Everyone should love a nude lip. I live in nude lips, I have a drawer brimming over with nude lipsticks, and I constantly find newer, better nude lipsticks to covet.

But over my years of trying new lipsticks and rediscovering old ones, there are a few products in my lip product arsenal that I've discovered really works for me. Here are my favourite products, listed in order of application, for your reading/viewing pleasure.

And trust me, this really works.

The first thing you need to do is prep that canvas. You need to hydrate and moisturise those lips, and make sure that you remove all lip flakes.


My go-to everyday lip care product (this is something I discovered about a month ago and have been using non-stop since) is the Kanebo Sensai Cellular Performance Total Lip Treatment*. I am convinced that this lip treatment was sent straight down from heaven, because it worked miracles on my dry, chapped lips (I always have dry, chapped lips). Now, I know a lot of lip care products that can restore my chapped lips, but this is the only product that also made them look plump, moist and, for lack of a better term, juicy. My lips started looking better than they ever had, and I became hooked. I usually apply this before bed as a sort of lip mask. It works a right treat, and I think everyone should own this!
Side note: You are also meant to apply this product on the skin around your lips (and I'm guessing this is why my lips looked so plump and juicy) because it actually helps to restore the skin in that area and reduce and prevent the formation of pout lines.


Then comes the 'chuck-in-your-purse' lip care product that has been my fail safe for about a year now - the Simplicité Angelica Lip Care Balm. This lip balm is light and non-greasy, and lightens the colour of the lips just a little bit - perfect when applying nude lipstick. It is moisturising and convenient to carry around, and I love the light texture that makes it so easy to apply and wear.

Now it is extremely important to remove all flakes and chaps in your lips when you apply any sort of lipstick, and there is an easy way to do this. Before you start applying any makeup to your lips, slather on a thick layer of this lip balm onto your lips. Then, move on to the rest of your face. When you finally come back to the lips, take a cotton bud and rub it onto your lips in small rolling motions - this will catch any chaps in your lips, and the lip balm will have softened these flakes enough so that they will be easy enough to remove.

Moving on to the actual makeup application, here's what I do achieve the perfect, full nude lip.


Lip liner is not essential, but is perfect when you want fuller lips, or want to correct uneven lips. It provides a nice base for your lipstick to stick to, and makes it easier to apply your lipstick because you know exactly where it needs to be applied (I don't use lip brushes and apply straight from the bullet with nude lipsticks, as they are more forgiving than darker lipsticks). My favourite nude lip liner is one from No 7 - their Perfect Lip Liner in Nude. It is the perfect colour for most lip and skin tones, and is affordable enough that you can use it everyday to colour in the entire lip without feeling guilty about it.
In the picture tutorial below, I applied the nude lip liner to only one side of my lips, to show you the difference between the lips before lip liner, and after.


Next, apply your nude lipstick. As I mentioned before, nude lipstick can be applied straight from the bullet because you don't need perfect lines. Another thing I like to do is rub the lipstick in a little at the edges, because this gives you the illusion of a fuller lip by 'erasing' the lip line and allowing the overall lip shape to 'extend' a little bit. My absolute favourite nude lipstick is the Tom Ford Private Blend Lip Color in Blush Nude*. This is a gorgeous beige colour with a hint of pink, and isn't too light, so it won't wash you out. I recommend this for anyone with skin tones from the very lightest to about medium, and if you have dark skin and are a fan of light-light lips, this still won't wash you out as long as you have a lip liner well-suited to your skin tone applied underneath. Tom Ford is available on counter at David Jones both in Melbourne and Sydney.


Finally, if I really want to highlight my lips, I apply a lip gloss. My current favourite is from Candy Doll, because these sticky lip glosses are really long-lasting and hardly require any touch ups at all. The colours are moderately pigmented and add just the right amount of colour to nude lipsticks, if that was what you were looking for. I personally like layering the darker pink lip gloss on top of my beige lipstick, because then it gives you that 'milky pink' look that I adore. The only people I wouldn't recommend these to are people who live in windy areas, and who like to wear their hair down. Your hair will stick to it like it was super glue.
The amazing Candy Doll range is available at Sasa and Watsons outlets, as well as online on Tokyoniki.com.

