In search of brown lippies....

[hb27517]

Hello helpful people,

I am looking for assistance with choosing a brown lippie (or two or three) for my sis, Kate. She's a gorgeous (ok I am biased) fantastically fit mother of two, soon to be 50, a macro thinker and consensus builder in her community and her profession, the kind of person who is becoming more beautiful, more sculpted over the years (I think of Sigourney Weaver this way also, if that helps).

She is a highlighted brunette with hazel eyes, medium-fair and cool-toned. She describes her lips as "too purple" and has told me "I like brown lipsticks." I am all about plums/roses/wines/pinks and have no clue about browns so I beg those who do, please tell me what you think I need to know to select some of Karen's great lippies for her.

Here's a photo of Kate:

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I've been pondering: Desire, Jaybird, Birthday Suit, Fascinate and Roxie Lip Stain. I would love to hear all opinions on these and others I have overlooked, and will take everything said into consideration with gratitude. She's about to receive a pretty prestigious award in her community for her work on establishing healthy birth/healthy baby resources. I am so proud! I'm putting together a small Silk Naturals zhuzh kit to gift her for the ceremony and beyond.

bless you guys,
Liz

[JenW]

All good choices! Birthday Suit might also be another good one.

[bellatete]

i can really recommend:

- bon bon as a very wearable sheer brown
- caramel, a slightly peachy brown nude
- skinny dip is a pretty, shimmery brown with a touch of pink

if your sister finds her lips "too purple", roxie might be a good neutralizer under any other colour lipstick as well

[hb27517]

Jen,

I was going back and forth between Birthday Suit and Jaybird as I'd somehow glommed on to the notion that it was it was going to be an either/or thing with these two. They are linked in a lot of the Jaybird reviews and in Karen's description of Jaybird too.

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Looking at that swatch pic and re-reading the reviews I think having both of them would be much better than only one or the other. They're in the same color family and have similar depth/weight, but have distinctly different undertones (to my eye at least).

Well. Having cleverly talked myself into getting both of these lovelies, I'm also inclined to get Fascinate ALG as well. It looks very deep and very brown but is so very lovely and romantic in the photo bookishbeauty posted of herself wearing it. Just beautiful! I have Electra and wear it all the time, love the feel of it, love the special shimmery glittery festive energy it has.

I'd love to hear more about Desire, like whether it likes to lean toward the look of a red lip when worn... and how the shimmer in it interacts with the color, whether there is any pearliness to the effect...

bellatete,

Thank you for those recs, I cannot believe I overlooked BonBon! I'm thinking about Roxie too although I am wary of any drying effect, I think if Kate was to have an issue with an SN lippie it would be with that. But it is so very much beloved by its reviewers. I have Vamp, it is the first lip stain I've ever tried, and I have been kind of dazed by the versatility of this stain, the different effects you can produce when layering over it (Wistaria over Vamp is exquisitely gothic and otherworldly, deep wine with an elusive barely detectable pale lavender/blue gleam), and the definition you can acheive with it--the sort of grounding effect it has for whatever color layered over it, a noticeable oomph of emphasis that manages somehow at the same time to look more natural/less "made up" than the color does by itself without the stain underneath it.

Shah, overthink much? Like a time/space continuum loop. Sort of.

I'm gonna get em: Birthday Suit, Jaybird, Fascinate, BonBon and Roxie. One is good more is better! Plus a new smooth and full for me since mine mysteriously went missing during my last visit at my sister's house hmm coincidence I think not....

Thanks for the helps!
Liz

[JenW]

Desire does come across as a pearly copper. I would not say it leans very red, but that could just be that my lips have a bit of red in them to begin with. The color in Desire is mostly a shimmer rather than a pigment, if that makes sense. It is kind of on the sheer side, so the natural color of your lip will show a bit.

Birthday Suit and Jaybird are very different on, especially for someone who likes brown tones. One looks plummy/mauve/brown, the other reddish/brown.

[bellatete]

Birthday Suit and Jaybird are very different on, especially for someone who likes brown tones. One looks plummy/mauve/brown, the other reddish/brown.

JenW, that's exactly what i was thinking, too. birthday suit could turn out very plummy on "too purple" lips. roxie underneath could counteract that though.

about the drying effect of the lip stains: i never wear the stains by themselves because of that. usually i just layer a clear lipbalm over them, if i am not going for a specific colour combination/layering effect.

actually, i don't think the stain itself actively dries out the lips, but the product just doesn't have the moisturizing oils and butters that Karen spoils us with in all the other lippies. i can only speak for myself of course, but the thought alone of not having some moisturizing SN balm or lipstick nearby gives me chapped lips

[Springfairy]

Could Eden work? It fits cool toned skin and shows up on my medium pigmented lips as a shade between brown and plum.

[hb27517]

Springfairy,

I have looked at Eden for myself actually--love a plum!

Jen & bellatete,

Thanks Jen for your take on Desire, being sheer it's probably better that I passed on that for Kate. I gave her my Sultry to try and it looked pretty effing fabulous but she just wasn't moved. I was appalled. Shocked and appalled.

bellatete, about SN's lipstains and any drying effects I think you've hit that nail right on the head. And so SO ditto lip chapping via thought alone--read your post and thought, gosh my lips feel chapped....

Well she will be here with her family for Thanksgiving and will be getting her zhuzh kit yay! I cannot wait to find out how the lippies I ordered will turn out on her and what she thinks of them. I shall report back with the scoop. In a world of purple lips, will the Birthday Suit be too plum? Find out!

film at eleven,
Liz

[JenW]

Love your posting style, Liz!

[hb27517]

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