Holiday Treat to Myself: Guerlain Rouge G Lipstick in Georgia

Happy December! Since it's the first today, I thought it'd be alright to mention the dreaded 'H' word now; are you guys already feeling festive? Me, not so much - December kinda snuck up on me this year, and with our tropical getaway over Thanksgiving, I'm not ready to talk about gifts, Christmas trees, Winter Wonderland and all that. But I AM ready to talk about some georgious lipstick! (See what I did there? Couldn't help myself, sorry.)

Guerlain Rouge G de Guerlain Jewel Lipstick Compact in Georgia ($51 for 0.12 oz) is by far the most expensive lipstick in my collection. I feel that I can't really dive right into my usual ponderings on the shade and texture without mentioning the price point first. Even though I got Georgia during the Sephora VIB 20% sale, Rouge Gs are still ridiculously spendy, and I'm not feeling too proud of myself that I succumbed to the temptation and bought it.

 

Given the completely over the top 'space tampon' packaging of Rouge Gs,  I can't help but wonder whether I'm in fact paying for the luxurious tube or the lipstick within. This is not to say that I don't enjoy high-end, well-designed packaging (hello Givenchy Le Rouge!) and that I don't in fact expect it of more expensive products (cue my disappointment over the Rouge Bunny Rouge Chronos palette), but I realized that I don't want to be paying extra $15 over the already high price of premium lipstick just for the excessive Parisian jeweler-designed compact. I'm not collecting lipsticks for posterity - this is an utilitarian product, for Pete's sake. Couldn't we reign in the price and the design just a little bit, Guerlain? 

With that necessary rant out of the way, let's oooh and aaah over my new Rouge G. Isn't this line just a perfect decadent thing to treat yourself to for the Holidays, or any time of the year for that matter? What surprised me in the Rouge G formula at my first swipe is the thin and gel-like texture. The brand claims Rouge Gs contain 'a ruby-powder formula that interacts with the light and creates a jaw-dropping pout of perfection'. While that particular detail sounds like a bunch of marketing crap to me, Guerlain also pens these as lip smoothing, plumping and hydrating, and I hate to agree.

I've been recently experiencing a lot more dryness on my lips and many lipstick formulas that used to feel comfortable are no longer very pleasant or attractive. By contrast, the Rouge G glides on the lips easily without catching on flakes and achieves full opacity with two swipes. The formula smoothes over vertical liplines without pooling and gives a beautiful, plump, cushiony look to my normally puckered mouth. There is a faint smell of violets (but nowhere near as bad as Burberry Lip Covers) but absolutely no taste.

No. 62 Georgia is a prime example of how I'm always drawn to the same shades over and over again. Sephora describes it as a rosy pink, but on me it's a warm rose with more red than pink tones. I'm still debating which one of my other rosy lipsticks, Givenchy Le Rouge in Rose Taffetas 201 or MAC Viva Glam Cyndi, is the closest dupe to Georgia. MAC's Cyndi, which is a Luster finish, is closer to Georgia in finish but a touch more watermelon red, while Givenchy Rose Taffetas is similarly lighter in depth, but a matte texture with a more muted white base. YSL Rouge Pur in Pink Grenadine is deeper, more red and thicker/ more opaque, and I threw in NARS Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil in New Lover just to show you how un-pink Georgia reads on my cool skintone. If you're curious, Burberry Lip Cover in Primrose Hill Pink would be very close to Georgia as well.

L-R, same order as the above photo: YSL Rouge Pur in Pink Grenadine, d/c, Guerlain Rouge G in Georgia no. 62, MAC Viva Glam Cyndi d/c, Givenchy Le Rouge in Rose Taffetas, NARS Velvet Gloss Lip Pencil in New Lover

Here's another one of my boring daytime looks, using Guerlain Rouge G in Georgia on the lips. I applied it on bare, unexfoliated lips (no lip balm!), without a lip liner. If you look really closely, it isn't as even near the flakes as on the rest of the lips but it somehow softens the appearance of dry skin. There was no bleeding or feathering when I wore it, and it retained a comfortable, creamy feel on my lips despite below freezing temperatures outside. It didn't unfortunately survive a meal, but I wasn't really expecting it to. The rest of my face is Face Atelier Ultra foundation (back from its summer exile, I finally found a way to make it work by applying over primer with a damp beautyblender and substantial powdering over the top), Canmake Cream Cheeks in Clear Pink Joy CL04 and dodgy dried out eyeliner pen on the eyes.

