Lipstick Diaries, Round Three: Besame Victory Red and Colourpop Steelo

I try not to take photos of my makeup after I've been bombing around for a few hours, but that's what happened with this photo of Besame Victory Red, since I wanted to get to work a little earlier than usual. I wear this saturated, blue-based red to work a lot, actually, because my English Language Learning students love it, and it puts a lot of focus on my mouth. Trust me, when you spend 20+ minutes forcing them to stare at your lips to see where your tongue and teeth go for a "v" or "th" sound, you'll appreciate the help. While this is one of my favorite Besame reds and a shade I recommend often, I have to repeat that many dark-skinned people find that this shade turns pink on them. If you have deeper skin, you may do better with a shade like Red Velvet.

As for that picture on the right: your eyes are not deceiving you. That is, indeed, a lipgloss. Colourpop had a 20% off sale and I wanted to pick up a couple of their new-ish brow products, so I tossed in the Colourpop Steelo gloss as well. The internet insists it's a dupe for the original Fenty Gloss Bomb...and yeah, it's pretty damn close. (Granted, super-sheer pink with a bit of gold shimmer isn't hard to dupe.) The Colourpop glosses have a decent brush-tip applicator and a decent slightly sticky formula with a decent amount of shine, decent decent decent. I won't write worshipful odes to this gloss any time soon, but it's a solid product that I'm genuinely enjoying, and hey, I'm not the best judge of gloss to begin with.

As a final note, I apologize again for the washed out photo on the left. I'm bringing my sequin backdrop from Pennsylvania and may invest in a stronger ringlight to deal with the weird ass lighting situation in our new apartment.

REVIEW: Colourpop No Filter Concealer

The internet damn near broke when Colourpop announced they were releasing concealers. Colourpop has released a wide range of cheap makeup (some more successful than others), and now they were stepping in to the complexion product ring. Personally, I've yet to find a concealer that truly wows me, so I wasn't too interested in trying out the No Filter Concealer until I caught sight of their shade range. Yes, there's still a drop off in the variety of shades and undertones at the darker end of the spectrum, but at least there is a darker end of the spectrum. As soon as I snagged a great coupon, I bought both the lightest warm shade (Fair 5) and the darkest shade available (Rich 75).

The Colourpop No Filter Concealer retails for $6 a tube. I feel the need to point out that, yet again, Colourpop has created a product that is cheap per unit, but at 4 grams, each unit is a bit smaller than the standard 6-ish grams I've come to expect from a liquid concealer. Still, it's definitely a drugstore-priced product.

The concealer arrives in a sturdy plastic container with a white lid that scratches easily and a flattened doefoot applicator. I don't detect any fragrance, so yay!

I actually swatched both Fair 5 and Rich 75 against a range of products for my Glossier Wowder review, so I'm going to reuse those swatches. Please notice how these No Filter Concealer swatches are darker than you'd think from looking at the tubes; that's because this concealer turns 1-2 shades darker as it dries down on the skin. This is really important to consider when you're trying to get your perfect shade match.

From left to right: NARS Sheer Glow in Siberia; Milk Makeup Sunshine Skin Tint in Sand; Colourpop No Filter Concealer in Fair 5; Glossier Wowder in Light/Medium; Koh Gen Do Moisture Foundation in 001; Deciem The Ordinary Coverage Foundation in 1.0N; Urban Decay Naked Skin Concealer in Light Warm.

 From left to right: Milk Makeup Sunshine Skin Tint in Deep; Colourpop No Filter Concealer in Rich 75; Glossier Wowder in Rich; Koh Gen Do Moisture Foundation in 302 and 303; Urban Decay Naked Skin Concealer in Dark Golden.

Again, there's some color changing as the concealer dries down and limited undertones at the darker end of the shade range, but overall, we're definitely covering the very fair to the very dark here. I'm totally impressed with the shade range.

On the day I photographed the Colourpop No Filter Concealer, I was testing it on top of my favorite foundation, MAC Face & Body. The picture on the left is my face with a thin layer of Face and Body; it definitely evens out my skin, but you can still see my undereye circles, the dark pigmentation from a healing blemish on my chin, and a bit of redness from a patch of hives between my brows. Concealer to the rescue!

