We earn commission on sales tracked from our links and codes. Thank you for your support! We earn commission from affiliate links/codes. Thank you!
Happy Wednesday! Here's this week's survey, which you can copy and paste and share as a comment.
We're here to help you make better beauty purchases that you'll enjoy and love! We recommend signing up to take advantage of personalized features like tracking products you own, viewing dupes that you already have, and more!
Here are some useful resources for you:
Curious how two shades compare to each other? Type in the shades below to get instant side-by-side swatches!
Comments that do not adhere to our comment policy may be removed. Discussion and debate are highly encouraged but we expect community members to participate respectfully. Please keep discussion on-topic, and if you have general feedback, a product review request, an off-topic question, or need technical support, please contact us!
Please help us streamline the comments' section and be more efficient: double-check the post above for more basic information like pricing, availability, and so on to make sure your question wasn't answered already. Comments alerting us to typos or small errors in the post are appreciated (!) but will typically be removed after errors are fixed (unless a response is needed).
We appreciate enthusiasm for new releases but ask readers to please hold questions regarding if/when a review will be posted as we can't commit to or guarantee product reviews. We don't want to set expectations and then disappoint readers as even products that are swatched don't always end up being reviewed due to time constraints and changes in priorities! Thank you for understanding!
We try to approve comments within 24 hours (and reply to them within 72 hours) but can sometimes get behind and appreciate your patience! 🙂 If you have general feedback, product review requests, off-topic questions, or need technical support, please contact us directly. Thank you for your patience!
My skin tone is fair and warm.
Favorite non traditional lip color is blue. I love blue. I love Melts DGAF, OCC Vain and technopagan and more. I always get crazy compliments whenever I wear blue.
Best way to incorporate color into a look? However it’s comfortable to do so. I started out afraid and neutral and slowly added a little colored shadow, then maybe a bright or bold eye liner, sometimes a bold lip. Then as I got accustomed to seeing the brighter/bolder colors on my face I just went all out experimental. If I end up with something I don’t like I just take it off and start over. No harm done.
I don’t use many products as not intended or not radically differently. I’ve been known to contour with eyeshadow or use it as a blush. Sometimes even with lipsticks. I’ve mixed eye shadows with a medium and applied it as lipstick or just patted it directly over another lipstick on my lips.
Your skin tone/coloring: light and warm
Favorite non-traditional lip color? Purple!
Best way to incorporate color into a look? Combined with neutrals or deeper shades: blue + brown, purple + orange are some of my favorite combos on the eyes.
Beauty product you don’t use as intended? I use a small, firm foundation brush to apply cream blush.
Your skin tone/coloring: between fair and light; cool undertones and warm features
Favorite non-traditional lip color? blue — on other people! The closest I come to wearing a non-traditional lip color myself is MAC Stone, a grayish-taupey-brown that looks good on me (finally! a neutral lip color with cool undertones!)
Best way to incorporate color into a look? I like to wear bright lipstick or eyeshadow — occasionally even both — my face really brightens up with a little added color, especially as I get older. I stay away from bright cheek color, I think because I’ve just spent a lot of effort concealing my rosacea redness.
Beauty product you don’t use as intended? Hmmm… I sometimes use a good quality hand cream (like CeraVe, great for ceramides) to seal in serums on my face… use cream eyeshadow as eye primer… can’t think of anything else at the moment!
Skin Tone: Medium
Non Traditional Lip Color: Purple/Lilac
Best way to incorporate color: Lipstick or nail polish
Beauty product not used as intended: clear nail polish on the back of some items that might irritate my skin sometimes.
Your skin tone/coloring: olive/medium skin tone
Favorite non-traditional lip color? probably orange
Best way to incorporate color into a look? colored eyeliner! i love bright blue liners
Beauty product you don’t use as intended? I bought the brush Hourglass released for the ambient lighting powders but I actually prefer a large fluffy blush for the ambient lighting powders so I use that brush to apply bronzer instead and I really like the results actually
oops meant large fluffy brush! got makeup on the mind so I get them all confused 😛
My skin tone/colouring: Fair with cool and pink undertones
Favourite Non-Traditional lip colour: Green! Think JSC Dirty Money, KVD Plan 9, Colourpop Bunny.
