Hello beauties!

I’ve recently become obsessed with lipstick. I’m especially partial to loud, fun colours to brighten up this dreary winter we’ve been having in Canada. I’ve also recently delved into the world of liquid lipsticks because they usually last longer than traditional bullet lipsticks, which is super important because I work 10-12 hour days with very few breaks.

Imagine my delight when I heard about a brand of liquid lipsticks that had decent reviews, a variety of colours, international shipping, and a price of ONE DOLLAR (well, between one and two dollars in CAD).

I ordered my lipsticks off of eBay from a variety of different sellers, at prices ranging from $1.11 to $1.36 per lipstick. In case anyone is concerned, a quick Google search will take you to a reddit thread confirming that these lipsticks are in compliance with FDA standards, so no need to worry!

Here’s a picture of the tubes. They are shaped like test tubes which I think is a cute touch. Also of note is the fact that the real name of these products is “Long Lasting Lip Gloss” but I assure you, these are very matte and not glossy at all as you will see soon! Each tube contains 0.155 oz of product, which is very similar to the amount contained in Stila and Colourpop’s offerings. The shades don’t have names and instead are told apart by number.

Below are swatches on my forearm. I range from NC45 in the summer to NC42 in the winter, which is probably closer to the shade I am now.

In the same order as the picture above, from left to right, the colours are:

8, 11, 12, 19, 25, 5, 22, 33, 32, 28, 36

You may notice that some of the swatches look a bit wet or glossy near the top. This is just because I took the picture before they had dried down fully (which takes about 5 minutes). The bottom of each swatch is much more representative as you will see in the following lip swatches!

Here are my bare lips for reference:

I have pretty pigmented lips, so your mileage may vary, especially with some of the sheerer/patchier shades.

#8: Very bright, almost neon pink.

#11: SUPER patchy and difficult to apply. Do not recommend.

#12: The worst formula of all. Incredibly sheer and not my colour.

#19: A slightly more opaque, darker version of the above colour.

#25: This went on very opaque and I love the colour! Reminds me a bit of Mac’s Flat Out Fabulous.

#5: A beautiful opaque dark-ish red. This is the point where my lips started to burn and peel, so please ignore any flakes you see!

#22: This is one of my favourite colours. I’m partial to plums in general. This actually looks better in real life than in this photo (it is darker and less sheer than pictured). This kind of reminds me of Mac’s Rebel.

#33: Love this one as well. Not too patchy for such a deep colour, and it’s a great dupe for Kat von D’s Vampira or other similar blood-red colours.

#32: Pretty everyday colour. Nothing special but not too bad.

#28: Lovely true red. Reminds me a bit of Stila’s Beso.

#36: Another one of my favourites. Similar to #25 but less bright.

Here are some things I didn’t love: the applicator is very long and flimsy, so I felt like I had to be careful while applying the product so the wand didn’t bend or break. Also, while these dry down pretty quickly (5 min) to a matte finish, they are slightly tacky to the point where if you press your lips together they will stick before opening. I have heard that applying a light coat of translucent powder will take away the tackiness but I can’t vouch for that as I haven’t personally tried it. Lastly, some of the shades (particularly #11 and #12) are very sheer and patchy, and the formula of these lipsticks does not stand up well to layering (it tends to ball up and peel off).

Another note about these lipsticks is that they are LONG lasting. By that I mean you have to scrub hard to get them off. Water does absolutely nothing to make them budge. I was going to show you a picture of my forearm swatches after I scrubbed them with water but it looked so similar to the initial picture that I opted not to include it. I used a Neutrogena makeup remover to remove the lipsticks, but I have heard that others had success with olive or coconut oil.

Aside from the shades I listed as patchy above, I think that these are definitely worth checking out. They have a wide variety of colours and the price can’t be beat! #25, #22, #33, and #36 are definitely going to be well loved and maybe repurchased! There are 38 colours available, and I’m looking forward to trying the rest of them soon!

If any readers have tried these lipsticks, what did you think and what were your favourite colours?