Pucker up

 

If I had to choose one make-up product that I can't live without, my vote would definitely go to lipstick. It really is the most no-brainer way to look at least a tad made-up. Just slick on some lippie and ta-daa, insta-glam!

I've been obsessed with bright orange for quite a while because this cheery hue is really quite amazing at brightening up my complexion. There are days when I appreciate a subtle nude or a sweet pink, but more often than not, I gravitate towards a statement colour so that I don't really have to do much else to my face to look made up.

But even though lipstick has experienced a revival in popularity over the last two years or so, after years of lipgloss dominating the market, nobody has been able to create an orange lipstick that is both bold and glossy (most tangerine lippies have a matte texture).

Well, the lipstick gods must have heard my plea.

Enter Dior's Addict Extreme lipstick range, which was just launched on Sunday. The 12 shades in this range are an extension of its Addict range of glossy lipsticks, except that the Extreme range have a much more intense colour.  I like how the colour intensity can be built up - a single layer gives a slight translucent hue, but as you apply more layers, the colour becomes more obvious. Another plus point - the lipstick has a "melting" texture so it feels comfortable on the lips instead of making them feel tight and parched.

I was lucky enough to get some press samples six weeks ago and pounced on vibrant coral shade Riviera right away. I wore it for the first time to Blueprint's Wear Emerging Designers party at Butter Factory and as you can see from the picture above, the colour is vivid enough to show up even in a dark club. I think I applied 3-4 layers of lipstick that night. Since then, I've pretty much been surgically attached to it and I make sure every time I change my handbag (which happens, oh, just about every day) that the lipstick switches bags too.

As a bonus, here's a cute colour blocking tip. There are also four shades of nail polish in this range to complement the lipsticks, which are divided into four colour families (beige Incognito, fuchsia Lucky, mauve Plaza and orange Riviera). You could pick a polish shade to match your lipstick, or else, just to mix things up a little, paint each hand with a different colour so that each time you cross your hands, everyone gets treated to a sudden burst of contrasting shades :)

Credits: Dior Addict Extreme Lipstick, $45 each, and Dior Addict Extreme Vernis nail polish, $37 each.

The professional photographs are by Dior, the photograph of myself is by Darren Lee of street photography blog Shentonista and the amateur product picture is taken by yours truly.