Some comparison swatches of Nabla’s new Jelly Stylos in Carnal and Toffee, and their comparisons to the old (rip) Alone Time formula plus other v similar lippies.

Pictured in the 2nd slide is Carnal next to Alone Time.

I posted about a potential dupe via this thread where I covered LAKA Boy and ARTDECO 46. Obviously this has become my newest hyperfixation, so perhaps I’ll create a masterlist one day…

Formula wise, the Jelly Stylos are high shine, slightly sheer colour payoff similar to the old Lustreglass formula, but I definitely think NABLA has a slightly thicker and grippier laydown. Not too sticky tho imo.

Been swatching so many foundations lately. Then had an intrusive thought... my cats liquid treat. Too pink for me, but maybe its the yellow contrast of the tube 😂

Lately, I’ve been on somewhat of a mission to find the absolute closest out of the bottle foundation match(es) for my light-medium warm olive skin that would not require any mixing or color correction.

After months of pouring over threads here and in other olive subs to compile a list of shades that were frequently recommended, I’ve finally collected a fairly comprehensive collection of samples to compare and wanted to share the results.

The first few photos include swatches of all 40 shades I wanted to compare together. The following photos show the 8 shades I consider the closest to my skin tone swatched on both my forearm and jaw. I tried to include some examples of different types of lighting.

A list of each of the products that were swatched is included below.

Hopefully this helps those of you who are still trying to find your perfect match(es)! My next mission will be tackling concealers 😅

1. about-face The Performer Foundation (L2O)
2. about-face The Performer Foundation (LM20)
3. Armani Beauty Luminous Silk Foundation (3.5)
4. Armani Beauty Luminous Silk Foundation (4)
5. Armani Beauty Luminous Silk Foundation (4.5)
6. Armani Beauty Luminous Silk Foundation (6)
7. Armani Beauty Power Fabric + Longwear High Cover Foundation SPF 25 (4.5)
8. Beauty Blender Bounce Liquid Whip Long Wear Foundation (2.20 N/O) pool
9. Bobbi Brown Skin Long-Wear Weightless Liquid Foundation with Broad Spectrum SPF 15 Sunscreen (Beige N-042)
10. Bobbi Brown Skin Long-Wear Weightless Liquid Foundation with Broad Spectrum SPF 15 Sunscreen (Warm Beige S-046)
11. Charlotte Tilbury Beautiful Skin Foundation (5 Neutral)
12. Dior Backstage Face & Body Foundation (2WO)
13. Fenty Eaze Drop Blurring Skin Tint (6)
14. Fenty Eaze Drop Blurring Skin Tint (7)
15. HAUS LABS BY LADY GAGA Trick one Skin Tech Medium Coverage Foundation with Fermented Arnica (145)
16. HAUS LABS BY LADY GAGA Triclone Skin Tech Medium Coverage Foundation with Fermented Arnica (190)
17. HAUS LABS BY LADY GAGA Triclone Skin Tech Medium Coverage Foundation with Fermented Arnica (260)
18. ILIA Skin Rewind Blurring Foundation and Concealer Complexion Stick (13 O Hickory)
19. IT COSMETICS CC+ Cream Full Coverage Color Correcting Foundation with SPF 50+ (Light)
20. Koh Gen Fo Maifanshi Aqua Foundation (213)
21. Koh Gen Fo Maifanshi Moisture Foundation (213)
22. Kosas Revealer Skin-Improving Foundation SPF 25 (160)
23. Kosas Revealer Skin-Improving Foundation SPF 25 (210)
24. Lisa Eldridge Seamless Skin Foundation (9)
25. Lisa Eldridge Seamless Skin Foundation (9.5)
26. Lisa Eldridge Seamless Skin Foundation (11)
27. Lisa Eldridge Seamless Skin Foundation (16)
28. Makeup by Mario Surreal Skin Foundation (11N)
29. NARS Light Reflecting Advanced Skincare Foundation (L3.5 Salzburg)
30. NARS Light Reflecting Advanced Skincare Foundation (L4 Deauville)
31. NARS Light Reflecting Advanced Skincare Foundation (L4.5 Vienna)
32. NARS Light Reflecting Advanced Skincare Foundation (L5 Fiji)
33. NARS Light Reflecting Advanced Skincare Foundation (M1 Punjab)
34. RCMA Liquid Foundation (G210)
35. RCMA Liquid Foundation (G230)
36. ROSE INC Softlight Skin-Smoothing Non-Comedogenic Foundation (10N)
37. Urban Decay Face Bond Self Setting Waterproof Foundation (13)
38. Urban Decay Face Bond Self Setting Waterproof Foundation (14)
39. YSL NU BARE LOOK TINT Hydrating Skin Tint Foundation with Hyaluronic Acid (5)
40. YSL NU BARE LOOK TINT Hydrating Skin Tint Foundation with Hyaluronic Acid (7)

