Honeyed Grapefruit Lips from Beekman 1802

I love the scent of grapefruit in skincare products. Personally I don’t think it is used enough. To be honest if there is one scent you can usually get me to pick up it is grapefruit. I am a friend of the Pamplemousse.

I will admit though it can get slightly astringent at times which is why this Honeyed Grapefruit Lip Balm from Beekman 1802 caught my attention. All of he grapefruit scent with a little less astringency?

You knew I had to investigate.

Especially since I love so many of their products. (Have you tried their exfoliating Milk Wash? I don’t know if you can give a chef’s kiss to a cleanser but if you can this is the one I would give it to. I am in no way affiliated with the brand, I just love that cleanser.)

I for got to take a picture of it before I started to use it. It was nice and flat and clean looking when i started using this in December 2022. It is just now March second and this is only a little nub

So i had high hopes for this lip balm.

I will admit that I saw the name, Honeyed Grapefruit and then I saw the pretty little packaging tube. Somehow i missed the fact that it was tinted. I don’t know how that fact escaped me, but it did. I was somewhat surprised to find the shimmer deep ruby shade of the lip balm.

In general I try to keep my lip balms untinted and that is only so I don’t look like a clown. I will generally pick a lip balm and keep it on my desk as I work. i not only apply it when my lips are dry but I will also apply lip balm when i am trying to convince myself that i don’t need to go to the kitchen for a snack.

The availability of the kitchen and all its snacking potential is one of the downfalls of working from home. In my mind I can’t snack if i have just applied lip balm. So if i want to snack I apply the lip balm and tell myself that I can look at getting a snack once the lip balm has settled in and absorbed a bit. Usually by the time it has, I have forgotten about the snack and gone back to work.

the thing is that I reach for the lip balm and apply it without a mirror so the non-tinted lip balms help me no look like some sort of clown mid day.

When i applied this though, the tint turned out to be a my lips but better shade and I was thus able to avoid the drunken clown look. Which is fabulous. The scent of the grapefruit is light. I find it noticeable and after i apply the lip balm I can still scent the grapefruit for a few minutes after. Then it fades into the background. To me it is the perfect combination of sweet and sour. I really like it. My babydoll thinks the scent is too mild and as he too likes grapefruit, thinks i should be stronger. I think it might be a bitt too much of it was stronger since it is worn on the lips and thus right under the nose. I think the scent level is just fine.

I also think my babydoll has had the insides of his nose singed off from too much Vick’s vapor rub. he and my mom both use the Vick’s every chance they get, putting it just inside their noses. As even applying it to my chest when i have a head cold singes my nose hairs and makes my eyes water, I don’t know how they manage that without damage, but it is also the reason I don’t trust either of them to smell anything for me.

I like the scent and think it is a good scent level.

It is a good alternative to lipstick, and it is a good non-drying formula, but I can’t say that I found it especially hydrating. It doesn’t have mega skincare benefits. What it was good for was to wear on days when i was trying to fight chapped lips and wanted a little color without a drying liquid lip. It isn’t a deep pigment, but it went well with a natural look and kept my lips from drying out further. which makes it a pretty nifty item to have in a makeup bag.

As always the big question is, would I purchase this Honeyed Grapefruit tinted lip balm again. The answer is yes, and because of the scent and the fact that there are other Honeyed Grapefruit items on the website, it also encourages me to branch out and purchase other things from the brand.

The Daily: February 16th, 2023

Good afternoon my darlings. Today has been a day. Alas it started with more computer issues. but I did figure them out I believe. Apparently my babydoll tried to use my poor old desk top for gaming. It is ill equipped for such endeavors, which he figured out. He thought he removed all of the things he was using but apparently he missed a couple of elements which were trying to connect to things he already removed.

It was a bit of a mess.

But It is mostly cleared up now.

