Maybelline has always had great products, and never failed me yet… until today. I tried out their Color Elixir lipgloss in “Vision in Violet” and I’m not only unimpressed, but feeling pretty let down.
Now, before saying anything else, I will say that this may not be true for all of the shades in the collection. The vibrant purple I expected is a tall order to fill, and the lighter, less ambitious shades are probably okay; I haven’t tried those ones, so I wouldn’t know. But if you’re like me and you’re the kind of person that loves their vibrant shades, you should probably stay away from this product.
The site describes the product as a lipgloss that will provide the pigment of a lipstick and softness of a balm. Let’s see about that. As I always do before using a lip product, I put on a little of my e.o.s. balm in the blueberry acai flavor. Side note: I love those little e.o.s. balms; if you haven’t used one before, you’re missing out, buddy.
Okay, so below is the product. When held upright, the packaging is meant to resemble a tube of lipstick, once again insisting it will deliver the pigmentation of a lipstick. The tube shows a vivid violet-fuchsia sort of tone. I’ve been looking for a bright purple lipstick for ages; so let’s see how this holds up.
I pump the brush a few times, as the website said to do for maximum effect. The brush is pretty wide for applying such a color. I ended up using my own lip brush for better control of the color. The pigment looks strong, as promised, on the brush. Surprisingly, it doesn’t look like a gloss at all on the brush.
So first I started putting it on with the applicator it came with, but soon realized that will only end in sloppiness. The gloss is thick and kind of glue-y.
On camera it looks okay, and it’s actually more vivid in real life. The color is just what I expected… sort of. When spread on the lip, on camera it’s not as noticeable, but in person you can see that it spreads unevenly with no hope of a balance. It’s awkward looking, really.
Even with my lip brush ((a decent Revlon one I picked up last week)), it’s hard to spread and distribute the color evenly. It’s kind of a mess. Again, the texture is awkward. Think liquid glue mixed with peanut butter. Very strange.
Above, besides my acne, you can see the color more as it would appear in person. After a couple minutes of talking, the pigment is further disheveled and more haphazard-looking. Plus, I really cannot get over this strange, sticky-thick texture.
Honestly, I should’ve just gotten their lipstick of the same line, since I actually really like the Maybelline Color Sensational lipstick in Vivid Rose. I can always add an actually pleasant gloss on top, after all.
This is too bad, since everything else Maybelline I’ve ever used was at least pretty good. So like I said, skip the “Color Elixir” and get the actual lipstick if you want effective and non-goopy color.
Again, the lighter shades may distribute color just fine, but if the consistency is the same ((which it should be)) then I’ll pass on this line of product.
I think this is the first real review I did for my nonbinary beauty blog; too bad we’re starting on a low note. .-.
Also, in the past 24 hours that blog got like 50 followers ((previously had like…5)) so that was a pleasant surprise! Rock on, yo.