Gradient freaks will love this: The Laneige Two Tone Lip and Shadow Bar
Most Filipinas go for the Western makeup style. Just look at any artista on local TV and you'll see the arched brows, darkened eyes, full lips, and matte foundation which are the hallmarks of Hollywood makeup. It's a great look, one that I prefer myself, but recently I have been enthralled with the magic of the Korean makeup style. I've been watching a couple of new K-dramas* and I'm loving the subtlety of their look! Their face appears so innocent and natural, but in fact they use A LOT of product to look like they're barely wearing any.
I've also been watching a lot of Korean makeup tutorials and noticed a couple of key things:
- They love gradient lips because it's more childlike, as if they just sucked at a lollipop.
- Shimmer on the eyes is a given. The only question is - how shimmery is it going to be? They seem to favor peach and orange on their eyes as much as they like brown.
If you want to cop the look, you should check out the Laneige Two Tone Bars. There are 10 Lip Bars and four Shadow Bars with two colors combined in each stick. It's meant to achieve a smooth gradient while getting you the precision you need around your lips and eyes! Looks cool no? I thought it'd be hard to use, but it's pretty easy once I got the hang of it.
Let's begin with the Laneige Two Tone Lip Bar (P1,200). This comes in bright cheery colors that seem to jump out of the lips - none of those dark brooding mauves and pinks the Americans have been coming out with! I love the change of pace, but more than that, the formula is pretty good. They're pigmented in one swipe and can be worn different ways. You can achieve the gradient effect (dark inside, light outside and vice versa) or wear it as one color by combining the two.
This feels thin on the lips; it's not waxy at all. I normally don't need a balm underneath but you might if you have dry lips! It stays on for about 3-4 hours and leaves a nice stain afterwards (the deeper shades).
It's pretty straightforward to use. For the gradient lip, I do it in half sections. I place the bar in the middle of my lips then swipe it right, going outwards. Then, back to the middle then swipe left going outwards. For a single color lip, I just kind of flip the bar to get the color on my whole lips.
I've got four colors here:
- No. 13 Orange Blurring, a popsicle orange with a white strip. If you intend to use it as a gradient, make sure the outer parts of your lips have concealer first on to maximize the lipstick's effect.
- No. 11 Juicy Pop, a coral pink with a yellow strip. The yellow actually doesn't look weird! But it's not very obvious since it's sheer.
- No. 14 Dear Pink, a bright pink with a lighter pink strip. Love this color, it's so cheerful! This is the closest to my ideal Korean gradient lip.
- No. 12 Maxi Red is an intense red with a light peach strip. This is the most staining out of the four I have.
I like No. 14 and No. 12 for that gradient look since they make my lips appear full and fun (the lighter strips are pigmented too), but I'd use No. 13 and No. 11 as one color since they make my lips look smaller than I like. Alone, they're a gorgeous glossy orange and coral respectively! I love these lipsticks and will definitely keep them around for when I want to do a Korean FOTD - which is now all the time, seriously. Highly recommend these lippies!
And so we come to the Laneige Two Tone Shadow Bars (P1,200). These are beautiful shimmery cream shadows for the eyes, in trendy shades that look great on monolids. I love how they are designed to simplify eye makeup by applying two colors at the same time.
I've got all four available shades here:
- No. 1 Humming Coral is a matte peachy coral with a shimmery champagne beige strip. It's the eyeshadow I was wearing with the lip swatches above!
- No. 3 Orange Island is a coppery orange with a white gold strip.
- No. 2 Golden Rose is a prim rose gold with a white gold strip.
- No. 4 Coffee Bronze is pretty descriptive; it has a shimmery champagne strip.
Gorgeous, right? But they can do better as eye shadows. They are so emollient that they crease on my crease very quickly. I've used it on top of my primer and I've set them with a matching eyeshadow, but they still crease unfortunately. I think they're meant to work much better in cooler weather and on monolids!
I like No. 4 Coffee Bronze the most since it's not as emollient as the other three shades. The rest I plan to use as highlighters since I hate to put great colors to waste. ^_^
I hope you enjoyed reading my review! Let's discuss:
- How do you feel about the Korean makeup look in general?
- Are you into gradient lips?
- What are your top picks from the Laneige Two Tone Bar collection?
Laneige products are available in their stores in the following locations: SM Megamall, SM Aura, TriNoma, Mall of Asia, Robinsons Manila, Robinsons Galleria, Robinsons Magnolia
product photography by Sam Gonzales
*I've been watching W Two Worlds and Cinderella and the Four Knights. <3 They're good so far! Holler if you love these shows too!