I was initially a bit miffed by how light the concealer looked against my skin, but then I remembered that it darkens up within ten minutes, and it certainly did after I took these photographs. The Colourpop concealer has a smooth, thin texture and a weightless feel that worked wonderfully on my undereyes by softening up the darkness. On my blemishes, however, this product was less successful. I had to reapply the concealer to my chin three times to get any texture because it would pull up as soon as I tried to blend it out. It's almost like this concealer has a hard time sticking to foundation. In the end, I got medium coverage on my undereyes, light coverage on my redness.

I thought the concealer might soften up after it sat on my skin for a while, but while the color darkened and became a better match for my skin, the texture just got worse. Look above my eyebrow on the right side of this picture, and at my chin on the left side. See how weirdly dry and makeup-y those parts of my face look? That's the Colourpop concealer. It also drifted in to the fine lines under my eyes very quickly, as you can see in this picture, but that's fairly normal for me. I tapped it out with my finger and it looked fine.

Sadly, the concealer on my blemishes didn't fair so well. By the three hour mark, my forehead looked like a scaly mess. The Colourpop No Filter Concealer hadn't just faded, it'd taken the foundation underneath with it. I tried to reapply the concealer because I'm a glutton for punishment, but nope, it once again wouldn't stick to my skin properly.

I thought it might be an issue with MAC Face & Body, so I tested the concealer with other base products. I had better luck with this concealer sticking to bare skin on a no foundation day, but over other foundations? I had the same problem. And no matter how I applied it, the staying power of this foundation was pretty much garbage.

I had such high hopes for this concealer because of the low price, inclusive shade range, and lightweight texture. Unfortunately, I was totally let down by its staying power, coverage, and appearance on the skin, especially over foundation. You get props for the feel and the shades, Colourpop, but my praise stops there.

RATING: 2 out of 5

This concealer is available at Colourpop.com. This is an affiliate link that will give you $5 off of your first order and will give me $5 in Colourpop credit.

Slew o' Lip Product Swatches and Mini-Reviews: Bite, Colourpop, NYX

I was cleaning out the photos on my computer (because yes, I'm that person) when I noticed an assortment of random lip product swatches that had never been posted to my blog. Maybe I ended up not writing a review, maybe I just forgot to post them, but whatever the reason, they were sitting there, labeled but unloved. It's totally disorganized, but I truly hope you guys find these helpful!

First up, I decided to use my VIB discount to test out the new Bite Beauty Amuse Bouche lipstick line. I went for Meringue, which looked like it'd be the most different from anything else in my collection. Sure enough, I don't have anything that's really comparable to this peachy nude.

But...I don't love it on me. It's this weird disconnect where I put it on, can't stop staring at how pretty the color looks on my lips, then continuously notice how "meh" it looks on my coloring. In the end, I decided to return it; I think something a hair cooler/more pink will ultimately be more flattering.

I have zero qualms with the formula, though. It's creamy and pigmented, and not only does it apply marvelously over freshly-exofliated lips, but it's also able to mask a multitude of sins on dryer, more flaky lips. The plastic citrus smell and taste are pretty gross, though.

Next is the Colourpop Ultra Matte lipstick in Stingraye. Marketed as a "cool-toned mauve brown," this shade looks plummy and pretty in photos, but in real life, it is a gray plum. Seriously, don't let this picture fool you; it did NOT look that way on my mouth in person! Even my family confirmed that it was straight-up gray on my mouth.

It's a shame, because I didn't totally hate the formula. Like most matte liquid lipsticks, it's drying, and it actually feels a bit like plastic stretched tightly over your mouth. I mean, you smile and it actually feels like something that has been pasted on to your lips and stretching uncomfortably. It's not the worst feeling I've ever felt, though, and it does have decent staying power. Even after 6 hours and a full meal, I had only some feathering (easily fixed with a lip pencil) and a tiny bit of wear in the center of my lips. I might revisit this formula, but for now, I think I need to take a quick break from liquid lipsticks.

Last, but not least, I decided to fill in some gaps in my lip pencil collection with these beauties from the NYX Slim Lip Pencil range: Plum, Rose, and Mauve. All three shades are wonderfully pigmented, leaning on the cool side, and very easy to apply.

