Readers of my book and blog know that I love skin care and makeup and put a lot of thought into it. I haven’t blogged about it recently, but it’s still a major interest. I am a femme dyke, after all. I don’t think academics or job seekers have to wear makeup, and if you don’t, that’s totally fine. Go ahead and stop reading now – no hard feelings. But please… refrain from makeup-shaming, ok? I know there are more serious issues in (academic) life right now. But for some of us, makeup is a pleasure. If you are among that faction, then I have things to share with you!
In particular, I can’t say enough about post-ac entrepreneur Adeline Koh’s Sabbatical Beauty, which specializes in small-batch skin care products that are insanely effective. Adeline left a tenured position in English to start this business, and uses her academic research skills to hunt down effective ingredients and concoct innovative combinations. I interviewed Adeline back when she was just starting out in her wildly successful business. I use her line daily.
Today, however, I want to talk about lipcolor. Specifically, an astonishing product that I have just found that finally brings to a close my multi-year search for a long-wear lipcolor that’s strong enough to last through all-day academic events like conferences and campus visits without fading or smearing or disappearing entirely or leaving marks all over your coffee cup. I am hard on my makeup, and also very, very distracted and ultimately I was sick of popping into the campus ladies room midday only to glance in the mirror and discover I’d been walking around with lipstick all over my teeth the whole morning. And that’s not even talking about protests! Because who goes to a protest without the right lipcolor, amirite?
My criteria for the search were:
- maintains full color and coverage for a minimum of 6 hours
- vivid and up-to-date color palette
- matte finish
- not a stain (nothing against stains, but I prefer a little more heft)
- not a drugstore brand, not because I’m a snob or like paying extra, but because I am 53 years old (TODAY!) and drugstore colors, because they lack complexity, are aging on a middle-aged face.
I tried many. But one stood out above all the others.
Drumroll please….
Lip Whip, by indie brand Beauty Bakerie
Lip Whip is unlike anything I’ve ever tried. Once on, it Does Not Come Off. 6 hours — pshaw — this stuff stays on for more like 12-24 hours.
The picture to the right is of two Lip Whip test dabs on my hand, 24 hours after I put them on! 24 hours! The color is as vivid as it was yesterday.
One Lip Whip user in a Buzzfeed feature said it even stays on through the shower.
In fact, this stuff is so durable that you actually need to use a makeup remover to get it off. Beauty Bakerie makes a product for this, which I have not tried. I just use my usual makeup remover and elbow grease.
The colors are an intense and totally opaque matte (so, you do have to really like matte, because this is MATTE). And because Beauty Bakerie is an African-American owned company, they come in a truly wide range to suit all skin tones, not just the caucasian variety. I love that they make a Gabby Douglas 
collaboration set! They very helpfully provide color swatches on a range of skin tones to help you choose well. I like Syruptitious but as you can see it is an intense color on pale haole me (I’m wearing it in the pic above).
The company makes other products, but I haven’t tried them. They are a bit… sparkly… for campus wear.
Serious Academics: don’t be put off by the candy-colored brand aesthetic and the whimsical product names. This stuff is the real deal. You put this on in the morning of your campus visit, and I promise you–your lipcolor is the one thing you will not need to worry about for the rest of that stressful day. At $20, it’s closer to an academic budget than a bunch of fancy brands that cost twice as much and perform half as well. I believe they also will take returns if you try it and don’t like it.
I am not affiliated with the product in any way–i just want to share my find!
Karen, I am here for this series. How is the texture? I have not found a long-wearing lip color that I can wear comfortably without my lips drying out.
Beauty Bakerie doesn’t dry out my lips! But if you want a long-weear lipcolor that actually moisturizes and improves your lips, use Lipsense. While I don’t like the colors or style nearly as much, it is actually the LONGEST wearing lipcolor there is (it’s a borderline stain), and because it requires this moisturizing “gloss” (which can be matte or shimmer or a range of other options) to lock the color, you end up with better lips than you started, unbelievably. It’s why people are obsessed with it. I justwish the colors were better!