Below, I've attached a little picture of my overall lip routine, I hope you enjoy it!


So that is more or less my full, nude lip routine! I hope you guys found a useful tip or two from reading this post, and if you have any questions at all, let me know :) Thanks for reading!

* These products are available for purchase online with worldwide shipping at www.harrods.com.

Estée Lauder has, again and again, managed to impress me with new formulas, innovative new collections, and beautiful, vibrant colours. Now they've done it yet again, with a brand new collection of makeup, this time formulated in a gel texture with sheer but beautiful colours, in their Pure Color Cello Shots collection.


I was sent three products to trial from the collection - the Pure Color Sheer Rush Gloss in Hot Fuse (Ltd. Ed.), the Pure Color Cheek Rush in Hot Fuse, and the Pure Color Sheer Rush LipShine in Hot Fuse.

The colour 'Hot Fuse' is what I would describe as a deep raspberry red, but the textures of these products make this deep colour pretty wearable. Swatches shown below come out looking pretty different because of the different textures, though the Cheek Rush and the Lip Shine are pretty similar once applied. The Gloss is a little lighter and less deep, which makes for a beautiful combination when paired with the LipShine (shown in the picture below).


The Pure Color Cheek Rush in Hot Fuse is by far my favourite of the three - it is a lightweight, jelly-like blush that really settles into the skin and creates a lovely, sheer stain. Only a teeny, tiny bit of this is needed (about the amount shown in the picture below) per cheek, because this is really quite pigmented. This was formulated as a stain, so even though it is pigmented, it pretty much disappears into the skin once you start blending. To get a stronger wash of colour, simply apply another layer. Blending is easy, but needs to be done quickly because once this product settles, it really doesn't move! Be careful not to go overboard though, applying too much of this tends to make your makeup look quite unnatural. If you're looking for a stronger wash of colour on your cheeks, best to stick with a cream or powder blush.


This is what a thin layer of the product looks like on my cheeks, worn here with the Pure Color Sheer Rush LipShine in Hot Fuse.


The LipShine is another beautiful product - so easy to apply, and it looks great on the lips! I have lips that are slightly more pigmented closer to the outlines of my lips, so almost all sheer lipsticks look pretty bad on me. I was afraid that this lipstick would be the same, but surprisingly, it hid the outlines of my lips well, so that there was an even wash of colour. It is very moisturising and easy to apply, and does dry down to a nice, raspberry-toned stain. I was both surprised and pleased with the performance of this lipstick when I wore it on a night out. I was expecting to have to touch up my lips every couple of hours or so. Instead, it just went from a glossy raspberry red to a beautiful red stain, shown in the picture below:


Finally, here is a shot of me wearing the Hot Fuse lip products together:


I am highly impressed with the quality of these products, and I will definitely check out the lighter colours in this collection to see how they fare on my skin.

A lot of people have asked me how to tell what undertones a colour contains. To be perfectly honest, there's no mathematical way to determine what undertone a lipstick's colour contains - you just have to look at it and try to determine which way the colour pulls.

In today's post, I've put together a few lipsticks to show you how to determine when a red lipstick pulls orange - which basically means that it has an orange undertone. In some lipsticks, the colour is quite strong and therefore the lipstick looks strongly orange, but in some, the orange undertone is very slight, but these colours flatter warm and olive skin tones immensely.

This first lipstick is the CoverGirl Blast Flipstick in the number 840, 'Stunner'.


This lipstick barely makes it into the 'red' category, because of its obvious, strong orange pull. In a lipstick like this, it is easy to tell that this colour flatters warm and olive skin tones beautifully. It would also flatter extremely fair skin tones with auburn/orange hair tones.

In case you're interested in this beautiful orange lipstick, it is sold in a duo, with one matte side (pictured above), and a beautiful shimmer side as well, which you can layer on top of the original colour, to create more depth and fullness to the lip (pictured below). It is a little bit dry on the lips, but lasts all day with minimal fading.


In this next lipstick, the orange undertones are a lot less obvious, so the lipstick looks a bit redder than the CoverGirl lipstick above. If you look closely, however, you can still see the orange undertones in the colour.
A way I find quite easy to determine the undertones in a colour, is to imagine a true red paint blob, and try to imagine what colour you would add into that colour to turn it into the lipstick colour that you see.