It did take more time than I had to give to clear it up though so I am running a little bit behind. Still trying to catch up, but beciase I have no one who needs to see my face today for work I am going sans makeup today. I’m calling it a skin care moment instead. I have a Summer Friday’s Jet Lag Mask. It does make my skin soft and hydrated and most of the mask absorbs in while I wear it. I then wipe off the rest with a damp wash cloth and go about my day.

I am also giving my lips a bit of the royal treatment. I Have the Hanalei Lip scrub to start. I keep trying other lip scrubs but this is the one I always come back to. it is a sugar scrub that is sweet and citrusy tasting and smelling. It is a nice gentle scrub and I really enjoy it. I will be following with the Tatcha Kissu Lip mask. I took it temporarily out of my skincare line up because I wanted to give a different product a try. and then my lips got dry and I thought it would be a good test, but then I couldn;t find the product i wanted to try. And then I started picking my dry lips. Sooo, I am going back to the lip mask that I know works. Later I will go on a hunt for the missing product, then skip the Tatcha again for a bit and test it out. For now, it is the return of Tatcha because I love it and I know it works.

And so my darlings, that is me today. I don’t regret taking the time off on Tuesday. I just wasn’t expecting the extra issues of Wednesday and Thursday. But most things are fixed today and I am fine for working today and tomorrow. It will be this weekend where the full scale clear out with the computer will take place. Oh yes, from clearing cookies and history to sorting through photos and podcasts to scrutinizing the programs, battle will be done.

Which will make next week a smoother operation. But for now, I’m taking fifteen minutes down for a skin care moment and then jumping back into the fray. Have a good afternoon my darlings.

Testing out the Axiology Multi-Stick Color Cream

Axiology very kindly sent over several products for me to try out and review. As always the reviews are my opinion alone. As all of the products sent had over lapping uses but slightly different formulas, I am splitting out the products so that I can get a feel for the different formulas.

If you have never heard of Axiology, I would really suggest checking them out. They are a company that puts all of their products in packaging with no plastic or metal parts. Everything from the shipping box and filler paper to the outer product packaging to the product packaging itself is made of paper. The shipping box and outer packaging I ended up tearing up and putting in my compost bin as dry matter. And when I finish with these products, their packaging will also journey to the composter.

Which I absolutely love. For the Color Creams, the product is in a lip balm style package but instead of the plastic twist off bits to lift the product, it is all paper and you push gently on the bottom to cause the product to rise. It’s also why I don’t have a picture of all of the product pushed out to show how much is inside. I wasn’t confident it would push back down. But as there are no internal mechanisms, just a paper base, I’m guessing the entire tube is filled with the product. Which is nice to know.

The first product I chose to try out (after the first day where i went a little crazy and tried to try all of them at once which didn’t work due to over lapping uses) was the Color Cream. According to the Axiology website…

Plastic-free packaging meets nourishing color in this extra creamy multi-stick. Plant butters and oils such as soy butter and coconut oil deeply penetrate skin for long-lasting hydration with a rich and creamy finish. Naturally-derived, vegan & cruelty-free. Made with 10 simple ingredients. Handcrafted in Bend, Oregon.

Ingredients: Cocos nucifera (coconut) oil*, Persea gratissima (avocado) oil, Ricinus communis (castor) seed oil*, Hydrogenated soybean oil, Helianthus annuus (sunflower) seed wax, Vitis vinifera (grape) seed oil*, Sambucus nigra fruit extract, Helianthus annuus (sunflower) seed oil, Tocopherol**, Azadirachta indica seed oil*

Since they mention the ten ingredients I thought it best to list their ingredients. It is a list I like as nothing on it gives me any issues. On the lips the formula is hydrating and highly pigmented. (I have the Shade True). It is a multi use stick so I used it as both a cream blush and a lipstick.

For the lips, it is a pigmented color that applies well. It actually applies like a lip balm actually and that is how it feels on the lips. It is creamy and lip balm-esque. It will leave lip prints but they are faint. You kind of have to rub to get a lot of color leaving. I’m not sure why you would rub your lips on a glass mug, but you do you. It left a little more color on a straw than on the lip of a glass I think because of the pressing action of using a straw. The two pictures below are of the Color Cream first applied and then taken again after lunch. the color fades but is still pretty decent.

