Beauty

What is Beauty?

Beauty comes in many forms. Here are a few of our favorites...

Liptini Lip Liqueur Lip & Cheek Stains What to Know

April 1, 2008 · 4 Comments

Once upon a time (September 1998) in a land far away (My local Body Shop) a fair maiden (me at a young enough age that I didn’t need undereye concealer) found a subtle red lip stain marker. It was perfect – my lips but better.

Since this was my first time trying a lip stain, I was amazed that I could apply it in the morning and it stayed on all day. My perfect, “I’m not wearing any makeup, my lips just look this red naturally” lip stain.

You of course know how this story ends – when I went to replace it, they had discontinued that color.

I have been searching ever since for that perfect shade in a lip stain. Every color that I have tried has been close, but not quite – I wasn’t looking for a bold red, just a subtle red. And any time I tried mixing stains together, I’d end up with a weird mud brown color. And I loved the staying power of lip stains- even long-lasting formulas wouldn’t last through the day like a lip stain does. Nor do long lasting formulas provide as great a base for lipstick or gloss – any creamy color will last ten times as long over a lip stain.

ABOUT LIPTINI

So I was very excited when I found the Liptini brand. Their very refreshing philosophy towards makeup is based on “cocktailing” – mixing together different elements to get a variety of looks.

Liptini has a wide range of products, but it was their Lip Liqueur Lip & Cheek Stains that caught my eye. These stains can be worn alone, under lipstick or gloss, or as a cheek stain. Best of all, they can be mixed together to get your perfect shade. For once, I can actually augment a base shade with another color and not end up with a very unflattering brown!

Armed with a few beautiful Liptini colors in an attempt to recreate my perfect shade, I started with a base of Maraschino, a cherry red. The color was consistent and one coat yielded a sheer color, and two layers was pretty close to my perfect color – I was thrilled already. I then added a light coat of Cherry Brandy(a sheer, cool mahogany). That was really, really close to a perfect replacement, but it wasn’t quite there until I added Kirsch (a sheer, light garnet – absolutely stunning on it’s own or with clear gloss on top of it) that I had my long lost color. Ah…now my decade long search is over!!!!!!

THE EXPERIENCE

While each layer takes about twenty seconds to completely dry, the whole application process using three different stains took less time than applying lipstick with a lip brush. And of course once you have your base color the way you want it, adding lipstick or gloss can add more polish and impact.

I was surprised at how nice the applicator is – it comes to a fine tip at the end of the slant, so I can line all the way to the corners and do my “always smiling” trick – without going beyond your lip line, angle the applicator up a bit when you get to the corner (like how you would if you were lining your lips with a standard lip liner). You will look like you always have a pleasant look on your face – which is great if the corners of your mouth tend to turn down. I haven’t been able to do this before with a lip stain applicator, so for me, this is another plus of Liptini.

It’s the rare brand that combines a fun concept with a great product – but Liptini does it well. In addition to the Framboise Cordial Shimmering Lip & Cheek Tints (I will be reviewing two other amazing Liptini Cordial Shimmering Lip & Cheek Tints in a couple of days), I’m going to pick up the Grenadine Straight Up Lipstick (which looks like a great pink for spring) and Blue flame Topper Lip Gloss to create endless great shades with my new favorite lip stains!

WHERE TO FIND IT

You can find Liptini Liqueur Lip & Cheek Stains at Liptini.com and Makeup.com for $16.50 each.

Stay tuned for most of my Liptini Tint experiments (Liptini has turned me into a mad makeup scientist!) and the beautiful Liptini Cordial Shimmering Lip & Cheek Tints!

Being TRUE Sheer Lip Shine in Aglow

March 20, 2008 · Leave a Comment

I recently discovered the Being TRUE skincare and cosmetic line, and I tried out the Sheer Lip Shine in Aglow, a beautiful limited edition neutral color.

INGREDIENTS

Being TRUE Sheer Lip Shine contains great ingredients:

1) Peppermint and caffeine to plump – a highly effective plumper that doesn’t sting at all and doesn’t cause irritation. On the contrary, it calmed my chapped lips that nothing else has been able to soothe for about a week or so. So if you find some of the traditional plumpers too stingy, Being TRUE Sheer Lip Shine is the plumper for you.

2) Green tea and Vitamin E to condition – Green tea is my go-to raw skin soother, so I love when products (especially color cosmetics) contain green tea in their formulation. And using green tea in combination with Vitamin E will soothe the most chapped lips.

THE EXPERIENCE

Between the plumping and the conditioning features, the little lines that everyone over the age of five has on their lips disappear, and the effect lasts long after the gloss has worn off – which is awhile – this gloss has excellent staying power.

I really like that it’s not sticky, so there is no risk of your hair getting stuck in it. Considering how often I end up with smudged lips and sticky hair when a stiff wind blows my hair around, this is a definite plus for me.

It’s pretty rare to find a neutral lip color that brightens your face and highlights your lips. This is due to pink and gold shimmer (extremely subtle – all that you see is the reflection, not the shimmer particles) that is infused with the toffee base color. Hitting the three bases of pink, gold, and toffee means that Aglow is a universally flattering shade.

