My day-to-day makeup routine has never been too extreme: a tinted moisturizer, a setting powder, a brow gel and a lipstick. And, of course, perfume, but that goes without saying: I don’t consider it as a makeup, it’s a part of my clothing. For the first six months of working from home, with just a handful of Zoom meetings that required my video presence, I almost completely quit using makeup during a workweek. And since on rare excursions to grocery stores I would wear a mask, lipsticks stayed tucked away in a drawer for most of spring and summer.
At some point, as I decided to put on some makeup for a video-meeting, I realized how much I was missing these small daily rituals. So, I thought that instead of colorless lip balms, I could probably use up some of the numerous lipsticks I managed to accumulate before they are hopelessly beyond any mentally expanded expiration date.
In my collection, I have all possible lip products of different colors, formulations and intensity, so I wouldn’t have to search hard for something appropriate to wear, but I thought of something even better!
Almost two years ago I bought a holiday edition from my favorite brand, Lipstick Queen – The Nude Album Lipstick Palette. Visually, it is a strange combination of a vinyl album and a painter’s palette. But somehow this mixed metaphor works, and the combination feels very organic – until you start thinking about it.
I loved how The Nude Album Lipstick Palette looked, and those colors suited me perfectly. But can you imagine hauling around this set?! And if I were to put on one color at home and then take with me some lipstick for a touch-up in the office, why would I not put it on to start with? So, the set was just sitting in my drawer… until I realized that now when I stayed at home it was just perfect: I could apply and re-apply any of these lipsticks throughout the day, either using the same color or going around the palette. Now every day I feel a little like an artist painting those beautiful fall colors on my lips.
The Nude Album Lipstick Palette is still available online, both in the US and in Europe, and I highly recommend it to anyone who wears lipsticks in these shades: for less than the price of one lipstick you will be getting 7 colors to play with. The quality is the same as for the regular Lipstick Queen’s lipsticks. And the set looks even better in person than in photos.
Images: my own
Undina's Looking Glass 
Ah, this has worked out well to perk up your days working from home.
I really want the new Velvet Blush from Lisa Eldridge but it seems like a silly time for me to buy lipstick as I’m rarely leaving the flat and then in a mask. I hope there is stock when this is all over.
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Dear Tara, in my opinion, the only reason for you not to buy Velvet Blush is only if you’re trying to save money. Otherwise, even if you wear it a couple of times during the holidays season, you’ll enjoy it. Probably for the same reason as you stated, many others also didn’t buy as many lipsticks as they would otherwise, so there are just several sold-out shades. But I would expect that people will start buying those as XMas gifts (maybe for themselves), so those will be gone – and who knows when the next release will happen.
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Good advice. Thanks :)
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I’m thinking that maybe I should do a post on my recent LE bounty to nudge you… ;)
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Oh please do that!!!
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I absolutely love that palette – its colours and style – and it does indeed look like the mixed metaphor you mention! May I also say how I chuckled at your expression “mentally expanded expiration date”, being so guilty of doing that myself across all makeup and toiletry categories. ;) I am still wearing lipstick outdoors more than in, and I wear masks of course and get them a bit messy(!). The other day I found myself wiping lipstick off with the back of my hand just before donning a mask to deliver my books to the accountant.
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I was thinking of you when I wrote about those “best long before” cases – you’re an extremely influential blogger! ;)
I can’t not to wear at least a balm, so I usually do, but for the masks’ sake they are usually colorless, and when not, I’m well familiar with that back of the hand trick
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Because of having to wear masks outside and in shops, I’ve tended to wear a bit more eye make up. I did wear lipstick but found it smeared on the inside of the mask so soon stopped wearing any.
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Eye makeup is my next milestone :) Though, I don’t expect to include it into my grocery shopping routine: in a mask, I feel almost invisible, so I don’t want to add anything that might prompt me to touch my face while nobody sees me (including myself because my sunglasses get foggy from wearing masks :) ).
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I know what you mean about glasses steaming up when wearing a mask. I’m always having to adjust mine. Very annoying
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Yay for another lippy lady! I’ve been experimenting with “lip stains” to wear underneath masks, eg. “ColourPop ultra blotted lip”. They don’t actually stain, as a dye might, but the creme formula “sets” to a smudgeproof finish. There’s no transfer under the mask unless you add a bit of moisture with a balm, which makes the colour come off a bit.
I suppose you knew that Lipstick Queen was started by an Aussie, Poppy King? Not sure if she still owns the brand, tho. The palette looks fab!
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I know about Ms. King. If you look-up by the tag, you’ll see that I featured her lipsticks on numerous occasions since it’s one of my favorite brands. She sold the brand a while ago and worked there for a while. The brand is dying now after she left it. I think they’ll keep producing and selling those older lipsticks while they can make a profit and then just stop. Too bad you can stock up only that many tubes of a favorite lipstick.
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Golly gosh, yes. I see now you do have a few posts about LQ. How amazing you worked for the company! Poppy herself was such a strong presence as the very photogenic/charismatic founder, I’m not surprised the brand petered out when she sold it.
