making faces :: product review [estée lauder pure color lipsticks]

while i was out shopping the other day, i was given a sample by the lady at the estée lauder counter that caught me quite by surprise. it wasn't that i was taken so much by the product- i couldn't tell anything about it- but because the sample itself was so intricate and well-designed that i could immediately see that the company had spent a pretty penny (i always wondered what happened to the ugly pennies... but that's another story) creating this little card that they were handing out to women like me who stopped at their locations. someone at estée lauder wanted my attention.

what i received was a folded card with a plastic insert containing four little pots of lipstick and a mini lip brush to boot. it was quite adorable. all this was to announce the launch of a new  line of lipsticks- and a big launch too. lauder is launching a total of 35 new colours- 25 in their "pure color long lasting" lipstick (plus a few extra limited edition ones) and 10 more in their more sheer "pure color crystal" formula. all of this is being done under the auspices of creative director tom pecheux, who has taken on the challenge of reinventing the brand's image- taking it from the makeup of mothers and grandmothers to makeup for the young and successful that everyone wants to have.

REVIEW AND PHOTOS AFTER THE BREAK...



i'll say up front that i'm generally a fan of estée lauder. i get a kind of kick out of the fact that this high end brand with the snooty name was actually started by the daughter of hungarian jewish immigrants who owned a hardware store in queens. and i like the fact that the company took an early stand against animal testing, before european legislation started to force more companies into it. and of course, i do like the products i've tried from them thus far.

so i was quite happy to try out something new from them, particularly since i'm a real lipstick fiend. the colours in my sample card were all from the "long lasting color" collection, meaning they are more pigmented and less glossy than the "crystal" shades. just so you know, the shots were all taken at the same time of day, in natural light, with no flash. all were applied with the brush applicator supplied. and no making fun of my hair!!! i've been sick for three days and styling has not been a priority. makeup hasn't been a priority either, but i was dying for something to do...

shade #1 :: scarlet siren

this is a cream finish (meaning no shimmer or frost) in a statement cherry red. it's bright shade, but, as i was applying it, i did notice that a light coating made for a lovely "bitten" stain on the lips that a lot of people who might be shy to wear red would probably like. the lauder web site describes this as "medium classic flat red", but to my eye, the colour definitely leans blue. i think that someone with a warmer complexion could wear it, but it's better suited to those with cool undertones.

i'm a huge fan of reds and, of the shades i tried, this one was my favourite. it's not the most original- virtually every company has their own version of this shade (chanel's gabrielle or guerlain's greta come to mind), but i really like the fact that this is a red you could get away with wearing just about anywhere. even with a fairly intense application (what you see here is a few layers with a brush), it doesn't have that "traffic-stopping" brightness that some reds have.

i got dom's opinion on all the colours and this one was his favourite as well...

shade #2 :: blushing

this is another cream finish. its official description is "light to medium clean warm rose". say what? it is a tricky colour to describe, because it's pink, but it also has very warm notes to it. i liked it and i have to say that i was kind of surprised at how much i liked it. it reminded me of profusion, an old colour by mac that was discontinued a few years ago. it's a medium-dark pink with a warm orange undertone, a fine balance that would suit both cooler and warmer complexions, as well as both fair and darker skin. it's a sort of hybrid between a muted red and a deep pink, so i understand why the nice folks at e.l. had some troubles describing it.

one thing that i found was that it immediately seemed to pull the rosy tones in my complexion (couldn't quite capture this in the photo, but i could definitely see a difference), which was quite flattering. dom, however, didn't care for this one as much.



shade #3 :: candy


this shade, while not tremendously light, was the lightest of the four i sampled and also the only one with a shimmer finish. it's a medium-light, very cool pink with a fine white microshimmer that adds a sheen rather than traditional frostiness. it's not the sort of shade i turn to a lot, which is funny, because ladies with my complexion are probably the ones who can best get away with it. i'm not sure how well it would work on warmer or darker tones.

