In 1895, an enterprising man called Dr. George F. Smith set up the Rosebud Perfume Co. to sell a homegrown balm that fast became a hit among his neighbors. He was able to grow the business by setting up a mail order and door to door sales system that not only sold the trademark Rosebud Salve but also perfumes and aftershaves. At one time, he had 70,000 salespeople going door to door to sell this popular product!

More than 100 years later, the Rosebud Salve (P420) is now a favorite among bloggers and celebrities like Natalie Portman, Eva Longoria, and Beyonce to name a few. This petroleum-based product is infused with oils, smells of roses, and is housed in a vintage-looking tin. It can be used as a lip balm, but it's really for any patch of our body that needs some TLC!

The Rosebud Salve is just okay as a lip balm (thin and moisturizing vs its greasiness and slight waxy texture). But you aren't really maximizing this if you just use this on the lips! It can be utilized several ways, but IMHO it is the best at reviving dry nails and cuticles.

Remember my red phase? Yep, still not quite over it. I was in Powerplant a couple of weeks back when I randomly decided to buy a true red lipstick. For the life of me I don't know why I did it, because I have maybe seven red lipppies in my collection already. I just wanted a true red and there's only one lipstick I know that fits in that category: MAC Russian Red (P1,000).

Like I said, I already have a handful of reds, but Russian Red is on a whole new level of its own. It's a seductive, intense, blue-based red that nobody can miss. It's completely opaque in one layer and has a matte finish. I would recommend this to anyone who needs a memorable, eye-catching red - skintone issues aside as this is touted to match all shades. Makes teeth look super white too!

Now matte lipsticks are great because they tend to be very pigmented and long-lasting. The downside, however, is that they drag when you apply them, plus they can also be very drying.

I'm into red lately, particularly red lipstick. I'm also digging the vintage 50s movie star look, so my outfits recently are along those lines.

Anyway! I know that red on lips can be a rather intimidating color, but worn the right way, it can be your defining polished look. Sounding like a broken record I know, but out of all the lipstick shades out there red is the most liberating color to wear. You'll know it if you've tried it.

I have a LOT of lip products lined up for review so I'm trying to schedule them apart. Still, expect to see a parade of posts from balms to lipsticks in the next couple of weeks! So! Today I'll talk about a nice everyday lip and cheek tint: the Etude House Fresh Cherry Tint in Peach (P328).

The color in the bottle reminds me so much of the Benefit Cha Cha Tint but don't be fooled - they're two completely different colors. Cherry Peach is a milky peach shade that's flattering on fair to medium tones. It gives just the right touch of color, while keeping lips moisturized and shiny.

What I love about the product

• It doesn't streak. You get ample time to blend it because the color doesn't sink in immediately, unlike other stains where you only have a few seconds to work the product onto your skin.
• The color is a nice creamy peach - not overly pigmented but not faint either. You might want to apply a thick layer on your lips to really get the color going.

A lot of girls have been asking me about this much-hyped product from Revlon. So good news - the Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain is now available in the Philippines! It retails for P575 in major drugstores and department stores. :)

Just got mine the other day so I can't do a full review yet, but off the bat I can tell you that this is a great lip product. It is such a HUGE improvement on the Just Bitten Lip Stain + Balm from last year, which came with a felt tip applicator and balm on the other end. This time, the Just Bitten stain is a balm that leaves a deep, lasting, and even color on the lips.

I've long held that you don't need to spend a lot for a good lip balm. They are basically made of the same thing anyway, so it's not like you'll notice a considerable difference between brands! However, some girls like the occasional splurge, and that's where balms like the MAC Suntints SPF20 Liquid Lip Balm in Au Rosé (P950) come in.

I like the formula. The Suntints balm feels quite lush on the lips without being sticky, and it moisturizes pretty well. It has SPF20 too. A makeup artist used it on me and said that while it's not terribly pigmented, he likes using the balm to condition lips before applying makeup. What he does is he works the balm in before he applies the face products. Once it has been absorbed, he wipes it off with a tissue. Voila, instant smooth and ready-for-lipstick puckers!

This balm makes lips appear smoother than they are, thanks to its thick (but not heavy) texture.

You already know how much I love the Mentholatum LipIce lip balm and the LipIce Sheer Color tinted balm. I always carry them around and that's a fact! Get them if you haven't yet. ;) Anyway a few weeks ago, I got to try the LipIce Color Lip Balm(P145), which is basically the brand's version of lipstick. How does it fare in comparison to Sheer Color? 

The LI Color Lip Balm comes in three everyday shades: Sweet Rose (a pigmented shimmery, shiny pink), Pretty Pink (peachy pink), and Candy Apple (my lips but better pink-brown color). Yes they're rather oddly named, but then again my description of colors is very subjective. Nonetheless, these are all lovely shades that are school and office-safe.