And, welcome to Makeup Monday!
I’m so glad to see this post, it really warms my makeup crusted heart ?? I’ve been wanting to try lip whips FOREVER but they’re a lil out of range right now on a grad student budget ?. They’re also a Black Owned Makeup Brand, which is really cool! I’m gonna treat myself for my next conference though, call it a professionnalisation expense!
I love Lip Whips! I bought some to get through our daughter’s wedding and it was perfect! They do dry my lips a little bit, so I bought their sugar scrub and I use it in the evenings. Problem solved.
However, sometimes this lip color peels off my lips midway through the day. I’m not sure why!
I was just debating between trying some of this (thanks for the tip!) and trying Lipsense, and then I did a bit more research and found out where Lipsense’s $ goes –turns out,
it’s to the devil with tiny hands. (http://www.refinery29.com/2017/09/170904/lipsense-trump-donations-viral-lipstick). Makes that decision pretty damn easy! Put them in the same category as Hobby Lobby, places I don’t spend money. Thought everyone here would like to know, in case you were on the fence or already a Lipsense customer.
I do not get all the the Lip Whips love. This product flat out sucks. It dries out my lips and looks cracked and uneven. It is also sticky after drying. My lip corners keep sticking together. I’ve watched so many tutorials and can’t figure out what I’m doing wrong.
The dark colors look especially bad, because they desperately need a liner and the directions say not to use one.
This was supposed to be my pick-me-up to get me through this really hard month and instead I’m about cry at the money and time I wasted trying to make these product work.
I’m sorry to hear that! You can return the product: https://www.beautybakerie.com/pages/customer-care It costs $5 but you’ll get the rest of your $ back. Don’t keep something you hate–all products work differently on different people!
Also, go ahead and use a liner! I do; i use a very high quality long-wear one and it’s fine.
I sent them back last week. FYI for folks with similar issues, pretty painless return process.
The colors all looked really cracked on my lips shortly after drying. It must have something to do with people’s skin type/chemistry. If you look at the reviews on their website, the distribution is highly bimodal – love or hate – it works perfectly or not at all.
Any other long wear lip color recommendations from folks on here? Normal lip color lasts about 30 minutes on me; I have very oily skin.
Lipsense. Another comment notes that the politics of the company are problematic, but the product just stays and stays and stays.
you might also look into lip primer, and a long-wear top-coat option.
This site has so many cool topics, but HELLO MAKE-UP MONDAY!! I am happy to find fellowship in a made face on here, often I’ve felt disdain in academic settings for having make-up on. Glad to know it’s not just me, but also happy to fight that stigma with you all.
On a longwear lip note, check out Fenty Beauty’s new Stunna lip paint!! A flawless long-wear red lip, which has been shown to help people focus on your words when presenting. Also fun for life, of course.
Looking forward to the next entry!!
Love your blog! Have you tried Gerand Cosmetics? They have an amazing lipstick that stays on ALL day! It doesn’t dry out my lips and I always get a ton of compliments on the color. I love the matte look.
My favorite is the HydraMatte Liquid Lipstick in 1995 (the name of the color): http://gerardcosmetics.com/1995-hydramatte-liquid-lipstick/
It’s amazing! I found it from one of my favorite Youtubers.
Best!
Hi Karen. I love your blog, it is a shame that I just discovered it some weeks ago, so I am still going over your old posts 🙂
I have a contribution to make about long last lipsticks: Sephora has a line of matte liquid lipsticks that are perfect, they don’t transfer to coffee cups, not even napkins! It is called “Cream Lip Stain Liquid Lipstick” and after you put it on, just wait a couple of seconds to dry and that’s it, you will have lipstick on your whole day. The colors are great, my favorite is a vibrant red “Always red” that is perfect (I am always getting compliments on it)!
I’ve tried them!!! They don’t work for me! So many longwear lipcolors that work for others don’t work on me… it’s weird. The Sephora lipcolors are decent for sure, but nothing like my Beauty Bakerie or CoverGirl for me.