although it's not my kind of regular shade, i do have to say that i quite liked it on me. it brightened my natural lip colour and the sheen would catch the light in a very flattering way. i also liked the fact that the shimmer was not at all glittery or flaky, so there weren't bits of it strewn all over my face when i took it off. strange thing is, i was certain that this is the kind of colour i'd seen everywhere before, but i'll be damned if i could find an exact dupe. there are a couple of limited edition mac shades- bubblegum and pomposity- that come close, but both lean more lavender/ purple than this one. dior are generally the great purveyors of pink and they might have something similar. no promises though. it's a surprisingly difficult shade to match. (this was dom's least favourite of the four colours.)

shade #4 :: rose tea

the last of the four is another cream finish and the type of colour that really does seem to be everywhere. it's a rosewood shade, the kind of which became ubiquitous in the nineties, because it mimicked natural lip colour at a time when everyone wanted to look like they were serious, not the sort of frivolous person who wore makeup. i've tried many colours in this shade range and gotten rid of most of them because, personally, if i'm going to go through the trouble of putting makeup on, i'm not doing so to disguise the fact that i'm wearing makeup. i also find that it's the sort of colour that just instantly ages you, but that's just me.

now, that said, when you find the right sort of pink-brown shade, it can be incredibly flattering. (that's why i got rid of "most" but not "all" my collection of this type of shade.) and this one is a deep, rich, highly pigmented version of this colour. it leans more towards the pink side of the spectrum than brown, although that might vary slightly depending on the colour of one's lips. the level of pigmentation means that it could be built up even on darker lips and i do think it's one of those colours that can be worn almost universally.

although this was probably the colour i liked the least, it was dom's second favourite after scarlet siren. 

overall

the formula felt creamy and soft going on and, while i wouldn't call it moisturising, it certainly didn't dry my lips out any. (note on the photos- i have a cold, so my lips are dryer than usual.) once it was on, it didn't slip around any, which is a great relief for me, because i tend to pleat my lips a lot. i didn't use a lip liner with any of the colours and i don't think you'd have to, because there was certainly no feathering. the colour went on nice and even, which has been my experience with any e.l. lipsticks.

all the shades had the estée lauder "fig" scent, which i could smell clearly despite my impaired smell organ. all their lip products have this and personally, it doesn't remind me of figs at all, but that's what they call it. i'm not a fan of the scent, but happily it fades very quickly. i've never noticed a taste to any of their products.

the one area in which i would have to fault them is their claim of "long lasting" colour. once i'd finished taking the photos, i left "rose tea" on to see how it wore. i figured that, while it wasn't the brightest shade, it was deep enough to give an idea of how long the colour would hang on. i had a few sips from a glass of water, avoided pleating or touching my lips and still, within an hour and a half, the colour had faded to a pretty but faint stain. obviously, once i ate, it was gone entirely. we'll give them some leeway, in that the fact that my lips are dryer than usual probably makes them more prone to absorbing moisture, but even with that, they're a long way off a "long lasting" claim. i can get a few hours wear out of regular lipsticks.

this last point doesn't turn me off the product, but that's mostly because having to touch up my lipstick doesn't especially bother me. i figure that i'm going to ahve to go to the bathroom regularly, so it's not that difficult to touch up while i'm there. claims of a lip product lasting for hours have never really swayed me. if you are interested in a truly long-lasting lip colour, this isn't for you.

the colour offering, while on the conservative side, has something that's likely to appeal to everyone and some of the takes on popular colours are more original than they might look at first. so if reapplying doesn't bother you, these are definitely worth checking out.

pure colour lipsticks are $24usd/ $32cad each, available from www.esteelauder.com and at estée lauder counters. (hint to canadians: yes, the web site will ship to you.)

