lipstick – Sophia Ravenna

NYX Stone Fox

April 15, 2016Sophia Ravenna

Maybe you’ve already noticed, but I’m kind of on a weird lip color kick. I figure if I’m going to try a new lip formula, I might as well pick up a color that isn’t too close to something I already have, so why not get something really out of the box?

I actually had my eye on Stone Fox from the NYX Liquid Suede line for a while, but I wasn’t sure how wearable it was. Then I saw it on a cashier at Sephora and even though her skin was way darker than mine, it was so beautiful on her that I knew I’d have to try it on me! So when Target got the Liquid Suedes in and they actually had Stone Fox, and I’d been having a bad week, I treated myself to ridiculous grey lipstick.

But… Is it really that ridiculous? I mean, OK, obviously I’m not going to just casually throw on a deep, slatey grey lip the next time I’m out for dinner with my husband, or for every performance. But for when I want something really dark and dramatic, I think this is more daring than a dark red or purple, but less harsh than pure black. I’d put it right up there as a favorite non-black Gothy lip color, along with Ayesha from Kat Von D and Marshmallow from ColourPop.

Although my swatch above shows the color as being glossy, it hadn’t dried down yet. It dries to a soft matte finish, but not one of those ultra-mattes that dries the lips out. I found it to be pretty easy to wear all night. Also, you can’t really tell in the top image, but I dusted a bit of gunmetal glitter on while it was drying, which looked really cool. This color was perfect with my gunmetal sequin costume and silver eye shadow for last week’s Open Stage.

To be honest, I’m really not sure what the difference is between the formula of the Soft Matte Lip Cremes and the Liquid Suede. NYX has a dizzying amount of lip formulas, but they all seem to perform pretty well so I think it boils down to what kind of color and finish you want. NYX’s website says the Liquid Suede line is water proof and does not say that about the SMLC, so that could be the primary difference. Both are long-wearing though. I wore Stone Fox for a performance, drank water all through the show, then had a beer after and my lips still looked good at the end of the night.

Whether or not you like Stone Fox, I’d recommend having a look at the Liquid Suedes to see if there’s a color that strikes your fancy, because this is a great affordable lip product that will hold up all night, and the matte finish means neither your hair nor your veil will get stuck in it.

Everlasting Liquid Lipstick

January 8, 2016Sophia Ravenna

Image shamelessly lifted from Sephora's website. — Image shamelessly lifted from Sephora’s website.

I’d been hearing good things about Kat Von D’s Everlasting Liquid Lipstick and I’m a fan of the brand in general, so last month I ordered “Ayesha” which is a beautiful lavender shade. I just love purple lipsticks!

I wore Ayesha for dinner on NYE. I mean, what better time to test a lip product than an evening of eating and more drinking than I usually indulge in? So I paired it with a mixed metal eye look… also using Kat Von D eye shadow, because like I said, I’m a fan of the brand (Monarch Palette FTW!).

So I really like the color. It’s sort of a beautiful orchid shade, just warm enough that it doesn’t wash me out. It’s really unusual without being over-the-top. I could see myself wearing this to perform, with the right costume. And I can definitely see myself wearing it to go out again.

My main concern is that the coverage is not as opaque as I would like. I feel like it would benefit from being worn over a liner or maybe a base color. I’d like to play with it some more. I did find that it was easy to re-apply when I had a little color loss after dinner and people wanted to take pictures. I’ve heard that’s a concern with some liquid lipsticks, but this one did not have an issue.

What I really appreciated was that although this dries down to a matte finish, it did not destroy my lips like the ColourPop matte liquid lipstick that I tried. As I mentioned in that review, my lips tend to be pretty dry normally, especially in the winter, so I have to be careful with the matte lip trend. This formula seems to play well with my lips so I think I’ll pick up another color or two in the coming months. I like that it comes in 29 shades ranging from pale nude to pure black, some subtle and some over the top, so there’s an option for just about everyone.

