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Lip liners – a shade comparison of MAC and Lisa Eldridge
When decluttering my old MAC liners I did a swatch comparison between them and the similar shades from my more recently purchased liners by Lisa Eldridge (LE). I started purchasing LE liners to replace my old MAC ones but discovered that most of them were not colour dupes as I had initially anticipated. But some are functional dupes i.e close enough in colour to provide the same function. In this post I want to share swatch comparisons of the similar shades from the two brands but also share swatches of all of my Lisa Eldridge liners. All with the hope of providing some picture guidance if anyone else is considering purchasing any of these liners and could be helped by seeing them swatched side by side on my skin tone.
Liner comparison – MAC and Lisa Eldridge (LE) Morning did not replace Redd as anticipated. Morning is brighter and more vividly warm. Redd is more subtle overall and I could see myself purchasing it again in the future if I notice a need for it. I’m a sporadic liner wearer but usually use liners specifically with reds and darker shades when I want a more precise or impactful look. They are therefore useful but not a necessary part of my everyday makeup usage. The purpose filled by Cherry and Beet is now occupied by Ribbon, Duchess and even Myth. Burgundy is a shade that nothing really compares to but I included swatches of Decade and Midnight for reference. I do like Burgundy a lot and will consider picking it up again in the near future. It is stunning on its own but it also plays well with many of my more muted lip shades. Brick is also in a league of its own but I’m not sure I currently need a shade like it. I was sure that Midnight would replace Nightmoth but the are more cousins, Nightmoth being more muted and grungy. I have recently repurchased Nightmoth though. It is great for deep and dramatic looks and I wanted it in my life again.
The formula differ between the two as well. The MAC liner in its classic wooden pencil format is drier and harder formula. But not hard to use mind you. It does not glide on the way the LE liners do but I have never found them difficult to apply. Both liners have great longevity on me and if I had to choose I do prefer the sturdier MAC liners. I feel like I have even more control and find it easier to be precise with them on my thinner lips. But since I do not have to choose and gladly enjoy both brands and the shades they offer.
Swatches of the Enhance and Define Lip Pencils by Lisa Eldridge 
Lisa Eldridge Enhance and Define Lip Pencils My most used liner by Lisa Eldridge is Muse and it is because it is my oldest. You can even see that the packaging is shinier than the rest of the pencils. I purchased it as part of a Muse-set and thought it would be a great neutral lip liner for me. In truth it is just ok. Muse as a shade of liner is a tad too light and peachy for my taste. When I compare swatches of the Velvet Muse lipstick side by side with the liner, the liner is visibly warmer in tone and the lipstick is more rosy. I prefer to wear Velvet Muse without a liner anyway so I will not repurchase the Muse liner when it goes off. I hope Lisa creates a neutral to cool mid brown liner in the future that I can use as my base line for ‘my lips but better’ looks but until then I manage just fine without. Affair and Sorcery are also too warm for me. The Velvet Affair lipstick was a poor purchase on my part but I love the Velvet Sorcery lipstick, but the Sorcery liner is not a winner. The same is true for Sorcery as with Muse, the liner is warmer than the lipstick. And for me that is not great. All of the other liner shades works great for me with their respective lipstick and I use them in conjunction with those shades mainly. Blush is a shade that I also enjoy using to push shades that feel too warm in a cooler direction. But alas, I am a sparse liner wearer and I am sure these liners are capable of more than I currently use them for. But they are fairly new and I look forward to flexing their abilities in the coming years.
I hope this post was helpful and that it aided someone in their decision to buy or not to buy any of these liners.
Thanks for reading!
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A Makeup Audit Tale: lip products part 3
I did a massive two part clear out of my lip products right when I started my audit project in 2019 (you can find part 1 here and part 2 here). Mainly old items that had expired but also shades I knew I did not love. The collectors mentality that I was affected by before is now replaced with the desire to have a lipstick wardrobe of a size that gives me options to chose from but is small enough so that I can wear them all regularly.
