I struggle a little with nude lip colours, I have a blue tinge to my lips because some of the medication I take has an effect on my respiratory system, it leaves me with lovely blue nails and lips and is a real pain when it comes to buying lip (and nail) products.
Pink toned nude lip colours are the nudes that suit me the most and the nudes I like to wear and recently I've found 2 products I have in my collection from 2 separate brands that are a match made in heaven for my perfect nude lip.
The heavenly combination is that of the Charlotte Tilbury Lip Cheat lip liner in the shade Pillow Talk and MAC's lipstick in Brave, the lip liner and lipstick compliment each other perfectly and I couldn't have chosen a more perfect match. I didn't actually buy the items together, Nichole picked up the lipstick for me in January when she was in London and I bought the lip liner just after Christmas when Selfridges had a 10% off sale so it was a complete coincidence that these 2 products are so perfect.
I'd seen the lip liner when I'd been researching (read that lusting over) Charlotte Tilbury products as a gift idea for Nichole for Christmas, there seemed to be a lot of hype surrounding the lip liner and I was intrigued so went to try it when I was sales shopping in January and once I'd tried it I loved it. And I first saw MAC Brave lipstick around 12 months ago but never picked it up, Nichole knew it was on my wish list and kindly picked it up for me in London.
Charlotte Tilbury Lip Cheat Lip Liner In Pillow Talk
Mac Brave Lipstick
Swatches of the lip liner and lipstick
As you can see from the swatches in the above photograph, the 2 products really are a perfect match and although it was a complete coincidence I am so pleased to have both products, as I said I really struggle to find nudes that suit me and for that reason I rarely wear a nude lip but since having both these products I've worn them so much and had a lot of complements on my lip colour. I usually colour my lips in fully with the lip liner and then apply the lipstick over the top, or I line my lips with the liner and then fill in my lips, either way looks lovely.
I've also worn both products separately too, the lip liner looks great worn all over the lip and isn't uncomfortable to wear at all, I thought with it being a lip liner it might be a little drying but it isn't at all and I could rub my lips together quite easily when wearing it all over my lips, it has an amazing staying power and really does last for a very long time, it is a waterproof formula and paraben free, and when I wear the liner on it's own I am often asked what lipstick I am wearing. The lip cheat pencil really is a lip cheat too, it is fantastic for making the lips look fuller, I don't over line my lips too much as I worry I'd look a little silly but I do use the pencil to make my lips look fuller and it does work, it really is a lovely product. I do however have one negative and that is that the pencil does wear down quite quickly, I have to sharpen it after every use meaning it isn't going to last me too long if I wear it all the time, if you aren't going to use the pencil too much it won't be a problem but if you're looking for something to wear daily, I'm afraid it might not last very long.
Brave lipstick is a beautiful pink toned nude, I love the colour and wish I'd picked it up sooner, it's a satin finish lipstick which is one of my favourite MAC lipstick finishes to wear, it lasts for around 5 hours on the lips and doesn't bleed at all, it looks amazing both with and without the pillow talk liner and has been my go to lip colour for around the last 5-6 weeks, it's comfortable to wear, not drying at all and is the perfect nude lip colour for me.
Me wearing the pillow talk lip liner (all over the lip) and brave lipstick
I would recommend both lip products, they are both really lovely, worn separately or together they look lovely and I'm so happy to have both products in my collection. Both products have excellent wear time and worn together I get around 6 hours wear time without topping up, both products are very comfortable to wear and not drying at all, and for me they are my "perfect nude".
If you would like to try both or either of the lip products you can find the pillow talk lip liner in stores at the Charlotte Tilbury counters or on line at the Charlotte Tilbury website, Net-A-Porter or Selfridges for £16.00. And you can find Brave lipstick in stores at any MAC counter or stand alone store and online at the MAC website, unfortunately it was sold out on line at all other MAC retailers but other sites that usually sell it but were out of stock are Selfridges, John Lewis and Debenhams. The price of the lipstick is £15.50.
There has been quite a lot of hype surrounding the brave lipstick since it was listed as one of the lip colours Kylie Jenner likes to wear and it does sell out very quickly but at the time of writing this post it was available to buy from the MAC website. If it is sold out I would suggest just keep checking back to all the retailers listed because it does come back in stock often.
Have you found your "perfect nude lip" and if so what is it? Have you tried Brave or Pillow Talk and what did you think? I'd love to hear in the comments.
Thank you for reading, much love as always
Zoe x
