Flower Beauty Fridays #4 // Kiss Stick Velvet Lip Color

Lipsticks are like pieces of chocolate: nobody stops at just one.

A few years ago, my coworker (signature shade: NARS Cruella) convinced me that red lipstick would change my life. Up until that point I had only dared to wear anything that resembled my own natural lip color. I thought it couldn't hurt to heed her advice and get just one red lipstick to round out my collection. One tube of Make Up Forever Moulin Rouge later and my life was indeed changed...as if I needed another collection, I became a woman possessed with lipsticks. Mattes and satins and stains, oh my. If I could wear red, there weren't many colors I wouldn't dare to wear anymore. The reds collection alone, unable to be housed with my burgeoning array of lipsticks, has to be housed separately on top of my vanity. And each one is special. Among those overflowing drawers are the Flower Beauty Kiss Stick Velvet Lip Colors.

Housed in white and rose gold, these lipsticks tick the first box on a lipstick lover's list: packaging. True to the brand's promise of delivering a luxury feel at a Wal-Mart price point, the packaging of Flower Beauty's lipsticks feel both substantial and luxurious, much like the product it houses. The wear time of the product is on par with any department store brand, as is the color it delivers. Each shade is heavily pigmented and is as true-to-color on your lips as it is in the tube.

I have 3 shades: Get to the Poinsettia (an orangey red), Petal Kiss (a dusty mauve), and Tender Tuberose (a dark mauve). With a collection as vast as mine (said with a hint of shame) one is bound to find a lipstick "dupe": that awkward moment when you discover that you have purchased the same shade of lipstick but from different brands. Indeed finish, price, and quality can vary with dupes, but I daresay that Flower's Get to the Poinsettia gives MAC Lady Danger a run for her $16 price point. In the picture below, I am wearing Flower on one side of my lips, and MAC on the other. After a few hours of wear my $7 lipstick holds up just as strong as my $16 lipstick, to say nothing of the similarity in shade.

Get to the Poinsettia/Lady Danger

Tender Tuberose

Petal Kiss

At this point having tried everything from Dior to E.L.F., it's fair to say I know a good lipstick when I wear one. With as many choices as we have available to us in this day in age, it's not just about the color anymore. It's about the finish, the longevity, the packaging, the price, and above all it's about how we feel when we wear it. We turn to lipstick when we want to look as polished as possible. There is a glamorous feeling that lipstick brings, from the way its shiny packaging looks in our hands to the way it brightens up our face from the inside out. Lipstick is queen of the makeup bag. And while it can be a treat to have a Chanel or a Tom Ford, nobody can stop at just one tube. Brands like Flower narrow the gap between drugstore and luxury lipsticks, ensuring that the magic of lipstick is an affordable experience that we can collect in every shade.

Flower Beauty Kiss Stick Velvet Lip Colors - $6.98

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Flower Beauty Fridays #1 // Lip Service Lip Butters

When there is a new beauty product or brand release, makeup junkies are more determined than Black Friday shoppers. We'll be the first in line, sign up for text alerts (who, ME?), and call stores frantically to try to put items on hold. Of course we stalk the items online, but nothing beats having the items in your hot little hands to see their true colors and get your fix.

When Flower Beauty premiered in Wal-Mart stores last year, my addiction kicked into high gear. I checked their online system to make sure the items were in stock. With my shopping list in hand, I headed to my local store on release day ready to elbow my way to the display before it got picked over. But when I got there, I discovered that there was nothing there to be picked over; they hadn't even put the items out on the floor yet. I had braved the retail jungle that is Wal-Mart all for not.

It took a few disappointing trips to the store before I could finally get my hands on the items, and the "Lip Service" lip butters were some of the first items I picked up. Most every brand now has a lip "butter" type of product. A genius little product that combines the color of a lipstick with the convenience of a lip balm, these hybrid lippies are the perfect thing to throw in your bag for everyday wear. While they can easily be worn dressed up, their low maintenance appeal makes them perfect for last-minute hurried applications. Their sheer colors are mistake-proof (you hardly need a mirror to apply them) and they are as easy to apply as they are to wear. 