the lips have it

what is it about red lips? spicy vermilion, bold crimson or deep, mysterious blood reds, they have all held a fascination for both men and women for hundreds of years. even in the twenty-first century, with thousands of colours available for women (and adventurous men) to pick from, reds from across the spectrum remain a statement. in fact, many women still shy away from them out of fear of looking shocking. and, given the reactions that some receive, maybe they have reason.

guerlain rouge g in rouge sensuel

the association of red with audacity, energy, even danger is an ancient one. the greeks and romans identified their god of war with the planet mars- the red planet. of course, red is also the colour of blood, linking it to the force of life as well. and of course, if you are a christian, or are raised in any area where the culture is predominantly coloured by christianity, red is also the colour of apples, the sweet forbidden fruit, the seed of all temptation.

there is also the fact that red lips are actually completely unnatural. if we were trying simply to emphasise the mouth's natural beauty, there are a whole range of hues that would be appropriate, depending on skintone, from light pinks to rich browns to plummy shades, but never red. in fact, the origins of using red tint on the lips actually came from the fact that it was unnatural. in the middle ages, european aristocracy distinguished themselves from the rough folk who toiled in the fields by cultivating a pale complexion and eventually, to further add to this distinction, women began to tint their lips red. of course, this did not look natural, but that was its charm: those who looked natural were those who had to spend their lives working outside. an unnatural appearance was the privilege of those who had their choice of when and how to interact with the natural world.

chanel rouge lacque in dragon

of course, as time went on, cosmetics became more widely available and rouged cheeks and bright lips became the hallmarks of low women, while those of breeding were encouraged to be demure, to avoid appearing to seek attention. thus was another dimension added to the history of red lips: the woman who wore them was held in contempt, but at the same time inspired fear, being both independent (in the case of higher class mistresses, at least) and sexual.

by the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the cultural ideal of feminine beauty had shifted. in europe and north america, the church frowned on the use of cosmetics and the fresh-faced "gibson girl" became the new icon. at the same time, a new class of women, also independent and often sexualised, became known for their dark red lips- entertainers.

the reason for the use of red lipstick in the theatre and early cinema was practical rather than political- red lips showed well under theatre lights and a dark lip colour was necessary to make lips more visible on film. of course, along with the screen ingenues, who were generally lit so that their heavy makeup was less obvious, a new woman was introduced to the popular imaginary: the vamp. emobodied best by a midwestern girl born theodosia goodman, the vamp was the polar opposite of the gibson girl. her eyes were ringed with kohl, rather than proper restrictive clothing, she wore robes that flowed as freely as her dark spirit. and her lips were dark, as dark as blood. the term "vamp" was obviously coined from vampire (another popular icon of the late nineteenth century), the damned creature who fed off the blood of innocents. the cinematic vamp, by contrast, drained life from formerly upstanding men by sucking the spirit from them, the allegory reflected in those deadly blood-stained lips.

this is who your mother warned you about

this was a naive time of absolute good and evil, distinguished visually as well as morally, but that came crashing to an end with the first world war. in the wake of such unbelievable carnage, past standards seemed at best quaint, at worst psychotically mislead. and with the crash landing of colonial values came a general questioning of all that had been parceled with them. (as a side note, i've always thought that the first world war was actually far more interesting and more important than the second. i encourage people to read up.)

not the girl next door

with the 1920s, the flapper arrived. she was youthful, independent, a bit wild, brimming with energy, utterly modern. she was a vivacious combination of the ingenue and the vamp- feminine but able to keep up with (or lead) the boys. her hair was cropped short and her lithe figure was frequently clothed only in a small sheath. and she wore makeup. her eyes and lips were darkened. in this case, her dark lips were a symbol of that other kind of danger- rebellion. these were the daughters who refused to do as their mothers had done, who insisted on experience more and staking a place for themselves in the world.

