Getting Lippy

If there is anything I love, it’s lipstick. Lip gloss, lip balm, lip conditioner, lip pencils… you name it, I’ve got it.

“A lady does not leave the house without her lipstick!” – said my mother’s mother and my mother and I’m most certainly instilling the same values into my girls.

Since having been a makeup artist, I’ve probably dabbled a bit more than the average trip to the department store. I keep my junkies close because I don’t have 40 hours a week dedicated to the craft any longer, so my girlfriends who have remained in the beauty world keep me afloat with new products to try.

I don’t get a lot of time to shop solo because my weeks are full of work and my weekends are full of children. The last thing I want to do is take three children to the cosmetics store to play in lip glosses. I’m sure the makeup artists appreciate that, ha!

When I’m traveling for work, most often to NYC, I spend my downtime…. S H O P P I N G. On a fairly recent trip, (or at least it feels fairly recent… time has a way of slipping by me in the last few years with all these babies…) I discovered a new line called SURRAT. Not only is their black liquid liner pen the best I’ve used, but they have these lipsticks that are a perfect combination of lipstick and gloss, I love them and want them all. As I get older, the less I feel compelled to grease my lips up to high heaven with gloss all the time. My hair gets stuck in it, Kyle won’t kiss me, neither will the kids… there are issues with gloss. However, I don’t want to look like my grandma with dry lips all matted down with rouge lipstick!! I need some moisture to my mouth and these are perfect for that. Typically, with other moisturizing lipsticks, I’ve found that they don’t stay on! I never really have an issue with keeping lipstick on, but moisturizing lipsticks just slick right off. These do not.

I stick to the same shades- I do natural pink, a darker rosy pink and usually a nude of some sort, not chalky nude- just a smidge lighter than my actual lip color.

I pair them back to different lip pencils to alter the shades- if I want something more berry, I’ll use Half-Red lip pencil, I use Whirl and Soar from MAC every single day, love Dervish and every now and again for a lighter mouth I’ll use Subculture- all from MAC. I don’t really deviate on the lip pencils. Everything goes orange on me or is a weird shade of pink… redheads are tricky.

I also really love YSL lipsticks. My friend Louise turned me on to them while visiting her in NYC. Not only do they look pretty when you pull them out to reapply but they are so very pigmented that the color stays on throughout a work day while you’re talking and drinking water etc.

Last but not least: Gloss.
Now, I know I said earlier that I don’t always wear gloss but 7/10 times… I’m definitely wearing lipgloss. One of my all time favorite shades is Sugar Pink from Tom Ford. I don’t like glitter and shimmer, (that goes for nails too) so my glosses need to be flat and shiny. This is the perfect shade of pink and the perfect consistency of gloss. I love the square packaging and anything Tom does is ok with me. I also LOVE glosses from Smith and Cult. They are gorgeous shades and again, flat and shiny. I get mine from Misha at Holiday Salon, but you can also get them online. NARS has a great gloss formulation that has a brush wand- none of the others do I like. Surrat’s gloss left me wanting more… and MAC has a lustreglass called Love Nectar that I make exceptions for because it does have a sheen/shimmer to it but it’s just so pretty on top of anything. MAC’s proper lipgloss is not for everyone because it is so sticky but there is no other gloss that gives off that same shine payoff. So,if you can hack it, MAC’s clear gloss is a lifetime favorite, C-thru is so pretty on top of more bold colored lipsticks, and if you can’t stand the sticky… try Boy Bait, a creme sheen that has the nicest sheer consistency and prettiest natural coloring.