While the lips are nice and really it felt like wearing a lip balm, for me this is best as a cream blush. For a light touch I dotted it on my cheeks and then blended it in. It blends well but you do need to go one cheek at a time. so dot one cheek blend and then switch to the other cheek and blend. then check and see if you need more. It is pigmented but it blends softly. Still start with a small amount of product and build up to the shade you want. It can be built up with multiple applications, but start with just a little bit and see how it blends.

I used this as my blush for the past two weeks so you can easily flip through the pictures to see varying degrees of pigmentation. I went kind of soft with the pics for this post since that is my preferred blush application. I like a tint of pink to keep me from being washed out but my skin tone responds better to the deeper tones so it is always interesting to play pigment color and pigment saturation off of each other. this actually has a really good balance. It has the deeper tone but it isn’t too heavy. It is very buildable though and while it doesn’t dry down super fast if you do one cheek at a time it works best for blending.

When used as a cream blush the Color Cream form Axiology also didn’t pull up any of my foundation. I rotated through several foundations an had no issues. As that can be a common issue with cream blushes (and other cream face products actually) I was pleased to see this didn’t have that issue.

Over all I was really impressed with this Color Cream from Axiology. Sometimes good ideas in sustainability don’t always translate to the best most usable products. I always hope for the best but there is often some disappointment. This had no disappointment. Fab easy to use packaging with an ethos I can get behind with a fantastically easy to use product inside. For me it was a great product.

I will probably end up using it more as a cream blush than I will a lip product, mostly because it is one of the best cream blushes I have tried and I really like it as a cream blush. And while I don’t have a lot of cream blushes that I like, I do have a lot of lip products I like. So scarcity determines use for me. I like knowing that if I don’t have a lip product handy then i can use it as a lipstick, but it will be for me a go to blush and an incidental lip product.

I also tended to use a lip brush to apply it as a lip product. I used the brush on the side of the product and the tp of the product dotted onto my cheeks for blush. Over all this Color Cream was a winner for me and I can’t wait to see how the other products sent to me in the package from Axiology work out. If they work even half as well as the Color Cream i will be a very happy camper.

Trying out the EVIO SKIN Hemp and Peppermint Lip Serum

If you have read these posts for any length of time you know I love my lip products. I love pretty much everything from traditional bullet style lipsticks to liquid lips to lip balms, treatments and lip scrubs. And so I am always happy to test out any that comes my way.

This particular Hemp and Peppermint Lip Serum came to me in a Glossy Box (December I believe). I adore peppermint so I was very excited to give this a go. I also have a couple of lip liners from EVIO Skin that I really enjoy so I was also pleased to try something else from the brand. According to the website…

Evio Skin

I have the shade Speak Up which is listed as a warm coral. On the lips it is a my lips but better sort of shade. The color is very minimal, but it does make my lips look very nice. It also feels very nice on the lips and considering the ingredients list (aloe, castor seed oil, shea butter, and sunflower seed oil to name a few) I am not surprised that my lips really like the formula. all of these listed, plus several more in the ingredients list help make my lips feel soft and nourished.

The name is of course Hemp and Peppermint. Even though peppermint oil is listed on the label, there is no peppermint scent or taste to this lip serum. It does smell vaguely hemp like. And while I don’t mind the scent, it is the taste that gets me.

I know, in general you shouldn’t go around tasting your makeup products. However with lip products it is inevitable. Scent and taste are big factors in lip products. this one is very interesting. The scent is not strong and doesn’t bother me that much. However the first time I rub my lips together after applying a lip product I almost always taste it and this EVIO Skin Lip Serum tastes like hemp. It really tastes like sucking on a bit of hemp rope.

Here is the fun thing.