mac kissable lip colour in love peck

in the last century, both the position of women and the cosmetics industry have advanced beyond what the women of the early twentieth century would have dreamed possible, and yet, when we see a red mouth, there is still something in us that feels that ruffle of excitement, that faint thrill that the wearer is bold, daring, sexy and possibly just a little dangerous. for all our advancements, it is still a challenge, smiling beguilingly at us with bold lips.

for a scintillating read about icons of femininity from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, i recommend bram dijkstra's evil sisters.

the lexicon of lipstick :: mac

i'll start off this post with a bit of an apology. when i ordered all the men from the room in my last post, i was being unfair to my own sweetie, who's very patient going shopping with me and, in fact, has an uncanny eye for spotting colours that work on me (better than my own sometimes). i guess there are some guys who figure that, if they're going to be looking at your lips a lot, there are certain things they'd like to see when they're looking. so if there are gentlemen who are interested in the subject, you are welcome here. but this is another lipstick post, so consider yourself warned.

in my post about some of my favourite (when i can afford them) lip treats, i did say that i'd left out the one brand that i have sworn by for years. everyone who knows me well knows that for me, mac is to makeup what fluevog is to shoes. i've been a loyal customer for years and, in that time, i've amassed a fair amount of knowledge about their admittedly complicated product range. in fact, i think it's because i've been a customer so long that i've been able to keep track of a lot of their developments. one of the benefits of being around when new products come out.

every company has different sorts of lipsticks- ones that are frosty or creamy or sheer- and those types are generally fairly easy to understand. but mac takes this to a sort of extreme that requires a lot of studying. it may seem like this is just a marketing device, but the fact is that each type has its own characteristics and those will determine whether you like what you get or not. the differentiating factors are colour intensity, moisture, finish and opacity.

so here is dr. kate's descriptions of everything that mac has to offer your lips. (well, there are a bunch of glosses too, that are probably even more complicated, but i really don't have that kind of energy.) all mac lipsticks are $17.50 regularly, although some in special packaging or limited collections can be more expensive. the finish names are given on the label on the bottom of the tube, along with the shade name.

matte :: i usually think of these as sort of old-fashioned, like the kind of lipsticks women would wear in films from the 40s, when the object was just to get colour as intense as you possibly could. these are about the best colour payoff you'll get and they stay put for hours, which is nice. the finish, as the name suggests, is completely flat, no shine at all, which i also think of as the way "original" lipstick probably looked.

the downside of these is that they're dry. dry like a desert. dry like dying of thirst. if your lips are a little dry, the colour will tend to pill like an old sweater. it will come peeling off your lips, which will then start to look patchy. you can try reapplying, but it'll still look uneven and for the rest of the day you will look less 1940s glam queen and more 2010s homeless crazy person.

if you're lips are very dry, wearing one of these is going to be like someone torturing you. these will get into every crack and cut, they will suck out any remaining moisture and, because they are so strongly pigmented and long-wearing, at the end of the day, you'll basically have to sandpaper your lips to get the colour off.

some are better than others. they range from almost creamy to ones so dry it's difficult even to get a proper swatch on your hand. basic rule: if it feels really dry, it is.

recommendation? great colour, especially if you want to look like you walked off the screen of a film noir. but since films noir usually take place in foggy, rain-soaked locals anyway, do yourself a favour and wait for the rainy season to incorporate these in a regular rotation.

favourite shades? russian red, a bright "statement" red that suits almost everyone (it's consistently one of mac's best-selling colours); charred red, a deep slightly warm red that makes perfect vampy lips

satin :: to me, this finish is defined by not being anything else. they're a little bit creamier than mattes and can have a little bit of a sheen (which is more than nothing but less than a shine). there aren't tons of these left and there don't seem to be a lot more coming out. maybe they feel they're not unique enough within the product offering. a bunch are being discontinued, but a couple of limited ones were released in the last few months. maybe they're just kind of nuts, i don't know.

