by Emma Grimes
If you have in any way been keeping up with beauty trends, you’ll know that gloss is back. Eyes, face and lips, it’s all about the shine and I’m all for it. If you, like me, started wearing makeup in the early noughties, you’ll have definitely had a few lip glosses in your makeup bag. Some of my go-to products were the Lancôme Juicy Tubes and Clarins Colour Quench Lip Balms; if it came out of a tube and felt like you were wearing honey on your lips, I’ve tried it! They were so thick that when you spoke you had strings of gloss covering your teeth. It was not a good look. We’ve come a long way since then; gone are the days of Juicy Tubes that made it feel like your lips were glued together with Pritt Stick. The modern gloss formulas are smooth and comfortable and much more long-lasting than their predecessors.
Our Irish climate isn’t exactly the ideal for wearing a gloss. One ill timed gust of wind and you’re the image of cousin It. Pulling strands of hair away from your lips constantly is not a good look. This is why I tend to wear a gloss when I have my hair up or during the Summer months when it’s not as windy outside. If you find your more pigmented glosses feathering, you could try wearing a lip liner like the one from DuWop or the Urban Decay Ultimate Ozone Multipurpose Primer Pencil. Both act as a barrier between your lips and the skin around them so you don’t get any bleeding of the colour.
The matte trend that has dominated the beauty world for the past few years has most definitely had its time. As much as I love a long lasting matte lipstick, I’m craving something different. I’ve been wearing various different glosses over the past year and I’ve found some real gems ranging from drugstore prices to mid range. You don’t need to spend a lot of money to get a great quality, flattering lip gloss.
The Catrice Volumizing Lip Booster is €3.95 and the shade 040 Nuts About Mary is a great nude for fair skin tones that doesn’t settle into the lines of your lips. It’s got that cooling and tingling menthol effect that’s supposed to plump your lips. If you don’t mind the slight tingling, this is a great option to introduce yourself back into the world of glossy lips without spending much money. The NYX Professional Makeup Butter Glosses are another great affordable option at only €7. I love the shade Peach Cobbler. It’s a pigmented coral that feels super smooth, lasts for a few hours without needing to be topped up and smells like vanilla. There are 34 shades available so you have plenty of options. The ultimate nineties throwback is the Glossier clear lip gloss, it’s £11/$14 but it has Vitamin E so it provides some nourishment. It’s just sticky enough that it stays on your lips for a while without needing to be reapplied. It’s super shiny and perfect for adding on top of liner or lipstick if you want to amp up the glamour. Rihanna, meanwhile, has done the seemingly impossible and created a lip gloss that is universally flattering. The Gloss Bomb Universal Lip Luminzer from Fenty Beauty is a rose nude shimmer with a peach-vanilla scent. It looks great on every skin tone I’ve seen it on and the micro glitter makes your lips look full without the fillers. This is one of the most comfortable glosses I’ve ever worn, at €19 it’s completely worth it.
Finally we’ve got the latest release from Urban Decay, Hi-Fi Shine Ultra Cushion Lip Gloss collection. They come in 20 shades with 4 finishes- Metallic, Holographic, Cream and Sheer Cream. There are some fun shades in this new range including some bright and pigmented shades as well gloss versions of some classic UD lipsticks like Naked, Backtalk and Big Bang. This formula is smooth and comfortable with a 6 hour wear time. They have a minty scent and a slight tingle on first application that fades after a few minutes. They’re €18 and went on sale nationwide on April 26th.
Gloss is very much back, are you ready to rock it?
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