If you're looking to gain confidence in wearing more daring colors (or just looking to get your lipstick-wearing wings) this type of product is a great stepping stone. Lip butters are great for beginners and makeup aficionados alike. Similar to their 2-in-1 balm+lipstick formula, they tend to be 2-shades-in-1 as well because they are buildable. A quick swipe of the product will give off a light, balmy color. Slather that butter on like a fallen Food Network chef, and it becomes more lipstick-like in color. The adjustability allows you to add as little or as much color as you're comfortable with. Further, this ensures that all of the colors in the shade range will look good on a variety of skin tones. 

I have 2 shades, Sheer Snapdragon and Wispy Wisteria. I chose the shockingly pink Wisteria shade to break out of my neutral comfort zone and add some color to my face. With a light application it imparts a soft red-pink glow. Apply the product heavily, and you will build up its intensity to a brighter magenta. Sheer Snapdragon is a more neutral choice. Though it's a "safe" choice, it's anything but boring. A perfect shade for everyday wear, it is a browny-peach shade with a hint of pink. Despite its light brown pull, it never translates dull or orange. This shade is at once timeless and perfect for any season.

Sheer Snapdragon

For a lip butter product, the wear time is surprisingly long. I wore Wisteria through the seventh circle of hell airport earlier this week and was pleasantly surprised to see it last several hours into my trip. With a sheer product such as this, I fully expect to reapply frequently. That it performs more like a lipstick in terms of wear time is a bonus.

Wispy Wisteria

I have one minor complaint about this product: the packaging. I find it to be housed in bulkier packaging than is necessary (though it's beautiful). Aesthetics aside, the real issue with the packaging is that the caps do not stay put, which is a shame for an item that I like to throw in my bag on the go. The birthday gods were watching over my brand spanking new Rebecca Minkoff purse last week. Forgetting just how loose the caps could be, I threw the product into my new handbag, only to later find the cap dislodged and floating around my bag. Amazingly, the bag's lining escaped unscathed. I would not have been pleased with Sheer Snapdragon smeared all over the inside. This problem was the topic of discussion on a recent Flower Beauty Instagram post, so I will be interested to see if they implement the feedback they took into consideration in the future.

In all, I find Flower's lip butters to be the most underrated of the lip butter corner of the market. While most consumers are scrambling for the Revlon Lip Butters or Maybelline Color Whispers, the Flower Lip Service lip butters have gone virtually unnoticed in comparison. While the shade range might not be as extensive as that of other brands, the shades available are beautiful colors that people will want to wear. This, combined with their relatively long wear time makes this product worth looking into if you're in the market for an easy-to-wear lip product.

Flower Lip Service Lip Butter - $6.98
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Mercier Mondays #5 // Laura Mercier Sheer Lip Color

Today is the final installment of my Mercier Mondays series. Most of the series focused on tried-and-true products that are the backbone of my makeup bag. Foundations and powders are the necessary building blocks to our looks, but color is what takes it to the next level. Color cosmetics are what make me go from makeup "enthusiast" to makeup "hoarder."

Makeup hoarding is my little dark secret. Eyeshadow palettes stack aplenty in my collection, and my lipstick drawer won't shut without creative shuffling. We all have something that makes our eyes light up like Gollum holding the ring, and my lifelines lie with eye and lip products. I simply cannot "collect them all!" fast enough.

