Affordable Dark Lips

Ever try and write a blog post, but your graphics just don't download and you give up? Oh good! I'm not the only one.

I love dark lipstick. I mean I wrote a whole blog post on how to apply dark lipstick last year. I have a lot of dark lipsticks, but I noticed that some of them weren't available in stores anymore and some were kind of expensive for a seasonal lipstick. I don't like recommending products for people when it's no longer available in store. So I went to Wal Mart and started looking for dark lipsticks that anyone could afford. Not everyone has a budget for lipsticks and they can get really expensive if you don't take the time to look.

What to look for in a lipstick. First things first: Do you want a matte, cream, or sheer lipstick? (There are many kinds of lipsticks and other than glosses, these are most commonly found at the drugstore) What to look for in a matte lipstick: It needs to be matte, there needs to be no sheerness on this lipstick. If you glide it on and it dries to a flat shade, you've found a matte lipstick. The best matte lipsticks are actually liquid and dry matte. Matte lipsticks also generally last longer because they are dried to the lips so they have a tendency to stick really well and not pull off with foods and drinkware. Also, if it says matte and has bad pigmentation, what is the point in drying out your lips? Life is too short for badly pigmented lipstick.

What to look for in a cream lipstick: This is the kind where you need a good pigmentation because they aren't like a paint that goes on your lip and dry, like the matte. Cream lipsticks can be tricky, if the pigmentation is bad, or the formulation is bad, the lipstick will move around while you apply it. Kind of like putting another layer of nail polish on a wet spot, it will pick up. I highly recommend swatching every lipstick to look for consistency in the product. Cream lipsticks are much better at keeping the lips moisturized, but that does not mean it has moisturizing properties in it, it just means it won't dry the lips out as much as a cream lipstick. Cream lipsticks are not drying meaning they will probably spear on other things like food and drinkware.

What too look for in a sheer lipstick: This is the lighter version of a cream lipstick and so the pigmentation will be less, but that is because the formulation is meant for a light wash of colour. This doesn't mean that the formulation can be patchy. With a sheer lipstick, you want it to glide on, but you want to colour to be consistent when applying because if it's not and it's patchy, you have to apply more and fidget with it a lot. This is the kind that will remove from your lips when you eat and drink, but you wont notice it as much, since it's sheer.

Whatever you choose, make sure that the pigmentation is consistent, that the formulation isn't patchy, and that you like the colour.

So these aren't all the dark lipsticks available at the drugstore, there was a black cover girl lipstick I wanted to swatch, but wasn't available at Wal Mart when I went because people are the worst at swatching and dumping at Wal Mart. Anyways, I found four from Wal Mart and one at Shoppers Drug Mart to give a little variety. Also, fun fact, the earlier you go on a Saturday, the better the selection of product at Wal Mart.

The first I found was the Revlon 477 Black Cherry: This is definitely a cream lipstick and has a purple undertone. It's definitely a vampy colour without having the matte effect. It's creamy and is the perfect true dark lip. It retails at $7.46

The second I found was Rimmel's Bordeaux. Not going to lie on my blog, but I have owned this colour for years and I thought they didn't make it anymore, but I found it at Wal Mart and was pretty excited. It's this very pretty creamy marsala colour. It retails at $5.98

The third and fourth colours I found were from Wet n Wild. Since dark lips are really a seasonal look, sometimes, you don't need a lipstick that costs a lot of money, so I wanted to include a cheaper option. These two are from the same line, the darkest colour is called Vamp It up and the other is called Cherry Bomb. These are very matte and very drying. They have great pigmentation, but if you don't like the drying effect, you could always prep your lips with a lip balm. This may remove some of the mattefying effects, but could prevent chapped lips. Great options for someone who just wants the look at the cheapest price. These retail at like $3.

The fifth option I found at Wal Mart was a lip liner, which surprisingly didn't totally hurt when gliding on the lips. It's the darkest shade I could find in the cheapest price. It's called Plumberry, but has this great brown and plumb mixture. It's nice to line the whole lips with and colour in and not have to spend a fortune on a lip liner. As a base, it would work well with a lot of the lipsticks I have found at the drugstore. Its also from Wet n Wild and retails at about $2.

The last lipstick I have is by far the most matte because it is a liquid lipstick. It's from NYX and it's from their Liquid Suede collection. Essentially, you need one coat of this and it will dry to your lips with a suede effect, which really means dry matte. Once it's dry, it really doesn't move all that much, which is perfect. It's called Vintage and retails at $10 at Shopper Drug Mart.

Here are the swatches:

This lighting is over head lighting from my bedroom. So I believe it is 40W soft, not the greatest, but you can see the colours pretty well.

I love dark lipsticks and I could talk about them some more, but I think I've exhausted the topic so I hope you like what I have found at the drugstore and I hope you find these to be some cheaper alternatives to what you could be purchasing.

Thanks for reading,

Samantha