This may be the most ridiculous thing you’ll ever read on the internet… but I never wear lipstick. During my wedding makeup trial my makeup artist basically had to beg me to put something on my lips, and I would only agree with a pretty sheer, nude colored lip gloss.
And it’s not even that I’m one of those women who’s lucky enough to have pink, pouty lips au naturale. They’re quite pale and usually a slick of chapstick is the most I can muster (and only in the dead of winter). So it was with great trepidation that I decided not only to give lipstick a try – but to do so with a very saturated color. A bold, red lip is totally in these days – and while I don’t think I could pull off fire engine red (nor would it look appropriate during every day life… Taylor Swift I am not), I decided that a rosey-red would work perfectly.
From the title of this post – you know where this is headed. Since I’ve never really worn lipstick before, I also didn’t want to spend a ton of money on it – after all, it could look terrible. Or leave my lips weirdly sticky. Or cause me to break out in some weird rash. Or just be too much trouble to bother with on a daily basis.
You get the point.
With all of that in mind, I hit the E.L.F. Cosmetics display at CVS. The beauty blogger/vlogger corner of the internet has quietly been raving about E.L.F. for a while now and with their super affordable prices (all of their lipsticks cost $3!), I decided to give it a try. While I was there, I also picked up a bronzer, mascara, and two brushes – a stipple brush (for foundation) and a concealer brush (for … concealer, obviously).
Can I just say that I was blown away. I purchased one of their moisturizing lipsticks in Ravishing Rose and the color was absolutely gorgeous.
The extra vitamins and moisturizers kept my lips from having the sticky feeling I had been dreading, and the color lasted for a few hours (and through a few glasses of water and a couple vodka sodas… yeah, family events, you know the drill) without needing another application.
That said, the day I purchased it I did so with the intention of wearing it to my cousin’s bridal shower the following day. I tried it on that evening to make sure the color looked good, but I came to the conclusion that yes, lip liner really would be a necessity (because it’s a moisturizing color it does bleed a bit). So, I ran back to CVS to see if they had a matching shade.
Alas, there were no E.L.F. lipliners in the store, but I made my way over to the Maybelline display where I picked up the perfect match in # 55 – Wine.
While lining my lips I did the edges and then a bit into the middle of my lips (leaving the very center bare) so that the lipstick would have enough surface area to stick to – I think this definitely helped to increase the staying power.
As I mentioned, in addition to the lipstick I picked up a bronzer, mascara, and two brushes. I’ll be reviewing those in upcoming posts – so watch this space!