I already told you what my top five lipsticks were, so I thought it's finally time to show lip glosses some love! I don't often wear glosses as much as lipsticks, actually, but when I do I make sure they're worth the hair trap. Oh you know what I mean. Glosses are a bane on windy days but these are the ones that I find too pretty to resist.

L-R: Majolica Majorca Honey Pump Gloss Neo, Shu Uemura Gloss Unlimited in Corona Orange, VMV Hypoallergenics Lip Glitter Gloss in Cherry Pink, Revlon Super Lustrous Lip Gloss in Pink Pop, Benefit Ultra Plush Lip Gloss in Hoola

Here's why I love 'em! 

Majolica Majorca Honey Pump Gloss Neo. Glosses are by nature flighty things. They get wiped off easily just by drinking and eating. But the Honey Pump Gloss Neo is one of the longest-lasting glosses I've tried. I can eat and still have some gloss left over. I also love how it makes the lips look fuller without being overly thick.

Rouge is one of the first types of makeup ever. From as far back as ancient Egypt when men, women, and children painted their lips and cheeks red to the roaring 20s when color on the face symbolized women's emancipation, rouge has been a staple in every makeup kit. Fortunately, we live in the 21st century so we don't have to worry about lead and mercury poisoning from our pots/tubes of rouge. :P

That said, one product has found a permanent space in my bag: the Bobbi Brown Pot Rouge in Pale Pink (P1,500)!

I love this because it's extremely easy to use. Fingers and one minute is all you need with this to get perfect lips and cheeks! I have tried other cream blushes before but this one is probably the prettiest and most convenient of them all. Here's why!

What I love about the product

• It's easy to apply - with your clean fingers, dab it on the lips then pat it on the apples of your cheeks. It doesn't dry up too quickly or leave streaks so you have time to blend it properly.
• Doesn't feel greasy or thick on the lips/cheeks. It does settle as a normal stain would. 

How do you feel about orange on your lips? It's a fun shade to wear but definitely not something I would try to pull off everyday. It's too tricky to match! Most of the time I would find myself adjusting my whole look just to accommodate true orange lips, and that just won't do. 

But I do like orange a lot so I think I've found a way to sneak it in my everyday routine - via this Shu Uemura Rouge Unlimited Supreme Shine in OR 541 (P1,195)!

It's orange indeed, but not the crazy fluo kind. It's a wonderful uber shiny shade that goes with my medium-yellow skintone so well! Formula-wise, this feels more like a lip balm than a lipstick. I even already skip moisturizing my lips beforehand because this lippie handles that job pretty well by itself.

Do you love Benefit's famous Box O' Powders - CORALista, Hervana, Bella Bamba, and Hoola, to name a few? Well, if you're a fan of those shades then you just might love their new Ultra Plush Lip Glosses (price TBA) inspired by their blushes. This new gloss is coming out on July worldwide (it's not yet out even in the US!), but since I got hold of one early I thought I'd do a review!

Okay, so! I've tried quite a few lip glosses in the past - high-end, low-end, thin like lipstick, thick like glue - but this is nothing like I've used before. (Maybe I should get out more? Hihi.) Anyway, I don't know what "ultra plush" means but this lip gloss must be it!

Feel and scent. It's super thin on the lips, like liquid lip balm if you can imagine that.

I hope that, after all this time, you're not yet tired of me rambling about lipsticks like a lunatic. I can't help it when there are nice new ones though, which is the case with the Beauty UK Lipstick in Passion (P265 at The Makeup Suite).

This is a crazy neon pink-red lipstick. Neon is the operative word here - it's so bright you can spot it from yards away! The formula is pretty nice with a thin texture that has a slight minty taste and scent. 

I eat lipsticks for lunch. Ok not really, but I can if I wanted to! Hehe. I think I have 140+ lip products lying around here - and counting. It's fun to have so many choices, but I often forget what I have! Need to do something about that soon.

Anyway here are some new lipsticks I received from my kind brand benefactors. Each of them has an amazing formula but if you ask me, that's just not as important as the color. ;) Which one is your favorite?

First up, I have the Artdeco High Performance Lipstick in 487. It's a dark plummy purple packed with silver frost. Kinda intimidating if you think about it, but that's precisely why I like it. it's a fierce, commanding color that says "take me seriously or else!" 

I'm currently reading the Fifty Shades Trilogy. It's interesting, in the same way that Twilight is interesting - overly self-aware girl doesn't know how pretty she is, domineering mega-rich guy falls for her. Same old. It does have a lot of, er, physical scenes. It takes the boredom away! :P

After Fifty Shades I plan to read the John Carter Barsoom series. I just watched the movie last Friday and holy hell, it was horrible! I like the premise though, so I'm looking forward to see how it originally rendered on print. What are you poring through these days?

