Favorite Lip Products

Today I'm going to post about my favorite lip products. These are all products that I use on an everyday makeup looks, so no bold lipsticks or anything like that, just basic colors and glosses. 

The first is the Benefit ultra shines lip gloss in life on the a list, a nude pinky color. Benefit says "drench your lips in brilliant shine and a burst of juicy color that's never sticky," which I whole heatedly agree with. This gloss is never sticky and stays on for quite a while, while giving a good dose of color, especially for a nude shade. 

Next is a new favorite which is the NP Set (target) lip balm in baja, a pinky red color. This basically a tinted lip balm in a tin instead of tube. It has a great texture and buildable coverage, so you can do a little tint of red, or a full on red lip. This is also great to put over/under other red lipsticks to give them staying power. It has no shimmer and lasts for a couple hours. 

Revlon color stay mineralize lip glazes in perennial pink (538) and timeless nude (512), are great long lasting glazes. They go on smooth, aren't drying and last forever. They lasted through a whole night from about 5pm to 1am, when I asked a friend if my lipstick was still on she said it still looked perfect, and it did! They have a bit of a shimmer to them, but its not noticeable except to give more shine. Perennial pink is a great natural but still a little bold pink and Timeless nude is a perfect natural lip color nude. 

Two Nivea products are my favorites which are the Kiss of Shine lip gloss and Kiss of mint & minerals lip balm. The Kiss of shine lip gloss is a perfect everyday or "no makeup" look. It isn't sticky, lasts for a while and adds just a little bit of nude color and gloss. I have used it in place of lip balms if I forget them and it works just as good if not better at moisturizing. The Kiss of mint & minerals lip balm is verily new and I have already used up 4 of them in the last couple of months, that's how great they are. I have one in my purse, one in my makeup drawer and others scattered around and I always use them. Definitely a great basic lip balm and I will continue to buy it. 

Last but not least is Revlon super lustrous lipstick in just enough buff (613). A perfect "your lips but better" lipstick. These lipsticks have great staying power, coverage and are super moisturizing. As you can see in the swatch below it is a basic nude with no shimmer. It matches almost every natural lip color or within a shade, but even if its not the right tone nude for you, it's still a great lipstick in general. 

Swatches from left to right:

Benefit lip gloss in life on the a list, NP set lip balm in baja, Revlon colorstay mineral lipglazes in timeless nude and perennial pink, Nivea kiss of shine lip gloss, and Revlon super lustrous lipstick in just enough buff

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Revlon lip butters

These were so raved about when they came out that I bought almost every color, but these are my top three.
The Revlon lip butters are more like a lipstick than a lip balm as they are marketed as. They have great pigmentation, a wide range of colors, and never feel dry or cake off. Some people complain that they don't last very long, but on me they last a long while and it's even tough to get them off with makeup remover. I don't really lick my lips a lot and I always use a straw when I drink, so that could be why.

From left to right: Sweet tart, tutti frutti, candy apple

I tried the new L'oreal caress lip butters after I tried these and the Revlon ones just top every other tinted balm I have used. Sweet tart looks like a hot pink in the tube, but when you put it on it is a little bit darker than normal lip color and just adds a perfect pop of color. Tutti frutti is good for warmer months when skin is darker, I also find that it looked better on me when I had blonde hair versus my light brown hair now. Candy apple is a cherry red that would look gorgeous on any skin tone/hair color. All in all these are great lip butters and everyone should own some, especially if you don't usually go for lipstick because it's either drying or doesn't last.

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I heart drugstore makeup

1. Favorite brand?
          -Maybelline and Revlon are at the top of my list. They make very good quality products for the drugstore price and I've only ever not liked a couple of their products. I think all of Revlon products are great, especially their foundations and the new color range. Maybelline makes a great selection of mascaras and eyeliners and their eyeshadows are extremely pigmented and high quality for the price.

2. Favorite face, cheek and lip products?
         -Face products: Loreal true match lumi foundation has a great shade selection of cool and warm tones, has perfect medium coverage and makes your skin look more luminous just like it says.
Neutrogena healthy skin foundation is a new buy for me and it is already a holy grail foundation for me. It goes on smooth and blends perfectly while covering imperfections and not feeling or looking heavy.
        -Cheek: Physicians formula happy booster blush is a sheer pinky blush that is good for "no makeup" days or any natural look. It comes in two shades, a darker pink and the light one which I have. Revlon photo ready creme blush in flushed is a long lasting creme blush. It is very pigmented so a light hand is needed but it stays on all day and can either look natural or dramatic depending on how much you put on. This is the only creme blush I've actually liked so that says a lot.
        -Lip: Revlon colorburst lip butters were new over the summer and I went out and picked up a couple colors to try out and end up going back to get every color. They are a little less pigmented than lipstick but have more staying power and moisturizing benefits than even high end lipsticks. My favorite colors are candy apple and sweet tart, a cherry red and a candy pink. 
Revlon super lustrous lipstick are possibly the best lipsticks i've used. They are pigmented and stay on longer than most lipsticks. They also have a color range that reminds me of higher end lipsticks. I'll do a full review on these with swatches. Nivea mint & minerals lip balm is a perfect little winter lip balm. It doesn't dry out your lips even more like chapstick does and I have noticed that I need to use less lip balm after finishing a tube of this balm because it moisturizes your lips so much.

