IT Cosmetics Vitality Lip Flush Butter Gloss ($24) and Your Lips But Better Waterproof Lip Liner Stain ($20) is the perfect combo to get full coverage color that's hydrating and good for your lips! Read on for my review and swatches...
Liquid lipsticks are so hot right now and most of them have a matte finish which can be really drying on your lips, especially if they're super dry like mine. At first, I gave in to the trend after seeing all of these great photos of matte lips on Instagram and hearing lots of buzz from my fellow bloggers, but looking back, my lips looked terrible! They looked cracked and dry and my lines were even more pronounced. It's taken me until age 37 to finally realize something very important...when it comes to beauty, forget about the trends. Forget about what everyone else is doing and stick with what works for you. It may mean that you don't get to wear that super-popular, of-the-moment brand that everyone you know is gaga about but at least you won't look back and feel bad about the way you looked...that's happened to me so often and I have those "what was I thinking?" moments.
What works best for me is gloss or tinted balm, but sometimes I want that full-coverage lip look that has real staying power, like what you'd get with a liquid lipstick. I've discovered a great combination that gives me all of that and more without drying out my lips...IT Cosmetics Vitality Lip Flush Butter Gloss layered over their Your Lips But Better Waterproof Lip Liner Stain. Let's take a closer look...
Your Lips But Better Waterproof Lip Liner Stain ($20) is a long-wearing automatic lip liner that's also a lip primer and a stain. It's infused with peptides, collagen, hyaluronic acid, avocado oil, shea butter, aloe and jojoba, plus antioxidants like vitamins A, C and E, Green Tea, Acai, and White Tea. You would think that with that many nourishing ingredients this would just slide right off your lips but it doesn't. It's definitely creamy for a lip liner, but it still has that drier, lip liner feel...unfortunately, it's a necessary thing to make sure it stays in place. If it were too creamy, it wouldn't be doing it's job! The good news is, despite feeling a little bit dry, these don't make my lips look dry. They stay smooth and don't cake or accentuate lip lines. They also come with a built-in sharpener at the base (although they are automatic so you only need to use it if you want a sharper point).
I have these in three shades...Blushing Nude, Romantic Rose, and Cherry Flush. They also come in Buff Nude, Spicy Nude, Pretty In Pink, and Perfect Red, so there are seven shades in all.
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| From Left: Blushing Nude, Romantic Rose, Cherry Flush |
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| From top: Perfect Nude, Naturally Pretty, Ruby Slippers |
Here are the shades layered together! Combining the two products gives me a full coverage lip that's super hydrating, yet lasts for hours and hours. The Butter Gloss completely offsets any dryness from the liner and the hydration lasts for hours...even after the shine has worn away. The YLBB Liners stain my lips so the color lasts all day, plus they act as a primer and help the gloss to stick around longer.
Here's the Perfect Nude gloss over the Blushing Nude liner. By itself, the Perfect Nude gloss is sheer and doesn't have a lot of pink in it, but the Blushing Nude liner has a little pink which helps to warm it up so my light skin doesn't look washed out.
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| Wearing IT Cosmetics Your Lips But Better Waterproof Lip Liner Stain in Blushing Nude under Vitality Lip Flush Butter Gloss in Perfect Nude. |
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| Wearing It Cosmetics YLBB Lip Liner Stain in Romantic Rose under the Naturally Pretty Vitality Lip Flush Butter Gloss. |
Finally, if I'm in the mood to wear a bolder lip, the Cherry Flush liner layers beautifully under the Ruby Slippers Butter Gloss. Ruby Slippers is more of a berry shade than a red, but when it's layered over the red liner, it gives the look of a red lip that actually has a cooler, almost blue tone (great for making your teeth look whiter!).
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| Wearing IT Cosmetics YLBB Lip Liner Stain in Cherry Flush under Vitality Lip Flush Butter Gloss in Ruby Slippers. |
Overall, I'm so happy to have found a way to get a more opaque, long lasting lip look that keeps my lips hydrated all day. I also love how they look plumped and my lines are minimized...it's like turning back the clock!
Are there any makeup trends that you can't get on board with? I'd love to hear about it and how you've found a way around it!
Where to Buy:
You can find IT Cosmetics Your Lips But Better Waterproof Lip Liner Stain at Ulta, ITCosmetics.com or at QVC.
Vitality Lip Flush Butter Gloss can be found at Ulta, ITCosmetics.com or there's a great deal on them at QVC right now...you can get three for $39.50 (that's less than the price of 2). You can get Perfect Nude and Naturally Pretty that I showed here today plus that News Anchor Blue shade I mentioned, or two other combinations.
**Disclosure- The products mentioned in this post were given to me by IT Cosmetics in exchange for an honest review. This is not a sponsored post (I was not paid) and all opinions are my own.