You asked: Tell me more about your lipsticks

In the middle of last June, on a day when the weather was just about a complete 180 from the wintry world we find ourselves in nearly seven months later, the wonderful Sanne from Sanne's Blog left a comment on one of my outfit posts, in which she said the following, "Even your lipstick is perfect. And speaking of lipstick - how about writing a post about your lipsticks?".

You bet, dear Sanne. It took a little while to come into being, but today I'm delighted to bring you just such a post.

As I've touched on before (such as in this post about 1950s eye make-up), generally speaking, I tend to use a fairly close-knit group of cosmetics. In other words, much as I adore make-up (and goodness, do I adore it!), I don't have mountains of mascaras, piles of powder jars, or scores of shadows filling up my make-up box and bathroom.

In part because of my super sensitive skin, in part because of the fact that I need to ensure all make-up that goes near or on my mouth is gluten-free (because I have celiac disease, a point that I chatted about in this post about Red Apple Lipsticks products), and in part because I tend to stick with what I love, my make-up collection is on the smaller side and typically includes a selection of items I've been using routinely for years.

Due to the fact that anything used near/on my mouth absolutely must be gluten-free (this is a non-negotiable point for me, as I get extremely ill from even super small trace amounts of gluten), and not all lipsticks (and liners, glosses, balms, stains, etc) are gluten-free, I don't presently have a very large lipstick collection, but I'm certainly game to talk about those that I do use these days.

There are four main lipsticks that I turn to, all of which have appeared here in outfit posts over the past couple of years. They are...





MAC Russian Red: Like many gals (vintage and otherwise) out there, it took me a long time to find my perfect shade of red. I'm fair skinned and look better in blue-reds, but my skin also has pink undertones, and it's easy for almost any lipstick to unintentionally bring out that pinkness in an unflattering way. About five years ago, I started using Russian Red after reading some really glowing reviews online about it, and have been hooked ever since. It is, bar none, my all-time favourite red lipstick.

The texture is thick, but not to the point of being stiff or hard to apply. The colour is a lush, vintage appropriate, deeply pigmented blue-red that goes on true to colour (at least I find that it does on me), and a single tube seems to last for a very long time even when applied almost every day (four to six or more months, I've found).

Here's an example of me wearing MAC Russian Red.






MAC Diva: A dark, seemingly vamp merlot wine hued lipstick might seem a bit out of place on a gal like myself who favours 1940s and 50s fashions, and while, admittedly, this colour wasn't the most common of shades during the era, it's one that I've found works surprisingly well with a number of vintage looks.

Much like Russian Red, this is a high quality lipstick with a lot of staying power, pigmentation, and punch. It is, however, lighter once on than it appears in the tube. Instead of looking goth, it's elegant, eye-catching and very sophisticated, yet sweetly fun at the same time. After Russian Red, this is the lip colour that gets the second most amount of play in my lip wear arsenal these days.

Here's an example of me wearing MAC Diva.





Clinique Raspberry Glace: Pink lipsticks are a tricky camp for me. I love them dearly (ditto for corals, which are almost impossible for me to wear), but often times they don't work well with my colouring. Over the years, I've had the best luck with those that veered towards the dusty rose and ever-so-subtly mauve infused side of the spectrum, and somewhere in between is where you'll find Raspberry Glace.

A gentle, very natural hit of pink with subtle shimmery undertones, this is a fairly lightweight lipstick that glides on like a dream, has quite decent staying power, partners well with vintage outfits, and is a perfect year-round pink in my books.

Here's an example of me wearing Clinique Raspberry Glace.




Red Apple Lipstick (in) Red: Much as I love, and very frequently wear, Russian Red, sometimes I want a slightly lighter red, one that's pigmented, but not quite as matte and dense, and on those days, Red Apple Lipstick's classic Red is often my shade of choice.

Far from being matte, this lipstick has an appealing shine and element of shimmer to it, but stops short of looking like a gloss. It's a timeless true red (that goes on like a dream) and one that I think would work wonderfully on a wide range of skin colours.

Here's an example of me wearing Red Apple Lipstick (in) Red (layered under Red Apple's Firestorm Lip Gloss).