I started the audit with 84 lip colour products in October 2019 and ended up with with a total collection of 34 items a month later. Those 13 lipsticks, five lip crayons, seven liquid lipsticks and nine lip pencils were then worn from November 2019 up until May 2020, a month when I started adding some new shades. Since then I have splurged on oh so many Lisa Eldridge lip products. I’ve bought a large selection of her lipsticks/liners divided on several different launches. I’ve also bought or otherwise acquired some fun lip shades from H&M Beauty, La Bouche Rouge, Illamasqua, Surratt, Byredo, MAC and Chanel. Right now I’m at 13 liners, three lipglosses, two crayons and 54 lipsticks. Those shades, that I have and use today, are mainly made up of the new acquirements. It is an baffling amount and think I am at the limit of what I prefer to own.
This post will be my last instalment of the lip part of my makeup audit project. It includes shades that I stopped using for one reason or another between my latest declutter in 2019 up until the end of 2022. It will also include some lip products bought after I started my audit project since I am not immune to making bad purchases despite being a bit wiser.
I must confess that I normally use a lip product until it goes off. But this time I went mainly on age. Most of these items were very old but still in use since they smelled and looked just fine despite their age. The Revlon matte crayons were from 2014 and the Chanel lipsticks were from 2016 and none of those have shown signs of going off (still to this day) but I was becoming uncomfortable using them any longer. A few of the oldest lip products – some of the liners from MAC – started to smell a bit off and that was my cue to take a hard look on the older items.
In todays post I will go through each item that I’m letting go of accompanied by a little note on our time together.
Pillow Talk, Goldstone, Garden Party, Sultry, L’Exubérante 
Lip Cheat in Pillow Talk by Charlotte Tilbury The Pillow Talk liner was purchased in the Charlotte Tilbury shop in Covent Garden in early 2017. The shade was very hyped at that moment and I was interested partly because of that. I wore it for a while and liked it just fine but as the years passed I felt it was too light for me. I simply did not enjoy wearing it. But I kept it anyway and then it went off last year. This is not a shade I would consider buying again but I have nothing against the formula of the Lip Cheat so another shade might be in my future. Who knows?
Fantastick in Goldstone by LH Cosmetics This product and shade was a favourite for a few years and I used it up. I did repurchase another one in 2020 but that turned out to be a mistake. I did not enjoy the shade as much as I did before and stopped reaching for it over time. A tad too glossy for my taste nowadays.
Lip Colour-to-go in Garden Party by H&M Beauty This pink shade is another well loved item that I have just stopped enjoying wearing. I have nearly used it up but now I find this fruity pink to be a bit too glossy for my liking. I do have a brown shade in this formula that I still adore using called When In Rome.
Colourburst Matte Balm in Sultry by Revlon The matte crayons were picked up abroad in 2014. Sultry was a great shade and I have used it a lot over the years. These are not available anymore or else I might consider repurchasing some shades.
Rouge Allure Velvet in L’Exubérante (37) by Chanel This one is possibly from 2016-2017 but I do not remember. It could be older. I have worn this sparingly and if I want to wear a pink this popping I tend to prefer Skyscraper Rose by Lisa Eldridge. I checked the Chanel website and this specific shade is no longer available.
Redd, Striking, Cherry, Rouge Feu, Besos, 01 
Lip pencil in Redd by MAC Cosmetics Redd is my oldest and therefore most worn lip pencil. It predates 2014 that is for sure. A great pencil in a great shade. I would consider repurchasing in the future. I tried replacing Redd with the Morning liner from Lisa Eldridge, but they are not dupes.
Colorburst Matte Balm in Striking by Revlon This picture does not do this magnificent colour justice. It is a stunning soft and light red shade and the pigmentation was perfection. I believed the product to be discontinued but a quick google showed this shade as available on a few sites. However Revlon does not show the Colorburst Matte Balms on their official website at all anymore so I’m a bit sceptic that it might be older stock still in circulation. If it was a permanent item I would repurchase.
