Make Up For Ever Artist Rouge Lipsticks (Review & Swatches of C211 & M401)
As with all of their launches, Make Up For Ever has gone all out with their lipstick line re-launch. With a range of 45 shades in matte and cream finishes, you’re sure to find a colour that works for you! (And they’ve got a single shade that they claim works for everyone!)
The new lipsticks are called Artist Rouge (the line before was called Rouge Artist, so they’ve really just flipped the words around) and all come in similar packaging: a sleek black tube with a silver rim. That silver rim actually helps you get a grip on the tube which means an easy open/close mechanism.
Once you yank the top off, the brand’s logo is embossed on the side of the brushed-metal insert wrapped around the tube. It’s a simple and yet interesting design because it keeps the brand name completely obscured until you pull that top off!
The two shades I got to try out were a M401 (a matte red shade that is apparently limited edition) and C211 (rose wood – this is the shade they say works for everyone). Their method of identification is fairly easy to follow: M for matte and C for a cream finish (errr… okay maybe not. I’m looking at Sephora’s web site and it says it’s not a cream finish but a satin one. I completely disagree with that though. These are definitely creams).
The Artist Rouge bullets are unlike any other shape I’ve ever seen. They come to a very angular-pointed tip which can help with initial application of the lipstick. Of course, as you wear the bullet down, that shape will disappear, but since the slant is quite sharp, you will have that shape for a long time.
Swatched out, you can see that C211 is definitely a cream with a glorious soft sheen to it. M401 is definitely matte, but there is an edge to it that keeps the lipstick from being completely flat matte.
My Thoughts
Before I get on to the amazingness that is this range of Artist Rouge lipsticks, I need to make one very small point in regards to this formula that some people may find helpful. As I have mentioned before, I am *exceptionally* sensitive to scented lipsticks. With Make Up For Ever‘s previous range of lipsticks I was so completely turned off by the scent of them that I found them utterly impossible to wear. With the new Artist Rouge lipsticks, the scent of them is definitely diminished in comparison to the old formula, but there is still a hint of some kind of plastic scent. My cream finish definitely smells a bit more in comparison to the matte. That isn’t to say it’s overpowering – it’s not – but I know some people are as sensitive as I am to this, so I just wanted to mention it.
With that out of the way, let’s get on to the good stuff! The Artist Rouge lipsticks pack an incredible amount of pigment punch. The colours I tried are luxurious and easy to wear. Obviously, the cream has more slip to it than the matte shade does, but they are both easy to apply and wear well. The matte doesn’t feel dehydrating on the lips (always a bonus), but it also doesn’t feel like those silicone-y matte formulas (which I do love, but I’m just saying that this feels different).
While Make Up For Ever does have your standard reds, pinks and nudes in this range, they also have some exciting random shades such as a midnight blue, a pale lavender, an electric pale blue and an aqua shade. Oh and a BLACK!
Let me know if you’ve tried the Artist Rouge line out! I’d also be curious to hear if you’re sensitive to scents in your lipsticks as well. 🙂
The Make Up For Ever Artist Rouge Lipsticks can be purchased on sephora.ca for $27 CAD or on sephora.com for $22 USD.
The products featured in this post were sent to me for consideration.
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Swatch Sunday: Anastasia Beverly Hills Maya Mia
The Anastasia Beverly Hills Maya Mia palette was released in the last few months of 2014, but it’s only made its way into my collection recently via a beauty blogger swap.
At first I felt the colouring of this palette was really coordinated, except for that aqua shade thrown in the mix. What a bizarre colour to chuck in there. While I haven’t actually used the aqua shade yet, I can say that the other shades have been glorious. Glisten, Sienna and Caramel are pure perfection!
Anastasia Beverly Hills Maya Mia Swatches
If you managed to get your hands on this when it first launched, then you’re quite lucky as it’s no longer available for sale!
Skincare Saturday: BVspa Pink Grapefruit
BVspa is a new to me brand that is available (recently I think?) at Shoppers Drug Mart in Canada for an extremely reasonable price point. “BV” in their name stands for Bon Vital and they were originally created in 1988 as a solution for massage therapist who felt that they didn’t have enough product selection. BVspa seems to only have three scent ranges and I opted for Pink Grapefruit since I’m a sucker for citrus scents. They also have a Pomegranate & Acai Berry range, as well as a Lavender and Rosemary one.
The products I was most interested to try out were the Sugar and Salt Scrubs. Overall, I’m more familiar with Sugar Scrubs and this one performed like all the others I had tried in the past: great at exfoliating and gentle enough to be used consistently. The one I fell in love with though was the Salt Scrub – this one was AWESOME! Because the salt grains have sharper edges, you can really get into your skin to remove all the dead skin. And no, sharper edges doesn’t mean this’ll hurt you – it’s just better at doing its job when compared to the Sugar Scrub.
The only thing I noticed with both of these is that when I was rinsing it off my skin, it bled down my skin in rivulets that looked like milk. Didn’t affect the product at all, but I guess that means there’s some kind of white tint in the product?
Once you’ve scrubbed yourself down in the shower, it’s time to lather up with some moisturizer. In terms of body lotions, these are fairly standard. The Body Butter, of course, has a higher level of hydration, but I found it was a bit too thick for my liking and it definitely left me with white looking legs for a while until it completely soaked in. For me, the Body Lotion was the clear winner out of the two and I’ve been using it regularly as my full body moisturizer (which I apply before going to bed). It soaked in quickly and gave me the exact amount of hydration my skin needed (they label it as moderate, which I would agree with).
So, is BVspa as new to you as it is to me? Let me know if you’ve tried out this brand!
The products featured in this post were sent to me for consideration.