Rimmel London Kate Moss Matte Lipsticks - Review & Swatches!

Another Rimmel product and another lip product to talk about! Today it's about the newest addition to the Rimmel London Lasting Finish Kate Moss Lipsticks line, the MATTE lipsticks!

The packaging is so cute with the red tube and Kate's signature! The previous launch of the Kate Moss lipsticks brought us 15 new colours, in black tubes with Kate's signature in red. I really enjoyed those lipsticks because the colours were gorgeous, pigmentation was so amazing, the lasting power was good, and it didn't dry out my lips much at all. That being said, I had high hopes and expectations for this new line. However, since they are marketed at "matte", meaning no shimmer or shine, I do expect them to probably be a little bit more drying than its predecessor.

There are currently 10 shades available for sale, as part of the permanent display (these are NOT limited edition!), but I only purchased 7 of them because one was sold out that the time, and two are colours that I will not make any use out of (beige-nudes, almost concealer type of shades).

Packaging: The lipsticks are housed in a bullet that is the same shape and size as the standard lipsticks from the Lasting Finish line-up. I personally find that the Rimmel Crown logo imprinted that the top of the slanted lid is quite a classy touch and I really like it. However, for those of you who happen to store your lipsticks standing up (i.e. in lipstick holders) will not be able to stand these upside down to see the label on the bottom, since the slant top does not allow the lipstick to balance properly. The shade names are on a sticker at the bottom of the bullet. The twist part of the bullet feels a little flimsy but it is nothing major and nothing will break apart on you; I just mean that there seems to be less resistance to the twist than do other lipstick tubes. One thing to note is that the twist-able part is the black section, and that is exposed even when the cap is on, which means that there is a chance the the lipstick may be twisted upwards and be damaged against the closed cap. The red matte finish of the lipstick bullet brings a very feminine touch overall and the lipstick becomes quite eye-catching, which is nice :)

Scent: The lipsticks have a very typical and signature "lipstick" scent to them, which nowadays are somewhat associated with the "old lady lipstick" scent; a type of deep floral, non-sugary scent. However, the intensity of the scent is very low and comparatively, less and more toned-down than L'oreal lipsticks, if you happen to be familiar with those. The scent lingers for a little while after applying the lipstick to the lips and fades away within 15 minutes.

Pigmentation: I can not complain about the pigmentation of these lipsticks at all, because they pack such a punch! One swipe is pretty much enough to give full-coverage colour that is true to colour in the bullet. If you enjoy a bold lip look then apply one more layer and you are good to go. Or, an alternative would be to first apply a lipliner all over the lips and then apply this lipstick and you get instant opacity. The colour also applies fairly evenly, I did not notice much patchiness, which is always a plus.

Texture: As I mentioned before, these lipsticks run a bit on the drier side of the spectrum. That is partly due to the formula of the lipstick, for it is a matte finish. In my previous experience with the "Lasting Finish" line, they are not too moisturizing, since it does claim to have a longer weartime than others (too much hydration in a lipstick makes them slip and slide and therefore decrease weartime). So with a matte finish on top of a long-wear aspect, I do suggest prepping your lips well before applications. Using a good lip balm prior should be enough to do the trick for you. If you happen to have chapped lips with some dry skin, it would be best to give them a quick scrub before adding lipbalm because these lipsticks WILL ACCENTUATE DRY PATCHES. Provided that your lips are nicely primed prior to application, this lipstick will dry down to a non-shiny matte finish within 2 minutes and sits quite comfortably without feeling too heavy, however, I would not classify these as lightweight lipsticks.

Staying Power: The colour will definitely not last you thoughout an entire 8-hour work period, but it's nothing shabby and will last at least 2-3 hours provided there is no heavy eating involved during that time. However, when fading happens, I found that it faded from the center out, leaving a kind of an odd ring of colour around the lips. But, what I found was that if I applied a lip liner of a similar colour all over the lips first, before applying the lipstick, the fading effect diminishes quite a bit, and also the "ring of colour" from the fading becomes much less noticeable. Transferring of colour still happens after 1-2 hours, but it doesn't take off your lip colour completely.

Swatched with a single swipe from the tube.