If you can apply it and not taste it for ten minutes after application then there is no taste whatso ever. The scent also fades. And you are just left with a really good, soothing lip serum with a light tint that makes your lips look good. there is just some compound in the mix that needs a moment to air out. Within ten minutes the scent and taste will go away. You just have to get past those ten minutes. Or accept that there will be a momentary hemp rope taste in your mouth before the product settles down.

it is a very transitory taste and smell even if it isn’t particularly pleasant. It is worth putting up with that momentary issue to get the soft lips. There is no peppermint flavor or scent, which is sad. The Hemp taste and scent aren’t fabulous but they go away quickly. The softening of the lips and the light wash of barely there color lasts for a lot longer. Personally I can get past the momentary hemp of the EVIO Skin Lip Serum to get to the soft lips even if I wish there was more peppermint involved.

Let’s talk about the Revolution Pout Bomb

I love lip products and to be completely honest, I adore lip plumping products. There is just something about them. I think part of it is that I also adore the scent of peppermint and most lip plumping products not only have the peppermint oil in their make up, but have that peppermint scent.

The Revolution Pout Bomb Plumping Lip Gloss has just such a scent. I have the clear version so I can’t speak to any of the colors. I can tell you I will be trying out some of the colors soon. But before we get to that, let’s look at the clear gloss. First off, the wand.

The applicator wand is a doe foot. It has a very nice curve to it that really lets the wand hug the lips. When I first lifted the wand out of the tube I was somewhat concerned because the product looked sticky coming out of the tube. I am not a huge fan of sticky lip glosses. But I went ahead with the application and I am really glad that i did.

It was initially sticky but that faded almost immedicably to become a nice slippy gloss. The gloss itself is fabulously shiny and works really well over every lipstick formula I have tried it over. It is especially good over really drying lipstick formulas as it contains Vitamin E. Vitamin E is just amazing at softening the lips. A layer of this gloss applied over a drying lipstick really helps to keep your lips from feeling completely desiccated. I did find it worked better if I waited for the lip formula (liquid lip products) to dry underneath. If I didn’t then it would mix with the lippie and that could affect the longevity of the lip product. If I waited for the liquid lip to dry down and then applied this over i didn’t have any mixing problems and it kept the liquid lip from drying out.

Over bare lips this product is fantastic, especially in the winter. It is super glossy and not sticky, but again the top feature is the Vitamin E. It hydrates and softens the lips while it gives them that intense shine. If you are not eating aything, then that lip gloss lasts a really long time. It stays shiny all afternoon if I apply it after lunch. And when it finally looses it’s shine, the vitamin e still remains and my lips feel just amazing.

While the light did change a bit, my lips did become slightly more pink from the gloss. (first application left, after fifteen minutes right)

It does have the peppermint scent to it and the light stinging of a plumping gloss. Personally, I enjoy the sensation. Is it the most pluming gloss? No. There might be a mild plumping, you can see for your self in the photos. The before was taken just after application and the after was taken fifteen minutes in.

While I adore this clear gloss, I really would like to try out the colors in this range of products. The clear Pout Bomb from Revolution is fantastic on its own or with any other lip product I put it with but it would be nice to see how a version with pigment performs. I expect there are a few of these lip bombs that will be purchased in the near future.

Using the Ciate London Lip Oil in Mango Lime

This was an odd thing for me to use. Not Lip oil in general. I love lip oils. In fact I recently finished using up my Yensa Super 8 Lip oil which was my go to lip oil. The thing is, it was my go to for so long that i found several lip oils that I hadn’t actually opened. This one is from Ciate London and is the Mango and Lime Burst. There were also about three of the Watermelon Burst lip oils in the drawer I like watermelon but it isn’t my end all so I passed them on and kept the Mango and lime.

The scent from this is amazing. It is slightly fruity and a a little bit citrusy. which you would expect from a lime and mango scented product. The scent does deliver.

