Anastasia Beverly Hills Liquid Lipstick Set for Holiday 2017

Wonder where Sunday Dreaming went yesterday? I've been watching a lot of Kimberly Clark's AntiHauls lately and thought that I'd take a week or two off. Yes, I'll share my Ulta 20% planned purchase since that coupon landed in my inbox Sunday morning (psst... I usually take advantage of those to actually stock up on the essentials.) and my VIB Sale plans (and I didn't get invited to F&F this year for the first time in probably 5 years. It's ok, since I'm in the process of breaking up with Sephora anyhow). But not every week.

With that aside, I have picked up quite a few holiday items, notably from ABH and MAC. I'll bump some other reviews I had planned to show you the new stuff first.

Let's start today with the cutest of the holiday offerings, a trio of mini liquid lipsticks.

I think these are going to be a huge bestseller- not just because Sephora's pushing everything mini at the moment because of the value. These holiday kits are great for multiple reasons. First, you can just enjoy them yourself. Second, you can split them up as gifts to multiple people. Third, less waste. Regardless, these are great value.

This trio of minis retails for $25, and contains three shades: Dazed, Bittersweet, and Madison.They each contain 2.3g/0.08oz of product.

I can confirm these are larger than the GWP- take a look at what they look like, compared to a full-sized liquid lipstick and a GWP gloss.

Let's talk about the shades, and then I'll mention my feelings on the formula. I've been meaning to do a review of some of the popular liquid lipstick formulas. Look for that someday soon.

First up is Dazed.

This is the only shade that's been previously released in the trio. According to Ulta, Dazed is a "redwood."

This is a lovely, dark red that's not vampy. I think this is perfect for fall, and I can see myself reaching for it frequently.

Here's what Dazed looks like on my lips. One quick note on any of the swatches and lip shots- these dry completely matte. Since I was swatching back to back and didn't want to kill my lips by letting everything completely dry down.

That, and I swatched after work, which meant I had to rely on artificial lights.

Next up, Bittersweet.

According to Ulta, this is "swiss chocolate."

I don't eat chocolate, but this is a lovely brown. Here's a deep and beautiful swatch:

Unfortunately, this is one where the lights really lightened it up on my lips. 

Yep, a lot darker and more brown than my normal comfort zone.

The final lipstick is Hudson.

According to Ulta, this is "deep peach". I'm not sure if I agree with that entirely- it's more of a brown nude to me.

I guess I see peach as more of a spring color, an orange. This is straight up nude to me.

But a wearable nude.

Now that we've talked about all of the shades individually, I'll show a group swatch and let's talk about my overall thoughts.

Take a good look at those shades. I like them and find this to be really well curated set. I think its release in October is spot-on.

Is this Holiday? Hell no.

I see Fall. Specifically, I see November. I see leaves and Thanksgiving dinner and everything else. If ABH wanted a true giftable set, I'd like to see classic red, classic nude, and a vampy shade. That's holiday.

I like this formula- but only with the ABH lip primer. Otherwise it kills my sensitive lips (but that's normal for all but the bareMinerals liquid lipsticks). These last most of the day for me, and I think these are a great value. I know this is allegedly a giftable holiday set, but I'd recommend buying and loving right now. I just don't see these colors as being as perfect in late December-January. This is a great way to sample the formula with a trio is very wearable shades.