By the way your blog is such a veritable cornucopia of interesting information, anecdotes and, of course, ‘reflections’, I’m still working my way through it. :-D Not to mention RUSTY. Oh how I want to hang around with that little man. He’s definitely a feline perfumista (or at least an appreciator of perfume packaging)!
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Just a quick correction: I have never worked for the company. Poppy King worked for a while for the company that bough LQ. Though, I wouldn’t mind working for a good cosmetics company :)
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Close enough ;-)
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Love that palette! I’m not much of a lipstick aficionado, although I love it on other people (like my daughters), because I have so much difficulty finding colors that work for me. So I tend to have a few cheap favorites that I use over and over. It really does make a difference on Zoom! Zoom is a bit appalling in how it shows you all your flaws. Thank goodness for the “touch up my appearance” setting!
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I love that setting! Next they’ll introduce a virtual makeup lens there, and we’ll be able to relax :)
Finding new color products will be extremely hard now (as if it was easy before!). So, smart companies should bring back their old favorites people keep talking about and former limited editions that were sold out quickly.
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That is such a cute palette! I only use tube lipstick though as I don’t want to use my fingers or fiddle with a brush. My favourites are the Fresh Sugar tinted lip balms, very moisturising with a bit of colour.
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Normally I also use only tube lipsticks (or wands for glosses), but I couldn’t resist buying this one – and now I found a very enjoyable use for it. But if everything is back to normal, my “painting” games will be back to very occasional relapses.
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That’s really a lovely palette. I would buy it except that the colors are too pink toned to work on my skin. My skin has a yellow undertone, although I’m fair skinned, so I have to look for colors that have a brown, peach or orangey undertone to them. It’s an ongoing search. I have a large collection of lipsticks accumulated in my search for the ‘perfect color.’ The best colors have been MAC colors and a couple of Pat McGrath’s and Charlotte Tilbury’s. One of Charlotte’s darker Pillow Talk offerings works well on me. I miss wearing lipstick also, so I’ve started wearing it around the house and when I go out to exercise. Why not? It makes me feel better and it looks nice, in my opinion. I use a lip pencil to color my lips under a mask and the pencil coloring does not wear off. I’m putting on full makeup and jewelry now for Zoom meetings. It makes me feel more ‘normal’ in these crazy times.
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Since I wasn’t hard on makeup in the previous years, I’ve never bothered to figure out my skin undertones :), which bites me now since they’ve reformulated my favorite Laura Mercier tinted moisturizer, and I’m having hard time finding a replacement or something with more coverage under the current circumstances. But, in general, I understand what you mean :)
I do use a pencil instead of a lipstick sometimes, but not because the smudging issue but rather because I like the look. But under the mask I prefer to hydrate my lips rather than go for the look – mostly, out of the necessity since my lips dry out easily.
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I understand that for sure. I’ve used up a bunch of the Fresh brand lip balms in the little circular containers. I love the lemon and watermelon flavors. I did end up buying 1 Lipstick Queen item on revolve.com for only 15.00 It’s a red that will work for me with warm undertones. I adore red lipsticks, but finding ones that work for me is tricky. I bought a couple of orangey reds in the past, and, while they didn’t clash with my skin tone, they were just a little too wacky for me to pull off, at least I thought so! They might work on Zoom, though. Hmmm.
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You can try using the Sephora website to color and feature match your tinted moisturizer.
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Unfortunately, since my LM Tinted Moisturizer SPF 20 has been discontinued, they offer match only to either the new one SPF 30 or to the oil-free version – but both are wrong for me, and that’s why I’m looking for a new one :)
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Nice color palette. At the beginning of working from home, I used to put on my usual make-up light; however, since I started walking a few times a week after work, I found myself washing it off before my walk. I decided to just go make-up free and haven’t looked back since. I still do the face care routine most days and always at night. I do use naked lip balm and also try to wear ones with SPF. Pretty much for as long as we have to wear masks, I won’t be wearing any make-up.
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In general, I’m with you on no make-up under the mask, but I AM vain enough to want to look better on those Zoom meetings, so I apply even more than I used to wear to the office (e.g., in normal life I wear mascara only for special occasions). But these lipsticks… It’s less color than the application that appeals to me.
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I love this palette, all the colours look so beautiful🤍 This would be perfect for somebody who works in the makeup industry, as it has colours to suite all🙌🏼
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I agree: for natural/no-makeup looks, combined with lip pencils, it can produce colors for any skin/lips combo.
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I love your lipstick pallette, and I love the packaging, too. It’s nice when you find a product or line that suits you-both in colour, price, and availability. I remember back in March when things got a bit scary here-I put on beautiful perfume and took my time to really do a good job on my lipstick-I tried to stay focused on what I was doing, just in that moment, to enjoy the process. And it worked. Our office was closed to the public until recently but I was still seeing two coworkers, and I put on lipstick. I actually bought quite a few, during a Pat McGrath sale-they’re a fantastic lipstick. But now I have to stop cause I have quite a few, and I don’t want them to expire before I have a chance to wear them. Very interesting post-thank you :)
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Thank you, Carole.
I’ve read/heard a lot of good reviews about Pat McGrath, but I haven’t seen or tried anything from that brand yet. But I plan too.
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