coral me bright

Spring has finally sprung (kind of), bunnies are frolicking in the grass (literally) and flowers are starting to bloom (yeah!). It's around this time of year that I feel like it's time to lighten my makeup routine, in terms of colour. I've already put away most of my dark berry, plum and burgundy lipsticks and I've switched out my berry, rose and pinky-brown lipsticks for corals and peaches in my makeup bag.

You can tell coral is my favourite colour to wear in the spring (at least on my face), as I have a LOT of coral lipsticks (and blushes, but we'll save that for another post) and here are some of my favourites in no particular order:

Maybelline Colour Whisper in 35 Coral Ambition, Revlon Lip Butter in Juicy Papaya and Shu Uemura Rouge Unlimited in CR330 (medium grapefruit pink)

While these lipsticks feel more like a lip balm, I find the Maybelline Colour Whisper has decent colour pay-off. I like the Revlon lip butter which I find slightly moisturizing and very similar to the Maybelling Colour Whispers, although it doesn't have the best colour pay-off. The pigmented Shu Uemura lipstick is a surprisingly bright pinky-coral colour and I love the futuristic look of the lip bullet.

Maybelline Coloursensational Vivids in 870 Shocking Coral, Topshop Lips in Confession and Oh La La. 

The picture doesn't really show you how neon the Maybelline Vivids lipstick is in Shocking Coral. I love it because it brightens the complexion and it's a wearable statement lip without requiring too much maintenance like a red lip. The Topshop lip in Confession looks very similar to Shocking Coral in the picture but it's actually more subdued in comparison. Oh La La leans more peach.

Sephora Lip Attitude Glamour in G02 (pink lover), Make Up For Ever Rouge Artist Intense in 39 (satin orange coral) and MAC Cremesheen lipstick in Ever Hip

Pink Lover is a great pink-coral lipstick colour that's very moisturizing, and leaves a nice sheen on the lips. However, because it's so moisturizing, it's very soft in texture and can melt easily if left in the sun too long, which I found out the hard way. Unfortunately, the Sephora Lip Attitude Glamour lipsticks are now discontinued. While the Make Up For Ever lipstick is marketed as a 'satin' lipstick, I find the texture is more matte in feeling. You will definitely need to make sure your lips are conditioned and well moisturized in order to wear this lipstick. I always apply a gloss on top, because I find the matte texture a little too drying on my lips. The MAC Ever Hip lipstick comes in my favourite formula, Cremesheen, and it wears well on the lips.

NARS satin lipstick in Niagara, NARS sheer lipstick in Love Devotion and Too Faced Juicy Melons La Creme lipstick

The NARS lipsticks are more wearable for work, if you don't want to draw too much attention with a bright lip. Niagara is a muted red-coral and Love Devotion is a sheer peach colour that turns coral on my naturally pigmented lips. The La Creme lipsticks from Too Faced are very creamy with some slip, but I do find it tugs at any dry patches on my lips. Other than that, it's a very pretty coral colour.

Dior Addict lipstick in 457 Candide

Dior Addict lipstick in 457 Candide was a limited edition colour that came out in the Spring 2010 collection. This colour leans more pinky-coral to me and it's a very lightweight, balmy, sheer lipstick. Great for when you want a little bit of colour and can touch-up without a mirror.

ILIA lipstick crayon in Karma Chameleon and Bourjois Colour Boost lip crayon in Peach on the Beach (cute name!)

Lip crayons are just so easy to use. You literally just draw on the colour and go. The ILIA lip crayon is more a of a bright red-coral, great for an evening out and the Bourjois lip crayon is a beautiful coral colour with a really cute name :)

don't hate me cuz I'm beautiful

Another eyeshadow palette to add to my growing stack and this one is from NARS.  It's called the NARSissit and it's a 15-eyeshadown palette that ranges from neutrals, warm to cool tones and darker colours for a night-time (or day, depending on your preference) smokey eye look.

This palette contains 15 of NARS best-selling eyeshadows and there's a good mix of shimmer, matte to frost finishes that will satisfy everyone and their needs to make a variety of eyeshadow looks. I love the large mirror and the fact that it's incredibly slim in packaging, which makes it great for travelling. While you are getting a lot of colours in this palette, the size of each individual eyeshadow is quite small, if you were to compare it to other palettes like the Urban Decay's Naked palettes. The packaging does get dirty very quickly, but it's nothing that a wet wipe can't solve. The only real downside of this palette is the price: this palette retails for a whopping $85 at Sephora. Otherwise, if you're relatively new the the NARS brand and want to try a little bit of everything, and you don't mind spending a little more money, than this is a great palette for you. If you're looking for alternate options, I'd check out the Urban Decay, Stila, Clinque or Too Faced.

clown college

Instead of 1920's Hollywood glamour, harkening to the bygone era of film noir and femme fatales, I end up looking like I'm auditioning to fill the position of Krusty the Clown's sidekick when I try to wear red lipstick.

But I think I might have found the right shade for me.

Afghan Red from NARS (the one on the left in the above photo) is a deep burgundy red that suits my skin-tone much better than a blue-red, or an orange-red lipstick shade. The Sephora downtown was sold out of this colour for 2 weeks before I was able to track one down somewhere in the shadowy depths of their store-room via a lovely sales associate. I was so thrilled to finally have this lipstick in my possession that I gave him a huge hug :)

Niagara is a lovely peachy colour that I've wanted to try for a while now, since I've seen the swatches on Temptalia. I love that website for it's in-depth descriptions, photos and colour swatches, although it's not necessary good for the lemming inside of me, because I start to covet everything!