Lip liner in Cherry by MAC Cosmetics Cherry is Redd’s cooler counterpart. It’s old but not as old as Redd. I’ve worn it quite a lot and I have nothing bad to say about this pencil. I do have a few cooler red pencils by Lisa Eldridge now that fills the purpose that Cherry did before, despite not being colour dupes.
Rouge Allure Velvet in Rouge Feu (57) by Chanel This lipstick is from 2016 and I have worn it so much the past few years. I retired it due to old age but it still smelled and looked just fine when I put it away as well as when I put it on for this photo. Ever since I’ve retired it, maybe a year ago, I’ve been thinking about repurchasing this specific shade again. And in the end of June I picked it up when I visited Gothenburg. Ever since I misplaced my Velvet Morning lipstick (Lisa Eldridge) I felt like I was missing a bright warmer red and now I am reunited with Rouge Feu.
Cream lipstick in Besos by H&M Beauty This lipstick was purchased alongside several others from the same brand in November 2021. After wearing it a few times I knew I had made a bad choice. I do not love a red in this creamy pigmented formula. The colour is nice but it is too glossy.
Cream Lip Stain in 01 by Sephora This liquid lipstick is from 2017 and I have gotten a lot of wear out of it over the years. It is a stunning red shade and a good formula that is quite easy to apply. I’m content being without a liquid lipstick at the moment so I do not see myself repurchasing anytime soon. But Lisa Eldridge just released her version called Velveteens and that might be a more fun option to try if I get the urge for a liquid lip in the future.
Rouge Vie, 17, Brick, Curtain Call, Rouge Audace, 27 
Rouge Allure Velvet in Rouge Vie (58) by Chanel I adore Rouge Vie and this is one, like Rouge Feu, that I recently opted to repurchase because I missed it and it was still available. This soft muted red is very versatile either blotted down or worn full on and I have used it a lot over the years, especially since I started my audit project and had a smaller lip arsenal for a while.
Cream Lip Stain in 17 by Sephora I’ve loved wearing this shade of the lip stain and especially as a blotted stain with blurred edges rather than full on as applied in this picture. Great shade over all and I would have loved it as a normal lipstick. However since I repurchased Rouge Vie I think the slot has been filled even though they are not exactly the same.
Lip liner in Brick by MAC Cosmetics Brick is a great colour and I have nothing like it at the moment. But I am unsure if I need a liner in this colour. Only time will tell. If I feel like I am missing a shade like this in the future I would definitely consider repurchasing Brick.
Lip Colour-to-go in Curtain Call by H&M Beauty This one was a really bad performer and I only wore it two times after buying it in November 2021. It was so dry and applied so patchy. Not all of the matte crayons are bad though. I own a orange red one from the same brand called Hot-Blooded that is creamy and applies nicely. But Curtain Call was a dud and formula inconsistencies does make me wary to try more shades in this formula from H&M Beauty.
Rouge Allure Velvet in Rouge Audace (59) by Chanel Rouge Audace, sweet Rouge Audace. How I wish I could replace you! This is the third and final Chanel lipstick from 2016 and this one is sadly not part of the permanent collection. Chanel recently (?) did a shade extension of the Rouge Allure Velvet formula but unfortunately Rouge Audace was not a part of it. This darker brown red was oh so beautiful to create looks with and it will be missed.
Cream Lip Stain in 27 by Sephora 27 is another liquid lipstick that I would love to own in a regular matte lipstick formula. I remember trying to replace it when I bought Worship Her by Byredo in November 2021 but the effect is not the same. But now I feel like I have enough dark lipsticks that I have no need to continue searching for a replacement for this specific shade.
Beet, Fiery, Burgundy, Nightmoth, 103, 104, 29 
Lip liner in Beet by MAC Cosmetics This liner is of unknown age but old for sure. The colour is pretty but I feel like I have enough cool red lip liners (Ribbon and Duchess) from Lisa Eldridge and feel well equipped in that department.
