I’m a bit late joining the Colourpop Cosmetics bandwagon: Beauty bloggers gave this affordable cosmetics range from the US a huge thumbs up throughout 2015. Sometimes I’m slow to embrace hype. Anyway, executive summary: The hype is deserved – I’ve given all the products a bloomin’ good road test since I got them for my birthday in December (forty, cough). I’m now cheerfully reporting back to say “Colourpop is definitely hype worthy!” Here’s a speedy review of my Colourpop Cosmetics purchases: Two blushes, one eyeshadow (that required phenomenal willpower, the range of shades is the bomb), one lipstick and a matte liquid lipstick.
Good news too: Colourpop ships internationally (including to NZ). Bonus!
ColourPop Super Shock Cheek Blushes
Let’s start with the blushes. One super important thing to mention is the formula of these, along with the formula of the eyeshadows. Whilst they are powder in formula, they have a slightly creamy consistency and – check this out, the texture is slightly bouncy. Random. I like it.
My head was in a total spin trying to decide which blush colours to choose (there’s 24 of ’em). In the end I selected colours I didn’t have (good logic, eh?) and I ended up with Early Bird and Sticky Sweet.
Early Bird is a bright matte coral that looks terrifyingly bright in the pan. Fortunately it’s got a semi-sheer finish and the colour can be built up on the cheeks. Think of the sun-kissed effect you get when you get a healthy dose of sun – that’s the look you’ll achieve with Early Bird.
As for Sticky Sweet, this was the surprise pick, my eyebrows raised in surprise when I unpacked this, I figured this colour choice was a colossal mistake. Wrong. This is gorgeous. Described as a “deep violet with pink duo chrome finish”, Sticky Sweet is super build-able and it’s surprisingly wearable. I love the duo-chrome finish, which looks like blush with a highlighter combined. I’ve also used it as part of a dramatic purple eyeshadow look. Nice.
La La Super Shock Eyeshadow
I got one eyeshadow, La La, which is coppery bronze with a strong hint of rose gold with an ultra metallic finish. The colour pay-off is amazing, I can put this on at 7.00am and it’s still looking sharp at 10.00pm (noting I always use an eyeshadow primer). When I say metallic finish, think tin foil – really shiny. Unfortunately, I’m not head over heels in love with the colour, I simply think it’s a bit too orange for my skintone, but I’ve learnt how to make it work by combining it with a a matte brown and a darker colour in the crease (like in the pic below) and it’s been getting a good wear from me. I guess that’s the trouble with buying makeup online, you can just never be sure of the exact shade you are buying. Cie la vie.
In terms of eyeshadow aplication, Colourpop recommends the eyeshadow is best applied with your finger, I disagree – I’ve noticed no difference if I use a flat stiff eyeshadow brush (I can’t stand dirty fingers anyway!).
My summary? Apart from slightly cocking up my colour choice, if the rest of the eyeshadow range is such high quality, I reckon these are ‘you can’t go wrong territory’. Price? I’ve saved the best to last: A bloody bargain at US$5.00 (currently NZ$7.75). I’ll stop waxing lyrical, I am chomping at the bit to get more of these eyeshadows, alas, I don’t need any: Have you seen my eyeshadow collection?!
Colourpop Lippie Stix – Lumiere
Lipstick Lumiere is a dusky pink/mauve shade and it’s my favourite product out of everything I got. In fact, I’ve already rambled on about my love for Lumiere in this blog post. It’s like MAC Syrup’s big sister (I’ll stop there, I’ve bleated on enough about my love for MAC Syrup!). If you want to check it out on my forty-year old mug (ha), I’m wearing this in the photo above.
ColourPop Ultra Matte Lip Cream – Lychee
Lastly, as I seek to further embrace my few-found love of a bold lip, and a purple one at that, I threw caution to the wind and got Lychee, an ultra matte lip cream that’s a bright warm violet. I’ve read rave reviews on these matte lip creams and was itching to try one out.
Unfortunately, I’m not sold. Bugger. I’m just not in love with the colour, though my husband disagrees declaring it “saucy” and daring me to wear it! I feel it’s a bit too matte and a bit too cool in tone for me. I much prefer my purple-toned MAC lippies, like MAC Heroine and Up the Amp, noting Lychee is in the same colour family (see swatch below).
Quality wise, I’m not delighted with the longevity of the wear either, apparently they are kiss-proof (I’m married, so no chance of road testing that…) but I can tell you they aren’t ‘snackproof’: It comes off on my sipper bottle and I am left with an unattractive patchy area where the colour rubs off on my inner lip. My Australis Velour Matte Lip Creams last longer. I also prefer the texture and wear of my Sleek Matte Lip Cream from Beauty Bliss that I mentioned in this favourites blog post. Oh well, it was US$6.00 and actually, if I whack MAC’s Up the Amp lipstick over the top, I like the combo (though I won’t wear it to work, I’ll stand out like dog’s balls).
You be the judge, I’m wearing Lychee in the pic below.
Lastly, here’s a swatch comparison of Lychee to my favourite MAC purple-toned lippies. It’s super matte. Heroine also has a matte finish, FYI.
Shipping costs
Lastly, if you are wondering about shipping, Colourpop ship internationally. The cost of shipping to get this to NZ was US$17, which definitely adds to the overall price tag. However, if you are in NZ, then you’ll know that we often pay a premium for our cosmetics here. The reality is that it’s often cheaper, even considering international postage prices, to buy products from overseas and have the courier pigeon drop ’em off to the bottom of the world.
So, that’s my review of my Colourpop birthday presents. All in all – I’m rapt and definitely recommend the range. Have you got any goodies from Colourpop? Thoughts?
