Diving into Summer: My CORAL/ORANGE Lip Shades!

When I went to India last October for vacation, I spotted an extremely unconventional lipstick color in my sister's vanity. If you happen to read my very first beauty blog post, you may know that I was not THIS addicted to beauty and makeup few months back :-) Anyway that was an orange lipstick from Avon. I tried it and loved the effect so much that I wore it exclusively for the rest of my one-month vacation; I really did not care a lot if the orange color went well with my vivid and colorful Indian outfits :-)

So, basically my sweet little sister is responsible for giving me the "Orange Obsession". They say that spring-summer is all about orange lipstick; about being bold and sexy! I totally agree, but because I love the look I may wear orange (or coral for that matter) anytime I please :-) The colors that I own are not straight-up orange (like MAC Morange) as they tend to make my teeth appear more yellow. I found out that orange-hinted Corals suits me better than true oranges. Let's see what I have here!

Bite Luminous Crème Lipstick in "CIN CIN": This is my most loved one among the bunch. Actually this is one of my very favorite lipsticks in my dangerously growing collection of lip shades. Sephora describes the color as Tropical Coral. It’s a bright coral shade, sometimes it appears as a neon like-pinkish-orange on me depending on the lighting. I think it really compliments my skin tone. Bite is an all-natural brand and the lipstick is very moisturizing, highly pigmented and very long wearing! I simply adore it. I also love the sturdy minimalistic packaging; specially their unique choice of color for the tube :-) This costs $24 in Sephora for 0.15 oz. of product; definitely an expensive buy but worth every penny. I have a detailed blog post about it here, if you are interested :-)

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in "KISS ME CORAL": This was my very first orange/coral lipstick I bought for myself. I got it in Walmart in November, soon after being back from the vacation to India. (You know that addictive feeling, right?) And yes, I wore it last December when in Las Vegas for an epic trip with my friends. If you love it, don’t worry about seasonal trends... :-) Anyway, I must admit that this is one of the very easy-to-wear bright colors in my collection. The keyword is "easy-to-wear"! It’s nicely pigmented and gives me a decent wear of 2.5 to 4 hrs. before fading; and wears off nicely. This shade is more orange-y than "Cin Cin", but definitely has the coral feel. I use this shade for days when I want to wear orange but not willing to put extra effort/don’t have much time to spare in lining the lips or getting a super even application (which is the case for the Bite one). I just slap on 1-2 coats of this to get bold beautiful lips without any fuss. Plus you cannot beat the price! It has simple and effective packaging and I love how you can peep through the clear top of the cap to see the color. It’s a drugstore product, hence the price varies from store to store from $5 to $8. You can get it in Ulta or in Walmart, Target, Walgreens, QVC, Rite Aid etc.



Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in "TUTTI FRUTTI": If you are just staring out and unsure about how orange may look on you, this is just the perfect color to try. It’s comparatively affordable, easily available and acts as a nicely pigmented lip balm. It goes on sheer but definitely much more "orange-y" than the others in my collection; so you can test if orange suits you while also moisturizing your lips :-) I love the packaging as well. The tube is of the exact same color as the lip butter and I like how thin the actual tube is...very sleek if you ask me :-) I also found another use of this. Whenever I wear Bite Can Cin or the Revlon one and I have a long-outdoor-kinda day ahead of me, I put this in my purse for touch up. More than often I fear that my precious lipsticks will melt down in the heat; this acts as the perfect lip color, it moisturizes and perfectly touches up my lip color while my lovely shades sit safely at home. This costs around $6 to 9$ depending on the store. It’s available in drugstore as well as in Ulta. Nice thing about Revlon is that they have nice BOGO (Buy one Get one) sales and other offers quite often.

Essence Lipstick in "MISS PEACH": To be frank, I don’t care much about this one. I actually ordered it in Ulta just to reach 50$ free shipping mark :-) For the price, I have nothing to complain about. It’s a peachy coral sheer shade with some visible glitters. Frosted lipstick is not my favorite but I guess I did not notice it before ordering. I don't wear it often, but yeah, while going out for a quick grocery shopping or some running-errand trips, I wear it above my nude lipsticks. I feel it brightens up my entire look :-) I bought it at half the price, but it retails at 2.99$ in Ulta. The packaging looks a bit flimsy, but I guess its ok at that price point.

Honorable mention: I could not complete the post without mentioning Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain (that is a mouthful! :-) ) I bought this in the shade "Rendezvous" for my sister. I did not open it before sending it to my sister in India, so my apologies for not being able to show swatches. My sister has the same skin tone as me, and she is really loving that. Oh they also came out with new matte balm in the color "audacious" which looks like a "TRUE" orange; if you are looking for one.


I generally use a simple automatic lipliner in the shade "Scarlet" from Ulta brand with these lip shades. The one in the picture is orangey-red (from Jordana) which also acts well if you want the color to pop more. While it's a scary color to wear, but if you find the perfect shade and type, I believe there is an Orange/Coral Lip color for every one :-) no matter what is your skin tone. Try orange; its fun!! 

