Category: lips

Three from Laura Mercier

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I’ve always had a soft touch for Laura Mercier. When other cosmetics brands were going for gimmicky products, she’s remained true to making women look beautiful. More to the point, I had a very positive experience at a Laura Mercier counter, when the makeup artist commented that I must be very diligent about sunscreen, as my face didn’t have any lines. Then I told her about my upcoming birthday, and she was amazed!

Anyway, here are product reviews for three of her recent introductions:


Laura Mercier Brow Definer Soft – I get my brows tinted when I go to the salon to get my hair done. However, the brows are resistant to taking color. I’m always on the lookout for products that tint the brows. I’ve become dissatisfied with LORAC’s Brow Wax, as it’s too hard, so I was interested in this product. The Brow Definer is described as an “innovative wax/gel formula,” but I couldn’t find anything innovative about it. It looks and feels like a gel eyeliner, which is no longer a new innovative product.

I purchased this product at bluemercury. I thought that I should use the Warm (brunette) shade, but the saleswoman was adamant that Soft (deep blonde/soft brunette) was right for me. Regardless, the best solution I’ve found to date is taking a cue from the guys: I use moustache wax to define the brows (use a brow brush to brush them into place first); then I apply a brown-black eyeshadow with a stiff angled brush to color the brows.

Laura Mercier Lip Stain Mulberry – This lip stain is a red-plum. When I tried it at bluemercury, I swiped it over my lips. It was bright! The saleswoman told me that the best application is by patting the color onto the lips: in that way, you can build color to your desired intensity.

As with other lip stains I’ve reviewed (Underground by Rimmel, Revlon), well-conditioned lips are necessary to making lip stain feel comfortable on the lips.


Laura Mercier Kohl Eye Pencil Black Gold (not pictured) – I was intrigued by the color. I love metallics, but not pure silver or gold shades. Instead, I prefer pewter shades to silver or bronzy shades to gold. This pencil seemed right up my line.

However, I find eyeliner pencils (except for retractable ones) a nuisance. Is the pencil too hard to use? Then run hot air from a blow dryer over it. Too soft to sharpen? Put in it the fridge or freezer. Then there’s the mess of keeping your sharpeners clean (I used cotton swabs soaked in rubbing alcohol). This pencil is no different, and at $19.00, it’s no bargain, either.

L’Oréal Paris Infallible Never Fail Lipcolour Collection

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L’Oréal Paris has released a limited edition collection of its Infallible Never Fail Lipcolour compacts. The compacts feature floral and fruit silhouettes designed by up and coming fashion designers supported by CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund (CVFF). Below is the list of designers and the shades for which they created designs:

3.1 PHILLIP LIM- Phillip Lim – Apricot
BAND OF OUTSIDERS – Scott Sternberg – Azalea
ERIN FETHERSTON – Erin Fetherston – Cerise
KOI – Koi Suwannagate – Geranium
MICHAEL BASTIAN- Michael Bastian – Hibiscus
PHILIP CRANGI JEWELRY- Philip Crangi – Mulberry
ROGAN- Rogan Gregory – Persimmon
THREEASFOUR – Gabriel AsFour, Angela Donhauser, Adi Gil – Pomegranate
VENA CAVA – Lisa Mayock and Sophie Buhai – Rosebud
VPL – Victoria Bartlett – Thistle

I’m not aware of anything else on the market like L’Oréal Paris’ Infallible Never Fail Lipcolour. The compact consists of a tube of liquid lipcolour with wand and a gloss stick (a “conditioning topcoat”). There is a mirror on the reverse side of the compact. To use, push the lipcolour tube outwards, open the tube, and use the wand to apply lipcolour. The package recommends that you wait two minutes for the colour to dry before you apply the gloss (similarly, the gloss stick is pushed outwards). It also recommends that you remove the lipcolour from your lips with an oil-based makeup remover (baby oil or cold cream would work).

I like the results. The lipcolour dries to a lip stain, but as I have noted before, you need conditioned lips to wear lip stain well. But don’t apply gloss immediately before applying Infallible Never Fail Lipcolour: the package recommends “clean” lips.

