A couple of years ago LA Girl blew me away with their Luxury Creme lipsticks (which I don't see talked about nearly enough!) and since then they've been churning out more lipstick formulas in on-trend, edgy colours and textures. I've reviewed many of them (click here to browse the archive) but hadn't yet taken the new Matte Flat Velvet lipsticks for a whirl, so I was thrilled when a rep from the NZ LA Girl distributor got in touch to ask if I'd like to try them. Here for your viewing pleasure are thirteen of the twenty six shades in the line, an excellent cross section of shades to give you a good idea of the formula and colour range. These babies retail for $11.99 here in NZ which is pretty darn good, especially when the quality is on par with far more expensive brands.
The Flat Matte Velvet lipsticks come shrinkwrapped, so there's no fear of discovering your brand new lipstick has already been defiled by another, and the tubes are glossy black with gold lettering. The lid is capped with a small well of product that matches the colour of the lipstick inside. You can pull that little end cap off, with a little effort, to reveal what appears to be a tinted gloss but there's no info on the LA Girl website about what it actually is, so I'm not sure whether it's something that is meant to be used.
I was pleased to see that the shade name is printed on the lower half of the tube this time - if you've tried the Luxury Cremes, you may know that the name/ingredient labels double as the safety seal, and when you open it the shade name remains on the clear lidded cap while the bottom of the tube has nothing to indicate the name of the colour inside (which doesn't sound like a big deal until you have multiple shades of them and manage to mix up the lids!). So it's great to see practical changes being made here.
The lipstick bullets twist up with audible clicking noises, tending to slightly resist the final turn and they are flat top in shape. I found this cut really easy to work with and applied most shades straight from the tube.
Swatched on bare skin under daylight bulbs: Carried Away, Snuggle, Sweet Revenge, Frisky, Arm Candy, Bliss, Manic
Relentless, Runway, Dare to Date, Love Triangle, Poetic, Raven
Formula overview:
There's pretty incredible colour pay off across the range here, a few shades are a bit on the patchy side, but largely very impressive. I didn't find this formula drying at all and wear time was typically around five hours with no feathering or migration. The texture is smooth and lightly creamy, they don't tug at the lips at all. They're supposed to have a light vanilla scent, which I can detect, but it's also contrasted with a vaguely Vaseline smell, which isn't truly unpleasant, but still not my favourite.
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Carried Away
Carried Away is a very pale, cool toned mod pink. Opacity was great for such a light shade, but it had a slightly grainy appearance and was keen to grab onto and highlight every speck of texture on my lips. You'll want to be armed with a great lip scrub before applying this one. It wore for six hours on me.
Snuggle
Snuggle is a warm rosy brown nude. I really love this one! It applies so smoothly and wears for five and a half hours.
Sweet Revenge
Sweet Revenge is a bright pastel coral with excellent colour pay off. It reminds me quite a lot of MAC Betty Bright from the limited edition Archie's Girls collection a few years back - I'll have to post a comparison when I've reswatched Betty Bright! Sweet Revenge lasted six hours on me.
Frisky
Frisky is a medium coral and another favourite for me. What can I say? Coral gets me every time :D Frisky wore for five and a half hours on me.
Arm Candy
Arm Candy is a heart stoppingly bright neon pink. Once again, amazing colour pay off, this is another stand out shade for me. It wore for five hours on me.
Bliss
Bliss is a lovely fuchsia pink with smooth, opaque coverage. It lasted for five hours on me.
Manic
Manic is a rich plum pink. It's very close to MAC Flat Out Fabulous, just a touch pinker and with more sheen. This one lasted five hours too!
Relentless
Relentless is a universally flattering medium red with even colour pay off and a five and a half hour wear time.
Runway
Runway is a dark burgundy red with mostly opaque colour pay off. It grabbed at uneven texture a bit and as a result it applied with some subtle patchiness, so I'd recommend good lip prep and perhaps a coordinating lip liner when applying. Runway lasted six and a half hours on me.
Dare to Date
Dare To Date is a cheerful vivid lavender. There was some very slight patchiness with this colour too, but it wasn't noticeable from normal viewing distance. I really love shades like this, even if they're not the most flattering on me - they're just so much fun to wear! Dare To Date lasted for five hours.
Love Triangle
Love Triangle is a warm magenta purple reminiscent of MAC Heroine (another one I need to reswatch for comparison purposes!). I again ran into a very small amount of patchiness with this one, which seems to be fairly common with this shade of purple. Love Triangle clocked in an impressive six and a half hour wear time.
Poetic
Poetic is one of the shades that caught my attention straight away; black and purple lipsticks are becoming more and more commonplace in lipstick ranges but greys are still a bit more elusive. Poetic is a cool medium blue-grey with an unfortunately quite uneven application. It did hang on for five hours though.
Raven
Raven is a true black with mostly opaque coverage. There was some patchiness which wasn't nearly as apparent in person as it is in the swatch. It lasted five hours.
What I liked:
- Non drying formula
- Generally excellent colour pay off
- Wear time was between five to six and a half hours
- Carried Away highlights texture
- Some shades were patchy to varying degrees - Dare To Date, Love Triangle, Poetic and Raven
- NZ LA Girl Cosmetics, $11.99NZD
- Amazon
- Ebay
- Selected pharmacies (NZ)
Have you tried these lipsticks? Which colour is your favourite?
PS. If you want to see more shades of these lipsticks, two of my lovely blogger friends have recently featured them too. Check out Cassandramyee and Makeupper's reviews and be sure to give them a follow if you're not already because otherwise you're missing out!
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Lani
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