All items reviewed in this post were purchased with my own funds.
Fyrinnae Lip Lustres
Description from website:
"Fyrinnae's Lip Lustres are not like lipgloss. This unique product is a non-sticky lipcolour, leaving rich colour on your lips but no goopy tackiness. Most shades are made to be relatively opaque, though some can be applied lightly over lipstick as a highlight or over balm as a sheer tint. They are a rather "dry" product because we pack as much colour into them as possible, but the ingredients are not drying. This means, due to the high concentration of natural butters, they are thinner in a warm environment, thicker when it's cool. Use care when opening if they have been cold (i.e; in a mailbox in winter). They are filled hot, then the product cools, hardening, the moment the tubes are filled, so they may have the appearance of cracks or tiny lines of air. Lustres have a light vanilla scent. They were reformulated in 9/2011."
Size: 10 mL tube holding 8 mL of product, with a flocked doe-foot wand applicator. There is a 1.5 mL trial size you'll see in the photos that is currently unavailable, but will be available again by September. (For reference, a Rimmel Apocalips lip lacquer is 5.5 mL.)
Price: $7 for the full size. The trial sizes were $2 apiece at the time I bought them.
Ingredients: Mangifera Indica (Mango) Seed Butter, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Oil, Mica, Caprylic/Capric/Stearic Glycerides, Orbignya Oleifera (Babassu) Seed Oil, Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla) Wax, Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil, Tocopherol Acetate (Vitamin E, as a natural oil preservative), Flavor (lip-safe fragrance). May contain: Titanium Dioxide, Tin Oxide, Manganese Violet, Iron Oxides, Synthetic Flurophogopite, Calcium Aluminum Borosilicate, Calcium Sodium Borosilicate, Red #7, Red#6, Red #21, Red #27, Blue #1, Red #40.
General review:
I really, really like the formula of Fyrinnae Lip Lustres--they're not so lightweight that they just smear right off your lips and onto your teeth, like many tinted balms I have; they have good pigmentation, a smooth texture, and are incredibly comfortable and hydrating to wear without lip balm for long periods of time, unlike many lipsticks I have that may feel good at first but will eventually dry out your lips. They smell a little bit like vanilla cupcakes, but aren't offensively strong, and they aren't flavored. They are not sticky at all. They do transfer slightly, but no more than any average satin-finish lipstick.
Kristin adds: The texture is almost mousse like in that's it seems like it should be a lot denser than it actually is.
I've seen some complaints of Lip Lustres feathering in liplines, but haven't experienced this myself (but I'm not especially prone to this issue).
The texture is creamy, thick, but thin enough to apply with the doefoot applicator. I'd call these lipsticks that are packaged like glosses. Lip lacquers and liquid lipsticks tend to be more liquid and runny; lip glosses are more liquid, sheer, and glossy.
Where it says "use care when opening if they have been cold," they're really not joking. The first order I got of Lip Lustres came in the middle of winter; I opened up all the tubes a few minutes after getting them out of the mailbox, and each one was neatly beheaded, with the doefoot part of the applicator staying in the tube and just the cap and stick coming out. I wrote to Fyrinnae and despite this being due to my own stupidity (I hadn't read the disclaimer on the website), they graciously sent me replacements, with a warning to wait before opening next time.
I LOVE the trial size tubes. They are tiny and adorable and can be easily put into a pocket for touch-ups (the full size tube is a little large for that). They say that the trial sizes are good for a few applications, but I've had my trial sizes for months without running out of product (granted, I have lipstick ADD, but I've definitely worn most of them many times). While $7 for a lipstick isn't exactly expensive, the trial size price point is fantastic and makes it easy to experiment with colors that you're not entirely sure if you'll like.
I do have an issue with the packaging, which is that the writing and the silvery stuff wears off the tubes really quickly, so if you do throw a Lip Lustre into your purse, it will get really ratty-looking really quickly, as you can see in my photos. The name of the product will become illegible in short order and your Lip Lustre will look like you've gone over it with sandpaper, but it's really just normal wear and tear.
Dragon's BloodDescription from website: "Dragon's Blood is a deep, rich, cool matte maroon-red, inspired by the vampy lipsticks of the 1920s. Can be applied as a lighter "berry stain" shade over balm."
Color: Deep blood red with cool blue undertones.
Finish: Opaque creamy satin, no shimmer.
Other notes: I'm not entirely sure what Fyrinnae means by "matte"--if it means "no shimmer," cool, but I usually take "matte" to mean "not shiny," and all the shades they describe as "matte" I would describe as "satin" because they have a bit of glossiness to them.
Dragon's Blood is probably my favorite red lipstick, and I have a LOT of red lipsticks. Despite the warm undertones in my skin, I can wear this shade quite comfortably. It's a deep red, though not quite vampy dark.
This color stains a little. I was unable to remove all traces of my swatch with a baby wipe.
Pygmy Hippo:Description from website: "Matte medium rosey plum shade, not quite mauve. Neutral-warm. If you wonder about the name, just search Google images for "Pygmy hippopotamus baby". It's not that the shade is an exact match for their little pink undersides, but they're simply rather adorable beings."
Color: Medium-dark dusty mauve--pinkish purple with warm undertones
Finish: Opaque creamy satin, no shimmer. Slightly glossier than the other satin colors.
Other notes: It can be a little hard to wear because the dusty purple undertone can make it look a little ghoulish. It's more wearable if applied in a single light layer, but I tend to slather on lipsticks.
This color stains a little, though not as much as Dragon's Blood.
