Lipstick Queen

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Lipstick Queen’s Mixed Metaphor

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.

 

Lipstick Queen The Nude Album Lipstick Palette

 

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.

 

Lipstick Queen The Nude Album Lipstick Palette

 

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

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The (Last?) Two Queens

Lipstick Queen is one of my favorite lipstick brands. It isn’t the only brand that I wear but it’s one that is heavily represented in my lipstick wardrobe and on my blog. I won’t reveal the total number of tubes from the brand, but I’ll say that there are at least three shades that I bought repeatedly, some even more than twice.

I’m not sure what attracts me in these lipsticks the most: I like their names, I enjoy strange colors, and their formula (especially the one they use for their sheer lipsticks) works great for my lips. So, whenever I would come across the next release, I’d get curious and often end up buying it, even though my lipsticks collection is running over the space I designated to it, similar to my perfumes wardrobe.

 

 

I have a bad feeling that I might need to start looking for another favorite. First, at some point, I suddenly realized that I haven’t heard for a while about any new quirky names/collections from the brand. Then there was a slew of their products on sale at different outlets (I took advantage of some of those). Then I noticed prices going back up for several of those lipsticks that I keep an eye on planning to replenish once the lipstick in use is done. And then I went to the Lipstick Queen brand’s site to discover that it shrank to a couple of pages: no online shopping, no information about the new and existing products – just a store finder. It looks like the company that bought Lipstick Queen in 2011 lost interest in the brand soon after the original owner had left it in 2017.

I decided to tell you about two lipsticks I added to my collection last – while those are still available, if anyone wants to play.

 

Lipstick Queen Queen Bee Lip Treatment

 

I saw some sites calling Lipstick Queen’s Queen Bee a “lip treatment.” I’m not sure: I bought it as a lipstick, but as well I can imagine that I’m “treating” my lips because it doesn’t provide too much color anyway. As much as I love the idea of a golden lipstick (and have probably a couple more tubes from different brands to attest to that), my skin is too fair for it to wear on its own other than for those hot days when a real lipstick would feel too heavy, but one would like to add some shimmer to lips. Hawaii is a perfect place to wear Queen Bee (and to take a picture of it). Otherwise, it goes well on matte colored lipstick if I want to brighten it a little.

 

Lipstick Queen Queen Bee Lip Treatment Swatch

 

If to borrow terminology from photography, while Queen Bee is a like a warm filter that can be applied to one’s lips, Ice Queen is a cool filter. It also provides shimmer but it’s rather silver-toned. Most likely, I’m influenced by the name and packaging, but with the same sheer coverage I still consider Ice Queen a winter lipstick. Counterintuitively, my lips and complexion “tolerate” this cold shimmer on its own better than the golden one. But I still wear it mostly over darker colors to add festive stardust to my lips during the holidays season.

 

Lipstick Queen Ice Queen

 

Poppy King, the creator of Lipstick Queen, was planning her comeback with her third lipstick company and a new line Femme De Poppy. Last year she launched it at Barney’s… It doesn’t look like the new owner, Saks, picked it up. Today the new brand’s site is even less informative than the Lipstick Queen’s one. But I signed up for the updates and look forward to trying whatever Ms. King comes up with next. I’m really rooting for her not only because she created those great lipsticks that both work well for me and amuse me (wearable blue, green, black lipsticks named Hello Sailor, Frog Prince and Black Lace Rabbit with well thought-through packaging), but also I feel like I can relate to her: we’re almost the same age, she has fair skin, and she gets her inspiration from her kitty cat Meowsy. On the other hand, unlike her, I’m absolutely not entrepreneurial. I’ve just ordered and plan to read her first book (not an affiliated link) – Lessons of a Lipstick Queen: Finding and Developing the Great Idea That Can Change Your Life – not that I plan to change my life but I’m curious.

