Illamasqua Brink Lipstick Swatches & Review

Purchased by me/Contains affiliate links

Hey lovelies,

I've owned this lipstick before.
Just over three years ago, I purchased Illamasqua Brink on Trade Me, applied it once, winced and promptly passed it onto my best friend, convinced it was too orange for me to pull off. And then that entire incident vanished from my memory, until I was going through my inbox inbetween working on this review tonight and came across the payment instructions (sidenote - I need to clear out my inbox!).
Apparently I completely forgot I'd tried and disliked Brink already when I bought it in a destash a short time ago and for that I am very glad, because this time around it was total love!

Illamasqua's packaging is simple but so lovely, a rectangular tube with bevelled edges and a satisfying solidity. Not pictured is the embossed logo on the cap, which is a really cool touch.

Brink is a matte coral which pulls quite orange. It has fantastic colour pay off and applies smoothly, although as with most mattes, it does catch on any imperfections as you can see in this swatch. I was floored by the wear time, with Brink hanging on for seven hours (including snacks and drinks!) without looking much worse for wear. It became minimally drying after six hours. Illamasqua lipsticks have a very light vanilla scent.