bold lip - The Seventh Sphinx

There are a few formulas of liquid lipstick that stand out as favorites: Dose of Colors, Stila Stay All Day, Kat Von D Everlasting. Watching his videos^ and dozens of other reviews I had no doubt that Jeffree Star Cosmetics liquid lipsticks would be among these ranks, and it was only a matter of time before I picked one up. I recently confirmed that the reviews are deserved; the formula is lovely.

^He has wonderful tutorials, check them out if you like edgy, glamazon looks.

While I was at it, I picked up one of his Velour Lip scrubs, too. A girl needs a lip scrub.

A girl doesn’t really need to buy a lip scrub, it’s worth mentioning. I have a very functional one I make by mixing castor sugar and vaseline or the spare ends of waxy chapsticks as a binding agent. Pack it in a pot and it lasts ages. You can also just remember to include your lips in any facial scrub session (though I find they sometimes need extra attention). That said, if one were to frivolously spend her money on such a thing, this is a generous little pot and not a bad price ($12), with fun, spot-on flavors. Root Beer is delicious. Plenty of nice oils in to leave the lips balmy and moisturized after.

The exfoliation of the lips is critical, as all lipstick lovers know.

While I ultimately prefer a classic creamy lipstick, I appreciate the strengths of a liquid lipstick. When you know you will spend hours too busy for chance to even glance in a mirror much less manage touch-ups (as I do at work every day) a liquid lipstick is a great fuss-free option. I recommend browsing swatches as not all of Jeffree Star’s colors are as uniform (that is, not patchy) as others but the all of the reds get a solid stamp of approval. I went for Anna Nicole, a screaming hot tomato that is absolutely stunning. Orange sits well on yellow/olive-based skin tones. Makes green eyes glow, too. Need to bust out more oranges.

It is a bit more orange and brighter than it is showing here, quite true to the color in the tube in the first image.

This lip stands up and shouts. I love wearing a color like this, a color that almost jumps off your face it’s so bold and bright. People cannot help but look at this color, a vivid gash of red orange like a toreador’s cape. I felt so badass in this lip. Stares all over. I went downtown to do some shopping in this and can’t remember the last time I had so many blatant stares, nor so many compliments on a lip color. I kept the rest of the look very clean, just highlighter (rather a lot, that will get its own post) and enough blush to keep from looking washed out (Benefit Coralista), a few lashings of mascara*, a bit of concealing to get rid of red marks as dark and bold lipsticks make hyperpigmentation stand out even more, and a little brow defining with my much-loved Benefit Gimme Brow.

*Currently layering L’Oreal Clump Crusher, which I really like, with Benefit Roller Lash (so much Benefit today!), which is a bit too wet and clump-prone at the moment [but which I anticipate I will like OK when it dries out more], good for adding volume and length to the very natural, separated look Clump Crusher gives. Do we care about this? Can there be too much detail?

The formula: Liquid but not runny (thicker than Colourpop, not quite as thick as Dose of Colors), opaque in one careful coat (or two careless ones). I always use a lip liner with liquid lipsticks anyway and they take a little getting used to but application here was nothing scary. A little blotting and a swipe of a cotton bud here and there to clean-up [not an army of fallen cotton buds that gave their life in service to a single lip look, something I feel I must not be alone in experiencing].

My lips, already full, looked absolutely massive. There was this illusion of them taking up so much of my face – a clean bold red lip always does this – because they are the focal point the lips seem so much bigger than they are in reality. I love that. People are not even seeing me, I imagine, or not at first seeing me, just this fabulously vibrant lip. As if, having your attention drawn to a bright flower, you find it is being carried by the most charming woman…

There is no excuse, really. If I’m not wearing lipstick, it’s because I didn’t take the time, because I thought something else was more pressing, more important. And sometimes there is, are, genuinely several things much more important…and sometimes I don’t care about lipstick, or mascara, or what have you, or how I look beyond basic presentability. I take care of my skin and get my hair in order in this 40 second bun thing and get to work.

Sometimes, though, I do care. I miss it. I wish I’d taken the time to do something, so I could have that feeling of looking purposeful, looking put together, not because I have managed in a rushed 15 minutes not to look not put-together, because I have literally put a selection of choices together. Because I am polished, styled. I don’t just mean makeup here, but makeup is especially powerful because faces are powerful, faces are where we connect, and if I make some…effort* on only my face while leaving everything else on autopilot, there is a difference. It doesn’t have to be much to make a difference.

*I mean this in a broad way, I mean to give it some special attention. I know my face, so small changes look quite dramatic to me. Just blush and highlighter are transforming, or just a good skin serum and mascara.

I look fine with just my skincare regimen, sure, I look fine. At moments, when I’m well hydrated and my skin is in good shape, I love this default mode. I’m so not the kind of person who won’t go outside without makeup. Most days I wear, if anything, very little, though this is not entirely by choice…there seems to be so little time. If I had more time I would play around more, I maintain, though I can’t help but wonder if there is something hollow in that. Isn’t it just a reflection of my priorities if something I say I want is continually dropping to the back of the line? Am I not, with my actions, saying that I want something else more?

I think there’s something more, too. A certain reluctance to show others what I am thinking. The playful spirit that moves me to muck around with beauty and style is an instinctive creature, and I, though you might not guess it from the existence of a blogsitething, am a private person. I have a resolution to share more but the sharing is the part that is work for me. Creating, playing, I am doing that…but quietly. I think, too, the sharing is not the critical part of the process (the journey of creating one’s own style and one’s own self), and this contributes to my not always making the effort to do it. Sharing is good for me, though. Like talking, it forces me to make my thoughts, in the case of style my concepts, coherent in some way. Finished in some way. It makes me part of a larger conversation as well, and this is good.

Recently I did this look, after a two, three? week stretch of having no time or energy to do more than be clean. A kind of beauty binge.

NARS Train Bleu Velvet Matte Lip Pencil, so good. This hazy photo doesn’t show it but one thing I like to do is use a brighter liner under dark lip colors like this. Here MAC Nightingale gives a fuchsia halo to the dark aubergine, softening it slightly. Who are these bloggers who seem to have endless quantities of daylight at hand? They are probably in California…sounds nice.

Tag: bold lip

we like: Jeffree Star Cosmetics

no excuse