A Tale of Three Lipsticks

I normally stick to neutral lip gloss for my day to day looks, because at work most customers’ emphasis is on eye shadows.

So I’ll play up my eyes, and downplay the lips.

I’ve grown tired of that look for day to day, but it works for work. Since I had the last four days off, though, I went to put on some crayon colored lipstick before I went out…and couldn’t find any.

What? How does this happen?!

I had browns, my go to red, but nothing with some pizzazz. I have the BH Cosmetics 66 Lip Gloss palette and it’s awesome, but I wanted brighter. Like liquid Skittles.

So of course that means…shopping! 😀 I’ll look for just about any excuse, really.

So I shopped and shopped, hit up Macy’s and Ulta, came home, and spread out my spoils.

*sigh* Why do I do this?!

What you see here are three very similar colors. Granted, all three have very different finishes, but I probably could have gotten away with one and used some gloss or powder to come up with the other two looks.

But I’m not taking them back. Because, I really need all three, you see. 🙂

So, first up: the color in the shiny gold tube. I found this when I went to get some shampoo and came out with this lipstick as an addition. This is called Violet Volt by Milani. Creamy, shiny, and it has shimmer in it. If you are not a fan of the frosted, it is not for you. Here it is on me:

Next color in the neon colored tube is called Brazen Berry from Maybelline. I actually found this two minutes after I got home while digging for my phone in my purse. It’s a replacement tube–I lost the first one I bought. Had I found this beforehand I probably wouldn’t be in this dilemma. Now this one is glossy, but has no shimmer:

Often when I wear Hot Plum, it’s mistaken for this third color, clad in the iconic black packaging: Heroin by MAC. Here’s the thing. I don’t normally do matte lipsticks because they make my lips drier than they normally are. But I put this on and OMG. I didn’t even do a gloss after it…which is odd for me. But it works:

So, from a makeup artist to you,my wonderful readers if you have a lipstick at home that you love, but you see a similar one…okay, go buy it if you want. 🙂 But if you want to save a dollar, here’s how you spruce the one you have up easily.

If you want it frosted (glitter), add a sparkly gloss to it. You can do it with or without color, as the look you’re going for dictates. If you want it matte, tap (sparingly!) a little bit of translucent powder over the top of your lips. This will give you matte without having to search for matte colors.

Sidebar: if there was a way to do a matte gloss like they do a matte topcoat for nails, companies would make a killing. Just sayin’.

And of course, if it’s matte and you want it shiny, do a glitter free gloss over the top. Simple!

Or, you could do what I end up doing…buying the same color in three different finishes accidentally (maybe on purpose? *shifty eyes*)…and keeping them. Whichever works. No judgment here! 🙂