By the way, my goal is to eventually do a big liquid lipstick smack-down test, maybe once I move to Seattle and my lips will be benefiting from a less arid climate! Which brands would you like to see me review? I think the next one I pick up will be the new tarte line with the ridiculous millennial slang names.

ColourPop Ultra Matte Lip

November 13, 2015Sophia Ravenna

I’m generally a fan of ColourPop, and generally a fan of matte liquid lipsticks (because my hair never gets stuck in them), so I decided to order the ColourPop Ultra Matte Lip in Tulle and wear it for November’s Open Stage. Tulle is described as a “dusty mauve burgundy” which is just the sort of color I like for Fall and Winter gigs when I’m not feeling a dark berry or deep red. I think of it as a dark neutral.

When I applied this product, I wasn’t sure how much I liked it, it didn’t go on quite how I wanted it to and I thought it was a little streaky and emphasized my lip lines too much. However, a couple people told me they really liked the color on me, and I definitely appreciated that I was able to enjoy a drink during the show and my lip color stayed put — in fact, I still had a pretty good amount of color after dancing, drinking a beer, going out for dinner, having a big meal and a chai, and then going home at the end of the night.

But here’s the thing… by the end of the night my lips were also feeling super dry. And then although I slathered on some heavy-duty lip ointment, when I woke up the next day, my lips hurt from having been so dried out, and continued to hurt for the entire day no matter what lip balms and ointments I tried on them. My lips tend to be pretty dry normally so I have to be careful with matte lip products, and I think this one is just too matte and drying for me. If your lips are not super dry, you may find this to be a good formula for you, as it is a budget-friendly $6 and comes in some really cute colors and lasts well for a long night of dancing. I’ll probably still break it out on occasion when I can count on getting home and taking it off within a couple hours to save my lips, because it is a good color on me, but it’s not going to become a go-to product.

Wet Lippie Stix and Lippie Pencil

April 24, 2015Sophia Ravenna

Let's experiment with a weird lip color! — Let’s experiment with a weird lip color!

As part of my most recent ColourPop order, I picked up the Lippie Stix and Lippie Pencil in “Wet.” This is described as “a cool-toned taupe gunmetal with a pearlized finish” which is pretty accurate. It’s darker than the first image in the listing, but pretty much matches the lips and swatches shown. I bought it because I thought it was really beautiful and would look awesome for steampunk or faerie stuff… In fact, I really wish I’d had this color for my FemBot performance, as it would have been perfect.

My feelings about this color are complicated. It’s very beautiful, but it’s also very difficult for me to wear. As pale as I am, it really washes me out. I need to really build an entire makeup look around it. Here’s what happened when I was just playing with random products and put on Wet with a soft eye color and minimal blush:

It’s not a very flattering look right there. I got a lot of advice on ways I could build a makeup look around it, and I definitely want to try them, but sadly did not get a chance to in the day between trying Wet and writing this blog post.

What I did find is that because the Wet Lippie Stix is semi-sheer, I could layer it over a red lip pencil and create a cool red-bronze look.

The red pencil in question was, well, kind of crummy, so I threw it out, but as a proof of concept, you can see how this is a much more wearable color for normal circumstances. This could be a good way to deepen a bright red, or add a shimmer to a matte color. I’m curious to see how it would layer over other colors, too.

This is definitely a situation where you should buy the lipstick and liner together, as to get the best color saturation you’ll want to cover your entire lip with the pencil and then apply the lipstick over the top. It’s disappointing that Wet is such a sheer lipstick, as I’d expect a dark color like this to be more intense, but then again, I may be expecting too much for a $5 lip color.

ColourPop LippieStix and Lip Pencil

January 9, 2015Sophia Ravenna

This post is going to be a little brief and lazy because I am feeling really sick today, but I still wanted to post something, so I’m just going to use this photo from the eye shadow review and write some thoughts, OK? Next week should be a more proper beauty blog.

