I confess readers, I have not gotten on the mineral train. I have not swirled, tapped, OR buffed. So for the past 3 years, I have not been paying close attention to Bare Escentuals.
They recently exploded into my daily consciousness with a Sephora freebie: a Buxom Lip Stick in Amsterdam (lip-swatched here). I’m so enamored of it, I was compelled to go swatch all the available shades… and now I’ve gone from being essentially unaware of the product to wanting at least four shades.
The Lip Stick is a semi-dry lip crayon (hence the space between “lip” and “stick”). Most of the shades are non-staining (the darkest shades are slightly staining), but they provide a lightweight, natural matte lip color unlike any other product I’ve tried.
The Lip Sticks have the same caramel/burnt sugar scent as the Buxom glosses — but apply them to your lips and that scent will be entirely masked by a minty cool, tingling scent/feeling. It’s a scientific miracle: you can’t smell the mint unless the product is on your lips. (And the formula did not irritate my arm.)
My favorite (naturally) is slightly nude warm-pink Amsterdam, followed by coral-rose Bombay.
Full size Lip Sticks are $18 each, sold exclusively by Sephora. Unfortuantely, Vienna, Fresno, and Athens are only available as half-size “minis” in sets: Vienna and Fresno are part of the City Slickers set; Athens is included in the Travel in Style set. I like Athens, but the lighter shades seem to show lip lines a bit more. Maybe that one’s meant to be paired with gloss.
And I’m curious: if you live in one of these cities, do you think your color represents the tastes of your city?
Bombay should’ve been what Barcelona or Havana is. Or maybe a outright purple or hot pink. It is a very vibrant and loud city that stands out.
I live in Brooklyn and I’d say no. lol Brooklyn is too bright and diverse a place for such a neutral color. I’ve tried to buy it, really, but the color just didn’t grab me. Monte Carlo though, that one I had to have!
las vegas says blonde stripper to me.
haha Fresno? really. that says dark gutter black hole to me. it’s a pretty color tho.
marakesch says the desert.
san francisco - sophisticated yuppie.
i live in brooklyn and i think it does go with a brooklyn-in-fall vibe. i love these things-i wasn’t big into be but these lip sticks are great. i work 12 hour shifts as an rn and get pretty good wear out of ‘em too.
Love these! I bought a set from Sephora last year with buxom lip sticks and buxom glosses. All the colors looked good on me.
I got the city slickers set and it’s fabulous! I love these and they look really great with the gloss over them.
Thanks for the other swatches.
I disagree with you Evelyn, I think Brooklyn’s color does describe Brooklyn; it is a laidback and wearable color that I think a lot of people could pull off so it fits a diverse group of people
p.s. I am from Brooklyn too!