Mixing NYX Cairo with Other Colors

So I've recently posted about how much I hate NYX Matte Lip Cream in Cairo because it's way too light, it's drying, and it makes me look like I have concealer lips. I commented to someone earlier that I would probably never wear Cairo out of the house because I just didn't like it, but later on I had an idea: What if I took my most hated lip color and mixed and matched it with some of my other less used products to try and create something good?

That thought led to this mini-experiment with lip color in which I used Cairo as a base for my lip color to try and create other lighter shades of two different products I had (but didn't really use that much): Burt's Bees Lip Shimmer in Cocoa and NYX Chunky Dunk in Pomegranate Margarita.

Now I got Cocoa a long time ago as some kind of Burt's Bee Lip Shimmer set, but I never really used it because I didn't like how shimmery it actually was and I thought it was way too brown for me so it just sat around in my makeup drawer.

Mixing this color with Cairo made a very pretty nude with a slight shimmer. Since the Lip Shimmer has a minty taste and feel it covered up the gross smell of the NYX Lip Cream and left my lips feeling nice and smooth. Honestly, I think that these two made a great pair.

I bought this NYX Chunky Dunk not too long ago because I love the color, however, I don't wear it much because no matter how hard I try I think it looks patchy when I applied it.

When I first applied the Chunky Dunk over Cairo it made this really pretty muted pink (which I have a feeling I am going to be wearing a lot). Since the Chunky Dunk is hydrating it took away the dryness brought on by Cairo and having the cream under the Chunky Dunk made it a lot easier to move it where I needed to without making it look patchy and uneven.

While I really liked the color, I thought that it didn't bring out enough of the purple in Pomegranate Margarita, so I applied another coat of the NYX Chunky Dunk over Cairo and it came out with a darker, more purple tinted color which was still very wearable. It still felt hydrating without feeling too wet or glossy.

All in all I think I might have just re-introduced some products into my regular makeup bag so I feel like this was a win. While Cairo isn't great on its own, it does make a great base for lightening up lip colors.

My Current Favorite and Least Favorite Lip Colors

So recently I have been obsessed with different lip colors and products and have been buying a lot more of them lately to try and find the perfect colors for every occasion. However, my summer has been kind of hectic which means when I put on my make up I am literally throwing it on and running out of the door, which means that I have been neglecting to wear a lot of lip color besides the occasional tinted lip balm I find in my bag.

I though that the fact that summer classes are coming to an end was the perfect reason to swatch some of my recently bought (and sadly neglected) lip colors.

These are the NYX Lipsticks in Doll and Margarita. I love Doll, it is definitely one of my favorites. The color is perfect for me and the formula is so smooth and it only takes one coat to get full coverage. The color stays for a decent amount of time and it doesn't feel drying at all.

However, I hate Margarita. The color is actually frosted and it goes on really chunky. It makes my lips look and feel really dry. I also think it makes my lips look like they are flaking, which is awful. I will probably never wear this color, which is a shame because the in store swatch I did with the tester looked like it was going to be a nice coral-ish color.

This is the NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream in Cairo. I honestly do not know how I feel about this product at all.

I think the lip cream smells sickly sweet (like synthetic vanilla) which is very off putting. I also think that this color applies very streaky no matter what I do and in the end it just looks like I have rubbed a concealer stick on my lips which I think it makes my lips look like I am dead. In addition to that it settles into all of the creases in my lips and very drying.

However, this stuff is truly matte and it really does have some staying power; but I find that the only way to wear this color is to apply a coat of clear gloss to the top to reduce the streaky and drying appearance. The clear gloss makes it look like a prettier, wearable nude instead of concealer lips.

This is Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Fig Jam. This is nothing new, but it is definitely one of my favorite lip butters and one of my favorite colors (it definitely beats the NYX Lip Butters). It looks really dark in the tube, but it applies to what I like to think of as a candy apple color (not to be confused with the Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Candy Apple). I think it is a great fall color without being too dark.

However, while I do love this shade I sometimes become weary of how wet it looks and the staying power isn't that great (but the way it glides on the lips does make it nice to reapply it).

In the future, I would love to add some more lip crayons to my lip collection, but right now I am making due with what I have.

Friday Favorites 8.1.14

It's the first day of August which means that it is only 18 more days until the first day of the fall semester and 16 days until I move into my new apartment! I have to say I am ready for fall classes to start so I can get some more structure in my life...

Speaking of structure my number one favorite thing this week is:

1. My Lily Pulitzer Jumbo Agenda in Trippin' and Slippin'

I am not a huge fan of Lily Pulitzer clothing because it is all a little too bright and busy for me. However, I cannot deny that Lily Pulitzer makes some amazing planners.

I am an Education major and I hold a position in my sorority which means I have to keep up with all kinds of different dates and deadlines. The jumbo planner is big enough that I have enough room to write everything out, however, it is not too big that it is a hinderance to take it with me.

I love the fact that is has a hardcover and comes with little save the date stickers for a variety of occasions, and while I don't see myself decking out in head to toe Lily anytime soon, I can see myself carrying around these planners for awhile!

2. Co-Optitude on Geek and Sundry

If I could make Co-Optitude my favorite every single week I definitely would because I am absolutely obsessed with it. In this YouTube show on Geek and Sundry, Felicia Day and her brother Ryon Day play various video games with varying degrees of success.

It comes out every single Monday and it is absolutely hilarious, so I highly recommend you check it out. Their sibling banter reminds me of long nights with my little sisters yelling at each other and the tv while playing Donkey Kong Country on the SNES.

3. Crunchyroll

Now I have been out of the anime game for quite some time lately. With all of my schoolwork, sorority things, and general life I haven't really been able to keep up a regular anime schedule like I used to be able to when I was in high school. Lately, I have found myself wanting to get back into anime and I have been loving the Crunchyroll free trial.

Crunchyroll is basically Netflix for anime, which is great since Netflix lost a good portion of its anime awhile back (bring back Mushishi ;_;). It's a little under $7 per month for a HUGE selection of anime, which is nice because I get to watch it on my tv (with the PS3 app) and I get to go at my own pace instead of having to search a million years for links to slow streaming spam filled sites on the internet.

Shows I am Currently Watching: Attack On Titan

NYX Lip Butter Swatch

So I mentioned in my Friday Favorites that I love NYX Lip Butters, however I forgot to include one of my favorite shades (which I have yet to find time to wear in the summer) which is Licorice. It's a nice deep purple color. My one problem with Licorice though is that as the day goes on it smudges and fades a lot faster than the other colors and because the color is so dark and my natural lip color is so light it is a lot more noticeable. However, I make sure to apply lip primer before every application and just reapply the color every couple of hours.

I also decided to re-swatch Fireball because I feel like the picture came out blurry and the color did not look right in the first photo I posted and I want to better represent the colors. It is a lot more vibrant the the first photo made it out to be.

My next adventure in lip products is to find my holy grail red lip color and to find a nice matte deep purple (a little deeper than Licorice) that lasts.