So I bought the Brink Lippie Stix and Lippie Pencil from ColourPop with the thought that it might be a nice Pantone Color of the Year 2015 Marsala sort of shade, but it’s really not quite marsala, it’s maybe more terra cotta or something? They call it a taupe on their website but I think of taupe as more grey-brown and not nearly this reddish. Whatever you want to call it, it’s a neat matte color and I like how it looks on me. If you’re looking for something earthy, or something for the 90s grunge throwback look, this is a good choice for you. I think it’s good for tribal belly dance looks when you really want a more subtle color palette instead of red lips.

I really appreciate that ColourPop has pencils available to match ALL of their lip colors. As such, I’ve been able to do the trick of coloring my entire lip area with the pencil and then putting the lipstick over it. This came in handy last night since I had to emcee at the last minute while coming down with a cold, so I was drinking tea in between performances, which means I was losing lipstick but you couldn’t tell because there was pencil underneath. I also appreciate that they’re only $5 each, so you can buy both the stick and the pencil and not break the bank.

I’m also pretty happy with the product in general. Both the pencil and the lipstick apply really smoothly, and even though this is a matte color I didn’t find it excessively drying. When layered together they seem to wear well for the 4-5 hours I’ve worn them for. I haven’t done an all-day test yet because I really don’t do lipstick on a daily basis, even though I’ve been doing a “makeup every day” challenge for myself, I usually apply it in the afternoon and remove it sometime in the evening, and often just do a tinted balm.

I’ll probably pick up at least one more color from this brand next time I order some of their eye shadows. At the price, it’s definitely a good way to try out some more unusual colors that I’m not sure about, or a specialty color that I need for a character piece but won’t wear often otherwise.

Also, I filmed a video of myself getting ready last night and I wanted to link it in this post, but YouTube has been processing my edits for about FOUR HOURS now. I really don’t understand YouTube. What does processing edits even mean? Why does it take so long? At this rate, maybe it will be ready for me to share on Monday’s blog post.

Bite Beauty High Pigment Lip Pencil Tin

December 19, 2014December 19, 2014Sophia Ravenna

So let me tell you what happens when you procrastinate too long on writing beauty blogs: You find that the item you want to review is no longer available on Sephora, but you don’t have time to test and photograph something else, so you roll with it. Maybe you can still find it in stores, just not on-line.

This is a cute little tin of four mini-size Bite Beauty High Pigment Pencils. There’s two colors which are part of the permanent line (Pomegranate and Rhubarb) and two special limited-edition holiday colors (Sable and Winterberry). The tin is about the size and shape of an Altoids tin, has a slightly rubberized-feeling coating, and a mirror inside the lid.

I like the tin because it’s sturdy, latches well, and is a convenient size to travel with, or even to throw in your purse if, like me, you carry a medium-sized bag. The mirror makes it easy to touch up on the go. And once I’ve used up all my crayons, I can re-use it to carry around other things, like small eyeshadows and sample-sized mascaras or tiny travel brushes.

Top to bottom: Sable, Rhubarb, Winterberry, Pomegranate.

I like the mix of colors. I was surprised to find that Sable actually looked good on me, because I’ve never worn a color like this. It’s a good nude lip for me. Rhubarb is like a “my lips but better” sort of color. Winterberry is a lovely berry color. And I actually already had Pomegranate and wear it fairly often for performing, because it’s a good basic red that looks nice with ruby glitter on top.

The crayon format makes these easy to apply, and you just twist the bottom for more product as needed. They’re nicely moisturizing and seem to wear pretty well, although I haven’t tested how many hours I get out of them. I’ve been wearing them for all kinds of things, from dancing to dinner to concerts.

Your regularly scheduled hand swatch has been replaced with this arm swatch.

If you can get your hands on this in the stores, I think it’s a great last-minute gift item. If I remember correctly, it was $25, which is a fair price considering the full-size .09oz products cost $24 each, and each of these is .05oz and it comes with a neat tin and two are LE colors. No wonder it’s sold out! Anyway, not only is this a great one for dancers, but I think this would be the perfect gift for anyone in your life who wears makeup, as the mix of colors really takes you from daytime to night time, and the cute tin makes it easy to wrap.

