I was certainly not tagged to do this tag and I’m aware that it was originally created as a video by the lovely Estee (of essiebutton) and Amelia (of Liana Beauty) so I’m taking a few liberties here but after reading/watching more than a few of these, I couldn’t resist doing this one so here goes:

1. Favourite balm or treatment?

Although it’s not strictly a balm intended for use on chapped lips, the best repairing treatment for my chapped sensitive lips is easily the La Roche-Posay Cicaplast Baume B5($16 CDN), which is a thick cream-textured product that aims to soothe sensitized, irritated and itchy skin all over the body (lips included) and works the best to soothe chapped flaky lips than anything else I’ve tried. It’s not something that has the ideal texture etc. for putting on before lipstick as it’s a cream and looks white on the lips but it’s definitely worth the impracticality- and it contains more than emollient ingredients, formulated with anti-bacterial ingredients and concentrated vitamin B5.

2. Best eye-catching red?

With its abundant praise in recent years, the uber-drying vibrant scarlet-red lipstick with slight blue undertones, MAC Ruby Woo($19 CDN)has been rewarded status as the bog-standard classic red but despite that it is my absolute favourite when I’m going for that bright red statement lip. When paired with some simple liner and standard shadow and mascara, the bold lip offering looks stunning and compliments my warm-toned fair skin. I’m not normally a fan of drying lipsticks but this one lasts like no other and does not slide around whilst not highlighting lip imperfections. In my opinion, this is a stunning red especially if you have yellow or olive undertones — I’m certainly not olive but my friend is and it looks stunning on her as well!

3. Best luxury and drugstore?

My lipstick hoarding problem or obsession of sorts is actually a fairly recent one and in light of this, I don’t own too many truly luxury  lip products — MAC excluded — but I do love the Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment in Cherry ($26 CDN), as it provides impressive colour payoff, legitimate nourishment, texture and longevity. Although these are marketed as glorified tinted lip balms, this one actually provides the hydration of a balm whilst delivering pretty-much opaque payoff that lasts on the lips for hours. I need more of these in the interest of research of course…

I’ve had many more drugstore lip product discoveries in my lipstick hoarding life so this was a more difficult choice to make but when it came down to it, the Revlon Lacquer Balm in Enticing($9-10 CDN) comes out on top on all fronts — the deep-red with neutral undertones, a rather autumnal or wintry shade, provides impressive pigmentation and longevity while being effortless to use and not only comfortable on the lips but also slightly hydrating. If you’re someone who suffers with dry flaky lips like yours truly, I highly recommend giving these a go.

I now realize that the two look similar so I’ll clarify: the Fresh is on the left and the Revlon is on the right below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Best MAC Lipstick?

Ugh, this is such a difficult one as MAC’s lipsticks are truly among the most loved in my collection but this one had to go to MAC Patisserie Lipstick($19 CDN)as it is that no-fuss perfect everyday shade that I can slap on without a mirror (or any sort of thinking capacity) and always looks good. The lustre formula ensures that it is actually hydrating on the lips and has a sheerness to it and shade-wise it can only be described as a warm-toned dark pink-nude with some brown undertones to it. It’s that cliched my-lips-but-better shade on me and for this I adore it.

5. Most disappointing?

Although I wouldn’t describe the Revlon Lip Butters as a necessarily bad product – in fact, I like a couple of them – but I do not believe that they hold up to the hype that surrounds them. I don’t find that they feel lightweight on the lips and offer moisture like a balm. While they aren’t particularly drying on the lips, these are lacking in terms of hydration on the lips and have a waxy consistency that can actually highlight dry patches and texture on the lips.

6. Liner?

I don’t have much experience on the liner front and the ones that I have tried thus far have failed to impress me so I would have to stick with precision lip brush application to master the shape when I’m bothered or am applying a bold lip.

7. Best Gloss?

I really really detest lip gloss as a whole — in fact, it’s why I wasn’t crazy about lip products in the past. I hated that whole heavy sticky feeling of lip gloss so much that I was put off but I have to say that I do like the L’Oreal L’Extraordinaire Liquid Lipstick in Nude Ballet ($12 CDN). The lipstick-gloss hybrid feels lightweight on the lips and is somewhat nourishing, gliding easily over uneven texture on the lips. Nude Ballet is a gorgeous nude with warm pink-brown undertones, in the same vein of Patisserie that offers rather impressive pigmentation. Too bad about the typical L’Oreal scent if you know what I mean…

8. Something extra!

I couldn’t write this post without giving a mention to the Rimmel Kate Moss Lasting Finish Lipsticks after mentioning the Revlon Lacquer Balms above but as much as I like the formula of the matte offerings, I actually have come to prefer the original Rimmel Kate Moss Lasting Finish Lipstick in 08 ($7-8 CDN),housed in the black packaging despite the rather brown and ‘mature’ feel to the hue. For one, this formula is extremely comfortable to wear and forgiving on the lips, lasts a good while and the scent is much more appealing — rather than having that candy-smell that Rimmel stays true to, there’s vanilla thrown into the mix with this one. I love the formula so I have to try more of these but I have been enjoying this shade when applied with a lip brush as it doesn’t come out as masking and brown but rather as a flattering neutral shade that is slightly darker than my natural lip.

I probably shouldn’t be as surprised as I am by how wording this post is but I doubt you’ve come to expect anything else. If you’ve done this tag or plan on doing so, I would love it if you commented the link below so I could check it out!

Maggie, x.