Like any good makeup hoarder, there is a methodical catalog in my brain that keeps stock of my treasures. I have my go-to lipstick shades, but what hooks me into buying just one more tube, even if I already have a similar color, is when I hear a celebrity whose style I covet divulging their favorite products and shades. One such product was Laura Mercier's Sheer Lip Color in the color Baby Lips, which is one of the shades used on Christina Hendricks on the set of the hit show Mad Men. In a recent post by Allure magazine, Mad Men's makeup artist, Lana Horochowski, revealed the shades she uses to make Christina turn into Joan: "More than anything, I get asked about Joan's red lipstick. But the thing is, she almost never wears red! She normally wears a pale pink, like Laura Mercier Baby Lips or MAC Fanfare. Christina Hendricks's lips are just naturally vibrant." (Mad Men Beauty: Five Surprises We Learned From Makeup Artist Lana Horochowski)

Laura Mercier's site describes Baby Lips as a "sheer-warm-pink". It does impart a soft, natural flush to the lips as sheer lipsticks are wont to do, but the color can be built up. By using a heavier hand, it increases the intensity of the warmth of the pink as well as plays up the hint of peachy-coral that lies dormant in the shade until applied heavily. Worn sheer or intensely, it's a beautiful, feminine shade that is appropriate for any occasion. (After all, Joan wore it to work!)

Mad Men wasn't the catalyst in me coveting 1960s fashion, but it certainly fanned the flames of my already existing obsession. The show's fashion and makeup crew meticulously research the looks of the decade to bring us an historically accurate portrayal of how men and women presented themselves in the workplace. I garner much inspiration from the show, but the 60s influenced my personal style long before Mad Men made it cool again. On the rare occasion that I dress for modern times, this shade of lipstick is my secret way of feeling groovy and channeling my inner Joan Harris.

Do I own more cosmetics than any one woman deserves or could use in a lifetime? Probably. But if I had to choose just one brand of cosmetics for the rest of my life, it would be Laura Mercier.  I find the quality to be unrivaled, especially where foundations are concerned, and the color selection is at once impeccable and sophisticated. There are products from other brands that I enjoy, and I don't mind the occasional cheap thrill from the drugstore. But when I want my makeup to create the perfect canvas and perform the way I'm now accustomed to, I turn to the brand that has gained my loyalty: Laura Mercier. 

Laura Mercier Sheer Lip Color - $23

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Back to Glam // When You Look Good, You Feel Good

One of my favorite brands is Laura Mercier. I heard about the brand and its products and techniques through a male makeup artist at my friend's wedding several years ago. (Hence my love of male makeup artists!) A few months later, I managed to scrap together some extra cash from my student job wages and headed to Macy's at Stanford Mall to try a few of the products. Between the excellent service I received that day and the quality of the products, I was hooked. While my love of beauty products knows no bounds, Laura Mercier is one of the staples in my makeup bag and a brand to which I remain loyal.

Something I admire about the company aside from its products is its mission to give back. The Laura Mercier Ovarian Cancer Fund was established to raise funds for awareness and research through the sale of a few select products on their website, and 100% of the proceeds from the sales of these designated products go directly to the fund. One of these products is the Bonne Minne Healthy Glow palette. This palette has been cited as a product that helps women struggling with the side effects of chemo to get their healthy glow back. Having lost someone in my age group to ovarian cancer, I am grateful to any person or company raising awareness for this particular disease.

While my health struggles are vastly different, what I can relate to -irrespective of ailment- is the search for normalcy in your day. Makeup and clothing bring me a sense of normalcy that disability can sometimes destroy. I've learned that it's OK to hang onto whatever brings you joy in the moment and whatever makes you feel good despite your daily challenges. I've detached the guilt I once felt about the joy that makeup brought me as there's no frivolity in taking care of yourself. Having a routine helps me cope with changes in my health, and putting on my makeup is part of that routine.

Recently, my mother entered a contest on Laura Mercier's Facebook page which put a call out for stories about inspirational women. My mother, never one to believe that contests odds are stacked in her favor, wrote about my health struggles and how I inspire her because of what I have been through (and mentioned that I have her hooked on the products as well). Much to our surprise, she won! Last week I received my treats.