On my cool, fair winter skin, Georgia pulls almost coral - not that I'm complaining, just definitely not pink. Have you ever tried the Guerlain Rouge G formula and if so, what are your favorite shades? Or do you think $51 is entirely too much to spend on one lipstick?

Cult Classics: Shu Uemura Hard Formula 9 Eyebrow Pencil in Seal Brown

I haven't had the best of luck with eyebrow pencils lately: the oft-recommended drugstore option, Revlon Brow Fantasy duo, turned out to be quite a major let down, and when I decided to give the high-end Kevyn Aucoin Precision Brow a go, I disliked the shade and how scratchy it felt on the skin. Looking back though, maybe I should have given it another chance, because welcome to my current rotation, the hardest of hard eyebrow pencils - the Shu Uemura Hard Formula 9 in the shade Seal Brown 02 ($23 for 4g/ 0.14 oz). Have you heard the raves about this one way back in the day and always been curious? Yeah, me too.

The Shu Hard Formula 9 Eyebrow Pencils are long pencils made of wood with a simple clear plastic cap - the design certainly does not look very luxurious, but I don't mind. I vaguely remember some claims that these have to be sharpened a certain way at Shu counters, but a) no Shu counters in the US, b) it came sharpened just like any other pencil in the world, c) I don't see how special sharpening would change the performace, and really, who has time for that?

The Hard Formula 9 pencil is also the singular worst swatching product I have ever had the displeasure to use. I'm sorry you can't see anything in the arm swatch - I really tried, so much so that I actually scratched my skin pretty bad in the process and had a scab to show for it. To be perfectly honest, at this point I was ready to throw in the towel and I frantically started to look for my online invoice to return the bastard to the make-up torture chamber that it clearly came from. But! something urged me to still try it on my actual eyebrows, and boy I'm glad I did.

When used through the brows, the Shu Uemura Hard Formula pencil doesn't necessarily glide on the skin, but it does transfer color quite easily, both on the more and the less bushy areas. Because the formula of this pencil is so, so firm, it's easier to control and draw in the shape with more precision, which is especially nice for the arches and tails of my brows. When the pencil is sharpened to a nice point, you can also draw in very fine lines to mimick the actual brow hairs - and the pencil looks pretty much invisible, unlike the Revlon duo. I also find that the hard consistency of the Shu brow pencil translated into better longevity; while creamier pencils tend to slip and slide and fade more throughout the day, the waxy feel of Hard Formula 9 really does not budge.

L-R: Shu Uemura Seal Brown, Revlon Brow Fantasy in Dark Blonde, Annabelle So Foxy Eyeshadow (dupe for MAC Charcoal Brown which I sometimes use as an eyebrow powder. Also, poor inner arm)

Ingredients: Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Stearic Acid, Cera Microcristallina/ Micocrystalline Wax, Candelilla Cera/ Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla) Wax, Carnauba/ Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax, Rhus Succedanea/ Rhus Succedanea Fruit Wax, Hydrogenated Coconut Oil, Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil, Hydrogenated Palm Oil [+/- May Contain: Mica, CI 77492, CI 77491, CI 77499/ Iron Oxides, CI 77891/ Titanium Dioxide].

As for the shade Seal Brown, it's a very ashy, cool-toned brown that's a touch lighter than the color of my brow hairs, which is exactly what I was aiming for. While the warmer tones in Revlon Brow Fantasy in Dark Blonde matched my hair quite well when I had it foiled, my natural hair color at the roots is darker and more ashy, and Shu's Seal Brown blends in much better now.

Looking majorly unimpressed here, but you can see not only my brows, but also my 'ombre' (root grow-out) situation.

I really enjoy using the Hard Formula 9 Seal Brown pencil - it's a great staple brow product to have on hand, and the pencil goes down so slowly that I can see it lasting for years to come. However, I find that when I'm in a hurry, the process of filling in with this firm pencil can get a bit time-consuming - so now, I'm on the hunt for something quick & easy; maybe the new Benefit Gimme Brow gel? Have you tried the famous Shu Eyebrow Pencil? What's your favorite brow product to use when you're pressed for time?