Out of nowhere, someone came up with the grand idea to combine a lip gloss together with a lipstick to create the hybrid that we know today as the liquid lipstick. It is what the name suggests, a lipstick but rather in the conventional solid stick form, it comes in a liquid formulation, and just like a gloss, you apply itwith a doe foot applicator. Every brand on the high street/ drugstore now seems to have a version of this ingenious product and I thought as a beauty blogger, it’s my job to share with you some of the products out there and my experience with them.
Correct me if I’m wrong, I think Rimmel were the first to dip their toe in the waters with their Apocalips Lip Laquer offering (well they were the first for me) and is a vailable in an impressive 14 shades. Their claim is that the product packs a real punch in terms of pigmentation with a laquer like shine. The formulation is very creamy and equally opaque so you’ll only need one coat and you’re done. The texture makes it extremely comfortable to wear, not sticky nor drying, just pleasantly moisturised. In terms of shine, I didn’t find it particularly laquer like. Sure there’s a bit of shine but I wouldn’t have said that it was shiny enough to be a selling point. You’ll need to touch up after a few hours but for me that isn’t a problem as it doesn’t fade in an awkward manner. I have the shades Aurora, a vibrant mid toned pink and Celestial, a muted and much softer light pink shade.
Having been impressed with the Rimmel’s hybrid liquid lipstick, I attention turned to other brand and what they were bringing to the market place and that’s when I stumbled on Nyx Soft Matte Lip Cream. Nyx describes it as “Neither lipstick nor lip gloss” but a lip creamwhich is a strong indicator of the product’s texture. It certainly is creamy and for that reason, your lips will feel nice and moisturised all day. Unlike the Rimmel Apocalips Lip Lacquer however, the Nyx Soft Matte Lip Cream feels a lot more lighter on the lips and you can clearly see that that the consistency is much more thin but that doesn’t take away from the pigmentation nor opaqueness. Also, rather than a shiny laquer finish, the Soft Matte Lip Cream does what it says and dries to a more matte finish. I was obsessed with this and wore it every day in the first few weeks I discovered it. I mentioned in a previous post that I like to wear it on its own but patted down for more of a subtle effect or with a pink gloss over the top, making the matte effect totally redundant (what? I like the colour!). It’s available in 13 shades.
Now the next product had a ridiculous amount of hype around it before it was even released and (almost) every review I read had nothing but praise for it. I’m talking about none other than the Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet Lipstick. I stalked the aisles of Boots for weeks until I finally got my mitts onto it and coincidently at the time, Boots were running their usual guranteed-to-make- a-sell three for two offer across all makeup products and without even trying the product, I purchased three! (Well techincally two and getting one as a freebie). Now out of all the lipstick/lipgloss hybrids I’ve tried, this was the most disappointint. Yep I said it. Controversial I know. But hear me out. My disappointment is more about the product not living up to the hype rather than it being a crap product. It’s actually not too bad of a product. In terms of texture and consistency, I’ say it’s more close to the Nyx Matte Lip Cream than the Rimmel Apocalips Lacquer Lips because it’s extremly light and velvety in texture and applies incredibly smooth. Unlike the Nyx hybrid offering though, the product needs building up for you to get a completely smooth and even layer. It’s selling point is that it provides a bold, matte and long lasting colour with 24 hour hold. That’s where I would have to dispute. Personally on me, I found that the product doesn’t manage to quite dry down enough for it to be matte. Only when I’ve worn it for a good couple hours then it becomes matte but by then if you have been eating or drinking, the product starts to fade and this one does so in an awkward manner. You wouldn’t be able to lie if you’ve had a sneaky drink or two because your lips will be imprinted around the rim of that wine glass and with that your lips will begin to fade awkwardly so you are left with a rim of product on your lips. Now I think this is one of those products that you need to try for yourself as I think the results will vary. Like I said earlier, the product has had rave review and lots of claims have been made about it having ridiculous staying power. This was clearly not the case for me.
When you can’t get your hands on a product for whatever reason, doesn’t it make you want it even more? This was the case for the Sephora Cream Lip Stain because unfortunately for those who reside in the UK, we have no stores here (baffling!) Only in recent months have they decided to ship over to us in the UK but orders have to be over a certain amount to be able to benefit from their fixed rate shipping fee otherwise you will have to cough up the actual cost which I’d imagine to be somthing ludicrous. Luckily for me, I didn’t have to fork out on a plane ticket accross the otherside of the pond because my sisters were instead (and no of course they didn’t buy the ticket just to go get me some Sephora goodies but happen to be going there for a little break away). I won’t bore you with continuing with this product intro
Loreal Glam Matte in 513 Zip it Rouge is the newest addition to my liquid lippie clan.