This lipstick colour is L'Oreal Shine Caresse in #300 'Juliet'. The L'Oreal Shine Caresse lip stains are long-lasting, and feel quite light on the lips. The feel of them on the lips is unlike any other lip product I've tried - they feel very light and yet have a bit of tackiness to them. Though they dry up a little, they still manage to give your lips a little bit of slip so that when you rub your lips together, you don't feel that uncomfortable, overly matte dryness.
They do stain the lips quite a bit, and last forever, even through eating and drinking. Most of the lip stains in this range are extremely sheer, with the #300 being one of the few exceptions. In the picture below, I layered the lip stain on twice to achieve this opacity.


Finally, to help you see what a red lipstick with an orange undertone looks like compared to another colour, below I've attached a beautiful true red lipstick with a slightly bluish undertone. You can hardly see any orange in this lipstick colour, and you might be able to see the difference this colour makes to my skin. In the above pictures, when I wear an orange lipstick, my skin tone looks warm and orangey. In the picture below, my skin looks a lot pinker, and paler.

This gorgeous lip colour is an Australis Pout Paste. These are a very thick gloss/lipstick hybrid, and are intensely pigmented and feel like a thick lipgloss on the lips. They do dry down to a stain after a few hours, and don't dry the lips out very much. When I say pigmented, I do mean pigmented! The picture below shows my lips only after one swipe of the doe-foot applicator that comes with this tube, and it stays that way for hours.


I hope you found this post helpful, and if you have a warm skin tone, you might want to check these lipsticks out!

My Nude Lip Series has been going on for a while now, and I am loving every minute of being able to swatch nude lipsticks and share my favourites with you. Most of my nude lip colours are pretty close to nude, and tend to wash you out if you're not careful.

I'm happy to report that this nude lipstick will do no such thing, as it is infused with the most beautiful rosy, almost peachy tone. The Sisley Phyto Lip Gloss in #2 Beige Rose has made its way into the very exclusive list of my favourite nude lip products, and here's why:

Packaging
I love products with good packaging. I admit, that this has nothing at all to do with how well the product will perform, but I like spending my money on something that has both function and aesthetics. The packaging on this product is solid, and feels good in my hands. The brush applicator is lovely and doesn't splay out after a couple of uses the way some other brushes do, and I love the glossy cap.

Product
The gloss is quite thick, but not so much that it feels uncomfortable on the lips. This balance is often difficult to get right - too watery and the lip gloss barely stays on for an hour; too thick and it feels goopy and uncomfortable on the lips. This lip gloss feels comfortable, and has a little bit of slip to it, so I don't feel annoyed when I try to rub my lips together.

The colour, as I mentioned earlier is a mix between a mauve-y rose and a peach, and looks absolutely lovely on. The swatch on my arm is a little bit more true to colour than the swatch on my lips, so the product comes out slightly dark and doesn't nude out the lips too much. For me, it's very much a my lips, but better, type of shade.



Performance
Without eating or drinking, this lip gloss lasts for a good 2-3 hours on my lips, average wear time for a lip gloss. I absolutely love the colour, and so do a lot of people, because I get a lot of compliments and questions about my lip colour every time I wear this.


If you'd like to see how this product looks in motion, watch my Sparkly, Cut Crease Makeup Tutorial below (skip to the end to see the product applied):


Overall, this is a fabulous product, even if it is a little pricey! A tube of this lip gloss costs AUD 60, and is now available and Sisley counters nationwide.

Disclaimer: This product was sent to this site for the purposes of review and consideration, in accordance with our Disclosure Policy.

I've been getting very much into matte lips lately. They look so chic, and make you look so put together and classy. You may have seen my previous post on a relatively new beauty product from Bobbi Brown, the Creamy Matte Lip Color.

Today, I am very glad to be able to show you one of the latest colours released from the Creamy Matte Lip Color range, 'Hot'.

'Hot' is, as the name suggests, a hot raspberry pink, matte lip colour. It is gorgeous, and instantly brightens the face. Here is a close up swatch, and a full-faced picture as well.