I know I've talked about these a ton, but just a reminder that this is my favorite lip pencil formula. They're creamy enough that they don't tug on the lips, yet firm enough to give you a sharp line with no smearing. They're excellent over or under a balm for a quick on-the-go color. The shade range is very broad. And of course, they're only $3.50 each! These are truly some of my all-time favorite lip products.

REVIEW: Colourpop Brow Pencils

If any company has figured out how to use social media trends and YouTube "beauty guru" saturation to its advantage, it's Colourpop. As soon as a certain color or look is about to explode, Colourpop manages to create an entire product line in its $5-6 price range, package them up prettily for the most-watched bloggers, and send out those press samples so the videos and posts can pop up just before the launch date. Some people consider this sneaky or unprofessional, but quite frankly, it's a typical business practice...and it's clearly working for them.

Weirdly enough, the Colourpop brand hasn't worked so well for me. Yes, I know, I gave the original lip products and the blushes 4 out of 5 points, and a 4 on my blog generally means, "Yeah, it's pretty good." But if you pay close attention to the way I write, you'll notice that there are plenty of products I rate highly that do not work for me personally. I mean, if a foundation is really beautiful but doesn't suit my skin tone, or if a lipstick isn't to my usual taste but does most of what it promises, I'm not going to knock it. That's what happened with the Colourpop stuff I tried: I could see why people liked it, and I wouldn't be adverse to recommending it, but it wasn't my speed.

So I held off on trying more Colourpop products until they released a few new items. Since my blush/highlighter review, they've released liquid lipsticks (in matte and satin formulas), bronzers, eye liners, and brow products (in cream pot and pencil formulas). That was enough new stuff for me to place an order and give it another go.

Natural light on top, flash on the bottom. From left to right: Colourpop Brow Pencils in Bangin' Brunette and Dope Taupe, Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz in Medium Brown, Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade in Ash Brown, Milk Makeup Gel Brow Pencil in Pilsner.

Because I've finally admitted to myself that I'm too damn lazy to apply potted products a la Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow, I got two of the Colourpop Brow Pencils instead. The shades I purchased were Bangin' Brunette, a "true brunette brown," and Dope Taupe, a "soft taupe--the most versatile of them all." Swatched up against other products in my collection, neither is quite like the ashy brown I usually favor: Bangin' Brunette is darker and less gray, Dope Taupe is lighter and warmer.

Still, eight shades seems impressive, right?

Meh, maybe more in theory than in practice. I find that budget brow products tend to run a bit warm/red, and the Colourpop range doesn't seem to be any different. Dope Taupe looks nearly orange on my brows, and while Bangin' Brunette is definitely doable for me, it's still not what I'd call "ashy." Looking at swatches of the full range on other websites, it definitely looks like the range leans neutral to warm. I will also note that the pencil and pot formulas show slight differences between shades, though this may be due to how thick the formulas are when swatched.

With that said, I think most people will be able to find a shade in the range that works for them. I'm hoping they'll release a light gray or charcoal shade for our silver foxes out there, since the supposedly "universal taupe" they've produced is far warmer than the taupe offering in most brow product ranges.

Dope Taupe on left, Bangin' Brunette on right. Why is my face so round in that left picture?!

Colourpop claims that these pencils can be used to draw on individual hairs, but I have to disagree. The formula is just too soft and creamy for that. That's not to say it's always going to look painted on and fake--using featherlight strokes gave me full, but not painted on, brows--but actual individual hairs will be tough for the average user to swing. In this way, the formula reminds me of the Milk Makeup Gel Brow Pencil. (If you want individual hairs, by the way, you'll likely want a cream you can draw on with a brush, or a slightly harder pencil.)

The wear on these is above average. You won't get the "takes you through a war" performance of ABH Dipbrow; I noticed that this product smeared a little when I walked to work one day. It was raining, though, and I was walking half a mile with no coat or umbrella. In those conditions, "smeared a little" is really not bad. Honestly, it's on par with a lot of other brow products and should serve you well in most standard conditions.

Now, let's talk about the packaging. For $5, you get .09 grams of product. Yes, it's small, but this is comparable to the $21-a-pencil Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz, which clocks in at 0.085 grams. It comes with a brow spoolie on the end instead of a cheap plastic comb, which is a huge improvement over most budget brands.