Best way to incorporate colour into a look? Coloured mascara or brows all the way, bro.
Beauty product you don’t use as intended? Liquid lipstick+ primer = liquid blush.
NC37 (medium warm)
Favorite no traditional lip color: bold plums and fushia.
Incorporate color: Add a new color to an already established look to see if it works (I do this at the end of the day, right on top of my already done make up)
I will sometimes use lipliners on my eyelids, eyeliners on my lips, blushes on my eyes, bronzers on my eyes, gloss under my lipstick, and eyeshadow primer as an under eye concealer.
Your skin tone/coloring: Fair, cool toned.
Favorite non-traditional lip color? Orange!
Best way to incorporate color into a look? I usually go with eye shadow or lipstick. I’m not a huge fan of intense blushes on me, what with the pinkness in my skin, and I don’t use brightly colored eyeliners often. I really should, since I have so many of them, but I guess I prefer to work with colorful shadows.
Beauty product you don’t use as intended? Um…none. Boring, but true.
Your skin tone/coloring: Porcelain
Favorite non-traditional lip color? If I have to pick /one/ probably Illamasqua Apocalips. Though I own mostly non-trad lip colors (I have at least a dozen different blues haha)
Best way to incorporate color into a look? However you want 🙂
Beauty product you don’t use as intended? I use NARS Albatross and my ColourPop cheek highlighters as browbone highlighters. I also use “not eye safe” pigments as eye shadows, like the UD Electric Palette.
Thank goodness it’s not only me using “not safe for eye use” pigments and shadows in my eye area! It’s only a USFDA thing anyhow, not in other countries.
Yeah if an ingredient isn’t eye or lip safe in America but is in Europe, I tend to ignore the US warnings as long as I don’t have a reaction to it.
Your skin tone/coloring: medium pale, on the cooler edge of neutral.
Favorite non-traditional lip color? I’m loving all of the purple tones that are finding their way into lip colors. Purple isn’t uncommon in the online beauty community, but it’s still rare to see them in day-to-day life.
Best way to incorporate color into a look? Eyeliner. It’s a good test to see if it works on you.
Beauty product you don’t use as intended? Ulta’s retractable eyeliner pens are great for filling in your brows, if you can find a matching color. They’re better than powders, gels, or any of the dipbrow types of products.
Your skin tone/coloring: NC40 (i think)
Favorite non-traditional lip color? MAC Heroine
Best way to incorporate color into a look? a bright eyeliner on the waterline or colored mascara!
Beauty product you don’t use as intended? i can’t think on one i mostly use the products as intended. i’m no rebel i guess haha.
Skin tone-light to medium with olive undertones. Golden in the summer.
Non traditional lip colour? Grape purple
I incorporate this into a neutral face with a lightly applied plum blush and a bit of purple in the crease of my eye.
Product used another way than intended-lots of brushes-I have somewhat hooded eyes and I use brushes to do what I need them to do, regardeless. I use a smudge brush to apply crease colour,. or an angled contour brush for highlighter.
Your skin tone/coloring: medium light with yellow undertone.
Favorite non-traditional lip color?: blackened burgundy
Best way to incorporate color into a look?: applying it to the inner corners of your eyes as an accent color.
Beauty product you don’t use as intended?: mascara as eyeliner, Sugarpill Kitten Parade eyeshadow as cheek highlighter.
Your skin tone/coloring: Fair/light warm (NC15)
Favorite non-traditional lip color? I tend towards warm shades, and most warm shades are traditional. The furthest I’ve gone is orange and purple, and nowadays those aren’t even all that-nontraditonal. I have been eyeing Dr. M from ColourPop though!
Best way to incorporate color into a look? Eyeliner smudged under the lower lashline is usually how I do it! This summer sometimes I’d do a very thick stripe on the top lid in a bright color, and no other shadow. I got the idea from some runway looks I saw for the SS15 season. I think if you keep the look very graphic and the rest of the face pretty minimal, you can get away with lots of color, even during the daytime.
