I reviewed the Match2Cover cream concealer and get big lashes waterproof mascara in the first part. Now it's time for all the lip stuff.
As soon as I saw these in the promo pictures, I put them on my wishlist. I have matte lip creams from Manhattan and Nyx, and I have often gushed over them here. I could hardly wait to get them and I wasn't disappointed because these are amazing! There are four colours, I got the two darker ones: Smooth Berry and Silky Red. The other two are neutral shades, but too dark for me and I didn't get them because I find dark nudes look ridiculous on me.
Packaging is the same as at Stay with Me lip gloss, nothing fancy and with a standard doe foot applicator.
These babies are sooo pigmented. I got one dot on the back of my hand and the colour got everywhere, so beware of that plus keep in mind that it stains you skin. If I go straight to the comparison with other matte lip creams I have from Manhattan and Nyx, I'd say they are more like cousins than dupes. The Essence ones are creamier, have a stronger pigment and don't set as those do. Due to the creaminess they feel very comfortable on the lips and even slightly moisturising, they don't dry out the lips like Manhattan's or Nyx's can sometimes. Because they don't set, they do transfer, like on a drinking glass and they do smudge if you're not careful. The finish is creamy and slightly shiny, it gets more matte with time. I think liquid lipstick or something similar would be a more appropriate name than matt lip cream.
These babies are sooo pigmented. I got one dot on the back of my hand and the colour got everywhere, so beware of that plus keep in mind that it stains you skin. If I go straight to the comparison with other matte lip creams I have from Manhattan and Nyx, I'd say they are more like cousins than dupes. The Essence ones are creamier, have a stronger pigment and don't set as those do. Due to the creaminess they feel very comfortable on the lips and even slightly moisturising, they don't dry out the lips like Manhattan's or Nyx's can sometimes. Because they don't set, they do transfer, like on a drinking glass and they do smudge if you're not careful. The finish is creamy and slightly shiny, it gets more matte with time. I think liquid lipstick or something similar would be a more appropriate name than matt lip cream.
They have a strong scent, stronger than Manhattan's or Nyx, but it's a different scent. I can't point it out, but it's similar to strawberry yoghurt.
Smooth berry is a warm fuchsia shade and it's more rosy or pink than on my swatch. A more accurate swatch is in my full face photo. Surprisingly, I have no dupes for it. (Magi did a more accurate swatch on her blog, this is exactly how it looks on me)
Silky Red is a bright, pure red, but it leans more to orange undertones.
Here are swatches of all the lip products in this post and on the second picture I did a comparison of some other red shades I own. Compared to Silky Red, Manhattan Soft Mat Lip Cream 45H is much darker and less bright, the same goes for Russian Red. Ruby Woo is close, but still less bright and blue toned. MUA 13 is lighter and brighter.
Apologies for looking so utterly plain, it was Sunday morning after all. This is more of my I'm-testing-stuff-face, but yeah, I could have put a little bit more effort into it. For the rest of the make up I'm wearing Healthy Mix 51, essence Match2Cover concealer, Catrice Madame Butterfly on the cheeks and essence get big lashes mascara.
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Staying power is excellent. It survives eating and drinking with almost no fading, and it lasts over 8 hours. The original swatch was taken at 11 AM and these three bellow where taken later. The first was at 3 P.M. after eating and drinking, the second at 5 PM and the last at 7 PM when I took it off. It stays vibrant even after hours and it fades slowly, but evenly.
If you're a lipstick addict like me, run and get them. These really are so lovely and long-lasting, but you have to be more careful with them because they do smudge and transfer. Price: 2.19€
Because I love the colour changing lip balm from the Miami Roller Girl, I patiently awaited Oz the Great and Powerful TE which has two new shades. In my experience with the orange one I have, these aren't much colour changing in terms of adapting to you pH, but more like tinted moisturisers. I got the red one called Glinda the Good and honesty, I hoped it'd be redder. Meh. Maybe it will leave more colour when I use it up a bit. It's a nice moisturising lip balm though, but the scent is sooo strong. It smells to me like Ospen syrup for children (a medicine when I was little), a sickly sweet artificial candy scent. Price: 2.19€.
Catrice Neo Geisha Cheek and Lip Colour C03 Madame Butterfly looks very bright red in the pan, but it doesn't have a particularly strong pigment. It looks lovely as a cheek colour as it gives that nice subtle I-just-came-from-the-cold flush, similar to a red cheek stain I have (a dupe for Benetint btw), but much easier to apply and blend. It's not as creamy as I wish it would be. It works as a lip colour, however, you have to build it up quite a lot. It's more of a rosy shade on the lips rather than red. Price: 4.19€.
