Stay True to the Spirit of a Rogue with Blue and Purple Lipsticks from INGLOT… + 1 Year of Bloggy Adventures!

Greetings from back at the very start of the dungeon, fellow rogues!

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a blogging rogue in possession of a large pile of loot must be in want of time to review it all.

As part of my continuing quest to make it through all the lovely things I collected in Dubai, I’m bringing you a rather late, much anticipated, but nevertheless hopefully still relevant review of two of INGLOT’s more intriguingly coloured lipsticks!

In semi-related news, today marks the 1st anniversary of my blog 🙂 To be honest, it’s kind of snuck up on me (given all the thesis madness that’s STILL GOING ON ARGH), but the little trophy from WordPress popped up in my notifications feed this morning to give me a little warm fuzzy buzz. I don’t have anything special planned, or any awesome giveaways organised (see: thesis), but I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who’s stopped by, said hello, and adventured with me these past 12 months. I’ve said before that my favourite part of blogging is the community, both fellow bloggers and readers, and I hope to enjoy this whole blogging thing for many adventures to come.  ❤

(When the Thesisbeast is finally slain…THEN WE PARTY) 😀

PURPLE LIPSTICKS OMGWTFBBQ ARRGHSQUEE! Uh, yes. Purple Lipstick. *cough*

Right: to get on with the actual review… I sort of wandered into the INGLOT store in the Dubai Mall without any special plans – I knew they had an impressive colour selection, and that was about it! Then I walked past the magical benchtop that held their pan lipsticks (or cream pigments, or whatever you want to call them) and ground to an immediate halt. I SAW PURPLE.

The Freedom System. Also known as choose-your-colours or ‘the dwarven approach to deciding when it is appropriate to start quaffing and eating all the pies’.

As you will be aware if you hang around here for any length of time, I have a bit of a thing when it comes to purple, especially lipsticks! Since it’s an anniversary, I feel it’s only appropriate to mention that although my first real post didn’t feature a purple lipstick, the second one did 🙂 The first one had coral. I guess I thought I’d start with something I wore daily, and then work in the direction of stuff I *wish* I could wear to work. 😉

Our brave adventurers stumble across a strange artefact in the woods…

So! Of course I immediately chose the two purples an had them popped into one of the hady dandy two-pan Freedom System palettes. I do like that Inglot offers a reasonable selection of pan-form things, and that there are a few options when it comes to how many pans you have in your palette. Obviously, there were other shades of lipstick that I wanted from the line (how about the chartreuse, the white and the yellow, for starters?), but I was on a bit of a budget, didn’t know if I would like them, and thought I would stay true to my roguish roots. The colours I chose were #95 (the more bluish one) and #99 (the warmer violet). I’ve niggled before about lazy naming ayatems, but given the number of shades and items INGLOT has on offer, I can see the practicality of a numerical system. I’ll give them a pass this time, but I am partial to actual names for shades of makeup. 😉

INGLOT lipsticks in #95 (blue) and #99 (purple). These shades are the absolute devil to photograph. Getting the shade right is like getting the paladin not to look smug in a photo. Essentially, it can’t be done.

I am rather fond of the packaging in the sense that it’s very sleek and operates by means of magnets. Magnets are awesome, and the magnetisation happening here is just as strong as you need it to be, and not so strong that when you’re trying to slide the lid off it suddenly pops and you gouge the hell out of the pan (I think we’ve all had something similar happen to us with some aggressively sealed product or other). Thumbs up to INGLOT for that one. The frosted aspect to the lid (for some reason), is totally my jam.

The lid opened relatively smoothly, and for a second they wondered if it was going to be some sort of crypt. Fortunately, lipsticks eventuated, rather than hordes of the vengeful living dead.

Normally, I’m not really a lip brush person (too lazy), but I wasn’t about to start finger painting with these, so I dusted off my Dior lipliner (which has an excellent brush on the other end) and attacked the pans! The texture of the lipsticks is smooth and very creamy, but isn’t too slippery. I didn’t experience any feathering during wear, and the colour applied evenly, but I have the sneaking suspicion that if you do personally find that lipsticks bleed or settle into your liplines, these lipsticks might lean in that direction. They feel nice and weightless on the lips, last about 3 hours (decent for me) and don’t taste of anything. The only downside is that they have a moderately onoxious fake cherry scent, that needs to die in a fire. I am biased because of some truly heinous medicine I had to take as a child, but even at the best of times, I feel like fake cherry scents don’t lend a whole lot of sophistication to a product. With the quality of the lipsticks and the sleek packaging, the scent is like… well, if you took a sundae crafted from madagascan vanilla bean ice cream and molten Valhrona chocolate and added a ‘pffft’ of spraycan ‘cream’ and a neon red maraschino cherry on top… *sniffs snobbily*:-)

All that aside though, these are nice lipsticks, for a great price, with an excellent selection. If you’ve been hesitating over trying INGLOT, or trying some more unconventionally-coloured lipstick, then this might be a great place for you to start! These are officiallt Rogue Approved lipsticks (and colours), so go forth and adventure, secure in the knowledge that I have your back when it comes to lip products. 😛

#99 (right), #95 (left) and my attempt at an ombre lip at the lower centre.

As you can see in the picture above, they both have decent pigmentation (the blue a little better than the purple), and they are both very smooth and even. I should note here that the Freedom System does have another blue lipstick in the line, but it’s more of a cyan type of blue, rather than an indigo/cobalt. I just don’t want to give the impression that this is the only blue in the line, hah! Anyway, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to try my hand at an ombre blue/purple lip, and so pressed both colours into service, along with my trusty mainstay, MUFE #49 to add depth and shadow in the corners and around the lipline. Although I prefer lipsticks in bullets generally, the whole pan and brush business does give a wonderfully artistic atmosphere. The lip look was inspired by Phyrra’s hair, and a recent, fabulous ombre blue lip look that Fancie posted in Instagram ^_^ .

What do you think, fellow adventurers? Have you tried any of the INGLOT lipsticks? Do you go for blue or purple in your makeup looks much? What do you think I should do to celebrate my Blogiversary? 😀

The practicalities: INGLOT 2-pan Freedom System palettes cost US$8 each (I need to check how many AED) and the lipstick pans cost US$7 each for 1.2 g/0.05 oz. All are permanent, and may be acquired from INGLOT stores and counters around the world, as well as from www.inglotusa.com (and other international equivalent websites).

Until next time, fellow adventurers, don’t forget to check for traps!

Syl

I am an adventuring rogue, not a mercenary for hire, and as such, all opinions expressed here are my own, based on a genuine fondness for/interest in this product. If you have any queries or suggestions, please do not hesitate to pin your parchment to the board (contact me) at thepaintedrogue [at] gmail [dot] com., or use the contact form provided! All images and text on this blog are the property of The Painted Rogue unless otherwise stated. If you nick off with any of it, be prepared to find that your morning hot beverage tastes a little…different than usual. Didn’t the rogue say something the other day about that new poison that makes your inner ear itch maddeningly for the rest of your life? I think she did…