The Makeup Box

Beautiful New L’oreal Colour Riche Shades for Spring/Summer!

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L’oreal’s Colour Riche range has always had a great creamy and pigmented texture, but it hasn’t really been synonymous with fashion-forward colors.

They did try a couple of years ago but didn’t quite succeed in delivering on the beautiful shades promised in photo-enhanced publicity images. Most of the shades stained the lips badly, were a lot duller and nowhere near as bright as the ads showed, and contained weird chunky glitter that did nothing but feel odd on the lips.

I was VERY happy to see the new range, but these don’t seem to be available at every counter yet and I’m hoping it’s not an Asia-exclusive because these babies are GORGEOUS.

Meet the 3 that I totally recommend:

• Wild Tango (acidic coral with a slight pink undertone)
• Touch of Amaranth (gorgeous reddened fuchsia)
• Pink Retro (true medium pastel pink)

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MAC Viva Glam Nicki 2 Amplified Lipstick: Swatches and Mini-Review

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Color:

This is a chalky, dusty lavender-toned creme lipstick that’s little more cool and grey than Saint Germain.

As you can see in the comparative swatches above, it’s not as much of a true-purple as the 2 Lime Crime purples, but it’s also not a true pink either.
On the lip, it has a tendency to look much chalkier and more lavender than it does in the tube, so this is not a color for the faint-hearted. There is nothing natural looking about it. It’s much lighter than my lips, even on my light NC25 skin.

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Requested: Updated Favorite Hot Pink Matte Lipsticks!

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Who says you need to wait for Summer to pull out the bright pinks? Brands like Chanel have already pulled out the show-stoppers with bright matte pinks.

Here are 4 options I love, from a warm primrose to an electric neon pink:

• Primrose (pink with a coral hue): Shu Uemura Rouge Unlimited in Evil Pink (love that name!)
• Fuchsia (pink with a bright red tint): Wet n Wild Megalast Lipstick in 996 Don’t Blink Pink
• Magenta (pink with a purple undertone): NYX Matte Lipstick in Sweet Pink
• Neon pink (pink that’s, well - neon): Barry M Lip Paint in 52 Shocking Pink

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One Basic Eye Tutorial, Countless Lip Options

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The easiest way to change up your look for different occasions during the holiday season is with lipstick, and as you can see, there are countless options; each one will give you a completely different look just by switching out the color.

I’m throwing in the eye tutorial because it’s really quick and simple. A straightforward neutral eye with a soft wing. 

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Step 1: Just use any brown shadow you have and apply it only on the mobile lid, under the socket line. You don’t want the shadow to turn into a smoky look and you don’t want the brown to be too obvious as well. It’s just there to define your eyes.

Pull along the lid and then fade outwards slightly.

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Step 2: For the liner, just hold your pencil or kajal vertical so it’s pointing skywards, and then set it down on the outer corner of your lid. Pull it inwards and downwards slightly, and you should get a nice line that is thick at the outer corners and thin at the inner corners. 

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Step 3: With a Q-tip or a pencil brush, smoke out the pencil with short, inward strokes. You can extend the outer wing a little, but still do it with INWARD strokes, because I find this gives you controlled and neat lines. Pulling it outwards is ok if you’re used to doing it, but if you’re not, you could end up with one side at a different angle than the other.

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Step 4: Apply mascara just as you would usually, and that’s all there is to it. You can wear false lashes if you want more drama.

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Step 5: On the cheeks, I just kept things very soft with a light pink (MAC Well-Dressed), and it’s barely visible. If you’re going with a darker or brighter lip, you CAN use a slightly stronger blush, but you don’t always have to.

10 MAC Lipsticks Worth Checking Out 

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This is a bare-bones, no-frills recommendation of 10 different MAC shades for every lipstick newbie.

These are by no means the only great shades in MAC! I picked them in consideration of whether they were relatively unique to the brand and not that easily duped. They also might not flatter every person equally, so definitely test them out at the store and use this list more as a reference/suggestion to the types of colors and textures to look out for when you’re at the MAC counter.

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Roses, Pinks and Nudes

Rebel - deep semi-sheer berry creme

Rebel looks scarily dark in the tube but actually goes on sheer and creamy, and not nearly as bruised/purple-looking as it seems. This is very flattering on most skin tones, but much more dramatic on the very pale.

Pink Nouveau - bright satin pastel pink

This classic pink has an impressive fan-list (Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj). If you want a sort of cool-toned, semi-matte bright pink that isn’t going to look too Snooki on, try Pink Nouveau. Looks fantastic on very pale and dark skins.

