Revlon Colorstay Ultimate Suede Lipstick

1. Revlon Colorstay Ultimate Suede Lipsticks in Fashionista, Muse and Socialize, $10.99

Revlon’s strongest beauty forte are their foundations, lip products and nail polishes.  So, I could not help but be interested in picking up the new Colorstay Ultimate Suede Lipsticks in a few shades.  I actually had more in hand and then found out out how much they were – more than their regular lipsticks – and I put a few back.  I think I should have just walked away, overall.

So let’s just get this out of the way.  It did have a strange sueded-gloss feel to it.  They have sheer to medium opacity and they are not the most pigmented lip shades out there.  It will take many swipes to get the full color pay off on your lips.  For instance, there is no doubt in my mind that the advertisement with Olivia Wilde and that deep dark berry color, Backstage, took many swipes and presses of tissue paper to achieve.

Fashionista, a medum to deep brownish red color and I had to heavily press the bullet to my lip AND add many swipes to get a deeper color. 

I thought Muse would be more of a loud, bright fuscha-ish pink.  It is more a muted purple tinted, medium pink.  I thought Socialite would be a more pigmented nudish pink with a little color intensity but it is a medium toned yellow-pink which is not very flattering on green-tinged skin.  This is a better shade for very fair to light, yellow and peach toned blondes.  I can’t imagine this color working on anyone else…but then maybe this color strongly reminds me of Paris Hilton.  As a matter of fact, I think this IS Paris Hilton’s favorite shade of yellowy pink she is often seen wearing…She was probably the inspiration behind this color.

I was most surprised with the fact that Fashionista didn’t really work on me.  I think if this had more pigment it would have worked.  Or maybe it’s me and my green udertoned skin.  I can see this shade working very well on yellow and beige undertoned gals for a russet, lip bitten look.  Or on darker toned ladies for a flush of color.  It is a pretty color.  Just not on me.

Revlon says this soft suede lipstick offers moisture with shea butter and aloe.  Have you ever tried naturally made shea butter?  Epecially, the hand mixed kind.  It can feel kind of lumpy and unevenly textured.  Oddly, the texture of these lipsticks felt uneven.  There was a very moisturized glossy-suede feel to it but also kind of uneven.  It wasn’t a even silky feel on application.  If you look at the swatches closely you can see that there is uneven clumping of the pigment. 

I would compare these unfavorably to L’Oreal’s Colour Riche Caresse Sticks.    Sure, Revlon’s Colorstay Ultimate Suede Lipstick offers more pigment but I found the silky feel and even color saturation of L’Oreal’s Colour Riche Caresse Sticks to be much better.  I may have gotten a few bad shades but I don’t really like the pigmentation, texture, and uneven feel of these lipsticks.  If you price compare, Revlon’s cheaper Super Lustrous line is WAAAAAYYY better in quality.  At $10.99, these are too expensive and I feel like they should be knocked down a couple of bucks for it to be a solid value buy.  This collection did have a very wide range of shades to pick from but many seemed best suited for fair to light medium ladies with peach, pink, or yellow undertones.  Although, I can see some medium caramel ladies working with these shades too.