It seems like fantastic packaging at an irresistible price, but there are still some issues here. First, the twist-up mechanism is not retractable. If you accidentally twist up too much of the pencil, or if you want to see just how much you have left, too bad. This strikes me as rather outdated packaging.

Second, while the caps on the pencil end are tight, the caps on the spoolie end are loose and will fall off with some pressure or tapping. Most people won't mind this, since it's just the spoolie, but I'm not crazy about the idea of a brush rolling around in the depths of my handbag gathering dust.

Lastly, Colourpop is apparently incapable of shipping their shit properly. YouTubers are shown opening beautiful boxes full of products, but most regular customers receive their products in a mailer with no extra packaging, so the cardboard boxes for the individual products are always smashed to all Hell. I've even opened a Colourpop mailer and found my products outside of their boxes! I'm told that you need to order at least $50 worth of product to receive a box instead of a mailer, which is fine...but we should still get some bubble wrap. Yeesh.

Now for the crazy part: I'm going to admit that I really like these brow products. Are they the best on the market? Of course not. Shu Uemura Hard 9 Formula exists. But as far as budget brow pencils go, the Colourpop range has surpassed every other $10-or-less option I've tried, and I'd rank it favorably with many mid-to-high end offerings. Despite the somewhat irksome packaging and the limits of the current color range, I'll gladly use this pencil when I travel and have no qualms recommending it to my readers.

RATING: 4 out of 5

Colourpop products are available at Colourpop.com. This is an affiliate link that will give you $5 off of your first order and will award me $5 in store credit.

VIDEO: Who Should Try This?, episode 1

I'm back to posting a bit earlier than I thought I'd be, but it'll still be sporadic for a couple of weeks, so please bear with me! I thought I'd try out this new series where I go over products I've been wearing and give you some idea as to who might like them and who should pass. Any full reviews I've done will be linked as they come up. :)

(NOTE: To watch full-screen, start playing, then click the YouTube button at the bottom right.)

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Glossier Perfecting Skin Tint -- 1:05

Glossier Generation G Lipsticks -- 4:10

Histoires de Parfums Discovery Set -- 8:55

Face Stockholm Creme Blush -- 13:05

MAC Full Coverage Foundation -- 16:00

Colourpop Brow Pencil -- 19:05

Try This: Lipliner as Lipstick

After numerous purges and "shrink that stash" missions, I've somehow managed to get rid of every blue-based red lipstick I own. I'm going to guess that this happened because warm reds are just so damn appealing (MAC Lady Danger, c'mon) and because most of my cool-toned reds were in formulas that didn't wow me. Regardless, I've been in a bit of a tizzy this past month, fretting over whether or not I should spend my non-existent money on ye olde favorite MAC Dubonnet.

I decided that, before I pulled the trigger, I should get re-acquainted with the lipliner I always used with Dubonnet, NYX Auburn. I swatched it on my hand, and wow, how did I forget how damn pretty that color is? So I smeared it all over my lips. Boom! Instant blue-based red lipstick!

"Use your lipliner like lipstick" is old hat, but we often forget to try it. I think it's because lipliner can be very polarizing, especially in this era of Apocalypse-proof liquid lipsticks and tattooed makeup. We think of it as an unnecessary "extra step." It's the stuff of the 90s. It's too "obvious."

The truth is that lipliner isn't necessary, especially if you like a super-natural or slap-dash look. But no makeup is necessary. And if you want something that'll make your lipstick last longer or your gloss look bolder? You can't beat lipliner. No lip primer I've tried has ever compared to liner's tenacity.

Using lipliner all over your lips instead of a "traditional" lip color has several advantages:

1. It's cheap-ish. Most companies are aware that lipliners don't inspire awe in the average consumer, so they rarely pop up in limited edition collections and don't receive the same coverage as lipstick or eyeshadow. It's also kind of hard to make a pencil's packaging attractive. Hence, lipliners are often some of the cheapest color cosmetics companies produce. It doesn't always hold true--MAC charges the same for a lipstick and a lipliner because they know they can--but I know I can get 2 NYX lip pencils for the price of 1 NYX matte lipstick.

