The 'Lip Laquer' type lip product has been all over the drugstore/high street for the last few months, with lots of brands all releasing their take on the lip gloss / lipstick hybrid or liquid lipstick. So far I have tried 3 drugstore versions of a liquid lipstick, Rimmel, L'oreal and Bourjois but I haven't found a formula I love as yet, I found the L'oreal to go patchy, the Bourjois bled like a mofo and the Rimmel just wasn't for me at all and the smell of them is awful. Out of the high end offerings I have tried the MAC Kissable Lip Colours, Chanel Rouge Allure Laque and OCC Lip Tars all of which have been amazing, I loved the kissable lip colours by MAC and wish they would re promote them but so far I haven't been wowed by any of the drugstore options I have tried. So when I was out shopping with Simon and a new product caught my eye I was intrigued.
As I said I was shopping with Simon when I noticed Superdrug were selling the new Maybelline Colour Sensational Lip Elixirs, we had been into Boots already and they didn't have them on sale there (they do now) and since I love the colour sensational vivid lipsticks by Maybelline I thought I'd give these a go.
The colours I chose were Signature Scarlet (on the left) and Petal Plush (right) I always seem to go for reds, bright pinks and corals when choosing a lip colour but I decided not to go for the bright pink this time and chose the Petal Plush, a soft pink an almost nude/pink and then as always I opted for the red colour.
Petal Plush
Signature Scarlet
Swatches Left Signature Scarlet, Right Petal Plush
As I said I love the Maybelline colour sensational vivid lipsticks and was so excited to try the colour elixirs too, when I swatched them they had good pigmentation although the Petal Plush did have a touch of sparkle, something I'm personally not too keen on.
My Thoughts ~
Firstly I thought I'd share with you what Maybelline have to say about their colour sensational elixirs:
Fall under the spell of the elixir effect
Hyper-saturated color, ultra cushiony feel
The new hypnotic lip sensation
Hyper-saturated color, ultra cushiony feel
The new hypnotic lip sensation
Why You'll Love It
- A trio of concentrates delivers the color of a lipstick, the cushiony care of a balm, and the glass shine of a gloss
- Our exclusive smoothing angora brush delivers a polished , even application and smoothing sensation to lips
For Best Results
Apply lipcolor with applicator wand starting in the center of your upper lip. Work from the center to the outer edges of your lip, following the contours of your mouth. Then glide across the entire bottom lip.
I applied the colour elixir in the way it stated on the Maybelline website I tried the Petal Plush first, it was a very pale pink/nude and does have a touch of sparkle, it isn't too obvious so it didn't bother me too much despite sparkly lip products not really being my thing. I found the colour a little too pale, I thought it might be similar to Angel by MAC but it was paler than that and to be honest not very visible, I did photograph it on my lips but you couldn't really see it. I had a drink when wearing the petal plush and chatted to Cole, Lissy and Simon, but I didn't have anything to eat.
Next I tried Signature Scarlet, I love a red lip and was very excited to try this shade, I applied it in the same was as Petal Plush, the pigmentation was really good and it gave a lovely red glossy finish, one I thought that would look great for an evening out.
It's not the best photograph but you can see how pigmented the product is and the glossy shine it gave. As with the petal plush I made sure I had something to drink to give a true reflection of wear time with the elixirs, I didn't have anything to eat and this time I was home alone so didn't chat to anyone, I was happily editing videos and writing blog posts whilst testing out signature scarlet. I checked in the mirror after an hour and was very disappointed at what I saw, the elixir had bled/feathered badly and looked awful.
1 hour later
As you can see from the photograph the bleeding around the bottom lip is awful and it had started to bleed around the top lip too and the colour was a little patchy too.
30 mins later (1.5 hours of wear time)
After another 30 minutes the colour had faded even more and the bleeding was getting worse.
I was extremely disappointed in the colour elixirs to be honest, at first when I tried the signature scarlet I thought it was going to be fabulous because of the pigmentation and colour pay off but as you can see from the photographs it didn't wear well at all, I wouldn't agree with Maybellines description either, in my opinion the colour is not that of a lipstick, non of my lipsticks look so patchy and bleed so much, as I said I love the vivids by Maybelline and thought that since these were also 'colour sensational' products that they might be the same but they're so different and are poles apart in pigmentation and wear time. I feel like I have wasted £10 on these products, there is no way I can use the signature scarlet and the petal plush is barely visible so theres not much point in applying it.
I didn't think these were too sticky but they are a little tacky, and definitely have that lipgloss feel to them, when having a drink they left lots of product on the glass. I did like the packaging of the elixirs though and the wand was easy to use but those are the only 2 redeeming features I can find I'm afraid.
Overall I was very disappointed, this is the first Maybelline product I have tried and hated and it is such a shame, I love the brand and won't let it put me off but I won't be buying any more of the colour sensational elixirs thats for sure!
If you would like to try them, you can find them here for £6.19 each and they are currently on 3 for 2.
Have you tried the elixirs? Did you like them or did they bleed and go patchy on you? Let me know in the comments.
Thank you for reading, much love as always,
Zoe x