Beauty product you don’t use as intended? I used MUG Shimma Shimma eyeshadow as a highlight sometimes. Once, I had to do my makeup at the train station and I only had concealer and lipstick so I used the lipstick as cream blush. It worked quite well actually! I also use flexible-hold hairspray sprayed onto a spoolie instead of eyebrow gel. It works better, and you don’t have to buy an additional product!
Your skin tone/coloring: Deep/Dark NW50
Favorite non-traditional lip color? Technopagan by OCC and Dr. M by Colour Pop
Best way to incorporate color into a look? putting a pop of color on the lower lash line…that’s my signature look!
Beauty product you don’t use as intended? I use eye shadows as highlighters and vice versa all the time!
Your skin tone/coloring: light to medium warm
Favorite non-traditional lip color? MAC Matte Royal
Best way to incorporate color into a look? A colorful eyeliner on the lower waterline!
Beauty roduct you don’t use as intended? MAC Conceal & Correct Duo
Coloring: fair/cool–MAC NW 10-13
Non traditional lipstick: Blue, for sure! I actually like a lot of them, but only in dark shades–blacks, blues, greens, purples…but I personally don’t care for pastels. Does anyone else remember the blue lipstick loreal had back in the late 90s? Blue Mood, it was called…it was absolutely GORGEOUS. But I was too chicken to wear it out of the house…
Best way to incorporate color: eyes, for sure!! My family and I were talking this weekend about my crazy middle school mascara! My favorites were teal on top and magenta on the bottom. I’m a little more subdued in my old age. Now I usually stick to a pop of eyeshadow or a bright eyeliner on my upper lash line!
Product not used as intended: I like to use benefit’s dandelion blush as a transition eyeshadow color…and I’ll use face primer as eyeshadow primer, since I like the texture better. I’m pretty boring in that regard!
Your skin tone/coloring: light medium, yellow/olive
Favorite non-traditional lip color? If purple doesnt count, metallic coppers now! I got NYX Wrath thanks to your blog post a while back 🙂
Best way to incorporate color into a look? Start small if it feels scary!
Beauty product you don’t use as intended? I dont think there are any, although I do sometimes use the e.l.f. cream eyeliners as eyeshadow.
Your skin tone/coloring: NC15
Favorite non-traditional lip color?: That’s a toughie. Probably some of the green ones like Mr. M from Colourpop, but that may be the Halloween spirit getting to me.
Best way to incorporate color into a look?: Easiest is eyes or lips. I’d say best way is eyes as you can have an array of colors in one and don’t have to touch it up lip you would a lip product.
Beauty product you don’t use as intended?: A few. I’ve used some blushes as eyeshadow, some eyeshadows as highlight or contour, some lipsticks as blush, etc.
♥ Your skin tone/coloring:
• Dark to Medium-Deep
• Warm undertone, with a touch of Neutral
• NC44.5 to NC45
♥ Favorite non-traditional lip color?
• Hmm… The only non-traditional lip color look I’ve ever tried was black lipstick. It was OK, but it wasn’t up my alley. I’m about to venture into trying the new LA Splash “Dia de Los Muertos” liquid lipstick in Catrina, which is a blue/brown lip color (like MAC’s Club, but for lips). That looks non-traditional and exciting to me!
♥ Best way to incorporate color into a look?
• A pop of color in the inner corners of the eye (e.g. a neutral eyeshadow on lid, with a bright color in the tear duct area)
• Colorful eyeliner (e.g. teal, blue, gold, emerald, etc)
• A fresh, simple, made-up face, with a bright, colorful lip color
♥ Beauty product you don’t use as intended?
• Highlighters or blushes as eyeshadow; and vice versa.
• I love using my Estée Lauder Illuminating Gelées as an eyeshadow base. The color payoff is amazing!
• I turn some eyeshadows into long-wearing cream blushes by mixing a bit of the e/s pigment into a creamy primer (i.e. Benefit’s The POREfessional Face Primer).
