Shopping My Stash: Living Coral!

The Pantone Institute has revealed their Colour of the Year for 2019 to be Living Coral! I've followed the Colour of The Year for a few years now, since Radiant Orchid, and I'm excited to once again see a colour that will incorporate well into makeup looks!

Pantone Institute

When I was younger, we're talking like age nine to twelve, I remember hating coral with a passion. I thought it contrasted with my colouring in a super unflattering way, making me look even more pasty and straw-like than I already did. I also just hated anything pink, but that's a whole dysphoria thing that we can get into later. 

However, then I got into makeup, and figured out that coral lipstick lit up my whole face. I started seeking it out and was frustrated that I couldn't find a lot of coral shadow, liner, blush or the like, just the occasional muted coral lipstick. So I kind of forgot about the colour until now, and the Pantone Institute has reunited my love for it!

I decided I would shop my stash to see what I already had in the way of Living Coral, and then if I get enough use out of these I can go shopping to fill a 'gap' in my collection if I feel there is one. Rent permitting, of course.

So what did I find?

I totally forgot about my single shadows in this one, but I did grab the Too Faced Just Peachy Mattes palette, which has those two gorgeous peachy-coral shades- Just Peachy (center-left) and Peach Punch (center-right). The two blend together for a pretty effortless on-trend eye look, which looks stunning heaps of mascara and fresh, dewy skin.

I only found one coral blush, interestingly! I definitely thought I had more than that, but nonetheless, the essence mosaic blush in "all you need is pink" is an orangey, pastel coral with a barely-there sheen. It's a little light, very gently pigmented in comparison to essence's other varied blush formulas, and a little chalky at times too, but it wears for hours and hours.

Here's them swatched- the two shadows on the left. Peach Punch is on the top and Just Peachy below it. The blush is swatched and blended out to their right.

The grand majority of what I found in the way of Living Coral products, though, were for lips.

Here's a couple of the brighter corals! I've got NUDESTIX Magnetic Matte lip pencil in Baby K (from their Influencer Box Set), Physician's Formula Butter Lipstick in Flamingo Pink, Urban Decay Vice Lipstick in Tryst, and the NYX Liquid Suede Cream Lipstick in Life's a Beach.

Here they are swatched, slightly out of order. From left to right- NUDESTIX Baby K, Urban Decay Tryst, Physician's Formula Flamingo Pink, and NYX Life's a Beach.

I like how I have a range of depths, tones, and finishes here. Baby K is a softer, more tangerine-coral that I also like to wear on the cheeks as a cream blush. Tryst is my go-to coral, fully pigmented in a long-lasting cream finish. Flamingo Pink is the perfect sheer wash of glossy colour, and I love wearing it as a topper for other lipsticks or liners (such as nudes) to give them a kiss of trendy coral colour. Then, if I want to turn up the saturation and go neon, I have Life's A Beach and I know that the liquid lipstick formula won't smear bright colour all over my face.

Last up are some more muted picks- the Bite Beauty Amuse Bouche lipstick in Sweet Cream, and the Anastasia Beverly Hills lip gloss in Sunset Strip. Sweet Cream is probably my most worn lipstick of all time, and Sunset Strip is nice, pinky-coral and sheer with glitter shot throughout.

On the far left, I have the two products layered, and then Sunset Strip and Sweet Cream are swatched separately beside it.

I also tried to create a Living Coral makeup look for this post!

It came out a little wonky, but that's okay. I'm wearing Just Peachy and Peach Punch from the Too Faced Just Peachy Mattes palette in my crease and on the lower lashline, and then I tried to do a coral winged liner. I didn't include the liner in my collection because it's actually a mix of three of the SUVA Beauty Hydra Liners- Acid Trip (an orange), Scrunchie (a flaming pink) and Space Panda (a white). It turned out a lot more orange than I meant for it to.

Then I'm wearing Baby K from NUDESTIX on my cheeks with the essence blush in all you need is pink layered on top. On the lips are Urban Decay Tryst mixed with Bite Beauty Sweet Cream, with a bit of Physician's Formula Flamingo Pink layered in the center of the lips for shine.

That's it for my post today! Are you excited about the colour of the year? Tell me in the comments!