Privilege Blog

A Lipstick Wardrobe, Or, Saturday Morning at 10:12am

Do you all have a lipstick wardrobe? I think I do. So what was there to do but deconstruct it? Here is my profound analysis.

  1. I have not changed color in the past 40 years. I’m neither all the way “cool” nor all the way “warm.” I am therefore forever looking for a not-too-blue but not-too-yellow something-or-other. However, as a white woman, I can get there with  a little trial-and-error. (I believe that makeup companies are now serving women of all skin shades; I hope I’m right.)
  2. Lipstick formulations, however, have changed. And I’m a true fan of our modern options.

Because you are my friends, this morning I “swatched” the lipsticks I wear now. I had to wipe it all off before typing, but my arm’s still a little pink. Ready?

 

From wrist to elbow:

  1. Two-Faced Lip Injection Extreme gloss. You can barely see it in the photo. A clear lipgloss that, get this, actually has left a “plumped” oblong on my inner wrist. I’d show you, but it’s kind of gross. They aren’t kidding.
  2. A nameless pink Burt’s Bee’s lip balm. I use this to “pinkify” lipsticks that show up earthy on my lips.
  3. A sheer Lancôme called Rose Rhapsodie. A work in progress. I want something sheer, but I find this one does the dreaded too-yellow/too-bright thing on me. I am beginning to think I have to look for “pink-brown,” rather than “pinkish.” My daughter benefits from my hunts, I give her my castaways and she looks spectacular.
  4. Lipstick Queen Medieval. A sheer “red.” I love this, but, the formulation has parabens. Boo. Where is something similar with fewer worrisome ingredients?
  5. Bare Minerals Gen Nude matte liquid in Juju. This skews just a little yellow, but, within my range.
  6. The only tube of lipstick I have ever run out of and will buy again. Trumpets. Bare Minerals Gen Nude in Boss. I most often put on a light layer – you don’t need a lip pencil – and then add the Burt’s Bees lip balm to nudge it just a bit pinker. Delicious.
  7. Bare Minerals Gen Nude in OMG. I admit I rarely wear this except to the imaginary charity ball in my mind. But I like knowing I will not be caught unaware by formal dress.

To summarize the color situation – I can’t wear full-on pink or full-on coral. I need something in-between, and I can’t know what will really work until I’ve tried it. To summarize the formulations, I find I like to have:

  1.  One clear lipgloss to shine things up, on occasion,
  2. A lightly-tinted lip balm or two for “no makeup” days, and to adjust the matte liquid lipsticks.
  3. Matte liquids for “yes makeup days.”

But I kind of want a couple of sheer actual lipstick options. One should be a pink-brown, the other red.

Sheer red lipstick is just so damn cheery.

Any and all helpful hints welcome.  Any and all musings on lipstick, celebrated. Have an excellent weekend.

 

 

Previous lipstick posts here, and here. No monetization on this page, older posts still contain monetized links. 

45 Responses

  1. Hello,
    Twice in this past year I have seen women wear the perfect shade of lipstick. First, I let them know that it looked fantastic! Then, I made the mistake of inquiring what the color was. I got some version of they had no idea.
    This was like finding out that the man you have fallen in love with is unavailable.
    I have been in search of the perfect since I was sixteen. Since I have not found it I wear nothing. Lisa all of your choices are fine but would not work with my olive skin. I still appreciate your detailed analysis and it made me smile.

    XO
    Luci

    1. @Luci, I bet those women loved being asked what they were wearing! I always get a kick when I am asked about my clothes or my bag:).

  2. Hmmmm. I love lipstick, but find myself mostly in the Burt’s Bees camp. A soft pink(Strawberry) or another one they call Watermelon. These work fine for my life these days. I do have a bunch of expensive ones (Chanel mostly)., but I rarely go to charity balls here in rural Idaho.

    So, let’s shine up our lips and have a great weekend.

  3. I couldn’t figure out what color my skin was until I saw my face alongside my Korean hairdresser’s face. Hers has a golden glow; mine, in comparison is definitely pinkish. That clarified a lot for me. Re lipsticks, I’m allergic to so many of them but have no problem with Bobbi Brown Lip Color “Rouge a Levres” in #34 Tulle.

  4. I love no. 4 on your pinky skin! Looks wonderful. Maybe take it to your favorite cosmetic counter and find its match in a non parabin? I don’t know how to spell that! Good luck. PS funny story. I was talking to my biracial granddaughter the other day when we got to talking skin colors and why everyone in her family has a different skin tone. I asked her what color I was and she quickly responded pink! Well. I guess I am pink. Not white; pink. Who knew?