It is a decent lip oil but not my favorite. The scent will keep me coming back, but when applied, I found this lip ouil to be a little bit greasy. Oddly what i ended up doing was blotting it like I would a lip stick, By biting down on a tissues. I only tapped lightly and I fount that this took away the excess oil and the greasy feeling but still left enough oil on my lips for me to get the benefits of a lip il. The benefits being soft and not chapped lips. There was still a glossy shine to the lips after blotting.

I think the culprit here is the application. It is a squeeze tube with a hard plastic applicator that has a hole for the product to emerge. While the system works well (and is fantastically easy to clean, it does mean that often too much product is applied. If I could dispense just a little bit less, I would like this a whole lot more. As it is if I do a light blot to remove the excess, then I really like this lip oil a whole lot. I just have to remember to blot and all is good.

It’s Lipstick Time!

That’s right! It is time for my favorite lipsticks of this year. I use the term pretty broadly. There are bullet style lipsticks, liquid lippies and even a tinted lip balm. I love lip products. there is just something fantastic about applying a lip product. well a good one. For me it can lift my mood when I am feeling down or even change my mood from work mode to after work mode. I don’t know what about it that changes things, maybe it is just the color. But I have always loved lipsticks. And looking at the collection of the products that made my list of products I am kind of amazed at the range. In my favorites list I have both one of the most expensive lip products I own and one of the least expensive ones. I tried several expensive lip products this year i didn’t like. I also tried some inexpensive ones I didn’t like. And I found some in all price ranges that I liked. Maybe that is what I really like about lipsticks. Good is good, average is average and good is fabulous, and there is some in every price range. I’ll start with the Bullet style Lipsticks.

1- Guerlain Velvet Matte Lipstick

This is the most expensive lipstick I have ever owned. I will admit that part of that is the refillable metal case. The case and lipstick are sold separately. I thought the lipstick might come with a case sheath that you replace with the refillable one when you just order the lipstick. When it arrives though it just has a small plastic cap like the lid of a lip balm over the tube. It will keep it from drying out if you don’t want to purchase the refillable case or want to purchase it later. I actually ordered them separately to split the cost. I am thrilled with both though and i will be refilling this case whenever i use up this lipstick. The shade I order may change (although i love this dark red, but the formula of the product is fantastic. It is a treat, but while it is expensive it is worth it as a special indulgence. The formula is creamy and pigmented and it is incredibly long wearing. It is also fantastically comfortable to wear.

2- Anastasia Beverly Hills Matte Lipstick

This is a good creamy matte formula that is amazingly comfortable to wear (its a trend with my favorite lippies so you will hear that a lot) The pigmentation is great It will fade a little if you eat lunch but over all I found I could apply it at the beginning of the day and still have the vestiges of it on my lips at the end of my work day. It was clearly faded, but still there. This is a sample size I am using up, but there is at least one full size in my future.

3- NARS Lipstick

I have always liked NARS lipstick and I have used them periodically throughout the years both in the bullet style and the liquid versions. They were always a little bit drying but the color pay off was worth it. And I usually had a lip gloss around to put on top when i wore them. They reformulated their classic lipstick and now the dryness has been eliminated. The same color payoff remains. It is like running into an old friend who got a fabulous new hair cut and looks fantastic. You know that excitement you feel for them? It is the same thing I feel for this new version of the NARS lipstick. Hello old friend. Welcome back. You look fabulous. Tell me your secrets.

4- RMS Lip Balm

This is a tinted lip balm so I thought it deserved to be in this line up rather than the lip treatment category. Mostly because I will wear it as a lipstick on a low makeup day. It has a light tint. The shade I have Darling Lane is a my lips but better shade. It is comfortable wear, gives just the right amount of color for a low makeup day and it helps to keep my lips hydrated. I am a big fan of this lip balm and keep it in my makeup bag even when i am not wearing anything but a dusting of powder over my skin.

5- Beauty Bakerie Lip whip Matte Liquid Lip

This is a fantastic liquid lip. It glides on well and neatly with no clumps or splutters. It has a pointes tip to the wand that lets you outline your lips so that you can make sure you put the color exactly where you want. It dries down relatively quickly, but still leaves you the time to adjust it before it dries so you aren’t stuck with off kilter lips all day. It also lasts all day and is amazingly comfortable.

