Post #13- Lipstick, The Experience!

Yes! You read that right. Lipstick can absolutely be an experience. I have two beautiful memories to prove it to you.

As I was going through my stash of lip goodies, I found the products of these two experiences and I had to write about it and in a way this will also be an inspiration of hope for us all who enjoy a Pandemic-less lipstick or lip wear experience! Please keep hope alive, my love!

A couple birthdays ago, my bestie, Jilly booked an appointment for me at the new Bite Beauty Lab here in Toronto. I had been wanting to go and we were both fascinated by the concept of making lipstick on the spot. We walked in and saw these consultants and lab experts, wearing lab coats. Women were sipping on wine while being seated along a long bar table where there were instruments of all kinds to make their lippy of choice. How exciting! While we waited for our turn, we got a look around the store to see already made product.

After a little while it was our turn. A whole hour for the two of us to find that something special. First we were asked to remove anything we were wearing with a beautiful all natural lip scrub (Don’t worry, a lip care post is on the way😊) that left us feeling refreshed and clean. I remember tasting it by accident and the wonderful lady who helped us said, “that’s alright, you can technically eat everything we make because it’s vegan and charged with superfoods”. It’s clean makeup! Who doesn’t want that? I liberally licked my lips throughout the process whenever I felt the urge, Ha!

The Bite Beauty Lab experience is a great idea, because it allows the customer the privilege of choosing what is right for you, or that colour you’ve been wanting or that something new to spice up the face routine. Bite Beauty goes the extra mile by giving your lips the treatment they deserve even before your new found lip colour is made. Lip scrubs, balms, and masks, and a goody bag filled with sample sizes for you to continue the regimen at home. Win, Win, Win!

At the time, I had been looking for a burnt orange in a matte finish of some kind. Jilly wanted a bold blue! We applied the first few swatches to see if we were getting it right and were both surprised at the texture and the vibrancy of the colour. It also felt like art class again from elementary school where we got to mix paints and discover that a little bit of black or yellow goes a long way. Needless to say, we were both happy at the end of the hour with our products, so I bought another in true Temeka fashion. Praline is the name of my second purchase. It’s one that already existed and is available for sale in their store or on their website. It is a multi stick for the lips, cheeks, and eyes. I find that the peachy tone is great for all three in the summer, but I love it as a lipstick most of all. The best part was getting to think of a name for my new personalized lipstick. What is so great on the part of Bite Beauty Lab is that they save your lipstick under your name with its perfect mix of colour and texture so that when you run out, because you will run out, you can come back and just pick it up again. How thoughtful! What did I name my burnt orange? Orange You Ready to know?! haha.

Now let’s fast forward to the next year, really just a few weeks later when my other bestie Vanessa decided to surprise another one of our besties (yes, you can have more than one best friend or I’m really blessed) with a lipstick experience after a lunch for her birthday at a place called Mix Beauty Lab. There would be just a handful of us to enjoy this experience and we would have the entire shop to ourselves as we got a chance to explore colour choices and options such as stick or gloss. It was lovely. I remembered Jilly and decided to go for a cool light blue. The other ladies wanted to play it safe or go for the perfect nude or pink they had been searching for but could never find. This was the perfect opportunity to do both.

The consultant that helped us was patient and didn’t rush us to make up our minds. Could you imagine making 5 different lippies for 5 very different women? It became a fun educational moment for all of us as we learned about the difference between warm and cool tones and how they are perceived on different skin tones as well. So important! Even though there was no wine, we had tons of fun and laughed while becoming our own models in a store full of all kinds of customizable beauty products. The name I chose for my cool blue is Blue You Boo in a matte finish, but seen below in a gloss texture.

I couldn’t believe that in the city of Toronto, I could have two very different lip-wear making experiences. This genius idea is not new, it’s just been perfected by companies like Bite Beauty Lab and Mix Beauty Lab. I mix my colours at home all of the time. It’s a fun way to be unique and why shouldn’t we be exactly who we were made to be, lips and all? So I boldly get the weird, new, unusual colour especially if I’m paying to make a colour I won’t find elsewhere. Experiencing lipstick doesn’t only happen in a lab, although Science in high school would have been way more fun if this was how chemistry class always worked. Experiencing lip wear can be anything from the colour you chose this morning or the way you took it from day time to night time dinner drama. You wearing the lip colour is the experience for us. Whatever way you make your lip choice happen, in a lab or directly on your face, #WearItLikeYouMeanIt. 💋

See you on the gram @thelipstickblogger