Red Lipstick: The Timeless Choice

Red lipstick is the oldest shade of lipstick since the beginning of makeup thousands of years ago. Precious gemstones and red pigments were ground together and applied to the lips and cheeks, berries were used as stains and terrifyingly, led based creams with intense red pigment rose onto the scene. From there on, lipstick became the tube based travel friendly confidence provider it is now.

Every skin colour suites red lipstick, especially because it comes in many shades from true red, pink red, purple red, blue red, etc.

I sport the same red lipstick almost every single day- Lady Danger matte by MAC

This has always been my favourite red just because of how bright it is. Lady Danger has a slightly orange hue which bounces off my pink toned skin and that gives it that POP.

Now matter if your look is vintage, funky, retro, modern, simplistic. A red lipstick always works.

MY TOP 5 FAVOURITES

1. Lady Danger by MAC

2. Red Velvet by Lime Crime

3. Ruby Woo by MAC

4. Retrofuturist by Lime Crime

5. Strength from the LUSH cosmetics range

Sachet, Away- the wonder of sampling

I love samples. I love them almost too much sometimes. They always give you a taste of a product and its consistency and when it comes to masques and hair products- they can be the perfect treat for occasional use.

Every store has different sampling policies. Most department stores will just ram them down your throat. Some brands, like Dermalogica, want to do a consultation for samples so you try out the right things. Whatever the case may be, trying things out is how you spread your wings of knowledge in beauty products!

I collect samples for travelling and as occasional treats for my hair and skin. These are a few of my favourites...

Here I have featured:

Crem de la Mer oil absorbing lotion and gel cream moisturiser

Aēsop chamomile breakout masque

Shu Uemura brightening oil cleanser

Bumble&Bumble Thickening Shampoo and Conditioner

Dermalogica Clear Start Cleanser, UltraSmoothing Eye Serum, After Sun Repair

Try products. Experiment with products.

Xoxo Taylor Lynn

Meet my Makeup- Complete Haul

Now, this is the fun part. Sharing my haul of makeup. THIS IS THE BIG GUNS HERE. The root to my monetary instability- cosmetics. I love makeup so much. Half my makeup is for myself and half of it is for client usage.

Okay, less talk, more pictures. Check out my goodies.

FOUNDATIONS

MAC, Bobbi Brown, Illamasqua, Bare Minerals, Benefit

BLUSHERS AND BRONZERS

Chanel, Illamasqua, Benefit, Bare Minerals, Shu Uemura

MAC, Illamasqua, NARS

EYESHADOWS

MAC, Sugarpill, Lime Crime, Urban Decay, OCC, NARS, Stargazer

PALETTES

Urban Decay, Lime Crime, and Guilerain

BRUSHES

Bare Minerals, Urban Decay, Crown Brush, Illamasqua

I feel like a proud mama looking at all these pictures. I am looking forward to showing you what ai can do with all this..

Meet My Hair Products

Hair care products grow terribly underrated but I am obsessed with them! They are the key to great full flowing locks! My hair is terribly over processed from bleaching it too much so a lot of my hair care products are based around restoration and hydration. The rest of my products are more for vintage styling or were from when my hair was very long. (I am growing it out slowly attempting to get my mane back!)

My favourite hair products brand is Bumble and Bumble. An American brand, always sulphate free and designed for easy hair styling. My other favourite brand is Moroccan Oil, the brand designed to make hair frizz free and healthy- it definitely gets the job done!

HAIR WASHING ROUTINE

I currently am double cleansing my hair every single day to clear my scalp and also to remove my purple hair colour. My first cleanse is with Bumble&Bumble Sunday shampoo, a deep cleansing shampoo that is amazing at removing hair colour and especially the stubborn red and pink pigments. My hair gets three or four shades lighter with every wash!

I move on to my new FAVOURITE HAIR PRODUCT, Head and Shoulders Menthol Fresh. I have a vey delicate scalp that over the years has been wrecked with psoriasis. This is the first shampoo to have ever cleared up my scalp and soothe my scalp irritation and flakiness. This also removes hair colour extremely well.

My current conditioner is Bumble&Bumble Mending conditioner designed for healing broken and damaged hair and repairing the follicle thus providing smoother hair that doesn't frizz out so easily. I commonly use hair masks, all of which are sample sachets from many different brands like Ojon, John Frieda, Moroccan Oil, and more. I love samples.

CONDITIONING PRODUCTS

En route to healing my hair I have a strict routine of using restorative hydrating products. After wash, pre-blowdry, I use the Redken Anti-Snap leave in conditioner- focusing on areas of greater damage. After blow dry, I apply a little moroccan oil to the ends of my hair and to areas on my scalp of extra dryness. Sometimes i use the percy and reed dry conditioning spray on my scalp when setting pin curls because they can become quite frizzy sometimes and this stuff tames fly-aways easily.

STYLING FAVOURITES

All my styling products are from the Bumble&Bumble thickening range. My hair is extremely thick but when I style my hair I always want drama and massive amounts of volume! I use the thickening hairspray and the full form mousse in my blow dry. After styling for root volume i use the cream contour and city swept spray wax. These two do the job of backcombing all on their own. I pray to them!

Meet My Skincare Products

This post was exciting to do. Skin care is my realm and though my regimen of products is mostly one brand, you get the gist of my high maintenance routine and how clinically insane i am when it comes to buying beauty products.