{To learn more about a specific image, please click on it to be taken to its respective source.}

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These are not the only lipsticks I own or wear, but they are the ones that see the most action by a long shot at the moment (and in the case of the first three lippies, for at least the past four years - Red Apple's offering is a fairly new edition that joined my make-up bag last year). Occasionally, if I'm after a shade that falls somewhere in between red, burgundy or pink, I'll combine two of these lipsticks, such as I did in this post from the summer of 2012.

Typically I use a lip liner in a similar shade to my lipstick first (to give my lippie extra staying power and help ward off that dreaded bare patch look that can happen to lipstick as it wears off throughout the day), with my two favourite brands presently being Annabelle and Red Apple Lipstick.

Sometimes, instead of a liner - or instead of lipstick (and liner) all together - I'll also reach for a lip stain, in which case I really love Covergirl Outlast Lipstain in 440 (Wild Berry Wink). It's a sweet dark pinkish-red that delivers a terrific I-just-ate-three-pink-popsicles kind of flush of colour to one's lips and which stays on for hours and hours (here's a series of outfit snaps in which I'm wearing Wild Berry Wink lip stain).

I don't tend to wear a lot of gloss nowadays (I did in my teens and early 20s, but lip gloss was a product that I kept getting glutened from in the early days of life with celiac disease, so I really scaled down on the amount I use, even though I'm happy to say that I have since found a few brands that are guaranteed to be gluten-free). When I do reach for glosses, I usually like either clear (it goes with everything, you've got to love that!) or a true red that can be worn alone or layered over one of the lippies discussed here. In either case, Red Apple Lipstick and Annabelle are my two brands of choice.

My lips (like my skin) in general tends to be pretty dry (especially during the fall and winter), so a good balm or chap stick is a must all-year round for me. To be honest, I've not yet found a gluten-free one that I'd give an A+ to in terms of effectiveness, but two that I've had decent results with so far have been Badger Balm and EOS (of which I've found their Strawberry Sorbet balm to be most effective).

I'm sure that as time goes on, I'll try other lipsticks, some of which will miss the mark by a long shot, others that will become instant favourites, and some that will land squarely in the middle. This is the nature of not just lipsticks, but almost all cosmetic products.

It's important for me that my lipsticks have a timeless feel to them and are on par with shades that existed during the mid-twentieth century. Ideally I like them to come in at under $25 a piece (I don't buy a lot of department store cosmetics at all for the sake of my budget and also because I'm quite happy with a number of drugstore products, but I make a notable exception to statement for lipsticks), have staying power when I kiss my husband (which I do a lot!), and last through many, many applications (so as to get a fair amount of bang for my make-up buck).

All four of the lipsticks discussed here today do just that, which is precisely why they're my go-to shades day in and day out all year long.

Thank you very much to Sanne for her great question - I always welcome queries from my wonderful readers, be they related to my make-up, wardrobe, or anything else pertaining to the vintage lifestyle, and hoped you enjoyed learning a more about my current favourite quartet of lipsticks.

Apple Lipstick product review and giveaway

 

For the past few years I've been organically fine tuning and whittling down my make-up collection. I tend to stick with a fairly standard cat's eye/light eye shadow/red or pink lip look most of the time, and while I do enjoy playing around with different products every now and then, on the whole, pragmatically, it serves me better to devote my attention and make-up budget to those products that are going to get the most use.

Missing for action for quite some time from my roster  beauty products has been lip gloss. Why? Good question! The reason is because as a gal who developed celiac disease in her twenties, I had to cut out certain cosmetics products from my beauty routine if they contained gluten and were being put anywhere near my mouth (where they'd then be ingested through eating, drinking, licking my lips, etc).

Like many with celiac disease/gluten intolerance, I'm highly sensitive to gluten. Even a minute amount will leave me doubled over in crippling intestinal pain and hit with a series of very unpleasant symptoms that usually last for anywhere for two to four weeks straight. As such, whether in my kitchen or my powder room, I try to avoid gluten like the plague.

Unfortunately, I discovered early on in my gluten-free life that quite a few brands of lip gloss contain gluten (not all, of course, but certainly some), the same of which is also true (albeit to a lesser extent) for other lip products like lipstick, lip balm, and lip liner. Much as I enjoy the glistening shimmer and shine of lip gloss, after being "glutened" from a number of brands, I pretty much stopped using lip gloss all together a couple of years ago.

