The Coral Contender

My obsession with pink lips seems to have waned a little bit and I've been rocking a bright coral lip. It all started when I was wearing a new top and wanted to embrace the bright shades in it, so I rustled through my stash and came up with 4 contenders...

Maybelline Color Sensational Coral Crush - this really is a stunning shade, and one that I have had for a few years now. Old and worn and one of my top 5 lip colours of all time, I always return to it when I get hooked back onto bright lips. It's bright, juicy and wears away so evenly that I often wear it to work!

Maybelline Color Sensational Vibrant Mandarin - A newer coral/orange acquisition, this was a shade from the revamped launch of the staple Maybelline line. More orange than the rest, the formula of this line is just divine.

MAC Party Parrot - a true matte shade from the lipstick legend, I was elated to pick this up from the MAC Iris Apfel collection back in 2012 (original post here!) This is slightly more red toned that the other coral rather than orange or pink, and is a nice flattering matte formula.

Revlon Super Lustrous 180 Melonade - A celebrated stunner that I really hunted for once I heard that it had been discontinued (even though I haven't worn it very much at all I have a back-up in my drawer!) The post that pushed me to buy this was definitely Tegan's...

Swooning over one of my favourite books (Virginia Woolf's A Room Of One's Own) and these four beautiful lip shades. Woolf's book stemmed from some lectures she gave about women and fiction, and it is something I reread regularly to get my mind going and pump me up from some writing.
 

In the end, I handed the reins over to Mister Bovary to decide and Coral Crush came up trumps! So I can now call it a household favourite, right? I've worn it consistently since these photos were taken, so that is saying something.

What bright coral lipstick do you have in your stash?
Do you own any of these beauties?

Emma @ emmabovarybeauty

*All of these were bought with my own cash. Honesty, always.

Maybelline Vivids // Photos, Swatches, Review // Pink Pop, Vivid Rose, Hot Plum, Vibrant Mandarin + Neon Red

 

When the rumours spread that Maybelline were launching a new line full of super bright lipsticks, I was on high alert! I can be quite brave when it comes to lip colours, and so I ended up picking up a few tubes from the line to try. Now that I’ve had some time to wear them and figure out which are my favourites, I thought it time to share some swatches with you!

 

 

I dabbled in each section of the colour spectrum with my choices (all of which I bought from Priceline, some on sale and others full price)

Pink Pop:  a pale blue based pink, not the easiest shade to wear but one I definitely like having in my collection.

Vivid Rose: a dark pink with rose undertones, this is one of my favourite from the line and leaves a great stain when it wears off which is why I like to wear it to work.

Hot Plum: another favourite, this is bright magenta pink is unique in my stash, and I love how it manages to be super bright but still really wearable.

Vibrant Mandarin: I tend to wear orange shades like this when the weather heats up, so I haven’t shown this too much love yet. I love adding orange lip colours to my collection, as whenever I try to find ‘the one’ for a day out I struggle – the more the merrier for the orange lip drawer!

Neon Red: this is an orange toned red that I haven’t shown much love to (I tend to prefer dark berry tones for winter) but it applies really nicely.

 

 

I think this range is definitely worth a swatch, especially when Maybelline are on special at Priceline as they so often are. If I could only keep two from the collection Hot Plum + Vivid Rose would have to stay, as they wear really nicely and leave a nice even stain behind which make them nice and long wearing. I haven’t found any of these shades to bleed at all and they are creamy and comfortable to wear and never dry out my lips. I will note that because they are quite creamy they do leave marks on coffee cups and wear away if you are eating, but the stain saves the situation and they are easy enough to reapply. I have always loved the Maybelline Colour Sensational range but wasn't excited by the overly brown toned range, so this was a welcome addition to the Maybelline family for me, and something I think the brand really needed to revitalise their traditional lipstick image!

Maybelline Colour Sensational Lipsticks retail for $16.95 AUD.

Have you a penchant for bright lips?

Which of these would you buy?

*I purchased all of these. Honesty, always.