i do know that, back when i started buying from mac, i liked these a lot more. now, they're sort of like less problematic matte lipsticks. they have the same drawbacks, but to a lesser degree. (of course, they also don't last as long, so it really depends what you're willing to sacrifice it.) i don't know whether the formula has changed or my lips got older, but i find i notice their flaws a lot more than i once did.

recommendation? most of the colours left are duplicated in other finishes, but they're probably going the way of the dinosaur, so why not buy a couple and in a couple of years you can show everyone your collection of antique lipsticks?

favourite shades? mystic, a slightly shimmery plum red colour that's being discontinued; toxic tale, a super-bright electric coral colour for when you feel shocking

amplified creme :: yes, that's how they spell it. it's sort of a hybrid of english and french, where they use the french spelling but the english characters (i.e., no accents). these are really gorgeous and they compete with brands that are twice the price. the formula is rich and creamy and deposits loads of colour. the effect is not subtle, but it's great if you want your lips to stand out. (and why wouldn't you?) the colours are solid rather than dimensional, although some have a bit of a coloured pearl for added depth.

being creamy, they don't last quite as long as drier formulas, but the good news is that reapplication is easy enough. also, despite being moist, they don't have a tendency to start feathering around the edges. plus they have that nice shine that tends to make lips look a little fuller and healthier. (how something completely unnatural like shiny lips looks healthy, i don't know, but trust me on this one.)

the one drawback, other than the lack of subtlety (if you consider that a drawback), is that i always feel just a little like i'm wearing one of those old pairs of wax lips. they're heavy enough that i'm constantly aware that i have lipstick on, which is not what i want. i guess that once i'm not aware of it any more, i know it's time to reapply, but the sense of there being a film on the lips is a little discomfiting. (i should add that i've noticed this with some shades more than others, without being able to establish a pattern.)

recommendation? gorgeous. loads of colour, loads of impact and a great (and always expanding) range of colours.

favourite shades? where do i start? tribalist, a limited edition blackish berry colour that looks like the skin of a dark plum; blankety, a rich neutral; fusion pink, a warm hot pink with a gorgeous pearly sheen to it; up the amp, a rich lavender purple... the list goes on...

cremesheen :: again with the creme... these are a newer finish and i was unsure about it for a long time. in theory, they're a combination of medium to high pigmentation with a softer feel. these ones aren't as colour-intense as the amplified cremes, or as shiny (remember the difference between "sheen" and "shine"?), although that can vary a bit between colours. they do have a really nice, soft feel and they don't tend to move around a lot, which other moist lipsticks do, so that's a definite plus.

lots of people seem to like these, because they're a nice hybrid between heavier and lighter. the one complaint i've heard is that some, ironically enough, find the formula drying. i haven't experienced that personally, but what does bug me a little is that these have a tendency to bleed and feather, so you start to look smudgy rather than sexy.

the colour is rich on almost all of them and solid, so you get a nice amount of impact for something that doesn't feel heavy or thick.

recommendation? mac made a big deal of these when they launched and i imagine they're going to continue as a staple of the line. the colour range is still a bit limited, but it's likely going to expand fairly quickly. if your tastes are similar to mine, there are a couple of awesome reds/ berry colours at the moment.

favourite shades? hang up, another one of my beloved dark purple-red shades; creme d'nude, which really looks like rich creme on the lips (looks awesome with dark eye makeup); kittenish, a warm red wine colour; go for it, a bluish purple... more coming all the time.

frost :: this is a finish that's been around forever. it's super-pearly, almost sparkly and for years i associated it with girls working in tim horton's or dairy queen next to truck stops in the middle of nowhere. that frosty pale pink that symbolised the abandonment of all hope of escape.

