The Lipstick I Carry with Me Everywhere
A no-filter selfie from my cousin’s recent wedding, featuring an extra glossy application of Clinique Chubby Stick in Graped-Up (inset, below).
What’s your beauty vice? Are you lash obsessed? All about under-eye cream? Can’t get enough contouring?
Mine is lipstick. I have a plastic container the size of shoe box stashed in my closet that holds my unnecessarily large lipstick collection. Really, I have SO MANY. My beloved little tubes are grouped by shade: there are the reds, the corals, the bright pinks, the nudes. I love them all!
I’ll confess, I used to switch up my lipstick wardrobe a whole lot more often, in my pre-kids, desk-job days. (Love you, miss you, NARS Heat Wave). Now, I tend to stick to one or two tubes that I carry with me at all times. In recent months, I’ve gravitated towards a Clinique Chubby Stick. Old-school, I know! I first wrote about Chubby Sticks back in 2013 for the Wall Street Journal, as part of a trend story about new easy-to-use applicators, and I’ve been hooked ever since. The original formula is moisturizing and fairly sheer, perfect for layering; a quick swipe suffices for pre-school drop-off, while a few coats deepens the shade for a night out. I love the stick form, too. You don’t need a mirror to apply it!
Over the years I have tried at least a dozen Chubby stick shades. Beginning last fall, I developed a fierce loyalty to Graped-Up. It’s the perfect muted pinky-plum and goes with everything, from a LBD to jeans and a T-shirt. It’s a less intense, and a little more shimmery, than the classic Clinique Almost Lipstick in Black Honey (that slim tube was most definitely the start of my lipstick obsession years and years ago). On days that I’m looking for something a little pinker, I love this NARS lipstick in the amazingly named shade Dressed to Kill.
Also in my bag at all times: Beautycounter’s lipgloss in Blossom (can’t find an exact link, this is closest I could find), a perfect sheer pink to add a little gloss to bare lips or on top of lipstick to punch up the wow factor — as seen in the pic above! And, of course, my beloved EOS egg.
As summer settles in, I’m in the mood to add another tube to my rotation. What lip brands + finishes + shades are your #musthaves these days? Please share in the comments!