Getting more out of your lipstick crayon

 

Am I pretty serious about my lip color? Yeah, you betcha! I’m serious about all my makeup products. I’m somebody who buys the colors that are suggested to me and then uses every drop of them before going in for new ones. Elina, the Beauty Manager at Nordstrom, Corte Madera considers me her best student. I brought in a color to be replaced one day. She looked at the empty tray in my hand and was amazed. “That’s why I love you! You actually take my advice and do everything you’re told!” she said.

Well, yeah! She’s the expert!

I am happy to be a student. I like to learn new tricks and try new products with someone there guiding me. Give me a makeup plan and I’ll work it. It means I don’t have to think which leaves me time to be creative and experimental in my happy place: with clothes and accessories.

But then I started to have a problem. Elina had gotten me into Bobbi Brown’s Hot Orange Lip Crayon which at first I gasped at (ORANGE?) but with her warm eyes reassuring me, I tried it and of course, loved it. It was my first time using a lip crayon. When it came time to sharpen the crayon, it bothered me that so much color was coming off along with the wood shavings. Was I doing something wrong?

 

 

It seemed like such a waste! I hated throwing that extra lip color away.

So after working with a client one day I headed to the makeup counter at Nordstrom to ask Elina for help but she wasn’t there. “Can I help you?” a kind woman said. “Sure,” I said and pulled out my lip color. “Oh, that needs sharpening,” she said. “Would you like me to sharpen it for you?” Well, yes, that was exactly what I wanted. I told her I thought I’d been doing something wrong because so much color came off the crayon along with the wood shavings when I did it. I couldn’t wait to watch a pro do it.

Turns out there’s no “right” way to sharpen them. But she did show me what she does with her lip crayons. She got out a little empty plastic container from a drawer and grabbed a Q-tip. She sharpened the pencil like I would have but then she took the Q-tip and grabbed hold of the color that would have gone to waste and scooped it into the little container.

She told me to be careful about separating out the wood shavings.

“Every time you sharpen your pencil, collect the color that comes out with the shavings and put it in the container and keep adding to it. You can then use a lip brush, dip it in and apply it to your lips when you’re getting low. You’ll get a lot more out of your crayon this way,” she said. Brilliant!

I’m someone who gets every last drop out of their makeup before dipping into a new batch so this tip suits me just fine.

Have you tried this?

 

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