Today is National Lipstick Day. While not a holiday that everyone celebrates, it’s a day I want to recognize. Lipstick is my favorite item of makeup. When I was a little girl, it was the first makeup that I wanted. I loved Halloween because it was the one day that my mother would let me wear actual lipstick rather than the clear balm for kids. I remember lusting after a Tinkerbell set of makeup for kids that was in the glass case at Eaton the Druggist decades ago. I bugged my mother for that set, and finally someone (a relative, I assume) bought it for me. I could hardly wait to open the box and dig out the lipstick in a pale blue metal case. I open the lipstick and applied it. I was so disappointed when I looked in the mirror to discover that it was colorless. Boo.
Well, I’ve made up for it. Now, I must have at least 100 lipsticks. Frankly, my collection is overwhelming. But today I want to talk about my favorites. I’m sure I missed a few, but these make for a good start.
My Favorite Lipsticks
The lipsticks I’m going to talk about today tend to be the ones I reach for most often, or most often among a certain type. I own lipsticks from all price points, but I was surprised to see that the ones I use most often tend to be affordable or drugstore brands. Go figure!
Here are my current faves, though most of them are rather long time favorites.
Liquid Matte
I’m not a lover of liquid matte lipsticks. The vast majority of the ones I’ve tried over the years dry out my lips, and it’s just not worth it. I think most liquid matte lipsticks make my lips look older, and who needs that? However, when I do wear a liquid matte, here are the two I reach for:
Sephora Cream Liquid Lip Stain, shade 01 Red
I really like this easy to apply creamy liquid matte opaque lip stain from Sephora Collection. It’s light as a feather, it doesn’t transfer, it doesn’t dry out my lips, and it lasts for hours. And it comes in loads of shades. $14.
Very similar in formula to Sephora Cream Lip Stain is the lightly plumping, City Lips Matte (reviewed here). I’ve been wearing pretty Rosy Mauve. I love that it too is non-drying.
Lip Gloss
As I’ve mentioned many times, when it comes to lip gloss I like opaque glosses that aren’t overly sticky. My favorites to wear on their own are:
Anastasia Beverly Hills Lip Gloss: I own two shades, Barbie, a shocking pink that’s great for summer and Caramel, soft pinky brown. Both are called “Lacquer” (opaque), one of three finishes offered by ABH. Today, ABH has buy 1, get 1 free of any of their lipsticks!
Stila Stay All Day Vinyl Lip Gloss: Stila is a brand that doesn’t get enough love IMHO. And their Stay All Day Vinyl Lip Gloss is an absolutely wonderful gloss. It is opaque, lovely to wear, not overly sticky, and it lasts for hours on my lips. I own shade 04, Scarlet Vinyl. Imagine my despair when I discovered that Stay All Day Vinyl Lip Gloss has been discontinued. Not surprisingly, it has been replaced by yet another Liquid Lipstick, ugh. Vinyl Lip Gloss in Scarlet is available here and there online. Too bad because this was the best opaque gloss ever.
Two In One: Lipstick and Gloss
Tarte The Lip Sculptor has long been a favorite of mine (reviewed here). The two in one has a full size lipstick bullet with a matching or coordinating lip gloss on the other end. I just finished up my second tube of Sass, a lovely and highly wearable mauve. It is pretty much my go-to everyday lipstick for fall, winter and early spring. If you like a hydrating lipstick, I strongly recommend this wonderful lipstick. I own it in several shades in addition to Sass, my favorite.
Cream/Satin Lipsticks
I own a ton of cream or satin finish lipsticks. I buy them most often because they’re comfortable on my dry lips, and I like the way they make my lips look: fuller, hydrated and with a slight shine. These are the ones I’ve been wearing most often lately.
Estee Lauder Pure Color Love, shade Strapless 103, “edgy” creme: I got this lovely mauve lipstick in one of my Ipsy Plus boxes a few months ago. It’s my typical everyday mauve shade, so it was perfect for me. I’m not quite sure what makes this an “edgy” cream. To me, it’s kind of a matte-cream, but I like it whatever you call it. Around $22.50.
Rimmel London Moisture Renew Lipstick, shade Coral Garden 230: Another terrific everyday lipstick that’s comfortable and affordable. When I’m not wearing mauves, I love corals and Coral Garden is sort of a mauve-coral – the best of both worlds.
I bought this at CVS either last year or the year before, but I’m not sure if they still carry it. Walgreens carries the 13 shades of Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick online for $6.79.
Revlon Ultra HD Gel Lipcolor: I think these came out a year or two ago, and I doubt that they’re available in most stores now. However, I looked for them online and you can find them at CVS.com, Walgreens.com, Walmart.com, Harmon Face Values, and Amazon in prices ranging from $4-12, and they’re worth the price. They come in slim, attractive metallic tubes, and I picked up two summery shades: Tropical 730 (hot pink) and Sunset 725 (bright coral).
