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A few weeks ago, my sister came down from New York to visit me.

And, as has become ritual, the second she comes in, she starts to tear through my closet and makeup drawer looking for things to play with and abscond with.

Thankfully, I had just gotten a delivery of L'Oreal HIP Color Presso lip gloss in two colors which my sister immediately seized upon.  

The Color Presso lipgloss reminds me a lot of Mentadent Toothpaste from the 90's.  The main problem with that product was that you always got more of one type of paste than the other.  The problem continues with the Color Presso, but it does allow you to customize the color of the lip gloss.

So, as my husband played Wii with my sister's boyfriend, we took turns trying on the two lip glosses in Trendy and Swanky.  We both agreed that we liked the candyish smell and the light texture of the glosses.  We also appreciate the relatively non-sticky-ness.

(Relatively.  The claim that any lip gloss is nonsticky is a lie on the order with "non-painful bikini wax")

Since I had already had time to try them out, I knew my favorite was the Trendy, a combo of a light pink and a rose color.  So I breathed a sigh of relief when my sister settled on the Swanky, a gold and pink duo.  

I mean, she's my sister and I'm happy to share...but not really.

The L Word

That's right.

Lipstick.

Specifically, which one to wear to my wedding.

There are a lot of things to consider at this point. First of all, I'm usually a gloss girl. I like 'em sheer and shiny. However, I can't say that my future husband is going to look great in pictures wiping a bunch of goo off his mouth the second after the big kiss.

Second, there is the photo factor. I know that shiny can play poorly in photographs and I don't want my lips to be so pale during the wedding that I look washed out in the pictures.

Third, and most importantly, I want to look like me. Not some fantasy version of me where I can pull off a bright crimson mouth like Katherine Heigl at the Oscars, but me me. The girl who wears pink lipglosses like they are going out of style.

So, when the makeup artist gave me a really dark mouth at my trial, the hunt was on for a better alternative.

I searched high and low, looking for the right combination of sheer and rosy to make my mouth look like mine, but better.

A bunch of first attempts at Bergdorf's with my sister failed miserably, although she picked up a few items. I was given corals which made me want to yak and the same deep fuchsia color that the artist gave me.

A few weeks later, I stopped into the Space NK in Scarsdale before the catering tasting (yeah, that's right, my caterer is from Scarsdale. And she is AWESOME. If you want a rec, email me) and tried out a few. I liked a By Terry lipgloss, but the $55 price tag made me cringe a little. I'm kind of absurd when it comes to spending for makeup, but that crosses the line for me.

Next up, the salesperson recommended Talitha lip gloss by NARS.

It's a nice rosy color, deeper than what I'm used to, but my fiance said it didn't look gooey. I believe his actual words were, It wouldn't be terrible to kiss you with that on. True love, people. True love.

But I had my doubts.

So I dragged out every lipgloss hidden in purses around my apartment and started trying on. The winner? Bobbi Brown lipgloss in Hot Pink. Which isn't actually hot pink.

But the gloss factor bothered me. A stop into Blue Mercury revealed that the lip gloss, layered with the Creamy Lipstick in Pink Ballet was a nice combo.

But then again...there is always Black Honey by Clinique.

So, basically, I'm nowhere right now on this. My final dress fitting is today, and I'm planning on bringing the arsenal with me and trying them on while the hemming is done.

I'll let you know...

Wedded Bliss

I spent the past weekend in Michigan attending a good friend's wedding. This also marked the first wedding I've attended out of town where I was not a member of the bridal party and therefore required to participate in multiple events where I was told how to walk, smile, and breathe, so that I don't screw up my friend's pictures forever.

So, while I wandered around the small Detroit suburb of Birmingham with my sister asking people, Rachael Ray-$40-a-Day style, where we could get a pedicure for less than the Devil would pay for my soul, we stumbled upon Todd's Room, a fantastic little beauty shop.

The concept is pretty fantastic. They carry several high end makeup and fragrance lines, like NARS, Fresh, L'Artisan, Becca, and DuWop as well as some offbeat stuff and accessories. Then, in the back, they have makeup artists who do application and lessons.

(Unfortunately not shown on the website, but they have the most adorable graphics)

They also did have a nail technician, but we had already gotten our cheapie mani/pedi, where the technician had actually snipped my sister which lead to many panic attacks that she would get "rabies."