This is such a gorgeous, long-lasting lip colour. I wore this out the other day, and the lip colour lasted the whole morning, through to lunch, and for hours after - no touch-ups!

As I mentioned in my previous review, this is also really comfortable to wear (which is rare for matte lipsticks) and feels moisturising and creamy on the lips.


If you're a fan of the matte lip, you should definitely try the Bobbi Brown Creamy Matte Lip Color range. 'Hot' launched on 3rd February 2013, and is available and Bobbi Brown counters.

Hello everyone! I am back with more lip-smacking Maybelline NY swatches - today I'm swatching the Color Sensational High Shine Glosses.

Packaging
I have to admit, the packaging on these glosses is a little bit strange. No logo, no print on the tube, only a little sticker at the very bottom telling you the name and number of the gloss. I wasn't very impressed, especially since the silver caps started chipping and peeling even before being put in my makeup bag or drawers.
The doe-foot applicators, however, are perfect. They are small enough at the tips so that precise application is possible, which is very convenient, especially with the darker colours.

Product
The glosses are high-shine, and not at all sticky on the lips. I hate sticky lip glosses so this is a big plus for me. Some of the colours (10 and 20) have a little bit of glitter to them, which isn't a deal-breaker, but I tend to gravitate towards the creamier, solid colours.
They have a nice, large range of colours, and I found that almost every single colour complimented my skin tone.


Performance
I love the shine on these glosses, as well as the pigment. They have an average wear time (about 2-3 hours), so you will need to bring your lip gloss along with you for reapplication throughout the day.

They do look wonderful layered over a lipstick, and the darker colours really make your lips pop if you layer them over a similar-coloured lipstick, but they look perfect on their own as well for a more toned-down, everyday look. Check out the swatches above, as well as full-face shots below:


My absolute favourite colours are the 80, 110 and 120 - which happen to be the most pigmented colours in the range, along with 40 and 90.

All in all, I really highly recommend these glosses. They are amazingly pigmented, and therefore eliminate the need for a lipstick. I am all about low maintenance so these are perfect for me! They are available in stores now and retail for AUD 15.95 per tube.

These products were sent for the purposes of review and consideration in accordance with this site's Disclosure Policy.

You may or may not remember my 'Nude Lip Series', that I started about a year ago. I was a huge fan of nude lips back then, and today, nothing has changed.

I have since added about a dozen or so nude lipsticks to my collection, and I've decided that it's high time I update my series. I am starting with a brand new lip gloss that only just launched - the Sisley Phyto Lip Gloss. I was sent the colour 'Nude' to add to my nude lip series, and here are my thoughts.


Packaging
Sisley has really upped its game packaging-wise! This lip gloss comes in a clear plastic rectangular prism, with sleek metallic details on the rim and cap, quite similar to Burberry's packaging, except without the check.
The applicator is a small lip brush, which is a good size for precision application (more relevant if you're using the darker colours in the range).

Product
The lip gloss is quite thick and sticky out of the tube, which translates into a longer wear time, so I'm not fussed. Once applied, the texture becomes more creamy, so it is very easy to wear.

It is a darker brown-based nude, so it looks very natural on the lips. If you're looking to whiten your lips, then you need to have anything from a dark olive skintone and below. If you're looking for a natural nude, then this is perfect if you have lighter skin. Here is a swatch of the lip gloss:


Performance
I found this lip gloss very flattering. For a lip gloss, it lasts for a decent period of time on my lips - about 3 hours or so without drinking or eating. Reapplication is definitely necessary with this, as with all other lip glosses.

I also found that no matter how thick a layer I apply, the lip gloss does not bleed outside my lips - this is a big plus for me, because I don't wear lip liner. This, plus the decent wear time, is probably due to the sticky formula. The stickiness of this lip gloss did bother me a little though, perhaps because I am now used to wearing light, creamy lipsticks.

Lip glosses are all about the shine, and this gives me a lovely glossy look without any use of shimmer or glitter, which is great because lip glosses with shimmer or glitter tend to fade very messily and leave glitter trails all over your face.


