Give ’em Lip – Dior Universal Lipliner and a Rogueworthy Purple Look

Greetings from the sassy corner, my fellow rogues!

Most of you are probably aware of my mild extreme fondness for purple. Purple eyeshadows, purple clothes, purple lasers. But it doesn’t stop there, oh no; one of my longest and most arduous quests involved the search for truly purple lipsticks. Most brands will try to fob you off with a ‘purple’ that is so red based they might as well just own up and call it burgundy, or tell you you can only achieve a true violet lip with eyeliners and cosmetic pigments and more patience than a paladin on prozac. I searched high, I searched low. I searched under trolls for heavens sake. It was only when I traveled to the other side of the known world, to the land of lavender itself, that I finally found my true purple lipsticks: Make Up Forever’s #15 and #49:

The metallic, violet glory of MUFE #15!

The brooding, crushed-blueberry goodness of MUFE #49!

But this is old news – I’ve posted about them here and here – you’ve come to expect only the freshest and most rogueish insights from this blog, and by Corellon, you’ll get them. Today I’ll be taking you through a particularly nifty aide to a good purple lip, and showing you the result! Yes, today’s product is the Dior Universal Lipliner Pencil:

The Dior Universal Contour Lipliner Pencil, complete with the other major tools of the forthcoming lip look. Also the tissue where I wiped off the brush, because I thought it looked vaguely arty.

I know, I know. Most of you are probably thinking ‘Syl, I thought you hated/were too lazy for lipliner. Why, all of a sudden, are we hearing about how nifty one is?’ Well, I’ll tell you – when you want perfection (or at least as close to it as you’re likely to achieve), lipliner has your back. If I’m going to venture into putting pictures of my lips on the internet, you can be sure I’m gunning for perfection! You’ll note that the lipliner is one of those transparent ones that can work with any lipstick or lip colour. This is particularly important for me, precisely because I usually can’t be orc’d with lipliner. If I’m going to use one, I want it to be so effortless it’s not even funny – and Doir’s offering fits the bill.

It’s so transparent and smooth that a swatch is utterly pointless. It’s literally invisible. It’s also non-drying, comfortable, and holds things in place for as long as you’d like (i.e. until you eat something that necessitates wiping your whole mouth. Roast boar is particularly bad for this). It’s odourless, tasteless colourless and untraceable – it’s the perfect poison lipliner.

Aesome lip brush is awesome. And slightly blurry.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to mention that the butt end of this lipliner is a very high quality lip brush. Seriously, I think some sort of wizard must have been involved in the creation of this brush – it’s flat and supple enough to paint the inside of your lip, but the edge and tip are sharp enough to make the thinnest, most precise lines you can imagine. When the pencil is used up (should be a while…) I’m going to be hanging onto this brush!

Alright, I, too, think that only an ettin would put up a post with a bunch of old photos and a wall of text. So I’m going to branch into new territory here by attempting to prove to you just how fabulous the two purple lipsticks are by creating a true, rogueworthy purple lip. There’s no messing around here, clerics and goblinfolk, this purple lip means business. I present:

Cue: creepy lip collage! Although if you squint it kind of looks like a bunch of butterflies. Probably ones that occupy the same plane as the mindflayers, but butterflies nonetheless…LOOK HOW GLORIOUSLY, TRULY PURPLE THESE LIPSTICKS ARE! (try to avoid noticing how dry my lips are…)

I’d like to take a moment to assure you that the only thing I’ve done to these pictures is crop them. Yes, I am that pale (in fact here I’m wearing a BB creme that may actually be a shade or two too dark on me), and yes, these lipsticks are that purple. I have not touched the saturation on anything – these photos were taken in natural evening light (terrible light for photos, in hindsight; it took me forever to acquire these!). I will swear on any text you care to name, except that one with the teeth – you can keep that away from me, thanks. I’ve tried to get the sharpest line at the edges that I could – the pinkish haze around the edges that you can see in some photos is the very edge of my natural lip – no bleeding from these lipsticks (even without the liner, I find).

So how was it done? Well, first I applied some lip balm, (which didn’t manage to totally fix my terribly flaky lips, but such is life when you decide on the spur of the moment to do ombre lip looks), then some concealer and BB creme to cover a couple of spots. Once the lip balm had sunk in, I lined my lips with the Dior liner, and smudged the liner into the centre of the lips (by feel, mostly – it really is invisible). I then gave my lips one overall, solid coat of MUFE #15, and used the Dior lip brush to paint on MUFE #49 from the corners of my lips, working my way inward to create a shadow around the edge of my lower lip and along the inner line of my upper lip. I then finished off the centre of my lower lip and my cupid’s bow with dabs of MUFE #15 again to maximise the metallic shine after the blending.

Ta-Da! Purple lips that don’t apologise, and are awesome while doing it. What are your thoughts on this look?

The verdict: The lipsticks I’ve already gushed over. The lipliner does just what it says on the box, and it does it well. It’s invisible, it;s moisturising (for a lipliner) and it holds lipstick in place. It even comes with a phenomenal lip brush attached to its other end. What’s not to love? (Well, the price, maybe, but at least you’re getting a lot of quality for your gold. :-P). It also comes with a sharpener, but when you have an Urban Decay sharpener, it’s nothing to write home about. It’s basically like a school pencil sharpener with ‘Dior’ written on it. Nice for additional value, I guess! If you use a lot of lipliner, there may be more cost-effective options available – I know Urban Decay has an ‘invisible’ lipliner, for one.

The practicalities: The Dior Universal Contour Lipliner Pencil costs NDZ ~60.00 (I can’t remember off the top of my head, but it’ll be somewhere in the 50-60 range)/USD ~30.00 for 1.1 g/0.04 oz, is permanent, and may be acquired, with the rest of the Dior line, from assorted Dior counters and stores, and Sephoras around the globe.

Until next time, fellow adventurers, don’t forget to check for traps!

Syl

I am an adventuring rogue, not a mercenary for hire, and as such, all opinions expressed here are my own, based on a genuine fondness for/interest in this product. If you have any queries or suggestions, please do not hesitate to pin your parchment to the board (contact me) at thepaintedrogue [at] gmail [dot] com., or use the contact form provided!