On the Quest for Beauty: Kissable Lips

This blog is dedicated to my husband who sees my imperfections and doesn't mention them.

I love trying new beauty products. Place me in a Sephora or Ulta store and I feel I am in paradise. For hours I can pleasantly entertain myself looking at the plethora of different shampoos, facial washes, makeup and perfumes, envisioning myself as a size 0 with glowing clear skin, no split ends, and being stopped by every man in America asking “What’s that scent you are wearing? (Ok, maybe not EVERY man)

One of my downfalls , as my mother will readily tell you, is that I am a sucker for cool packaging and intriguing ingredients. That inclination has resulted in trying hundreds of different products over the years – good and bad. Some products I have used ever since I was in college and I would rather exit the house with no makeup and hairy arm pits then see my fav end up on the proverbial chopping block. Others I have readily discarded vowing never again to be duped by flowery ingredients which deliver zero results.

Because of my “beauty product love”, I probably have more knowledge roaming around in my head than Wikipedia. So I decided to start this blog to share my adventures with you on the quest for beauty, giving my recommendations and warnings so your money can be well spent. The subject matter may be a tad vain, but ultimately every woman has an innate desire to look and feel her best and there is nothing wrong with that. Happy reading, and if you don’t come for my daily blabberings at least drop by for my contest giveaways that I hope to do every other month.

There is one part of my body that is not oily-and that is my lips. My lips are constantly dry. I hate wearing lipstick because it never seems to be nourishing enough and just peels into little red or mauve flakes. The best way I have found to keep color on my lips AND keep them somewhat moisturized is to apply lip liner to the lips and then apply lip gloss on top. I love experimenting with different lip glosses—here are some of my favorites...

Origins Liquid Lip Color: I have been using this brand off and on for years now. This lip gloss contains rich bran oil, aloe and Vitamin E to hydrate the lips. The gloss isn’t sticky or goopy and comes in wonderful colors such as “Lotsa Luxe” (my favorite), “Beaming Berry”, and “Wild Flower” But what I really love about this gloss is that it tastes like mint and makes my lips feel “zingy” when applied. Even my boyfriend likes this gloss when I kiss him! How can a gal go wrong?

L’Oreal Glam Shine: I love shine and glimmer which is one of the reasons I tried this lip gloss. Not only does it have a light feel and hydrates, but the gloss makes your lips look plump, pouty and kissable. “Prima Donna” is one of my favorite colors and I almost feel like one when wearing it.

Carmindy Natural Shine Lip Gloss (Sally Hansen): Carmindy is the makeup artist on the show “What Not to Wear” and she uses her own makeup line of products called “Natural Beauty” by Sally Hansen. Her lip gloss comes in 12 natural beautiful colors, lasts a long time and does a pretty nice job of keeping the lips hydrated and moisturized. Everything you want in a lip gloss and more!

They didn’t have “Glam Shine” at the store so today I decided to try L’Oreal ‘s new Infallible Lip Gloss which promises “No touch ups,” No feathering”, “No Fading” and will last at least 6 hours. I haven’t had a lip gloss last 6 hours yet so we shall see if "Infallible" lives up to the hype.