My Holy Grail Lip Products
Monday, October 23, 2017Lip products are my weakness when it comes to makeup. They’re cheaper than any type of makeup and they come in different colors and finishes. They’re very affordable so it’s easy to build a humongous collection just by buying lipstick, lip pencils, and all those kinds of makeup creation intended for your lips. If I have to choose only one makeup that I can’t live without, it’s got to be a lip product.
I used to own nearly a hundred lipsticks from different brands and I’m not even a beauty blogger nor a makeup artist. I’m just addicted to makeup! But I sold and threw out many of those because I can’t finish everything in my makeup stash. One thing’s for sure – from using local, drugstore, mid-range, high-end to a couple of luxury brands – I can now share with you my 6 holy grail lip products.
Lipstick
Everyone who starts with makeup starts with a bullet of lipstick. In my opinion, the best lipsticks are formulated by MAC Cosmetics. Yes, they’re on the high-end side but you’re definitely paying for quality. If you have one wearable MAC lipstick, you’ll find yourself gravitating towards that every single day.
Now I have my two holy grail lipsticks from MAC, just because I can’t decide which one I like better! I love them both and they are different in shade and finish. My first pick is MAC Taupe, which is a matte, warm medium brown shade. It’s housed in the original sleek, black packaging and is a permanent product. Since I have medium skin tone, this has always been my go-to nude shade. What I like about MAC’s matte finish is that it’s opaque at one swipe, long-wearing, and doesn’t over dry my already dry lips. Plus MAC Taupe looks great on different skin tones.
My next holy grail lipstick and a fairly new discovery is MAC Liptensity Lipstick in Smoked Almond. My goodness this is THE perfect warm, pinky-brown shade for morenas. It looks hard on the tube, but it’s actually gelled-base and very creamy when applied. It also has a satin finish. While most satin or glossy lipsticks don’t provide much pigmentation, MAC Liptensity gives an intense color and hydrates the lips. It’s like a combination of MAC’s comfortable amplified finish, and pigmented matte texture. Not sure if this is a permanent color since it was only released in the Philippines last November 2016. I hope it is! I love how the packaging is true to the lipstick shade, too!
Price: Php 1,050 at MAC Philippines counters, Php 850-1,000 (online resellers and Shopee), US$ 17.50 at Maccosmetics.com for MAC Lipstick
Shade I use: Taupe
Php 1,300 AT MAC Philippines counters, Php 800-1,400 (online resellers and Shopee) US$ 21 at Maccosmetics.com for MAC Liptensity Lipstick
Shade I use: Smoked Almond
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| From top to bottom: MAC Lipstick in Taupe, MAC Liptensity Lipstick in Smoked Almond. Aside from the product, MAC Cosmetics' packaging looks very makeup pro and these are made of high-quality materials. |
Liquid Lipstick
I couldn’t remember when liquid lipsticks started to sprout like wild mushroom, but new cosmetic brands now include liquid lipsticks in their makeup line. Just like a regular lipstick, the liquid version comes in different (and outrageous) colors, finishes, consistency, and even scent. The main differences between the two types are longevity, applicator, and possible color change after application.
I tried several brands and I always come back to my holy grail Ofra Long Lasting Liquid Lipsticks. They’re not the cheapest or the most expensive when it comes to liquid lipsticks, but Ofra has one of the best formulas in the market. The formula has a creamy consistency and the color gives off a solid pigmentation. I love how its doe-foot applicator is small and precise, that I can control how much product I apply, especially when I use deep colors.
Ofra Long Lasting Liquid Lipsticks don’t dry full matte so the color does transfer onto glasses, cups, and bottles when I drink, or on a tissue when I pat my lips dry. But the best thing about its creamy formula is that it’s very comfortable to wear. It’s as comfortable as wearing a regular lipstick, only the liquid lipstick doesn’t fade easily. I seldom reapply this throughout the day because majority of the color remains even after I eat (except when I eat oily food). It doesn’t accentuate the dryness of my lips even if I wear it for 8 hours.
