Velvet Matte Makes My Day

One of my all-time favorite discoveries of 2009 was Mad Men. Oh! The dresses! The style! The old-fashioned manners and repression! Don Draper! The cinematography! And the patience as things actually develop. I only have seen season 3, so I know I have some serious catching up to do, but in the meantime, that doesn't mean I can't get inspired. A couple of months ago TalkingMakeup.com had a post up about the makeup used on Mad Men, and a lot of it was NARS. One of the key products was the Velvet Matte Lip Pencil ($24) in Calliope and Belle De Jour. Well, it took about 35 seconds between me reading that and ordering up a couple of pencils for myself. And so a beautiful love affair was born.

 

The Velvet Matte Lip Pencils are like jumbo, crayon-esque lip pencils. They go on lovely and smoothly, which is one of my favorite things about them. They are slightly drying, I'm not going to lie, but in a similar way to most matte lip products, and definitely not more so. They have a slight sweet scent and flavor that I personally like. Lip products have a habit of sliding right off me, but these last at least 3-4 hours. 

Belle De Jour is the most perfect nude lip I have ever found. It has just enough pink to keep you from looking dead, but neutralises any color and goes amazing with a smoky eye.

 

Calliope, as you can see, gets the most wear from me. This is quite often my wear to work lips. It's a gorgeous pinky-nude, and incredibly chic and sophisticated. So versatile. I can see me wearing this out and more. 

 

Okay, so Dragon Girl was not a Mad Men recommendation, but it's amazing!! It's a slightly pink red, very bright, and gives an awesome matte red lip. If you apply it lightly and blend it out, you can get a more subtly berry tint. Gorgeousness in a pencil. 

Dragon Girl, Calliope, Belle De Jour

 

I did see these NYX Jumbo Lip Pencils so I thought I'd give them a try. The biggest difference is that they are not matte, which for me is the whole point. They also have quite different pictures than in real life, so I've had some interesting experiences buying these! They are only $3.50, so it's not so bad if it all goes wrong!

 

What are your favorite matte lip colors? Any products you recommend I try?

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