Product Reviews: Lipsticks

by Suzann Kale

As always, the products reviewed here are non-animal tested. Some are vegan. You can check our page, Makeup Without Cruelty, to see which is which.

Hourglass. I tried their lipstick in "Portrait," which is a beige with a touch of pink. It goes well with my yellow outfits. Anyway, oo la la, I love it. It goes on so creamy and luscious, and amazingly, it stayed true to color for many hours. Didn't fray into my lip wrinkles, just stayed where I put it. Lots of pigment in the lipstick. Next time I will try something more pink - but I would definitely get Hourglass lipstick again.

Afterglow Cosmetics Lip Love Lipstick. Very nice lipstick, I'm going to get more. I went through a tube of "Muse" (I think it was), which is a shimmery peachy-pink. The colors are not matte - they're almost like a cross between lipstick and gloss. On the website they give excellent descriptions of their 19 shades. Some are matte, some are shimmery.

BareMinerals. I have "Bavarian Cream," which is a soft pink with a hint of mauve. It goes on fairly light, but you can "build" the color by applying 2 or even 3 coats. In fact, this is my "go to" lipstick. One in my purse, one in my makeup drawer. I love it. It does comes off easily, so I reapply it more during the day than the other lipsticks. I don't think that's a bad thing.

Buxom Big and Healthy Full-Color Lip Polish by Bare Escentuals This is an awesome lipstick. It goes on with a wand and although the color is full, it also has gloss in it. So you don't need extra gloss. Plus, it stays on forever. The only thing is, it tingles a little right after I put it on. I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

Too Faced Glamour to Go Lipsticks. I got these in a kit that Sephora was giving out, but the good news is, they come without brushes, which means I can use my non-animal hair lipstick brush, and I'm not paying for some animal hair brush that I can't use. The kit comes with 4 lipsticks, pink, mauve, shimmery beige, and peach. They're sheer, but there's enough pigment in the color that I wouldn't call them gloss. They are like lipstick and gloss in one. I love them.

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Alba Clear Lip Gloss by Alba Botanica . They're flavored, which I could actually do without, but I got "passion fruit nectar" and it's fine. The lip gloss itself is wonderful. It protects against dryness, and it also looks nice. It can be worn alone or over a matte color. Somewhere on the tube it says "Hawaiian" for some reason, just to identify it for you.

Jane Iredale Lip Gloss comes in many luscious colors. It's a great combination of gloss and lots of pigment. Mine is - I forget the color name - but it's a dark cherry burgundy, and although my skin is light, it can still take the dark color because it's gloss.

Remember, you can use a lip brush covered with your lipstick instead of a lipliner . It's a personal preference thing, but for me I got tired of trying to match lipliners with lipsticks and just went to outlining the lip first and then filling it in - all from the same tube.