Estee Lauder Christmas 2010: Extravagant Lips

Disclosure: PR samples


If you're a regular reader, you've probably noticed that I absolutely love a reddish lip.  Or a plum lip.  Or a berry lip.  Anything, pretty much, aside from a nude, natural lip.  So I was pleased to be able to try out the berry shades of Estee Lauder's Christmas lip gloss and lipstick.  Both are rich, deep purplish red colours, with the lipstick offering a dark, almost vampish look that fits in nicely with the current goth lip trend, whilst the gloss offers a more daytime friendly sheer look.

Pure Colour Long Lasting Lipstick in Extravagant Berry.  This shade strikes me as being less berry, and more blackened red; there are some purplish tones in there, but they're subtle.  I'm guessing that this is because a lot of purple is difficult to pull off on most skin tones.  The lipstick is extremely well pigmented (this is two swipes over the lips), moistly textured, and comfortable to wear for the first couple of hours of wear.  It lasts until well after lunch on my lips, although it does start to feel a bit dry and uncomfortable after 6 hours - in my book, though, 6 hours between touchups is pretty darn good.

Pure Colour Gloss in Extravagant Plum.  A pretty, sheerly glossy wash of sparkly colour with enough glitter to catch the light, but not so much that it's too much.  The pigment tends to build up in the lines on the lips, although it's significantly less noticeable when not using a zoom lens.  This gloss is completely non sticky - it has that plush, ultra slick balm-like feel that feels lovely on the lips.  The downside of that is that the shiny finish doesn't last very long at all; you'll need to touch up every hour if you want to maintain the gloss.

Finally, the gloss and lipstick layered up together.  This is a gorgeous, sophisticated and very juicy looking lip, which looks best paired with neutral shadow and black liner - the colour is very intense and eye catching.  As with all Estee Lauder products, the packaging is very pretty; weighty, golden, and substantial feeling, with the products themselves being scented with fig - which is a nice change from the ubiquitous vanilla!

If you'd like to try out these colours, you'll find them at all the usual Estee Lauder stockists, including Boots, where the gloss will cost £15, and the lipstick will cost £17.

What do you think?