Colorburst Matte Balm in Fiery by Revlon Another lip shade I sort of wish I could replace. Gorgeous and so comfortable on the lips. But I have other berry shades I can wear instead so the urge is not super prominent. As with Striking, this was from 2016 and I am letting it go due to age only.
Lip liner in Burgundy by MAC Cosmetics Burgundy is a liner that I picked up in 2014. Looking at this picture makes me realise what a great colour this is for me. I will most likely repurchase this one in the near future since I have nothing like it at the moment I I think I will get great use out if it if I have it.
Lip liner in Nightmoth by MAC Cosmetics Nightmoth is a liner that I recently have repurchased. I just found it very useful for darker and more dramatic lip looks and missed it when this first one was deemed too old.
Cream Lip Stain in 103 by Sephora 
Cream Lip Stain in 104 by Sephora 
Cream Lip Stain in 29 by Sephora These pictures does not do the shades justice since they were the last ones to be worn after removing all of the other lip swatches. My makeup in the mouth area was pretty beat up at this point and the rest of the face was barely hanging in there as well. With dramatic colours such as these I would also had preferred to wear a base that evened out my skin tone even more, to make the colours stand out in a better way. But alas, here were are. I am going to talk about these together since I bought them at the same time in mid 2018 and they occupy the same place in my mind. These were my ‘fun shades’ and I wore them on and off when I wanted something a bit off key. But these past few years they have been mainly untouched and the last time I wore one of them I just felt like they had played their part but it was time to let them go. I will not miss them but who knows what the future holds?
So these 24 lip products are out and three of them have been repurchased. My oldest lip products still in use at this point are two pink lipsticks from Lisa Eldridge and three Powder Kiss lipsticks by MAC that I picked up in the first half of 2019. I feel very happy that this part of the audit is complete. Removing really old stuff and duds is very satisfying. I’m now going to continue to use the beautiful lip products of varying age that I still own until they too are too old to continue using. I might add a shade here or there but I have a very vast and solid arsenal at this point and I love it.
Thank you for reading!
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A Makeup Audit Tale: lip products part 2
In the first part of my lipstick audit I let go of a total of 27 products. Most of them had expired but a some were let go because they did not tickle my fancy anymore. Part 2 took place only a few weeks later in the end of October 2019, a lot sooner than I had initially anticipated. Somehow the audit mentality took over and I started evaluating the products I wore and owned with new eyes.
None of these shades had gone off at the time but they were older, many of them as much as 5-6 years old. I bit too much age for a lipstick. Let’s have a look at the discards…
Revlon – Candy Apple
Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Candy Apple (035) was nice but I did not gravitate towards the glossy finish anymore. It always felt like I had too much texture on my lips.
Revlon – Romantic
Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Romantic (045) is a similar situation as with Candy Apple. I’ve worn it a lot over the years but I was simply not attracted to the formula anymore.
Revlon – Crush
Another Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain, this time in Crush (005). Another one I never reached for anymore.
Revlon – Rasberry Pie
Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Rasberry Pie (010) is a shade I would have preferred to be matte.
MAC – Red Balloon
This Amplified lipstick in Red Balloon was from the 2014 Playland Collection by MAC. Pretty shade but I rarely reached for it. Not sure why.
MAC – Heavenly Hybrid
MAC Lustre lipstick in Heavenly Hybrid was part of the Fantasy of Flowers collection in 2014. Pretty shade but I never reached for it.
MAC – Après Chic
MAC Cremesheen lipstick in Après Chic is one of those shades I wish I could replace. Not sure I have the right to complain though, because I never did use it as much as it deserved to be used. I simply had too many lipsticks and it got lost in the masses. But this was an amazing shade on me and I wish I still had it. But it was from 2012, so…
MAC – Eden Rouge
Eden Rouge is in the Mattene formula (MAC) and this specific shade has been worn a LOT. Bought in 2012 and served as my go-to red for many years. Looking at it now I feel it is a bit too shiny for my liking but the shade is lovely.
