Apart from the infamous Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation, I must admit, I am a bit of a novice when it comes to the brand. When I was browsing the counter one day a few months back though – focussing, unsurprisingly, on the liquid lipsticks they had on offer – the shade 500 Blush in their Lip Maestro’s caught my eye and I picked it up on a bit of a whim. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, it’s not often that you'll go wrong with a liquid lipstick. Some are better than others, but in general they have good staying power and unless they are ultra drying they normally turn out to be worth your hard earned pennies. ‘Blush’ is, as you might expect – a warm, rosy pink – vivid enough to brighten your complexion a little, but nothing too in your face. There are 23 shades available in the range, with most of them quite bold - reds, purples and a few brighter pink shades the prevalent colours amid the bunch. There are only three that I would consider to be real neutrals - Blush being one of them, Casual Pink another, and lastly Dolci (which if you’re into you’re 90’s brown hues might be the one to try). And so, although I think the shade range could be expanded upon to cater to a wider clientele, this didn't put me off as the thing that really made me fall in love with these was their formula. Yes its matte, or at least the appearance is on the lips – but it is actually incredibly creamy and feels beautiful to apply. They are marketed as being 'the first matte lip lacquers' and are by far and away the least drying ‘mattes’ I have tried. They may not last as long as the likes of the Kat Von D Everlasting Liquid Lipsticks, but they do still stick around for a fair few hours and fade nicely when they do eventually start to wear away. They are not dissimilar to the theBalm Meet Matte Hughes Liquid Lipsticks that I talked about a couple of posts back, but much creamier and with less of a scent. If you’re into your high end make up then I would definitely recommend checking these out as I’m quite surprised at how they haven’t yet (at least not to my knowledge) gained more of a cult status within the beauty world. 
If you’re after a high street/drugstore counterpart though, look no further than the Maybelline Vivid Matte Liquid Lipsticks. I had seen these pop up on the shelves some time ago – in fact it must have been pretty soon after they were released. I had cast my eye over them a couple of times, yet for some reason I didn’t pick any up until quite some time later (I think perhaps because I had been unable to swatch in store and it’s always a bit of a gamble when that’s the case). I bit the bullet last week though when I had a little Boots splurge (let me know if you’d like to see the rest of the spoils from that little excursion) and the shades ‘Nude Thrill’ and ‘Nude Flush’ ended up coming home with me. Again, I was predictable with the color choices – the former being on the beige-y nude side and the latter it's pink equivalent – not at all unlike the Giorgio Armani 500 shade. But that is not where the similarity ends. I can honestly say that shades aside (despite the similarity of six of the eight Maybelline shades still sitting firmly on the bold side of things with not a lot in between), the formula of these seems to me to be practically identical to the Giorgio Armani Lip Maestros. They are creamy, super pigmented and give you that soft matte finish without any resultant dryness. As with the Lip Maestros, the applicator itself is a little longer than your standard doe foot and has a little bend to it which I find is great when it comes to ensuring ease and accuracy when applying. As a direct comparison re what it is you are getting for your money, the Lip Maestros weigh in at £27 for the 6.5ml of product provided, where as for £6.99 you are getting 8ml from the Maybelline Vivid Mattes. I really love both products, but unless you have plenty of cash to spare and are a high end make up fiend, then I would definitely recommend Maybelline over Giorgio Armaniin this instance. If the shade range had been more extensive on either side then that may have pipped it for me, but as things stand it’s a win for the drugstore dupe in the battle of the liquid lipsticks! Sarah x