Ghost's Kiss:Description from website: "Slightly shimmery "nude" with hues of copper and pink. Transparent, but not entirely sheer. Neither overly warm or cool, so it's suitable for a wide range of skintones."
Color: Brownish medium nude; between rose gold and copper
Finish: Metallic/shimmery; somewhat sheer
Other notes: I have a very low tolerance for shimmery lipsticks, so I'm really not crazy about this one. On the bright side, the shimmer in the nude color keeps it from looking like you just put foundation on your lips, or from caking up in lip lines like milky nude lipsticks can do.
Ocelot:Description from website: "Matte warm dusty-rose pink, very close to the soft pink of an Ocelot kitten's paw pads and nose. Slightly lighter than it looks here."
Color: Medium Barbie pink, yellow-based, a bit darker than bubblegum. They say "slightly lighter than it looks here" in reference to their swatch, but to me, the swatch on my skin looks about two shades darker than what I see on my monitor, and actually leans cooler than I'd like.
Finish: Opaque creamy satin leaning almost matte, no shimmer
Other notes: I keep looking at the swatch of this and thinking of house paint, which is probably not good! It's pretty opaque and light against my skin tone (NC30) so I find this quite hard to wear, personally (I started laughing when I put it on for my lip swatch because I looked like a madwoman); I think it would be better suited to someone with a lighter skin tone, and blotted down--the opacity is high, so it's almost milky and can look streaky on lips if you're not careful.
Romantique:Description from website: "Romantique is a semi-sheer soft warm pink with gold shimmer, similar to our "Rapunzel" eye shadow."
Color: Pale pink gold; at an angle, it looks like a slightly blue pink, and straight on, it looks like a pure warm golden shimmer with hints of pink
Finish: Metallic/highly shimmery, slightly sheer
Other notes: I was disappointed by this one. I know it's maybe their most popular lip lustre, but again, it's better suited to someone with a lighter skin tone than me. I found the pale, shimmery finish tacky and dated. Maybe it would look nice layered over something else, but it might also be too opaque for good layering. The swatch on Fyrinnae's page makes it look like a fairly deep pink with hints of gold reflection, but hardly any of the pink base comes through in real life--it mostly looks like gold shimmer.
Kristin notes: Thought I didn't like wearing this shade alone, I found that if layered over darker lip lustres or other lipsticks, it gives a really nice sheen to the finish.
Meloncholy:Description from website: "(yes, it's supposed to be spelled that way) Meloncholy is a bright coral-melon shade with a slight shimmer. Originally released in 2009, reformulated and re-released in February 2013." Color: Warm, medium coral-orange
Finish: Satin, fairly sheer, with a tiny amount of golden shimmer
Other notes: This color is gorgeous and is my next favorite after Dragon's Blood and Glamorous Rebel. The semi-sheer aspect makes the melon-orange more wearable on lips, since your natural lip color can show through a little. I'd like this better if it didn't have shimmer--as it is, it's close to, and narrowly beat out by, Shiro's Why Not Zoidberg? Intertube, which is a similar warm coral shade but without any shimmer.
Glamorous Rebel:Description from website: "Bright, rich cherry red. A cool hue, but should work for most neutral and olive skintones as well. Matte finish (no shimmer but applies with a slight glossiness), and is likely to stain."
Color: Cherry red is a good description. Bright, cool blue-red, medium deep in tone, leaning almost, but not quite, to dark pink.
Finish: Slightly sheer creamy satin, no shimmer.
Other notes: This color is beautiful! It has great pigmentation but is a bit translucent, which gives a glossy, casual, almost cherry popsicle stain effect on lips. This is my second favorite after Dragon's Blood. Although my skin is warm-toned, this color was still quite flattering.
Visual Kei:Description from website: "Visual Kei is a very bright pink, with a nearly matte finish. Temporary staining is likely (keep off of fabric). *Reformulated in October 2011: Brighter, more intense colour saturation. * 9/2012: Colour amped up a notch yet again.*"
Color: Intense bright blue-pink, medium-dark, not quite purple enough to be fuchsia. Strawberry pink on steroids? It's not bright enough to be considered neon, but it is definitely a bright, statement lipstick.
Finish: Very pigmented but rather sheer satin finish, no shimmer.
Other notes: Like Glamorous Rebel, it is highly pigmented but on the sheer side, giving a stain effect rather than the look of a heavy lipstick. Surprisingly wearable for a hot pink lipstick.
This color stained my skin a bit.
1952:Description from website: "Very bright warm red. It may appear almost orange on some skintones, while leaning cool on others. Matte finish (no shimmer but applies with a slight glossiness), and is likely to stain."
Color: I'm one of those lucky souls on whom this appears distinctly orange, much more so than Meloncholy. On lips especially, it's a very orangey red, well past tomato and headed into carrot territory. Warm-toned, very bright and cheerful.
Finish: Creamy opaque satin, no shimmer. Not quite as pigmented as Dragon's Blood, though.
Other notes: The skin swatch makes this look very reasonable, but on my lips it comes off a bit too insanely orange to wear every day. Still, it's a pretty and wearable lip color that brightens up the face.
Description from website: "Dark metallic wine, leaning warm. Fades to a warm wine-red stain"
Color: A dark, purple-based red. It's cool toned (though the description says it leans warm?) and is too dark for me but it's a great vampy color for anyone looking something deep.
Finish: Shiny, metallic and very pigmented.
Other notes: As all colors do, this shade varies depending on your light source. If you're in more of a blue light, Saloon Girl gets very dark and very purple. It was also staining.
That's all the shades we have in our collections! Which are your favorites?
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