MAC – Charmed I’m Sure
Charmed I’m Sure is in the Matte formula by MAC, from the 2012 Marilyn Monroe collection. A stunning pink red that should have been used more than I did.
MAC – Love Goddess
From the same Marilyn Monroe collection we have Love Goddess, a satin lipstick. This hot pink is very flattering but a tad too glossy for my current liking.
MAC – All Out Gorgeous
Sorry for the blurry photo, but it will have to do. All Out Gorgeous is in the Mineralize Rich formula and it’s also too shiny for me. Another shade I would much prefer as a matte.
MAC – Absolute Power
Absolute Power is a matte shade from the 2013 Strength Collection by MAC. A beautiful muted red.
MAC – Pure Heroine
Pure Heroine was a collaboration between the singer Lorde and MAC in 2014. It’s a dramatic dark purple in the amplified formula. It was not a wise purchase for sure. It is one of those shades where I have very limited use of it and it tends to be forgotten altogether.
After settling on these older lipsticks I decided to go through some of the less old lip items I never or hardly wear for one reason or another. Since I have no feelings for them whatsoever I went for simple arm swatches.
The chosen ones were three lip liners by MAC (Embrace, Ablaze and Heroine) and six of the Sephora Cream Lip Stains I had inherited by a friend (21, 23, 24, 26, 25 and 18). So to conclude the second and final part of my lipstick audit a total of 13 lipsticks, three lip liners and six liquid lipsticks exited my life.
I started the audit with 84 lip colour products in October 2019 and ended up with with a total collection of 34 items a month later. 13 lipsticks, five lip crayons, seven liquid lipsticks and nine lip pencils.
Below you can see a note I made including paper swatches of what I ended up with after the audit. It gave me a nice overview of the shades compared to each other and how the total shade range looks.
One of the largest categories remaining were what I called neutral shades including fleshy pinks and browns. This type of lipstick gets a lot of wear time so I do not mind having this many options.
The reds were suddenly a small part of my collection and lacking I might add. I love red lipsticks and going into December (partaking in #redlipsdecember on Instagram) with only three red lipsticks and three red lip liners was interesting. But it was a fun experiment to only use this lot for a while to see how I fared. I knew I wanted to add some new red shades to my collection but I was not about to purchase anything new this early on in my auditing project.
Rusty shades was a lovely little bunch that I looked forward to using a lot. They sort of compensated for the fact that I suddenly had so few true reds.
Bright pinks, berries and plums were put in the same category even though they vary so vastly in shade and potential. I use berry and plum shades more often than bright pinks but I’m making an effort to choose those bright shades more often.
Finally we have the category that I want to keep this small moving forward. The fun and a bit weird shades that I enjoy but only wear on certain occasions or with very specific looks. These three liquid lip shades are just that, fun. I enjoy them and see no point in discarding them until they go off, but I will refrain from buying any additions to this category until they do.
So the products in the paper swatches are the shades I’ve worn since November 2019 up until May 2020 when I finally added some new shades. But that is a story for another day…
Thank you for reading!
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A Makeup Audit Tale: lip products part 1
This is not my first major clear-out of lip products. A few years back I got rid of quite a lot of lip products, mainly items that were poor purchases and a few expired ones. So when I started my audit I felt I had a reasonable amount. If you call 84 lip items reasonable. But the majority were of old age (hey there MAC lipsticks) and many had gone off so it was definitely time to do a serious clear-out. I went on and completed an initial cull of my lip products at the same time as I started my audit process in October 2019. This post, albeit being quite tardy, will be a retelling of what my thoughts were then and they are accompanied by some more recent pictures.
