little white truths

People went nuts for these lipsticks when they came out and I can certainly see why: the packaging is out of this world.

Indeed, it's the nicest and most unique lipstick packaging I've come across, and I want to own a bunch of these so I can put them in my lipstick stand and stare at them all day long.

I only have one, though. I do plan on buying perhaps one or two more in future, but for now I'm just going to be happy with the one I have while I continue to pan down my lip product collection.

I mean, just look at that golden gloriousness. There's some weight to it too, so you know you're holding something fancy and special. That's why I always use this when I go out - it just makes me feel good. There's a lot to be said for that.

Indeed, I've said it before and I'll say it again: when I hold one of these, I feel like a cross between a 1940s film star and a spy. It's like an elegant, feline cigar - and when you hold it, it feels so wonderfully heavy and sleek that you'd be forgiven for thinking it's some kind of weapon.

Did I mention that the formula's lovely too? It is. More on that below.

Hourglass claims/product details:

There's the bullet in direct sunlight:

Now for swatches.

Indirect sunlight: 

My bare lips for reference: 

 

Wearing the product, indirect sunlight: 

Natural light (outdoors): 

Natural light (indoors):

Verdict

This is a really lovely product, and while I'm not going to tell you to go out and spend fifty bucks on less than one gram of lipstick, I will tell you that the purchase was worth it for me personally because I love using mine so much.

I've already talked about the packaging above but let's just confirm that it's the nicest lipstick packaging I've ever held in my hands. Even if I didn't like the formula, I would be happy to own this just for that. Sad but true...

As for the product itself, I don't think I've ever used anything quite like it - so it's innovative not only in packaging, but also in formula. It's quite a thick, sticky product, and for this reason it really adheres to the lips and it stays put very well. Sure, you'll need to reapply it eventually, but it will hang in there better than most while I'm sipping away at my coffee so I only need to reapply it once every few hours.

Thankfully it's also one of those lipsticks that fades evenly and leaves a soft stain behind, and for this reason I can almost forgive the fact that you get so little product because you won't need to reapply it as much as other lipsticks, and you also won't need to apply as much out of the starting gate since it's so pigmented. I said almost forgive ; )

It's comfortable to wear and it's hydrating enough that I don't need to wear a balm underneath it, but note that I am a little aware of this when I first apply because it's quite a heavy formula. However once it has settled down and some of it has come off on said coffee cup, I can't feel it on my lips anymore.

While I did consider giving this an HG tag, in the end I decided not to. Why? Because it does nothing for my lip texture, and since that's something I look for in my lip products, that's not a good thing for me personally. You'll see in the above photos that it doesn't emphasise texture, but it doesn't minimise it either so it's not perfect and I can't sing its praises 100%. Still, I just whack a gloss over mine to get the smoothing effect I'm after, and I'm good to go.

'I've Never' is a warm brown with gorgeous orange/terracotta undertones so it looks more orange on the lips than it does in the bullet. Indeed, when mine arrived I thought 'oh bugger, it's too brown and flat' but I was pleasantly surprised. It's exactly my kind of colour, and I do plan to buy this shade again when mine's gone because it goes with everything.

Overall I think this is a fantastic product and I absolutely love mine, although I'll confess that this has a lot to do with the packaging - but I do like the formula and I think it almost warrants the price-tag, although I'd want to get at least double the amount of product to say that for sure.

Love.