Two NYX Lip Products

October 17, 2014October 15, 2014Sophia Ravenna

After my e.l.f. roundup post, I had a lot of my readers chime in to say they preferred NYX. Shortly thereafter, Ulta had a big 40% off sale on all NYX products, so I figured it was a good time to try a few things! You’ll see reviews of several products over the next month or two, starting with these two lip colors. I’ve heard good things about a lot of NYX’s different lip products, and I was wanting some good dark colors for fall and winter.

Let’s start with the Butter Lipstick in Licorice. It’s a nice berry red… clearly based more on red licorice than black, but it’s not bright cherry red like a Red Vine, more like a pretty raspberry soft eating licorice from Australia. Why do they call those candies “eating licorice” by the way? What other uses are there for licorice, other than tea?

Lacking a gig this week, I just wore this around the house, to dinner, and to dance class. I lost some color from eating and had to re-apply it to my lower lip. Other than that, it pretty much stayed put. I applied it over the lip primer thingie that I have from Bite Beauty. I really like this color, and I like how smooth and easy the Lip Butter applies. It definitely has more of a soft, buttery lip balm feel than a sticky, waxy lipstick feel. I would definitely recommend this for any dancer who hates traditional lipstick but is looking for a rich color for performances. It comes in a lot of fun colors, pinks and red and corals and berry shades.

And then there’s the Simply Vamp in Enamored. I swatched this one in the store and liked how it was a deep brown-red with a shimmer to it. I thought it would look pretty awesome for a dark, vampy look. I decided to break it out for a recent date night with my husband. How did that work out?

This photo just doesn’t do justice to how bad this color was for me! It made me look washed out, and it didn’t want to apply to the inner part of my lip, so it looks pretty patchy. I think I will try one of these lip creams in a different color, but Enamored is definitely best left to someone with darker skin than me! I can’t tell you anything about how well this wore because I showed it to my husband, snapped the above pic and then removed it so I could wear an old stand-by for the evening and not look so scary.

Enough is Enough

September 19, 2014Sophia Ravenna

Really, "Full Frontal"? — Really, “Full Frontal”?

I don’t consider myself a prude. I’ll read sexy books, and laugh at dirty jokes, and I’m not ashamed of my nudity or that of anyone else. That said, I find myself weary of the glut of “sexy” names for cosmetics.

It seems like the big trend is to name your neutral palette something that suggests bare skin. Urban Decay has their Naked sets, Bobbi Brown has one called Nude on Nude.

And then there’s the “clever” play on words that could refer to eyelashes or breasts! Products with names like They’re Real and The Falsies.

The first couple of times you see something like that, it’s kind of cute and funny. But when everyone is doing it, it’s clear that they’re just trying to copy each other’s popularity. Not just “We’re also offering a neutral palette” but “Look, we’re sexy and edgy, too!”

Now as part of their holiday launch, Urban Decay has a lipstick set called Full Frontal Lipstick Stash. Don’t get me wrong, it looks like a good product and while I probably won’t buy it myself since I need to save up for Tribal Fest 15, I would not complain at all if I received it as a gift. But the name is too much. It’s not even like these are nude lip colors, so it’s not a play on that. Is it a comment about the phallic nature of lipstick? And what am I to make of color names like “Ladyflower” and “Gash”?

So by all means, hit me with a clever innuendo in your book, movie, or TV show. But can we move on to a new naming convention for our cosmetics?

Lipstick + Glitter = LOVE

August 29, 2014Sophia Ravenna

What's inside these little black boxes? — What’s inside these little black boxes?

It’s no secret that a lot of belly dances like sparkles, and one of the ways that we express that is with a good glitter lip! The most common is red glitter over a red lip, but it’s fun to play with different combos. In fact, one day I’m going to write a post about my favorite non-red glitter lip combos, but today we’re looking at a red one I made with two new-to-me products.

