Rich holiday reds are so much fun, but sometimes I wanna get low…maintenance with my lip color. 🙂
On days like that, I like sets like these. The eight glosses in Tarte’s new $29 limited edition Glossed Over PureOptic Lipgloss Collection make sheer, shiny lip looks as easy as 1-2-3.
Available exclusively at QVC.com, the set includes eight 0.04-oz. travel-size PureOptic Glosses (the full-size 0.14-oz. ones cost $21 each) in Nectar, Nude, Pink Blush, Coral, Warm Pink, Nude Pink, Mauve and Berry.
Ironically, Tarte describes these as pigmented and rich on their website, but on my lips, all eight shades? Not so vivid. Even the brightest one here, Coral, looks rather sheer to me, and increasingly so as I smack my lips a few times.
The glosses are what I affectionately refer to as “clickers,” because twisting the bottom of the tube makes a rewarding “click-click-click” sound and dispenses the product through the applicator brush.
“A color revolution, this multi-chromatic supergloss features tarte’s proprietary PureOpticâ„¢ complex; 24 pure pigments blended together to achieve rich, vivid and long-wearing color that applies smoothly and won’t fade away. Always hydrating and never drying, this must-have lip gloss will keep lips moisturized while minimizing the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles to give lips a fuller, plumped-up appearance.”
On all but the lightest lasses, these should look natural and neutral, and since I like to wear a subdued lip once or twice each week, they suit me just fine.
Cruelty-free vegan ingredients; botanicals like açaà berry extract, goji berry extract, jojoba, maracujá and pomegranate; a three-hour wear time; a smooth, non-sticky texture and a faint taste and scent like candy cane? Sheer or not, I think there’s a lot to like here. Great for times when I just want easy lips and don’t want to bother with a mirror.
It might even make a great gift for your favorite low-maintenance gal pal.
If, on the other hand, your makeup BFF can’t live without color, there’s always the punchier tints in Tarte’s $29 Lip Service kit (an awesome value, since you get full-size tubes).
PRICE: $29
AVAILABILITY: Available now exclusively at QVC.com
MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: B+
Oh, earlier today reader Advah asked me to describe the free writing exercise that I mentioned I do every morning.
There’s not much to it. It’s easy, and I think it really helps me a lot. Every morning, usually after breakfast, but sometimes while I’m still in bed, I grab my journal, my favorite pen, set a timer for 10 minutes, and write as fast as I can about whatever comes to mind.
The key is to avoid self-editing, which is very hard to do (in fact, I’m doing it right now!), and to just let everything out on the page. Even mistakes. Especially mistakes. No stopping to cross out words, fix typos or grammar, or to look things up in the dictionary. Just. Keep. Writing.
Some of the time I’m just writing nonsense…with too…many…ellipses, LOL! But the exercise isn’t about making perfect sense. It’s more about stretching your creative muscles and finding your voice.
Hit me up in the comments if you’re a fan of free writing or can recommend any other writing exercises. 🙂
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
How many calories does this exercise burn? 🙂
All joking aside, do you find it easier to write than type? Is there a preference?
Bangs are looking good.
Have you tried writeordie.com?? You can set a time goal or a word count goal & it really helps you *just keep writing* because it deletes words if you go too long w/out typing. That’s one of the only ways I can get myself to free write because I too self-edit far too much!
I totally skipped this set, I got the Lip Surgence Set and the Eyeshadow Sticks off QVC though! I decided to branch out to Buxom this year instead. Honestly not a fan of super sheer lipgloss sets at all.
I have never tried free writing…I take such a long time to write one article, I am sure this would help me A LOT!
I’ll be skipping this – too sheer for me!
Very interesting free writing exercise. Not editing seems like it will be especially hard to do.. Maybe I’ll try this!
The click click reminds me of Stila!
The free writing exercise sounds fun and interesting. What are the themes/ topics you write about?
Anything that comes to mind, really! I don’t give myself a topic.
You know I’m a sucker for Tarte and think your lips look at least 6000% plumper with this gloss on. I’m not in the market for any new glosses, though. So I’ll have to suffer with my thin lips. 🙂
I love your free writing exercise and feel it would be almost impossible for me to do. I self edit constantly. In fact, I’m actually saying the words in my head a split second before I type them and automatically going back to correct my spelling the second I make a mistake. It’s like compulsive typing. 🙂 I’d probably be much better if I wrote, rather than typed. I’ll have to give it a try – it sounds great!
LOL, I love those crazy claims! 🙂
If you’re a compulsive self editor the exercise can be tough at first, but stick with it. I had a really hard time in the beginning NOT crossing things out and starting over. When it happens I try my best to not judge what comes out on the page, and then I gently tell myself to keep going.
It sounds like it would be great, almost like a free association exercise. I’m not sure what those are supposed to do but they always turn out to be great fun. 🙂 I can see myself taking a lot of time between sentences to think of what I want to write next. I’ll let you know how it goes!
My bpyfriend gave me that “keep wriitng” advice when I decided to go back to college. I had a habit of wanting my first draft to be perfect (dumb, I know), so I had trouble getting through my papers. “Just write” he told me, “we’ll fix the mistakes later”. Sound advice that was. 🙂
That’s not dumb at all, Chris. I think it’s natural to want the first draft to come out perfectly. Your boyfriend sounds like a smart cookie, because that’s great advice!
We had to do free writing in an english class I took in college. It was so hard not to edit! Lol
It really is. My biggest challenge is resisting the urge to cross stuff out and start over.
i love your little table in your deck. that picture made me smile!
ive been sick since saturday … just went back to work today!