As you can see from the above swatch, made with just one swipe of the lipstick, the colour intensity is great and the pigmentation is distributed relatively evenly. Pretty awesome for a $7 drugstore lipstick!

101: Matte - A true pink, with hint of blue undertone, slightly less bright than a barbie-pink.

102: Matte - A brighter pink than 101, with a definitely coral undertone

103: Matte - Pinky-mauve colour, a great noticeable colour without being too red. Could be a my-lips-but-better (MLBB) colour for those with more pigmented lips.

105: Matte - A brown-nude colour with slight hints of red. This is a very natural colour despite the way it may appear next to all the pinks and reds, it is a MLBB for me that evens out my natural lip colour and gives a polished look without being overdone.

107: Matte - A beautiful berry red colour. This colour is the deepest shade of the entire line. Not for someone who doesn't like bold colours on the lips, but those of you who can, or are looking to venture into the berry lips trend, this is a great colour for you! And perhaps better make the most use out of them while winter is still around, since the colour maybe a little too deep for the upcoming Spring season :)

109: Matte - An orange-coral colour. With a light hand at application (i.e. gentle dabbing across the lips rather than swiping) this colour mixes nicely with your natural lip colour to create a flush of healthy colour. Apply heavier and this becomes a really fun summer colour!

111 Kiss of Life: This is the only colour in the entire line that has an actual shade name. This is the colour that is worn by Kate Moss on the display and promotional pictures! This is a true primary red, it has no obvious undertones, perhaps just slightly leaning more towards the warmer side of reds. However, the red is so bright and fiery that the tone of it will likely be ignored after application. This is a beautiful. classic shade of red that is best paired with a simple eye look and even complexion.

Overall I think these are a line of great lipsticks that are could be worth checking out :) Thanks for reading and definitely let me know what you think of them by leaving a comment! I'd love to know your thoughts!

Joanne

Maybelline Color Whisper Lipsticks - Review & Swatches!

I'm so excited to be able to write this post today. Ever since the very first sneak peaks and news of Maybelline's newest lipstick line has surfaced on the internet, I have been waiting eagerly for them to finally land in the drugstore. Here is what Maybelline has to say about their newest lip product in Spring 2013:

"Pure color pigments suspended in a weightless gel. No heavy waxes or oils. Soft, sexy gel-color." - maybelline.com

I purchased these for $7.96 + tax at Wal-Mart, which also happens to be where I found the new permanent display. Up until now I have not found a trace of these lipsticks at other drugstores yet, but I'm sure they will surface soon.

Today I share with you the 12 shades I have of the 20 available shades :)

Packaging: The lipstick tube of the Color Whispers are very sleek and pretty. They have the same build as all the other Maybelline lipsticks, BUT it's a teeny bit taller and quite a bit skinnier when compared side by side. I especially love the cursive logo on the side of the cap and I find it to be a very pleasing visual to the overall look. The cap is secured nicely at the bottom with grooves yet is still removable easily. I do not feel like it would accidentally pop open in a makeup bag or purse.

Color Whisper lipstick is noticeably slimmer than the regular lipsticks...

...and a bit taller!

The "Bright and Light"; swatches below

45 Who Wore It Red-er: Cream. This color is the most "red" color of the entire range, and it still transcribe to the lips with a strong hint of pink. The more it is built-up, the less pink it appears and becomes more red.

50 Cherry On Top: Cream. Similar in color tone to #45, but it is about 1 to 2 shades lighter. It gives a beautiful just-bitten look to your lips and is a great intro colour for anybody who is looking to venture into bright lipsticks. 

65 Pink Possibilities: Cream. A sheer mid-tone pink. It is a great my-lips-but-better (MLBB) colour. Very similar to #60 if worn sheer, but when it is built up it becomes redder than #60

60 Petal Rebel: Cream. This is the most "Barbie-pink" color of the entire range, and also happens to be the colour worn by the model in Maybelline's promotional poster. However, this one is difficult to show true to colour if you happen to have pigmented lips that are redder in tone, because the colour of the lipstick is pretty sheer. However, if you have lighter colour lips, about 3 swipes across should give you a nice pastel pink.

70 Faint For Fuchsia: Cream. This is pink with purple undertones. If you use it sheer it is definitely an MLBB colour, but it can be easily built-up to become a brighter colour that is eye-catching yet not overwhelming.