Saint Germain - pale blue pink creme

Super pale, super bright… this lipstick contains so much white pigments that it literally jumps off your face even if you’re really pale. ONLY for drama queens. It’s not going to look good on everyone so try before you buy!

Pink Plaid - matte blush-beige

If you want a kittenish pout but matte nudes make you look like a corpse, get something that’s a little more pink/peach. Pink Plaid is just that sort of muted lip color with a hint of flattering color.

Creme Cup - creamy, semi-sheer blush-beige

Sort of like Pink Plaid but sheer, and a touch more beige. Very easy to wear with any smoky eye, and low-maintenance enough that you can slick it on without a lot of liner, primer, etc.

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Purples and Reds

Up The Amp - Soft medium mauve/purple creme

This unique color is so different from most shades around but it’s amazingly flattering on many skin tones. If you’re porcelain skinned it could look a little goth/punk though, so test first. Fab on medium to dark skins.

Prince Noir / Diva - Dark plum / Dark liver-red (both matte)

It’s tied between these 2 shades, but I seem to have misplaced my Diva so I can’t swatch it. Prince Noir is more dramatic, and Diva is more of a classy dark red. I personally find Diva more wearable, which is a good thing since it’s available at regular MAC stores.

Ruby Woo - Retro-matte scarlet

The reddest red there is. This red is so intense it makes Russian Red look like brick-red. The texture is not the most comfortable for some people since it’s even dryer than regular matte lipsticks, but then Ruby Woo gives a uniqely uber-matte effect combined with super-saturated color that is really hard to duplicate conveniently, it as my default scarlet.

Impassioned - Fuschia-coral creme

If coral is too yellow for you and fuchsia is too blue, get Impassioned, which is the perfect cross between the two, and just as bright. It IS rather flattering and I recommend wearing it with minimal makeup on the rest of your face just to let your lips speak for themselves.

Morange - Bright acidic orange

This is a take-no-prisoners orange. Not quite a traffic-cone orange since it has just a bit more red thrown in, but that’s also what makes it more wearable. If you have darker skin and want a similar effect, try Lady Danger, which is a bit deeper and redder. Be prepared to be stared at when you wear this.

Naughty and Nice: The Pink Nude Lip

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There’s nothing that straddles naughty and nice as well as the perfect “sex-kitten” pinky-nude lip. (Just take it from Kim Kardashian.)

It’s more wearable than a true-nude because the hint of pink/peach adds a little warmth and doesn’t make you look like death warmed over. It’s more “Mod” and stylish than the typical MLBB (My Lips But Better) Pink. It works with barely-there makeup and a full-on smoky eye. It also works on both deeper and paler skins.

There are a myriad of shades and textures available, but the most popular tend not to be visibly shimmery. I personally think MAC is probably the brand with one of the biggest ranges of nude pinks, and Creme Cup (pictured above) is one of my favorites.

Some of the more widely-available and well-known pink-nudes are swatched above. It’s by no means the exhaustive list of course! These just happen to be the ones that I have in my collection.

• The first 2 (Please Me and Pink Plaid) are mattes, and the last/bottom is a gloss (Colorburst).
• Shades like Creme Cup and the infamous Angel - which Kim K’s has single-handedly put on the makeup map - work on both fair and tanned skins but it can tend to work better on those with golden undertones.
• Shades like Please Me and Tea Rose are warmer and rosier, so if you have much deeper toned skin, these would work better for you than paler/whiter shades like Angel.
• If you’re looking for a pink nude gloss instead of lipstick, always pick one that is a tone lighter than the shade you want, because your darker lip color will show through beneath. Good ones include Revlon Crystal Lilac (subtle shimmer) and NARS Turkish Delight.
• If you are extremely pale and every color shows up strong on you, go for a sheer like Maybelline Watershine Pure in B24 (I think this might only be available in Asia) or Revlon Colorburst Crystal Lilac lipgloss.

Tips:

1. If you’re going for a lipstick, choose one that is quite highly-pigmented. Because this shade is lighter than most natural lip colors, wearing something too sheer can mean having pigments settle and show up in your lip lines.
2. If the lip color is showing up uneven, or your lip color is showing through in an unflattering way, blend a tiny bit of concealer around the outer edges of your lips first to mute the color.
3. Condition your lips well. Any flakes and cracks can show up quite obviously.
4. If you own a nude and a pale baby pink, just mix both for your own nude-pink.