Sparkled Beauty

Buy in Coins is a fun site for brushes and inexpensive random items for me. My latest haul from them: M.n Me Now Generation II Long Lasting lip glosses!

Labelled as Waterproof Velvet Matte lipsticks on the site, these hybrid lipsticks/ lip glosses ($1.23, 0.155oz/ 4.4g) are supposedly the newly-found dirt cheap cousin of Lime Crime Velvetines ($20, 0.11oz/ 3g).

Wide colour range (36 in total) but lots of pinks (some shades do look very similar) and not enough nudes and darker shades, and not all shades are in stock (19 at the moment).

The 6 shades I ordered: #2 modelling its long wand, then from top - bottom: #7, #8, #13, #25 and #36.

The glosses do have a faint fresh scent but it disappears very quickly.

The thin long tube (reminds me of a test tube) has a black round cap that holds the wand, which requires a bit of precision control.

Gladly, I found the glosses easy to apply and do not need a lip liner underneath. They do dry matte but are not drying when worn on top of a lip balm.

The swatches on my hand, once dry, only came off completely with a micellar solution, not with a makeup wipe, or even soap and water. On the lips, they transferred a bit onto my mug and faded gradually with meals during the day, starting from the middle of the lower lip. Touchup was needed about 6-7 hours in, depending on what I had to eat and drink. They did not leave behind a stain.

Swatches of the first 3 shades - #2, #7 and #8, one swipe each right after application. A few minutes later, they would look matte as matte can be.

Now #13, #25 and #36, also one swipe, almost looked matte already.

All in all, these Velvet Matte lipsticks can't beat Velvetines for wear but for pigmentation, price and colour selection. Note that shipping might take a few weeks, so plan your purchase accordingly :) And check out the FOTD where I wore #8.

Interestingly, the name sticker at the top of the cap mentions a MFD (either March, May or August 2014 on my tubes) and a EXP of 5 years, a lot longer than the recommended 2 years. I'll toss them if colour, texture or scent starts to feel off :)