Lip Obsessed: My Quick & Dirty ColourPop Lippie Review

L-R: ColourPop Lippie Stix in Bitchette, Lumiere, Dalia, Leather, Creature, and Brink

L-R: ColourPop Lippie Stix Swatches in Bitchette, Lumiere, Dalia, Leather, Creature, and Brink

L-R: ColourPop Lippie Pencils in Lumiere, Dalia, Leather, Creature, Brink, Brills, and Wet

L-R: ColourPop Lippie Pencil Swatches in Dalia, Leather, Creature, Brills, and Wet (Lumiere and Brink swatches can be found in my previous ColourPop review)

 I stated in my previous review that I hated my ColourPop Lippie Pencils. That was a lie. I hated that they didn't give me my desired nude lip. I enjoy the colours in my birthday haul immensely. My favourite by far is Wet, but that's because it pairs nicely with a lot of the hyped 'greige' lipsticks currently on the market. The formula is creamy, and if applied all over well hydrated and exfoliated lips, beats the look and lasting power of almost every other matte lipstick I've tried. I wore Leather once on drier lips and it was a disaster. The colour settled into all my fine lines and made my mouth look like a shriveled up prune. Not an attractive look for anyone.

My opinion on the Lippie Stix is much different. All the shades I purchased were matte, and all of the them had a very waxy texture. It felt like I was using a crayon rather than a lipstick. The finishes aren't true mattes, and they do have a sheen to them. They're very pretty, but in the end, I couldn't get over the sensation of these on my mouth. I've only worn them for short periods of time so I can't really comment on their staying power or colour transfer. They do come off easily though, and don't leave a stain behind like the NYX lippies did. My final thought on these: Dalia and Creature are basically the same shade, with Dalia just pulling a bit more brown. It's hardly noticeable. I don't know why I thought I needed both.

BONUS Super Shock Shadows & Cheek Swatches: 

Lip Obsessed: NYX

L-R: Macaron Lippie in Lavender, Wicked Lippies in Betrayal, Power, and Wrath, Matte Lipstick in Aria, Soft Matte Lip Cream in Transylvania, and Lip Liner in Nectar (free gift)

A few months ago I decided to purge all my old makeup. What was left was pretty pathetic. Because of the holidays and my birthday, I was able to replenish my stash guilt free. Once everything started trickling in, I began to realize I have an unhealthy obsession with lip products.

There is no way I would get around to trying all of them without the excuse of having to swatch them for the blog. Hence, my latest series in posts: Lip Obsessed. Up first is a brand I have heard great things about, but had limited experience with, NYX.

I was unsure which of their lip products I would like best so I ended up purchasing a few different types via their website. They offer 25% off for first time customers who sign up for email updates. The Canadian/US exchange rate is pretty poop right now, so the code made me feel much less guilty for splurging on items I wasn't sure I'd even like. Not that I would consider NYX a splurge, with most of their lip products coming in at a reasonable $6. I also got a free lip liner with my order. Score!

I spent a week test driving these beauties and my thoughts on all of them are below:

L-R: Transylvania, Aria, Nectar, Wrath, Betrayal, Power, and Lavender

Soft Matte Lip Cream in Transylvania: First off, the texture of this is more like a mousse than a cream. It's also pretty dry. I'm not sure whether I just received an old product, or if this is how the actual texture is. The color is beautiful, but super patchy, and so I needed to layer it on. The actual color didn't last for very long after eating and drinking and it looked like the total product transferred on to everything my lips touched, but it did leave a stain for quite a while.

Matte Lipstick in Aria: I am obsessed with this lipstick. At first I thought that the colour would be much too pink for me, but it ended up matching well with my natural lips. Even though it's a matte lipstick, the texture is quite creamy and not drying at all. The pigmentation is also on point; it only took one swipe to get the full colour. Again though, I couldn't remove it completely at the end of the day, with either makeup wipes or vaseline.