Have you ever tried using a matte liquid lipstick which you want to take off so badly after wearing for 2 hours or so? That’s what I felt when I used ColourPop Ultra Matte Lip for the first time. Ofra is so comfortable that I don’t need to drench my lips with lip balm prior to liquid lipstick application. I also didn’t need to wipe off my entire lip just to retouch a portion.
In Ofra, my go-to shades are Charmed (in collaboration with MannyMUA) and Manila. Charmed is a mauve pink-nude shade and becomes rosy-pink once it’s dried down. Manila, on the other hand, is a light rose nude color which was difficult to pull off on a morena skin tone when used alone. I couldn’t wear Manila on its own as the color washes out my lips against my NC30-NC35 skin tone. However, I grew to love it by applying the color over a lip liner. What’s great about the shade Manila is that I can customize different shades using this light nude color. When I combine Manila with MAC Spice Lip Pencil, the color becomes warmer with a hint of brown and the overall shade combination is lighter than MAC Taupe but a hairline darker than MAC Half ‘n’ Half.
Price: Php 850 at Landmark Department Store and Glamourbox.ph, US$ 20 at Ofracosmetics.com
Shades I use: Charmed, Manila
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| Ofra Long Lasting Liquid Lipstick in Manila and MAC Cosmetics Lip Pencil in Spice. This is my perfect, long lasting nude lip combo. |
Lip Pencil
I seldom use lip pencils but when I do, I go for my Etude House Soft Touch Auto Lip Liner. For an automatic lip pencil, this product is super cheap! It’s very pigmented, applies matte, and doesn’t have that chemical smell which you normally find in local brands. It glides easily on the lips even on dry patches.
This Auto Lip Liner only has 0.2 grams, but it’s very convenient to put inside my makeup kit since I don’t need to bring a sharpener. I like that the cap is almost true to the lip liner color. The only downside is that Etude House only has 5 colors which are 3 on the pink side, 1 nude, and 1 red. My favorite is #5 which is a warm pinky-brown shade.
Price: Php 98 at Etude House Philippines shops and counters; US$ 2.60 at Etudehouse.com
Shade I use: #5
Lip Balm
I used to love Burt’s Bees lip balms, but that all changed when I discovered how nurturing and long-lasting DHC Lip Cream is. I first found out about DHC Lip Cream while watching YouTuber Kim Dao and her Japan beauty must-haves. She couldn’t pinpoint exactly why she loved it and just highly recommended to buy this.
And true enough when I went to Osaka last April, I couldn’t stop using this lip balm. I usually have dry lips (though not overly dry and cracking) so I need a product that can moisturize my lips. Lip balms gives moisture but sometimes these balms leave a thin whitish film on top of your lips. Unlike any other balms, DHC Lip Cream is a bit softer and glides on smoothly, makes my lips soft and plump, and adds a little shine. When I put this on my lips at night, I wake up with my lips still soft and moisturized. Not sticky at all!
I don’t find DHC Lip Cream to have a scent. It has a slanted tip and applies buttery soft. It’s actually cost-effective to use this product because only one swipe is enough to give my lips just the right amount of shine and moisture. However, because I like it so much, I find myself reapplying this lip cream throughout the day that I consume the tube quickly. I’m guessing two more weeks and I’m done with my second tube. I can finish one tube in a span of 2 to 2.5 months. When I go back to Japan, I’ll bring home a year’s supply of DHC Lip Cream! Oh, and did I mention how slim and luxurious the packaging feels?
Price: ¥460-530 in Japan drugstores, Php 350-500 (Shopee and online resellers), US$ 9.50 at Dhccare.com
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| Me and my husband at my cousin's wedding. The lip color I'm wearing is a combination of MAC Spice Lip Pencil and Ofra Manila. I reapplied this lip combo after 5 hours. |
I don’t have my holy grail lip gloss because I don’t usually wear one (not a fan of its sticky consistency). As for lip tints, I’m still figuring out which one I like best. Do you have any of your holy grail lip products to share? Comment below and let me know your favorites!
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| My favorite lip products from Ofra, MAC Cosmetics, Etude House and DHC. Notice there's a certain theme on my color selection. And if you guessed correctly, yes I love pinky-brown and nude shades! |
Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. I bought these makeup with my own money and my thoughts on these products are 100% honest and based on my experience.
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