    1. @Denise Capen, It is a good story. I had a similar experience when I spent a lot of time in China. They thought I wasn’t very white for a white woman. I had always thought I was pale, but, no, I’m a reddish pink! And that’s a good idea, I can go to Sephora and ask them what would substitute best.

  6. I read the post this morning, and ran to the spa counter at the resort we’re at to FINALLY change my lipstick, mascara and under-eye concealer to natural products….thank you for the push, it’s been a long time coming. They carry Youngblood Cosmetics where I’m staying so that’s what I got. A great neutral lip crayon, with a natural/pinky gloss for over, concealer and mascara. I can tell the lipstick will really have staying power.
    I’ve heard good things about Tarte, Kosas, and Naked Princess for good lip glosses and sticks, and of course, all natural – for anyone looking.
    I too love the Lipstick Queen products but yeah, the junk…..!

    1. @KSL, Hi Kathy. I’ve changed to all natural cosmetics in the last couple of years. Tarte isn’t completely green, Kosas is wonderful, but the colors don’t quite work for me. They start out looking good, but the colors shift on my lips. You may find one you like. I haven’t tried Naked Princess. A favorite gloss line in the green beauty world is Fitglow Beauty. My favorite lines are by Kjaer Weis, though the lipsticks change texture, I love that the packaging is refillable (I use Believe and Honor, with Tenderness lip gloss), Fitglow gloss (Bliss and Nudie), Ilia, Rituel de Fille, Bite Beauty (not 100% natural, but good, and I love their Multistick). I use Hush + Dotti mascara when I can make myself do so, mostley because I love the teensy tube, and Kajer Weis or Alima Pure eyeshadows, both in the refillable pressed versions. You have The Detox Market in LA. You can go in and try things on. I do that in Credo Beauty in SF. To aid in my transition I followed green beauty bloggers during My Whiplash Year. A favorite person for makeup who may seem unlikely initially, but is a makeup whiz, is a Canadian woman whose YouTube site is Jenna Catherine. She knows a lot about natural makeup, and has many lipstick recommendations.

    2. I’ve tried Kosas and none of their colors work for me either. I have a few products by Kjaer Weis, but not a lipstick, will check on it. I’ll check out that YouTube person as well – thanks!

    3. @KSL, Thank you both for these resources. My big issue is finding places to try these indie products on down here in the suburbs – which is where we mostly are these days. We do have a natural pharmacy nearby, I wonder if they might carry some of these brands. I will have to do research;).

  7. Lisa, I’m constantly mixing all kinds of lipsticks, although from your description of your coloring I’m sure the colors that look good on you / me wouldn’t translate well to me / you.

    However, I will send up a hoorah for Lancome lipsticks. They go on so greasily, a sensation I enjoy, but perhaps that’s TMI? I wish I preferred a cheaper brand and have often experimented with others, but no joy.

    In the past I did like Mary Kay’s lipsticks (my sister was once an MK sales rep) and have bits of a lot of those tubes hanging around. Hmmm … I may try to find a new MK lipstick connection who won’t try to upsell me.

    And yes, lipstick is very, very important to me. In the summertime, sunglasses + lipstick often = my morning skin care and makeup regimens.

    1. @Ann in Missouri, Sunglasses and lipstick are so innately glamourous. I can’t help but agree. I was surprised by how good the Lancôme felt, having abandoned the brand a decade or two ago.

  8. Gorgeous color family! Love how you went from almost clear to quite pigmented. If you like these shades, I think you would like Fitglow Beauty glosses in Bliss (in honor of your dad:) and possibly Nudie as well as Kjaer Weis Believe and Honor with their Tenderness gloss. Kajer Weis lipstick develops a strange texture but is natural and has staying power once warmed up and on one’s lips. (In a reply to Kathy above I listed some natural makeup discoveries I made when I couldn’t do much during the last year. I learned a lot about all natural beauty skincare and makeup. So… Upside.)

  9. “Sheer red lipstick is just so damn cheery.”
    So true!

    This one is unscented, not too sticky and amazingly inexpensive. My fav Lancome LipLover is nicer but doesn’t come in this cheery red.

    Lip gloss and sunscreen is all a Texan needs this time of the year.

    Revlon Super Lustrous gloss in Fatal Apple
    https://tinyurl.com/yc3yqzk3
    (p.s. makes your teeth look whiter too)

    Happy Weekend!

  10. You have inspired me Lisa…I must do this! My faves and the ones I keep going back to are Laura Mercier lipsticks, especially lipgloss. Bobbi Brown is the other but I always find what I need at LM. I tend to feature my eyes more than lips, something I just realized as I am typing this. Lips stay in neutral shades, more warm than cool. I look ghastly in cool colors, glad I leaned that early on. Happy Weekend! Jeanne xx

    1. @Jeanne Henriques, I tried Laura Mercier, and I found all her stuff to be too warm for me. So it makes total sense that the brand’s stuff works for you! For all I know they may have reformulated to take out the parabens?