I received a "stickgloss lip color" in the shade Brown Sugar. The site aptly describes the color as a "wearable-pink-brown". As sheer, yet buildable, as the coverage is, I would also say this dusty color leans a bit mauve-purple. This color and formula is exactly what I like to wear, and it's a perfect nude/my-lips-but-better shade. I also received a lip pencil in the shade Hazelnut Tea, which is described as a "neutral-beige-pink". While this looks to be an accurate description in the swatch below, on my lips it pulls very tan, so I'll have to play with this one a bit.

All in all, I am completely happy with the products I received. I am really touched that my mom nominated me, and that they chose me. What the company perhaps didn't know when they chose my mom's entry is what an inspiration she is to me. Not only has my mother been by my side for each and every health struggle, but she did so alone after my father's death when I was 7. My mother taught me how to be strong and independent, and I couldn't have become the woman she described if it weren't for her guidance.

Currently, this blog has only one other post about Laura Mercier products, and it was a deluxe sample that I did not enjoy. To rectify this situation and to properly convey my love for this brand, I will be blogging about a beloved Laura Mercier product each Monday in June. Hope to see you back here for "Mercier Mondays"!

I Love the 90s / MAC Dubonnet

I have waited (impatiently) through the Renaissance of 1980s styles today's youth find hip. I think it's in everyone's birthright to hate (whether or not they chose to) the decade of their birth. I find little charm in the 1980s and have found little I would like to resurrect from that time in terms of fashion and beauty. (All rights to anything Princess Diana reserved, of course.) Knowing the sequential laws of the universe, I have patiently waited my turn to bring back the 90s: that heroine chic-cK waif-babydoll T-and combat boots-time that I was never really waif enough (even as a 90 pound middle-schooler) to fully embrace but did anyway. And I'll embrace it all again. People Style recently heralded the inklings of its return with an article on combat boots. As I anxiously await the full blown return of grunge, I decided to jump the vamp lips trend this fall and winter. Enter MAC's Dubonnet.

Dubonnet is my first MAC lipstick. I know! Let's take that one step further and reveal that I bought it as a gift to myself for turning 30! Let's all take a moment to let that sink in! By the time I was able to afford to splurge on MAC, I was over the whole teal glitter up to my eyebrows thing. Frankly, I did very little club trolling in college anyway. I always wished I had the guts and the funds to wear those little peacock tinted loose pigments...but it never happened for me. So, it is with a sigh of ripe old age that I say how very little into MAC I am. I'm a seasoned cosmetic counter patron with very little patience for their ever-limited latest collections. The turnover is obnoxious. Downright slutty, if I may say so. But I am willing to be swayed by their permanent selection.
I've only been willing to wear bold lip colors within the past couple of years. My makeup wearing years went full-tilt in the nude- and frosty-lipped late 90s, but I always admired those gutsy enough to wear shades from the vampier side of the spectrum. Upon the urging of my previously mentioned friend, Manicure Maggie, whose signature shade is Nars Cruella, I dared to try red lipstick. As she predicted, it changed my life. It started with a classic red (Make-up Forever's Moulin Rouge), but before I knew it, I owned Revlon's Black Cherry. Then when I saw a favorite YouTuber of mine (essiebutton) wearing MAC Dubonnet, I had to have it.

I underestimated how much translucent hair I have on my face...

This bordeaux beauty is one of MAC's amplified creme shades. It gives bold, creamy color with a hint of shine. I pair this with their lip liner in Brick to prevent feathering and prolong its wear. I get a few hours of wear with this, but I don't mind reapplying product. As it's such a bold red, it wears off pretty evenly and fades into a stained look (which looks quite pretty).

It gets the dachshund sniff of approval.

Overall, I'm very, very happy with my first ever MAC lipstick. I am a changed woman because of red lipstick (I call it my whore of Babylon look) and, as is my nature, I appreciate anything that can make me feel like I've gone back in time! Taking vintage literally is my greatest skill.