I was wondering where you were yesterday and thought you were on a trip! Sorry to hear you haven’t been feeling well. Did the hubs and the fur kids take good care of you?
they did. i spent the day at home yesterday and LOL was by my side almost all day! 🙂 the hubs bought home dinner whc meant i didnt have to cook.
weirdly enough, i felt OK until aroud 2 pm on Saturday when i passed out in a toy store. :-/
WHAT? Did you go to the doctor? I hope you didn’t hit your head. 🙁
Aww… I remember when LOL was still the kitty who lived on the backyard stairs. 🙂
i did go to the doctor. i think i hit my knee on a shelf or something like that bec my left knee is pretty sore!
LOL is our most affectionate cat. Anja and Linus are Siamese and they can be solitary/independent. LOL loves sititng on laps and having his cute spotted belly petted! that really was a comfort yesterday, since i was home alone (hubs had an impt meeting)…
we were gonna start a 550 rep workout today but .. thats going to have to wait. my appetite is shot so im a bit weak, but im recovering!
I’m glad you’re feeling better and I hope that you’re okay. 🙂
You know I have a soft spot in my heart for strays. LOL sounds like a real gem; he’s so lucky to have found you and your family. It’s really nice to have an interactive cat, isn’t it? Since I work from home it can get lonely, but with Tabs here it’s so much better.
Um, what’s a 550 rep workout? That sounds CRAZY!
the 550 rep workout is something the hubs read about. its a workout composed fo 550 reps total of different moves, that you do in as little time as possible. there are no weights invoived — a lot of it is pushups, lunges, squats, etc. we’re going to postpone it to next week.
a variant of that is the 200 rep workout. 4 sets, 10 reps each of 5 moves. all very tough.
LOL is a fun cat, and im happy that we decided to bring him w/ us when we moved. he makes me smile.
Ughhh, I HATE those clicky tubes! I feel like it takes forever for anything to come out, and when it finally does, it’s always too much product! This CAN’T just happen to me, right?
That always seems to happen to me when I first start using the tubes, but it seems to get easier after I break them in.
Thanks for the info on free writing! It sounds really helpful, I’m going to give that a try.
I remember going to a Janice Galloway reading a few years ago where someone asked what her best advice would be for budding writers: “ignore that little voice that tells you your first draft is terrible. The first draft is always terrible! But once it’s on paper, you can go back and make it good.” (or something like that)
And it also sounds like great way to practice writing daily!
You’re welcome! It can be hard at first, especially if you’re a chronic self-editor, but after a while you get used to letting the mistakes go. I found it very liberating.
That’s great advice, by the way. It reminds me of the concept of the “sh*tty first draft” from Anne Lamott’s Bird By Bird. Have you read it? It’s so good.
I hadn’t heard of the book but just looked it up and it looks great! I’ll see if I can find it.
And talking about first drafts, I’ve somehow ended up with four articles on my procrastinating list. Better get off the internet and start working sigh.
It is really, REALLY good. I have a beat up copy that I’ve read about 15 times! The author is from Marin county; I once walked by her in the women’s bathroom at the movie theater. I wanted to tell her that her book changed my life, but it felt a little awkward seeing how we were in the loo and all…
I haven’t done it lately but I used to carry my journal around so I would have something handy to write whatever came to mind because usually for me the most random of topics would just pop into my head and I would write it out. It’s like in the movie Harry Potter when Dumbledore puts his wand to his head & removes that silvery strand of memories – that’s what I do when I write. I take it out and place those memories or quote or randomness on paper. And it has to be on paper. I’ve tried typing up journals or whatnot on the computer but that’s when I really self-edit because it is so easy to hit the delete button and go back over and change whatever you wrote down. I do that when I write papers for college too. It’s so old school having a notebook and pen while my classmates have their laptops but A) I always have a hard copy for those times a computer crashes and B) I find it easier to write in. I’ve been writing & keeping journals since I was little so it’s second nature now. I like your idea though. I will definitely have to give it a try since I want to improve my writing skills.
I’m the same way. I have two notebooks — one for my freewriting and one for all the other random journal writing stuff.
Do you ever read your old journals? I do and they make me LAUGH!
Ha! I totally do!! LOL 😀 I keep them in a plastic container from Wal-Mart & I occasionally get the opportunity to go through them & re-read what I was sooooo obesessed over in the 8th grade. It always trips me out to read it. I’m like I can’t believe I was seriously that worried about THAT BOY! Lol It’s great memories though especially my high school & college ones. Do you prefer using random notebooks you can purchase on the fly or do you like the prettier notebooks/journals?
whoops! Obsessed* not obesessed! LOL
Aw, you’re so lucky to have your journals from eighth grade. I can’t seem to find any of mine from middle school and high school. I must’ve lost them in one of the nine moves, sigh… I do have my college ones, though, and they’re HILARIOUS. I cannot believe I was so looney tunes (actually, I can believe it, hahaha!).
I do a mix of both; sometimes it’s a cheapie Mead notebook, others it’s a nicer journal. Even though they’re kind of pricey, lately I’ve been loving Moleskine journals. They feel good in my hands, the line width is perfect and I like that it’s hardcover so I can write anywhere.
How about you?
Oh I left all my journals except for my high school ones at home when I went off to college. When I moved back in, they were waiting for me amongst the rest of the mess :-/ I have journals back from 3rd or 4th grade when I got my first “diary” lol. It always ALWAYS amuses me immensely when I reread what I used to be so worried about back in the day. LOL I know what you mean about thinking you were crazy but it’s great to look back on – tons of fond memories.
I do change it up a bit when it comes to writing. Before I used to just use whatever notebook was around to be my journal/poetry/short story book but I’ve seperated it out where my personal journal is in a really nice hardcover book while my free writing/poetry/short story are in the notebooks I get from Wal-Mart when they were having their back to school sale (cannot beat college ruled paper notebooks @ $0.40!!)
my favorite us Nude Pink