On Thursday I posted about Liquid Courage Cosmetics and swatched the Lip Lacquer Collection. Now I am back again with more Liquid Courage but this time it’s all about the matte. Since we did the “who what and where” about the brand already let’s get right down to the products. I have to apologize in advance, there will be no full face swatches on this post. Although I photographed the swatches in one go, I decided to do the full face shots when I was testing out wear time. Then I did forget to do full faces on a few days so I will update or do a new post with full faces as soon as possible!
Product Specifics:
Brand: Liquid Courage Cosmetics
Product: Classic Matte Lipstick
Full Size Price: $18.00
Full Size Product Packaging: Oval lipstick tube with matte finish and matte silver logo detailing
Full Size Net Weight: 4.5 grams
In total there are 10 shades in the Liquid Courage Cosmetics Classic Matte Lipstick Collection. Today I have seven to play with and in order of shade they are:
- Bare Truth
- Embrace
- Amber
- Hawaiian Fire
- Metro Red
- Fruit Punch
- Dare Devil
As with the Lip Lacquers, the Classic Matte Lipsticks are NOT vegan as they contain beeswax. So please be aware that if you prefer your products free from animal produce then the Classic Mattes are not for you. However, they are completely cruelty free, so no need to feel guilty about that pout!
Now the packaging for these is quite sexy. Rather than the traditional round lipstick tube, the Liquid Courage collection uses an oval tube. They actually are quite similar to the Sleek True Colour Lipsticks, which I am completely ok with as I find those to also be sexy. The tube itself has a matte finish, that feels almost velvety and the Liquid Courage logo has a matte silver finish to it. As with the Lip Lacquers, the tubes are injection molded but the seams are very cleverly hidden and the belly button is concealed underneath the shade sticker so the tube looks smooth and flawless. There is a but coming though, as sexy as the matte finish is, after I took them to a makeup job they looked terrible! The matte finish holds powder and makeup way too well and they scuff up pretty easily. I picked one up after cleaning some foundation up and it looked like the lipstick had murdered the foundation. A quick wipe off with a wet wipe sends them back to factory settings but the scratches and scuff marks are there to stay.
The middle band and bullet holder is in a patent finish, so you have a nice classy contrast going on there. Once the oval-shaped lid is off, you have a traditional round twist up lipstick bullet. The twist mechanism is very smooth, loose enough to twist up with ease, but enough resistance to not slide up and down willy nilly. Other than the matte finish being a dirt magnet, the packaging is very pleasing and obviously time and consideration has been put into the aesthetics and quality.
Anyway, to the swatching! Initially I found that the bullets were tough and caught on my skin, but once the top layer of product had lost the shiny outer coat, the lipsticks applied reasonably well. They still caught a little but pigmentation was very cool, especially the nudes. I found that once the bullet warmed up a little there was no issue with application.
The Matte formula is quite matte, I feel it is actually a very similar finish to the Revlon Matte Lipsticks. They are matte with a soft wet look, but it is not a glossy finish, more of a moisturizing finish so that the matte formula doesn’t dry out your skin. I guess you could call it a dewy matte. As with the Lip Lacquers, the matte formula takes a few minutes to settle down, but once it has you have a very comfortable matte lip balm feel. I should also mention the smells and taste as I forgot to mention that in the Lip Lacquer review. The mattes have the traditional lipstick scent, which is probably from the beeswax, but there is also a slight hint of soap in there too. It smell very clean and fresh. As for taste, I did not really detect one. Liquid Courage really went for the classic lipstick experience on all fronts.
As usual, the lip swatches are applied over bare lips with no liner and no setting powders or sealant. For the wear time test I wear ONLY the lipstick, so that I can test out how the lipstick performs on its own without help from other products.
“Bare truth”
“Bare Truth” in bullet format looks to be a very fleshy tone with some pink undertones. On application you can definitely see the pink more but “Bare Truth” is still quite a cold shade. I found that once the initial shiny coat had been wiped away from the bullet, they lipstick applied reasonably well. As with many matte formulas, this one did tug a little on my skin and getting a crisp line with the bullet is a little tricky so I tidied up with a lip brush. This was my Tuesday lipstick and I can’t fault it. 6 hours with eating and drinking before I needed to dab a little more on.
Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla) Wax, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax, Cera Alba (Bees) Wax, Olive (Olea Europa) Oil, Citrus Aurantium (Orange) Oil, Cymbopogon Citratus (Lemon Grass) Oil, Sesamun Indicum (Sesame), Oil, Titanium Dioxide, Manganese Violet, Red #6, Red #7, Red 30, Blue #1, Yellow, Mica, Iron Oxides
“Embrace”
Pictured on the website, “Embrace” appears to be a much darker brown shade but in actual fact, it is only a few shades lighter than “Bare Truth”. The picture used appears to be an older image than the others so I will hazard a guess that they are mid update. The shade itself is an incredibly natural lip colour. Mostly browns with a hint of rose, this is basically MLBB. I found that “Embrace” didn’t quite cover as well as “Bare Truth”, especially around the edges but as it is such a naked shade I really didn’t have a problem with it. I wore this one on Wednesday all day and I got around 5 hours wear before the patches at the edges really started to bother me and I had to reapply. I also think this might be a matte shade dupe for MAC Cremesheen in “Naked Proof” from the LE Rebecca Mosses Collection, so I will check that out.
Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla) Wax, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax, Cera Alba (Bees) Wax, Olive (Olea Europa) Oil, Citrus Aurantium (Orange) Oil, Cymbopogon Citratus (Lemon Grass) Oil, Sesamun Indicum (Sesame), Oil, Titanium Dioxide, Manganese Violet, Red #6, Red #7, Red 30, Blue #1, Yellow, Mica, Iron Oxides
“Amber”
First good thing, the web store actually reflects this shade pretty accurately. Second good thing, I didn’t have any coverage issues with this one. I decided instead of trying to work the waxy top layer off on my lips, I just rubbed the bullet with a tissue and then had no problems at all. As the name suggests it is a very warm orange inspired brown, a warm autumn shade that will flatter most skin tones. This was my Thursday lipstick and I feel like it wore quite well though I was in the salon so after a couple of hours there was a lot of “Amber” on my dust mask (making sets of false nails for an event!) but it didn’t transfer from the mask all over my face. It it did stay put but vibrancy was lost after a few hours due to the constant contact with the mask. I think under normal circumstances this would last a good 5 – 6 hours without issue.
Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla) Wax, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax, Cera Alba (Bees) Wax, Olive (Olea Europa) Oil, Citrus Aurantium (Orange) Oil, Cymbopogon Citratus (Lemon Grass) Oil, Sesamun Indicum (Sesame), Oil, Titanium Dioxide, Manganese Violet, Red #6, Red #7, Red 30, Blue #1, Yellow, Mica, Iron Oxides
“Hawaiian Fire”
This is the shade that originally drew me to the brand and I was not disappointed. If this isn’t the Liquid Courage signature lipstick then it really should be. It is a very vibrant red which leans on the orange side of the spectrum without being orange. Judging from swatches I would say it is probably a close match for MAC “Lady Danger” (though I do not have it to test that theory out) The bullet glides on, pigmentation is intense and 6+ hours wear time whilst eating and drinking is just perfect performance. I had no issues with patchy coverage, no feathering and no uneven fading. Around 4 hours the colour began to lose its vibrancy but it wasn’t very noticeable until it reach the 5 hour mark (which coincidentally was just after dinner time). Mostly the colour faded from the inner lip area which was probably due to the act of consuming food and drink.
Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla) Wax, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax, Cera Alba (Bees) Wax, Olive (Olea Europa) Oil, Citrus Aurantium (Orange) Oil, Cymbopogon Citratus (Lemon Grass) Oil, Sesamun Indicum (Sesame), Oil, Titanium Dioxide, Manganese Violet, Red #6, Red #7, Red 30, Blue #1, Yellow, Mica, Iron Oxides
“Metro Red”
Whilst I really like the shade “Metro Red” is tended to do that weird patchy thing that “Embrace” did. It was usually around the edges of my lips. It covered great on my skin where I had over lined, but the very edges of my natural lips it just didn’t like to cover so I ended up with a smooth “worn off” area quite fast. You can see the patchiness quite clearly in the photograph below. As there is no liner, primer or powder set in these swatches you can see exactly how the lipstick applies. Now when I wore it for a whole day I felt that it faded in patchy areas so I was touching up every 2 hours (which is roughly how often I drink something). It was a fair bit of maintenance but realistically I wouldn’t wear ONLY the lipstick, day-to-day I would use a liner and set the lipstick with translucent powder. I will use this again as I loved the shade
Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla) Wax, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax, Cera Alba (Bees) Wax, Olive (Olea Europa) Oil, Citrus Aurantium (Orange) Oil, Cymbopogon Citratus (Lemon Grass) Oil, Sesamun Indicum (Sesame), Oil, Titanium Dioxide, Manganese Violet, Red #6, Red #7, Red 30, Blue #1, Yellow, Mica, Iron Oxides
“Fruit Punch”
This is pink, honest, I don’t know what happened in this photograph but I promise that “Fruit Punch” is in fact a pink lipstick. It is a gorgeous blue-tinted pink, so its on the colder side of the spectrum. I also had some very minor issues with this being difficult on the edges on my natural lips. I also felt that this was one of the glossier mattes however it did matte down after about 5 minutes wear time. Overall wear time was very similar to “Metro Red”, after about 3 hours it began to lose vibrancy and look patchy. After I had a drink I needed to touch up. This one felt a little slippery for it to be a true matte finish. As it is in the same place as the others that patched I am beginning to wonder if maybe my lips are a little dry in that area and causing the products not to stick properly. It is very moisturizing, you don’t feel dry so if you want moisture and don’t mind a little shine then this one is perfect. I would put this around the 4th best out of the swatches. I would wear this without lip liner and setting powder quite happily, but I would be careful to sneak a peak in my pocket mirror after eating or drinking.
Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla) Wax, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax, Cera Alba (Bees) Wax, Olive (Olea Europa) Oil, Citrus Aurantium (Orange) Oil, Cymbopogon Citratus (Lemon Grass) Oil, Sesamun Indicum (Sesame), Oil, Titanium Dioxide, Manganese Violet, Red #6, Red #7, Red 30, Blue #1, Yellow, Mica, Iron Oxides
“Dare Devil”
Again the phantom weird light strikes again. This is not black, it is a very dark purple in the bullet but not anywhere near as dark as my camera claims it is. Though if you are expecting it to be that shade on your lips then you will be disappointed. “Dare Devil” is a little bit of an illusion. It looks real dark but it is actually quite bright compared to the bullet. When I first opened the tube I was disappointed with how dark it was but after I swatched it I fell in love. “Dare Devil” is easily my second favourite after “Hawaiian Fire”. The shade reminds me of a red wine stain, which reminds me, this shade stains your lips (and arm). This was the longest wear time out of all the Classic Mattes that I tried. At the 6 hour mark it was still going strong. I needed to use an oil based remover to get it completely off my lips and even then a slight stain, like I had been sucking a lollipop, was left behind.
Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla) Wax, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax, Cera Alba (Bees) Wax, Olive (Olea Europa) Oil, Citrus Aurantium (Orange) Oil, Cymbopogon Citratus (Lemon Grass) Oil, Sesamun Indicum (Sesame), Oil, Titanium Dioxide, Manganese Violet, Red #6, Red #7, Red 30, Blue #1, Yellow, Mica, Iron Oxides
So that is 7/10 shades from the Liquid Courage Cosmetics Classic Matte Collection. Roshell the owner and founder has kindly extended a super awesome discount code for MUH Blog followers. For free shipping and a 40% discount on your purchase simply enter “MAKEUPHONEY” at the checkout.
Remember to sign up for the Liquid Courage Cosmetics Newsletter, as I will be doing exclusive, not to be seen anywhere else, lipstick tutorials for them! Don’t forget to check out Lene’s gorgeous manicure from yesterday, Nadine’s brightly coloured facemasks from Friday and most importantly, enjoy the rest of your weekend!