Thursday, May 11, 2006

So you're on a desert island...


I was once on a car ride with two other very high maintenance friends and talk turned to beauty, as it so often does. The question arose, "If you could only have three beauty products for the rest of your life, what would they be?"

We first established the ground rules. We did not mean this to include basic hygiene staples like toothpaste or soap. However, tools such as tweezers and lash curlers DID count towards the three product quotient. This was hotly debated, but eventually, the listing began.

I can't remember exactly what everyone picked, although almost everyone included some kind of concealer/foundation.

My picks were my Vincent Longo foundation (can double as a concealer!), mascara (yuck to the lashless bunny effect), and Prada Shielding Balm SPF 15/Lip/Tint 04.

The genius of the Prada Lip Tint is that it can multitask as a blush and a lip balm and a lip gloss.

Now, in a world where I am allowed as many beauty products as I like, I still love my Prada Lip Tint, but I don't use it every day. This might strike some as odd, considering I just said that I would pick it to have forever and forsake all other lip balms and glosses. In the real world, the Lip Tint is wonderful because it is a fantastic pinch hitter.

A word about the background. When Prada Beauty made its debut circa 2002, it was heralded as being so sleek, minimal and sanitary. Single use tubes! Air tight packaging! Germs begone! Miuccia's beauty reigns supreme!

I fell for the lip balm immediately and fell in total lust for the clear cherry color of Tint 04. But alas, they were out of it! I was talked into buying Tint 03, which I used, but never felt right about it. Finally I signed myself up on the Barney's waiting list for the 04 color. That's right, a waiting list.

But I have loved it ever since. The color gives my lips and/or cheeks a totally natural flush. The formula sinks into your lips and is extremely moisturizing without ever being slippery or sticky. It even has a nice little lemony scent.

And thanks to the sanitary packaging and the fact that you get 8 tubes in a box, I have NEVER had to buy this again. (But I totally would) And they are so tiny that I keep one in each purse and one in my car! Hell, the tube is so small you could fit it into that tiny useless fifth pocket on your jeans and forget about a purse. (But why would you want to forget a purse?)

So thankfully, I do not live in a world where my beauty products are limited by anything other than my budget and my bathroom counter space, and the Prada Lip Tint happens to fit in both.

2 comments:

Beauty Chick said...

I think I'm going to have to run out and get Tint #4 asap! Sounds like the perfect travel companion, especially with the SPF 15.

I'd love to hear the rest of your and your friends' top picks! My necessities are mascara, under eye concealer and lip gloss (face powder would be #4).

caphillbarbie said...

Yes, the Tint #4 is awfully good. Based on the whole waiting list experience, I was a little wary of writing about it, but it lasts so long that I felt I had a good supply in case anything actually did limit me to certain beauty products!

The other lists turned out to be very similar. Almost everyone chose a foundation or concealer. Most picked mascara, although one raven haired friend chose tweezers over mascara, citing her unruly Peter Gallagher eyebrows, but dark eyelashes.

One friend chose her signature red lipstick, claiming she could never go without it.

Moisturizer was also so prevalent that we decided that that no longer counted as a beauty product.

What are some other top picks?