I’m falling madly in love with ColourPop lately, and these 9 pan colour-themed palettes are really making me happy!
The ColourPop It’s My Pleasure palette has been dubbed a “purple palette”, but honestly I think it’s a fairly even split of purples and pinks.
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It was by sheer accident the other day that I realized I’d suddenly become nude lipstick obsessed. I was emptying out my backpack of the five lipsticks I had worn that week to the office, when I realized they were all very, very similar in tone!
I was so amused by my discovery that I thought I’d turn it into a blog post that some people may find quite useful. I’ve started pairing nude lipsticks a lot more with my bright eyeshadow looks and it’s been working out really, really well. Seems kind of like a “no duh” moment, right? Well, I agree, but I also like wearing bright lipsticks so it’s kind of a struggle for me to convince myself that I shouldn’t be going loud with both my lipstick and eyeshadow colours! (My dear friend Sam pointed out how much a nude lipstick made my bright eyeshadows pop and I was kind of sold from that moment on!)
So here are the five shades that have been gracing my lips lately.
When I want a comfortable to wear matte lipstick I often reach for a Too Faced Peach Kiss lipstick. The texture is so lovely and easy to wear and actually hydrating. Bridezilla is a shade I never thought I’d wear because it’s more towards the pink side of things and I’ve never found that I gravitate towards the colour pink. It’s a shade I often revolt against because I hate the notion of being “girly” and all the frilly stuff that everyone seems to associate with pink and girls. If I want to wear pink, I usually want it to be neon, you know?
But there is something definitely magical about Too Faced‘s Bridezilla lipstick. I’ve seen it morph from a more pink toned lipstick to a more peach shade depending on what I’m wearing on my eyes. Fundamentally it is a medium pink lip and not really a nude I suppose, but it does a hell of a job complimenting a bright eyeshadow look!
Suva Beauty‘s Awakening Moisture Matte Liquid Lipstick knocked me out of the park the first time I used it. Not only is the product not one of those “dry as paint” liquid lipsticks, but it also smells like vanilla cake batter!
And on my lips, Awakening is truly my most perfect nude. It’s pale, without going overboard. It’s peachy-pink, without pulling strongly one way or the other. And it literally goes with every single bright or dark eyeshadow look I’ve thrown at it.
Hilariously… the Maybelline Matte Ink in Loyalist is basically the exact same shade as Suva‘s Awakening. They don’t look like it in the tube, but wait till you see them swatched side by side at the bottom of this post! I’ve yammered on for days on end about how much I love the Maybelline Matte Inks – they are truly, in my mind, the be all, end all of liquid lipsticks because of not only their longevity, but also their comfort. They are flawless!
Since the shade is identical to Suva‘s Awakening, it works just as perfectly as that shade does – it truly is the perfect nude for me. And it’s funny too – because I initially thought this colour was WAY too pale for me when I first saw it in the tube. I’d discarded it for months because I thought it would give me baby pink/white lips. However, that’s not the case and it really is perfection.
Sadly, the Too Faced La Creme lipsticks have kind of been shoved out of the market by all of the liquid lipsticks that seem to be taking up space. But let it be known that the La Creme formula is one of my favourites that I have ever tried, and if you still own a few of those shades then you’re a lucky person. The La Cremes are a wonderful cream lipstick with a sweet lemon scent (so unique) and I love mine dearly!
This shot is ancient because I couldn’t find a new one to use, but anyway… Topless is more of a beige nude on me. I wear it when I want a super pale lip. The glossiness of the formula helps to bring some life to the otherwise quite pale shade.
Oh man, the Too Faced mini Melted Mattes from their most recent holiday launch… so. damn. good. Sugar Cookie has definitely been the shade I’ve worn the most. I don’t LOVE the Too Faced Melted Matte formula since it’s a touch drying, BUT I can’t resist the shades and the scent (vanilla cookie batter!).
And, like all of the other shades in this post, it works really beautifully with bright eyeshadow colours. This is one of my more darker nudes, but I hadn’t really thought about it until I saw them all swatched out together:
Do you see how Suva‘s Awakening and Maybelline‘s Loyalist are identical?? I love them both, so I ain’t even mad about it!
