I adore my bold reds, but my default face of late is too light for that look. A soft lip goes with my fresh palette, but there are days when I don't even feel like blending out a gradient lip. A great option is to go with a simple glossy / jelly lip look. I recently LYL'd the April Skin Magic Lip Tint, for the same reasons I love today's LYL.

Maybe I got sucked in by the literature, but I am such a believer of Kanebo's 5R Color Technology. Their color cosmetic swatches are sooo 3D, and are obviously designed to be multi-dimensional; it's not just all talk. I do see it on my face, and it's in these details that I really appreciate well-made cosmetics. I recently wrote for ProjectVanity.com about how this was one of our top picks for the Spring / Summer 2017 collection, and I'm talking about just the lipstick today because I like it that much.

The Kanebo Keep Wearing Rouge in 03 Vibrant Red (PHP 2100) is a great example of a 'vibrant' color. I can wear it with a light face or some smokey brown eye shadow, and it looks so healthy against my light-medium warm skin. I like that it also wears down mostly evenly; the photo above is a bit of an acid test, as I had just scarfed down a pizza without really taking care of the color. There's a hole on the lower lip, and some general unevenness, but it does fare better under more forgiving circumstances.

This is how it normally wears down, after a handful of hours with no eating. It's not the longest-wearing lippie, and I am scared of losing credibility by advocating it in the midst of all this matte wonderland, but pechaybygulaywow I love it, really!

*This is, thankfully, a media sample provided by the Kanebo team during the SS2017 launch last 15 June. I say 'thankfully,' because it's the shade I fell in love with while swatching all 6 shades onsite. I was not paid nor otherwise compensated for this feature.