 

Rusty and Lipstick Queen 3 Minis

Images: my own

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… and I’ll be there…

A month ago Twitter’s meme “What 5 items would someone put in a salt circle to summon you?” got viral when J.K. Rowling answered it.

 Summonning JK Rowling

 

In other answers there were perfumes (that’s how I learned about it – from somebody’s mentioning it on the NST’s daily threads), books, snacks and a LOT of cats.

So of course I started playing this game in my head. My first thought was: “Rusty!” But then I realized that, first, Rusty wouldn’t sit still in any circle with or without other objects, and second, Rusty alone would be enough to summon me.

 

Rusty in a Circle

 

But since I still wanted to play this game, I decided to count Rusty out and go with inanimate objects. So, what would be a set of five things to summon me? I don’t think it would be a surprise to anyone who reads this blog that Climat by Lancôme would be the first thing to go on the list. The next one would be probably that quirky blue Hello Sailor lipstick by Lipstick Queen and The Fifth Element – one of my all-time favorite movies. Now, when we took care of my mind and my look, let’s attend to my body: dark chocolate lava cake and a cup of cappuccino. Yeah, looks about right: put these five together, and I’ll be there.

 

 Summonning Undina

 

What should I put in a circle to summon you?

 

Images: the salt circle from here; DVD cover – don’t remember; the rest – my own.

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They had me at “Hello” – and now “Goodbye”

How was that for an attention grabbing headline? But if you think about it, you’ll appreciate me not using just the last part (I was tempted a little but then I thought of all that wolves business and decided not even to joke about such serious matters).

But back to the topic. It is true: Lipstick Queen had won me over when I saw online the first (for me) lipstick from the brand – Hello Sailor. I liked everything – the color in the tube, the name, a pin-up-girl-style packaging and, as I confirmed later, the tint on my lips. I’m on my third lipstick now; and once it’s finished, I plan to get the next one.

 

Lipstick Qeen Hello Sailor

 

In four years since I said “Hello” to the first sailor, I found several more colors that I liked and adopted (see Black Lace in Tropics and Frog Prince(ss)’s Kiss). Both of them enchanted me with the name and the color in tube but after that I tried them first and then bought.

Recently one more lipstick from this brand caught my eye. Since now we have a Lipstick Queen counter in one of the close-by department stores, I went from testing and liking the color to appreciating its name: Goodbye.

 

Lipstick Queen Goodbye

 

Describing a lipstick’s color is probably an undertaking comparable to describing perfume’s scent. Though I’m not good with either, I’ll try. Goodbye is darker than my other Lipstick Queen favorites, with more pigment – so it covers lips better than more sheer colors – but it has a lot more shimmer than my other darker gloss sticks (such as Laura Mercier’s Black Orchid), so it is more forgiving, and it gives a more even coverage. The color on the lips is dark berry or plum with brownish undertone and bluish sparkle. One coat gives enough hue to the lips; and then with each additional swipe you can build it up to a darker color.

Either a tube or swatches’ pictures do not do the lipstick justice. But I showed you the former, so now I’ll show you the latter as well (in comparison to two other lipsticks I mentioned in the post).

 

Lipstick Queen Goodbye swatch

 

Other than with perfumes, do you pay attention to products’ names before you buy and use them?

 

Images: My own

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Frog Prince(ss)’s Kiss

Did you grow up with the Frog Prince or the Frog Princess? Not only I (and my whole generation, I think) grew up with the female version of this character but I don’t think I heard about the existence of the other one until I was in my late twenties. It’s especially surprising because we had other Brothers Grimm’s tales translated and published. It might be that the local version – The Princess Frog (or Tsarevna Frog) was one of the popular and loved folk tales: there were books, movies, animated films and predecessors of the modern audio-books – vinyl records. There even was a painting by the famous Russian neo-romanticism artist Viktor Vasnetsov.

