I rolled out of bed at half past seven on Thursday morning bleary-eyed and anxiety-ridden. I had two finals that day that I wasn’t even remotely prepared for. Not because I’m lazy, mind you. I showered and dressed with a sense of impending doom sitting in the pit of my stomach because depression sucks, kiddos.
I was just squatting down to tie my boots when I saw it: a Rimmel lipstain from the Her Campus Survival Kit. It must have rolled off my desk somehow during the previous night’s all nighter. I checked my phone. I had twenty minutes before I needed to head downstairs to catch the shuttle to main campus. It wasn’t enough time to get out my laptop and start my paper, but it was just enough time to make my face look slightly less corpse-like. Besides, I’d been waiting all week for a chance to try out the Kiss Fatal shade of Provocalips.
I settled for the basics since I was running on four hours of sleep and pineapple soda: light powder foundation, a cheap eyeliner that I almost immediately smudged, neatened brows, and a quick mint lip scrub to get the ‘ol pout ready. I noticed immediately that my expectation was wildly different from the actual product, but not in a bad way. The formula was true to color and very smooth, but went on way sheerer then I expected. I added an extra coat, thinking that maybe I’d just gone a little too light with the original application. As it happens, Provacalips is a sheer formula that layers over the natural tint of your lips. Because of this, it looks a little different on everyone. For me, the result was a sheer pink, a shade much lighter and more feminine than I’m used to. I was honestly a little nervous about it at first because I’m self-conscious about having two-toned lips, but it actually looked hella cute. The shade evened the color differences without erasing it completely, which resulted in a soft, feminine look that looked pretty good. Or it would have, if I didn’t look like a creature from the Black Lagoon so early in the morning.
Image cropped because wwhoo boy did I smudge the heck outta my eyeliner.
Hour three with Provocalips found me at the Health and Public Affairs Building, curled into a ball on a couch upstairs trying to feel something other than utter despair over the final I’d just failed. I was considering what foreign country I’d need to run away and start my life over in for a solid ten minutes before I thought to take a pic. I might have been in the depths of an existential crisis, but my lips still looked pretty damn good.
Provocalips: Holding up better than my GPA.
I’d intended to do a food test for the day but, like the eternal failure I am, forgot any form of payment at home. I did have to hold my phone in my mouth briefly, though, and that sucker came away clean. Though Provocalips has a slightly sticky feel after the second step (which honestly could just be attributed to my using a second layer of the first), there was little to no transfer on the few occasions my mouth came into contact with whatever object was in its orbit.
Once I got home, my RA kindly reminded me that I hadn’t eaten in 10 hours and sent me off to my room with half of his pecan waffle because he, as always, is the realest OG.
I made short work of my meal, and only remembered that I was still wearing Provocalips when I licked my lips free of syrup and felt the thin layer of lipstain still clinging to my mouth. I hurried off to take a picture, still surprised there was any lipstain left at all. I am notoriously bad at keeping anything other than heavy matte lipsticks on because of my habits of licking my lips, chewing on pens, and falling asleep facedown in a passive bid to suffocate myself. Imagine my surprise when I looked in the mirror and saw this staring back:
Yeah, I puckered a little. Listen, I looked cute!
All in all, it was an absolute trash heap of a day. I failed a final, forgot to eat two meals, and felt an impending sense of doom pretty much the whole day. I did, however, look super cute while doing it. Shoutout to Provocalips for being the one bright light in the dark miasma that is finals week.