NARS Powermatte Lip Pigment

NARS brings the biggest color payoff  with their new Powermatte Lip Pigments.

These are fully matte but feel comfortable on as they have flex on lips and don't feel super dry or tight due to the formula's Fluid Pigment Complex along with light hydration.  It's a nice formula especially if you're like me and not too into most mattes mainly because of the dryness.  These eliminate most of that but can  still accentuate lines a little .

Save The Queen, Just What I Needed, Get It On, Walk This Way,Wild Night, Starwoman,Rock With You, Light My Fire, London Calling, Just Push Play, 

The coverage is full and as I said the pigment very deep. The are blendable to a point, but it pays to work fairly fast. They go on easily with the doe foot applicator which is pretty precise for blending and filling in color.

NARS swatches

Wear time here is awesome.  I had full color for 5 hours until I ate lunch when it wore off. Once it sets , it stays . It's ink like.

The shade range is wide , 20 in total .  I am a neutral to medium tone  fan so I gravitated to the nudes and browns . There are beautiful rich reds, pinks and  eggplant purple or black for those who want a deeper lip.


Oh and each is coolly named for a famous rock song. So when someone asks what color you're wearing you can say Paint It Black or Low Rider.

NARS Powermatte Lip Pigment are $ 26  and are available July 5  exclusively on the Sephora Mobile App, July 6 at NARS boutiques and narscosmetics.com, and July 13 at Sephora and Sephora.com

Maybelline Vivid Hot Lacquer

 Liquid lipsticks are having a moment and these new Vivid Hot Lacquers from Maybelline hit all the marks.

These richly pigmented lipcolors have high end look and feel,  give a saturated lip look , have a lot of slip when applying and a slight gloss finish once they set . They have more  gloss in the initial application, then it dries down some. They are very comfortable on lips , not tacky or sticky nor dry as they set. They keep a somewhat creamy feeling.

Too Cute, Unreal, Obsessed, So Hot, Charmer, Retro ,Classic

These also wear long and leave a stain behind. After testing one of the red shades, after a shower , sleep and washing my face in the AM there was still a hint of it left.  Like I said, they have plenty of pigment. That bodes well though for daytime wear, with them lasting on me about 4 hours .

The applicator is an angled doe foot with a little well  that makes  getting them on lips evenly , easy.

Maybelline Vivid Hot  Lacquers sugg. retail is $ 7.99 and  are available at the usual outlets along with Amazon .

H20+ Beauty Waterbright & Aquadefense SPF Moisturizers

It's the first day of Summer today and it's HOT out there. Some places more than others, but generally really warm .  That means the sun is shining and we need our sunscreen .

Packing SPF with a daily moisturizer is nothing new but  new, good formulas keep popping up to keep our skin protected.    These two from H2O+ Beauty  are made for the heat and one is especially good for oilier skins, a rarity.

Aquadefense Protective Matcha Moisturizer SPF 40 is an oily skinned gal's  friend.  It's super light in feel /look on skin  and sets to a matte finish.  It sinks in quick too, so applying makeup right after is a breeze. The moisture is just enough here , only a little  but if you're oily it's just right .  Matcha green tea and rice bran extracts protect against stress  from environmental factors adding some antioxidants .  I see this becoming a go to all Summer for me.

Waterbright Radiating Moisturizer SPF 30  adds  a good bit of hydration without being heavy or greasy.   It also has Vitamin C for brightening/antioxidant protection  with Pomelo and Snowflake flower extract . This is  creamy , blends in easily and feels nice on skin , it does have a tacky feel for the first few seconds.   More than most oily skins would need, but great for combo or normal to slightly dry skin types.

Both of these have chemical based broad spectrum SPF and can be used alone , over serums or under makeup.  The pump tubes help keep product  away from light and fingers and are nicely sized if you want to take them on any Summer travels at 1.7 oz each.


Aquadefense Protective Matcha Moisturizer SPF 40 is $ 44
Waterbright Radiating Moisturizer SPF 30 is 54

Available along with  two others at www.h20plus.com  , Ulta  and Kohls 

Kneipp Summer Scented Body Washes

Kneipp has been around for eons or 1891 to be exact ,  yet it's a brand I haven't explored much .  I do remember seeing  it at my grandmother's house when I was a kid. She lived near a city and was very into naturopathy decades ago , long before it became more mainstream.

Body Wash seemed a great place to begin since I love scented body washes and with new scents for Summer like mango and watermelon , I was in.

All three are lightly moisturizing with  a little lather, don't dry out skin and have juicy fruity scents that can't help but perk you up .  Summer in a bottle.

You can grab  Tropical Dream with Mango and Starfruit , Summer Mood with Watermelon and Mint or Endless Summer with Lime and Mint. Sounds good , right? Honestly it's hard to go wrong with any of them.

Each fragrance is pretty pronounced yet not too strong. Watermelon is  juicy and spot on , Lime is  zippy citrus all the way and Mango is sweet and peachy .

All Kneipp products have no preservatives, paraffin, silicones, mineral oil, animal derived ingredients or animal testing.

Kneipp Body Wash is regularly $ 14 but right now at Kneipp.com they are $10 each ( limited time pricing).