I graciously informed her that was pretty much impossible. Tetanus and staph, on the other hand...

The thought of lip gloss seemed to calm her down and we set about trying on pretty much everything in the store. We both settled on NARS Pillow Talk, a sheer pinky brown color with just a hint of shimmer...and after a scare where the salesgirl could only find one tube...possibly leading to an international family incident we both left with a new look for the wedding.

it doesn't look like this at all. but I love the little tadpole shape.

They also had some products on sale...so I snagged a tube of Essie's gloss-e in Vanity Fairest at half off! It is described as "very twinkly and pinkly" on their website.

I mean, who can resist that?

All in all, the wedding was beautiful and my sister and I had the best lipgloss around...the best part about NARS lipglosses is that they stick around through the tears at the glass smashing, the post ceremony cocktail, and the never-ending slightly awkward toasts. However, pastry flakes from pigs-in-blankets should be approached with trepidation.

photos courtesy of sephora.com and essie.com

Don't Make Me Choose!

If I had to play Sophie's Choice with my beauty products, I think I would pick lip gloss.

My list of praises to sing is long: it's cute, it's fun, there are endless choices, and it wipes off easily.

But I could never choose just one lip gloss. NEVER. At my most recent count, I was carrying precisely six lip glosses around with me.

No yelling, Mom!

I actually like to wear different lip glosses during the day and my newest favored gloss (yes, "favored status," like a concubine) is the Balm Shelter from TheBalm. The cute names of the glosses make it easy to adapt each gloss to a personality or mood.

Right now, I'm digging on Girly Girl, a peachy shimmery gloss that feels very spring in light of the actually appearance of the sun and temperatures above Arctic levels. It translates well to a late afternoon briefing where I actually like the people in the room or when I went for my very first caffeine pick me up of the season without a scarf.

My next favorite of the bunch is Daddy's Little Girl, a sheer sparkly berry color. It looks like my mouth, but better. Perfect for those times I like to look polished but not wanting to attract too much attention (re: skeevy member on the loose) or simply want to be authoratative without everyone staring at the my mouth.

The neatest part about the glosses is that they smell exactly like Hubba Bubba bubble gum. It took me the longest time to figure out exactly what that scent was. Also, you can pick up a limited edition set of three glosses at Sephora and keep swapping glosses all day long!

What about you? Any preferences for lip glosses for certain times of day? Any good luck glosses that you wear before an interview, big presentation or date?

photo courtesy of sephora.com

HIP to the Jive

All the talk this week on the Hill has been about the Budget.



Personally, I would like to take home about thirty copies and use them to heat my apartment.

Unfortunately, my boss and my landlord frown on that. With all the talk about money flying around, I am reminded that after a banner gift giving season, I am out of it. However, I feel that the lousy weather entitles me to a little pick-me-up.

On my last trip to Target, I scoped out the new colors in the L'Oreal H.I.P. lip glosses. This offshoot line from L'Oreal is fast becoming a favorite of mine for their gentle prices, easy accessibility (my CVS is open 24 hours a day!), and hot colors. Plus, Tim Gunn dropped the product placement about six thousand times on Project Runway, and I'm buying whatever he is selling.

So, I picked out the Brilliant Shine Lip Gloss in Giddy, which is a clear sparkly fuschia color. I loved the bright pop of color on such a drab day, and I'm looking forward to mixing it in to my spring wardrobe of all bright cute colors (TBD).



I also fell in love with a few other colors, but I was struck by the quality of the glosses. Closer to the Lancome Juicy Tubes than the other L'Oreal lip glosses (of course, all owned by the same folks) they have intense color and great depth. I also fell in love with a deep purple gloss and a peachy shimmer, but managed to restrain myself (for the time being).

The only drawback?


They kind of stain. I woke up the morning after wearing Giddy out on the town and rubbed my chapped lips to see pink come off. I freaked out, thinking my lips were bleeding! But it turns out, when I was actually awake, that it was just stain from the lip gloss on my overly chapped lips.



Check out some of the colors available here, but there are way more available in the stores.

photo courtesy of drugstore.com of H.I.P. Brilliant Shine Lip Gloss in Alluring. I couldn't find pictures of Giddy or the other colors I liked so much.