90 Oh-La Lilac: Cream. Don't let the lipstick tube scare you! This really is not as purple as it looks...if you wear it sheered out :P Because there is enough pink tone in it, when worn sheer there is hardly much purple that is noticeable and the colour becomes one that can give a healthy flush of color to your lips. 

The "nudes and darks"; swatches below

95 Mad For Magenta: Cream. Borderline purple berry colour, quite a bright pink if worn with several layers.

75 Rose of Attraction: Cream with sparkles. This is the only lipstick in the range that I have seen so far that has actual sparkles inside. The sparkles are noticeable in lights but I couldn't feel it on my lips; it had no gritty feeling to it at all. The base color is a rosy coral color.

80 Made-It Mauve: Cream. Sheer brick red. It ventures into the brown tones but still has enough red to make sure your lips are still healthy looking.

20 Mocha Muse: Cream. A sheer brown colour with a hint of red-undertone. It is quite sheer and doesn't really build up easily to show up on my lips, which are pretty pigmented on their own. 

25 Lust for Blush: Cream. Pinky-nude colour. I thought I would really love this particular one, but unforunately it, again, doesn't really show up on my lips, just gives it shine but that's about it.

85 Berry Ready: Cream. Berry Colour, just as the name suggests. This one is amazing, the pigmentation is so great. The swatch was just ONE swipe, where as all the other ones were 2 swipes. Of course, to get the colour on the lips it does require a couple swipes back and forth, but the opacity it produces rival that of lipsticks!

Scent: The Color Whisper lipsticks has no detectable fragrance as far I can smell. It has a very very faint sweet barely-there smell, but nothing more.

Taste: Similar to the scent, there is hardly any detectable taste to the lipstick after it is applied to the lips.

Texture: I feel these lipsticks really lived up to the claims of being lightweight. Wearing them, my lips felt hydrated without the feeling that I'm wearing a lip colour; I had no dry lips as the product wore off. There is just a very slight stick to the product that I can feel at the center of my lips when I talk. The texture and feel of these lipsticks are definitely on par with Revlon Lip Butters, L'Oreal Balm, and L'Oreal Caress Sticks, I may even like the Maybelline best out of the four.

Coverage: The coverage of these lipsticks are awesome! They are MUCH more pigmented than Maybelline Baby Lips without sacrificing to a dry texture. These are not to be confused with tinted lip balms, because they are much better than that. Maybelline Color Whispers are light lipsticks with strong color payoff and excellent moisturizing properties. Some shades, especially those lighter one and those leaning more brown and nude, will require multiple swipes across the lips to achieve the color in the tube. 

Wear-time: Wear-time is rather short for Color Whisper lipsticks. Since they are so lightweight, they hardly cling to the lips. Therefore, it wears off after about 2 hours, or 1 hour with lots of talking, or about 30 minutes if eating is involved. The shine is maintained quite well. The dark colours wear better than the lighter colours, likely because it is easier to still see it as it starts wearing off. I do not find that these produce a stain on my lips after wearing off, even for the dark colours. However, one downfall is that they do ACCENTUATE DRY LIPS, so make sure your lips are nicely moisturized prior! Also, because the product is so lightweight, it is actually quite slippery too and will move around the lips and is especially obvious with the light pinks.

Final Thoughts: Overall, I really enjoy this new line from Maybelline. I know that I love the deeper shades a bit more than the lighter shades. There are about 2 shades from the range that I know will be just TOO light to show up on anybody's lips and will just end up serving more of a shiny lip balm, so I will not be purchasing those shades. With most of the colours, a mirror is not necessary for application which makes reapplying on the go very easy. The lipstick feels so nice on my lips that I really don't mind having to reapply about every 1-2 hours. If you enjoyed the Revlon Lip Butters or L'oreal Caress Sticks, or found L'Oreal Balm underwheming, I HIGHLY recommend trying out a couple of the Maybelline Color Whisper Lipsticks! Favourite shades so far: BERRY READY, WHO WORE IT RED-ER, PINK POSSIBILITIES, CHERRY ON TOP.

Have you tried these? Let me know!

Joanne