3. Least favorite products?
         -Garnier skin renew miracle skin perfector bb cream was something i picked up during the drugstore bb cream craze. This really just didn't give any coverage and even the lightest color was too dark for both my mom and I's skin (I'm not all that fair). It felt like a really heavy moisturizer mixed with foundation. It's nice for if you don't need a lot of coverage or you just want to even a little bit but it's just not as great as some other bb creams.
Covergirl nature luxe waterproof mascara is a product I thought I liked at first until I started using it on a daily basis and realized the scent made my eyes water. I'm not sensitive to scents so that was a shock but I do love the mascara for the light coverage it has, I just can't deal with the scent. It's a very natural coverage, similar to Maybelline great lash but more noticeable.

4. Underloved product?
        -Almay intese i-color liquid eyeliner I picked up on whim when I ran out of my other liner but I have stuck to this one religiously now. It is long lasting, the brush is small enough to be easy to maneuver and it is easy to blend and not too wet.

5. Overpriced product?
       -The new Loreal visible lift foundation is around $16 at all of the stores I have been too and even with a coupon that's too much for a drugstore foundation. I've been trying to find the cheapest price so I can try it out but I just don't want to shell out $16 for a foundation I might not like. I've heard great things about it though so maybe I'll cave soon.

6. Best drugstore dupe?
      -This was a tough one because usually if I like the higher end one I just stick with it, but I have been going back to drugstore concealers. The Maybelline super stay 24 hour concealer is very similar to MAC pro longwear concealer in texture, staying power and coverage.

7. Not worth the hype?
     -I generally only buy things that I know I will like, but there have been some things with big hypes that I thought just didn't fulfill my expectations for them. The first is Maybelline great lash mascara, now I used this mascara when I first got into makeup and it was perfect then because of the things I don't like about it now. It just doesn't show up well and so isn't noticeable, and for $6 a tube I could go buy a better mascara. Next is the Maybelline baby lips balm, I usually don't say I hate lip balms because they're just balms and can be used up and are cheap. The problem with these though is they're $5 for a tube and just dried my lips out even more. I ended up using them up so I wouldn't waste them, but they just aren't that great for all the hype, the nivea lip balms are much better and are cheaper.

I'll be doing separate reviews of some of these products!

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Target Haul

While Christmas shopping I couldn't resist picking up some new beauty items (you can never leave Target with only what you came for). So here we go!

Herbal Essences Honey I'm Strong Conditioner-It smelled good and I've been looking for a new conditioner so I thought I'd try it out!
Garnier Sleek & Shine Hairspray-This is my go to hairspray, doesn't leave hair hard or sticky but holds the style and keeps humidity away
Redken Smooth Lock heat glide protectant-My hair stylist used this on me and it made my hair super soft so of course I bought full size
Neutrogena clear pore cleanser/mask-I used this way back in middle school and it worked so I thought I would try it out again
Johnsons Melt away stress lotion-Just a random little lotion that looked nice, smells good too!
Neutrogena Makeup removing wipes-My go to remover wipes
Pixi nail color trio (limited edition)-This looked pretty and I'd been looking for some glitter polish
Pixi endless silky eye pen-I have been meaning to buy this for a while now and finally caved, really hope it's worth the $15
Neutrogena Healthy Skin foundation-My old foundation was starting to break me out so hopefully this one doesn't. I've heard great things so my hopes are high
NP set lip balm with benefits-Saw this in a magazine tutorial for red lips and it looked nice so I picked it up, review to come
Eucerin skin calming creme-Another little lotion
OPI ridge filler-For some reason my nails are in bad shape lately so nail polish doesn't look very good, hopefully this helps
St. Ives green tea scrub-I've used the apricot scrub before but I wanted to try something new so this one it was, plus it smells so good!
Nivea creme-perfect little hand creme for winter and purse friendly
Revlon nail polish in Vixen and Scandalous-Pretty dark winter shades. Scandalous is a dark purple and black glitter shade while Vixen is a dark red wine purple
Ardell 305 and 135 false lashes+Duo lash adhesive-I've never used false lashes before so I figured I'd get some cheap ones to start off with
Exfoliating cotton pads-I heard these take off more makeup than the normal ones so here's hoping!
Plus some other little bits shown in the pictures. I'm planning on doing reviews of some of the stuff so look out for those.

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Josie Maran Argan Oil Lip Treatment

I was really excited to try this because I needed a new lip balm for these colder months, my lips are so chapped already!

First off, it has beautiful packaging so I can put it out on my dresser :) The smell is nice too, not to fruity or anything, just very subtle floral scent, which also tastes great as well. It is VERY moisturizing and I don't find that I have to reapply it all day because it lasts. 

This is a great new addition for winter as well all know we can't stay away from new lip products! 

I got mine at Sephora for $18 and I think it is well worth the price.

Sephora

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Sephora Birthday Haul

Since my birthday is in 6 days I thought I would use my free birthday present from sephora and get some things I've been needing.
Here's what I ordered:




Josie Maran Argan Oil lip treatment


Stila convertible color in Petunia



Balenciaga Paris Eau de Parfum


Sephora Ribbon hair ties

and last but not least; Clinique even better skin tone correcting moisturizer

Will be doing reviews on these when they come in!

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