I am a sucker for a good lip kit. The idea of having a lipstick with the perfect matching lip liner all packaged up together in one little neat box makes me really happy, and whilst that may be quite sad, I reckon there a lot of people out there who feel the same.
Way back in October, I saw Cheryl Tweedy Fernandez Cole Payne had collaborated with L'Oreal to create three lip kits, and I was very excited to give them a try. Although I'm not a huge lover of Cheryl herself, I do like L'Oreal products and think they are starting to become a more luxurious drug store brand.
The packaging of the kits are very reminiscent of the lip kits from a certain reality star from the K Klan, and whilst they're one coloured dribble away from being the exact same, I do think they look really lovely with the metallic swipes.
The packaging of the kits are very reminiscent of the lip kits from a certain reality star from the K Klan, and whilst they're one coloured dribble away from being the exact same, I do think they look really lovely with the metallic swipes.
Looking at the colours, I thought Burgundy would be a sure win, Greige would be a beautiful alternative winter colour, and the peach colour would be too light for my fair skin giving me the good old foundation lips look.
With the fabulous Boots 3 for 2 offer though, I thought I may as well pick all three up so I could try the whole collection. At £10 each, I think six lip products for £20 isn't half bad!
As it is the berry lip season, we will start with the Burgundy kit.
Packaging wise, it is fair to say this collection is very instagrammable. The actual lip wand is a curved shape so it slides against the actual shape of the lip making application easy.
Swatching the colours on my skin alarmed me slightly as the colours seemed a lot browner than I imagined. The lip pencil itself was basically a rusty blood colour which I wasn't expecting.
The first time I wore this kit, I used the liner around the edge of my lip as you would! The lip colour was completely gone within an hour, and I went back and read that you need to use the liner as a base to the lip colour which I think is a little annoying.
Matte lipstick in general are meant to be long wearing and almost a little too hard to remove. They actually don't dry very matte at all and still remain fairly shiny. The fact these colours need the liner as the base would make me say these cannot be classified as a matte lip paint.
As you can see from the images the liner is a little bit smudgy. These liners are a cream formula which are always a little harder to get precise, so the final look is not very sharp.
Verdict: I would say this isn't really a burgundy colour and more of a black cherry. Both products are called 'Stripped Brown' (a Liam Payne reference perhaps), so this is obviously meant to be more brown toned which is a bit unusual as it is branded as a burgundy lip kit?! As this was the colour Cheryl designed and customised herself, I have to say I was a little disappointed. Perhaps on darker skin tones the red comes out a little more, but on me it is a little too deep.
I don't think I found my Autumnal deep red lip here!
Let's see if Greige can save the day!
On my first overall observation, I have to say this is a very unusual colour. I absolutely love a bold statement lip, but I still don't know if I actually like this or not. One thing I can definitely say is that it is intriguing.
Swatched on the hand it looked a lot more pinky than I imagined, with the liner being slightly cooler. Both the products are called 'nude-ist' which I think is a little odd as they are certainly not like any other nude I have ever seen!
This is also a perfect point to mention that the end of my liner for the Greige kit was a little smushed, and whilst this would never usually be a problem, these are plastic applicators with no spin up so you can't sharpen these liners which is really really annoying! Once the tiny little tips are gone on these, that is the whole liner redundant. I only managed to get two wears out of this lip kit because of this, so I have to say that was a little disappointing.
So what does the combo look like on? Well, like I said, I still don't know if I like it or not. It is very cool toned and I feel lit makes me look like I'm halfway to a goth, but there is something I do like about it. The colour really is like nothing I have ever seen on the market, and I think on the right person this would look absolutely stunning (like Cheryl obvs).
Verdict: I still have no idea!
So finally is the peach lip kit, and as I said earlier, I really thought this kit wouldn't suit my skin tone.
The peach liner called 'Gone with the Nude' looks a little too orange for me however the lip colour, 'Babe-in' was slightly cooler toned. I find it a little unusual how the products in this lip kit are called different names and in the others they are the same, but that is just a little observation.
When on, I actually really loved this colour and would probably say it is my favourite of the three. My only irk with it is that it is a very thin formula, and as you can see from these pictures it is a little streaky and not full coverage.
Verdict: Although it is the safest colour from the collection, this one has to be a win from me!
My final opinion on the collection has to be a little over rated if I'm honest. I am disappointed at the level of quality from L'Oreal products, and feel they could have done a lot better all around. I think maybe too much has gone into showcasing Cheryl as the face of the collection and not enough has gone into the actual quality of the products. Although £10 a kit isn't bad, I felt that labelling these as matte kits is very wrong as none of these had a matte finish at all.
One good aspect of Cheryl facing the collection is that some proceeds go to the charity she supports, the Princes Trust.
In conclusion, I would say donate some money to the charity alone and treat yourself to Kylie's kits instead.
