Greetings from a chamber where we’re all suddenly starkers, fellow rogues!
First up: Thank you to everyone who gave me a vote over at the Savvyist’s makeup challenge – I have made it to the first page, which I am inordinately proud of, all thanks to you ^_^. If you still haven’t checked this out, or would like to vote for a masked and red-lipstick’d rogue or one of the other enviable bold lipstick looks, there’s still one day of voting left! Quest on over here ❤
Right – on with the show!
Gird your loins, fellow adventurers! Or cover them if you’re shy! The process of wading into that enormous pile of miniature loot continues today as we stumble into the sixth chamber of the dungeon. Despite spending our time questing toward, flee- uh, advancing in the opposite direction from, and vanquishing things that are arguably naked (do flame-covered skeletons count as ‘clothed’?), the party suddenly gets all blushy when we ourselves are bared. (Well, I think the paladin secretly enjoys it, but… you know paladins). Why did the party’s armour suddenly vanish? Well, that’s all down to the artefact in here… Before I go into detail though, let’s keep everyone in the party up to date on what this little unofficial series is all about, with that handy echo from the first chamber:
‘I should mention first off that a large number of the minis came in the form of the Sephora Give Me More Lip holiday special set, which contains 17 lip products in three loose ‘colour schemes’: red, nude and pink. I ordered this set from Sephora through the indomitable Jaa, who was kind enough to wrangle all the goodies into a parcel small enough that it wouldn’t cost me the contents of Erebor to ship it here. Jaa was also kind enough to take me a couple of pictures of the set before the packaging had to go…‘
The 2014 Sephora Give Me More Lip set (photo courtesy of Jaa)
…and here the inside! So much miniature lip goodness *drools*. The Tarte pencil at the left centre is the only full-size product. Yet more photographic awesomeness from Jaa!
‘I was rather excited when I saw what this set contained, because it was basically a laundry list of brands I’ve wanted to try for the longest time. Since there are so many products here, and because I’m a rogue and we’re funny like that, I’m going to review the contents in spearate posts (or in small groups) so that I can devote proper attention to obssessively photographing each miniature lip product with other miniature things ❤‘
Right! While the Wizard is trying to cover his mandanglies with his beard, and Susie the Rockbard is strategically holding her lute in front of her, this rogue shall stride forth to the pedestal (shivering a little, tbh), and find out what the deal is with – Too Faced’s La Creme Lipstick in Naked Dolly!
Gotta love that brushed golden sheen – it’s even better in dungeon torchlight, of course…
I have actually only just realised that my last post was also a Too Faced product, which is partly because these two artefacts couldn’t be more different in a lot of important respects. Firstly, let’s look at the packaging! This little miniature lipstick comes housed in a lovely brushed, satin matte metal case. This thing has serious heft, people (as all gold that passes through the hands of a rogue should, really). The cap obviously just pulls off and on, but the mechanism of this process is so smooth and deliciously tight that you almost expect there to be some sort of hydraulics involved. The case takes a good, hard hammering around in a day-to-day (adventure-to-adventure) makeup bag, and although goblins will probably want to make off with it, they also probably won’t be able to get into it before their attention span runs out. It won’t open up in your bag either. I really hope the full size packaging is the same!
I do like me a substantial lipstick mini. Even orcs will be able to apply this without snapping the bullet!
I have to hand it to Too Faced – they do a really decent deluxe sample. The sturdy, bevelled bullet is big enough to make even the sorceress blush, and isn’t one that will snap on you any time soon. It glides oh-so-smoothly up and down in its golden sheath, and doesn’t catch on the sides. I was quite looking forward to getting my hands on this little treasure actually, mostly because ‘nude’ lipsticks and I have a rather fractious history. I find it difficult to find ones that don’t wash me out, as many companies’ definition of ‘nude’ is my definition of ‘I might as well have put foundation on my lips’. My lips are naturally rather zombie-like, so I was curious to see how this one would stack up, while avoiding the need to purchase a full-size of anything!