The lineup at the start of this lip audit consisted of 50 lipsticks and crayons, 17 liquid lipsticks, 12 lip pencils and three lip glosses. If I just look at the number itself it feels like a staggering amount. But I will refrain from having a specific number in mind for my future lipstick collection, after the audit is over. I want to own a variety of colours and finishes that are fun to wear. Using them is key.
I must confess – over the years I’ve been a moderate lipstick wearer. In my mind anyway. Eyeshadow is my main beauty passion and even though I love a nice lip, most days I forget to put anything on. A more edited shade range will most likely suit me better.
The audit consisted of two steps. Firstly, I picked out products that had gone off and secondly I took out additional items that I do not currently enjoy wearing for one reason or another. This first round cleared out a total of 27 products. Four liquid lipsticks, 21 lipsticks/crayons, all of my three lip glosses and two lip liners. Let’s have a closer look at the items that are exiting my collection (all but the lip liners). Lets start with the items that have expired.
MAC – Glamourdaze
Glamourdaze is an amazing shade that I wish I could replace but can’t because it was limited edition (damn you MAC and your LE shades!). Truth be told I did not wear it too often because I had other shades doing the same job and the lipstick got lost in the masses. Something to have in mind for the future.
Illamasqua – Magnestism
Magnetism is a nice shade but the formula is too dry for me. I’ve almost never worn it and have no feelings for it at all. So letting it go was easy.
Illamasqua – Vampette
Vampette was part of a bundle of products I purchased on a whim a while back. I have no relation to this product either and it has gone off without being used at all really. Glad to see it go.
MAC – Mystical
Mystical is a product I’m really sad to let go. It has been used a lot, the packaging was stunning (google Alluring Aquatics if you’re interested) and my sister even wore it to her wedding. I love this shade on me and enjoyed this specific formula (Cremesheen by MAC) and would definitely buy it again if I could. But this is yet another limited edition shade and I’m not happy about it. I’m starting to have an aversion against limited edition products in general and one thing I’ve realized during this process is that I want to stay clear from purchasing limited edition cream products in the future. The longevity is limited and If I enjoy (love) a shade, like Mystical, I would want to have the ability to repurchase when the product runs out or goes off.
MAC – Lush Life
I would have loved to keep on using Lush Life since I really like the shade but I’m no overly keen on the glossy formula (Mineralize Rich by MAC). If I will replace this shade’s function in my lipstick wardrobe I will look for a similar shade in another finish.
MAC – Firm Form
I remember being really excited to own Firm Form – a very rare shade at the time. As one might guess, I’ve not worn it much. A few times here and there. Moving forward, special shades like this are not banned in any way but I will keep them to a minimum.
MAC – Runaway Red
MAC – Russian Red
MAC – Ruby Woo
I’ve really enjoyed wearing Runaway Red, Russian Red and Ruby Woo, they have served me well. Losing them has made a big dent in my red lipstick arsenal.
MAC – Dramatic Encounter
Dramatic Encounter is another stunning shade and I enjoy having something like it in my collection. Yet another limited edition shade I wish I could replace.
MAC – Diva
Same with Diva as with Dramatic Encounter, but this shade is a permanent shade so I could replace this. I will consider it or a similar shade from another brand in the future.
So that was all the lip products that had expired, eleven in total, and many of them I regret having to let go of. Moving on to the products that I feel ready to part with for one reason or another…
Charlotte Tilbury – Blondie
First up we have a lip gloss by Charlotte Tilbury, Blondie. I was swept away at the CT store and purchased it against my better judgement, partly because the MUA insisted it was perfect for me. It would look great on my thinner lips, she said. In my soul I was not convinced but I bought it anyway. Swept away, remember? But to be honest, I do not care for this pale shimmering gloss. It’s not a look I enjoy and I could not care less if it makes my lips look less thin. Besides the shade the gloss has a nice and balmy texture, a discrete smell and the packaging is lovely.
