After my successfully indulgent trip to the drugstore (as well as the follow up online confession), it was only right to expose how the colors looked like in real life. In this photo - I tried to make the lip shades look like a Cingular sign :).

As I've said in my review, the lipsticks are creamy and highly pigmented, and very very worth the money. Something else I found out with these babies? They're not for the faint of heart, and by that I mean, they are high maintenance. These sticks (or at least the colors I chose) need a brush applicator on hand at all times. If you use the lipstick on its own and brave it out, you'll have plenty of cleanup to follow (it's the worst to do cleanup after red lipstick, because your skin may turn pink from either the coloring or the irritation from rubbing). Every time I tried to apply Red Velvet on my own, I was running cleanup interference to the point that I wiped the whole thing off and started again. Did this three times before I gave up and took a brush thankyouverymuch

No swatch post is ever enough without the before and after shot. Here's my before. There is no flash on the left and flash on the right. This pattern is the same throughout all the colors.Red Velvet is a bad mama jama. It's matte but super creamy (okay all of them are - but still). It's bright and has a blue tone to make your teeth look pearly white. Did I mention this would look awesome on all skin tones?Then the trouble started. Just Peachy is the kind of beige that a girl with my skin tone should steer clear of. As a matter of fact, I'm starting to think this shade is so specific that I'd have to keep my eye out for the perfect match. It has an pastel orange tint to it, making it disappear on my face. It felt like I was hiding my eyebrows... just you know - on my lips. My skin shade by MAC standards is NW20, so you'd have to be wayyyy below or way above for this color to work on you. It'd need to create a serious contrast.But alas, Yaya will not give up. I decided to layer my Armour Beauty gloss on top to give it more dimension.
What do you think? Any better?
Smokin' Hot Pink is a very attractive coral and pink mix. It's a bit reminiscent of pinup gals.I slipped up on Mauve Outta Here. Where the heck is the photo without flash? Y'all know as much as I do. It's a lilac and pink mix that verges on not matching skin tones, but is just enough to get away with. Do you agree?

I kind of want to get more colors but my wallet is asking that I take a conservative stance with the pending holiday and birthday events. Ever notice how birthdays are always in clusters (and never in the clusters where you have the most discretionary income!)?

Which is your favorite?

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