Etude House has been steadily rising in profile ever since Sandara from 2NE1 became their main model. To be honest, I think she looks pretty hideous in the picture above :P But the fact she is (barely) pulling off all that ridiculous orange-ness is a testament to her beauty. Honestly, I did not try these for a long time because I thought if Sandara looks this bad with that lipstick, I hardly want to try it myself. Then I saw the swatches on Musings of A Muse and decided I should give em a try. Also I adore to this day my Etude House Orgel Light lipstick, so figured why the heck not ;)
Purchased at/Cost: From Ebay seller zinopark for $11.99/each. Now they're $9.99/each *sigh* Go figure.
Packaging: Super nice! Lots of attention to detail and the sheer weight of them feels expensive (seriously, these are remarkably heavy!). I love how the boxes line up when you lay them side by side and the satisfying little clicks the wheel makes when you turn it. The tubes have a pearly coat on them that looks expensive and pretty cute. I like how the overall style is sleeker than their usual pink-overload.
| 1: Twist the dial little by little until you have enough for just one use. |
I do have a complaint though. The directions say to twist just enough product for one use (aka 1~2 mm). If you don't and accidentally twist out too much, well it sucks for you because you can't really "twist it back in." You'll need to gently push it back in with you finger. Also, you can't actually twist out more than 3-4mm at a time. Given, you probably will never need to, but just saying - the reason they ask you to just twist out 1-2mm at a time is because CAN only twist out that much at a time.
Scent: AH-MAH-ZING! I guess I shouldn't be surprised since the Orgel Light smelled so nice. It's basically a tangy tangerine scent, surprise surprise.
Texture: It's pretty slick and smooth overall, BUT sometimes a little chunk of glitter will fall off the stick. Also if you look closely, there is a certain graininess to the texture :\ In a nutshell, it's tolerable but nothing to write home about.
Formula: This will sink into EVERY FINE LINE you have on your lips. It is also extremely unforgiving on chapped lips. Thankfully, the colors are light so this tends not to be obvious, but honestly, the formula could've been better. The upside is that this is pretty moisturizing/not drying.
Pigmentation: Not as pigmented as they appear on hand swatches and in the tube I assure you. Etude House lip colors are, as a general rule, lean towards the sheer, glossy side. Think of it as lip tint in a stick. If you want a lot of color, this is not for you. However, these ARE more pigmented than their Orgel Light line (at least compared to the one I have).
Lasting Power: Not that great. It's a tinted sort of lipstick (at least on me it is), so it lasts no more than 4-5 hours really.
#5 Sweet Peach Shower
Of the two colors I got, I like #5 the best. I find that orange/coral based colors suit me the most. As you can see, this accentuates fine lines and chapped lips like nobody's business, but does leave a very nice hint of color and shine. The orange color turns more pink/peach on my lips; I do like this color a lot, it reminds me of a glossier, more glitter-y NYX Pumpkin Pie. It is very reminiscent of tangerine indeed!
#1 Shiny Pink Shower
As usual, I look a little sick with this blue-based color. It looks okay overall, but it's not a color that looks particularly flattering on me. Like #5, this one sinks into fine lines, leaves a lovely shine, and a scale 1-10, this is a 5 in pigmentation. I don't use this one anymore because it looks garish on me.| #5: Sweet Peach Shower |
Overall
Would I recommend this? Ehhhh....sort of.
Pros: packaging appearance/weight, great scent, fairly wearable, gorgeous shine, decently moisturizing/not drying
Cons: sinks into every line it can find, not long lasting, slightly grainy formula
This is one of the products that I feel lukewarm about. I don't hate it but I don't really think anybody is missing out either. Try it if you like, but don't expect anything amazing. I think it would mostly depend on how the color turns out on you and unless you have an Etude House shop near you, it'll be luck of the draw. I won't be purchasing more personally, but it's a fun product to try out if you can.