The limited edition L’Oréal Paris’ Infallible Never Fail Lipcolour collection is available exclusively at L’Oréal Paris retail stores or by phone. Call 888-270-7743 to order.

Underground by Rimmel

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Underground by Rimmel is more daring than Rimmel’s regular line, and invites comparison to L’Oreal HIP. While Underground is geared toward teens and twenties, there are some great products that woman of all ages can use.


Stir It Up Cream Eyeshadow in Wassup? by Underground by Rimmel

The cream eyeshadow features different shades that are mixed together when you apply it with your fingers. There’s some glitter in this, but if that’s not the effect that you’re seeking, just remove it by flicking a cotton swab or Q-Tip over it.


Cheeky! Blush Duo in Cheer Up by Underground by Rimmel

This blush duo features pale apricot and deep rose shades. Nowadays, most of the shades of blush from mass-market brands are subtle (to be foolproof), so this blush duo stands out. It can look natural by applying the deep rose shade on the apple of the cheeks – don’t blend out to the temples. If it’s too bright, the pale apricot shade will tone it down. There are several other shades of Cheeky! Blush Duo available, and all are wearable.


Loud Mouth Lipgloss in Pucker Up from Underground by Rimmel

Don’t be fooled by the name. This is more lip stain than lip gloss. In addition to Pucker Up, there are other wearable shades of Loud Mouth Lipgloss that will appeal to women of all ages. To prevent the stain from going beyond your mouth, consider lining your lips with clear lipliner first.

Because Loud Mouth Lipgloss is a lip stain, it can be drying. Now since the weather is getting colder, you need to keep your lips conditioned. I use Aquaphor icon, essentially a goo of petroleum jelly and mineral oil, at night to condition my lips (for more, see Treating Chapped Lips). I also like Sally Hansen Healing Butter for Lips (not available through drugstore.com, alas). It boasts of having shea, mango, cocoa and murumuru butters, but if you’re seeking a plant-based product, this isn’t it: petroleum jelly tops the list of ingredients and these butters are way down the list. Still, it’s very emollient.

Underground by Rimmel may be found at Target, and Ulta in the U.S.

Lip tips

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After posting Great drugstore finds, I realized that I needed to revise my advice on lips on The Style Page website.

Concerning lipliner that it is not obvious, I had written:

  • Another solution is to line the lips using a lip brush with the color you intend to apply: this is especially useful for applying highly pigmented matte lipsticks. [This advice originally came from Bobbi Brown]

  • ArtDeco, a cosmetics company from Germany, offers a Color & Contour Lip Duo, which features lipstick at one end and contour at the other end for lining the tips. This is a highly pigmented lip color, so blending is still necessary.

Now I think that both techniques result in an overly obvious line, which is why I now prefer clear lipliners or lipliners that perfectly match the color of one’s lips (which is why MAC’s Lip Pencil in Spice has been so popular).

I’ve since discovered that companies other than Revlon and Paula’s Choice offer clear lipliners, but at a higher price: DuWop Reverse Lip Liner and CARGO The Reverse Lipliner.

Living Beauty by Bobbi Brown

as seen in the March 15, 2007 edition of USA Today.

Lastly, the March issue of InStyle featured an excerpt from Bobbi Brown’s latest book Living Beauty. Bobbi Brown wrote that the most flattering lip color is two shades darker than the natural color of your lips. I can vouch for her advice, after a lot of experimentation (and a lot of money spent!). One also has to take her complexion, hair color, and clothes in account when selecting lip color.

I’m light to medium in complexion, with dark brown hair and brown eyes. While I had been classified as a “Winter” (using the seasonal color typing that was so popular in the 80s), I tend to favor rich warm colors over cool colors. Some of my favorite lipsticks are Bourbon from last year’s limited edition Catherine Deneuve color collection from MAC and Bésame’s Enchanting Lipstick in Chocolate Kiss, particularly when wearing brown. In fact, I favor lip colors that are “ambiguous,” that is, not too cool, not too warm.

Another tip is to apply lip color just slightly inside your mouth (I would name the source of this tip if I could recall it) so that there won’t be any apparent demarcation lines; also, this application suggests fuller lips.