Drugstore Makeup

I recently went to get a manicure/pedicure. The usual place I go to was closed, so I tried a place a little closer to home, and when I walked in, the lady asked what I wanted. I told her, and she replied: "We very busy now! You come back ONE HOUR!" Not daring to defy her, I a.) left and b.) planned to come back one hour. (I assumed if I didn't do either one, she'd track me down and kill me.) On the upside, during my pedicure, two other people came in and got the same imperious orders, so I was kind of like "well, I guess I was right not to take THAT personally."


The manicure and pedicure were great, incidentally. While I was killing time, I went over to CVS and checked out the makeup situation, primarily to see if they had any of the nice, dark lipsticks I have been obsessing over. I bought a couple items (clockwise from top left).


1. Revlon Creme de la Chrome liquid lipcolor, bought in Plum Appeal.
2. Revlon Just Bitten lip stain, bought in Berry Juicy.
3. Revlon Make a Sheen "lustrous shadow," bought in Plum Like It Hot.
4. Rimmel London Colour Rush quad eye shadow, bought in Smokey Noir.
5. L'Oreal Bare Naturale mineral eyeliner, bought in Defining Slate.
6. Revlon A Floral Affair sheer powder blush, ogled in all colors.


I've talked before about my susceptibility to advertising and packaging, and obviously, this is well in play with these purchases. Numbers 1, 2, 3 and 6 are all from Revlon's "Limited Edition Collection," which I've been walking past with great interest for several months. It probably shouldn't matter but I just love how nice the packaging is. After all, putting makeup on is an aesthetically important experience...why shouldn't the materials you use be as pretty as the end result, and feel good in your hands?

The shadows have the same issues as every drugstore shadow ever, that being that they just do not have the staying power one would hope. I wonder if using one of those eyeshadow primers would help, but I also kind of feel like it should do what it's supposed to. I know that it's POSSIBLE to make a shadow that stays put, because Dior's 5-Colour shadows do so, so are you really telling me that I HAVE to pay 52 bucks per compact to have my makeup stay put all day? It's a little tricky, because the way my eyes are set, the lower edge of my lid rests against the bottom of my orbital bone, so I often get a line of whatever I'm wearing on my lower lid on the bone, right in the middle of what's usually a medium shade. The Make a Sheen shadow held up pretty well, with minimal ruboff, but the Rimmel and L'Oreal shadows were fairly lame. (The war is over, Parisian and British dogs.)

The lip situation is good. As I mentioned before, I'm kind of on a lip stain kick, and the Just Bitten one is a good color and goes on well. As I mentioned with the previous Body Shop lip stain, you should refrain from using chapstick before applying it, so it has a chance to sink in. The Creme de la Chrome stuff is really excellent. It's very very shiny and the color is gorgeous. It definitely felt like I was wearing something on my lips, but for the intensity of effect I am more than willing to feel it a little bit.