I don’t think I’ve ever owned an Estee Lauder lipstick, I always thought the brand was a bit old for me, mainly because one of my mum’s perfumes as I was growing up, was Estee Lauder’s Youth Dew, housed in a glamorous bottle, with a gold bow and coca-cola coloured perfume which I always found intriguing.
Well, now I’m ‘of age’ and have just purchased the most gorgeous, super flattering lipstick that’s an exact match to the shade of pink inside of my lips, something I was hoping Charlotte Tilbury would come up with.
The shade is Strapless and it’s part of Estee Lauder’s Pure Colour Love range.
ESTEE LAUDER PURE COLOUR LOVE LIPSTICK, CRÈME, 130 STRAPLESS
In four fashion-forward finishes: Cremes, Chromes and Shimmers have a deliciously balmy texture. Mattes are bold, vibrant, rich and long-lasting, feel weightless. Keep that “just applied” look for hours.
There are no reliable online swatches, you have to test it for yourself in store. Strapless looks very blue, almost mauve in official photos, which is completely off the mark. The colour on the base of the tube is also misleading. I’ve adjusted my swatch below to reflect the true colour.
I’ve become lazy and apply lipstick straight from the bullet, but for Strapless, I use a lip brush. I’d forgotten how much more precise application is with a brush. I always line my lips with a pencil (or three), but a brush allows you to get into and neaten up those blurry edges age inevitably brings.
Strapless is too creamy to be a true matt, although I still apply a dot of gloss to the centre of my low lip – I must have a little shine!
It feels lovely when first applied, creamy and moisturising. Now, maybe it’s because I’m not used to this particular formula, but I was acutely aware of it on my lips. Weirdly, it tastes of lipstick.
The best thing though, is that the shade stays true, I have a few lipsticks, especially pink toned ones, that react with my body’s chemistry and metamorphose into either a horrible 1950s hot pink shade, or an unflattering mauve.
The pigmentation is strong, it wears evenly – no ‘halo’ mouth and it lasts a good few hours before it needs a touch up.
I’ve never found a lipstick that truly survives eating and drinking. Back in the ‘old’ days, we used a product called Lipcote – a bit like a layer of superglue applied over lips to keep the colour true, it stung like crazy and made your eyes water and you had to peel it and a layer of lip off to remove it, but it sort of worked.
Obviously it’s just me who absolutely hates it, because online reviewers appear to love the (newish?) tube packaging. Modern and glam yes, but wildly impractical.
That niggle aside, this has been such a hit for me that I’ll be exploring the shimmer shades next.
ESTEE LAUDER PURE COLOUR LOVE LIPSTICK, CRÈME, 130 STRAPLESS £20.00 John Lewis*
* Affiliate link