And this is the part where I segue into makeup. Haha! I recently got my hands on the Beauty UK Lip Vinyl in Pure Pacha (P250 from The Makeup Suite). Long story short, I love this stuff! It's a liquid lipstick that's intensely pigmented without feeling thick or waxy on the lips. I'd say it has a watery texture that glides on smoothly.

The lasting power is very good at 4-5 hours before it starts fading.

Scenario: It's a busy weekend and you're out with your friends during the day, maybe for coffee and a bit of shopping. Afterwards you plan to go to a romantic dinner with your special someone (kilig!). However, you don't want to fuss around with changing your makeup since you're in a hurry! What do you do? Simple! Wear a different lipstick and add lots of smudged eyeliner!

I'm going to show you a step-by-step tutorial on how I did these looks, but first I want to share my thoughts on the new Etude House Dear My Blooming Lips Talk Lipsticks (which I'm using here). They're pretty good and costs only P478 locally! The colors are vibrant and opaque, with a smoothing and moisturizing effect on the lips. 

They come in several in-demand shades like Breathless Pink (hot pink), Love Pink (baby pink), Worrisome Beige (nude), Excited Orange, Thrilling Red, and Bashful Coral. The packaging is a cute princess pink color with a metallic ribbon accent.

Pretty, yes? So! Here are two looks using these Etude House lippies, and a guide on how I did them. They're super simple and fun, promise.

Well they're not exactly new seeing as I've been using these for almost a month now. Thought I'd let you know what I like about them though!

The Avon Outspoken Intense Body Wash (P250) is an offshoot of Fergie's Outspoken fragrance line. Specifically, this body wash is a partner of Avon Outspoken Intense which was released last year. I liked the fresher, floral take on Outspoken, and this body wash certainly has the same gorgeous scent.

If you liked Outspoken Intense, I suggest you get the body wash as well. It's an open secret that in order to make your scent last longer, you have to layer it over the same body wash and lotion. Crossing my fingers for an Outspoken Intense moisturizer! X

Next up, you know how much I love the Avon Ultra Moisture Rich Lipsticks. The brand released a new shade for a special collection called Smoke and Mirrors. The shade is named Apricot Mystery (P375), a sheer deep pink with pretty blue shimmer.

When you have 130 lipsticks and counting, it becomes harder to tell each of them apart. You will find yourself grasping for words to describe them. There will be long, awkward pauses between sentences and not enough adjectives to fill them with. But every so often a special lipstick comes along. My life is instantly a lot easier.

The Makeup For Ever Rouge Artist Natural (P1,280) was launched a couple of weeks ago to beauty bloggers in Bonifacio High Street. It's the sweeter, more wearable version of the Rouge Artist Intense line, so you can expect to see lots of shiny and sheer shades. Well, "sheer" is the operative word, but actually these lipsticks can be opaque in only two layers!

I got the shade N39, Soft Apricot. It's now my current favorite lipstick. Yes, I have a lot of favorite lipsticks, so sue me. It's my first truly salmon-apricot shade, I think, which makes it special in my book. I don't have a color quite like it yet.

So how is it?

What is your ideal lip product, the kind that you will actually use everyday? Many of us love shine, moisture, and beautiful color on our lips. That kind of effect usually involves three layers of product to pull off - balm, lipstick, then gloss. However, with the new Avon Shine Attract Lipstick, you can skip all of that and just go straight to pretty lips!

Before I proceed with my glowing review, lemme just say that these lipsticks are not the kind you expect to stay on all day. They dry up on the lips within three hours, although the bolder colors leave a nice stain. If you're okay with re-applying (like me) then I think you'll love this. But if not, there are other equally affordable brands that can give you better lasting power.

What I do love about these lipsticks is the fact thay they give me a nice, glossy color while moisturizing my lips at the same time. They also don't feel like anything once you have them on. Well okay, at most they feel like a thin, slinky lip balm. The moisture lasts until it dries, around three hours from application.

Some people may be discouraged that, upon getting the product, they find out that they're not as pigmented or even as normal lipsticks. So, I made a video on how to apply it correctly! WATCH.

Done? Now here are the swatches.

Anne Curtis is the hottest celebrity right now. After seeing her in person last week, I understand why! Up close, she looks exactly like she does on celluloid and print - drop-dead gorgeous, with an ultra-slim bod. Someone commented that she looks like a live Barbie doll and I gotta say that's not too far off the mark! #starstruck

Anne's looks aside, I really appreciated that she seems genuinely happy and excited to be there. It seems to be a good fit, Avon lipsticks and Anne Curtis. Anne is famous for her trademark red shiny lips while Avon makes some of the best lipsticks around (at least for me) - call it destiny, predetermination, natural selection!

So, what's the deal with the Avon Shine Attract Lipsticks?