Maybelline Color Drama Lip Pencils - Light It Up, Red Essential Swatches & Review

Purchased by me/Contains affiliate links

I received a few of the Maybelline Color Drama Lip Pencils for review last year and I was so enamoured by them that I had to pick up a few more when I spotted them on sale at a local pharmacy a while back. They were clearing out their Maybelline stock so had them for something crazy like 40% off - these babies are already easy on the wallet with their RRP of $9.99, so I was thrilled to pick up two gorgeous shades of red even cheaper.

Formula overview:
These have a lovely creamy texture which allows them to glide across lips without tugging or pulling. They have excellent colour pay off, delivering fully opaque colour in a single pass. I found two of the three shades here to be mildly drying and wear time averaged around five and a half hours. There was no staining from any of them and they don't settle into lip lines or feather, rather they wear away very evenly, so you're not left with a ring of colour.

These are petite pencils, shorter and chubbier than NARS' Velvet Matte Lip Pencils although they surprisingly contain 0.1g more - 2.4g (NARS) vs Maybelline's 2.5g. You'll need to sharpen them, leading to some inevitable product wastage. I highly recommend chilling them before sharpening though, as I've had them break during sharpening before and create a big smushy mess which is an absolute nightmare to get out of the sharpener!

Light It Up

Light It Up is a cheerful, bright red - a more youthful, Minnie Mouse red than Red Essential. It's a lot of fun to wear and applies wonderfully, lasting six hours on me without any migration/feathering issues or drying. 

Red Essential

Red Essential is a dramatic, classic red with blue undertones. If you love show-stopping reds like MAC's Russian Red, you'll definitely love Red Essential. It has excellent colour pay off and wears for six hours on me without feathering or drying out my lips.

What I liked:

• Excellent colour pay off
• Smooth application
• Lasted for six hours
• No feathering or migration
• Non drying

What I didn't like:

• Difficult to sharpen

Where to buy:

• Selected pharmacies, supermarkets and department stores, RRP $9.99
• Ebay
• Amazon

Have you tried Maybelline's Color Drama Lip Pencils? I want to try Berry Much and Fab Orange next!

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Lani

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