Paula Dorf review: Lipstick and Blush Reviews

 Every lip needs a touch of legend.

Put a pop of passion in your day.

These are the slogans for the products I got to review this week.  Paula Dorf's lipstick in "Legend" and blush in "Passion."  And once again, I have before and after pictures for you, because science.

As you can see below, I'm fairly fair.  When I put the lipstick on, I shouted out to Caleb and told him I looked just like Snow White.  Thanks to the high contrast in my features, Legend was a very, very bold color for me.  I do like the color itself, but as I'm not used to bold lips (yet) and my lips are already full, I felt like a walking mouth with the color.  After I blotted it a bit (not pictured), I felt much more comfortable.  Comfortable enough to wear it to a party.  I have a feeling, though, that I could definitely work up the courage to wear the full lipstick with no blotting one day.  The color is indeed legendary, at least in my book.

I was going to belly dance practice when I did my eye makeup.  Woohoo, black liner!

The lipstick color is very pigmented.  In my arm swatches below, the bottom lipstick mark was a one time application.  The upper mark is a double application.  Besides a smoother application, there's not much difference in the swatches.  This isn't really buildable color; once it's there, it's there!  Great, strong color all in one swipe.  While this is the only lipstick I've tried from Paula Dorf, considering the solid application of Legend, I bet that when using the others, you'll get exactly that color, as well.  I'd love to try Really Red next.

The blush I tried was a bit of a different story.  For one, it was in a very different color palette, but for another, it was much more buildable.  I'm glad it had a gentler pigmentation, because blush needs to be blended in order to look good.  In the arm swatch picture above, you can just see the blush I applied many times at the top of my arm.  I also applied blush right below that line, but it's hard to tell.  Even in my full face picture below, the blush is pretty mild.  I typically use a pink salmon color blush, and Passion's more orangey pink made me wish for summer.  I'll bring it out again for my makeup routine when warmer weather comes my way.

Do you have any new products you've tried out recently?  Coming up on the blog, I have some big skincare research to share.  It's taking me a while to plan and write it all out, but I'm very excited to get it published!
P.s. Paula Dorf's eyebrow kit that I reviewed last month

This post is sponsored by Paula Dorf and made possible by BrandBacker.  While I did get the product for free, these are my own thoughts and my honest thoughts, as always.