Here's my purple lipstick collection with in-depth reviews and swatches to help you get the best purple lipstick your heart desires.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Purple Lipstick Collection: Review & Swatches
Part 1
Part 2
Liquid Lipsticks
Lime Crime
Velveteens
-2.6mL
I'm a big fan of the velveteens as they have a fantastic staying power and I have enjoyed the red shades in the past, thus I thought I would continue collecting them and check out the purple ones.
All the velveteens have a candy sort of caramel smell to them that isn't unpleasant and dissipates once the project has dried. The frosted tube contains 2.6 mL of product for most of their velveteens and are $20 US dollars which is about $27 dollars Australian.
As for the individual shades let's get into it.
Rave - is described as Electric Lavender
This bright violet shade is really exciting to me and I find it quite fun to have a neon light purple in my collection. It has a pink attend and can sometimes look like a neon pink but it is definitely a purple shade. It applies quite nicely and is highly pigmented, you can build up the layers without taking away what you ever laid down if you let it dry a bit between applications. And that tends to be the trick with any liquid lipstick.
Utopia - is described as Vibrant Orchid
Utopia is nowhere near as purple as any of these other shades and next to them looks like a deep pink. I hastily bought this one, and when pansy came out I almost regretted it, however it is still a good colour in its own right. It's right between a pink and a purple shade, it is nice and bright but doesn't knock my socks off as much as any of these other colours.
Pansy - is described as Deep Purple.
This was that shade that I was hoping they would make when they came out with the red ones that I love so much. I actually made a request on Instagram for them to come out with a black and blue toned purple shade, and it seems they listen to their customers.
I do like the vibrancy and depth of this colour but I wish it was a little less red toned. Pansy leaning red makes the edge of the lips look a little off and makes any patches where the pigment isn't opaque appear more obvious as it looks more like your natural lip skin.
I had some trouble making this totally even on my lips when layering this velveteen, and the applicator did pick up some of the product already on my lips because the product sticks to itself until it is dry.
This colour is only 2mL for some reason but I think that it's almost impossible to go through one of these liquid lipstick so I'm not too perturbed, even though it is strange that the other ones are different volumes.
As with all the lime crime liquid lipsticks once the product is dry it is set like concrete and will not kiss off, holds up against complete dinners, drinks and pretty much anything you can throw out it. And that’s my main draw to these products and why I reach for them a lot when I go out and eating is involved.
They are a great matte texture and are fantastic if you have long hair which gets on your face and don't want to smear your lipstick. They also don’t feather outside the lip line and look as good as you applied them at the end of the night. These liquid lipsticks dry out your lips a bit, but I find if you use a good lip moisturiser afterwards it's not too bad and I usually avoid lipstick the day after wearing them and I'm fine.
The liquid lipsticks apply liquid and dry matte which is really great for a matte finish lipstick because the usual tube form of the matte formula can be difficult to apply as it drags in the skin and will give a jagged edge. The liquid allows you to get us through the line with the applicator provided and you can even go in with a lip brush to perfect the edges.
There is a variety of purple shades and honestly if I knew that pansy was coming out I wouldn't have bought utopia because it isn't truly a purple shade for my taste but as a deep vibrant pink colour is still very flattering. I'm happy I have both pansy and rave and they hit the spot for my purple lip colour addiction. However I think I found one liquid lipstick that I love even more.
Pretty Zombie Cosmetics 3 Witches
Best!!!
I describe it as a beautiful deep royal purple, it's the darkest of the liquid lipsticks that I have and is definitely my favourite. The website says it is vegan and costs $12 for 7g of product.
The application is fine. It's neat without too much fuss and doe foot applicator is easy to use.
I was able to layer on 2 coats without patchiness and product coming off because it stuck to it so for the applicator.
The liquid lipstick is incredibly opaque with no showing through to natural lip colour which really impressed me and is one of the reasons it made my number one spot. I really hate when there is a pinkish tinge around the edge of the lip line or the colour of the lipstick looks more on the red side of purple because that’s just not my taste as I said.
