Multi-purpose tinted balm does it all
Monochromatic makeup look has never felt prettier or more attainable than this does
I recently realized that roughly half of the square footage (square inchage?) of my moderately sized everyday bucket bag is taken up with beauty products. This proliferation of glosses, tints, sticks and tubes probably get used once a month each, tops, yet I can’t bring myself to purge them lest I be caught off-guard, having rushed out of the house into an important, forgotten meeting of some kind that requires a lip and a tap of highlight to make me feel pulled together. I do so love to feel pulled together, especially on those chaotic mornings when my toddler refuses to allow me to shower, let alone compose a look.
Now, Canadian brand Nudestix has made it its business to address this very conundrum, offering sleek, multi-use, mostly matte makeup pencils for the time-starved and low-key — though I must confess that I have hoarded multiple of these in the offending bag … However! I really do feel that the latest of Nudestix’s multi-use wonders, nudies bloom all over dewy color, is the one-hit wonder I’ve been waiting for. It’s a generously chubby tinted balm that’s just pigmented enough and just glossy enough to give the perfect kiss of colour to lips, cheeks and, yes, even eyes (often that’s the part of multi-use products that I find less useful). It’s made in Korea, the epicentre of beauty technology, and as such it’s wet-look but water resistant, long-wearing but not drying.
It’s so versatile that I’ve found myself reaching for it every morning, and for every post-lunch and -coffee touch-up. When gently tapped on with fingers (there’s a soft brush on one end I haven’t needed to use), it really can’t be messed up and it doesn’t disturb foundation or concealer. I applied it on the subway platform with nary a mirror in sight. And when I encountered my mom on the weekend, I made her hold still while I fingerpainted a full-face look — it was equally fresh and pretty on her, much more so than the matte products she’d been using. (Afterwards, she carefully wrote down the name.)
I’ve been dallying with two shades (the slightly mod mid-pink cherry blossom babe and vibrant coral poppy girl), and I truly feel they’re all I need in my bag for now. The rest can actually take a hike.