6- M2U NYC Matte Liquid Lip

while this does have more of a rounded tip on the wand it is still an easy formula to control and apply. I would still use a lip liner with it, especially if you are going for a darker shade. It dries down really quickly, but you can adjust it if you move quickly. It is a really good comfortable formula. it will fade a little throughout the day but you won’t be leaving lip prints everywhere.

7- ELF Matte Liquid Lip

Coming in as one of my least expensive products, this matte liquid lip from ELF is also one of my favorties. The red Vixen shade is a true red and it locks into place for the entire day. it will fade after lunch, but a quick reup sets it right. The want has a point which is very good for the darker shades. With those I love outlining my lips before I apply the shade to my lips. It is less important with the neutral shades, but the darker the color the more slip ups show. And with this you really have to watch the slip ups. I will often still use a lip liner with this because it dries super quickly. It is nice for not leaving lip prints everywhere, but you really need to watch those edges on your first application. Use a little insurance and start with a lip liner, then go over the liner with the point of the want if you really want it to match and then fill in the lips. It is a great formula, it is just the dry time that you have to watch.

And that my darlings is the list of my favorite lip products from 2022. All of them are formulas I would purchase repeatedly. You may notice that I pretty much focused on Matte lipsticks. For me I really like matte lips. I also have a lot of lip-glosses. For me it is easier to buy matte lipsticks and if I want them glossy to just top with a clear gloss. That way i get the best of both the matte and the glossy worlds. For me, it just works out for me.

Let’s Give those lips some love

This year I tried out a lot of lip care items. What can i say, I love lip products. Whether going out in the cold wind or setting up an overnight lip treatment, I am down for it. Here are four of my favorite products from 2022.

1- Hanalei Sugar Lip scrub

This is one of my favorite lip scrubs. It smells sweet and citrus=y, mostly of lime, but it is a very light scent. The sugar aspect of the scrub is fine grained so that it gives you a good, but gentle scrub. While I love lip scrubs I don’t want to cause damage to my lips by using to harsh a particle. Because this suger it also mostly disolves as it is used so it isn’t overly harsh. The oil mixed in with the scrub is just enough to hold the particles together and to hydrate the lips as you scrub. I don;t find that I have to wipe off a lot of excess product when I am finished which is nice. And as an extra consideration, it does have a nice taste. I know not normally something that you think of in a beauty product, but in lip products it is a consideration.

2- Tatcha Kissu Lip Mask

This is the original lip mask from Tatcha. They now make a tinted lip mask which is lovely, but some how not quite the same. The original has made my top list and will probably reign supreme for a while as my go to overnight lip treatment. It ha a very light barely there slightly peachy scent. I really only smell anything when I first open the container and even then I have to practically stick my nose into the jar. The lip mask is a jelly like formula with a light pink tint to it. To apply I touch the surface of the lip mask lightly with one finger. This gathers enough product to coat my lips.It isn’t sticky, although it looks like it should be. It does feel a little heavy when you first apply it but that soon fades. I apply this before bed (especially in the winter when the heat is running in the night) and by morning the lip mask is absorbed and my lips are soft. It doesn’t repair all damage in one night, but as with any skin care, repeated use brings results. Using the hanalei lip scrub just before application helps speed up the results as the dry flakes are taken away and everything left behind is intensely moisturized.

3- Yensa Super 8 Lip Oil

The one pictured above is on it’s last legs and will be used up before the end of the year. It is the second one I’ve gone through this year. It is fantastic in the summertime especially, although I will still use it throughout the day in the winter. It has a slight tint to it, just a my lips but better color and I will often use this as a replacement for lip gloss as my lips get the added benefit of the healthy oils when i wear it. It does absorb in so you have to keep applying it. While I love the oils and the feel of this particular mix of oils Yensa uses, I also like the applicator. Lip oils are often put in squeeze tubes and I sometimes make a mess when applying them. With the applicator I have control not only of where I put the lip oil but how much I put on my lips. with the squeeze tubes I always end up squeezing out more than I need and have to wipe some off. This applicator eliminates that. It is a great product and one I will repurchase.

