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Beauty Notebook: Rings, Things, and Fine Array, an Interview with Bésame Cosmetics (part 5)
Beauty Notebook: Rings, Things, and Fine Array, an Interview with Bésame Cosmetics (part 5)
Posted by Dain, Wednesday, October 10, 2007 8:37 AM (Eastern)
This is the final installment, including all of Bésame's Lipsticks ($18) but one, Carmine, which doesn't sound like it'd flatter me, so I don't mind. Each shade is delightful in its own way, even though some are quite dry (only Gold Lamé, Coral, and Merlot) and others bland, but you don't always desire bells and whistles. The reds are definitely superior, even compared to red-lipstick specialists like NARS, Giorgio Armani, or Lipstick Queen. The mini bullet is the epitome of retro glam, yet you can slip it as easily into your pocket as easily as last season's Delux glosses (and when was the last time you used up a lipstick, anyway?).
Debutante Pink reminds me, oddly enough, of a MAC Lustre (sheer, moisturizing, semi-gloss, yet airy on the lips). It is not a shade I'd ever pick out for myself because I prefer more substance to my lipcolor, and yet I find myself quite charmed, by this cool candy-pink veneer, subtly accented by silver sparkle. It is somehow very innocent and very sexual at the same time, not saccharine as you might expect, which confounded me at first until I thought... ahh... Lolita.
Portrait Pink is exceptionally demure, not a bit of flirt to it. It recalls ballet, false humility, Henry James novels, Audrey Hepburn (who did favor a pale mouth), Victorian posies—in a word, demure. A warm, pale pink, quite flat.
When I first read the descriptions elsewhere about Dusty Rose, it gave me visions pink-brown. "Not one of those again," I grumbled, "so boring." I am pleased to say, this is a marvelous color, and probably the most flattering of all, personally. A Dusty Rose, to be sure, but I see it as the cool, ever-so-slightly berry-infused cousin to Chocolate Kiss, which takes the ordinary pink-brown and adds a dash for spice for warmth and richness. Where Chocolate Kiss amplifies the brown, Dusty Rose intensifies the pink (hm, that reads like a thesaurus moment—my head is a thesaurus, it cannot be helped). Oddly enough, it reminds me of my beloved NARS Gothika, without the complexity of shimmer.
Exotic Pink I have described earlier, so I'll just copy-paste: Exotic Pink is a heartstoppingly bright fuschia. It makes me think of the 80s, of Miami, perfectly paired with pool blue or emerald shadow (for a real bold look) or black liquid liner (for a graphic one). As magenta lipcolors go, I prefer them somewhat darker (NARS Schiap), but it might be lovely against a toasty Mediterranean complexion. It is fussily feminine, and perhaps requires a diva to wear it. Additionally, I'd like to add, I find this is more wearable with a touch of lip balm over it.
And finally, Wild Orchid, a deep, saturated magenta (not purple) with reeeeaaally subtle shimmer that is only noticeable in the tube, which was rather what I thought Exotic Pink would be, though they are sisters to each other, Exotic Pink is bright, while Wild Orchid is a deeper, lusher jewel-tone, and probably more wearable, as these things go. Personally, I prefer a very sheer stain of Noir Red for a bright pink lip, but that is probably a matter of coloring.
Labels: beauty notebook, besame
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