The Best New Lipsticks, Balms and Stains That Deserve Your Attention

I think I sound like a broken record these days, so forgive me.

Just last week my blog sista Anya, who writes the delightful fashion-focused site I'm the It Girl out of Vancouver, did a fun profile on my top "beauty secrets," where I boldly (heh) declared that "the world would be a happier place if more of us wore bright lipstick."

And that's not news around here, because I haven't stopped banging on about the lipstick thing since I declared lip gloss "over" last spring. Since then, I've swooned over luxury lippie launches from Chanel, YSL and Tom Ford... pinched myself that Revlon could come out with such a fantastic range at drugstore prices... fell in love with Joe Fresh's ridonkulously good lip stains (a.k.a. "starter lipsticks")... and of course, gazed happily at the very many fashion designers who gave bold lips a starring role on the spring/summer '11 catwalks.

And now? Now I say that bright lips are not just a trend but a classic. They really are.

And so today I would like to show you a few additional new and exciting new lip prodz that you may wish to include in your makeup rotation...

1. POSSIBLY THE BEST-EVER LIP BALM FOR WEARING UNDERNEATH YOUR LIPSTICK

It's L'Occitane's Shea Beauty Balm in Vineyard Rose:

Yeah, yeah, I know I said I was talking about bright lip stuff today... but it is January in Canada and that means you can just call me Tenderflake. Lips are Peeling. Right. Off. Which, as you can imagine, sort of thwarts any efforts to wear actual lipstick. Chapped lips with lipstick on top NEVER looks good—just take a look at our friend Amber Heard, who we saw in the Globes after-party round-up yesterday.

Most of us try to correct this situation by applying a liberal layer of lip balm underneath our lip colour of choice. But you can't just use any old balm. When they are too oily or goopy or shiny, the colour you layer on top has nothing to grab on to—not to mention the texture turns into something more akin to a tinted gloss instead of a lipstick.