2. They're generally travel-friendly. I've been lucky enough to dodge most makeup quibbles, but I have had a few lipstick caps pop off in my purse, and I've definitely experienced a gloss tube leaking/breaking at inopportune moments. Lids come off of pencils, too, but for the most part, I find that their caps stick a little better. I think it may be because most lip pencils are made of wood, and that has more texture than a metal lipstick tube. (PSEUDO-SCIENCE!) Lip pencils are also light, thin, and don't count as a liquid during air travel. Last, but not least, most pencils have a harder formula that makes them less prone to melting than a traditional lipstick.

3. It's easy to alter the finish. Applied straight to your lips, most pencils will have a matte finish. You can apply them over a thin layer of balm for a more satin finish. If I want a glossy finish, I dab some of my trusty Elizabeth Arden Crystal Clear Gloss on top. Voila!

4. Care is easy. To get that precise point back, just refridgerate your pencils for 10-15 minutes, then sharpen them. (If the pencil is very soft, strive for 30 minutes in the fridge.) Sharpening pencils helps to sanitize them as well.

5. You can get a precise lip line with little effort. MAC lipliners are especially good for this because they have a hard formula. If you prefer a softer line, you can put a bit of balm on your fingertip and use that to blend a harder liner out. Or, you can use a softer lipliner, like Colourpop's offerings. I prefer a formula that's in the middle: hard enough to sharpen to a good point and get a great line, but not too terribly difficult to smear out. Call in the NYX pencils!

REVIEW: Colourpop Cheek Products

If you've read my review of the Colourpop lip products, then you probably already know that I think they're a "good" brand. Not stupendous, not horrible, not Holy Grail Worthy...just plain ol' "good." So I assumed I wouldn't be too tempted by what else they had to offer; after all, I'm not a huge eyeshadow person.

Then they came out with highlighters. And I think we all know how I feel about highlighters. Since I was already buying the highlighters, I figured I'd let a few blushes fall in to my bag as well.

All of these products are $8 per unit. Each unit weighs 4.2g/0.15oz and is housed in a simple plastic screw-top jars. Unlike Colourpop's Lippiestix (which are smaller than the standard lipstick), these are about par for the course: MAC Cream Colour Bases are 3.2g each and Kevyn Aucoin Creamy Moist Glows are 4.5g each, for example.

The formula is a cream-to-powder that's practically identical to the Colourpop eyeshadows. It has a moussey texture with a lot of slip. They're easy to apply with fingers or brushes, though I personally favored using my fingers because it makes them a bit easier to blend. This formula apparently dries out easily, so be sure to put the lids on tight.

Daylight on top, flash on the bottom.

On to the swatches! I decided to order 2 blushes (Holiday and Thumper) and three highlighters (Smoke n' Whistles, Hippo, and Lunch Money) for my testing purposes. I tried to pick shades that were different, but still workable with my skintone. Holiday is a bright coral and Thumper is a cool-toned pink; both shades have a matte finish. Smoke n' Whistles and Lunch Money have similar yellow undertones, though the former is slightly cooler and paler. Hippo is a pale lavender color.

In swatches, these look particularly impressive. The pigmentation is way high on both, and the blushes look smooth and beautiful while the highlighters look mega reflective. Of course, swatches can be deceptive--let's look at how they actually perform on my cheeks.

In the left photo, I'm wearing Holiday and Lunch Money. On the right, I'm wearing Thumper and Hippo. The blushes are probably jumping right off the picture at you, and they should. I found these an absolute dream to blend. Despite being a cream-to-powder product, they did not look dry or cakey on my cheeks. It was also easy to apply a small amount of color for my pale skin, but you could easily pack more on.

The only disappointment I have regarding the blushes is that the staying power is average. They lasted for about 4-6 hours on my cheeks, depending on what I was doing that day, how much I applied, and how warm and humid it was outside. My cheeks are dry, so this makes me wonder how they'd perform on oily skin. They're so easy to slap on, though, that I'd have no problem tossing the little plastic pot in to my purse.

The highlighters, however...they were a let-down.

To be fair, they aren't AWFUL. Hippo definitely gives me some glow, especially in photos. But for the most part, they just look like very visible shimmer on my face--click on the photos above and look at the picture on the right, and you can absolutely see Hippo's shimmer particles on my cheeks. Lunch Money looked like glitter smeared on my cheeks, but it didn't even have the decency to give me a megawatt glow in my photos.