4- Jersey Shore Cosmetics Lip Balm

This is one of my favorite stick style lip balms. I tend to keep them in my purse, pocket desk and night stand just in case they are needed. I think every coat I have contains at least one of these in a pocket. Now that the coats are out for the winter I need to go through the pockets and get rid of the ones that were mostly used up last year and replace them with new sticks. I like knowing there is a lip balm in the pocket without having to think about it. It always comes in handy. This is a soft formula that doesn’t need to be warmed up before it can glide over cold and dry lips. It can be used right form the get go. They also don’t leave that white waxy residue that some of these stick formulas have. They have a range of scents to suit every preference and they are associated with a youth organization and give back to the community. I know, fabulous product with a good ethos behind it, what more could you want? well right now they have some pretty spiffy holiday scents out: Holiday Cookie, Ginger Latte, and Candy cane to name a few. This lip balm is always a win.

And there you have it my darlings, my favorite lip treatment products from this year. The fab four of lip treatments. but of course there are always other lip products to consider. Like Lipstick, especially now that we’ve got out lips looking fabulous and healthy… but that is another post.

The Daily: December 6th, 2022

Good afternoon my darlings. Today has been interesting. Yesterday afternoon I somehow scratched my eye so the contacts came out, the eye was flushed and while I am pretty sure the eye is on the mend it is still a little sore. Plus because I rinsed out everything with saline, everything around my eye is a little sore. I will be adding a little extra moisturizer to the area and it will be fine.

But it does mean that today there will be no makeup. While I’m sure the eye will be fine, I’m not putting anything around it or on the skin around it.

Which means today is all about the lip masks actually. I decided that today is the extra lip care day. I went in with the lip scrub (Hanalei Sugar scrub is my current favorite) and then went in with my Tatcha Kissu Lip mask. While I did pick up the tinted version and really like it for a my lips but better look, it is the original I reach for the most. The tinted version is nice, but it has a slightly different formula and I honestly just prefer the original. I’m glad I picked up both, but in the future I will probably lean into the original for repurchase.

And it is the time of year I start thinking about this sort of thing. Not just the lips, although winter lip masks are a big deal for me. However i am putting together my end of year lists. While I have the list of things I tried as samples through out the year, there are also the things I would repurchase and of course starting next week there will be my personal best of lists going up. I really enjoy those. There are always things I loved but somehow forget about until I look back so for the next few days the phrase “Oh I loved that,’ will end up coming out of my mouth a lot.

Today is a cold and rainy day with no actual meetings, which is nice because I don’t feel compelled to put any makeup on and am not tempted outside by the sunshine. And at least it warmed up so there is no more sleet. This morning I woke up to the tap tap tapping of sleet against the window. It has warmed up just enough to make it rain instead of ice.

Still dreary but easier to ignore. Somehow sleet during the day always seems like the weather is trying to draw your attention to what it is doing. Like it feels as though I’ve been ignoring it for too long.

But for me, that is the day. No makeup, extra lip and skin care, desk work and the delight of thinking about all of the products that impressed me this year. It’s a quiet day, but a good one. And hopefully my eye will be less irritated tomorrow, especially as I have a meeting and would really like to not look blotchy and pale.

Admittedly even if I do look blotchy and pale my lips will look fabulously hydrated.

Let’s Talk Lips: Beauty Bakerie Lips

Beauty Bakerie sent a lovely package to me with products to try and you know my love of lip products made me dive right for this. The fact that it is a perfect holiday red just made it extra fabulous to try out. I am starting to put together my holiday look. Thus far I have the heels and the earrings, everything in between is a mystery. So holiday shades are top on the list to try.

