Drugstore, department store, I love it all. I love how lipstick can immediately dress up your look. I love lip balms and lip stains that give a touch of color. Gloss me up, baby.
Y’all might know I’m a sucker for an indie beauty product. After I explored the world of indie scents, I got curious about indie lip products. What other goodies were out there for me to find?
Friends, I have some new favorites.
1. Fierce Magenta Lip Gloss in Luna Blue and Summer Love ($7.49)
A confession -– I rarely wear lip gloss. I am always snacking, touching my lips, getting my hair caught in my mouth or what have you. To wit, I am a messy-mouth, and I have always found gloss too high-maintenance. But when I saw the duochrome-effect shimmer lip glosses by Fierce Magenta, I just had to try them.
Duochrome has been a big trend in nail polish for a while, but what does it look like on the lips? I picked two shades: Luna Blue (a ghostly shimmery gloss with just a tinge of blue) and Summer Love (a peachy-pinky shimmer shade).
I madey flashy so you can see bluey.
Luna Blue is super subtle in regular lighting, but when its shimmer sparkles catch the light the gloss seems to cast an eerie, beautiful glow that reminded me of fish scales (in a nice way). I feel like Bjork would wear this, and my personal mantra is WHAT WOULD BJORK DO?
, so I’m just saying.
This just can’t be summer love…OR CAN IT?
Apart from the fact that I get a Justin Timberlake earworm every time I put Summer Love on my lips, it’s a very cool-looking and surprisingly versatile product. It has a thin consistency, so you can wear it as a regular gloss, as I am doing here, or you could just apply a little to the centre of your lips (with or without a pigmented lip product on underneath) to make your lips appear fuller. The thin consistency does make it a little tricky to apply out of the tube, though -– I used my fingers.
2. Fierce Magenta Lip Stain in Scarlett O’Hara ($7.00)
Just having a chat to the ceiling, pretty typical.
I have to admit I was super skeptical of this guy when I first put it on. There was no way a product so glossy and thin (which I don’t mean as an insult) would then ALSO reliably stain my lips. OOPS, SORRY, IT DOES. I was seriously convinced it would just wipe right off, but that didn’t happen. It reminds me of the YSL Rouge Pur Couture Glossy Stain, which, don’t get me wrong, I love that product forever, but this guy is like $10. So great.
3. Etherealle Vegan Mineral Lipstick in Hibiscus ($9.95)
I am a sexy adult human being with a doorknob and roots.
I fell in love with Etherealle’s vegan lipsticks before I’d even tried them. If you have a look at the brand’s swatches, and if you’re a fan of “my lips, but better” colors, you will probably need to do a little dance and then buy a gazillion of these. I couldn’t decide which one to try, either, so I opted for a five-shade sample pack. Note that if you do this, I found a lipstick brush the best way to apply the stuff; it’s set pretty hard in the sample tub and needs a bit of working into.
I love these lipsticks because they can go on quite sheer for a light wash of slightly glossy color, or you can build them up for a more typical lipstick-y look. Hibiscus, a dark coral, looked great both ways.
4. Black Widow Balm in Kiss of Death ($10)
I cannot tell you how many lip balms I have purchased and been SO disappointed with because they don’t work, they stop working, or they seem to make my lips drier (what’s with that?). Well, the Black Widow balm is officially my new favorite. Slightly pigmented, it leaves buildable but sheer color on your pout, and it’s MOISTURISING AS HELL. It smells like cinnamon and it’s just the best. It contains coconut oil, shea butter, sweet almond oil and all that good stuff, and the consistency is thin and nicely slippy. I LOVE THIS LIP BALM SO MUCH.
I really feel like I’ve only started with indie lip products. Do you have any favorites? Are there any I should try?
