That red lip, classic thing that you like

Yes I'm quoting a Taylor Swift lyric. Say what you want about her, but her songs are catchy af.

Welcome to part one of my lipstick review series! I have too much lipstick and nowhere to wear it, so that’s kinda what happening here. Starting with reds because why not.

Quick Review

MAC - Viva Glam I, Matte Finish: B. Very drying and skips on application but a nice bright red that lasts pretty long.

BITE Beauty Amuse Bouche - Gazpacho: A-. Looks red in the tube but is more magenta than red when worn. Verrrrry smooth application, surprisingly good longevity despite satin finish. Temporarily discontinued (afaik).

NARS Pure Matte - Amsterdam: B-. Gorgeous deep red color that I recommend to everyone (except it's discontinued - sob), kind of sloppy and drying.

Givenchy Le Rouge - Carmin Escarpin: B. Buttery soft formulation and very smooth application but too warm of a red for me; might not make it through a meal.

Urban Decay Vice - 714, Mega Matte: B+. Both bright and muted in color due to matte texture; average on application, longevity, and dryness.

More on how I arrived at these conclusions below!

Just like Taylor (supposedly) I was not into red lipstick at all when I was younger. It was not only intimidating to apply (red lipstick on your teeth anyone?) but it also felt loud and attention-grabbing somehow. Maybe because magazines and movies have taught young women that red lips = BOLD and I am def not a BOLD person. I’ve been a regular Helvetica person my whole life.

Anyway, my skin’s been acting up a lot so I’m trying to give it a break from foundation and whatnot. The problem with not wearing makeup is that I look extra tired and sometimes I want to prove to my coworkers that I don’t take all of my meetings from bed. Literally no one cares, but I’m paranoid 🤷🏻‍♀️ Thankfully, Zoom automatically smooths out my skin for me lol so all I need to do to look “put together” is swipe on some lipstick! And thanks to my inner hoarder, I have a bunch of red lipsticks in my collection so I thought I’d test them out for color, application, longevity, and dryness.

Of course, as we all learned in science class, the scientific method requires consistency (among other things) so here’s my attempt at that:

- Apply lipstick in morning after usual skincare routine

- Mug test (to see how much comes off immediately)

- Snack/lunch test (to see how much comes off after a small snack/meal)

- Dinner test (to see how much comes off after a normal meal)

- No reapplying throughout the day

MAC - Viva Glam I, Matte Finish

Rating: B

Is there anything more nostalgic than the memory of the first lipstick you ever bought? I remember my first time walking into a MAC store and feeling like a whole new world had just opened up. Walking out with that little black bag made me feel so grown up, even though I had zero clue what I was doing. I think this lipstick might have been the first lipstick I ever bought for myself and I have to hand it to Past Alicia - she picked a pretty good lip color despite the lack of any makeup experience.

Color. Viva Glam I is a brownish blue-red according to MAC, although in some lighting it's almost pink on me. It's not super pink though, and I could see myself wearing this during the day and at night. I definitely used to be scared of this color and never wore it, but now I am here for it.

Application. Viva Glam I does not apply very smoothly so I had to go back and layer up a couple times. Maybe because it’s a matte formula? Idk. I’ve used other mattes with more success so it could just be a MAC thing. Applying with a brush instead of directly out of the tube might work better, but I’m lazy af so we’ll see if I ever get around to trying that.

Longevity. The staying power was surprisingly good. Viva Glam passed the mug test with flying colors. By lunchtime, there was the slightest bit of fading at the corners and on my inner bottom lip. The color started to come off more after dinner, especially from my inner lips and corners, but at that point it had been over 8 hours, so that's fine. No bleeding or feathering either.

Dryness. My lips were veryyy dry and flaky by EOD. I don't usually expect my lipstick to hydrate my lips, but it would've been nice if it at least held in some of the moisture from my lip balm?

Overall, Viva Glam I is a pretty good day-to-night matte red with decent staying power, although I would probably reapply after meals. I took points away because it was difficult to apply, even with lip balm, and it dried out my lips a lot by the end of the day. Not my favorite formulation.

BITE Beauty Amuse Bouche - Gazpacho

Rating: A-

Color. I can't find the official color description online because sadly BITE discontinued their Amuse Bouche line to reformulate 😭 I've seen a number of sites describe Gazpacho as a true blue-red or a light-medium red with cool tones, but it was more of a dark magenta on me. I'm not sure if I would be comfortable wearing this in professional settings, but this could be a good color for casual days.

Application: SO smooth. No dragging or skipping. Very soft and creamy texture. Good pigmentation but adding a second layer is probably best to keep it looking consistent.

Longevity. For a non-matte lipstick, the staying power was quite good. Coffee mug test was a breeze. By 8pm (~10 hours), it was more of a stain. It had also faded in the corners and on the inside of my bottom lip from my eating throughout the day, but the fading wasn't too obvious. No bleeding or feathering at all.

Dryness. Barely drying. I did see a couple of flakes at the end of the day when I was removing my makeup, but all in all, pretty good.