So those are my nude lipsticks picks as of late. Do you have a favourite nude lipstick? Let me know!
All of the products featured in this post were sent to me over the course of the last four years. Post contains affiliate links.
NYX really knocked it out of the park with their Off Tropic collection. I loved the Hasta La Vista palette, and I feel the exact same about this Shifting Sand palette!
While Hasta La Vista was more of a vibrant rainbow palette, Shifting Sand takes it a bit deeper and more neutral, while still providing shocks of colour that absolutely delighted me (the oranges are to DIE for!).
The NYX Off Tropic Shifting Sand palette can be purchased at ulta.com for $20 USD (it’s on sale for $14 right now!) or on nyxcosmetics.ca for $24 CAD.
The product featured in this post was sent to me for consideration. Post contains affiliate links.
I’m quite a fan of the micro pencil-style brow pencils that are out on the market, so it came as a bit of a shock to me when I realized that I hadn’t tried Benefit‘s version! Their Precisely, My Brow Pencil has been around for quite some time, and they’ve just recently (yesterday!) added a shade extension bringing their entire range of pencils up to 12 shades.
In terms of the actual product – Precisely, My Brow has the same dimensions as all the other micro tip eyebrow pencils out there, which is to say about the size of 7mm pencil nib. What’s different is that the Benefit packing is a lot more built up and I found it oddly fun to hold the Precisely, My Brow pencils. Weird thing to say, right? But there’s a weight to it that’s nice on the hand and both lids are fun (one has the pencil, the other end has the spoolie).
Benefit sent me these products, and were kind enough to send a variety of shades that would work for blondes. While shades 1 and 2 were part of the line up before, shades 2.5 and Grey are new to the range.
Upon swatching, I quickly realized that the Grey shade was not going to work for me. I had visions of a pale grey shade (similar to a dark taupe), but it’s more in line with an actual grey which will work out for people with hair that’s verging on black.
When I initially swatched the shades out I saw no discernible difference between shades 2 and 2.5. It was to the point where I had to reswatch them because I thought maybe I’d screwed up and swatched one of them twice. Turns out that while in a direct swatch they don’t look that different, on my brows they really do.
Shade 1 is a cool light blonde and is a good match for me in terms of it being quite similar to my actual hair colour. However, this is the kind of shade that I feel like goes on too lightly on my brows and doesn’t add enough dimension. And this is simply because I have very little brow hair and certainly no tail to my brow. If I had more brow hairs this would be the perfect shade for me, but as it stands I would have to use this with a deeper shade to add in some dimension.
Shade 2 is the warm golden blonde shade and when you see it in comparison to 2.5 (photo below) you can see that this definitely steers more warm than the more neutral 2.5. This shade is great at adding definition to my brows, but I do like something a little bit more neutral/cool in tone.
Which is where shade 2.5 comes in! 2.5 is the neutral blonde shade that’s just been added to the range and it’s a much better match for me than the other two shades. While I like the other colours and will definitely finish them all up, 2.5 is the “easier” colour to wear for me.
As for the Grey shade… it’s just simply too dark for me and I couldn’t bring myself to wear it because it’s just SO dark. If you’ve got blonde hair, I’d encourage you to skip the Grey shade and opt for whichever shade between 1 and 2.5 that would work best for you.
I’m happy to see the shade extension, because I can see how I would’ve not been quite as keen on shade 2 by itself. 2.5 is definitely what I prefer in an eyebrow pencil since it leans more neutral/cool than the other two with their more golden undertones.
In terms of application, I was massively impressed. I’ve mentioned before that the NYX Micro Brow is one of my favourite eyebrow pencils of life, but I have to point out that the NYX pencil is incredibly stiff and somewhat difficult to apply. Benefit‘s Precisely, My Brow applies like a dream. It’s not creamy, but it does glide on with an ease I wasn’t expecting out of a micro pencil. I also found the longevity to be excellent. I saw no difference in my brows by the end of a full work day and in fact they looked better than they normally do with my usual pencils.
The Benefit Precisely, My Brow Pencils can be purchased on sephora.ca for $32 CAD or on sephora.com for $24 USD regularly… but they’re currently on sale for half off!
The product featured in this post was sent to me for consideration. Post contains affiliate links.