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The latest in lips from Make Up For Ever, Rouge Artist Intense, is a show stopping new lipstick collection with high pigmentation for dramatic, long-lasting color in just one stroke. The formula contains 50% more pigment than traditional lipstick formulas and is available in 3 different finishes for varying intensity: matte, pearly, and satin.

The line boasts an impressive 50 shades in an assortment of reds, nudes, and pinks [click for color chart] to help every woman find a shade that suits them. Because this can be overwhelming, Make Up For Ever has also developed a special shade selection tool that narrows down hues by both hair color and skin tone, assuring the most flattering shade recommendations. The tool will be available both in-store and online at Sephora.

We used the tool to select two hues based on hair and skin, and were more than pleased with the choices. The selector is pretty much spot-on; both shades selected looked gorgeous on!

$19, Sephora.

H.Wood, the massive Hollywood club that’s been a home away from home for the Hills girls, has now forayed into… beauty?

h.wood.beauty is a holistic tea-inspired line of cosmetics. Like the aromatic teas brewed from nature’s finest organic tea leaves, h.wood.beauty uses only the purest of ingredients combined with healing essential oils.

h.wood.beauty spins off its tea room namesake in that good-for-you-tea ingredients such as White Tea and Green Tea are fused together to bring beauty from the inside out. Because the best beauty trends start with word of mouth, h.wood.beauty is launching their line with a collection of lip products called h.wood.lips.

The collection includes:

Lip Tea- similar to beeswax or chap sticks, lip balm in twist up stick form. Coconut-Chai, Gingergrass, Green Apple, Peppermint Anise, Pom Rose, and Vanilla Caramel.
Lip Tea Scrubs- loose grain, tea-infused scrub in pot form for lips. Comes in the same flavors as lip tea.
Lip Shine Tubes - sheer washes of color in bullet form. Comes in Plum, Ruby, Poppy, Rose, and Clear.
Lip Shine Pot- same as the tubes, but in pot form.

We were able to try the Shine Tubes in Ruby and Plum, Lip Tea in Coconut Chai, and the Shine Pot in Clear.

The Clear Shine Pot gave a nice, gloss finish, but wasn’t any different than a lot of gloss pots. It was light, a bit waxy, and had a faint citrus flavor.

The Lip Tea in Coconut Chai was a nice balm stick, similar to Burt’s Bees. It’s emollient and moisturzing enough, didn’t feel sticky or waxy, but our favorite part was the flavor. YUM. We’d try the others for the flavor payoff alone.

The biggest surprise was the Lip Shine Tubes. The Shines looked kind of basic and unassuming in the tube, but the color payoff was amazing. The Plum gave a sheer yet rich plummy brown-red shade, similar to Clinique’s famous Black Honey, and the Ruby, which looked frightening in the tube, was way less bright of a red than it appeared, giving a nice, cherry popsicle sheen.

We’d love to get our hands on the Lip Scrub, which intrigued us the most! Can’t wait to try it.

$10-24, hwoodbeauty.com 

Lipstain isn’t a new concept, nor are Outlast Lip Stains new to Covergirl, but we recently got our hands on a few shades and we’re converts.

The water-based colorants of Outlast Lip Stain give lips a beautiful, lightweight flush of color that won’t come off, lasting for hours without the heavy look or feel of an ordinary lipstick. Its easily applied like a marker (it has a marker tip) that makes it easy to define your lips- just draw on color without any hassle.

Tip- Stains can be drying, so make sure to moisturize lips beforehand. Apply lip balm before doing the rest of your face, and let it sink in. Blot off prior to applying stain. We alos lipe to press the stain into the lip with a finger to give it a softer, more natural look. Just press and roll with index or ring finger.

Now, on to the review! We tried Lipstain in 402 Scarlet Pucker, 427 Nude Kiss, and 450 Saucy Plum. Here’s what we thought:

Nude Kiss is amazing, and the biggest surprise of the three. The tube is an odd, pumpkin/rust/brown color that we would’ve never even glanced at in the drugstore. THIS IS WHERE I STRESS TO TRY NEW THINGS…you never know. We rolled our eyes at it when we took it out of the package, but it’s become a daily staple. On lips it tints just a smidge, and reads a brown, “belle du jour” type nude. It really adds a bit of “something” to a basic, every day face, Like our own lips…but better.

Scarlet Pucker was a bit bright for us, a true candy apple red, but is great if you’re fearless and want fire engine lips. WARNING: This is a BOLD lip look.

Saucy Plum is THE BEST EVER. The name is deceiving, as is the color of the tube that contains it. It’s a dark, cranberry brown case, another color we wouldn’t have dared try. However, once applied it becomes the most perfect red lip in history. No joke, this shade is holy grail status. More blue based than warm, but completely gorgeous. Our search for the perfect red is OVER!

Outlast Lip Stain comes in 7 other shades, and we cannot wait to try them all!
$8, Target.

The Clarisonic Mia face brush is the “compact” of the Clarisonic brand of facial brushes. Retailing for $149, it’s a bit smaller in size and pricetag compared to the Classic, which retails for $199 and the Plus, for $225. The Mia comes with a sensitive brush head, a charger and a 1 oz. Gentle Hydro cleanser but you can use the Clarisonic with your own cleanser, or whatever cleanser is handy.

For Nordstrom’s Anniversary sale, Clarisonic created a special Mia kit, that comes in three new limited edition colors: turquoise, lavender, and berry. The set includes the same sensitive brush head, charger, and hydro cleanser, with the addition of a normal brush head as well….all for the same price as the original. (Get one before they’re gone!)

As for the benefits, according to the site the Mia:

* Removes 6x more makeup than manual cleansing
* Leaves skin feeling and looking smoother
* Cleanses so well that products absorb better
* Gentle enough for twice daily use
* Helps reduce oily areas, dry skin patches and blemishes
* Helps reduce the appearance of visible pores
* Reduces the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles

We can attest to all of the above claims.This is seriously like an expensive skin treatment in a box! We weren’t expecting miracles, but after using it our skin looked and felt like we’d just had a facial: smooth, bright, radiant. skincare products did really seem to sink in better, and we woke up with soft, glowing skin.

Don’t believe it? Try it for yourself!

$149, Sephora, or $149 for limited edition shades during Nordstrom’s Anniversary Sale.

Once in a while, a product comes along that is so amazing, it quicky gains a cult following and icon status. The Shu Uemura curler, MAC’s infamous 187 “skunk” brush, and Eve Pearl’s Salmon concealer are just a few of the must-haves that come to mind.

One of our favorites is the beautyblender. This hot pink, egg-shaped, latex free super sponge has revolutionized the way we apply our foundation. A staple in many a top artist’s makeup kit, the sponge’s elliptical shape allows for reaching every crease and contour of your face, eliminating streaks and ensuring a flawless finish.

The beautyblender has it’s own special cleanser, which smells AMAZING, and prolongs the life of the sponge. Blendercleanser is a lightly lavender-scented cleanser that’s free of dyes and skin irritants. It’s soothing soy-based, low-suds formula breaks down rapidly, making it earth-friendly and fun to use.

To ensure the best application, it’s recommended that you dampen the sponge, squeeze out the excess water, and lightly tap and roll, or “bounce” the sponge over foundation to smooth it out and blend into the skin. Whether cream, liquid, cake, or tinted moisturizer, the beautyblender’s suede texture gives a perfect finish every time.

Try it once, and you’ll see why celebrity makeup artists are never without it (One of our personal heroes, Mary Erickson, carries at least two at all times).

$9.95 - $39.95, beauty.com