Gazpacho surprised me in a lot of ways. I normally don't gravitate toward BITE lipsticks because the displays always look so messy, but now that I've tried it I'm sad that this line was discontinued. I really did not expect the color to last as long as it did. I'd still bring the tube with me in case I needed to reapply after a meal, but I wouldn't be too upset if I forgot. As someone with perpetually dry lips, I appreciate that Gazpacho was almost hydrating. Hopefully BITE will re-release this line soon (without having changed too much) because I want it all.

NARS Pure Matte - Amsterdam

Rating: B-

This lipstick does usually come tapered, I've just worn it a lot 🙃

Color. Ugh, I love the color of Amsterdam so much. Red lipstick has always been really intimidating to me and this was the very first lipstick I ever tried that made me feel like I could actually wear red lipstick. Most sites describe this as a garnet red but I don't know what that means so in my own words, I would say it's a brownish deep red. Maybe that’s what garnet means. Amsterdam is definitely more of a night color for me, but I'm sure people have made it work during the day too.

Application. Amsterdam applies decently smoothly for a matte but it's not very pigmented. I had to apply three layers in order to get enough opacity. The tube is slimmer than most standard lipsticks, which I think makes it easy to apply accurately.

Longevity. Mug test was okay - some transfer but not too obvious. The color faded a lot and there was some bleeding outside of lip lines after lunch. It did not make it to dinner. Womp womp.

Dryness. My lips felt fine throughout the day. Apparently they did not look fine though - after dinner, I checked for flakes and saw a good amount. :(

I have to say, I was expecting more from Amsterdam given that I basically wore it exclusively for like two years. While the color is really gorgeous and works well on everyone I've recommended it to, the lack of longevity, bleeding, and dryness is a bummer. Definitely would need to bring the tube with me if I was going out, even if it's just for a couple of hours or something. Sadly, NARS has discontinued their Pure Matte line so once I'm done with this tube, it's gone forever. I've found what I think might be good dupes though, so I will report on those soon.

Givenchy Le Rouge Lipstick - Carmin Escarpin

Rating: B

Look at how pretty this case is 😍

Color. Carmin Escarpin is a veeeerrrrrrry bright red. Sephora describes it as a warm poppy red which I would say is pretty accurate. I definitely wasn't expecting it to be this bright and I think it’s almost too warm for me? It doesn’t really fit my aesthetic or skin tone.

Application. Givenchy's Le Rouge formulas are excellent, including Carmin Escarpin. This color applied soooo smoothly and has great coverage on the first swipe.

Longevity. I was expecting this given the satin finish of Carmin Escarpin, but the color did not stick around very long. It was fine for the mug test but there was a noticeable amount of fading after lunchtime. There was only minimal bleeding on my bottom lip thankfully. I recommend reapplying for sure, but for the sake of this experiment, I just sat around with half-done lipstick for the rest of the day lol. It officially tapped out around 5 hours.

Dryness. I'm not sure if I had this on long enough to really make an accurate assessment, but while I was wearing it, all was well.

I really wanted to give Carmin Escarpin a higher score. The formula is amazing, but I just don’t love this color and the longevity was meh. I'll just have to save my A rating for my other Le Rouge lipsticks (more reviews coming soon-ish). At least it's pretty to look at! The packaging is so cute (I love Givenchy's leather cases) and there's no denying this red looks great on a shelf.

Urban Decay Vice Lipstick - 714, Mega Matte

Rating: B+

Vice lipsticks typically have a shinier finish even if it's a matte formula. Mine just looks like this because I cleaned it recently

Color. Bright red with cool undertones. Very matte (as you would expect from the name lol) which keeps the color a little more muted and casual for me.

Application. 714 applied okay. It wasn't suuuper smooth but it wasn't skippy like Viva Glam. Good opacity on the first swipe but not completely consistent, so I did two layers in the end.

Longevity. I wasn't sure what to expect from this matte lipstick by this point given that I had relative success with Viva Glam but not the best luck with Amsterdam. Ultimately, 714 fell in the middle of the other two mattes - the mug test was not an issue but only the color on my outer lips made it through lunch. I would put the longevity at about 6 hours.

Dryness. As expected with a matte formula, I certainly didn't feel like my lips were hydrated while wearing this. It wasn't bad though, like I wasn't at all uncomfortable.

This lipstick felt very average to me, although I think the color and texture really make up for its averageness in all other categories. It's a flattering bright red and the matte finish helps to make the color more versatile for daytime, nighttime, brunch, dinner, anything. As long as you keep the tube with you for reapplying throughout the day, you will be a-okay.

Five down, fifteen more to go! Despite feeling absolutely ridiculous taking photos of my lipsticks (literally it took me multiple tries and lots of googling "how to take photos of makeup products" lol), I'm really excited to keep working through my collection. Being in the midst of the holiday season, I'm sure I'll accidentally add some more lipsticks to cart too, so cheers to this never-ending experiment 🥂