Reveal Your Inner Artist

Nothing gets me more excited than new lipstick launches. They’re the most interesting products in my makeup collection and I’m always super impressed how a single brand can come up with so many unique and innovated shades of the same colour. There’s nothing I love to do more than swatch and play around with new lippies, but I swear my heart stopped when I opened the new Make Up For Ever Artist Rouge Lipstick Collection press-release box. I mean, just look at it, it’s a makeup artist’s dream come true. It offers nothing but the best in pinks, reds, nudes, berries and with a few unique artistic lipstick shades, designed to flatter all skin tones. I got the camera out right away, took some photos for this fashion blog and got swatching. I swear I’ve tried pretty much every shade over these past few weeks, each on slightly better than the next (if that’s possible). I couldn’t pick a fave if I tried.

Although probably best known for their HD powders and liquid foundations, designed to help you create a silky smooth and completely flawless appearance, Make Up For Ever is now doing what they did for your complexion, only targeted towards your lips. The new Artist Rouge Lipstick is a rich and creamy, extremely bold, truly opaque, long-wearing lipstick that’s offered in an array of 45 show-stopping shades that allows you to reveal your inner artist. It’s actually 25% more pigmented then their previous full-coverage lipstick, the Rouge Artist Intense, yet is lightweight and comfortable to wear the entire day. Added bonus, it had an incredibly addicting tropical, almost fruity scent.

The new Make Up For Ever Artist Rouge Lipstick comes in a newly re-vamped, incredibly lightweight, sleek, chic and luxurious matte black packaging with a silver ring around the bottom and the brand name engraved into it. The bullet tip itself is quite unique and unlike anything I’ve seen before. It’s elongated, teardrop design was inspired by the accuracy of a lip brush and its slightly pointed tip allows you to outline your lip and then fill in your entire lip with ease. No lip pencil needed. It’s formulated with a unique blend of both macadamia nut and sunflower seed oil to not only help soothe, but nourish, hydrate and moisturize all at the same time. The lineup includes an array of 45 different shades, anything from your basic soft nudes, to your sexy reds, wearable pinks, rich berries, and a few artist shades in black, white, lavender and blue, it comes with 2 different finishes, 31 creams and 14 mattes, a little something for everyone.

Make Up For Ever Artist Rouge Lipstick features an incredibly luscious, velvety smooth, incredibly cream texture that glides across the lips like butter. It never skips, pulls or tugs on the skin, ensuring a completely seamless and flawless application each and every time. It offers extreme pigmentation, in a single swipe, you’ll easily achieve a full-coverage, truly opaque finish. It’s soft, smooth, hydrating and comfortable to wear. Depending on the shade and the finish, you can expect a wear time of up to 10+ hours before slowly fading. It’s light as a feather once applied, doesn’t bleed, feather or migrate outside of the line (even if you skip a lip liner) and it also doesn’t seem to crack, cling to dry areas or lose its intensity throughout the entire day.

Usually when a lipstick is so rich, creamy and hydrating, the wear time suffers. Surprisingly (and somehow) Make Up For Ever managed to provide the comfort level we love with the wear time we desire. After the initial swipe, you’ll immediately forget you’re even wearing a lipstick. It survives through endless cups of coffee, snack and lunch, and looks almost perfect once dinnertime swings around. The cream formula wears for about 8+ hours, whereas the matte lippies stay on a little longer, around the 10 hour mark you’ll start to see wear. Both are incredibly creamy, the matte is a tad stiffer to apply and a smidge dryer, but both are incredibly comfortable, never look or feel dry, nor do they cling to dry patches, accentuate fine lines or become flakey. If you’re looking for a demi-matte finish, you’ll love the cream formulas, but if you’re someone who loves a flat finish, the matte lippies are for you.

And while I’m no makeup pro, this hasn’t stopped me from mixing and matching different shades of the Make Up For Ever Artist Rouge Lipsticks to come up with my own exclusive creations and different colours. I love that the brand created a wide range of colours, to perfectly match all skin tones, along with a large selection of flattering shades in each colour family. I’ve been customizing the shades by adding the white lipstick to make shades a litter lighter and then mixing in a little black to help deepen the hue. Saying that I’m obsessed with these new lippies and the formula, is an understatement. The fact that I can achieve an intense bold lip in a single swipe, yet wears beautifully the entire day without drying out my lips, leaves me reaching for these day after day. It’s comfortable to wear, stays put for hours and is a nice change to those dehydrating, moisture sucking matte lipsticks that have been trending these past few years. Each shade retails for $27.

Make Up For Ever Artist Rouge Lipstick in C103 is a very pale pinky beige with a cream finish, C104 is a muted rosy peach with a cream finish, C105 is a light rosy pink with a satin finish, M100 is a pinky, almost peach with a matte finish and C107 is that perfect every day mocha beige nude with a cream finish.

Make Up For Ever Artist Rouge Lipstick in C211 is a deep rosy mauve with a satin finish, M101 is a muted rosy brown with a matte finish, C108 is a warm beige-y brown with a satin finish, M402 is an intensely bold, deep and dark red with a matte finish and M401 is a deep red with a semi-matte finish.

Make Up For Ever Artist Rouge Lipstick in C404 is a cool passion red with a satin finish, C406 is a warm reddish brown with a satin finish, C403 is a lovely every day red with a cream finish, M300 is a bold, dark orangey red with a matte finish and M204 is a stunning raspberry pink with a matte finish.

Make Up For Ever Artist Rouge Lipstick in M203 is a cool neon fuchsia with a matte finish, C405 is that perfect cool red that gives the illusion of a bright smile with a matte finish, M102 is a rich, plumy/ berry with a matte finish, C407 and M500 is a deep burgundy with a semi-matte finish.

Make Up For Ever Artist Rouge Lipstick in M501 is a dark berry with a semi-matte finish, M506 is a deep berry a slight glossy finish, C502 is a cool violet with a cream finish, C503 is an extremely bright, cool lavender with a cream finish and C106 is a pinky beige with a cream finish.

Make Up For Ever Artist Rouge Lipstick in C304 is a classic orange with a cream finish, C303 is a bright coral with a cream finish, C302 is a pinky-coral with cream finish, C210 is a stunning warm pink with a shiny finish and C200 is a medium, peony pink with a matte finish.

Make Up For Ever Artist Rouge Lipstick in C305 is an intense pinky-coral with a cream finish, C209 is a medium pink with a lovely sheen, M301 is a bright fuchsia with a matte finish, C306 in another pinky coral with a cream finish and C208 is a bright fuchsia with a satin finish.

Make Up For Ever Artist Rouge Lipstick in C207 is a cool-toned fuchsia with a satin finish, M201 is a bright magenta, blue-based pink with a matte finish, C206 is a cool pink with a cream finish, M202 is a candy, bubble gum pink with a matte finish and C205 is a cool-tone baby-doll pink with a cream finish.

Make Up For Ever Artist Rouge Lipstick in C600 is a lovely, crisp white with a satin finish, C604 is an intense black with a satin finish, C603 is an intense deep navy with a slightly glossy finish, C602 is a bright and cool cyan blue with a cream finish and C601 is a unique bright mint green with a satin sheen finish.