Lipstick on the cheap: Gorgeous Cosmetics
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A few weeks ago I splurged and picked up five lipsticks for $25.00 when I attended Salon Melbourne. You read that right, I picked up five for $25! Normally, Gorgeous lipstick retails for $35.00/tube -- I took this as a sign to try something new.
Out of the five colours I chose, I was only happy with how well two performed. The other three, while pretty in hue, were disappointing. Hey, we can't win 'em all!
The chosen few
Swatches from left to right: Berry Intense, Innocence, Brigitte, Inspiration & Warm Mauve
Working from love to loathe, here are a few "tasting" notes I took down while test-driving all five colours.
Wearing Berry Intense
Gorgeous Cosmetics' Berry Intense
Berry Intense is the star performer out of the bunch. The formula was creamy, the colour wore evenly and lasted for well over eight hours. By quitting time, I had to scrub my lips in addition to washing my face. Berry Intense is another true red within my lip collection and most certainly passes for a dupe of Giorgio Armani's Rouge d'Armani 400. Pick this colour up before it sells out!
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Innocence is a muted rose red with subtle purple undertones. After four hours of wear it still managed to hold onto its glossy finish; hour eight marked colour dry out. Unfortunately, Innocence is sold out, check your local stockist for availability.
Wearing Brigitte
Gorgeous Cosmetics' Brigitte
Brigitte, a soft pink with a touch of frost, wore unevenly over eight hours of wear, was drying and even emphasized flakes as the day progressed. While Brigitte is a beautiful colour, my gut's telling me there are better performers out there. Give Brigitte a miss.
Inspiration was less than inspirational. A tawny pink with orange undertones, Inspiration lasted six hours and sucked all the moisture out of my lips; I made it a point to scrub my lips in the ladies bathroom and start fresh with a random lippie in my purse. A definite skip in my book.
First off, let me start things off by saying Warm Mauve has to be an insult to "old lady pink" lipsticks. Warm Mauve is the worst of the worst. It was difficult to apply, drying from the start and didn't even last two hours. When I removed Warm Mauve last Friday, I think I also removed the top layer of skin on my lips. Bin this baby.
In the end I walked away with five colours for less than the price of one; reason being these colours have been discontinued as Gorgeous Cosmetics have released 30 new colours. The darker shades were the best performers and the most interesting -- they performed as good as, if not better than, Giorgio Armani and Burberry. My biggest hope for the newer colours is consistency in terms of wear, feel and overall performance.
Each colour has a personality of its own and adds a bit of flare to the day; I just don't want to have to worry about my lips looking like joke, because they are my pride and joy.
The Bagful breakdown:
Total amount for Gorgeous Lipstick:
- Five for $25.00 AUS on this occasion, however they normally retail for $35.00 AUS / $25.00 USD. Discontinued shades are now selling for $12.95 AUS until they sell out.
Value for money spent (performance and quality):
- 10 out of 10 bags for Innocence and Berry Intense
- 6 out of 10 bags for Brigitte
- 4 out of 10 for Inspiration
- 1 out of 10 for Warm Mauve
Would another purchase be on the horizon?:
- Jelly Bean looks good enough to eat!
Haven't heard of Gorgeous Cosmetics? They are a Melbourne-based company with a penchant for the stage, the screen and the runway. Their colours are on trend and vibrant. Recently, Gorgeous made their move to the States and Karen of MBB seems to like what she's tried so far :)