  11. I recently found an all natural and organic brand on Etsy called Skin Foodie. She makes the best tinted lip balm called Gimme a Beet. Several other color are available, I think. She also makes a great moisturizer.

  12. Have a natural, slightly enhanced flesh pink lipstick with a moisturizer core in it for dry winter days and nights: Ecco Bella Lip Smoother in Rhubarb. If it makes my almost 70 year old lips look plumped and virtually lineless, it may work for you too! Same for Sante lip gloss (shade 6 for my pigmented lips).
    I also like Ellis Faas lipsticks and lip glosses, which come in a rainbow of colors in an elegant chrome wand, which I consider my fairy godmother’s magic wand. Other supposedly natural lipsticks and glosses are from Tatcha, I love their lip oil in the winter but have not tried their lipstick.
    I must be old-fashioned, but I don’t feel finished/ready to face the world without lip balm (most days) or lipstick (special days) and lip liner, even if it is transparent (Rimmel moisturizing colorless).
    Is it acculturation or is it necessity (harsh climate) – I don’t know….

    1. @sensitive poet, I’d like to put in a word for Ecobella too. I have a couple of their lipsticks and have been very pleased (can’t tell you the colors. I am terrible about remembering names). I’ll have to try their lip smoother now.

  13. I was just thinking I needed to do the lipsticks on the arm thing to sort out the accumulation, just for my own information. But good to share as well. I too am neither cool or warm, neutral to slightly cool really, and have to be careful, careful also because many things are too dark or too bright on my pale pale skin. Somehow too much color and I look too harsh, ready for a horror movie, and too light and it just all blends in. Oh my, now I want to go play with tubes of color.

    1. @Mardel, Even though you and I have very different hair coloring, I think our relationship to color is similar.

      I have to tell you, a few days ago I finally threw out the lipsticks that DIDN’T make the cut for this post:). It was as though I had to lay it all out with a logical framework before I could move on. I imagine you relate;).

  14. Hi Lisa, I love this discussion thread on lipsticks. I am glad to know that I am not the only one searching for the perfect color. My current favorite is a Clinique chubby stick, broadest berrry. It runs in the pinky brown range. I am definitely cool colors, but have found that plums and nude shades work best for me.

  15. I have so many lipsticks I’ve imposed a shopping ban.

    I like your methodology. It’s got me thinking I need to bring all my inventory together and try the arm method. Maybe if I were more deliberate in when I could be wearing each of the gazillion different ones I’ve acquired I could be working through my stock better.

    1. @RoseAG, It was super helpful to see them all, allowed me to throw away a whole bunch that I have to admit I am not wearing now and am not going to be wearing unless I change color:).

  16. My hair is now completely gray and my skin is paler than ever. I need some lip coverage for definition whether or not I’m wearing makeup. I recommend Clinique Almost Lipstick in Black Honey for sheer-ish coverage, especially fall/winter. It looks really dark in the tube, but it’s not that dark on. Pink Honey is almost nude, pretty sheer and flattering. Both are paraben free (and vegan).

  17. i bought glossier’s generation g in ‘crush’ earlier this year + really like the color. bonus: paraben free. :)

  18. try Jane Iredale lip drink lip balm in Crush
    LOVE LOVE LOVE
    and bonus -SPF
    I think our coloring is rather similar

  20. Your lipsticks are lovely and you look great in all photos wearing lipstick
    Looking for the right pink lipstick was always a nightmare for me,despite the fact that I was naturally blond,with fair skin and blue eyes. It took me a lot of mistakes and money to find the perfect one-and than it was discontinued,of course ( I’ve forgotten the name and the brand)
    I wear red and have no problems finding the right colour: Chanel Rouge Coco Stylo in Histoire (Roman in Autumn) or Chanel in Arthur,Sisley chubby Phyto-Lip twist in Cherry . Lip pencil is Douglas-Invisible
    For the occasions where red would be inappropriate,like funerals (or maybe the tea with the queen)-there is Rouge d’Armani in Nuda
    All before mentioned natural cosmetics brands are unreachable here (It is difficult enough to choose the right make up in real life-I have to feel,smell and see-so online purchase is out of question).I’ll memorize them for the future
    Dottoressa

    1. @dottoressa, What is it about pink!!! I don’t see parabens in the ingredient list, but it’s not a “natural” lipstick. I loved my Armani pink, it just got too heavy for me eventually.

  21. I purchased the Gen Nude boss on your reco and get compliments on it (and that’s not a frequent thing) thanks for sharing your research and discoveries!,

    1. @Lisa, So happy you like it and it works for you! My pleasure to share research, and everyone is so generous in sharing back.

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