My favorite high end make up item to shop? Lipstick. Luxurious packaging, stunning colors and usually much better staying power: high end lipsticks allow you to buy that piece of the unreachable without breaking the bank. Especially when you go to Ici Paris XL when they do their infamous 40% off deals. With high end lipsticks I tend to veer towards brighter lipsticks and reds, but over the years I’ve also gathered a couple of nudes, neutrals and a bit more recently also darker berry shades. And you can find all them below including swatches. Enjoy!
Illamasqua Lipstick Shard (matte)
Let’s kick things off with a bang shall we? One of my favorite fall colors is this matte berry color that I picked up from Selfridge’s on my last trip to London. It is one of my first Illamasqua products and dare I say it has made me want more. This lipstick has a gorgeous color, great lasting power and it is matte. If you care to see what it looks like on, here is a post where I’m wearing it.
MAC Velvet Teddy (matte)
This next lipstick is probably not one you would pick up on first sight. I wouldn’t anyway. But the make up artist recommended this when I went to MAC for the first time. To familiarize myself with their products I decided to book an appointment where they do your make up and you can put the money you pay for the appointment towards your purchases. It is handy when you don’t know where to get started and I bought a few of the things the MUA used on me that day. This lipstick was one of those items. And believe it or not: brown lipstick makes for a great neutral with my complexion. Need proof?
MAC Ravishing (cremesheen)
One of my first purchases at MAC that I did by myself. And still a failproof shade in my collection. Don’t know what to wear? Whack on some of this peachy coral color and you can’t go wrong.
MAC Pink Plaid (matte)
This is one of, if not, my favorite shade in MAC lipstick. First up, it’s matte (big plus right there!). Second, it’s the prettiest pink shade with a purple undertone. Third, it has a cute name. Of course the latter doesn’t exactly make or break a decision for buying something, but it certainly helps. It’s a great neutral shade and I like wearing this when I go for darker eye looks.
MAC Creme D’Nude (cremesheen)
The ‘what-the-beep-what-I-thinking’ shade. A few years ago, I was dead set on getting a concealer type nude color. I’m not sure why, but I just wanted to give it a try. After a long search I went with Creme D’Nude. I’ve only worn it 5 times till this day and by now I can tell you: a true nude look is not a good one for me. This lipstick makes me look as dead as a doornail and is too sheer to cover up my natural lipcolor. The result: a muddy look that is more suitable for Halloween than teaching English classes.
MAC Lovelorn (lustre)
Yes, this shade is almost identical to Pink Plaid. I know. The reason I got this? Because it’s got a different texture. Where Pink Plaid is a full on matte, this is more sheer and has a bit of shine to it. For those days when a matte lip is just not what I want to go with.
Benefit Candy Store
On to one of my oldest lipsticks. Candy Store by Benefit has long been discontinued and I don’t wear it very often anymore either. I bought this on a trip to New York with my best friend and I guess that’s the only reason why I still have this. It reminds me of my visit to the Big Apple and standing in Sephora trying to decide what to buy. It is a very sheer shiny color that is great is you just want your lips to appear a tad fuller.
Benefit Rocket Pop
For the longest time this was my ‘my-lips-but-better’ shade. Unfortunately the creamy texture means it doesn’t last very long and when I bought other lipsticks this one ended up in the forgotten pile of my lipstick stash. However, I bought this at the same time as I bought Candy Store featured above, so I have the same memory attached to it and so I just can’t part with it just yet.
NARS Shrinagar (sheer)
One of my very first NARS products was this lipstick. In the tube this color looks like a blackened purple shade. Ooh scary. But in fact it’s a very sheer lipstick. I tend to wear this after I apply some Lip Erase and then it gives off a great purple-ish hue to my lips. Great to pair with dark green and dark blue looks or a heavy smokey eye.
YSL Rouge Volupté Shine no. 18 Prune in Fire
We started with a bang, we end with a bang. Lipstick no. 10 is this bright plum shade by YSL. It was love at first swatch when I found this. It’s a tad more rad than the Illamasqua one, and it has a very creamy texture. It’s also my first YSL lipstick in this gorgeous, gorgeous packaging. Unfortunately this wears kind of ugly on my lips: after a few hours I’m left with color just on the outside rim of my lips. Not so sexy, but hey for a product this gorgeous I’ll happily take the time to reapply properly.
What is your favorite high end nude?
P.S.
This post was the 6th one in a series I embarked on in January to show you my lipstick collection. If you care to (re)read, here are the other blogs:
2 responses to “High end dark & neutral colored lipsticks”
wauw wat een prachtige lipsticks! Vooral die laatste is echt een plaatje.
Ja alleen al die verpakking is om weg te dromen.