I received my first SN lip color...

[Siesta]

I received my first SN lip color a few days ago. I absolutely LOVE the formula! It feels really wonderful and seems to stay on very well. Unfortunately, I'm very disappointed in the color. I ordered Foreplay because I love the Lovelace blush and I was hoping it would be a similar pinky-peach color. Actually, I ordered it based on the description and this swatch photo posted by JenW:


I was really hoping it would look like that swatch, or possibly even more of a soft peach... but it's much more like a brick red in the tube, and it really makes my lips look red, which is something I try to avoid.

The thing is, knowing that that swatch looks so different on, and looking at some of the other colors... I wouldn't even know what to choose instead.

So I was looking all the wonderful photos posted by Xarata here in this thread: http://www.silknaturals.com/forum/viewt ... f=4&t=1573 and I noticed the photo of Ingenue, which looks exactly like the color I was hoping Foreplay would be.

I hope it's okay to post an enlargement of it here along with a couple other colors I wanted to compare. Xarata, please let me know if you'd like me to remove them.

Lip Photos by Xarata:

I love the way Ingenue looks here! The Foreplay photo is very much the way it looks on me... which is too dark, harsh and red for my skin tone.

So I got all excited thinking Ingenue is my HG lip color...

but then I saw this photo posted by DollDoll on the other forum, which totally let the wind out of my sails:

**Note - DollDoll, please let me know if you want me to remove this photo. I wanted to link directly to your post, but couldn't figure out how.

So Ingenue looks gorgeous on DollDoll, but it's the completely wrong color for me - the color I've been trying to avoid - and doesn't look anything like Xarata's photo of Ingenue, which made me think it would be my HG.

I also found this swatch by JenW where Ingenue looks dark orange, as it also does in the swatch photo on the product page:


So, can anyone recommend a lip color that will look like Xarata's Ingenue lip photo - a nice light colored pinky peach? Unfortunately, I'm very chemically sensitive too, so it can't have any FD&C colors in it. Also, my lips are quite pigmented, so it has to be fairly opaque for the color to look true on me... sheers don't seem to work well.

[egerandi]

I feel your pain. When I first started buying the lippies, I was disappointed that it didn't look like the swatches or the photos of other women wearing them. Then, I learned to like my pigmented lips and the way the colors turned out on them. I have Ingenue, and it's a gorgeous peach, not light, but still pretty.

Unfortunately, I can't recommend and actual color that would work for you. However, there are ways to counteract your lipcolor, and make the colors in the tubes appear true(r).

1. Layer sparkle under the color. It will lighten it up a bit, but adds a bit of sparkle. Sparkle is a nice one to have on its own too.
2. Use XXX lipstick as base layer, and put the color you want on top. It's almost like a lip base, but it may not last as long - in turn though it's a nicer consistency.
3. Use a lip base (like you would under an eye shadow), to neutralize your own color. Then, add the color you want.
I've been hearing about ELF's lipstick base, and I'm hoping Karen will consider making one too.

[BlowFarAway]

Ingenue looks like the last swatch on me, a peachy colour, about medium tone.

[Siesta]

Ingenue looks like the last swatch on me, a peachy colour, about medium tone.

The rather dark orange swatch in the last photo in my post above? I saw it in your swatch photo which I almost tried to link. The swatch you did looked more peach than orange, and lighter. It's listed as a light peach on the product page... but I wouldn't call the swatch above light peach. I agree with you BFA that it's a medium tone, as far as I can tell anyway. It looks pretty dark and orange in the product page swatch too.

I feel your pain. When I first started buying the lippies, I was disappointed that it didn't look like the swatches or the photos of other women wearing them. Then, I learned to like my pigmented lips and the way the colors turned out on them. I have Ingenue, and it's a gorgeous peach, not light, but still pretty.

Unfortunately, I can't recommend and actual color that would work for you. However, there are ways to counteract your lipcolor, and make the colors in the tubes appear true(r).

1. Layer sparkle under the color. It will lighten it up a bit, but adds a bit of sparkle. Sparkle is a nice one to have on its own too.
2. Use XXX lipstick as base layer, and put the color you want on top. It's almost like a lip base, but it may not last as long - in turn though it's a nicer consistency.
3. Use a lip base (like you would under an eye shadow), to neutralize your own color. Then, add the color you want.
I've been hearing about ELF's lipstick base, and I'm hoping Karen will consider making one too.

Egerandi, I really appreciate your suggestions. I was hoping to find one color that looks good by itself. As it is now, I almost always have to layer.

I like EDM Siesta lip gloss, but I have to layer the new formula with the old to get the color, gloss and coverage I like.

I also have a bunch of ELF mineral lipsticks that I like, but they're either too light, too dark or too dull/wrong color (plus not really glossy enough for me)... so I still have to add some EDM Missing Socks lip gloss or something to wear them. (Or mix two together.) After reading for so long about how pigmented the SN lip colors are, and how much they are like lipstick but glossy with so many color options... I was very hopeful I could find a lippie or two that look good by themselves, which is much more convenient when reapplying during the day.

Some of the sheer colors look like they are a pretty tone... but they would never look like that on my lips because they're so sheer.

Thanks again Egerandi and BFA for your replies. I really appreciate it!

[Rhys]

You can return it and get a different one, you know. I'm sorry it didn't work for you.

[Jessica]

I know what you mean and how you feel. I wasn't sure whether or not I liked Maiden (my first SN lip colour)

My lips are pretty pigmented, and Maiden gave my lips a tint of rusty red. Actually, it looked like Persian Red. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colors)

[JenW]

There is no really good way to do lippie swatches. I have been trying to some up with something that would be more helpful. Everyone's natural lip color is just as varied as skintone....perhaps even more. On lip swatches only help if they are on a person with similar lip color and skintone. The swatches I do just show the differences between them. Lighting also plays a huge role in how swatches come out as well as the type of camera. I am sorry that the lippie did not come out on you like the swatch, but I am kind of fairish on that part of my arm and most people don't have fair lips. On lip swatches on me would also be off....my lips are medium pink/red. Even browns look kind of reddish on me. I guess what I am trying to say is that swatches help to show what a product looks like, but can never do justice to how they will look in person.

I am guessing you have a fair amount of pigment in your lips. I do, too. Honestly, you just have to try a few. It is part of the reason they are returnable. I do have to say, I have expanded the normal colors I wear which has been kind of fun.

[Jessica]

Hi, Jen.
Yeah, I agree and know that lip swatches are NEVER accurate from arm-lip swatches, especially when it comes to individual lips, body chemistry and colours/pigments.

It's just a part of the hit & miss problem of buying cosmetics!

By the way, I'm wondering if this has happened to anyone's lipstick - I think mine has 'popped-out' of the raising base. When you twist the dial to make it go up, and twist it the opposite way to go down, it won't go back down unless I push it down with a finger. It just stays in place when I try to twist it back down again..

[JenW]

My recommendation is not to twist up more than you will use. I don't think I have needed to twist back down again on any of them that I have used. It is kind of a thick formula that will stick to the sides of the packaging more than the disc in the bottom. Then the lippie part breaks off from the disc.....

[Xarata]

ditto on the lipcolor thing. My on-the-lips-swatches include a photo of my bare lips- a sort of medium neutral dusty rose color. My skin tone is mostly neutral too with a hint of warm/olive in it. I can wear most colors.

Packgal has a photo gallery like mine on her vox (testqueen). Her lips are a different color than mine and her swatches look different from mine because of that. Her lips are a paler pink than mine and colors tend to go on much truer/brighter on her lips. She doesn't currently have any photos of foreplay and ingenue though.