Spring & Summer Lipstick Roundup!

I know, I know… spring has long since sprung but I took these photos while buds were popping up around here so I feel it's necessary to include the previous season in the title. Considering I've been wearing most of these lippies the past couple of months makes it relevant too so hah!! Justification over.

Anyways, I was recently prompted by a lovely reader of mine (Nerissa Lemon) to do an updated selection of lip products for this summer of 2014. And heck, since it seemed to be a hit last year with quite a few of you, I figured it wouldn't hurt to do another roundup! It's great for a lipstick hoarder like myself to do as well; navigating my stash on mornings where I'm scrambling to get out the door (aka most days) goes much smoother (and quicker) when I've got these specific products on the brain.

For whatever reason, these past couple of months (and surely the months to follow) I have been all about bright washes of pinks, reds, and purples. And while I realize that that sounds like I just described every lip color we (as in the beauty community… I promise I'm not referring to myself as a plural entity) wear on the regular, there's a bit of specificity involved: the pinks are warm, the reds are poppy, and the purples are mostly magenta. Make sense? No? Good thing I've got swatches.

 (Left-Right) DIOR Dior Addict Lip Glow, NARS "New Lover", Revlon "Unapologetic", Mirenesse "Flirty Kiss"

Truth be told the first swatch here looks boring as h*ll. But you have got to trust me when I say it's one of the most fantastical lip products I own (and lawd knows I own upwards of a billion)… plus it's from freaking Dior. Dior!!! I'm not that fancy. Anyways, I've rambled long and thoroughly about the DIOR Dior Addict Lip Glow before so I'll refrain from further gushing. It's basically my go-to no-need-to-think-about-it lip color; it changes between pink and semi-magenta from wear to wear since it responds to your body heat so that's kind of sort of awesome as well.

Moving on to the lovely NARS Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil "New Lover": I nabbed this last year with my Sephora points in a 500-point perk from NARS; you can bet I hopped on that thing quicker than… well, just as quick as I did with the NARS 500-point perk this year! I can never allow myself to purchase NARS stuff on my own so those perks are kind of what I live for (sad but true haha). Anyways, "New Lover" is what I figure to be the lip equivalent of their "Orgasm" blush. It's a warm peachy-pink with gold shimmer laced throughout and it is so pretty on the lips, especially when the sun is shining! The only thing I dislike about it is that you have to sharpen it which ends up wasting a bit of product and is just a hassle overall.

I've gone on, and on, and on (and on, and on, and on) about the Revlon Matte Balms (video here) so I won't go on about the Revlon Matte Balm "Unapologetic". It's creamy, mostly matte, wears well/comfortably, and the color is wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am gorgeous!

Quite different from the other three contenders so far is the Mirenesse Glossy Kiss Lipstick "Flirty Kiss". I've really only mentioned it once (though, granted, it was in a Best & Worst of Beauty video so it was pretty freaking important when I did *hint hint*) but I'm pretty sure this is my favorite red lipstick that I own! It's pulling a little warmer in the swatch above than it does in real life so believe me when I say it's that perfect mix between warm and cool. "Flirty Kiss" makes my teeth look blindingly white and, on top of everything else it's got going for it, it wears fantastically for a red lippie. No feathering, bleeding, or smudgy messes throughout the day with this one!

(Left-Right) NYX "Peach Cobbler", Maybelline "Pink Shock", Revlon "Lovesick", Maybelline "Brazen Berry"

The NYX butter gloss "Peach Cobbler" is one of my newer acquisitions in terms of lip products and, like the other lip butters (other shade reviews here) I own, I love it. The butter glosses are consistently fantastic little drugstore pick-me-ups; each one is nicely pigmented (for a gloss), smells fantastic (vanilla cake goodness), and wears like a dream (at least 3-4 hours, not sticky, fades gracefully). If I could/needed I would absolutely own every shade NYX offers in this range but, considering my lip product collection is excessive enough as it is, I'll refrain (for now… hahah I'm just kidding mom please don't kill me).

 Another one of my newer lip acquisitions is the Maybelline Baby Lips Electro Lip Balm "Pink Shock", and it's all thanks to the lovely Meghan over at todaysbeautyobsession! She told me I should check it out and, the minute I looked through swatches online, I had a feeling I would be picking it up the next time I was anywhere near a drugstore. As much as I love it on its own, I do sometimes feel like making it a bit more saturated in color though. So, easy fix here, I just pop on the Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain "Lovesick" underneath and I'm set! "Lovesick" is an absolutely beautiful fuchsia color that pairs perfectly with "Pink Shock" and I really do wish I would wear it more often. Note to self: now's the time.

And last but certainly not least is probably one of my most unused lip products: the Maybelline Color Sensational Vivids Lip Color "Brazen Berry". I got this after my darling Vern mentioned it a number of times on her channel last year and figured I needed it for myself. Thus far I had resisted the Vivids collection that Maybelline put out and was so proud of myself for doing so but… well… that's the influence your friends/YouTube have on you, isn't it? Either way I went and bought it and, while I love it, it is a very bold shade of purple so I don't wear it as often as I'd like. Now that it's summer and people are already a bit blinded by the sun though I figure it's the perfect time to slap this on my lips and further obscure their vision (aren't I nice?)!

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Phewfta, so that's it people!
I hope you enjoyed this year's spring/summer lipstick picks and, as always, would love to hear what you're going to be wearing on your lips during these sunny months ahead as well.

xoxo - Cassie