red lip wardrobe

I frequently use the 'but I'm a beauty blogger, so it's research' excuse when confronted with questions about my growing cosmetic collection. Here I whip it out again, to make up for the fact that the above is but a selection from my red lip wardrobe.

When I look for a red lip, I don't stick to one formula or texture. I have glosses, sheer reds, coral-toned reds, brick reds and those in the spectrum between. I do find that I need to warm up the rest of my complexion when I wear some of these shades, and I generally use a bronzer like Nars Laguna to do so.

The truer reds in my collection would be 'Screen Siren' from Vani-T and Revlon's lip butter in 'Candy Apple'. I tend to base looks around them when I wear them, as they are quite strong on their own. The Serge Louis Alvarez '#27' is a blood red gloss with lots of intense shimmer, it really is a beauty and one I'm so glad to have in my collection. Nars 'Amsterdam' is the newest addition to the red lip family, it is deep and vampy and the formula is divine.

I was a bad blogger and totally neglected my mini Nars glosses when taking these shots. The shades Babe and Misbehave are stunning, and I can apply them without a mirror but am also able to build them right up on the lip as well. I adore the Nars gloss formula (regular line, not keen on the Larger than Life range though the colours look good)

My favourite product from my red lip wardrobe is definitely MAC's Viva Glam Cyndi lipstick (now sadly discontinued) which is a Lustre finish and is coral-toned, which makes it so easy for me to wear day in and day out. I will be heart broken when Cyndi leaves my life, but for now I am enjoying her but alternating with other red shades like MAC's Hot Tahiti. That, my dear blog readers, is the beauty of having a red lip wardrobe!



Recreating Myself // My Wildcard Entry for #BBU12

In terms of makeup, I switch up my look all the time. Some days are bright pink lips, other days it is bright green eyeshadow, but the one look I am afraid of, I decided to tackle for Sara-May's Makeup Utopia Wildcard. For those of you who are unaware, Makeup Utopia are hosting a Beauty Bloggers Conference in September and have 2 wildcard spots available... and I want one!

I present to you, my take on a 'dark and vampy' FOTD!

I used matte shades for the eyes as it is something I don't do often, and it forced me to work at blending a lot more than I normally would as well.

I used theBalm's Meet Matt(e) palette for my eyes, with Matt McDonald being the star player! I blended the edges out with Matt Gallagher and used Matt Chung as the hightlight. The lips were courtesy of MAC Plumful, until I thought of something vampier in my collection...

The new Nars Pure Matte lipstick in Amsterdam fit the vampy bill perfectly!

Whilst most of the other Wildcard entries are full on looks, I thought of this challenge as a way to recreate my way of thinking, and stop fearing certain looks! Makeup is all about having fun (after all, it washes off!) and so I'm grateful for this challenge, which has taught me to try all the looks in my head, and not fear new things!

What new things will you try this week?
What look are you most afraid of?


What do you think of my Wildcard attempt?!