Color!

Hi ho, Beauties!  Today I'd like to tell you about a Nars Multiple that I have been using.  It's a pretty decent product, and I particularly like the wide range of colors to choose from.  Mine is in the shade 'Portofino', a warm coral/peach.  Sephora describes it as 'shimmering coral', so I guess you could say that it has a bit of shimmer.  I don't find it to be In Your Face Shimmer, though, because I barely noticed any at all. :)

The Multiple has been a part of the Nars line for quite some time.  It's a multi-use product that looks equally great on cheeks and lips.  It's billed as a cream-to-powder finish, which I only just now realized.  I've read that some even use it as a quick eyeshadow, but I think that might not be for everyone, depending on age and coloring.  My favorite use is as a lovely cheek color, but I've recently begun using it for a lipcolor as well.  It does not have the best staying power on the lips, but it is no worse than the majority of other lipsticks.  Here is the swatch:

You can find Nars products at your local Sephora.  I think I read somewhere that there is a new shade for spring.  You can bet that I will be checking it out very soon.  :)  Oh, they are not cheap, but then what products that I recommend are?  $39.00  And if you look at it as a product that it can take the place of blush AND lipstick, is the price really all that bad?  ;)

I would also like to talk a bit about IT Cosmetics lip products today.  If you've read anything from me previously, you know that I have a Special Weakness for lip products, so it should not surprise you that I drank the IT Cosmetics Kool Aid and own a few of their lip products.  First, let me say that I LOVE LOVE LOVE the IT Cosmetics lipliners.  The founder of the line calls them 'lipstain lipliners', and I guess that technically they DO stain your lips.  But the staining ability is probably not why I have moved the IT Cosmetics lipliner to the top of my lipliner heap these days.  These lipliners glide on very smoothly, a major selling point for me and my crepey, dry, OLD lips, and the Nude Blush shade is just perfect for my purposes - a brownish pinky neutral, shown below:

I can also tell you that these lipliners STAY.  After taking the above picture, I discovered that that little heart is gonna be on the inside of my wrist for quite some time, because rubbing it with my finger, and rubbing it with water on my finger, had absolutely no effect!  Still there!  I am sure that taking some of my eyemakeup remover to it will do the trick, but, for now, I'm going to enjoy my little heart tattoo.

HOWEVER, I can NOT rave equally about the IT Cosmetics lipsticks and glosses.  (Well, I could RAVE, but it wouldn't be in a good way.....)  I have tried and tried and tried, but no matter WHAT shade of these I purchase, they all turn the same Somewhat Garish Pink on my lips.  (And they stained the inside of my wrist the same color after swatching them!)  I will say that the shade of pink they turn on me might actually be a GOOD shade for someone with different coloring than mine, but if you are fair, with warm skintone, you do not want to waste your money on these products.  Here are the glosses and the lipstick I tried:

The packaging is very pretty.  It's just too bad that the colors all turn the same shade once you apply them!

The shades are Damsel (lipstick), Naturally Flushed (gloss on L), and Je Ne Sais Quoi (gloss on R), but, honestly, it doesn't matter WHAT shade you pick.  After wearing it for less than five minutes, you will see that your lips are stained PINK PINK PINK.  And that's fine if you look good in that shade.  I, personally, look like I'm auditioning for Clown Grandma, which is not generally the look I'm going for....Hot Grandma, or even just plain Not So Bad Grandma is more what I'd like people to think when they look at me. ;)

I tried to snap a picture of my lips wearing these products, but, shockingly, when I compared the color in the photo to the color that I actually see in the mirror, it was not the same!  In the photo it actually looked like a decent color, whereas, I can assure you, in person, Clown Grandma!  Yikes!  I SO wanted to love these products.  But I just cannot.