I HEART MAC: My Lip Lining Staples

The way how I make almost any lip color to work on my naturally dark pigmented lips - lip liner. My two favorite nude liners are Cream O'Spice Cremestick liner and Whirl Lip Pencil.

I have used other nudes in the past from other brands but I always come back to these two liners and when I am done I go back to the MAC counter and purchase two new ones.

Whirl is considered a dirty rose and Cream O'Spice is a neutral beige. I love Whirl underneath sheer pink blush or peach toned glosses. I love Cream O'Spice when I need to warm up cool tone lipsticks. I also use this underneath glosses to deepen glosses just like I use Whirl to add a warmer rose tone to beige lip colors.

Here's Edward Bess' Pure Impulse, a lovely neutral beige with just the slighted peach tone to it. This color is wonderful on lips that are naturally lightly tinted.

It's a bit flat on me...not too bad but not great either. My lips blend in with the rest of my face.

Now warmed up with Cream O'Spice. It becomes a warmer pink beige.


Here is Whirl liner on it's own. I really love Whirl, it's like a MLBB (my lips but better) shade. All I need is a light topping of my kiehl's lip treatment balm.

And here it is paired with Pure Impulse:

Okay, I apologize for some of the inconsistent exposures. I will say that Whirl gives Pure Impulse a more soft pink look whereas, Cream O'Spice makes it a deeper beige. Both altered versions work better with my skin tone, NC42.

I'm not just a fan of these two shades, I know quite a few of them. They apply easily and they are pretty inexpensive - Lip Pencil, $14 and Cremestick Liner, $14.50.

Whirl and Cream O'Spice are both part of the permanent collection and can be found at all MAC counters. If you're lucky like me, you could find the Cream O'Spice liner at The Company Store, Estee Lauder Brands Outlet stores.