• I use eyeshadow and highlighters as [matte] lipstick or lip gloss (mix with Vaseline or clear gloss).
• I take loose highlighter powders and transform them into an all-over-face, luminous primer/solution, similar to that of Guerlain’s Météorites Perles Primer or MAC’s Strobe Liquid; I wear this under foundation. This is a summer thing I do.
*purple!
*bold eyes in blue, green, or purple, but I keep the rest of my face simple
*i use cream highlighter stick under my powder blushes — gives a nice shimmer to the blush and makes it last a long time on my teflon cheeks
*i have a petite face, so i’m always collecting small brushes and using them for shadow, cheeks, powder regardless of what they are labelled as
Skintone/coloring: Medium w/ olive undertones, deep brunette, teal-green gold flecked eyes.
Favorite non-traditional lip color: Purple! From MAC Heroine to Men Love Mystery to OCC Technopagan.
Best way to incorporate color into a look: First off, I have to have some color in my look or I look dull due to my coloring, so if I do a neutral eye, I usually wear a colorful lip, or at the very least I’ll wear a colorful eyeliner to draw attention to my eyes!
Beauty product I don’t useas intended: I use MUFE Electric Purple as an eyeshadow (but NOT on lashline!) even though it’s not intended for use in eye area. It didn’t bother my eyes, but I only use it in my crease. Also, Nyx’s now DC’d eyeshadow Barely There as one of my favorite face highlighters of all time! Just a gorgeous, sheer golden glow. Looks similar to Nars Albatross, but less white-base.
Your skin tone/coloring: Very fair with neutral undertones; magenta hair; hazel/green eyes
Favorite non-traditional lip color? Lately it’s been a dark bluish-gray, like Nyx Suede Cream in Stone Fox or Jcat Pout-holic Lipstick in Candy Man. Honorable mentions to ColourPop Ultra Matte in Dr. M, Nyx Wicked Lippies in Trickery and Coldhearted, Jeffree Star I’m Royalty, OCC Technopagan, and Kat von D Piaf.
Best way to incorporate color into a look? I love bright eyeshadows, liners and mascaras. I love bright lipsticks, too. I try to ground the brights, though and keep my face balanced. If I do a bright, it’s usually on my eyes or my lips. If I do brights on eyes and lips, I tend to make my blush more understated. If I go bright for bright blush and lips, I keep the eyes from being neon.
Beauty product you don’t use as intended? My most frequent switch is to use eyeliners as lipliners for unconventional lipstick colors. I also use those “not safe for eye use” pigments on my eyes, as long as the pigments are approved in the EU. I’ll also use eyeshadows as blush, contour and highlighter, and vice versa. Occasionally lipstick as cream blush. Sometimes I use eyeshadow or blush over my lipstick.
Oh, how does NYX Stone Fox perform? I’m really interested in it but I didn’t want to buy it without knowing.
It’s very smooth, opaque and creamy. It doesn’t quite dry down all the way, so there is a tiny amount of transfer at first, but most of the color stays on the lips. I find it lasts until I eat; it stands up to drinking fine. Oils from foods and wiping with a napkin take it off. It’s not a fast-drying, liquidy formula like Kat von D or ColourPop Ultra Mattes, though. So much less drying than those, but also less durable.
Your skin tone/coloring: NC 15-20
Favorite non-traditional lip color? Vampire dark purple and dark bordeaux/wine color
Best way to incorporate color into a look? Use it as an eyeliner if I encounter something I’ve never used before. Like banana yellow. I think it makes the least impact so you don’t suddenly turn into something you don’t recognize in the mirror. But little by little, you learn to accept this color.
Beauty roduct you don’t use as intended? Foundations 2 shades darker than my complexion as contouring shade.