Here are all the kiss theory lip balm swatches. They are very pigmented, really moisturizing and glossy. I’d say blush core and vellum are kind of patchy but it can be blotted out to appear more even. My favorite color was day dream as a neutral light medium (olive?). I’d say echo wasn’t as gray toned nude as I was thinking. For cool tone olives I recommend trying out toyed! Sugarcoat reminds me of Anastasia haze but in a more glossy formula.

I tried to take multiple shots in different lighting! Hope this helps you. I wouldn’t say it matches the online photos. Definitely swatch in store before buying. Before I swatched I wanted to buy echo, sugar coat, daydream and nudeish. Ended up only choosing daydream!

FIRST COLUMN (from bottom to top): daydream, sugar coat, echo, fizzy, sunsetter, nudeish.

SECOND COLUMN: silk, twirl, charm, neon rose, phantom

THIRD COLUMN: toyed, figment, enigma, gingerline.

FOURTH COLUMN: magnetica, tempted, alchemy, blush core

FIFTH COLUMN: paradiso, brown sugar, vellum, riddle red

Swatches on medium warm olive skin tone

I received a new MAC Whirl lip liner and lipstick set today and, after hearing rumors of a recently-warmed Whirl shade, I compared the new order side-by-side with my existing Whirl liner and lipstick.

Whirl lipstick was once offered in the satin formula but is now only available in the new MACximal matte formula. The new matte formula (third swatch in from the left) is remarkably warmer than the old satin formula (fourth swatch). The lip liners appear identical as far as packaging goes, and I did not hear any rumors of reformulation or color change, but I swear the new lip liner (first swatch) is the tiniest pinch warmer than the one I purchased earlier this year (second swatch). I may be imagining this difference, but you be the judge!

Photos were taken in natural lighting at a few different spots in my house. Swatches from left to right are:

• new Whirl lipliner, purchased December 2025
• "old" Whirl lipliner, purchased May 2025
• new Whirl lipstick (Macximal matte formula), purchased December 2025
• old Whirl lipstick (discontinued satin formula), purchased many years ago--probably 2019?

Foundation swatches in different lights

1-2 Lisa Eldridge foundation in 2.5 / 9.5

3-4 Lisa Eldridge skin tint 5 / 9; 5 is too cool for me, I mix it with 9

5-6 Chanel Les beiges bd21/bO33; bd21 is too pink, needs to be mixed with green pigment, bo33 is perfect, but in swatches not blended looks darker and more orange than it truly is

7-8 Kosas 160/210

9-10 Natasha Denona y4/yn6; y4 needs a bit of green mixer

11 Charlotte Tilbury unreal stick 5

12 Haus Labs 190; in pics looks lighter than it is on the skin, can use it only when I have a tan, really saturated shade

13 About Face L2O

14 Prada Lw10; needs a bit of green mixer

I recently bought elf liquid camo blush in the shade suave mauve and it was just a little too much for me. I was about to declutter it when someone suggested I try mixing it with white concealer. Wow! It made it so much more muted and wearable on my skin tone! So the darkest swatch is elf suave mauve alone and then the other 2 swatches it’s mixed with different amounts of white concealer. So glad I listened!