I mostly use Dermalogica products because I worked for them but also because their products work. Dermalogica is an international brand brought forth by the International Dermal Institute. Their science is half of what they put in the products and half what they leave out. No artificial colorants or plasticisers, no SD alcohols, no mineral oil, no lanolin, no artificial foaming agents and most the products are going paraben free (even though food grade parabens have no negative effect on the skin). I use products from most all the ranges they make- Skin Health range, UltraCalming range, MediBac range, and AgeSmart range.

I currently use an oil based makeup remover, a day and night foaming cleanser, a spray toner, an enzyme based exfoliant, a vitamin rich day and night moisturiser, and a day time oil absorbing, breakout clearing SPF 30 lotion. (PreCleanse Wipes, Special Cleansing Gel, UltraCalming Mist, Daily Microfoliant, Skin Smoothing Cream, Oil Free Matte)

Outside of the Dermalogica range of products, most everything I use is basic essential oil based natural product brands including Aēsop, Trilogy, and Glam Glow. I do not own any at the moment but I love LUSH face masques and moisturisers as well.

(Trilogy Rosehip Oil, Aēsop Amazing Face Cleanser, Glam Glow Super Mud)

The rest of the skincare products I use are Dermalogica professional products not available to the public so I will not brag about them now but hint towards their usage at later dates.

Welcome To My Beauty Desk

Welcome to my beauty desk. This is my domain, my artsy fartsy corner of greatness where I channel my personality and style in a way that does not annoy my husband too much. Everything I do with hair, makeup, nails, drawing and blogging happens right here.

For my makeup I use Muji acrylic storage systems to keep my makeup away from dust and still visible for me to see where everything is inside the drawers. I currently have 11 drawers for my makeup collection. My brushes sit in also a Muji container but at the moment I only keep my commonly used brushes out and the rest of my brushes remain in a lidded box in my main desk drawer cleaned and away from dust and bacteria for when they are needed but mostly for when I am doing makeup on someone else.

On my desk I keep Wedgwood trinket boxes full of earrings, bobbypins, little mermaid stuff, wedding memorabilia, tattoo art books, and a tons of lovely pens and pencils for when I feel like doodling. As per my obsession with the little mermaid, I keep a cup full of forks that i have collected throughout my travels.

Below my desk, is my cute little mobile salon cart with one drawer for my hair brushes, butterfly clips and foam rollers. Second drawer is full of all my styling products including pomades, styling lotions, conditioning oils, etc. Last drawer, junk drawer... we all have one.

Most importantly is hanging on the wall. My two beauty diplomas, soon to be joined by a third.

MEET MY COLLECTION: lipsticks

These next series of posts are dedicated to introducing you all to my collections to give you a taste of what kind of products I will be using in my posts.

In honour of it being International Lipstick Day I am going to start with my lipstick collection.

I always prefer lipstick over lip glosses mostly because of pigment intensity and texture.

My collection of lipsticks is vast, featuring the brands MAC, Lime Crime, YSL, Chanel, Lancôme, Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics, and Besáme. The few lip glosses I do have are Urban Decay and Bobbi Brown.

MAC: For as much MAC as I own, it is not my favourite brand. They do have amazing lipsticks though, I tend to lean more towards the amplified and matte lipsticks but always buy a Viva Glam in order to support their AIDS foundation. These lipsticks last ages and I rely on them to give me that pop of pigment.

LIME CRIME: This is my favourite brand for lip colours because of how long they last on the lips. Lime Crime lipsticks are all vegan and all high in pigment in hues not found in other brands. Their Velvetines collection blows my mind it is so amazing and I used them almost every single day because of the lack of necessity to touch them up throughout the day.

OCC: Another vegan brand of high intensity and a newer one to my collection. I nabbed some of their products at the recent IMATS and have been very impressed with their brightness and their ability to mix together to make custom shades depending on my mood.

YSL, CHANEL, LANCÔME: Sometimes I feel like I have been a good girl and deserve a goodie, this is when the designer products appear. These products are designed for a more mature skin so are all very hydrating and smooth and act as sweet kicks to my makeup look whenever I find it necessary to glam it up a little bit.

BESÁME: This is a new brand I have discovered recently that is the most vintage brand of all time. Created by a vintage cosmetic historian, the colours are exactly that of products from the 1940's and 1950's providing the most accurately vintage look.

LIP GLOSSES: The ones I have mostly were free with purchases mini lip glosses that I use mostly on clients rather than myself. All in a menagerie of natural and nude shades except for one, my Lime Crime gloss which is fuchsia and red glitter.

Introducing My New Blog

My facebook page followers, who will have the first access to this, know me but for those who don't..

My name is Taylor Lynn, I am an internationally licensed beauty therapist, a severe makeup addict, and a massive geek. I love all things glitter, Star Trek, and vintage.

I have always had an obsession and knack for beauty and fashion and this is my chance to share my knowledge of the beauty industry and everything else I have learned in the art of aesthetics.

I follow a saying...

BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER.

Beauty is not about disguising or masking - it is about the intensification of your natural beauty. 

We are all beautiful and all have a unique personality that can be brought forth through fashion, makeup and hair trends. SO DO NOT SHY AWAY AND BE BRIGHT! 

With my product reviews, tips, and LOTDs/OOTDs here on the lovely 'Lipsticks and Stones' you can harness all that natural beauty and individual flare for all to see in the best and the most easy, accurate ways!

HAVE SUGGESTIONS OR REQUESTS FOR POSTS?

Email me at taylorlfullerton@gmail.com

LIPSTICKS AND STONES

TAYLOR LYNN

XO