As added proof, here's a close-up of Smoke n' Whistles on my cheek:

I'm fine with highlighters being glittery. I'm fine with them being very natural. But if you're going to look like straight-up shimmer on my face, the least you can do is give me some glow as well.

Overall, I think some people will enjoy the highlighters, and many people will enjoy the blushes. I might even buy more of the blushes if the mood strikes me...but for now, I'll pass on getting more of the highlighters. In fact, I'll probably sell mine off or swap them away. They're just too "meh" in a sea of better products.

RATING: 4 out of 5 for the blushes, 2 out of 5 for the highlighters.

Colourpop products are available at Colourpop.com.  This is an affiliate link that will give you $5 off of your first order and will reward me $5 in store credit.

REVIEW: ColourPop Lip Products

I have a distinct weakness for cheap lip products. More specifically, my knees tremble when a brand provides a wide range of colors that appear to be super-pigmented and will cost me a fiver. ColourPop fits that bill to a T: they've got dozens of colors in a variety of finishes, all for $5 each. As an added point of interest, for every lipstick, there's a liner of the same name; sometimes the lipliner matches the lipstick, and other times it's darker/lighter, but still a good pairing. The lipliners are also $5 each. Call me weird, but...I love lipliner. *swoons*

When you do the math for the pricing, however, you realize that ColourPop lipsticks are actually on par with most mid-end products. Here are some comparisons:

ColourPop Lippie Stix -- $5 for 1 gram

MAC Satin lipsticks -- $16 for 3 grams

Urban Decay Revolution lipsticks  -- $22 for 2.8 grams

Lipstick Queen Jean Queen -- $20 for 3.7 grams

Kat von D Studded Kiss lipsticks -- $21 for 2.8 grams

Bare Minerals Marvelous Moxie lipsticks -- $18 for 3.4 grams

Clinique Long Last Soft Matte lipsticks -- $16 for 3.9 grams

You get a lower unit price with ColourPop, but also less product. In terms of price per grams, it works out to roughly the same price as a MAC, Bare Minerals, or Lipstick Queen lipstick. This is not inherently a bad thing, because the price for unit makes it a great option for collectors like me, people who want to try a bunch of different shades on the cheap, or people who don't wear makeup that often and therefore don't want to spend a ton of dough on it. But it's just something I want people to be aware of.

Before I go any further, please note that ColourPop calls their lipsticks "Lippie Stix." At the risk of sounding like a snob, I prefer to just call them "the lipsticks."

It took a little less than 2 weeks for my order to be processed and shipped. Some people have complained about the 2-3 week turnaround time, but I think it's pretty impressive for an indie company that exploded overnight.

YouTube videos and other blog posts have shown ColourPop products arriving in a box. Mine, however, arrived in a bubble mailer. The cardboard boxes that contain each product and an ingredients list don't seem to close that tight; several of mine had opened in transit. That being said, nothing was damaged.

The packaging for the lipsticks and pencils is basic but functional: they're plastic tubes that close tightly with a satisfying "click" and do not shake open in a bag. The lipsticks twist up, but the pencils need sharpened. While I haven't had to sharpen one yet, I'm a little loath to try it: plastic packaging almost always sharpens strangely and chews up sharpener blades.

#1 - Frenchie lipstick over Frenchie lipliner; #2 - Frida lipstick over Frida lipliner; #3 - Cake lipstick with Fancy lipliner around the edges; #4 - Fancy lipstick over Fancy lipliner; $5 - Pony lipstick over Pony lipliner.

I purchased 5 lipsticks--Frenchie, Frida, Cake, Fancy, and Pony--with the complimentary lipliner for each shade except for Cake. Why did I skip the Cake lipliner, you ask? Well, Cake is quite a milky shade, and I figured it would need a bit more dimension. Fancy is a very similar shade, so I assumed the Fancy lipliner would work well with Cake.

The lipliners for Frenchie and Fancy are identical to the lipsticks. Pony is a light, cool pink lipstick, and the lipliner is purple. The Frida lipstick and lipliner are very similar, but have different balances of pink and peach. (See the end of this review for comparison swatches.)

All of these shades are in the "satin" formula except for Frenchie, which is classified as a "matte."

