I am a firm believer that red lipstick should not just be for formal occasions. For me, it is more of an everyday staple. If it's not red, then it's orange or pink. There are no nudes here (expect an occasional terracota hued brown-orange shade I love). I have been wearing red lipstick for quite a number of years and even before I embraced the vintage style I was sporting a rouge pout most days, so I regard myself as quite a connoisseur. I have dabbled in a few higher end brands, such as MAC but mostly stick to highstreet affordable brands. I will always sample new red lip products to see if it rivals my favourites but at the moment I am pretty much 100% happy with my top lippies, so I thought I'd share all my red lip products and you can choose your own winner.
I originally was attempting to photograph all of the lipsticks actually on my lips so you could see what they look like on, but as you can imagine that was a complete fail owing to the fact I have pretty small lips and most of my lipsticks are long wearing, matte and opaque so trying to remove each shade neatly was just never going to happen so by the third lip swatch I was looking like I'd been eating strawberries all day! Not attractive! So, I've just stuck to good old arm swatches and I have also photographed each product (in a festive fashion, I might add!). Hopefully, you might finish this post itching to get to a Boots or Superdrug to try my winners for yourself and if you have one that isn't listed here and you know it is your most worn, then please do share in the comments section!
I photographed my swatches in three different lights so you could get a better feel for the colours and finishes.
Left to right:
Maybelline Baby Lips in Cherry Me, MAC Lip liner in Cherry, MUA Luxe Lip Velvet in Reckless, Rimmel Apocalips in Big Bang, Lime Crime Velvetines in Red Velvet, MAC Matte lipstick in Russian Red, Dita Von Teese for Art Deco shade 28, Kate Moss for Rimmel in 01, Revlon in 006 Really Red, Kate Moss for Rimmel Matte in 107. Please excuse the last red kind of 'smudge'. That was an attempt to swatch a Seventeen red lipstain which was just awful.
Natural light
Sunlight (Stood behind a window)
Camera Flash. This really shows the true undertones of the reds.
Maybelline Baby Lips in Cherry Me.
I thought I should throw in a few products that aren't lipsticks but still have a red vibe for girls who aren't quite yet ready to get 'reddy' (sorry!). I usually layer this lip balm over my lipstick throughout the day and because it has a red tint, I don't feel it discolours or dulls down my lipsticks. This is good for when your lipstick is starting to fade or get a bit funky, then slap a bit of this on and rub your lips together and you should have an even lip colour again :-)
MAC Lip pencil in Cherry
Now, sometimes I wear this alone all over the lips when my other to favourites have run out. It does make a gorgeous colour on its own. A true red. It is very drying as it is a lip pencil but what I sometimes do is put the Cherry Me lipbalm on either before or after I use this and it just makes it feel like you have more of a lipstick on. Makes a great true red matte lip pencil.
MUA Luxe Lip Velvet in Reckless
I will probably have a review of these up soon as I did get a few colours and I do feel they are pretty much the closest dupe for the Velvetines. Now. nothing can replace my Velvetines, but these do sure make a smashing subsitute. I actually think I prefer the colour of this one on my skin tone as well as in the professional pictures on Lime Crime's website it displays Red Velvet as quite a deep red but on my lips it is more of a lighter red. I think Reckless looks more like the pictures of Red Velvet on their website on me... God that probably makes no sense. This is super long lasting. Love the colour, perfect deep classic red. Super affordable, only £3! Really matte. Comes in a nice variety of colours.
Rimmel Apocalips in Big Bang
I got this in the hope of falling in love after such good reviews but was left really disappointed. It just slips and slides all over the lips. ALWAYS ends up on my teeth. Quite a glossy finish so maybe I'd use it over a matte lippie as a gloss or something. Doesn't stay on at all. As I am use to wearing matte super opaque lip colours, I didn't find this was as opaque as it was hyped up to be.
Lime Crime Velvetines in Red Velvet
I wasn't even going to swatch these because as you can see they have completely been exhausted. They have truly run out, but I just managed to get a sort of swatch for my arm. This is my favourite formula and never fails me. I won't go too much in depth as pretty much every red lip wearer raves about these. They are just beautiful. The only downside is they are quite hard to get hold of and you have to pay for shipping etc which when you are just buying one product does make quite a price difference to the pretty affordable £11.50 lip product. The most long lasting lip product I have EVER used.
MAC Russian Red
I do also have Ruby Woo but that has gone missing. Ruby Woo was pretty much my first red lip stick so as you can imagine I was so in love at first but it was just too drying and uncomfortable. Russian Red is Ruby Woo's more sophisicated deeper smoother sister. Goes on very evenly, however after discovering my winning matte lip laquers, I just feel that lipsticks can't really compete.
Dita Von Teese for Art Deco lipstick in 28
My treat lipstick. Not even that expensive (I just it in euros so I am not sure on exact price), but the packaging just makes this lipstick for me. The beautiful feather print weighted tube and embossing on the actual lipstick just make this product pure luxury. This is the lipstick that you pull out of your purse and every lady's jaw drops in awe. It photographed silver but it is infact gold. I couldn't expect anything less from Queen Dita anyway. I save this one for special occasions as I am just dreading finishing it. Oh yeah, and the actual lipstick is very nice too, haha! Very similar to the next one which is Kate Moss 01.
Kate Moss for Rimmel in 01
This is probably the first lipstick I bought again and have multiple tubes of. It is just a lovely deep satin-y red. A good starter red for girls who don't want a super bright blue-based colour. Affordble and easy found.
Revlon Matte lipstick in Really Red
This was my first highstreet matte lipstick. It is a lot lighter than most of the other reds and not AS pigmented. It is quite matte and comfortable.
Kate Moss for Rimmel Matte lipstick in 107
I know a lot of people LOVE this one and I do like it as more berry red but I do think it isn't that comfortable and bobbles up on lips quite a bit. It smells like watermelon and I wouldn't say it is completely matte. There is definitely some sheen there.
Annnnnnnnd that concludes my battle of the reds! And obviously every battle has to have a winner... However, I couldn't just pick one winner...
Packaging : Dita Von Teese for Art Deco Lipstick in 28
Formula: Lime Crime Velvetines in Red Velvet
Longest Lasting: Lime Crime Velvetines in Red Velvet
Affordability: MUA Lip Velvets in Reckless
Most Comfortable: Lime Crime Velvetines in Red Velvet
Best Colour Range: MUA Lip Velvets in Reckless
Accessibility: Rimmel Kate Moss in 01
Overall Winner
Lime Crime Velvetines
But with the MUA almost drawing. God I'm in decisive.
I hope you enjoyed this post and please let me know your must-have red :-)
Lots of love,
Amber Rose
<3
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