Browsing through lipsticks online and in the malls can be an overwhelming experience for a makeup newbie. Which lipstick should I get? What will look good on me? Which formula should I go for? These questions run through our heads like crazy especially since lipsticks these days come in every color imaginable (even white!) and some look very similar to others. So how do you begin choosing the colors for your core lipstick wardrobe? Let’s start with the basics!

One of the hazards of my job is dry, flaky lips. When you have to swatch 20 liquid lipsticks in one sitting, that's simply impossible to avoid! The weather also affects how flaky my lips get. Cooler weather means drier lips and that's even with a humidifier on all night. I'll be traveling to Tokyo again soon and already I'm dreading the painful lip peeling!

We've already talked about Careline's millennial rebrand, so now it's time to turn our gaze to their star product: the Liquid Lipsticks! Admittedly Careline is a little late in the game, but it makes up for it by offering 13 shades, three of which are metallic and some in surprisingly crazy colors. This is such a huge step for what before was a brand that seemed stuck in the early aughts. 

So how are these lipsticks, really?

Tom Ford Beauty is coming to the Philippines on October 6, in Rustan's Makati. If you've always wanted to experience the brand full stop then you must visit the soft launch! There are bigger plans early next year (*wink*) but by next month, you'll be able to try on the brand's famous perfumes, Lips & Boys Lipstick, Lip Color, Patent Finish Lip Color, and selected pieces from the Soleil Collection.

If my memory serves me right, the first nude lipstick I ever bought was the Ever Bilena Matte Lipstick in Mauvey. This was almost a decade ago. Bright pink was the color to wear and nude was normally an unflattering sickly color on Filipina skin tones, but Mauvey was different. It was satisfyingly nude but without the dead zombie look. At less than P150 back then, I got to try a color I wouldn't have experimented with at any other price point!

What makes a luxe lipstick worth the splurge? With so many great options at the drugstore, the pressure is on for more expensive bullets to hit the mark. More than just pretty packaging and brand prestige, the formula ought to be mind-blowingly good.

If you're looking to purchase your first high-end lippie or a new addition to your collection, you need to check out the Estée Lauder Pure Color Love Lipstick (P1,275)! At an exclusive lipstick party, the brand launched 25 new lipsticks in four different finishes – ultra mattes, shimmer pearls, cooled chromes, and edgy crèmes. The PV team got right to swatching and playing with all of the shades, which are designed to be mixed and layered on for fun, new combinations.

Have you ever finished a lipstick bullet down to the very bottom? If so, you've probably dug in with a lip brush to get as much as you can. If you're a thrifty beauty nerd, then you would've scraped out what you can with a small knife. But how much, exactly, is left over when you're done with a lipstick tube? How does this amount vary compared to the stated number of grams on the label, what you see with your eyes, and what's down below the bullet?

Well, since I can be a tinge (just a little) bit OC about things like this, I found out thanks to my trusty digital scale!

With the beauty industry constantly producing new products at breakneck speed, we're very much spoiled for choice. Sometimes though, the feeling of having so many options can be overwhelming. I think this is especially true when it comes to lipsticks. Color options are a beautiful nightmare in and of itself but finishes compound that situation tenfold.

To beauty shopaholics like us, having a favorite is key to narrowing down the “financial blackholes” we can potentially sink into. Unfortunately, bankruptcy by lipstick is just not a socially acceptable incapacity (yet.) Today, we’re going to break down the world of lipsticks and hopefully help you, dear reader, edit your lipstick wardrobe and stick to pieces you'll actually use.

Lipstick is the last thing I apply on my face before I leave the house. It's the final puzzle piece to my look and it determines so much of how I want to express myself for the day! That's a lot of pressure to put on just a single cosmetic product, I know, but that's the beauty of lipstick. You can always change your mind.

When I was younger, my mom always told me that wearing lipstick would make my lips darker. That may be true for her, but over the years I've noticed that my lips have become paler and paler to the point that they're approaching the color of my skin. They don't get dry or flaky, but they do look off to me when they're bare. There is one advantage though: I can now wear any lipstick, even nude shades, without my natural lip color showing through! It's really useful whenever I do these lip swatches, haha.