The Lipstick Bandits Reunite: Summer Brights Edition

It’s been awhile, but The Bandits are back, just in time for the new season.  ’Summer Brights,’ our Bandit chief instructed, and as always, we’re here to deliver.

Pink, to me, is as summery as it gets.  It can be 30 degrees and raining outside, but as long as I have bright pink lipstick and some floral sunglasses on, the world seems sunnier.  I’m certainly not encouraging you to join in my deluded pastimes, but as far as summery lipstick goes, just take my advice and buy yourself something eye-searingly pink.

I’ve never talked about Milani lipsticks on Makeup Morsels before, maybe because there’s simply too much makeup to blog about and not enough time, but they are fantastic.  Some of the shades are misses, but more often than not, they have wonderfully pigmented colors.  And this pink, I was pleasantly surprised at finding something such a bright pink creme at the drugstore.

Everyone, Meet Milani Rose Hip:

Here Do I Present An Introduction to Lipstick

This time, we were charged to either dig up the lipstick that started it all, or find a good ‘starter lipstick,’ for the makeup lover that has yet to discover the marvels (and perils) of lipstick.

Initially, I was keen on sharing the origin story of my lipstick stash.  But then I inspected my very first lipstick (or at least what I think was my very first lipstick), and good lord was the packaging unattractive.  Shallow?  Who, me?

Starter lipstick it is!

I toyed with the idea of using a glossy lipstick, such as my recently acquired Revlon Lip Butter.  But I always hesitate to call those true lipsticks (although I do love them), as they’re much more a hybrid of gloss and lipsticks.  For me, the word ‘lipstick’ implies much more than just the formula.  Lipstick conjures up all sorts of memories: my mother and grandmother taking those slim black tubes out of their bags in softly lit restrooms, scribbles of color in fashion magazines, the two or three tubes I stole to decorate my parents’ sheets when I was little (I still shudder to think of the yelling that followed that incident).  Lipstick has always carried a quiet glamour and chicness in my mind, and if you’re going to enter the world of lipstick, you may as well choose something that will make you feel sophisticated every time you carefully apply a coat to your lips.

It’s A Lipstick Bandit Holiday Extravaganza

I am referring to Lipstick Bandits, as I doubt actual bandits give a flying fig about Holiday Lips.  However, having had no experience whatsoever being an actual bandit, I guess I can’t generalize.

I know that the holidays are technically over, but hello, do I ever need an excuse to break out red lipstick?

(That was rhetorical).

(But in case you’re wondering, the answer is no).

I know that the traditional New Year’s Eve look is smokey/glam eyes with nude lips, but if you feel like shaking things up for 2012, you could do red lips.  Or you could wear them to the grocery store.  If you’re extra cool (like me), you could wear them while baking something delicious in the kitchen, or polishing up the last of those never-ending college applications.

This time around, the guidelines were anything that fell within the red+sparkly realm.  Which let me assure you, is a wide and glorious realm.

Products used:

Lipstick Bandit Madness: Fall Edition

The Lipstick Bandits are back!  And this time, we have additional recruits.

Our new task was to find one favorite fall lipstick, and share it with the world.  This may sound easy enough, but trying to choose a single lipstick for this post was incredibly difficult (either I have too many lipsticks, or I have issues.  I think it’s a combination of both…)

After much hemming and hawing, I finally settled on an old favorite:

Lip Look: Orange You Glad It’s Summer?

I’m actually not glad it’s summer (aside from the lovely I-have-more-free-time tidbit), but you know I can’t resist lame titles.

The above lip look is the result of four different products.  Should you be wearing 3 lipsticks and 1 gloss at the same time?  Probably not.  Did I have a good reason for doing it?  Nope.

I used the following (‘used’ meaning I’d find one product, get all excited and put it on, and then repeat the process with the next one):