of course, a lot of things have changed. for instance, frost finishes now come in a lot of colours and they aren't nearly as drying as they once were (nor are they made using fish scales, as they once were). they do still have a tendency to settle into any lines on the lips and make them look like canyons, which is why more people seem to have a hate on for this finish than for any other. i'm lucky enough for that not to be too much of a problem at the moment (it'll happen), but i do find that, because any lines become more visible, there is a tendency for lips to look more compressed- thinner and smaller. if you have thin and lined lips, a frost lipstick is going to make your mouth look like a zipper.

the colour payoff tends to be pretty good and the nice thing about frosts is that, no matter how drunk you are when you apply them (so i'm told), they always look even. plus, since there are generally at least two colours- the base colour and the colour of the "frosting"- the end shade has a lot of dimension. so, after years of being put off by the truck-stop associations, even i've taken the plunge.

recommendation? this finish is going to be around as long as people insist on painting their faces. with all the options that there are available and more coming all the time, it's certain that you'll be able to find something to tickle your fancy.

favourite shades? o, the colour that won me over to frosts and one of the most amazing lip colours you'll ever see, is a red-purple base with a lot of gold shimmer and turns a different colour virtually every time you see it (if you've seen stills or the trailer for conversion, it's the lipstick i'm wearing for most of the film); victorian, a bright pink base with a gold shimmer that looks like no other colour i've seen (i'm wearing it in the avatar picture on this page)

lustre :: isn't it nice to see a canadian company so successful that they're able to foist canadian spelling on the world?

ahem, back to topic. this is probably the most popular of mac's lipstick finishes and with good reason. the texture is soft and moisturising- it competes with even very high end items- and the colour range is fantastic (and the more successful it becomes, the more colours are available). the real plus here is that the colour can be built up for more of an effect, so they're an easy solution for a variety of settings. they're shiny and make lips look like ripe, delicious fruit, plump with juice. many of the darker shades also fade to a very nice stained effect, which, even if it's different than how it looks in the tube, can be nice.

for all their positives, there are a few negatives. some of the lighter colours are so delicate they become invisible, or require a lot of application to become visible. some also have a tendency to apply unevenly, which is really obvious when a colour is a bit sheer. some shades also have a tendency to bleed badly, which can leave you looking like you ate too many popsicles. and of course, as with most moist formulas, they don't last that long. even within the range, there can be a lot of differences from one colour to another in terms of slipperiness, pigmentation and durability.

come to think of it, that's quite a few negatives. it's just really hard to resist the appeal of something that can look and feel so nice.

recommendation? if you find one that works for you, and with the number of shades available, it would be almost impossible not to, you'll probably want to wear it every day for the rest of your life. there's one that i've been purchasing for years, because i feel incomplete without it.

favourite shades? new ones all the time, but my current favourites are viva glam v, a light beige pink (and part of mac's extraordinary aids campaign); desire, a dark purple- berry shade again that can be sheered out nicely; naked paris, a really rich, sparkly brown-pink colour that makes neutral lips just so much more interesting to look at.

glaze :: this is mac's lightest finish and it pretty much lives up to its name. it leaves a sheer layer of colour on the lips with a little bit of a sugary sheen, much like the glaze on a doughnut. there are very few permanent shades in this finish, because i think most people dismiss it as lustre's feeble cousin. personally, though, i disagree.

in fact, while many of the colours are light and you'll never have the kind of pigmentation that looks totally vampy, these can have quite a bit of impact. the rest weightlessly on the lips like a sort of stain and can actually add quite a bit of colour. more than with other finishes, they work in combination with the natural colour of the lips, so they tend to look a lot different from one person to the next. every cosmetics fan in the entire world seems to disagree with me, but i think these are vastly underrated. i was happy to see that mac had a handful of new ones as part of their 2010 collections.

recommendation? the trick here is going to be finding a colour that works for you. with so few available, the options are very limited. but i highly encourage everyone to keep trying, because i think these babies deserve more credit than they get.