The lipstick is comfortable and feels velvety on the lips. It doesn’t feel too drying or feel restrictive or tight as you wear it. My lips felt slightly tacky when I pressed them together, but the product doesn’t stick to itself and pull off your lips or feel strange, but it is something that is different to the velveteens. The product dries down matte but isn't a completely solid barrier over the lips and I guess that's because it stays just a touch tacky and that leads to its non-kiss proof ability.
There is some product transfer when you drink from a straw or kiss someone, however your lips stay pristine through eating, drinking, even sucking on a lollipop and I found no feathering outside the lip line over hours of wear.
It left severe staining on my lips and even after using MAC cleansing oil and Garnier oil based 2 phase makeup remover the lines of my lips were left with a very dark purple stain. I don't have a problem with staining lip products. It usually means they last fantastically, but I thought I would mention this one was a lipstick that stained the most out of all of the ones I have.
I really like what I've seen from this brand so far and I'm thinking about getting a few more of their liquid lipsticks. I would have definitely got potion #9 if it was in stock when I purchased this one.
Australis
Velourlips Matte Lip Cream in TOK-I-O
-10mL
$10.49
$10.49
Smells like candy grape upon application but the smell goes away after it has dried.
This is a medium purple that is a touch on the pink side, it is the cheapest of all the liquid lipstick so I have and you definitely get what you pay for. It doesn't have the best opacity and when you try to build it up it can get patchy.
The product is dry on the lips and the pigment hangs on to dry skin more than the other products here. It doesn't transfer too much in a kiss test, but it wears off in the centre when you eat and drink and has some difficulty going on smooth when you reapply the product as it catches on itself and is patchy just like the initial application.
The worst thing is that it oxidizes on the lips as you wear it becoming much darker and losing its vibrancy. It kind of becomes a grape colour that isn’t to my taste. That was very disappointing for me and that's why I ended up purchasing the Lime crime purple velveteens and pretty much confirmed to me that going for the work expensive product gets you the best result.
OCC Lip tar
I really love lip tars because of their mixing ability and easy customisation plus they are great for the part when you want to get really creative. They are hundred percent vegan and cruelty free as claimed by OCC if that matters to you.
All OCC lip tars have a slight mint scent, but aren't tingly or overly cooling on the lips like a lip plumping product would be. They are $18 US dollars each and come in a squeezy tube with a massive 10 mL per tube, which is impossible to go through, and need to be applied with a brush not smeared directly onto the lips. I guess that would be a negative for some people because they need to supply their own applicator, where as the liquid lipsticks come with a doe foot applicator and the bullet standard lipsticks can be applied straight up.
Although sometimes using a lip rush with any of these forms can give you a better result, so sometimes convenience isn't the best way to go. The tubes are easy to chuck in a make up bag and if you have a lip brush with a cap your worries are over.
Belladonna is described as an Ultra Violet
Belladonna was one of the first purple lipstick's I bought and it was when I was just getting heavily into lipsticks and lip art and it always seemed just a little less opaque than I wanted it and since it showed the natural lip colour through it wasn't blue toned enough for me. I do still quite like it and I have the blue letter which can correct the tint of the product and it's even great when you mix in some of the white feathered lip tar to get a lavender colour.
Roller girl - is described as a Vibrant lavender purple
I bought roller girl on a whim because I felt like having a brighter purple lip tar and hoped it would be a little bit more blue toned and brighter than Belladonna, However it is a slightly lighter and more of a pinkier shade but it is still pretty. Once again it has mixing potential.
Both of these lip tars are described as a matte formula, however they remain creamy on the lips in my experience and have some colour transfer as they don't completely dry down. They stain the lips so you do have some colour remaining, but for these shades they wear off in the centre and leave you with a deep pink centre and don't stay solid purple which I'm not a fan of.
Bullet Lipstick
Lime Crime - Poisonberry
from online store
Lime crime are famous for their packaging, among other things and I have a review on some of the lipsticks listed in the description box on my blog that goes on to some of that sparkly detail.
