I’m known to my friends to be an incorrigible shopper when it comes to beauty products (which is probably one of the motivating factors for starting this blog in the first place). What most people don’t know is that when I buy stuff, I actually do have somewhat of a thought process – yes yes, at times, it’s usually the “BUY ALLLLL THE COLOURS NAO”. At other times, because of space constraints in my room, I have a rather rational elimination process – just buy one shade from each color family. Bare Escentuals was one of the first lip glosses I ever used (that was a long, long time ago) and I recently chanced upon their new lippies at Sephora when I was in the US, and here’s what I bought.
Bare Escentuals Buxom Full-On Lipstick Matte – US$20 each
Bare Escentuals Buxom Full-On Lipstick Matte – US$20 each
I say…
The Packaging: A long slim tube measuring about 13cm tall (cap inclusive) and about 1cm across. The cap is a click-on one and you can extend the lipstick bullet by twisting the body.
The Scent: A slightly minty and fruity fragrance.
The Texture: It goes on smoothly with a matte crayon finish – the color intensity builds up with each application (more so for the richer colours). The size of the bullet makes it easy to draw the outline of the lips even without having to sharpen it. A light layer gives it a believable matte finish – kinda like tinted natural lips without the shine, while several layers will give you a matte lip finish that isn’t too drying.
The Something Special: What sets this apart from other lippies (be they matte or gloss finish) is the sensation – oh yeah baybeh, this has a cooling, minty sensation on your lips which I absolutely love. There’s no taste, but it just perks you up – kinda like eating a menthol mint, but applying it on your lips.
The Verdict: Currently my favorite matte-finish lippie at the moment, based purely on the fact that a) it doesn’t make my lips look as dry and puckered as an expired raisin, b) the color intensity is buildable – it’s not a liquid lipstick per se, but there’s enough colour, c) it has that super awesome cooling sensation. When it fades, it leaves a tint on your lips (for the more vibrant shades). The only downside of this product is that I noticed it has mostly neutral/beige shades. There are a couple of brighter colours (brown-red, Monte Carlo (fuchsia pink)), but majority of them aren’t poppy colours – else I honestly would have bought every color in the range. If you want to add some sheen and shine to this, add on a layer of this gloss (which also has that minty cooling sensation). Go try this out – you won’t regret it!
