The buzz term in modern beauty is hybrid technology that is, products that take good skincare ingredients and add them to makeup for a comfortable, healthy-looking finish. Its advent has resulted in practically every makeup brand releasing liquid lipsticks at the same time. These are paints that look and last like proper lipstick, but feel as comfy as gloss and come in the same wand-application tubes. They're ideal if, like me, you associate glosses with teenagers in nightclub toilets.
My favourites of the posh brands are Armani's Lip Maestro (matte, sophisticated, £26.50) and Dior's new Fluid Stick (shinier, but not at all sticky and 1990s, £26) I'm wearing that here in Wonderland. I like the former for night-time and the latter for day, or for when I'm wearing fistfuls of eye makeup. Topshop Lip Creams (£7) are the kind of thing the brand always does well: the pigment is strong, the shades are bold (possibly too bold for some) and the price is fair. I also like L'Oréal Paris' Glam Matte (£7.99), which looks and feels fantastic, and also smells so strongly of pick 'n' mix sweets that I had to wipe it off after an hour before I got toothache.
Continue reading...