The search for the perfect lip colour can feel like a never-ending journey for every makeup lover. It’s a case where are many versions of perfection; that essential nude that completes a vast array of makeup looks, that flattering red that suits your skintone perfectly, or that show stopping, eye popping bold colour that takes true confidence to pull off. Time and again I’ve had the same thought: “I wish I could just make that perfect lipstick for myself!” Well, there’s a company that’s had the same thought, and turned it into a reality.
Welcome to the Lip Lab.
The brain child of Bite Beauty, the Lip Lab is a Canadian cosmetics company founded in 2011 by Suzanne Langmuir. Bite was built on the premise that anything you put on your lips should be good enough to put past your lips. Premium, food grade ingredients and high quality and powerful pigments come together to create beautiful, long wearing and comfortable lipsticks that you can feel good about wearing.
Toronto’s very own Lip Lab is located in the heart of Toronto’s trendy Queen Street West, featuring and enjoy the art of custom lip colour creation. Visitors to the lap will work with a colour expert who will guide them through the process of making that one-of-a-kind lipstick, butter balm or high-shine gloss that, helping them choose the perfect shade that complements their unique style. I had to head over to the lip lab and check out the process for myself.
Custom lip colour, made by you
(Starting at $55)
The Lip Lab offers 3 options for their custom lip colour experience: butter balm, high shine gloss, or the classic lipstick. From there, the possibilities are truly endless, but thankfully I had one of the Lip Lab’s Colour Artist’s to guide me through the plethora of options. First I was asked what kind of lipsticks I imagined walking away with. The answer was easy: a MLBB (my lips but better) classic nude tailored to my skintone in a comfortable, long wearing texture. It’s the lipstick I’m always searching for but can never find; the type of situation the Lab loves to tackle.
Before we began the colour portion, I was given a lip scrub and balm to prep my lips for testing out different colour formulas. From there, my colour artist Georgia began by examining my lips before pulling out 2 different colours to mix. She took a few seconds to swipe the colours onto her palette, carefully measuring the proportions of each, before swirling them together to create the colour swatch. She carefully handed me a dollop of lipstick on a sponge tipped applicator, studying me as I applied the mixture to my own lips. To my surprise and delight, Georgia achieved perfection in a matter of seconds – the colour was exactly what I was looking for!
With the colour formula settled, next Georgia walked me through options around the finish; matte, satin, lustre, and more. Considering my desire for a comfortable, long-wearing lipstick, she suggested a satin finish and I agreed. Next I was presented with a veritable buffet of essential oils to help give my lipstick a hint of scent and flavour, from minty fresh to juicy mango (the choice I went with) After all the main ingredients are selected, the colour artist cooks it all up and pours the resulting concoction in a mold. Once the lipstick form is achieved, it’s placed on a frozen tray for cooling, then inserted into the tube of my choosing (I chose a chic rose gold finish). Another special touch that comes with the bespoke package is the ability to name your lipsticks and have the tube engraved right in the store. I named mine after the beautiful weather we were when I visited the lab: Sunny Days. And the best part is, if I ever run out of my new favourite lipstick I can always get more; every Bespoke lipstick remains on permanent record for remaking upon any future visit to the Lip Lab.
Lip Lab Experiments
Since my custom lipstick colour dreams came true in a matter of seconds, but I didn’t want the fun to end quite yet, I simply asked Georgia, my new colour expert friend, what color she wished someone would ask her to make, essentially asking the expert to surprise me. She seemed tickled by the challenge as she started pulling out different pigments and mixing them up. From a glittering gold based lip gloss that felt fit for royalty, to an eye popping pastel purple lipstick that belonged on a fashion photoshoot set, Georgia flexed her creative muscles and showed me that the Lip Lab can truly make the wildest of lip colour dreams come true.
It’s easy to find the perfect lipstick when it’s tailor made for you. Whether it’s replicating the colour you would steal from your mother’s makeup bag when you were a child, to creating a colour that you could never find on cosmetic store shelves, the Lip Lab is up for the challenge.
https://www.liplab.com/pages/services
Nadia Elkharadly
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