Vasnetsov Frog Princess

Just in case anybody is curious, you can read The Frog Princess in English. For the rest I want to mention that, interestingly, there were no kisses involved as well even though, as you can see, the heroine of this tale is older than characters of Grimm’s version. But our folklore also had that kissing frog theme played out in many ways.

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Lipstick Queen is one of my favorite brands: I love their quirky names and colors (I previously posted about Hello Sailor and Black Lace Rabbit), and I’m constantly on the look-out for their new products. So when last year I saw their Frog Prince lipstick (since then they’ve launched two more product in that line), I had to have it!

Lipstick Queen Frog Prince

While I liked the idea of a green lipstick, and from my experience with the lipsticks mentioned above I knew that on lips they do not stay blue or black, I wasn’t sure what color I’ll get from that green beauty, so when I saw the holiday set of mini-lipsticks, one of which was Frog Prince, I leaped.

Lipstick Queen 3 Lipsticks

The first thought that went through my mind when I looked at the swatch was that mini-size was a good decision: with my pale complexion green lips would look rather unhealthy. But since it was in my hands I had to try it. The transformation was amazing! On my lips it became pink – sheer but with enough pigment. That frog clearly needed a kiss to reveal its true self. I can see more princes in my future.

And since I can’t show you the results of that transformation, at least I’ll leave you with the picture of Rusty trying to paw that frog.

Rusty and Lipstick Queen 3 Minis

 

Images: my own

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Black Lace in Tropics

If I were to name the best material for tropical clothing, I would be choosing between cotton, linen or silk, and I would be looking at it from the point of the comfort of wearing it in the heat and aesthetic. But, as I discovered, in the beginning of the last century there were serious debates in the Great Britain on that subject from the prospective of health and hygiene in tropical climates. People were writing serious articles in the Journal of Tropical Medicine arguing pros and cons of those fabrics that I mentioned above plus wool, about which I wouldn’t even think despite the existence of the term “tropical wool” (now I actually know what it means). The best color for tropical clothes was also widely discussed: wearing less heat-absorbing white/light colors was supported by one camp, while the other one advocated the idea of mimicking “black” skin (for the health reasons).

Also, it was interesting to learn that Burberry was producing and advertising clothes for working and traveling in the colonies, and that those weren’t cheap back then either.

Burberrys' Tropical Clothing Ad

From when I was a child, I knew that skin doesn’t “breathe” in clothes made from synthetic fiber (one of those wisdom that is passed from the older generation and usually isn’t questioned). A couple of years ago I had a chance to actually prove it to myself: as I was using a steamer on the clothes I had with me on a trip, I noticed how great it worked with my wool sweaters and my vSO’s cotton shirts but was completely useless for my blouse made of one of rayon’s variations.

It pains me to see that more and more summer clothes are produced from the synthetic or semi-synthetic materials. I understand that it’s cheaper than natural fabrics but how greedy are those companies that charge $100+ for a “summer” dress made of polyester?!

So why would I bring a black lace with me on my tropical vacation? I wouldn’t have if it hasn’t been … a lipstick.

Lipstick Queen Black Lace Rabbit

When I read about the upcoming release of Black Lace Rabbit, which was “playing on the idea of “going down a rabbit hole where nothing is what it seems” (a nod to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland), I immediately felt drawn to it. And since I love Lipstick Queen‘s Hello Sailor (I’m finishing my second lipstick and plan to buy the third one), I ordered Black Lace Rabbit online without trying to find it in a store first.

In a tube Black Lace Rabbit looks solid black with golden flecks but on lips, unlike those cheap Halloween makeup lipsticks, Black Lace Rabbit is just a sheer and slightly shimmering tint – like a veil over the natural lip color. It seemed very appropriate for the tropical evening attire.

Lipstick Queen Black Lace Rabbit and Hello Sailor swatches

As I was taking pictures of Black Lace Rabbit, a perfectly color-coordinated with my photo session local cat visited our lanai. I think that with his third eye he perceived how much by that time in our vacation I was missing Rusty…

Maui Cat

Images: Burberrys’ ad – from the article referenced above; others – my own

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In the Search for the Perfect Black Currant: P.S.