Getting a little more up close and personal with naked, pink (vaguely cylindrical?) things is something one tends to do outside the dungeon, but we’re making an exception here… 😉 Well, RPG dungeons. Well, it depends on the RPG…
The bullet appears to be a light, slightly peachy/warm pink. Obviously, I had concerns about the good old white base syndrome that most pale lipstick shades suffer from, as well as a slight fear that we’d enter ‘unnatural pale pink nude’ territory. What did I actually find? Well, the answer to that is somewhat complicated. Let’s have some swatches:
OMGNAKEDROGUELIPS
Regulars with long memories may remember a previous post I did revealing what I considered to be (and still consider to be) an excellent ‘nude’ for pale, cool-toned rogues such as myself. This magical artefact was Revlon Lacquer Balm in Demure, and you can see the swatches below. As you can tell, the two lipsticks share some common features on this rogue – they are both a pale, pinkish nude colour, and they both work on my lips without totally washing me out. The Revlon obviously has a little shimmer to it, comes in chubby crayon form, and has a vague minty taste/smell (but no ‘plump’) as opposed to Naked Dolly’s ‘vaguely coconut shortbread cookie‘ smell. The Too Faced, by contrast, is a shimmer-free translucent creme lipstick, with a satin sheen finish. Here’s where things get more complicated: while both of these lipsticks work well as ‘nudes‘ for me, and the two of them together give me a shimmer/no shimmer option, which is nice, the Too Faced lipstick can’t be built up.
As you can probably see from the picture above, there’s already a little clinging to dry/chewed patches on the inner part of my lips, and if I layer on more than maybe two light passes of this lipstick, I get dry patch clinging, a little milky liplininess, and we start to head into ‘foundation lip’ territory. Naked Dolly works *because* it’s sheerish, and my natural lip colour is very pale. If you have more pigmented lips, your mileage may vary, although if you are not a vampire you might do better too ;-). In terms of formula, Naked Dolly has a light slip to it, and is averagely to reasonably hydrating on my lips. Owing to the way I need to apply it, it lasts for about 3 hours – but this just fine for a vaguely-slippy, sheer lipstick.
My bare lips (looking rather pinker than normal, actually), and then my previous’ nude for pale rogues’: Revlon Lacquer Balm in Demure.
Righty ho!
I was very pleased that this lipstick worked as well as my previous ‘nude’, while giving me a shimmer-free option. I like the smell, the packaging, and the opportunity to try both a new (to me) lipstick line and a ‘nude’ shade without the hassle of buying a full size (and then potentially hating it). Having said all that, the formula isn’t perfect – but then the shade has a pale base, which is what usually leads to the problems I experienced in any lipstick. I’d be quite interested to try other shades from the line as well like Bon Bon and Lollipop. To sum up in pros and cons (or chests and mimics, as I prefer):
Chests:
- Hydrating, weightless.
- A nude for vampire rogues!
- Sexy, sexy packaging
- Nice cookie-related smell.
Mimics:
- Sheer, but can’t layer it up much lest the milky aspect come through.
- Not hugely long-lasting (not surprising for a sheer though).
- Kinda difficult to get here normally.
What do you think, fellow adventurers? What’s your favourite ‘nude’ lip product (you’re allowed more than one)? Have you tried one of these La Creme lipsticks? What would it take to get you to run a dungeon mission naked? Can you think of any more good lipstick review related innuendo?
The practicalities: Too Faced La Creme Lipsticks are usually 0.11 oz and cost US $22 for the full size. Naked Dolly is a permanent colour, and they can be acquired from www.toofaced.com and www.sephora.com. For those of us in Middle Earth, I believe the Too Faced website does work with NZ Post YouShop! 😀
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! All images and text on this blog are the property of The Painted Rogue unless otherwise stated. If you nick off with any of it, be prepared to find that your morning hot beverage tastes a little…different than usual. Didn’t the rogue say something the other day about that new poison that makes your inner ear itch maddeningly for the rest of your life? I think she did…
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