Let me first start off by apologizing for not sticking to my blogging routine yesterday, I usually do the Monday, Wednesday and Friday posting but I decided that I would do some blog admin yesterday and fix all of the bugs, spam comments and reply to emails. My aim is to publish three posts a week and from time to time the order of it may be scrambled but I try my best to stick to it. And yes, I write and publish on the same day as I try to have content and pricing as relevant as possible. Enough with all of my ramblings, let me get into today’s post and let you in on a few of my favourite makeup bag staples. Lip products are one of my top two makeup items that I absolutely cannot live without. I am always trying new lippies whether it is high end or budget. Ask me anything about lippies, I am your girl! Every few months I like to do a round up on the blog of all my favourite lipsticks and today I thought that I would do a budget version of it. We all want to save a few coins, right?! My shade choices this time around may shock a few of you as you know that I am a die hard bold lip girl but I am warming up to the neutral tones.

Citi Girl – Long Lasting Lipstick with vitamin E in shade Ice CoffeeAfter I did my full face of Citi Girl makeup, I decided to add a few new goodies from the line to my makeup collection. Surprisingly I am really enjoying the nudes in this collection. This is a demi matte lipstick that feels super comfortable on the lips. This nude lipstick has more of a brown undertone to it and is extremely long lasting. This lippie is also enriched with vitamin E and mineral oils, which explains why this creamy textured lipstick sits so comfortable on the lips for a demi matte lipstick. When this product starts fading on the lips, it fades down to a stain and doesn’t flake one bit. Another thing that I love about this lippie is how yummy it smells. It smells like cupcakes and I am always so tempted to lick my lips. For a R29.95 lipstick, I may just buy the whole line of lipsticks.

Vivadana – Moisture Care: Color Statement lipstick in shade 4This lipstick my mom brought back from Saudi Arabia and I so wish that it was available in South Africa. This brand is popular in Saudi and I can see why. This lippie is super creamy but not very long lasting. It is however very pigmented and nourishing on the lips, without bunching up and gathering in the fine lines of your lips. I can definitely see myself wearing this product in the warmer months when I want a burst of colour on the lips but not something as intense as a bold red or deep purple lipstick. Describing the scent of this lipstick, I would say that it somewhat smells like what Tinkerbell (if you were a kid in the early 90’s, you would know) makeup used to smell like.

Jet: Just Be Gorgeous – Vitamin E LipstickThis post wouldn’t be complete without a bold statement lip. If I had to give my current lipsticks on rotation a name and then this one would be “party season”. I know December seems like a far stretch but if you find yourself looking for an inexpensive red lipstick, pick this one up. This lippie is amongst my top 5 red lipsticks that I have ever used and you all know that I have a big collection. This lipstick is long lasting and is also jam packed with Vitamin E. I paid around R15 for this lipstick at Jet and I would absolutely recommend trying out the Just Be Gorgeous range of makeup, I have mentioned their products on the blog many times before and I can’t even begin to describe how underrated this brand is. This lippie however is a classic red lip and I believe every girl should own at least one red lipstick. This lipstick straight up smells like chocolate and I love it!

Citi Girl – Long Lasting Lipstick with vitamin E in shade Pale PinkI did a full review on this lipstick last week when I blogged about the entire Citi Girl Makeup line. This is another nude lippie but it has a pink undertone. Unlike the above mentioned lipstick in the shade “Ice Coffee”, the lipstick has tiny specks of glitter in it but isn’t really that much visible when on the lips. This lipstick has all the same aspects of the other Citi Girl lipstick so I guess the shade that you would opt for would depend on your choice of a pink or brown undertone in a nude lipstick.

Edgars: Design Cosmetics tinted lip balm in shade TL Don’t SpeakAh, I love me a good tinted lip balm! I have basically tried the entire Design Cosmetics range (you can check my archives for reviews), so when I saw a new product that I haven’t tried before, I immediately popped it into my basket. You can probably see a trend with this post, I was going for more moisture enriched products seeing that we are just at the back end of the icy cold winter in the Cape. This lip balm is one of the best I have used in a long time. If you are wearing a super drying matte lipstick, this lip balm is your bestie. This lip balm is very moisturizing but won’t eat through your lipstick. I wear this lip balm when I am in the house as I don’t leave home without lipstick, over other lipsticks and when I go to sleep at night. It really provides that moisture that my lips needed after winter. If you’re a fan of coconut then you would love the scent of this balm. I wish this product existed when I was in high school as this was the type of balms that I lived for. This currently retails for R16.95.

And that is it for my favourite lippies at the moment. All of these products retails for under R30 and is currently in stores (with the exception of the Vivadana lipstick).