September 15, 2010

As promised in my I'm a Rebel FOTD, I decided to swatch all my vampy/fall shade lipsticks for you guys. Dark lips were all I wore as a teenager and after taking a few years off from the vamp look, I jumped back into it a couple of years ago. I think I'll forever be a closet goth, lol! I'm from the school of thought that anyone regardless of their skintone can wear these bold vampy shades, it really is just dependent on your comfort zone.

Tip: Now, what you want to do when wearing dark shades like these is to use a lip liner first and fill in your lips. Two of my favourites dark lip liners are Annabelle Bordeaux and MUFE 13C. You also want to make sure that your lips are well moisturized as you don't want cracky lips like the last two pics I have here, lol! I didn't take any of these two tips myself today as these are just swatches for comparison purpose.

Keeping all that in mind, here are the swatches:


1. Lancome French Touch l/s: This is a new shade for Lancome fall collection and is probably one of my most wearable vampy shades. It's a softer burgundy with brown undertones but reads more dark red on my lips as mine are a pinky red shade. If you have dark lips, this will be more of a brown burgundy shade. The texture is very creamy and soft with slight shimmer, you could get away not wearing lip liner with this one.


2. Nars Afghan Red l/s - This is one of my top favourite lipstick shades ever! Afghan Red is a beautiful soft wine shade. This is again a very wearable fall shade suitable for all skintones. Afghan Red is a satin finish which in Nars wrold means it goes semi opaque, is buildable and the texture is super creamy.


3. MAC Rebel - One of the hidden gems of MAC's perm line, Rebel is a dark plummy shade with strong pink undertones. It swatches like a dark fuchsia on my lips. Rebel is a satin lipstick which in MAC word means that it goes on very opaque but is a bit drying. But the shade is so beautiful that bit of dryness is worth it.


4. Nars Damned Matte Velvet Pencil - Nars Matte velvet formula is my favourite lipstick formula ever created. Damned is a dark magenta shade, similar to MAC Rebel but with more red undertones where Rebel has purple undertones. Nars Damned is the one dark shade I wear with smokey eyes all the time. I love this with burgundy smokey eyes, very smoldering and sexy. Good job Nars!


5. MAC Kirsch Mattene - I adore MAC's Mattene formula, I really wish they'd make all their mattenes perm. Kirsch is a lovely deep wine shade released with Cult of Cherry collection in 2008. Mattenes are completely matte but not drying like MAC's regular matte and satin formulas. Kirsch is a bolder shade for folks who want to venture into deeper fall shades.


6. MAC Night Violet Mattene - Another Mattene love! Night Violet is a matte dark violet shade as the name implies. This shade is definitely not for the faint of heart but of course your can always wear it as a stain. But what's the fun in that?


7. MUFE Rouge Intense Artist #13 - This is the only metallic fall shade in my stash. I picked it up on a whim at Sephora last week and never thought I'd love it this much! #13 is part of the Pearl finish of the Rouge Intense Artist which makes it shimmer to metallic borderline. This lipstick is a warm toned dark red with gold particle which makes me think it'll be great for the holidays.


8. MUFE Rouge Intense Artist #48 - OMG! This is the most gorgeous straight up burgundy lipstick ever! I think I just about fainted when I first tried it on! I would say it's slightly warm toned but can be worn by both cool and warm toned ladies. This creamy and opaque lipstick is everything I wanted MAC Kittenish to be; In fact MUFE #48 is Kittenish' boss!


9. Chanel Rouge Coco in Rouge Noir - Ok, I will admit that I only picked this one up because of the name. This is one of those classic Chanel shades that I always wanted to get and I love their Rouge Coco formula; hydrating and long lasting. Rouge Noir looks like a brownish boring shade in tube but is much more flattering on the lips. This is another shade not for the faint of heart. I would pair it with neutral eyes and lotsa mascara. This shade has earned me lotsa compliments the 2 times I've worn it so far.

Arm swatches - forgot to included my beloved Damned :(


Left to right: Rebel, Afghan Red, French Touch


Left to right: Night Violet, Kirsch, Rebel


Left to right: Rouge Noir, #48, #13

Hope this looooong post was helpful to you guys! Any fellow vampy lip lovers out there? What are some of your favourite shades?