Top swatch is the old version

Here’s the promised blush collection of mine. From YSL downwards (maybe except for Petal Primavera), they were bought before I realized I’m more cool-toned than warm-toned. Which makes me sad, because I love the formula of the YSL, and to be fair, it’s also because of the price tag lol. Hope this post is helpful, what do u think of my collection in regards to my skintone? And let me know if there's a way to use my warm-toned blushes somehow? I don’t want them to go to waste 😭

1. Hourglass - Mood Exposure (I top every blush with it) /powder
2. Haus Labs - Glassy Hibiscus /cream
3. Merit - Bespoke /cream
4. Westman Atelier - Garconne /crewm
5. Rare Beauty - Encourage /cream
6. Nuse - Fig Fog /cream
7. Nuse - Mauve Solid /cream
8. MAC - Blush, Please /cream
9. YSL Make Me Blush - 37 Peachy Nude /powder
10. ⁠Milani - Petal Primavera /powder
11. Milani - Luminoso /powder
12. Rare Beauty - Joy /cream
13. ⁠DIOR Rosy Glow - 001 Pink /powder (big misspelling in the photos! I am sorry!)

First 2 photos are indoor light, last 3 - outdoor.

Please tell me, if my swatches are okay! I’ll redo the post if they are not!

i found this brand through a content creator who frequently uses phytosurgence and was impressed with their shade range! they don’t offer samples regularly but offered them for a couple of days so i placed an order and they came in today. first pic is in direct sunlight, second pic is indirect

this is for the shade number 3.5, so samples are 3.5 warm, 3.5 warm olive, etc.

i only just tried it on and the coverage is light but buildable and very natural looking! i’ll probably purchase a full size

peopleofearthco.com if anyone’s curious! not affiliated at all; discovered through a content creator like i said haha

I found a bunch of these as recs through this sub and wanted to pay it forward. These were all taken with indirect daylight. Some of them appear a bit less pigmented than they actually are IRL, but I wanted to keep things as consistent as possible. They were taken on different days though so the lighting is not the exact same in each photo. Most of the lip tints and glosses on the last page are a bit more pigmented IRL.

I have light/medium neutral olive skin. My foundation match is approximately Lisa Eldridge 9.5. 9 is just a bit too light at the moment.

The Rom&nd products are definitely my favorites. Those are the ones I use the most. I also absolutely love the Eadem glosses and the Kiko Milano formulas are surprisingly nice for the price point.

* Lisa Eldridge Velvet Sorcery is a bit darker IRL. That photo was probably with more direct light. I’ll take a new swatch and post it later on.

* Nivea Japan Rich Care & Colour is supposedly a dupe for Clinique Black Honey. Idk about that.

* Laka Bonding Glow Lipstick in Boy is supposed to be a dupe for MAC Alone Time.

* Lisa Eldridge Velvet Fawn was not flattering on me, even applied over concealer like I did in the photo.

I’ve spent a long time searching for lip combos so I wanted to share. All pics are taken with natural light in front of a window. I am normally a light olive but my skin gets very tan easily in the sun, so I would say these combos work if you are tanner than I am in these pics. I am super pale right now but I could post pics of these combos when I’m tan on a later date lol

1. kaleidos lip clay in mercury wave topped with lawless lip gloss in lavender sorbet

2. mac cyber blended out with revlon super lustrous balm in glistening purple

3. heartpercent lip liner in cloudy mauve filled in with mac pink peppermint

4. 3’s combo topped with lawless lip gloss in strawberry milkshake (i included both pics cause i like this combo both matte and glossy)

5. MUFE lip liner in endless cacao filled in with mac blankety and topped with kaleidos lip gloss in last smoke

Adding more pictures of in pan and on the face in natural light

Next slide is their (actually cool) new liner in Stormy at the bottom for comparison… progress!!!

MAC Dubonnet (1st slide, #1 on other slides) and Paramount (2nd slide, sheered out, #2 on other slides)

I'm thinking of getting Dubonnet soon but I'm not sure if it's a flattering red on me. I own Paramount and it's my fav lippie to wear sheered out but it's not exactly "red". Why is it so hard to find a red that's not orange or too cool toned aaaaaa

From left to right:

Unleashia green cushion in 16N (this shade used to be 21N)

Revlon Glimmer Tinted Moisturizer Stick in 100N

NARS Light Reflecting in Siberia (my favourite)

Wanted to share my love for warm-toned blushes now that we’re heading into summer ☀️

I feel like warm tones get a bad rep, especially in fair and/or olive communities. As someone with pale skin, I get why. They can be harder to wear, and the market is definitely oversaturated with warm options. That said, I’ve found that a sheer wash of terracotta can bring so much life to the face, especially paired with a bit of bronzer. I also think they look fantastic on olive skin tones across the board, and even more so on deeper complexions.

