We've moved on from the matte craze and have embraced metallics for the summer season. The look is bold, shiny and glam. Milani Cosmetics recently released a line of metallic lip cremes called Amore Mattallic Lip Crémes. These are limited edition and are no longer available on their website, however you might get lucky and find them on Amazon or eBay (but probably for ridiculous prices).
I got four of them, and I think I paid around $8.00 for each, which is a really nice price.
The colors I got (from top to bottom): Matte About You, Cinemattic Kiss, Dramattic Diva, and Raving Matte. Are you seeing a theme here in the names?
It's a standard slanted doefoot applicator with a clear stem.
I noticed with about three out of the four lip cremes that I got, the stem was wonky. That is not acceptable.
The description says: "Bold and richly pigmented, these metallic liquid lip colors shine with a soft luster and dry to a smooth matte finish without drying out your lips. Waterproof and kiss approved, each Amore Mattallics Lip Créme delivers up to 16 hours of wear. Remove with an oil based long-wear lip color remover. "
Let's break it down.
"Bold and richly pigmented..."
These are probably some of the boldest lippies I've ever owned. The fact that they are metallic adds an edge to them, something that breaks away from the sweet side and becomes just a bit more naughty.
"...these metallic liquid lip colors shine with a soft luster and dry to a smooth matte finish without drying out your lips."
This product definitely shines metallic, and every so slightly, nothing extreme like chrome or anything like that. It's subtle, so it keeps it classy. Do they dry to a smooth matte finish? Yes and no. It dries to a matte finish, but it's not entirely smooth. We'll get into that in a bit. After wearing for a while, these definitely make my lips feel dry.
"Waterproof and kiss approved, each Amore Mattallics Lip Créme delivers up to 16 hours of wear. "
This is accurate. This stuff is not coming off of your lips. I haven't worn it for 16 hours so I can't attest to that claim, but when I have worn it, that stuff is not budging. The company recommends that you remove it with an oil based long-wear lip color remover. I don't have one of those, but I think you should definitely listen to that recommendation because using a regular old makeup wipe is just about useless on this product. That can be a plus and a minus, in my opinion.
One swipe of makeup remover
Two swipes of makeup remover
Four swipes of makeup remover
Alright. Let's swatch.
Hm. Raving Matte doesn't really look that metallic in this pic, but it is I promise!
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| Cinemattic Diva |
Cinemattic Diva is a nice soft pink color, great for daytime, and if you aren't quite sure how crazy matte is going to look on you. I think it's a nice starting place.
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| Matte About You |
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| Dramattic Diva |
Hello, Barbie pink! This is PINK. Like, PIIIIINK. But it is SO fun. I find that the bolder the colors get the more I like them.
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| Raving Matte |
Out of all of these, though, I like Raving Matte the best. It's definitely not a Summer color, but it's really, really nice on.
So let's talk about some of the obvious things about these swatches. As you can see in some (or most) of the pics, it's streaky. It's patchy. I've been told that you need to layer it, but I swear that's what I did. Especially with Raving Matte, no matter how slowly and carefully I did it, it still came out streaky and patchy. Its like, once you have the product on, whatever you try to put over it will just get more patchy, and take off what you already put down. So that's a definite minus. It gets sticky pretty quickly, so anything you try to put over what you already laid down will just kind of stick and drag across your lips.
And the smell. Oh man, the smell. It has a really, really strong smell. It's kinda sweet, maybe like it's trying to smell like candy, but man. It's pungent. And kind of sickly. It doesn't smell nice the way MAC lippies smell. It's like the guy that just worked out at the gym, but didn't have time to shower before meeting his friends for dinner, so he just soaked himself in cologne to mask that stale, corn chip post-workout stench. That's the best way I can describe this scent.
Like I stated above, this does dry matte to a nice metallic finish, but it is quite drying on the lips. And let me just say, I don't have super dry lips. I moisturize every night, I exfoliate, and I moisturize throughout the day. I have nicely hydrated lips. So for my lips to feel dry after wearing this product for an hour or so is...well, draw your own conclusions. I tried putting some balm over this product, and it just dulls the metallic sheen. So don't do that.
So let's talk about the pros and cons.
Pros:
- Affordable (about $8.00 a pop)
- Long-lasting
- Pigmented
- Great colors
- Actually metallic looking
Cons:
- Smelly
- Hard to remove
- Splotchy and aggravating application
- Limited edition and no longer available (on the website)
- Did I mention the smell?
So if I had to say if I liked it or disliked it more, I think I dislike this product more than I like it. It's fun and the colors are great, but it's aggravating to put on and it dries my lips. I'm not about to toss these in the trash, but they're definitely not a go-to for me. In the future I will likely try out the Colorpop Ultra Metallics and see if I like those better.