Great for everyday wear, and perfect for a glamorous lip look paired with a smokey eye. And the peppermint aroma is so nice, I find myself putting it on constantly in the last couple of days just for a little energy pick me up.

Since Aglow is a limited edition color, it won’t be around forever – check it out now.

WHERE TO FIND IT

The Being TRUE line is sold exclusively through high-end salons and spas – find one near you at the Being TRUE website.

I’m really glad I found the Being TRUE line and can’t wait to try more of their makeup and especially their skincare line!

Here’s some pics I took to show you what it looks like on when you first put it on and after a few minutes of plumping:

Aveda Petal Essence Triple Accent double-ended pencil in Topaz Taupe/Heather

March 19, 2008 · Leave a Comment

When I first saw Aveda’s Petal Essence Triple Accent two-ended pencils, I thought it would be a convenient lipcolor and highlighter pencil in one. But it’s so much more than that!

WHAT MAKES AVEDA PETAL ESSENCE TRIPLE ACCENT SPECIAL

All of the colors have great antioxidants and moisturizers in them – Bilberry, Blueberry, Cranberry, Jojoba Oil, Orchid oil, and Sunflower oil.

I love when color products have treatment properties to them – and you can’t beat those antioxidants for repairing your skin. Sunflower oil is one of my favorite moisturizers (find a bottle at a health food store and start moisturizing your legs with it now, you will have amazing looking legs by shorts season!), and Jojoba works to drive the sunflower oil deeper into your skin. In short – the stuff in this pencil is great for your skin!

THE EXPERIENCE

I tried four variations of the pencil (they are all beautiful – it’s worth picking up more than one color!), and I’ll be posting about each combo in the upcoming days. I’m particularly impressed with the Topaz Taupe/Heather combo (the one the farthest to the right in the picture). The lip pencil side (Heather) is a pretty, ever so slightly iridescent burnished russet-coral. It modifies easily with either gloss on top or a lip liner or stain underneath – a definite advantage over lip colors that turn mud brown when mixed with anything else.

I found that my lips look full and moisturized. It lasted through a soup and pasta meal without smearing or wearing away – which really impressed me for a moisturizing formula. I’d advise using a lip brush to apply it if you want a precise application – it is more of a lipstick consistency than a lipliner. But I had success in applying it straight on my lips from the pencil and getting a good line and good coverage.

The eye color side of the pencil, Topaz Taupe, really blew me away. First I applied it as a eyeliner. My lashes are pretty long right now (Style Chicks spoiler alert: watch for a post in a few weeks in which I’m complaining that my lashes are in the short part of their growth cycle…), and I haven’t been wearing eyeliner all that much lately – just seems a little over the top with long lashes. But my eyes still looked kinda bare without any liner. Enter Topaz Taupe – this is the perfect color and consistency all around the eye. I could not place why my eyes looked so big and awake with it on, then I realized that light was reflecting off the liner and back-lighting my eyelashes! Each lash was defined in its little halo of light – my lashes stood out, not the liner itself. The inner rim of my eye looked bright white, which made my eyes look big and gave the overall appearance that I was wide awake and refreshed (I was anything but wide awake and refreshed, BTW)

I quickly applied it as an eyeshadow to see if it had the same effect on my top lashes (it did!), and once I got past the fact that my lashes looked long and extremely black, I was impressed with the consistency and brightness of the color as an eyeshadow. My eyelid looked dewy and slightly smokey – very wearable during the day, and a great base for a more smokey eye at night. And one extra coat on the crease sealed the deal that this pencil will be my go-to eye pencil for rushed mornings. It lasted all day and the creamy consistency didn’t fade or smudge.

CONCLUSION

This is one of few cream products that work for me as an eyeshadow – cream eyeliner is good for me (and I cannot underscore enough how great this is as an eyeliner), but prior to the Triple Accent pencil in Topaz Taupe, I’ve never had great success with cream eyeshadows. But Aveda did an outstanding job with this one!

WHERE TO FIND IT

Stay tuned for more Aveda Petal Essence Triple Accent pencils in the upcoming days – and in the meantime, go order Topaz Taupe/Heather at Aveda.com!

New Product: Frederic Fekkai Salon Glaze

March 17, 2008 · Leave a Comment

One of the March giveaways in Allure this month was a new product from Fekkai, the Frederic Fekkai Salon Glaze. Aimed to give that “fresh from the salon” shine and color boost at home, it contains pearl protein for reflective shine (the same stuff that comes in some face highlighting products), vitamin B-5 (great stuff for getting your hair in better condition), sweet almond protein, and grape seed extract – all of which are great for your hair.

The problem I always have with typical shine serums is that I can’t distribute them evenly, so one spot end up looking greasy. However, this glaze apparently doesn’t add weight or oiliness, so this may be the answer to the shine product dilemma.

If you are excited to get salon shiny hair at home, and like me, didn’t get in on time to the Allure giveaway at the beginning of the month, you can find the Salon Glaze at Beauty.com for $28.00.

Update: It is now also available at Sephora. It is on backorder at Neiman Marcus.

Second Update: I tried it and you can read my review of it here.