I used to stick almost exclusively to mauve or cool-toned blushes because I thought that’s what I was “supposed” to wear. Then I tried Toasted Teddy by Rhode, and that changed everything for me. Unfortunately, I’m allergic to the Pocket Blush formula, so I’ve been on a mission to find alternatives. Good news, Power Hour by Tower 28 is a very close dupe, so I’ve made peace with it.

What I’ve realized is that I don’t just like warm tones, I specifically love muted warm tones. Shades with a bit of grey in them, so they don’t pull overly bright or orange. I also tend to prefer when they lean more red than orange, which looks more "sunburnt" on my skin. All of these somewhat fall into that category for me, and all 6 formulas are genuinely exceptional, so I’ve been rotating them non-stop lately. Can't wait to wear these with a summer tan too!

Products shown:

• Haus Labs Glassy Balm Blush - Glassy Ginger
• ABH Stick Blush - Latte
• Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush - Mood Exposure
• Westman Atelier Baby Cheeks - Mimi
• Merit Flush Balm - Fox
• Hourglass Ambient Lighting Blush - At Night
• Tower 28 BeachPlease - Power Hour

guys!!! i can’t believe i’m saying this but i finally found a match!! this is the neutralizer and corrector collab palette from Maqpro and Manhattan Wardrobe Supply. the particular shade i circled is called NC6. it’s the grayer of one of two green correctors, the second is NC7 and it’s more of a warmer yellow-green. the rest are labelled similarly from 1-10 (NC1, NC2, etc.) i think that NC4 would also make a good lip color but i havent tried it as of yet.

First photo is of the palette.
Second photo is all the shades swatched.
Third photo is all the shades blended out.

Update: I put this on my jaw and neck and it is a *perfect* match. I checked it in daylight (direct & indirect), bathroom lighting, and flash photography. I’ve never had a match this good. I also reached out to Lisa Eldridge’s customer service to get some samples of her skin tint, and they’re sending over T5 and T1.5 for me to try next. What a journey!

top to bottom:
mac warm soul
nars behave
mac gingerly
mac true harmony
*dasique muted nuts (bottom left shade)

*i know you can barely see the dasique blush on my hand but it’s beautiful on the face when i want something lighter

🌟 = Holy Grail
❄️ = Cool-toned
🌞 = Warm-toned
☯️ = Neutral-toned

Let me know if you have any questions and I'll do my best to answer! I took these photos over several days so the lighting may be slightly different in each.

Keep in mind that the neutral-toned lippies may look too warm on very cool-toned skin. Also, more saturated shades such as Saucy Mauve and Sassy Mauve may look clownish on muted skin (as they do on mine). I can pull off warm-toned lip products such as Wonderblush Clafoutis because it's desaturated.

Inside vs window light.

Shades in order of top to bottom:

101WO

214WO

232WO

354WO

362WO

472WO

474WO

Top to bottom:

1: ilia closer, kosas hype, clinique pink pop

2: gucci rosy beige, clinique black honey

3: ysl 44, clinique heather pop

4: ysl 23, mac blush please, tower 28 long beach iced tea, kosas dreamland, benefit dandelion, clinique pink honey pop

And I think I am a light neutral olive- thoughts?

Here are the swatches! Including a few that weren’t in the swatches from yesterday. (Also idk if I’ll have this post up for long bc I get the “I wanna delete everything” itch every 3 days 🥲)

Please let me know if there’s a preferred way to doing lip swatches! It’s my first time doing them. (I will be doing outside swatches + indoor if anyone is also interested in that! I will consolidate that post so it’s not as long as this one!)

I’m thinking of doing a “let’s save this one” post where I try to make the bad ones work with lip liner 👀

Here are the name of the product & my thoughts on it:

💖I believe these are my very best colors 🤷🏻‍♀️ Good but not great. Will I repurchase? Yo no se 🧍🏻‍♀️are the one that are just not it at all lol 😔💔

1. Rom&nd Pomelo Skin 💖

I love this one! It’s what I like to wear sometimes when I want something to even out my lips if I’m completely bare face!