This lipstick has a vanilla scent but isn't too obnoxious and costs $18 for 3.5g of product, also is cruelty free and vegan as professed on their site.
Poisonberry was a bit disappointing to me because it doesn't come out the same shade as in the tube. The tube shows a shimmery deep dark purple and on the lips you get a much more warm berry toned colour. It's more of a maroon shade than I would like and isn't satisfying for a dark purple lipstick. The application isn't perfect and as with a lot of purple products the pigment catches in some areas. I can get this coloured to work for my taste if I lay down a dark purple lipliner like Mac rich purple, however I still end up with a slightly patchy pinky purple that leaves me wanting more at.
MAC
3g
$36
Heroine - is described as a bright purple
Heroine was my first Mac lipstick and was one of my first disappointing purples. It to leans a very red way and is almost to the medium pink/purple shade of utopia from lime crime. Don't get me wrong it is a nice colour straight off but it doesn't do it for me. It lets a lot of the natural skintone through and can leave patches on the lips that is not opaque as I would like. It has a creamy texture and like most mac lipsticks is comfortable to wear. It is a matte formula but nothing like the retro matte feel of Ruby Woo.
And then I found... Violetta. -It is described as a bright clean violet purple
I bought this lipstick because I hoped it would impress me more than heroine and I did my research finding out it was meant to be I beefed up version of that one. It is definitely nicer because of its amplified and shimmery finish and the shiny blue overtone is really pretty, however it still has a weak purple pigmentation with the natural skin tone showing through and the same problem with patchiness and the product catching on itself when you try to apply another layer to get opacity.
Both of the above lipsticks leave a bright pink stain even after cleansing and removing with waterproof make up removers.
Cyber - is described as a intense of blackish purple
It isn't all the way a purple colour but it is definitely a red toned purple shade that is all but black without going all the way. I guess it is a blackberry colour and is good to wear if you want a super dark lipstick but don't want to whip out the black. It applies smoothly and fairly evenly and with its creamy finish is comfortable on the lips. It wears pretty well but doesn't stain heavily.
Melt Cosmetics
By Starlight - Vegan from online store
$19 3.2g
This shade is what I had hoped Poinsonberry would have been. It’s a fantastic dark purple with an extremely matte finish. The lipstick has to be warmed up and is stiff to apply as you might know about melt cosmetics lipsticks, but it is long-lasting and dramatic with its velvety matte finish. It smells nice with a vanilla undertone and has a great pigment pay off. It is a bit drying on the lips as a matte texture lipstick usual is and it has a touch of red tone to it but isn’t too far gone. There is some mega staining with this lipstick but not as much as the 3 Witches one and it wears off from the centre with a powerful magenta shade but as I said I don't really mind staining with lipsticks. There are still some transfer with this lipstick and that makes this one not as awesome as the liquid lipsticks when you want to not worry about your lipstick on a night out.
Coloured Raine
Arabian Night
$15 3.5g
This one is a nice dark purple with a creamy finish and might be the best bullet lipstick out of the bunch. And my favourite dark purple lipstick except for 3 Witches from Pretty Zombie. It applies a touch patchy but is better than the Mac ones and is comfortable on the lips.
As with all cream lipsticks there is transfer and there is bright pink staining left after removing the product as with most purple lipstick’s but this one has more of a blue tone over all.
VVS LipSynch
$15 from online store
This one is a beautiful light lavender shade and is a creamy finish. It has a grey undertone which works really nice for Gothic makeup looks. It's not as bright as the other neon violet Lime Crime Rave but I really like this shade and it is very pigmented. There's not much staining with this lipstick because of its light pigmentation
Revlon ColorBurst Matte Balm in 215 Shameless
2.7g for $17.95
I also have this drugstore one but it is a chubby stick of the dark purple persuasion. It's more of a grape tone with some red pigment and not as dark as the other dark purple I've got. The pigmentation is alright but not totally opaque. It's fine for the convenience of just whacking it on and has a twist up action to the fat pencil, but the colour is not my favourite. This lipstick doesn't stain much and it's where is average.
