Monday, April 22, 2013

Medusa's Makeup Lipstick in Undead, Skid Row, Triple X, Rio, Lolita Review and Swatches

Medusa's Makeup Lipstick in Undead, Skid Row, Triple X, Rio, and Lolita
Fellow bloggers, and even non bloggers, have you ever bought a product, kind liked it when you first got it, let it sit in the vanity for a while, and every time you reach for it you come up with all these reasons not to wear it? I had that moment with these lipsticks. When i first got them i was jazzed about them. They have their issues but i was still happy just because Medusa's Makeup finally released lipsticks. In my hype i think i gave them just a bit more credit, in my mind at least, than i think they really deserved. While these lipsticks i am about to review are not the worst, i think had i done this review when i first received these, it would have leaned a little more hype than realistic.

Medusa's Makeup Lipstick in Undead, Skid Row, Triple X, Rio, and Lolita
Back in 2006 when i was really starting to apprecaite differnt types of makeup i stumbled upon an ad for a brand of cosmetics called Medusa's Makeup. With bright pigments, shadows and glitters, and me trying to be a scene queen or whatever i thought i was at the time, just "HAD TO HAVE IT!". The funny thing is the quality of those products, was and still is, pretty darn great. This was in a time when drugstore cosmetics offered products that were beyond boring (aside from the holy grail of collections- the Winter 2006 Revlon collection where i went to Duane Reade and spent 300 dollars buying it all....). Medusa's makeup filled a void that other brands couldn't. Just about 6 years later they release lipsticks and to be blunt- I had to be all up on that.

Medusa's Makeup Lipstick in Undead, Skid Row, Triple X, Rio, and Lolita
Medusa's Makeup Lipstick in Undead, Skid Row, Triple X, Rio, and Lolita
The colors range from fun shades like magenta and  hot pink and orange, to vampy shades like dark purple and blood red. The box is a bit on the goth side showing what looks like an intricate window with the logo of the eye in the middle (Medusa's gaze can turn you to stone if you look at her). I think it goes well with the brand. On the top of each box is a color preview square along with a little white spider in the corner. The tubes themselves are black with a rose design on the top, i used to love black roses so i kind of adored this in a nostalgic way, and i am sure anyone who went through the inner teen angst of the late 90's early 2000's may appreciate that as well. The tubes snap closed and have a design raised on the cap part of the tube and the base. The base features the logo in white and the bottom reads the name of each color.


Medusa's Makeup Lipstick in Undead, Skid Row, Triple X, Rio, and Lolita

 The formula is where this product really starts to lack. Though not the worst i have ever experienced but certainly not anywhere near good. Many of the shades are quite sheer. They need to be significantly built up on the lips and can become very streaky as a result. The website was lacking in details as to what these shades looked like so i was pressurized to find out that some were a bit metallic or shall i say "frost" like in finish. I wanted to assume that this was intentional but after looking at the brand as a whole - bright, bold, in your face - having a lipstick that is so sheer does not make much sense and was not advertised as such. Though not all shades had this issue (see individual shade reviews) i was shocked over this. I would have liked to see a matte formula or even just a more pigmented cream. I don't think i could ever imagine someone uttering - "I need a very sheer and streaky purple to wear to that concert where that (insert unknown band name) is playing". If i am completely wrong please tell me so in the comments section below. There is a slight scent that leans sweet to almost soapy.


Undead- A sheer, metallic,  streaky, violet purple. This shade bleeds into the outer lips, is very streaky, lacks pigmentation, lasts only about 2 hours on the lips, and take caution when wearing without liner. Though a pretty shade this requires entirely too many swipes on the lips for coverage. The swatch below is five swipes on the lips.
Medusa's Makeup Lipstick in Undead

Medusa's Makeup Lipstick in Undead

Medusa's Makeup Lipstick in Undead

 Skid Row- Metallic magenta. Not as sheer as undead but still needs to be built up on the lips. Also is not as streaky and does not bleed like undead. Can be worn without liner and has ok pigmentation. Would be great over a magenta liner to add a frosty finish.

Medusa's Makeup Lipstick in Skid Row

Medusa's Makeup Lipstick in Skid Row

Medusa's Makeup Lipstick in Skid Row

 Triple X- A creamy hot pink. This shade has the best pigmentation over all. Applied creamy and opaque in just two swipes. Lasted about 4 hours on the lips before need of reapplication. No bleeding or streaking. Very smooth and creamy texture.

Medusa's Makeup Lipstick in Triple X

Medusa's Makeup Lipstick in Triple X

Medusa's Makeup Lipstick in Triple X

Rio- Creamy bright orange. This shade was also one of the better preforming lipsticks in that it did apply creamy and nearly opaque. It did have sheerness to it but not as bad as undead or skid row. This shade applied creamy and had no streaking.

Medusa's Makeup Lipstick in Rio

Medusa's Makeup Lipstick in Rio

Medusa's Makeup Lipstick in Rio

Lolita- Creamy blood red. This shade has to easily be the worst of them all. What i expected to be a rich and opaque, rich, goth, red turned out to be nothing more than a streaky, sheer, under pigmented, excuse for a lipstick.  I have sheer lip balms with more color than this lipstick. This "lipstick" requires a minimum of 6 swipes back and forth on the lips to achieve color. Had this been labeled a lip sheer or the equivalent i would not be as shocked. I am surprised that Medusa's Makeup had the gall to release this.
Medusa's Makeup Lipstick in Lolita

Medusa's Makeup Lipstick in Lolita

Medusa's Makeup Lipstick in Lolita

Since my lips are a bit pigmented on their own i figured i would give you some arm swatches for comparison. Both the lip swatches and arm swatches were taken in the same light. You can see how sheer just one swipe of each lipstick is.
Medusa's Makeup Lipstick in Undead, Skid Row, Triple X, Rio, and Lolita

Medusa's Makeup Lipstick in Undead, Skid Row, Triple X, Rio, and Lolita

Overall the only lipsticks that are really redeeming of this collection are Triple X and Rio. I find most of these lipsticks  to be lacking severely. They are described as having color rich pigment. The person who understands what color rich pigment must have went on vacation the day after Triple X was made. I think this is my harshest review to date and am still in stock over how back these lipsticks apply. There are no swatches on the site and no color description. Save your money and only buy the shadows because these lipsticks are the biggest letdown.



4 comments:

  1. Thanks for this! I almost bought the set thinking they were creamy and pigmented definitely gonna get some Lime Crime instead :)

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    1. Aaand Lime Crime are even worse :P

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  2. Shoot! I loved the looks of Lolita in the tube, but if it's sheer, why bother?
    I think I'll go for Lime Crime or Barry M, instead.
    I prefer to wear red like I *mean* it! :)

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    Replies
    1. If you're looking for a good good red I say check out mac. Ruby woo is a very matte very pigmented matte that deliveres a true opacity. Even maybellines vivid collection has some true and opaque reds. Lime crime doesn't last too long on the lips especially for the price point.

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