McDonald's is a meal best enjoyed two ways: With a group of friends, laughing, and alone in your bed at 2 in the morning after a night of binge drinking. Luckily, this story opens with the former conditions, not the latter, when Tom Newton decided to treat the team to a surprise round of Big Macs and fries from our local Canal Street McDonald's. Tom: Generous of thought, not of cash. We love you, Tom.
The meal quickly escalated as it collided with a brainstorm session for an upcoming bold lipstick story, and then it exploded when Tom, without warning, went live on Into The Gloss' Instagram, asking us: Which of the 25 lipsticks we had on hand would survive a bite of a Big Mac? The gauntlet was thrown—everybody dashed for a tube and lacquered up.
Emily, completely by accident, picked up a tube of Huda Beauty's Lip Strobe in the warm metallic coral Boujee. By accident, because she thought it was going to be a liquid lipstick—a surefire way to win—when instead it turned out to be a metallic gloss. Her hopes of winning were not dashed, however, as the gloss refused to come off on her burger. The first lip is already a home-run. Way to go, Huda.
After fumbling a pink lip stain that ended up all over his cheeks and burger, Brennan reached for Nars' Velvet Matte Lip Pencil in the tomato-hued Rouge Immortel. It's a new shade for summer, but a formula we know all too well. It's slightly on the drying side, according to Brennan, but it sticks the landing. (By not sticking to the bun.) Score one more for Nars.
ITG's editorial interns, Fatima and Utibe, split a tube of Rimmel Provocalips—the infamous 16-hour "kiss-proof" liquid matte lipstick—and the #1 seed for this competition. Utibe kept it matte, opting for the lipstick alone, while Fatima layered over the Part 2 Gloss to finish. Both looked great; both flawlessly remained in place post-burger. Like, tattooed on. The whole team watched, awestruck, as the lips looking exactly like they had been painted on seconds before.
Big ups to the non-reds that made the cut, too; both intrepidly selected by Emily. Kat Von D's Studded Kiss in Muse (KVD was the most popular trial request from Instagram), a sensational chocolate copper that looks amazing across skin tones, passed the test. But the breakout star, the one we did not expect to do as well as it did, was YSL's Vinyl Cream in 406—a true orange that's half stain and half lipstick. Not only did it not leave Emily's lips, she had difficulty getting the swatch off of her hand. Love to see an underdog perform.
This list politely leaves out out the five or so lips that did not survive the initial bite—formulas that were just a tad too creamy, or a flush too light to succeed in the first place. Out of respect for their families, we won't list their names here. Instead, we'll congratulate the winners and those who chose to participate. Happy meal, happy mouth, happy you. Happy snacking!
Photographed by Tom Newton.
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