Holler for a Dollar

Hi Lover's!

It's been a while and I'm sorry about that. I've been traveling a lot.... but I'm back!

If you guys are anything like me, you love yourself a good deal, am I right? Well one of my guilty pleasures is shopping at the local dollar tree. I found some amazing drug store brands there and I want to share with you all one of my all time favorites the Milani HD Advanced Lip Colors (wish they would come back). I first saw these a few years back and then again a few months ago and I had to have them.

(From left to right: Cotton Candy, Ignition, Premiere Plum, and Sweet Grape)

The first thing I noticed about this lipsticks was the sleek case. As you can see in the picture above, there is an "M" on the end of this slim black tube and also all along the case. There is also a gold band in the middle with "Milani" embossed on both sides. The feel of the tube is nice. Even though it's plastic, it feels solid and I like how the lid firmly clicks in place when you close it. Also, when you twist the lipstick up, it makes a clicking sound just like the various click-pen glosses we all know and love. Oh, and I do want to mention that you can retract this lipstick all the way down when you're done using it, which is always a plus.

Sweet grape and Premiere Plum are very similar to each other in color.

The colors are sheer, yet buildable. The texture is almost balm-like, and quite moisturizing on my lips. I think the colors are very wearable and versatile, and the fragrance and flavor remind me of watermelon Jolly Ranchers as opposed to a real watermelon, so that's kind of fun. If you're looking for opaque, high-impact color, you'll probably want to steer clear of these and venture into something different. But, if sheer, wearable shades are more your speed, then I think you might love the HD Advance Lip Colors. There's really something for everyone in this range. There are sheer, shimmer-free shades, as well as shimmery shades, and there's even a frost in this collection. In fact, there's one shade in particular that was a complete surprise to me and it's quickly becoming one of my favorites of the bunch and that's Cotton Candy. It is a pretty bubblegum pink (which I love wearing during the summer months) that borders on being a frost. The first two shades in the above swatches have a nice, subtle shimmer to them.

According to the display, this is a 3-in-1-lip color that provides "color shine for Hi Definition" with a "serum-infused formula" that "hydrates and moisturizes with every application". The display also says that these lip colors provide "light to medium coverage". Well, Milani, I could not agree with you more. It sure is nice to see a drugstore product that delivers on all of its claims! What a refreshing concept haha :p

Considering the texture of these lip colors, I was surprised by the staying power. Even through my constant smooching (it's too hard to resist smooching my lips together when I'm wearing this!) I can get about three to four hours of wear before I need to reapply. So it's not a long-wearing product, but considering the light, gel-like consistency, it lasts pretty long.

If I had to choose only one favorite in this bunch I would say Sweet Grape. It has a stunning almost gold shimmer running through it that looks absolutely beautiful on the lips. What I really love about Sweet Grape is that, even though many women generally cannot wear purple shades on their lips, they CAN wear this one because, one it's sheer, so it allows the natural pigment of your lips to peek through and two the gold shimmer running through it warms the purple up a bit. I find the color to be more of a purple-violet-golf. I personally don't see shades like this often, especially in drugstore brands, so if you were only going to get one shade in the Milani HD Advance Lip Color collection, this might be the one to consider (especially if you normally can't pull off violets or purples on your lips).

If I haven't already sold you on these, let me just add one last tidbit, and that is that they are all certified cruelty-free by the Leaping Bunny. Woot woot.

So doo you already own any of these new HD lip colors from Milani? If not, are you thinking about picking some up? As always I'd love to hear from you all!