Natural lip colours: Clinique, NARS, and Smashbox swatch and comparison

There have been requests for swatches of the NARS and Smashbox lipsticks that I’d bought on my Sephora VIB hauls on Thursday and also last week, so I figured I may as well compare them both. I had been looking for a “my lips but better” lipstick shade (inspired by Sunny), as I had never purchased lipsticks before and I figured I should probably start with baby steps. And of course, it’s never out of style to look yourself (but better)!

I also wanted to compare the new purchases with my usual go-to natural-looking Clinique lipstick, which my mother had given me.

Left to right:

Sephora VIB haul round 2

I went to Sephora again yesterday with angelandthings to haul some more goodies! This one was definitely not as large as the one I’d made last week – not for lack of trying, though. I very honestly just ran out of “immediate wants” And I suppose, immediate cash, too…

Left to right:

What is a BB cream?

BB cream has been around for quite a while now, and a lot of people are more familiar with it, especially since it started to move its way into the American market. I first learned of it last year and did all this research already (I’m too thorough for my own good), but since I’m planning on doing some BB cream reviews soon, I figured I’d better have this up beforehand just in case.

BB cream stands for blemish balm cream. It was originally a dermatologist-prescribed ointment intended for laser skin surgery patients. Formulated in Germany with soothing, healing, and skin-regenerative properties, South Korean actresses soon picked them up for use and the Korean market saw a great potential, modifying it to be an all-around beauty product.

A few of the Asian brand BB creams shown here: Missha, Skin79, L’egere, Hanskin, Skinfood. Available in select Canadian Asian stores and via online shopping and international shipping.