Matte liquid lipsticks have exploded onto the beauty scene, and I’ve hopped on the bandwagon. Over the past month, I purchased six matte liquid lip colors from three brands: Jeffree Star Cosmetics, Kylie Cosmetics (owned by Kylie Jenner), and Colourpop Cosmetics. Jeffree Star and Kylie’s liquid lip colors are very popular and very difficult to procure (and are also higher on the price range), while Colourpop liquid lip colors are significantly cheaper and more accessible. Despite the huge difference in price and accessibility, it was recently revealed Colourpop’s formula is almost identical to the Kylie Lip Kit—which made me curious to see if this brand could be just as good as Kylie and Jeffree’s coveted liquid lip colors.
After using each of the products, I decided it was time to share my experiences with each of these brands and to declare a winner. Below are swatches of the lip colors I purchased, along with my thoughts comparing Jeffree Star, Kylie, and Colourpop Cosmetics.
Photo courtesy of Mayura Iyer
Colors from left to right: Gemini (Jeffree Star Cosmetics),Mary Jo K (Kylie Cosmetics), Tulle, More Better, LAX, and First Class (Colourpop Cosmetics)*
*for reference on my skin tone, I use Smashbox CC cream in Medium
Jeffree Star Cosmetics – Gemini
Image from Jeffree Star Cosmetics
Cost: $18 + $5.95 shipping, free shipping on orders over $150 within the US
This lip color is very opaque, and is a perfect terra cotta nude shade, which is great for people like me with darker tones who have trouble finding nude colors. It takes longer to dry, which means if you don’t apply very carefully it will get all over your teeth, but it is also very difficult to take off (good for staying power throughout the day—bad if you mess up and want to fix your smudges on your face). Towards the end of the day, it starts to look flaky (even if you exfoliate beforehand), but it feels like you’re wearing nothing on your lips, which is amazing. However, one of my biggest disappointments with this brand is that there isn’t actually a lot of product in the bottle. Additionally, the applicator is very large for my comparatively small lips, so it is easy for me to mess up when applying the color.
The most popular Jeffree Star colors are always sold out—including Gemini—and restocks are announced on his Twitter, so you need to make sure to check his tweets frequently to know when the restocks will happen. Other popular colors include Celebrity Skin, Masochist, Anna Nicole, Redrum, Androgyny, and Unicorn Blood.
Kylie Cosmetics – Mary Jo K
Image from Kylie Cosmetics
Cost: $29 + $8.95 shipping ($$$$$$)
This color is a gorgeous true blue, and it dries very quickly. It is a little difficult to fix, as the color smudges and stays on your skin even with makeup remover, but if you’re handy with a lip liner (which is included with the kit), it’s easy to put on. I am truly in love with the color itself, but it doesn’t stay on as well after food or drink as Jeffree Star and it is visible on your wine glass and coffee cup even after it dries. However, it is less flaky when it wears off than Jeffree Star’s liquid lip color.
All of the colors are perpetually sold out, and restocks are only announced on her exclusive app (which costs $2.99 a month to subscribe), and they sell out within 30 minutes of each restock. It is difficult to get the color. I truly love this color and am happy with my purchase, but I don’t think it was worth the money and effort to get it—especially when compared to cheaper and similar-quality brands.
Colourpop Cosmetics: Tulle, More Better, LAX, and First Class
Image from Colourpop Cosmetics
Cost: $6, free shipping on orders over $30 within the US
Since Colourpop was the cheapest, and I found a wonderful video swatching several of the colors for women of my skin tone, I decided to get four of the Colourpop liquid lip colors, one from Jeffree Star Cosmetics, and one from Kylie Cosmetics. Tulle (a dusty mauve burgundy), LAX (a deep, vampy red), and First Class (a bright orange) are comparable to Androgyny, Unicorn Blood, and Anna Nicole by Jeffree Star (respectively), and the color of More Better (a violet wine) is comparable to Urban Decay’s Matte After Dark Matte Revolution lipstick color.
I was amazed by how quickly and evenly the color dried on my lips, and how easy it was to apply. The quality and staying-power was very similar to my experience with the Kylie Lip Kit—bolstering the claim that the formulas are almost identical. The formula is very opaque, and after it dried it felt like there was nothing on my lips. My absolute favorite color was Tulle, but I am very happy with all four colors that I purchased. While Jeffree Star’s formula lasts longer and is better after food and drink, the accessibility and price of Colourpop makes me prefer this brand over the others. Additionally, there is a much wider range of colors to choose from, which means there are more options that go with my darker skin tone.
Overall, while Jeffree Star’s liquid lip color lasts longer, the price is still much higher than Colourpop Cosmetics, there isn’t a lot of product in the bottle, and the applicator makes it difficult to apply the color. Kylie’s Lip Kit is incredibly expensive and difficult to get for a formula that is very similar to Colourpop’s liquid lip color. Ultimately, I’m going to keep buying from Colourpop in the future, and give up on trying to get more colors from Jeffree Star and Kylie Cosmetics.