And this Lip Whip Matte Liquid Lipstick in Mon Cheri does not disappoint. The red is a true blue red,, which is the type that does look best on my. A lot of the pinky reds look a little too pin on me and just don’t look quite right. But color aside, there is a lot to talk about with a lipstick.

First, there is application. With a dark liquid lipstick the wand really matters. I have one gorgeous liquid lip that has a rounded tip at the end of the wand and no matter how careful I am I make a mess with it. I often look like a three year old who got into their mother’s makeup.

“I’m pretty too mommy!” is fun but not usually the look I am going for when attending a meeting or going out with friends.

The wand on this Lip Whip is a triangular shape with the divot in the center to hold product. The point is pointy enough that I can outline my lips and then fill in the rest of the lip which makes it neat to apply with no messy bits. And in case you are wondering I do know that in the picture my bottom lip is slightly crooked. I didn’t notice until after several hours of wear and decided to leave it. It isn’t as noticeable when zoomed out and usually when I go into fix something like that I just end up with giant clown lips instead of actually fixing the problem. That is of course user error and not something anyone else can be blamed for.

Incidentally. if you ae someone who when you apply dark lipsticks ends up thinking that they look like they are frowning even when they aren’t (my lips tend to do that) try not going to the outer corners of your lips. Leave about a pinkie’s width of unpainted lips in the corners. It isn’t noticeable unless you walk around with your mouth wide open like a landed fish and it stops the darker shades from making you look like you are frowning. If you think your pinkies are too big, use a pencil. Put it across your lips and use that for gauging distance. I don’t have many fabulous makeup tricks, but this is one of my favorites.

My other favorite is that if your lips are not perfectly symmetrical, which mine aren’t, then instead of pressing them together after application, put a tissue or cloth between your lips to blot instead of rubbing together. It keeps the lines you took care to draw exactly where you put them.

So application went well with this Lip Whip, how did it do with the fine lines?

Fabulous is the answer. As you can see from the photo, there is no seeping into the fine lines. I was thrilled with that and honestly nothing more needs to e said other than Fabulous.

Drying down is an issue with liquid lips and I can say it is a bit of an issue with this one. This does dry down relatively quickly so any corrections you need to make, make them quickly. You have a little adjustment time, but not much. when it dries down it goes matte and it stays in place. At the moment my lips are in good shape. I use a lib scrub twice a week and an overnight lip Mask (Tatcha Kissu Lip Mask) every night before bed. In the winter it is the only way to keep my lips from chapping. when this dries down you will see any rough bits your lips have. It is the same for every liquid lip though so this shouldn’t be a surprise. I personally liked the level of dryness that this Lip Whip Gives. It isn’t too dry but it is a solid dry. With red lips I prefer this because i hate leaving bright lip smears all over things. It is less of a problem with a more neutral lip, or at least it doesn’t bother me as much, but i like this level of dry with a dark shade. It is a comfortable dry.

In this post you will see two lip swatches on my hand. One looks wet and shows the lipstick as it is first swatched. I then let the swatch dry to see how long it would last. The day I wore it, I washed my hand five times with soap and water, used hand sanitizer three times, followed by hand cream and then I took a shower and went to bed. The second picture of a swatch is the next morning. There is a little color fading. but the product is still there. So you can say it has some longevity to it. The color dimming when wearing it was minimal throughout the day for me. To remove it i did need a makeup remover though. Soap and water simply didn’t cut it. So that is something to remember, However, it did not stain my lips. When i used a makeup remover all of the lipstick came off with no stain left behind.

Which I found quite impressive. i figured anything that could hold on that long would leave a stain. It did not.

Over all I was very pleased with this liquid lip. It makes me want to try out some of the other shades. And for me, I love a matte liquid lip. If I want to brighten it up I can always apply a gloss over the top. This lip actually took well to gloss on top, just wait until it dries to apply the gloss. For me this is a clear winner and I will be purchasing more shades in the future.

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