Do you read beauty blogs? I follow a couple of “mixed media” blogs (perfume + make-up) but compared to the amount of perfume-related sites I frequent you might say I don’t read them at all. Though maybe I should? Sometimes they prove to be very useful. But I’m running ahead of myself.

Last year while perfume shopping sniffing at Barney’s with Natalie (Another Perfume Blog), we stopped at a Lipstick Queen counter: I wanted to show her the Hello Sailor lipstick I featured in the In the Search for the Perfect Blackberry: P.S. post. I also secretly hoped to find Black Tie Optional gloss. Instead my attention was captured by their Chinatown glossy lip pencil in the shade Mystery.

Lipstick Queen Chinatown Mistery

My wallet was on its way out of the purse when Natalie stopped me and explained that for the money ($18 at the time) all I was getting was what you can see on the picture above. We spent some time trying to figure out if it had some hidden turning mechanism or something like that. Nope. It was a solid plastic tube with a relatively large but still not-enough-for-the-price gloss tip.

It was a reasonable thing to do so we left Barneys empty-handed though on the perfume side it was totally their fault: if I remember it correctly, they were out of either a size or a perfume Natalie wanted.

Months later, by mere chance, at Tinsel Creation I stumbled upon a review of another shade of that Chinatown lip pencil in which Jessica not only praised the quality of the gloss, but explained how good was the sharpener that came with the pencil.

The next time I happened to be at Barneys I re-confirmed with an SA that I could actually sharpen the pencil – and it went home with me.

Lipstick Queen Mistery, Hello Salor and Laura Mercier Black Orchid Swatches

With all other lipsticks I have in similar shades did I really need that lip gloss? You know the answer. Does it look like black currant? The tip of the pencil reminds a slightly unripe berry. On lips it’s a shimmering berry tint. But I enjoy how smoothly it glides, how easy it is to apply and how nice it looks on my lips. So I’m glad I read that post on a beauty blog.

Can you recommend any beauty blog that you follow and like?

Images: my own

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In the Search for the Perfect Blackberry: P.S.

 

As it often happens, while working on my blackberry Single Note Exploration post, I had blackberries on my mind. I went through my database to find all the perfumes featuring that note; tested perfumes I had; sniffed, purchased and ate berries at the Farmers Market, abandoned my current phone for the BlackBerry Q10… Ok, this last one I was kidding. But you’ve got the picture.

So when in the ad that came from Ulta I saw that lipstick I just knew I had to have it!

Lipstick Queen Hello Sailor

Not only it was of a wonderfully weird color but also it had a funny fitting shade name – Hello Sailor. I do not usually shop at Ulta but I wanted that lipstick. After the completely blank stare from the first SA, I found another one who heard about the Lipstick Queen brand but told me that only selected stores carried it.

So now I had not only to buy a lipstick untested but also paid for shipping it to me. I don’t make impulsive purchases, I didn’t know the brand and I don’t like Ulta. But I liked the color. And the name. So I decided to bite the bullet… only to find out that it was out of stock both at Ulta and brand’s sites and sold on eBay almost twice the price.

I would have probably paid that ridiculous price eventually but my procrastination helped: it came back to several online stores and I got it from Barney’s (with a free shipping!)

I don’t want you to think that I’m getting ready for this year’s Halloween: since it’s a lip stain the only place you see that dramatic color is in a tube. I have a fair skin so on my lips Hello Sailor looks like a slightly shimmering berry tint. It’s a nice lighter alternative to my favorite Black Orchid stick gloss from Laura Mercier.

Lipstick Queen Hello Sailor Swatches

For those who uses lipsticks (sorry to the rest): What was the strangest color or the most interesting lipstick name you came across or used?

 

Images: my own