Your skin tone/coloring: Fair to Light (yellow to neutral undertones)
Favorite non-traditional lip color: This will sound weird, but for me, the most radical lip color I wear is red….I usually wear more muted colors due to my coloring, so red REALLY stands out on me. I just bought Besame’s Red Velvet and I feel quite daring wearing it! 🙂
Best way to incorporate color into a look: I sometimes experiment with brighter (non neutral) color in eye shadows (I love the orange in KVD’s Monarch Palette and Urban Decay’s Mildew green eye shadow)…but I always combine it with other more neutral products on other areas of my face.
Beauty product you don’t use as intended? I use Nars Eye Shadow Primer as a makeup corrector/remover when my eye liner or mascara smudges and lands somewhere it’s not supposed to be. I also use my lip balm to smooth my eye brows. 🙂
Your skin tone/coloring: Fair, cool-toned
Favorite non-traditional lip color? I dislike non-traditional lip colours
Best way to incorporate color into a look? I think a bright liner or shadow can be less intimidating or less “in appropriate” used under my lower lashes
Beauty product you don’t use as intended? Some gel liners (Nars and IT) as shadow bases. Same with MAC Powersurge eye kohl – I love using it as a base under Tempting or Omega shadows. Oh, and while it’s not a “beauty product” per se, I use Lansinoh nipple cream on my lips and on my cuticles!
Skin Tone/Color: Cool toned fair skin with freckles.
Favorite non-traditional lip color: purples from bright orchid to a deep vampy plum.
Best way to incorporate color: Eyeliner and nails.
Product use as unintended: eyeshadow as highlighter and vise versa? I’m pretty boring. I did use an eye color mixed with balm for a lipstick once for halloween.
Your skin tone/coloring: Light neutral
Favorite non-traditional lip color? For me purple is traditional, I use purples a lot, so I guess blue, Technopagan!
Best way to incorporate color into a look? Lipstick or some coloured mascara
Beauty product you don’t use as intended? Shimmer mascaras, you know, no real colour, just shimmer, on my eyebrows, just for fun, not a lot, just so the brows suddenly glow and then looks “normal” again. I’ve yet to try this wiht my Chanel blue/teal/whatever mascara. Might be a fun thing 😀
I also use highlighters, and blushes as ES
Your skin tone/coloring: MUFE LL #7 Pink
Favorite non-traditional lip color? Is Bite Beauty’s Opal considered non-traditional? If not… Too Faced Melted in Melted Violet.
Best way to incorporate color into a look? Colorful liner on the lower lashline if I want to be subtle or use a color that doesn’t work that well for me in larger quantities.
Beauty product you don’t use as intended? Benefit’s Eye Bright! In addition to its intended use, I use it to highlight my cupid’s bow and (sometimes) the bridge of my nose.
Your skin tone/coloring: Pale with peach undertones
Favorite non-traditional lip color? Probably a tie between Lilac and Black
Best way to incorporate color into a look? Lilac looks fantastic with a smokey, dark neutral eye – particularly chocolate brown. For black I like to pair it with a more colorful eye and black liquid liner. Go big or go home. 😉
Beauty product you don’t use as intended? Blushes make really beautiful warm eye shadows and cool toned grey shadows work great for contour (when I rarely use it). Also, lip and eye pencils are completely interchangeable for me.
My skin tone is golden deep. (Think Gabrielle Union) My favorite nontraditional lip color is black, it looks so chic no matter what else I am wearing and it really compliments my bronze skin like nobody’s business. I love wearing color in eyeshadows or in lipsticks. Sometimes I’ll even do them both. I use eyeshadows as highlighters when I feel like it, and my blushes as shadows. Mars taj mahal is the best rusty orange shadow I’ve ever used in life. Like epic. It looks incredible no matter where I’m headed. Makeup is made to have fun with, so do it.
Your skin tone/coloring: Fair-light with neutral undertone
Favorite non-traditional lip color? Dark vampy purple
Best way to incorporate color into a look? As a pop of color when doing a neutral eye look (think bright eyeliner or bright shadow used under the eye) or a statement lips with little to no makeup on the eye and cheeks
Beauty roduct you don’t use as intended? Jeffree Star liquid lipstick: i use them as eyeliner (and yes they are eye safe). My favorite as eyeliner is unicorn blood.