The shades I bought are perfect for right now. They’re creamy but lightweight and comfortable. They leave a stain behind, so they are long wearing. Tropical, the shocking pink, is especially long-wearing. I find myself using Sunset, the coral, all the time.
Lip Crayons
I own a ton of lip crayons. Zillions, actually. But the brand of lip crayons I wear most often are from affordable sister brand to Milani called Jordana. Jordana was sold at Walgreens, and I’m not sure whether it’s still sold there. I hope so. It’s still sold on the Jordana website.
I’m on my third tube of Fresh Fig, the raspberry-mauve Jordana Twist & Shine Moisturizing Balm Stain (the lower tube is Fresh Fig).
I also have a tube in bright red, Rock ‘n Rouge, that seems to have been discontinued, (the story of my life).
It looks like Jordana changed the packaging a bit since my last purchase or maybe it’s just that the branding has worn off my two tubes that have nothing on them now. I now have plain round plastic colored tubes and the tube online have the brand name on them.
What I love about these is that the color is bright but somewhat translucent the way balms are. The color is also very long-wearing: it leaves a stain behind that makes it look like I’m still wearing lipstick even after a meal. Plus, it is hydrating and very inexpensive, around $3.99 for a tube that lasts forever. Great stuff.
So these are my faves, the ones I wear most often. What makes these lipsticks favorites for me are that they are comfortable to wear and they provide enough color that it looks like I am wearing lipstick. Plus, except for the pricier City Lips Matte and Estee Lauder Pure Color Love, the rest don’t break the bank. BTW, check out the sales and B1G1 promotions that many brands (e.g. MAC, ABH, Bite Beauty, Too Faced, ColourPop etc.) are having for National Lipstick Day and do it fast because it’s probably for today only!
What are your favorite lipsticks? What’s on your lips for National Lipstick Day?
Those are all so flattering on you! Those are also the kind of shades I prefer.
Happy National Lipstick day! I always like to read your reviews because our skin and lips seem to be so much alike. I tend to stay away from glosses as I find them too sticky. Thunderstorms off and on all day today so I don’t plan on any shopping.
Happy Lipstick Day to you, too, Sandy! Although many of the deals today are tempting, I’m not shopping either. I have a ton of lipsticks. Someday, you will have to try one of the ABH glosses and let me know what you think. I don’t find them overly sticky. I might not wear them in a gale force wind, lol, but otherwise, they behave quite well 😉
Each one is so pretty on you, Allison! Anastasia Beverly Hills Lip Gloss in Barbie is my kind of shade!
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Really? I didn’t imagine you as a shocking pink kind of gal, but I’m glad to know that you are!!
My response required further explanation, LOL! I tend to wear nudes and nude pinks, but I get more daring, like this, with lip glosses, but I tend to sheer them out a bit. I used to wear bright fuchsia lipsticks all of the time, but for some reason stopped. This is just such a beautiful shade that I can definitely see it being a staple in the summer!
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I love that Stila shade on you!
Barbie is wowzers! Sometimes it’s nice to wear something shockingly bright, and that one looks great on you! They all do really, but that’s probably why they’re keepers. 😉 From my collection I’d reach for MAC Viva Glam Miley Cyrus, MAC Flocking Fabulous, or Chanel First Light. Nothing notable for today though as I was just doing yard work, and I doubt the poison ivy cares what I wear when I attack it with the weed killer. lol
I love a lot of the colors your wear. Basically Mauves are my jam!
I love the Rosy Mauve, looks like a shade I would rock for a more natural look. I’m not a big lipstick girl so today for work was just my standard chapstick. I save lipstick for weekends and special occasions.
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I really like ABH’s lip glosses and Sephora’s Lip Creams. Great pics!
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These are all flattering on you. I knew you’d have the tarte on the list since you talk about that a lot. It’s nice to see so many affordable lipsticks.
All beautirul shades on you. We tend to be lippie twins so I have to try some of these out.
I also like lip crayon because it’s easy to apply. I love a good orange red lipstick and I’m wearing one today.
Gorgeous picks as always, Allison! I celebrated with a bold red lip today 🙂
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I loved seeing your favorites!
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I have so many lipsticks and don’t know where to start to choose my favorites. In spite of that, I don’t think I have tried any of these (or same formula, regardless of shade) so I guess I need more lipsticks! Hahaha!
So many great shades! I love the sound of the Stila gloss (which I didn’t even know they had.)
Now Stila calls their gloss “Beauty Boss Gloss”. I haven’t tried it since they gave it a new name.
I’ve never tried any of the Sephora liquid lips but they are on my to-try list. The Jordana lip crayon is as well. I’ve heard great things about it.