Product Review-Besame's Blood Red Lipstick

I've written before of my penchant for Besame lipsticks.  I wore lipstick before discovering Besame two years ago, but I didn't care about it much and I was never brand loyal.  Today, however, I'm a total Besame convert.  I'd never wear anything else.

 Besame is the only modern make up company with a true commitment to replacating the glamourous looks of the past, and they do an amazing job of it.  Each of their shades is based on actual vintage lipsticks and is named for the year that inspired it.  Unsurprisingly, given their vintage aesthetic, there are plenty of red shades in the line, 

and several lovely non-reds too.

Another wonderful thing about Besame is that unlike a lot of other vintage repro companies that seem perennially stuck in the 50s, Besame regularly explores earlier eras.  Their latest shade is a perfect example.  Besame Blood Red 1922 is an absolutely gorgeous color that really captures the flapper era.  It's a beautiful red that the company website describes as looking like "a freshly bitten lip."  They also describe it as the "deepest red for the ultimate flapper", and while I agree it has a deepness too it, the very thing I love about this shade is that it's not too dark.  Previously when sporting 20s looks I usually wore  their Noir Red, a  a dark plum 1920s shade that while pretty, I find too dark for my complexion.   Enter Blood Red and my flapper lipstick dilemma is solved.

The shade definitely works well with 20s looks and is very pretty worn in the cupids bow fashion of the era.    The triangular shape of Besame lipsticks makes it very easy even for make up klutzes like myself to draw on a cupids bow, a la Clara Bow, no liner required.  

When I purchased the lipstick I also bought the Besame travel lip brush.

I was a bit surprised when I first saw the brush because its much thicker then any other lip brush I've ever used.  However, since you can use the edges of Besame lipsticks as liner the thicker brush makes sense.   You paint on a coat of lipstick after lining your lips and the brush does an excellent job of applying the color smoothly.

Blood Red may be advertised as a 1922 shade but as any reader of this blog knows, I'm not loyal to any particular vintage era.  I've been wearing Blood Red nearly daily this October and I've found that it works equally well with 1930s

and 1950s looks.

 Of course most importantly of all Besame does not test any of their cosmetics at any level production on animals so you can wear their lipstick guilt free.  

Blood Red retails for $22 on the Besame website, which may sounds like a lot when compared to drugstore lipsticks but the quality can't be beat and the shades last forever.   I have tubes from two years ago of Besame shades that are nearly full despite regular wear.  Do yourself a favor and if you plan to buy a lipstick this fall, make it Besame Blood Red, after all what color could be more perfect for the Halloween season!