Between then and now, I searched for a gluten-free lip gloss here in Canada or one that could be shipped here easily, but the pickings were slim and the couple that I tried left much to be desired and ended up being returned or thrown out eventually.

It was with great excitement then that I discovered a US company called Red Apple Lipstick last June who make a line of completely gluten-free, soy-free, paraben-free, allergen-free, vegan, long wearing mineral based lip glosses, lipsticks, lip liners, and - most recently added to their stellar line up – eye shadows. These products are healthy, clean, and safe for most categories of make-up users.

In July, as my birthday approached, I put together a wish list of ten items I'd thoroughly love to own one day, amongst which was a lip gloss from Red Apple Lipstick. Imagine my surprise and delight then when, just a few days later, I was contacted by a very sweet representative from the company who wanted to know if I'd like to try out and review some of their products.

As you can guess, my answer was a resounding yes! At the speed of light the company sent me three products to try and review, all of which have been in heavy rotation in my beauty product arsenal ever since.

Today - before telling you how you can win a Red Apple Lipstick product of your choice - I'd like to share my thoughts on these three lip products with all of you.

Red Apple Lipstick's Red lipstick

Like many of you, I'm a die hard fan of MAC's Russian Red lipstick, and have been for the past few years (thankfully, I've never had any problems with MAC's lipsticks and gluten, though you'd have to contact MAC directly yourself for specifics about the gluten risk  of any of their products). So much so that I don't even buy other red lipsticks any more. However, that doesn't mean that I won't happily try one out if someone kindly sends it to me for free.

"Red", as you might imagine, is just that. Much like Russian Red, it's a slightly cooler red with gentle blue undertones, which I much prefer to an orangey-red (as blue reds work better with my complexion).

This lipstick delivers an appealing about of shine, but it isn’t glossy or gooey. It's thinner in consistency than MAC's matte lipsticks, and reminds me somewhat of a cross between Clinique and Maybelline.

A very true, beautiful red, this lipstick looks as though it could have just hopped out of the pages of any 1940s or 50s cosmetics ad, and that point alone ensured it won major points with me from the moment I first tried it on.

{A shot of me sporting Red Apple Lipstick's Red lipstick worn under Red Apple's Firestorm lip gloss. My new go-to, vintage appropriate combination when it comes to red lip products.}



I was impressed with both the staying power and pigment depth of Red (which I've applied straight from the tube and with a lip brush, both work equally well and I think in this case it just comes down to which application method you prefer). One day I wore it while out shopping for Tony's birthday and it stayed put in 37C weather, as I swigged back a large bottle of water, my face glowing with perspiration, for hours. Even after I'd had dinner later that night, it was still presentable.

From the smooth, silken texture to the bold (but completely wearable) rich hue, this lipstick has won it's rightful place in my make-up bag from here on out.

Red Apple Lipstick's Almost Red

R-Evolution Retractable lip liner

A good 90% of the time - if not more - when I wear lipstick, no matter the brand or type (matte, gloss, long wearing/etc), I wear lip liner underneath. Doing so helps to ensure staying power and that, if my lip stick or stain itself does wear away, I'll still have matching colour underneath. I usually use various shades of lip liner from a Canadian company called Annabelle (whose lip liners do not contain gluten), so I was eager to try another brand for the first time in a few years.

Almost Red is strikingly lovely colour. Falling somewhere between berry infused terracotta and fawn brown, it's a shade that I might not have reached for first while out shopping, but which I've now fallen head-over-heels in love with it - especially for the colder months, when I tend to be drawn to darker hues on my lips.

The golden undertones in this easy-glide, nicely textured liner is deeply pigmented that you could - and I have - worn it on it's own, which is always one of the key marks of an excellent lip liner in my books. I've also been pairing it under Clinique's Sugared Maple, and the two have been hitting it off swimmingly. Partnered with Firestorm gloss, the pair makes for a dynamic due that just oozes (figuratively speaking) rich, elegant colour and sultry charm.

