My name is Alissa. I like lip gloss.

Hi! I'm Alissa. I'm originally from a small town in Pennsylvania, where Fashion Bug was the most stylish clothing store within 45 minutes of my home. I always liked clothes and shopping, but I don't think I really knew what that meant until I got to college. That's where I met the BarStars, all of whom grew up in much more glamorous towns and possessed much better fashion sense than I did. But I am a quick study, so after years of tagging along on shopping trips and pouring over fashion magazines, I've overcome my farmgirl beginnings and have turned into a fairly fashionable city girl.

I now live just across the Chicago city limits in Oak Park with my foodie husband, Jon, and our adorable Westie, Nico. I love high-heeled shoes (the higher the better), lightweight merino wool sweaters, stylish winter coats, flouncy summer skirts and slightly gaudy, trend-tastic jewelry. I'm on a never-ending quest for the most flawless foundation, the prettiest pink lipgloss, the best hair volumizer, the perfect bra and jeans that will make my legs look like they go on for miles. I'm also kind of a techie dork, so I'm always scoping out the latest camera/computer/DVR/stereo gadgets. And I'm on a pretty serious workout kick, so I'm constantly on the lookout for cute-but-functional workout wear. So if you have a product that you just can't get enough of, be sure to let me know :)

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The first product that I want to rave about it something that Caro turned me on to. Actually, she got it for me for Christmas!

Stila Lip Glaze is, in a word, awesome. But I should preface this by saying that up until the second I tried it, I was hopelessly devoted to Mac Lipglass and had been since I bought my first tube of Dreamy a few years back. It's sticky, which may turn some people off, but I need my lip gloss to have serious grip to it. I am a compulsive lips smusher (you know, when you rub your lips together to redistribute your lip gloss to less-glossy parts of your lips), and glosses that are too slick don't stay put for more than an hour. Plus, Mac Lipglasses tend to be sparkly. And I love me some sparkle.

But Lipglass also tends to be fairly pigmented, so it's hard to find colors that look natural. And a lot of the time, their best colors are limited edition, forcing you to stock up if you want keep using your favorite color.

I was intrigued when I saw the Stila Lip Glazes that Caroline picked out from me, because, well ... they looked kinda bright in the tube. Bright and garish. Bright, garish, and not visibly sparkly. And I thought, boooo. These aren't going to work well at all.

But I put on Starfruit and ... wow. It looked so natural! But so pretty. And very subtly sparkly! It looked like I was wearing clear gloss on top of phenomenally pretty lips. And while I was even more skeptical about Apricot -- I NEVER buy cosmetics that fall into the peach/apricot category -- it looked gorgeous as well. It was more subtle, but still very feminine and luscious and pretty. I went out and bought another color (Raisin, which is currently only available in Japan, unless you're a Sephora Beauty Insider like me), but I'm actually not that happy with it -- it's a lot brighter than I'd anticipated. I guess I should stick to having Caroline choose my colors for me :)

The texture is pretty fabulous as well. It doesn't quite measure up to Mac when it comes to staying power, but it's a close second, and it's prettier, so I'm willing to reapply more frequently in order to obtain The Pretty. And each color has a slightly different mild flavor (or maybe it's just a scent? Now I'm not sure...) to it. It's not like Bonnie Bell Lip Smackers, where you put it on just to eat it back off again, but it's not waxy and gross like some lip glosses.

My only major complaint is the applicator. While I far prefer the brush to a sponge wand, I haven't quite mastered the turn-click system that slowly pushes gloss up from the container into the brush. I tend to click ... and click ... and click ... and then when nothing comes out I clickclickclick and, out of nowhere, my brush is saturated in three applications' worth of lip gloss. I try to reapply the lid and leave the gloss on the brush for later, but it will often drip into the cap, wasting precious, pretty drops of glossy perfection. And that makes me sad. But I'll deal in order to have such glamorous, lovely lips. This former Mac addict is a total Stila convert.