where you apply a lip stain first, then a gloss on top. It seemed like a great idea, so I had to test it out.

Building Lips That Stay

If you’ve ever worn lipstick, you know it requires ongoing maintenance to keep your lips painted the desired hue. You can either reapply frequently, or go with a longwearing formula (or one of those two-step thingies) and then reapply a little less frequently. I have a method to reapply LEAST frequently, but it requires some effort up front, and you’ll need to lay the proper foundation.

Does This Lip Stick Make Me Look Fat?

Clinique’s new Chubby Sticks, shown here with what appear to be the most delicious knox blox ever, will make your lips sneaky-pretty.

A Rosé for Your Tulips

I had been eyeing Fresh’s Sugar Rosé Lip Treatment for quite some time before finally taking it home. It was always there with the other impulse buys, in the checkout line at Sephora, looking pretty and smelling amazing in it’s lovely metallic lavender tube. But $22.50 (plus tax) for lip balm? I was in the store to return something when I finally pulled the trigger. Since it was an “exchange” it wasn’t really like spending the money.

I applied it the moment I left the store, and instantly understood the expense. This stuff is FANCY! It felt amazing! Luxurious! Indulgent! It made my old standby, Burt’s Bees Pomegranate Lip Balm, seem like plain-flavor Chapstick.