Out, Out, Damned Spot!

You know those electric fence thingamabobs people in the suburbs have for their dogs? It's like this laser that reacts with a contraption on the dog's collar to give him a shock every time he tries to get out of the yard. Eventually, the dog learns about the shocks and stays in the yard away from cars or neighborhood small children.

Yeah, if someone could figure out how to rig one of these up to give me a shock ever time I try to go into a Sephora, that would be awesome.

The other day on a government-sponsored day off, I wandered in to "just look around."

All together now, YEAH RIGHT.

The plan was to check out theBalm's Stainiac, a lip stain I had seen in a recent issue of Lucky Magazine. Also, if people could keep me away from this magazine, that would also be nice. It seems to trigger all kinds of cravings to be like the current Lucky Girl.

I was in the market for a stain for a few reasons.

One: Due to high wind velocity, the whipping of hair around seems to get stuck in all manner of lip glosses.

Two: The dark berry colors seem to fit in well with the fall color schemes and lipstick like this seems to scare me for some reason.

Three: While I am a total lip gloss fiend of the highest magnitude, I can actually be quite lazy about reapplying, and I was hoping a stain compensate for my inattention to this area.

Fourth: Oh, please, like I really have any excuses?

So off I went. I liked the Stainiac, especially in the Prom Queen color, but something was lacking. I began wandering.

I dismissed Benetint, as I don't enjoy having to use my fingers to apply the stain, although I was tempted by the Pocket Pal, I forged forward.

The next group of stains that interested me were the Bourjois Bons Baisers de Paris. This is an actual lip stain pen that you draw on your mouth and then go on your merry way. They had a variety of colors, which was really nice, but the name had me a bit troubled. While un baiser can be a kiss, which is how I'm sure they intended it, it can also mean something far dirtier. And like to Orbitz gum chick, I like to keep my mouth clean.

I was also a little concerned that the pen-esque delivery method would be confusing to my boyfriend and that I would come home some day to find him trying to do the Post crossword with it.

So I meandered over to the Tarte counter and finally hit paydirt. I picked up the Rise & Shine Plumping Lip Shine and called off the search. the dual-ended lip gloss contains a stain on one side and a clear bright lip gloss on the other side. I chose the Pink color, instead of the cherry red and am loving the results. Together, they deliver a deep pink color with high shine that makes me look much more awake (cause, man, do I need that!)

The stain looks great on it own with a little slick of Rosebud salve, and the gloss looks good on it's own as well. My only complaint is that the "plumping" effect translates into a little lip burning when I first put it on, which is not super pleasant, especially since I have no interest in "plumping" anything on my body.

The dual sidedness is a really nice touch, as I can now fit it in my evening purse and have multiple options without needing my entire arsenal of lip glosses.

The best part? The stain lasts, but comes off relatively easily by the end of the day. Because scrubbing and scraping is very unbecoming.