favourite shades? bubbles, a limited warm white colour, the kind of thing that would likely never work if it were more opaque; riveting, a distinctive plum- taupe shade that was unfortunately limited

rumour has it that mac may be simplifying the line that it offers to the public, because for some reason, people find its product offering confusing. they'll still have the full range available at their "pro" locations (anyone can shop there). until such time as the list becomes simpler, though, now maybe what's on the label will make more sense. the bottom line is just keep swatching things on your hand until you find something you like. that's part of the fun.

perfect kiss

important note: all boys are to leave now. this is a girly post. you have nothing to gain from reading this.

ok ladies... we're going to talk lipstick. why? because i happen to be a huge cosmetics fan. does that make me less of a feminist, less of a contemporary woman? well, during a time when i was working at a community radio station, i was called a bad feminist. i was called a bad feminist by someone who subsequently moved to another place, with no job and no immediate job prospects, because her boyfriend had gotten a job in that required him to move. she called me a bad feminist because i wore dresses and make-up. i've supported myself independently since i was 19 years old, through two university degrees, a number of jobs and three inter-city moves. i'll just let you decide who the stronger feminist is.

for those who've stuck with me, there is a certain magic in finding the perfect lipstick. that particular formula and shade is a really great feeling. myself, there are a lot of different looks that i like and, hence, a lot of different colours, but i have a particular weakness for deep, dark, rich colours, reds and purples mostly, and yes, i can tell the difference between all of them. much like the proverbial amateur home decorator, i can tell the difference between various shades of white. i'm told that this is actually a genetic holdover from a time when women were the gatherers in early, semi-nomadic societies. in those times, knowing the difference between the dark warm red berry that would nourish you and the dark blue-red berry that would kill you was a really important thing. but whether you feel you need a few colours from different parts of the spectrum, or a selection from each area that you like (or an entire spectrum to yourself), there are a lot of lipstick choices for you.

i've decided to post this to de-mystify a few of those choices.

i'll state first of all that i tend to have fairly high end tastes in my choices of lip colour. part of that is because i prefer to buy products that are not tested on animals and most higher-end brands are based in europe, where there has been a ban on animal testing since 1998. i still recommend checking out various lists of companies that do and don't test (and who ultimately owns them) to determine where you are comfortable drawing the line, but what's included here are products that meet my criteria.

i don't cover mass market brands here, but if you do want them, i suggest revelon (animal-testing free for many years) and wet 'n' wild (also free of animal testing). both have decent shade ranges, the former has a variety of formulas and the latter is responsible for a colour i bought in university that remains one of my all-time favourites (called "blackest red"). the following would qualify as a "treat". however, since i'm writing this in canada, i'd like to call attention to a potential escape hatch: most of these brands are carried by shoppers drug mart/ pharmaprix/ murale, who have an excellent customer loyalty program called optimum. under this program, you build up points (fairly quickly, if you keep an eye on specials like 20x the points), which allow you a certain number of dollars worth of free purchases. so if you like, you can use your bonus money for a little extra you wouldn't normally be able to afford. (aside from that, i seriously recommend that all shoppers get one of these cards. the program pays off in spades.)

so here are some of my thoughts on mid- to high-end lipsticks that are available on the market:

brand :: bobbi brown
product :: lip colour
price :: $25- $30 CAD
evaluation :: beautiful colours, but tends to be pretty conservative. if you want something a little richer and racier, look for colours with the word "black" before them (black raspberry, black maple). they won't be as dramatic as they look in the tube, but they are very nice nonetheless. the formula is incredibly moisturising, which is nice if you live in a climate where it's cold and dry a lot of the year, or if you're reaching an age where your lips tend to dry out naturally. on the other hand, these feather like a son of a bitch, so be conscious that you might have to use a lip liner. they also require reapplication throughout the day and the more you have to reapply, the worse the feathering is.

brand :: bobbi brown
product :: creamy lip colour
price :: $25- $30 CAD
evaluation :: other than the fact that they come in different packaging and the available shades are different, i'll be buggered if i can figure out the difference between these ones and the regular bb lip colour (see above).