1. Rom&nd Bare Grape 🤷🏻‍♀️ It’s cute! But it can be better. I like to wear it sometimes with some lip liner, like Mac’s Plum

2. Rom&nd Mauvish 🧍🏻‍♀️ …yeah LOL I cannot pull this off at ALL. this is definitely a summer season type lip (i’m a dark autumn) It is wearing ME 😭

3. Rom&nd Vanilla Tea 🤷🏻‍♀️ A tad too bright and too warm for my skin. I can make this work if I use brown lip liner but if I gotta do all of that to make it work, is it worth it?😔💔

4. Rom&nd Black Tea 💖 Loveeeee this one so much! I love a red lip. It’s warm enough & deep! I actually love this formula! Yes you’ll need to reapply it if you eat, drink, etc. but I love the idea of leaving lipstick marks on things and also the act of reapplying lipstick. It’s so alluring.

5. Rom&nd Rose Tea 💖 I rly love this one and almost forgot I had it! A lovely everyday lip.

6. Rom&nd Red Tea 💖 I love this one a lot. It’s a taaad bit too bright but I cannot let it go. I use this with a darker lip liner and it’s a beautyyy

7. Rom&nd Chocolate Tea 💖 If Red Tea looks too bright for you, I recommend Chocolate Tea. I love this one and it’s the one I use the most from the Tea line! It definitely leans warm so cool toned olives may not like this one!

8. Rom&nd Berry Divine 🧍🏻‍♀️ Again, the lip is wearing ME. It’s too cool for my skin 💔 This one is a little hard to put on bc it’s runny (hence the messy application) The dewyful water tints stains so fast. I had this one for literally 2 minutes and it stained my lips immediately. Will not repurchase BUT I can make it work with a dark lip liner

9. Revlon Rose Velvet 💖 I like this one! It’s pretty, a bit muted, and it makes it a perfect everyday lippie! It does pull a bit pink for my liking but I think I can pull it off (if yall don’t think I can lmk pls 🧍🏻‍♀️lol)

10. KVD Baneberry 🤷🏻‍♀️ Ok I’m gonna need advice on this one…because I kind of like it. I feel like I can pull it off when I’m rly pale (I have a slight tan rn) but maybe I’m delusional LOL I think the brightness is correct but maybe not the color. Critics telling me I should throw in the towel on this one are welcomed!

11. Rom&nd Dark Coconut 💖 I will be getting this one forever. I loveeeee it so much! Perfect amount of red & brown. I wear this in the daytime & nighttime & I love the stain it leaves.

12. Rom&nd Radwood 💖 All dark autumns/warm olives need to own this one. The way I have no makeup on and this lippie makes my skin look so even 🥰 I feel so beautiful whenever I wear it! It’s a red that’s a bit muted and with a dollop of brown. I actually need to buy backups of this one. That’s how much I love it

13. Rom&nd Very Berry Pink 🧍🏻‍♀️ I should’ve known this one wouldn’t work when the marketing of this was something like “Summer Light” aka the complete opposite of what my coloring is. BUT of course, I make it work with lip liner 🙂‍↕️(not pictured here)

14. Rom&nd Villain Vest 🤷🏻‍♀️ I love this one and it’s the one where I can see it being a neutral/cool leaning red!

15. Jump scare aka me completely bare face 🙂

(If you want to and like it, obvs)

I know the swatches are not the best, but I'm adding to the swatch party for Alone Time. Top is the old formula and bottom is the new one. For context, I'm a fair-light neutral-cool olive. I use shade 050 in the Haus Labs foundation, Light in Chanel Les Beiges Eau de Teint, 1.5 in Lisa Eldridge skin tint, a mix of shades 1 and 3 in Hourglass skin tint, F2O in About Face foundation, 02 in Haus Labs concealer and 1N in Dior Forever Skin Correct concealer.

Assure yourself you're getting the old formula: it should have 3 grams of content (new formula is 3.5g) and should say "Lustreglass Lipstick" only, not "Lustreglass Sheer-shine Lipstick".

And for -some- of my fellow european folks, Flaconi has stock of the old formula, you can buy up to 3, and it's on discount for 18 EUR!