Darlings, I’ve discovered a new lipstick-ish product and it is well worth a smidgen of your money. It hails from the fine land of Neutrogena and its technical name is “Neutrogena MoistureSmooth Color Stick“—henceforth to be referred to as simply “color stick.” I was interning at a hospital and one of my friends whipped out one of these bad boys, and I was immediately curious because it doesn’t come in the typical lipstick form. She let me try it out, I was smitten, and I went out and bought one that very day. Then I might have been wandering through a very dangerous place (ahem, Ulta) and, lo and behold, they had a deal for buy two, get one free. So now I have four different colors and I use one of them every single day. Allow me to elaborate as to why they are my new makeup product love (closely tied with NARS blush, of course).
As I hinted at, the lip color sticks are not delivered in the standard lipstick shape. Instead, it’s more of a really chubby pencil, which is awesome because then you can apply the color a bit more precisely. I’m very perfectionistic about applying lip color, so that aspect of this product goes miles in my book.
Secondly, the feel of the product on your lips is smooth and moisturizing—as its full name might have implied. But so often product claims are just a bunch of hogwash, so you can imagine my surprise when the color stick actually followed through. Also, you know how when your lips are chapped and you put lipstick on, it just looks really bad because the bits of dried skin are messing up the lipstick’s groove? Well, thankfully, you really don’t have to worry about that with these color sticks, because it moisturizes and doesn’t aggravate lips that are already chapped. Great pigmentation AND a lovely feel on my lips? Count me in!
This product line only has eight colors, which is quite a bit less than the dazzling array that many other lipstick lines have. Also, they don’t have a red variety, which is rather disappointing because all of the above benefits combined with RED would be wicked stellar. But the colors they do have are very versatile and you’re sure to always have a color to match with any outfit. I have the four colors starting on the lighter end of the spectrum because my skin is fair, and I don’t quite have the guts to pull off some really dark colors. I wish I could pull off the deep purple colors, like Lorde does, but I don’t think the workforce (or really anyone) is quite ready for me to rock that color.
We’re young and on a budget, and I feel that for the quality of this product, the price isn’t entirely unreasonable. They average about $7 to $8, but many places like Target or Ulta have fantastic deals to help you out. I don’t regret the money I spent on mine, as I use at least one of them every day, but I know everyone’s makeup budget is variable.
Finally, the color’s longevity on your lips is pretty standard. Yes, it comes off on glasses you drink out of, unless you use Katie’s fab trick. You have to apply the product every couple of hours, but it’s pretty easy to snatch a moment to put those lips back in line, with a little bit of help from your compact mirror and ever-present color stick. I would love if lip color magically stayed on all day, but in reality that doesn’t happen unless you wear stuff that makes your lips feel really funky. So I say, stick with the color stick and tidy up as needed.
As a good friend once told me, lipstick brightens the face. So without further ado, go forth and try the color sticks out, darlings, and tag us in your gorgeous selfies when you do!
Have you tried Neutrogena’s color sticks? Let us know what you think by tweeting us @litdarling!
The author of this post did not receive any benefits from Neutrogena to write this piece. She just loved them all by herself.