brand :: chanel
product :: rouge coco
price :: $30- $35 CAD
evaluation :: very nice shade range, but i find the formula a little drying. it glides on nicely, but starts to feel a little dry on lips after about an hour. the nice part is that, if you aren't bothered by the slightly dry feeling, the colour lasts a long time, even when you eat and drink. the shade range is pretty good. colour payoff is excellent- you don't have to do lots of back and forth to get it to match the colour in the tube.

brand :: chanel
product :: rouge lacque
price :: $35 - $40 CAD
evaluation :: i love these to death, seriously. "dragon" is the best red lip ever, but the real magic isn't in the colour, it's on how these actually work. they're a liquid lipstick. they apply like a gloss, with an in credible sheen, but they settle into a lovely, satin-finish lipstick that lasts for hours. the colour is incredible and they feel wonderful against the lips. of course, they're expensive, and the range of shades available is incredibly limited, but if you want to treat yourself to something, i couldn't recommend anything nicer.

brand :: dior
product :: rouge dior
price :: $34- $36 CAD
evaluation :: stunning. creamy and luscious and high-impact and long-lasting. in fact, even after smudging or eating, they leave a really beautiful stain-type finish. if you're going to spoil yourself with something, i really couldn't suggest another formula. on the other hand, the shade range is limited to pinks and reds, mostly, so people looking for a really beautiful, vampy colour might be, as they say, SOL. still, if you can find something that catches your fancy... grab it.

brand :: guerlain
product :: rouge g
price :: $50 CAD
evaluation :: wait, it costs how much??? therein lies the downfall of this product, yes, it comes in a nice space-age package with a built-in mirror, but personally, i don't need a mirror to apply lipstick, because i know where my lips are. yes, the colours are incredibly nuanced and nearly impossible to truly duplicate, but for christ's sake, for the amount that it costs, i'll take a slightly lesser product. yes, this is probably one of the nicest formulas on the market, but i recommend it only if you can find a way to circumvent the pricing.


brand :: lancome
product :: colour design matte lipstick
price :: $26 CAD
evaluation :: some people just do not want a juicy, shiny look to their lips, but the fact is that a lot of matte lipsticks feel like applying chalk and look super-creased and cracked an hour after you put them on. these are different. they feel absolutely amazing. they're creamy, rich, intensely coloured and they're not drying at all. hallelujah. there's not a tremendous number of shades available, but they do cover a lot of the "classic" shades- reds, corals and plums that hearken back to the film-noir era of enticing lips that drew men in like a spider's web.

brand :: yves st. laurent
product :: rouge volupte
price :: $35- $40 CAD
evaluation :: lovely and creamy with a lot of shine, but there's a very limited range of shades available. for the price, i would expect more dimension or originality to the colours, but there are really only a few that can't be duplicated by cheaper alternatives. they do feel wonderful on the lips, particularly during dry weather and their colour is really rich, but for the price, there are better options available and, for the colours, there are cheaper options available.

people who know me will have noticed that i've not addressed my absolute favourite, canadian-born mac costmetics. that' sbecause i think that they require their own post, since navigating through their finishes and colour spectrum can be challenging. i'll get around to that, hopefully tomorrow.

this isn't by any means an exhaustive list of brands or formulas available on the market. it's just a list of opinions based on my personal experience. those who enjoy having a pop of colour on their lips can take it as the advice of a long-time lip colour lover. those who don't enjoy colour can take it as information that will be of little use to them. personally, despite the fact that both men and women (according to a recent poll by in style magazine) prefer the emphasis to be on the eyes, i still enjoy finding that perfect look that just draws the eye to my lips. at the very least, it helps people focus on what i'm talking about.

ok, it's now safe to let the men back into the room. next week i'll do a post about hockey or soccer (yeah, i know it's really football) or something. just to be fair.