A Season of Cleavage and Luscious Lips

Note from Jennine: This morning I found out Bettie Page had passed away at the age of 85. Quite honestly, I don’t know of any single woman whose iconic image has been copied more than Bettie Page (yes, I know more Betties than Marilyns). She has been a big style influence even in my own life. Since I really don’t know much about her, I’ll leave it to the likes of Debutante Clothing to come up with a truly great homage. Until then, Sonja..  has coincidentally wrote up with a delightful and cheeky post about cleavage and luscious lips… something that Bettie had in spades…

It’s time for holiday parties, time to show off “the girls” with low-cut tops and dresses, and glam up with luscious lips. Admit it. Do your necklines start to plunge when you dress for a party? Do you up the drama with sparkling lip colors and juicy glosses as you celebrate the holidays? As we bling up Christmas trees and our homes, it’s only apropos that we get extra dolled up, too.

Unusual and Festive

I found two intriguing makeup sets to create a festive, holiday look and had to check them out: My Beautiful Breasts and My Naughty Mouth by It Cosmetics. The breast kit was definitely cause for pause for my husband. He had no idea that I’ve highlighted and accentuated with sparkly powders and blush and that other women do this, too. I worked some magic just a couple months ago on myself, my sister, and her bridesmaids at her wedding. I mean, I try to be subtle about it. But why not play up the goods?

My Beautiful Breasts

My Beautiful Breasts (the set — not my tata’s) is such a fun kit. It won’t make your A’s look like double-D’s. But it does provide everything you need to play up what you’ve got for a lot less than the cost of a boob job.

• If you’re not sure where to start, no problem. This comes with a highly educational, how-to manual that has detailed illustrations on how to make “the twins” look more voluptuous or to play them down if you already have ample assets.

• First you get a lifting, firming lotion that primes your skin before you apply a well-chosen palette of shadows and highlighters. These are waterproof (and sweatproof) so they’ll last when you sweat it up on the dance floor.

• This also comes with a setting spray to help makeup stay in place. But you probably won’t need it, because the shadows and highlighters last just fine on their own. Instead, I use the spray for my face makeup.
• There’s also a semi-permanent stain. I actually like to use this on my face, to add warmth to my cheeks and lips. It’s a pretty color and blends very easily. But be sure to blend quickly, because this stuff stays put. If you make a mistake, it’s okay. Just wash it off right away.
• There are also two high-quality brushes: a buffer to blend, blend, blend — the last thing you want is someone to look down and say to themselves “What a nice job she’s done making up her boobs” — and a double-sided contouring and highlighting brush. I especially love this brush, because it’s so soft and also works great for blush and eye shadow.

This set is a lot of fun for special occasions. But I also like that I can use the setting spray, stain, and brushes everyday.

My Naughty Mouth

Whether you’re naughty or nice, My Naughty Mouth is also great for the holidays and everyday. There are soooo many lipstick and gloss sets this time of year. But this one stands out, because it covers all the bases to give you stunning lips and the look of whiter teeth.

• First off, it comes with a blue brightening gloss and lip balm. I was reticent about trying them. Smurfs may be celebrating their 50th anniversary, but I don’t want to look like one. I was happy to see that these didn’t give me the look of being frostbitten. They just look pretty, with a subtle blue undertone, and really did make my teeth look whiter. The gloss has a touch of mint, a great texture, and wears well. The balm does a nice job moisturizing.
• The lipsticks also have a blue base that is barely detectable and brightened my teeth. The colors in the palette are excellent — an assortment of flattering nudes and pinks, and a beautiful red.
• There are two glosses with collagen. I really like these. They instantly plumped up my lips. They’re a bit tingly but not overly so, like so many plumping glosses are.
• There’s also a very nice dual-sided lip brush.
• If you have a problem with lipstick that bleeds into wrinkles, they recommend applying the “reversible” lip liner around the edge of your lips. I don’t have to worry about feathering so instead I use this as a primer to moisturize my lips before I apply color. It helps lock in moisture, because it contains cocoa seed and shea butters.
  • If you want to play around with the shape of your lips, they’ve included a lipliner that has a pinky color on one end for contouring and a light shade for highlighting. I don’t mess with the shape of my lips. But if you want to, this liner is a good tool, as is the how-to manual that shows exactly how to do this.

Getting the Goods

Both kits are cruelty-free and run $69. Beauty bonus: when you buy the My Beautiful Breasts set, a portion of the proceeds benefits the Making Memories Breast Cancer Foundation. If you just want to play with a few products, you can buy them separately. But the kits are a much better deal. If you bought everything separately, the breast kit would cost $184 and the lip kit would cost $214.

The kits are available at itcosmetics.com, Beauty.com, HSN.com, Cosmeticmall.com (which ships internationally), and at Beauty 360, Pure Beauty, Beauty First, and Trade Secret stores.

Sharing Time

So tell me, have you ever done a “breast augmentation” with makeup? And how do you do glamorize your lips for holiday parties? Got any tips to share with the rest of us? Do tell.

Collage images via Hips, Lips & Tits…it’s Bettie Page