Hope it was helpful.

Love

~Arrru

My first ever BITE Lipstick :)

I discovered this beautiful community named "Beautylish" while surfing through the "Editor's Choice" Section in Google Playstore back in Dec '13 and I am hooked ever since. It's an online community, available as an app for mobile devices (Beautylish on Android) and also as a website. It's full of makeup tips, beauty looks, product reviews and some exclusive brands to purchase. The best part is its makeup enthusiastic members who are always keen on helping each other and I have been totally enjoying its positive environment. I should actually write another blog-post about it :)

I have been sparingly hearing about Bite Beauty lip products on YouTube. I was eager to use Sephora's Spring 15% off coupon and my Beautylish friends strongly recommended me Bite's lipsticks. I did a quick study; its packaging as well as "all natural brand" tag intrigued me. I decided to bite the bullet and get an everyday shade. However in the store, it was a completely different story! Because of the sale, it was very crowded  and there were so many shades to swatch. I was also running out of time. I picked up the tester in "Cin Cin" and dabbed a little bit on my lips in a hurry. I did not even spend 5 seconds on the mirror to check the color. I just grabbed the lipstick trying not to over think and finished my shopping for that day!

On my first application at home it appeared as neon pink-orange to me, which I did not like much. But, then I took a few selfies :) and was amazed to see how flattering it looks on me! I sent the photos to my sister and my Beautylish friends, they all assured that the color suits me perfectly! Their opinion helped me decide if I should return it. And one month later, I am really glad that I kept it. I have been wearing it every single chance I am getting. Considering its still Spring moving into the beautiful days of summer, this bright coral shade is just the PERFECT color to sport this season. I have medium olive/tan skin tone), I am pretty sure, it will look good on everyone.

Be ready!! :) I am going to rave about the product and this is going to be long post... 

First things first, I "LOVE" the unique packaging. Their choice of material as well as color for the packaging is very different and sleek. The outer packaging is made of typical light cardboard; the color combo of ash and red-orange on the outer packet gives it a very sophisticated look. The lipstick tube is in dark grey and minimalistic in design, but very sturdy. The material is very velvety, it kind of resembles the famous chic packaging of NARS. But I find it easier to maintain than the NARS ones (I don't like how NARS packaging keeps getting dirty after every use!). I also adore how "B" in the logo is little cut off. Weird me :) !! The "B" is also engraved in the actual lipstick, how cute!!

But a pretty packaging is not enough, right? The quality of the lipstick is unbelievable too!! For people like me who are "blessed" with naturally chapped lips; this is the exact formula that we need. It is very hydrating, extremely pigmented and really easy on the lips. Texture wise it is neither extremely matte nor shiny, but has a pleasant and very subtle creamy sheen! It's long wearing too. I have had a solid wear of 6 hrs before it started to fade off by a tiny bit. The other day I applied my makeup around 11 am and had to reapply my lipstick after a "full-on" Taco session at 4.30 pm. Apart from MAC matte lipsticks (which are VERY drying), no other lip products last that long on me. Another great thing is that when it starts to fade, it leaves a gorgeous and even stain behind which I really enjoy. Basically, if I want I can get away without reapplying another coat of lipstick. I can just slap on some lip balm and achieve a beautiful stain! :)

Bite Beauty is a natural lip care company based out of Toronto, Canada. Their packaging describes the lipstick as 95% natural. They use organic and natural food grade ingredients like resveratrol, organic fruit butter and manuka honey i.e. you can actually eat the products :) They also have a very innovative lip lab in New York City where they can manufacture the lipstick of your choice in under 20 minutes. You can literally walk up there with any discontinued or limited edition lipstick that you are running out of, and they will custom-make it in front of you...Isn't it super cool? You can read more about it here. I love learning and sharing tit-bits of information on cosmetics brands; hope you'd also enjoy them :)

It's definitely a pricey product! The Luminous Creme Lipstick from them retails at $24 for 0.15 oz (4.35 g) of product, exclusively in Sephora. I am not aware of any other place where you can buy it. If you happen to know, please share. Anyway, $24 is no doubt a lot of money to pay for a lipstick, but for the amazing feel on my lips and the high performance I am getting, I truly feel its worth every penny!! 

So yeah, that's it. I can actually go on and on abut how much I love it. Nonetheless...

Pros: 

• Highly pigmented and extremely opaque!
• Long wearing.
• Very moisturizing

Cons:

• Sometimes, it tends to settle on the fine lines on my lips. It may sound a bit contradicting, but I see a thin layer of dead skin towards the end of the day, although my lips do not feel dry at all. Kind of weird!

I am yet to try other products from this brand, but I absolutely recommend their Luminous Creme Lipsticks, if you are in the market for a spring/summer color, I am pretty sure you will love "Cin Cin"!! I have been enjoying it and will surely be picking up some more of these in the future!

Hope it was helpful.

Love,

~Aru