The jury's out on the latest Tom Ford lip concept

I guess you could say I stalk Tom Ford—or at least his beauty and fragrance launches. When I was at Neiman Marcus in Palm Beach about a month ago, I stopped by the counter to see if the news spring offerings were in yet, because I was itching to get my hands on the new Shade and Illuminate Lips. Essentially a contouring kit for your lips, I was intrigued by both the two-shades-in-one and the unique powder-gel formulation.

The Tom Ford counter had yet to receive their shipment, so I asked my BF/NewBeauty editor if she had received them (and, of course, she had). We had plans to meet for lunch last weekend, so she brought me two compacts and even though it was Saturday night and I was staying in, I knew what my plans were!

But a strange thing happened when I was ready to play… I had no idea how to utilize both colors. The tutorial-searching commenced, but I didn’t have any luck. Now, I’m far from achieving professional makeup artistry level, but at the same time I’m rarely flummoxed by a beauty product—so I just started by outlining my lips with the darker color and filling them in with the lighter color. (The compact comes with an applicator that has a sponge on one end and a brush on the other.) I guess you could say I achieved an ombre effect (but that’s subjective) but beyond being unsure of the resulting look, I wasn’t thrilled with the feel of the formula. It felt a bit dry and there was some caking going on.

In a nutshell, I’m not so into this concept, but that doesn’t mean I won’t try it again. Maybe one shade is the way to go, or maybe I need to exfoliate and moisturize my lips before diving in again. If any of you have tried the Shade and Illuminate—and have some pointers—please share!

P.S. After hitting up the site for an image of the Shade and Illuminate, I came across the Clutch-Size Lip Balms, and now I have another product to stalk! And I don’t think I’ll have a problem figuring out how to use them!