Here’s a little mix of my picks for Valentine’s Day-themed lipsticks that range from light pink to vibrant red!  I’d love to hear your picks!

1. MAC Lickable — bright pink
2. Giorgio Armani #503 — rich red
3. NARS Dragon Girl — blue-based matte red
4. OCC Femme — light-medium pink
5. Revlon Lollipop — glossy fuchsia pink

What lipsticks remind you of Valentine’s Day?

Top 10 of 2012: Lipsticks

There were actually a lot of fantastic lipsticks released this year! I already pulled up twenty that to consider for the top ten, and I had only reached August (I go backwards). There were 52 pages of lip product reviews to sift through (that’s 312 posts!), and these were the ones that made the cut:

• OCC Metallurgy Lip Tars — Triptych pictured above
• Cle de Peau Comtesse de Cayla — light coral
• Guerlain Orgueil — berry-red
• NARS Dragon Girl — matte, blue-based red
• Laura Mercier Raspberry Sorbet — muted rosy pink
• Maybelline Very Cherry — cherry red
• Shiseido RD 320 — creamy magenta
• Tom Ford Violet Fatale — iridescent berry purple
• Burberry Pink Amber — matte perfection
• Giorgio Armani #400 — rich red

What was your favorite lipstick from 2012?

5 Decadent Bright Red Lipsticks for the Holidays

If there was ever a time to break out the red lipstick, it’s during the winter holidays.   I love red lipstick year-round, and I most definitely have a weakness for a really fantastic red so narrowing them down to five was hard… which is why this list is just bright reds.

• OCC Super NSFW — bright metallic red
• Dior Diorling — juicy medium-dark red
• NARS Dragon Girl — bold, blue-based red
• Giorgio Armani #404 — bright ruby red
• Guerlain Garconne — classic true red with a glossy sheen

What’s your favorite bright holiday red lipstick?

NARS Dragon Girl Velvet Matte Lip Pencil

NARS Dragon Girl Velvet Matte Lip Pencil ($24.00 for 0.086 oz.) is described as a “siren red.” This is an extremely intense, vibrant cherry red with pink undertones and a blue base. It’s very cool-toned and equally bright. It’s bluer than Maybelline Very Cherry. It’s more vibrant than Giorgio Armani #406. CoverGirl Hot has a similar brightness level but not the same blue undertones. Chanel Rouge Byzantin is darker. MAC Ruby Woo is redder and darker.

The Velvet Matte Lip Pencil formula is designed to allow you the precision of a lip pencil with the ease of all-over application like a lipstick. It’s supposed to be opaque, matte, creamy, long-wearing, and non-drying. Dragon Girl wears and wears and wears; its strongest suit is in how well and long it wears–a full six hours of excellent coverage and looks good enough not to need a reapplication until eight hours. It hardly transfers, so it lasts through a cup of coffee with ease. It’s not moisturizing, but it isn’t drying; you’ll want to properly moisturize and prep lips in advance (or just have a good lip health routine), since it’s not adding any moisture over the course of the day.

Dragon Girl has to be one of my favorites within the range, because it applies evenly and easily without tugging or pulling on the lip, so there’s just enough glide and waxiness in the base to get that even, opaque color, but it clings to lips so it wears a long time (not in a bad clingy way, though). It has a matte finish, but it appears so bright that it almost has a sheen.

The Velvet Matte Lip Pencils are large, jumbo-sized crayons, and you’ll need to sharpen them periodically. You will lose some product, but because the texture of this is fairly dry and firm, there is less product loss than from the brand’s Velvet Gloss Lip Pencils. Many readers have suggested freezing a pencil briefly prior to sharpening to help minimize waste.

The Glossover

	Dragon Girl A+
	Everything about this product is fantastic--except for some of the waste that happens when you sharpen the pencil, which is something that occurs with most pencil packaging--the color is rich and opaque, and this shade wears six to eight hours with ease.
	Product 10/10 Pigmentation 10/10 Texture 10/10 Longevity 10/10 Application 5/5
	Where to Buy
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NARS Dragon Girl Velvet Matte Lip Pencil

NARS Dragon Girl Velvet Matte Lip Pencil

NARS Dragon Girl Velvet Matte Lip Pencil (Diffused Flash)

NARS Dragon Girl Velvet Matte Lip Pencil (Studio Lighting)

NARS Dragon Girl Velvet Matte Lip Pencil