Red Apple Lipstick's Firestorm lip gloss

Firestorm more than lives up to its name. Flecked with hints of opulent gold and warm orange, this stunning gloss glides on like butter and packs a wallop of colour. Redolent of various department store glosses I'd used years ago, it's texture is firm, but not syrupy or stubborn to apply.

You don't need to apply much at all (in fact, it took be about three wearings until I had scaled back enough to avoid accidently transferring a little of it to my teeth, though to be fair, I have thin lips and so encounter the product-on-teeth issue with most lipsticks and glosses I use), and I suspect that even with frequent use, one tube - which comes with a wand applicator - will last me for months.

Around the house, I've mostly been wearing this gloss alone or layered over top of the Almost Red liner. For out and about, it's been working like a charm over both my Russian Red and Red Apple's Red lipstick. Not only do I love it (it exceeds anything I'd ever hoped for in a gluten-free gloss), but other people seem to like it as well! Tony showered me with compliments from the first wearing, and several people have asked me while out and about what gloss I was wearing. Naturally I was pleased as punch to tell them it was Red Apple’s Firestorm!

(Photograph of my face taken by Tony, photos of Red Apple’s products taken by me.)

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For a gal like me who's content to happily use the shade few colours and products day in and day out, these three Red Apple items alone almost constitute everything I need on the lip product front, though I highly suspect other colours from this top-notch brand will make their way into my make-up case in the future.

I'm truly pleased and impressed not only Red Apple Lipstick's gluten-free products, but the friendly, informative costumer service I've received from the company (which, I should point out, lists the ingredients for every product they carry on their website), as well as the careful, very secure packaging job they did on my shipment.

The peace of mind that comes from knowing I can safely apply these three products to my lips any time without the slightest fear of gluten contamination truly makes them worth their weight in gold.

Even if I didn't have to avoid gluten however, I'd still be singing the same amount of praise for these lip products, as they're amongst the finest I've ever had the joy of using (especially since, on top of being gluten-free, they having bothered my wildly sensitive skin one iota, which is something that cannot be said for many drug and department store brands alike that I've tried over the years).

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Awesome products and companies with such integrity and dedication to ensuring the quality of their items are few and far between these days, which is why Red Apple Lipstick gets my seal of approval - and why I was thrilled when they wanted to partner for a giveaway.

If you'd like to win your choice of any one item that Red Apple Lipstick carries, all you need to do is head over to their website (while there, be sure to sign up for their terrific newsletter – you’ll receive a 20% coupon code just for doing so - and join their new forum), find your favourite product and tell me about it in a comment on this post.

If your name is drawn as the lucky winner, you'll then win one of the whichever product you selected (you can pick anything you'd like from Red Apple’s website excluding palettes and duos).

For a second chance to win, "like" Red Apple Lipstick on Facebook, and leave a comment here letting me know that you've done so.

For a third chance to win, tweet about this giveaway on Twitter (the phrasing is up to, just make sure to mention @RedAppleLipstic) in your message, then come back here and comment about it.

For a forth chance to win, pin the image at the very top of this post (with the writing on it) to any of your boards on Pinterest, and then comment here with a link back to that pin to tell me that you’ve done so.

***Please post a separate comment for each of the entry options that you do so as to increase your chance of winning thanks to multiple entries.***


This giveaway is open to all Canadian and US readers, and will run until 11:59PST on Sunday September 16, 2012. The following day I will use a random number generator to select the winning comment number and announce the winner shortly thereafter in a post here. If you have any questions about this giveaway, please don't hesitate to email me.

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I'm not one to be biased in my reviews simply because I received something for free, and in fact I will only review something publicly if it meets or exceeds my standards and expectations.

I can confidently say that all three of the Red Apple Lipstick products that I tried did just that. Gloss-less no more, and with three new products being given pride-of-place in my make-up collection, I'm thrilled that I not only know about this company now myself, but that I have can share all about it with you.

If you’d like to try out some of Red Apple’s products for yourself now too, please use the exclusive coupon code Vintage when checking out to save 15% off your total order (the coupon code is valid until September 30, 2012).

Best of luck to everyone who enters this giveaway, and many deeply heartfelt thanks to Red Apple Lipstick not only for sending me these three products to review and for collaborating on this giveaway, but for making a gluten-free make-up line that I'd confidently recommend to anyone.