Now, if you just go by these lip swatches, then Frida, Cake, and Fancy are going to look very, very similar. While they are in the same color family, I don't think they're anywhere near identical. This is more obvious when I show them in "full face" pictures:

 From left to right: Cake with Fancy lipliner at the edge, Frida lipstick and lipliner, Fancy lipstick and lipliner.

As the above image shows, these shades all have a coral edge to them, but they're not identical. Cake is a very milky, 1960s sort of Coral. It's not the kind of shade I can wear often, but I always enjoy this sort of color, and it's fun to have it in my collection. Because there's so much white in the base, I think this shade is best left to fair and light skintones.

Frida is softer, more beige, and more "work appropriate," with a good balance between pink and peach. I think it's a little too dark/brown for me when I use the lipliner. However, I could see it working on a wide variety of skintones.

Fancy is a light, bright coral that is more flattering in real life than it is in this photo. It doesn't have the pastel undertones found in Cake, so I could see it working for a lot of people, especially those with dark skin.

From left to right: Frenchie lipstick and lipliner, Pony lipstick and lipliner.

Frenchie and Pony are close to my usual wheelhouse of "bright reds and pinks." Frenchie is the shade I was most excited for, and it's a really gorgeous color. I'd say it's a relatively neutral red that leans towards the warm/orange undertones, but only slightly. I don't think it's all that flattering on me, however, and I'm extremely picky about my reds these days.

Pony is interesting because the lipliner and lipstick are such different colors. combined, they create a cool purple-pink color that's very similar to MAC Petals and Peacocks. (Again, please see the comparison swatches below.) I would even use the lipliner WITH MAC Petals and Peacocks because they're so similar. On its own, the lipstick is a pretty pink. I'm more likely to wear these two products separate.

The ColourPop lipstick and lipliner formulas feel identical to me. It's a formula that's relatively creamy, opaque, and easy to apply. The lip swatch photos make it seem like these products settle in to fine lines, and they kind of do. If you have a lot of lines in your lips, or a few that are very deep (I'm in the latter group), they're going to be accentuated. The same goes for any dryness. Be sure to exfoliate your lips before applying!


This is not a "weightless" or "moisturizing" formula. It is dense, and you will feel it on your lips, though it's not as heavy as most pigmented, matte lipstick formulas.

Layered, the wear is pretty impressive for these: they'll last for 6-7 hours and a meal with very minimal fading. I think layering over the pencil, however, contributes to the long weartime: if you layer any lipstick over a lipliner, you're going to get more longevity. Sans lipliner, you still get good wear from the lipsticks at about 5 hours before there's fading.

My biggest qualm with the creaminess of the formula is it's almost impossible to get the super-sharp lip line I like. You can see this in the lip swatch photos: the edges always look a smidgen rough and "feathery." It's not a deal breaker for many of the shades, but I don't think I'll run out and purchase a bunch of brights/darks. ColourPop's products don't really really smear or bleed, but the edges will soften even more throughout the day; I use a q-tip at the edges of my mouth at about the 4 hour mark.

These products have a faint sweet scent that I cannot detect when they're on my lips.

If I gave "half stars," I would rate ColourPop a 3.5. As it stands, I'm rounding up to a 4. The formulation of these lip products is nice, though nothing stellar. The color range and cost per unit, however, make it a great indie brand to try, especially if you're looking to try a bunch of new shades or build up your collection without breaking the bank. I will probably try more, though the softness of the formula makes me hesitant to go for the bolds.

RATING: 4 out of 5.

ColourPop products are available at ColourPop.com. This is an affiliate link that will give you $5 off of your first order and will reward me with $5 in store credit.

From left to right: ColourPop Fancy lipstick and lipliner (sorry for the typo!), ColourPop Cake lipstick, MAC Sushi Kiss lipstick, MAC Betty Bright lipstick, ColourPop Pony lipliner and lipstick, MAC Petals & Peacocks lipstick, Urban Decay Native lipstick.

From left to right: ColourPop Frida lipliner and lipstick, Hourglass Canvas liquid lipstick, Lipstick Queen Pink Sinner lipstick, ColourPop Frenchie lipliner and lipstick, MAC Scarlet Ibis lipstick.