Fab Finds For Less

Hello all! So today I decided that I wanted to make the first edition of a series I have been thinking about for a while now. This series is called Fab Finds For Less where I will be comparing some high end products with more affordable alternatives - or sometimes I may just share a product that is high quality but also a great deal. So let's get down to it! For the first installation in this series I will be sharing some more wallet friendly substitutes for the YSL Rouge Volupté Lipsticks which I talked about in my Costco Blog Post and my Collective Haul Post. Although these lipsticks are lovely, at $35 a pop (GASP!) they are also a major investment, and lets be real - not everyone is willing or able to drop that kind of cash on a lipstick. So when I found some lip products that I liked equally as much as their expensive counter parts I wanted to spread the word! These more affordable options are NYX Butter Glosses and NYX Butter Lipsticks which retail for $4.99 and $5.99, respectively (I got mine at Ulta but have also seen NYX products at Target). In general I'm not a big fan of lipgloss, but these butter glosses totally changed my mind! They are sooo smooth, not sticky like many glosses can be, and also very pigmented. I have actually been loving these butter glosses for a while, the other two colors I have are Éclair (light pink) and Crème Brulee (peachy nude), but when I got the shade Tiramisu and swatched it next to YSL Nude Beige I was blown away, they look almost identical! Since Tiramisu is a gloss it is obviously a bit more shiny, but the colors are a great match. Also, I found it to be equally smooth, pigmented, and moisturizing as the YSL lipstick. The same is true of the NYX Butter Lipsticks, very creamy and great color payoff! So all in all I thought these were some Fab Finds and great alternatives for those looking to save some money with out sacrificing quality. I hope this post is helpful when you're deciding whether you should save or splurge :)

Left to Right: NYX Tiramisu, YSL Nude Beige, YSL Peach Passion, NYX Lollies

Let's take a look at the closer match first, which was YSL Rouge Volupté in Nude Beige (No. 1) and NYX Butter Gloss in Tiramisu. As you can see below there is almost no line of demarcation in the center of my lips, which shows how close the colors are to one another. I love both of these products but if I HAD to pick one to recommend or repurchase for myself I would consider this: you could have seven, YES SEVEN, NYX Butter Glosses for the price of one YSL Lipstick. This might make the choice a little easier haha. 

Then we have YSL Rouge Volupté in Peach Passion (No. 13) and NYX Butter Lipstick in Lollies. Although these were not quite as similar as the other pair, they are definitely still both lovely colors that could be used interchangeably - unless you are very picky about subtle color differences, which I am not! As you can tell from the pictures below Lollies is a bit lighter and more pink toned (yet still peachy), which Peach Passion is a slightly deeper color and has more peachy, coral tones. Both are very smooth and pigmented with great color payoff. They are also pretty moisturizing which is a bonus if you tend to have dry lips or if you are turned off by lipsticks that have that dry, waxy texture on the lips. Looking at the photos now I think that NYX Lollies would also be a great dupe for the YSL Nude Beige shade mentioned above! Lollies is one of my favorites because it is so smooth and pigmented and the color is somewhere between a true pink and a true nude. I think the color and formulation are comparable to both of the YSL lipsticks mentioned in this post. 

So ultimately it's up to you to decide if you should save or splurge, but I think these NYX products are a Fab Find because they are high quality, affordable, AND make a great alternative or dupe to YSL lipsticks. I hope you guys found this helpful! Please let me know your opinions on these products if you have tried them out or if you have any requests for future editions of "Fab Finds For Less" (like if you are in search of a great, yet affordable bronzer, concealer, etc. - please let me know so I can try to help out with your quest! hehe). Hope everyone is doing great!

xoxo emma