Remember when I said I visited a Sephora in NYC? Well, I purchased these two items and some eye liner. The lipstick is Mrs. Mia Wallace from the Urban Decay Pulp Fiction collection. The rest of the collection doesn’t do anything for me, but blood red lipstick caught my eye. And I was really excited about the Diamond Powder from Make Up For Ever, which my local Sephora doesn’t carry. I picked Champagne 11 which looked really nice swatched over the lipstick.

IMG_1329[1] — Mrs. Mia Wallace lipstick.

Mrs. Mia Wallace is a limited edition color of the Revolution lipstick line. It’s described as a deep blood red and while it’s not quite as deep as I would like, it is a nice blue-based bloody color and has a good creamy texture. I had some feathering trouble when I applied it, but I have been having that trouble with all of my lip products in this heat, it’s driving me crazy! Anyway, because it’s a special limited edition part of the Pulp Fiction collection, it comes in a Pulp Fiction box with a quote from the movie printed on the inside, a cute touch even if you’re not a huge fan of the movie (I like it, but it’s not my favorite). And the lipstick itself is in a slightly sparkly black and metallic purple tube. COOL! This whole product appeals to my inner Goth girl.

Champagne 11 (just “11” on the box) is described as a champagne beige shimmer, which doesn’t sound like something I would buy, but it’s so pretty! I think it’s versatile enough that I can use it as a lip accent or an eye accent. In fact, I’m betting that it will pare really nicely with the colors in my beloved Monarch Palette. Diamond Powder is a really super-fine glitter, and in fact while it swatched well over the lipstick on my hand, it kind of disappeared on my lips, so I think I’m going to have to experiment with really packing it on to get the glitter look I want. It’s definitely a product worth playing with.

You can see that when worn together, it’s more of a bright shiny red than a blood red, but I think it’s a good color on me.

Yeah, so, I got braces yesterday…

April 8, 2014Sophia Ravenna

Well, I put it off long enough, but in the last couple of weeks I finally put the plan into motion… I made the appointment to get my braces. And yesterday, I got the upper set put in (my lower teeth are not so unruly, so they get to wait a bit before being reined in). I am unfortunately not a candidate for Invisalign, but I did get clear braces, so as you can see from the above picture, they’re not nearly as obtrusive as the old-school silver ones we’re all so familiar with. And that’s a good thing, because I’ll be living with them for the next two years or so while I get these teeth straightened out.

Throughout the years, I’ve had a pretty complicated relationship with my smile. I used to hide my mouth a lot in photos, or avoid having my picture taken at all. Plenty of people have told me that I have a beautiful smile and I’m pretty the way I am, but in the back of my mind there was always the mocking words of all the kids who teased me, and even the adult who told my parents that my teenage self had a beautiful figure (complete with miming the curves I didn’t really have), but they should really do something about my teeth. Yes, this was said right in front of me. Yes, if I had a time machine, I’d go back and kick her in the shins.

And the truth is, while I’ve become more comfortable with my image and I know my friends mean it when they say I have a beautiful smile, I also know that if I want to work as a professional dancer, I’ll have an easier time getting gigs if I have straighter teeth. And as I’ve said before when discussing body love and self image, I don’t think there is anything wrong with loving your body but wanting to make the occasional improvement. Do I think I am beautiful? Oh yeah I do! But do I think I will be even MORE beautiful when I don’t have huge gaps between my teeth and a massive overbite? No question about it. So if you want to tell me that I am fine just the way I am/was, I will thank you for that, but this is still something that I want to do for myself.

And now: mini cosmetics review! When I posted the above photo on Facebook yesterday I got a ton of compliments on and questions about my lipstick. It’s Violet by Bite Beauty. I purchased it as part of this cute double-end mini, but you can also buy it as a full-sized product. I think the color looks great on me, it’s a nice example of 2014 Color of the Year Radiant Orchid, and I found the formula to be non-drying and easy to wear. It did get worn off when I ate dinner though. But over all, I think it’s a great product to check out if you like that bright lip look. I intend to wear it a lot.