‘So I caved.

Before international shipping had even been introduced, I’d fallen victim to the tidal wave of Colourpop swatches on reddit and youtube and the sheer amount of colours offered at such a reasonable price ($5USD a piece)…even though the amount of product is small and the origins of the company are occasionally brought into question, I needed to give them a good try. And so naturally…seven of them (thanks to a lovely lady over on the reddit makeup exchange!)

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Arm swatches of all of them are here, and below the jump you’ll find lip swatches (not great ones - it’s at the end of a workday so my lips were a quite dry and my hair’s a mess and my makeup is all gone) and also as a bit of a bonus I did some comparison swatches - seeing as colourpop isn’t the easiest brand to get a hold of, available only through their website, and in australia it’s not the cheapest to get a hold of (their new international shipping option isn’t outrageous but it’s not cheap per se), so I dug around my collection and tried to line each of the “lippie stix” up with some similar or allegedly similar lipsticks.

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From left to right, we have Charm, Raw, Bunny, Bichette, Ellarie, Creature and Feminist.

And…let’s go (Colourpop is always on the bottom). Lip swatches of most of the compared lipsticks can be found elsewhere on my blog - I would post individual links but I’m overwhelmed.

Charm

Bottom to top: Colourpop Charm, Sportsgirl Pout About It Lipstick in Envy, Dragonberry Malibu

Charm is a satin finish pastel mint green. It is cooler than Envy but warmer and less white based than Malibu. All of these are reasonably affordable lipsticks - Envy was $10 at Sportsgirl but will surely end up in a bargain bin, and Malibu can be found on the Dragonberry website for $5AUD plus shipping. Charm is more opaque and creamier than Envy, but less emollient and slippy than Malibu. It could probably benefit from a liner (perhaps their matching offering?) or white base, and as a satin I doubt it will be that long wearing. It was still pretty decent in terms of covering the natural lip, and if you’re searching for a mint green, it does the trick.

Brace yourself for an atrocious lip swatch:

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On the lips it looks kind of like Malibu and Envy had a baby.

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Raw

B-t: Colourpop Raw, NYX Macaron Lippie in Pistachio



Raw is a satin finish teal shade, pretty balanced between blue and green. These two are probably the closest to a dupe of any that I’m featuring, but for Aussie girls they’re both a pain to come by (cherryculture has the macaron lippies). At close examination, I’d say Raw is slightly greener while Pistachio is slightly bluer, but both are similar in formula - require a bit of building, very very creamy. Pistachio is somewhat more slippery on the lips.

This is the worst swatch - the light went funny?

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Bunny

B-t: Bunny, Lime Crime Serpentina, My Beauty Addiction HD Lip Paint in Medusa, NYX Wicked Lippie in Risque

Bunny is a “pearlized” finish, a medium true green with micro glitter throughout (silver, I believe). I decided to go ahead and swatch it in comparison with all of my metallic greens, It’s commonly looked to as an alternative for Lime Crime’s Serpentina (and comes with slightly less baggage than buying lime crime), but Serpentina is markedly darker and more opaque - If I could find a dead on dupe for Serpentina to minimise my lime crime consumption, I would. Medusa is similar, but less vibrant, more yellow, and it’s just a bit of a disappointment - not nearly opaque enough, while I was surprised by how opaque I found bunny. Risque is quite different, but it is a metallic green I adore - it’s cooler and more metallic. Happy with Bunny - the opacity surprised me and it’s sufficiently different to my other greens.

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Bichette

Bichette, Mac Frank'n'Furter (LE), Burt’s Bees Lip Crayon in Napa Valley Vineyard

Bichette is a matte finish slightly darkened cherry red. Despite being a very Sara colour, I had trouble finding shades that matched it - things tended to be warmer or more brick or more berry. Mac’s LE Rocky Horror lipstick in Frank'n'Furter is no longer available but it’s a similar shade, albeit thicker and somewhat darker and less blue. Napa Valley Vineyard is less opaque and requires more work, but it’s a beautiful rich shade that’s slightly warmer than Bichette.

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Ellarie

Ellarie, Rimmel Kate Moss Lasting Finish Matte Lipstick in 107, Insomnia Cosmetics Witch Hunt



Ellarie is a matte finish deep berry toned red, and it was easy to find similar shades because I went through a bunch of these kinds while in a quest for a dark red sans berry tones. It’s very similar to 107, but slightly less deep - both have a similar demi-matte finish on the lips. Witch Hunt is somewhat less berry and it’s a slightly creamier finish, but it’s also not scented (107 is quite a strong weird fruity??? scent that a lot of people dislike) and applies more smoothly (for real, I love the Insomnia Cosmetics formulas). I was hoping Ellarie was darker - but I’m guessing that the combination of it and their pencil would be the colour I imagined. Still not mad at it - it’s very pretty and it’ll get worn plenty.

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Creature

Creature, Mac Diva, Kat Von D Studded Kiss lipstick in Vampira

Creature is a deep dark reddened berry in a matte finish. It was slightly patchier than the others but still a beautiful rich shade I couldn’t find anything quite similar to it - I’ve heard that the Creature pencil is supposedly very similar to Mac’s famed Nightmoth pencil. I was curious to see it against Diva, which is significantly redder and much more of a one-swipe product. It is on the other hand quite similar to Vampira, albeit darker and slightly less purple (but more purple than Diva) - Vampira is quite lovely, but it’s a much drier formula. Did I need both Creature and Ellarie? Probably not. Will I wear them both a lot? Yeah, of course.

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Feminist

Feminist, Rimmel Kate Moss Lasting Finish in 04, Fyrinnae Desire

Feminist is a matte finish blackened purple. I don’t have anything quite like it (Anastsia Beverly Hills new liquid lipstick in Potion looks similar?) and I love it. The darker the better. 04 has that sweet weird not entirely pleasant fruity smell and it takes a lot more to build opacity, and it’s quite slippery, while in contrast Desire is super matte, transfer resistant and super thin - Feminist is the darkest option, neither warm nor cool, while 04 is warm and Desire is cool. I found this one applied quite smoothly and was totally opaque, and I’m keen to see the wear time.

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Overall I’m pretty impressed with these lipsticks. I don’t mind having less product due to my hundreds of lipsticks, and it’s hard to argue with $5 a piece. Now Australian shipping is available, I’m tempted to pick up some of the lighter colours, maybe an orangey red, but I’m liking the matte formula more than the satin. Australian shipping isn’t cheap, and there’s no free shipping threshold internationally. If you are ordering from colourpop, use the code THANKSBABE for $5 off your order (a free lipstick, basically!). They’re not luxurious and they’re not the best drugstore-esque lipsticks I’ve tried, but they’re super decent for the price (and my makeup exchange-r got me a great price for shipping) and they come in some great and interesting colours.

All up, this order cost me about $55 AUD - $30USD for the lippie stix and $13USD for shipping. $55 for seven lipsticks works out as less than $10 for each and I’m happy with that.