I know I've mentioned this before, so forgive the ranting, but I have a problem with lip pencils.

My slightly asymmetrical mouth and "soft" lip line pretty much demand the use of a pencil when I'm trying to achieve a polished, finished lip look, so I know I'm stuck with 'em. But, most of the shades marketed as "nude" or "natural" are nothing of the sort on my lips; they just end up looking orange or brown, and they invariably ruin my lipcolor by mixing themselves in.

I try pretty hard to find lip colors that have NO orange in the base, since they just look horrific on me (this makes a "nude lip" very, very difficult). So these pencils just end up muddying my efforts -- literally!

In my travels I've found only two pencils I loved (Urban Decay Lounge and Clinique Pink Truffle), but one was discontinued and the other was a limited edition. I used both until they were down to tiny nubs, and then the quest for a new one began.

I tried Stila, Smashbox, Laura Mercier...all were too brown, too orange, too matte, too muddy. Finally I came upon the 24/7 Glide-On Lip Pencil range from Urban Decay, and I finally forgave the company for discontinuing Lounge.

They have done their penance by introducing Wicked.

Wicked (middle one of the horizontal pencils in the photo) is a creamy light/medium pink with absolutely NO orange or brown. None! It glides on easily without dragging, feels soft, and really stays on. My only quibble is that it's almost a little too pink -- I'd prefer it if it weren't so bright and had some of the dusty rose quality that Lounge had -- but hey, I'll take it.