Sunday, December 15, 2013

Too Faced La Creme Lip Cream

The Too Faced spring collection will be arriving on their website in the beginning of this week and therefore I have decided to write my review of this Too Faced lipstick before this collection arrives on the website.  The website has always crashed with the initial releases of the spring and fall collections so I wanted to get this review done while I have their website up and functioning.  Once their website has come back up after the initial launch, I will start my spring collection coverage with Too Faced.  I ordered two of the Too Faced La Crème lipsticks several weeks ago and have been putting them to test since Thanksgiving and I am now ready to review this formula.

This lipstick formula was an instant hit since it's first release last year and many shades of this product are often sold out at Sephora and Ulta.  Many ladies consider this lipstick to be one of their favorite cream formulas and it is now a cult favorite product from this company.  I will state very early in the review that this is NOT my favorite lipstick formula and I will not be buying any more tubes after I use up what I purchased.

We are going to start with the product description and shades from the Too Faced website.  "Indulge your lips with rich creamy color, drenched with luscious, hydrating moisturizers including white lotus flower and power peptides.  Moisture has never been so pretty!  16 Must-Have Colors: Something for every fashion and mood in sought-after shades for each color family: nudes, spices, pinks, and reds.  Lotus Flower Extract: Hydrating, soothing, and lip-conditioning with environmental protection provided by anti-oxidants.  Power Peptides: Conditioning, smoothing, and firming for delicate lip area.  Indulgent color: Saturated, one-swipe formulas drench lips with sexy, pure color."

The shades that are found in this formula are...

- Naughty Nude - chestnut
- Naked Dolly- satin pink
- Nude Beach - nude peach
- In The Buff - warm beige
- Spice Spice Baby - pinky brown
- Cinnamon Kiss - spiced brown
- Honey Bear - toasted mauve
- Sweet Maple - plum brown
- Marshmallow Bunny - marshmellow pink
- Razzle Dazzle Rose - pink rose
- Juicy Melons - pink coral
- Fuchsia Shock - fuchsia pink
- I Want Candy - raspberry rose
- Coral Fire - coral red
- Stiletto Red - classic red
- Divine Wine - Bordeaux

I started with buying both Naked Dolly and Marshmallow Bunny, I wanted to start with nude and neutral pink lipstick shades from this product in order to start working with the formula.  I had originally planned to then order more of the saturated shades; I had my eyes on Razzle Dazzle Rose, I Want Candy, and Stiletto Red but I quickly decided against purchasing more shades once I started to work with this formula.

I am going to start with why I didn't like this formula and how my wear testing of these shades went.  I was looking for a creamy lipstick that was easy to wear and hydrating on the lips, I had a picture in my head of these being a more hydrating version of the Urban Decay Revolution Lipsticks that I have been loving the past few months.  The La Crème Lipsticks are not at all like those in formula and they reminded me very much of the MAC Sheen Supreme Lipsticks that I loved so much last spring.  If I would have know this fact, my initial wear tests probably would have gone better...

I will be the first to admit that I didn't plan out the initial wear test and I should not have done my first impression on a Monday morning while getting ready for work.  I decided to grab Naked Dolly instead of my usual Urban Decay Revolution Lipstick in Naked, the shades look similar in the package and I was expecting them to be very similar on the lips.  I will also admit that I did not properly exfoliate my lips as I have found that I usually can skip this step with the Urban Decay formula.  I should not have skipped the exfoliation step and I should never test new products out on a Monday morning...

The initial application was quite nice, it applied smoothly and felt very creamy and hydrating.  I was very happy with my first impression but this happiness quickly wore off in the morning hours.  Naked Dolly is a nude pink that looks very wearable.  My first huge issue with this formula occurred when I looked in the mirror once I got to work.  I noticed that my lips had a golden shimmer cast in certain lights and I went back to look up the product description again, I wondered how I had missed the detail about a shimmer finish when first looking at the product.  It turns out that this fact is never mentioned in the product description but has been noted by quite a few people that reviewed the product on the Sephora and Too Faced websites.  I felt like I had been mislead a bit because I don't think that I would have purchased this product if I would have known that the majority of the shades contain shimmer.

My biggest issue with the wear on the first day is how the lipstick behaved over the first few hours of wear.  The shimmer particles clung to the dry patches on my lips, creating a clumpy appearance to my lips.  I dabbed a drop of coffee off my mouth and the formula smeared all over the place, ruining my overall lip look.  After several hours, I was so disgusted with the product that I wiped it all off and just applied a clear balm to get through the rest of the work day.  I tried the Marshmallow Bunny shade once I got home and saw that it has a silver shimmer finish to it.  At this point, I was ready to return both tubes and never try this formula again.

I forced myself to give this product a second test before deciding that I couldn't stand it.  The next morning, I exfoliated my lips well in the shower and prepped my lips the way that I would when getting ready to wear a bright shade of the Stila Stay All Day Lipstick.  The application and wear of this product was much improved after exfoliation, the initial application was smooth and it stayed smooth much longer throughout the day.  I did add a touch of lip balm before reapplying this product after lunch and this helped the formula stay smooth throughout the rest of the day.  Once I got home, I did the same test with the other shade and obtained the same results.

Due to my issues with the more neutral shades of this formula, I decided against buying the rose and red shades that I initially liked.  I can only see the issues with this formula being even worse with a more pigmented shade and I wouldn't want to wear a formula that moves around so much in a shade that will be even more evident when it smears.

Overall, this is probably one of my biggest product fails in the past few months.  I was expecting a pigmented creamy lipstick and received a cream formula filled with shimmer.  I can make this formula work with a bit more effort than I was expecting and I will keep both of these tubes and use them up over the next few months.  I prefer more of a matte finish lipstick and I won't be buying any more shades in this formula...

photo courtesy of Too Faced

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