Pros vs. Cons
Pros

• Pretty packaging
• Decent wear time
• Flattering colour

Overall rating: 4/5

The Sisley Phyto Lip Gloss retails for AUD 60 at Sisley counters.

This product was sent to me for review and consideration in accordance with this site's Disclosure Policy.

Hello everyone! This post is a little late, because I've had quite a few things to deal with, but it is finally up and I hope you guys enjoy it!


So as promised, here's my step-by-step guide to a long-wearing, shaped red lipstick.







And that's it! Here are a couple of products that I used to create this tutorial.

I have posted swatches of these lipsticks below:



As I mentioned earlier, the concealers used around the lip need to be moisturising. My favourites are the MAC Select Moisturecover and the Kevyn Aucoin Sensual Skin Enhancer.

I hope this post helped you! x

L'Occitane Pivoine Delicate collection launches on the 28th of August, and I am so excited about the collection that I just had to share with you the products, so maybe if you were interested, you could check it out as well.


The entire collection, from the scent to the colours, and right down to the packaging, is delicate, floral, and very feminine.

I was sent a few items from the collection, and they all have that beautiful flowery fragrance and gorgeous packaging. I'm just going to put down a quick summary of the items that I was sent:

Pivoine del EDT
You have to sniff this yourself, obviously - all I can tell you is that is smells sweet, delicate, and floral. It lasts decently long on the skin, and at the end of the day dulls down into a pretty baby-powder type smell.

Pivone del Lip Balm
This lip balm has the exact same fragrance as the rest of the line, and has a very slight tint to it. It is also very light and doesn't weigh down the lips at all.

Pivoine del Lipstick
This lipstick has the most beautiful, light texture. It's very sheer, so don't expect much to show up on your lips. It is the least fragranced of all the products but still smells lovely. The range has three different shades - I got the shade Pivoine Delicate, which is a pretty nude-pink with a slight brown undertone. Again, it is very sheer, but has a very creamy, moisturising texture.

Pivoine del Hand Cream
I love the fact that this has a screw open dispenser that doesn't require you to remove the cover - very convenient! The hand cream itself is lovely - delicately fragranced and very light so that it sinks into the skin without leaving an obvious greasy layer behind.

There are also a few other products that come with this line:

• Fresh Mist, AUD 18: a light mist spray enriched with aloe vera (50mL)
• Eau de Toilette and Gloss duo, AUD 26: a perfume/lipgloss duo - how genius is that?! (5.5mL each)
• Shimmering Powder, AUD 38: this comes in a vintage atomizer pump - the kinds you see in films from the 50s :) This contains fine particles of pink and silver shimmer to brighten and illuminate your skin (8g)
• Lip Shine, AUD 25: lip glosses in three shades, containing a subtle shimmer. Non-sticky.

*Warning: picture heavy post!!*



Here are swatches of the Maybelline Color Sensational Lipstick range that I received recently. The colours I received were:

109 Rosy Dream; 140 Juicy Bubblegum; 161 Juicy Pink; 255 Mauve Diamonds; 330 Sugar Plum; 445 Mango Diamonds; 550 Cherry Candy; 602 Beige Rose


715 Ice Tea; 760 Luminous Cocoa; 240 Barely Brown; 295 Bronzed; 300 Warm Latte; 310 Mochachino


I like to see full-face shots when I look for lipstick swatches online, so at the risk of annoying everyone for taking up all your bandwidth, here are the full-face shots.














These lipsticks are quite sheer and easy to apply. They last about 1 1/2 hours or so, normal wear time for a lipstick.

My favourite colours are:

140 Juicy Bubblegum - a gorgeous Barbie-pink colour that, true to its name, looks as juicy as ever
255 Mauve Diamonds - a very natural looking colour, and I personally love mauve in makeup products!
550 Cherry Candy - this fiery red colour is brilliant! My favourite colour out of the entire collection!
310 Mochachino - this is my stepping stone towards wearing darker colours. This is the easier version of Tom Ford's Black Orchid (without the purple undertone). Because this colour is also quite sheer, it is more easy to apply and is a lot more forgiving if you happen to make any mistakes.

Have any of you tried these? What are your favourite colours?

This product was provided for review and consideration in accordance with this site's Disclosure Policy.