Lip Service

A few months ago I went through my mid-lip crisis (see what I did there!), I wanted to have statement lips. They didn’t have to be bright red, or orange or anything special, I just wanted people to notice them and for them to stand out on my face. Now, I have tried lipsticks before, I’ve never had an amazing experience with them to be honest. This time I tried out MUA Shade 13 (which is a bright Red) - I received this as a freebie and was quite excited as I know Louise (Sprinkle of Glitter) raves about it – and also Rimmel 16 ‘Heart Breaker’ which is a more natural dark lip shade.

MUA I couldn’t get on with at all, it had virtually no staying power and would smear very easily. I will say though that putting it on you do notice that it’s nice and smooth and not drying at all. The Rimmel lipstick is also nice but is slightly more matte. However, with this product it would gather around the edges of my lips while the inner parts would return to my natural shade, not what I wanted people to notice about me. I bought this lip-liner to try as I’d not really used it before and I hoped it would stop the lipsticks bleeding and help me define the shapes of my lips.

The product is from the Rimmel 1000 Kisses range and the shade here is 004 Indian Pink which is slightly misleading as the application is certainly closer to red than pink. It is very hard to smudge or alter which is great, as long as you don’t mess up during application. I found it easiest to apply using a few strokes rather than attempting a continous line. If you have thin lips I’d possibly recommend looking for a more specialist pencil as I did occasionally have problem at the corners of my mouth where my lips appear less defined. The staying power is excellent, unfortunately for me it outlasted my lipsticks. (If you own one of the Lip Stains that comes in Pen & Gloss form, I found it actually works really well with them). It retails at £2.99 so it’s a cheap and cheerful product, I got mine from Boots.

For me, I have realised that I think I was trying to attach myself to a trend that wasn’t suitable. Natural Lip colours sit far better with my skintone and lessen the risk that I will end the day looking like a clown. I am currently using Burt’s Bees Lip shimmer and loving it. It’s no hassle, smells great, and still gives me that bit of colour I crave.

However, I would be interested in your say. Did I just try the wrong products? Should I have splurged on a high end lipstick? Or is it possible that I have the type of lips where it’s just a no go product?