Lip Liner in Nectar: I was hoping I could match this with either Wrath or Power, but it doesn't seem to go with either. It's much too peachy for me personally, but it's pretty nonetheless. Even though there appears to be some glitter in the formula, the texture isn't gritty at all. It goes on smooth and and feels lush on the lips. When I removed this from my lips, it came off completely, but it seemed to want to stick to my arm when I did my swatches. What the heck is NYX using in the formulas of their products?

Wicked Lippies in Wrath, Betrayal, and Power: All of the Wiked Lippies went on true to colour. I was able to layer these to get my desired opacity, and none of them gave an uneven application. Wrath and Power were my favourite since they suited me better, but Betrayal found a good home in the little girl's "Tickle Trunk" (Does anyone else miss Mr. Dressup? That was some quality children's programming right there). They each lasted a few hours before I had to reapply, but there was some serious transfer with Betrayal and my lips had a purple tint long after I removed the lipstick.

Macaron Lippie in Lavender: Why I thought this colour would suit me is a mystery. I looked so horrid, I only managed to leave this on for about an hour, so I can't comment on it's staying power. What I can say is that formula is horrible. It was like swiping wax on my lips. I barely got any product on, and I couldn't even layer it to increase the colour payoff because each new swipe would just remove the product that was previously applied. No matter what I did, I even tried using a lip brush, I could not get full coverage. Not even the Tickle Trunk wanted Lavender, and so it's now at the bottom of my trash bin.

L-R: Transylvania, Aria, Nectar, and Betrayal

The tints left of my lips were much darker than in the photo above, but I also didn't put them through as much of a cleaning process. I removed most of the swatches with one swipe of my Bioderma H20 micellar water, but the ones that remained made it through a vaseline rub and some serious anti-bacterial soap action. They finally came off in the shower with some sea salt exfoliation.

ColourPop Holiday Haul

I am not a makeup junkie. My skincare routine is as elaborate as possible to ensure that I don't have to spend hours on makeup. Usually I just slap on a layer of Benefit's Porefessional, some concealer under my eyes and a layer of mascara and I'm good to go. Unfortunately, this doesn't work for the holidays. One is expected to look better than the everyday at parties and other outings.

I did a massive makeup purge earlier in the fall, so I was basically left with nothing to put on my face in December. After securing the basics, I started researching online for the cheapest, but most attractive makeup items to complete my holiday looks. Enter ColourPop. At $5 per shadow, lip liner, and lip stick, how can you go wrong? After putting enough items in your shopping cart, the $14.95 international shipping fee seems almost reasonable.

I decided to purchase the Lip Pencils rather than the Lippie Stix because one of the constant opinions expressed in the online reviews is that the matte Lippie Stix have more of a satin finish. Regardless, I ended up hating these, but that's my own fault. I keep trying to pull off the perfect nude lip and failing. My natural lip colour is almost an exact match to Lumiere, so that was a wash. Brink and Frida made my lips look barely a shade darker and lighter. They're beautiful, just not on me. Maybe I'll take the hint, slap on some lip chap and call it a day on the neutrals. Or maybe I'll forget all about my failure and go back and buy the Brink/Frida/Lumiere Lippie Stix and fool myself into thinking I'll get a different result.

My shopping cart originally had every metallic shade that ColourPop offered, but I managed to reign myself in and just purchase their metallic holiday set, Down With Decorum. Most of their holiday sets are contain limited edition products, but I chose this one because Game Face, Liberty, and Mooning are part of their standard collection and I could repurchase them when I ran out. I love love LOVE these shadows. Even Glitterati, which is significantly less pigmented than the others. ColourPop recommends applying these with your finger to get the best coverage, but I am way too heavy-handed for that. The first time I tried the shadows using my fingers, I ended up looking like I smeared mud all over my eyelid. I now use a stiff shadow brush and achieve the same pigmentation by layering the product. I'm officially obsessed!