Fenty Beauty – Fenty Glow
The gloss bomb in Fenty Glow is a really lovely colour but there are several factors that keeps me from using it. For one, I do not enjoy the scent. The applicator is too large for me and it always distributes too much product on my lips. I’ve worn it on enough occasions to be very clear in my opinion that I do not want to keep it.
H&M Beauty – Pink Sugar
This holo lip loss by H&M was a poorly executed purchase on my part. I thought it looked fun in the tube and since it was a limited edition item I bought it. I do not even like lip gloss all that much, so my reasoning is very questionable. I’ve worn it once as an effect topper but disliked the strong pink effect and the prominent shimmer particles.
Revlon – Peach Parfait
The Revlon Colorburst Lip Butters were a firm favourite for a few years and I used to stock up on varying shades when visiting the US. Peach Parfait was one of my most used shades and I believe that this is my second one. But I do not enjoy wearing it anymore. The gold shimmer looks weird and of course the lipstick itself is old.
H&M Beauty – Saudade
Saudade is a lip crayon dubbed Lip Colour-to-go by H&M and is a more recent purchase. I bought three shades maybe a year ago (but who really knows when?) and this specific shade has been worn the least. It looks fine in this picture but I do not enjoy this cool mauve on me. It’s a quite glossy crayon and the result is too shiny on the lips for me feel comfortable in it.
Revlon – Lollipop
Lollipop is another Revlon lip butter and I think it’s too bright and too glossy for my liking.
MAC – Peach Blossom
Peach Blossom is in the Cremesheen formula by MAC and at some point I enjoyed having this. But I must confess that light beige pinks are not my jam, if it ever was, so this has to go.
MAC – Dish It Up
I quite enjoy Dish It Up but it is too similar to another lipstick I have from MAC, Heavenly Hybrid , and that shade suits me even better.
Revlon – Enticing
Enticing is a Colorburst Laquer Balm and I have worn this quite a lot over the years. But I feel that I am a bit over the laquer look and its tiny glitter particles. I love the colour but the finish is not exciting enough to keep anymore.
MAC – Everyday Diva
Everyday Diva is a Mineralize Rich lipstick by MAC. A nice shade but I do not enjoy this perky red in this specific formula. It’s too shiny and slippy.
Chanel – La Raffinée
La Raffinée is in the Rouge Allure Velvet formula and in this picture it looks great. But whenever I wear it it’s just a bit too pink in a way I do not enjoy. It has a whiter base than I prefer.
KvD – Outlaw
Outlaw by KvD is a pretty bright red liquid lipstick but I already have another shade from another brand (Sephora) that I use more often, and their function occupy the same space.
Sephora – 01
Sephora Cream Lip Stain is a product I own quite a few shades from. I inherited a bunch of unused shades from a friend and some I’ve bought. This shade is 01 and it’s a lovely bright red. This particular product is a mini and I do not need it since I own the full size product in the same shade.
Sephora – 35
This purple shade is another Sephora Creme Lip Stain. It’s fun but not a wearable shade for me and I think it’s time to let it go. I cannot even remember wearing it.
MAC – Dance With Me
Dance With Me is another liquid lipstick, a retro Matte Liquid Lipcolor by MAC. I received this as a gift with purchase once and I’ve worn it once or twice. The colour is nice but the coverage is patchy and I just never reach for it.
Some final thoughts after completing this first lipstick audit. I’m glad to be getting rid of this many products, even if some were by force. I think it’s the end result on the horizon that excites me. A future, more edited, collection curated by me. A fresh start. But I shall not forget that I also enjoy variety. A staple lipstick wardrobe is a nice thought but it does not have to be small. My aim is to use each shade regularly and for them to be cherished. Special occasion and weird shades are ok to have but not too many (like a dark blue lipstick and the like).
The next part of my lip audit is already completed as I write this post, a further culling after wearing my remaining lip products for a while and evaluating them in action. I’ve also decided to refrain from purchasing any new shades until I’m further into my audit. But that will be a post for another day!
Thanks for reading!
Sofia