The Makeup Box

A “Jelly Lip” Summer: Layering Lipstick over a Gloss Base

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I seldom apply gloss over lipstick because I find it makes everything thick and heavy feeling, and causes lipstick to smudge, fade, and wear away unevenly. On its own, Gloss usually has so little color that one shade looks like any other.

So I do the jelly lip.

This isn’t some amazing trick obviously. I just apply lipstick on top of a gloss base to just add some pigmentation without taking away the sheen and “jello-like” translucence. You also get the lightweight feel of a gloss with slightly better lasting power.

This is another quick way to stretch those bright lipsticks that you don’t quite dare to wear out!

Some favorite combinations are above. Try a:

• neon pink over a transparent pink gloss
• a soft blush-pink over a nude gloss
• a coral over an orange gloss
• a deep wine over a beige gloss (below)

And it’s not hard to maintain. A couple of hours in, if you need to touch up some shine, just apply more gloss. You don’t need to touch up with a slick of lipstick until after you eat or drink something.

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P.S. Lip Care

Someone sent me a message asking about lip care and how I keep my lips smooth and line-free. Well I don’t naturally have many visible grooves or deep lines in my lip so I can’t give any advise about it. But grooved lips are beautiful; look at Angelina Jolie. Don’t worry about what’s naturally yours (grooved, lined or not) and just keep them in the best state they can be. This means not flaky, cracked or chapped.

Mine do get flaky and chapped actually. Usually after I try on a new product and develop a sensitivity to it. You don’t see them cos I obviously don’t do any lip-related posts on those days when my lips are extremely sore!

Weekend Nails: Grey Polka Dots!

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Felt like a little simple pattern last weekend, so I painted my nails grey (Revlon Top Speed in Hazy), then used white acrylic paint and the fatter end of a dotting tool to apply white polka dots all over. 

Much easier to use acrylic than trying to work with white nail polish. Just let dry, and then seal with a thick layer of topcoat.

Period! Try it in any color combination you like!

Spring Pink: Find the Light Pink Lip that’s right for you!

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We find outselves drawn to that soft, candy-like pink lip on other people, but it can often go terribly wrong when we apply it on ourselves. Here are 10 options and the women they’d look good on.

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Lavender Velvet (Embossing Powder) Nails!

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The past week, I popped into a local craft store and found some lovely fine embossing powders (I only bought the one color, a lavender) and the most gorgeous glitters (more on that in a future post). So now I’m using the Lavender embossing powder from ZING (it’s an American brand so those of you in the US might be able to find it more easily than those of us in the rest of the world).

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There’s nothing to the look really.

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Looking Forward To: Matte Pastels and More for Spring 2013!

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Seems the makeup houses are swinging Floral this Spring! (Aside from MAC with their Apres Chic of course. But more on that in another post.)

Your eyes are pastel, your cheeks are dewy, and your lips are tinted in sheer, petal-colored shades.

Estee Lauder’s nicely-named “Pretty Naughty” collection features a five-color palette with a mixture of matte, satin and shimmer finishes in soft blooming shades, as well as that gorgeous Illuminating Powder Gelee Blush in an intense pink called Rebel.

I’m particularly interested in the Pure Color Sheer Matte Lipsticks though. This isn’t a texture that you find very often by design. (Most of the time matte lipsticks are sheer by virtue of poor formulation so I’m interested in seeing how this would look.)

Shu Uemura on the other hand, is going matte all the way, from lids, to cheeks, to lips.

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