Being an Asian, my color choices basically fall into two categoris: the pinks and the browns. If I’m wearing black, I usually try to per my color up a bit by leanings towards the pinks. Same as when I’m wearing blue. When I am wearing browns, I go for the beige and red shades. I tried to “tame” down my eye liner before by trying dark brown liners, but I’ve grown completely accustomed to liquid eyeliner now that I have done just plain black. After all, the point of using liquid eyeliner is for emphasis, so why mute something as defining as liquid eyeliner? (I have been using Clinique’s Eye Defining Liquid Liner in Black for three years now.) If I want something less obvious, I go for pencil eyeliners.
Two things I cannot live without (make up wise, that is) is face powder and lipstick. Even during the weekends when I tend to go out sans full make up, I try to get rid of the “shine” on my face then I make sure to dab some color on my lips. (The Pinay New Yorker uses Clinique’s Perfectly Real Make up in shade 118.)
I fished through my bag last night and found just under a dozen lip make up items from pencils to glosses. I wanted to take a picture of them and enumerate them here. Instead it has made me rethink I should stash half of these tubes back in my make up bin or in another purse. I have another dozen already stashed away, and there are at least 2 tubes in my office cabinet at work. Like much of the make up I wear on any particular day, the color I put on my lips depends largely on my wardrobe and my mood.
* Maybelline Supergloss (520) and Superstay (774)
* Clinique Glosswear for Lips in Black Honey and another tube in Stellar Plum
* Face Games in Chili Pepper (This is a private cosmetics line produced by a salon/spa I visited here some years back)
* MAC Matte Lipstick in Rubine (an ancient shade of fuschia pink I bought more than 10 years ago..)
* L’Oreal Glam Shine Cream in Sexy Plum
* GAP Lip Color pallete in PETAL
* Clinique Long Last Lipstick in Violet Berry
* The Body Shop’s Mocha Stick Eye and Lip Colour
Ten different lipstick products. At times I switch from one to another in the middle of the day. Winter and the current trend makes lip glosses very helpful in keeping my lips moisturized. The Maybelline lip products are recent purchases originally for pasalubong but which I thought I’d try just for the heck of it. (The drugstore in my neighborhood has Maybelline on sale at 50% off this week and I had some manufacturer’s coupons which gave me another $2 off.) The Clinique Long Last Lipstick in Violet Berry was part of the gift with purchase in Bloomingdales. Again, I don’t normally use the make up products that come with the gift because I am saving that to give away. I do use the skincare freebies — the items I actually use like the Glosswear for Lips are purchases, not free items.
Sometimes I combine two colors to produce a different effect. I’d put on the mocha stick as a foundation for a lighter gloss or to make a transparent stain or gloss look opaque. Or I would use a lighter lipstick base and use the Black Honey lip gloss to darken the hue. Even during the days when I walk out the door and I put my shades on to hide an unpainted face, I would dab some color into my lips as part of my “Hello, world!” face.
I haven’t been quite as brave to try the lip plumpers because I’m pretty happy with what I pucker up with. As a rule of thumb, I try to carry at least 2 tubes in my bag in two different shades — you guessed it right: one in pink and one in the red/brown family. I have girlfriends who have watched in awe as I put on my lipstick without looking at a mirror. All it takes is practice!
You can never have too much color on your lips — so be generous and take care of them by dressing them up like you would put on those cute flats or drop dead gorgeous pumps. You’d be surprised at how just a little color can make such a big difference in your total look. Try it!
Pinay New Yorker 