You can’t eat cake for breakfast, lunch, and dinner without getting porky. You can’t put in zero effort and reap all the rewards (unless you’re a cow). And you can’t wear a kickass, uber-matte lipstick without it all going wrong… eventually.
This is how I feel about the Lime Crime Velvetines in Red Velvet. I’d held off buying for ages, I’m not a fan of the way the brand has conducted itself in the past and to be honest, I haven’t been a fan of the products that they’ve released either. But the swatches have been amazing. Screw the fact that I’m in the 30+ category and “really” shouldn’t be wearing uber matte lipsticks, seriously… screw that! Red Velvet has been on my radar as a must-have for a long while. I had to try it, I just had to, didn’t I?
The packaging is rather nice actually, less unicorny and more sophisticated girlie… I do like the frosted glass container but there’s one irritation that bothers me each time I use it. Why is there no inner ridge in the tube where I can scrape off the excess product? Peering inside, it’s like looking into the Black Hole of Calcutta and when something is this frighteningly pigmented, you need absolute control over the amount of product on the wand.
Without smearing this around the opening, I don’t have that control and it balls up pretty quickly at the top, threatening to make a holy mess.
But the one thing you can’t deny is that once applied, Red Velvet is in a league of its own. Richly pigmented, deeply opaque, and velvet-textured… it’s a cracker. I’ve found it best to apply in two thin layers… once to get perfect outline and once to fill in for complete coverage. The formula is very wet to begin with and I inevitably end up with some of it on my front teeth. However, within 60-seconds it dries to an almost powdery finish.
The texture is lightweight but you can “feel” it on your lips because of the apparent dryness it imparts. It’s not actually that drying in terms of what it does to the condition of your lips but it will happily settle into all of your lip furrows and stick like the proverbial to the outer lip-line. It’s colour-depth and downright vampiness makes this the perfect choice for a night out… except, you might not want to choose it…
Let me explain…
On me, it wears U-G-L-Y. I have a large bottom lip and the first place that this disappears is toward the inside of my lip, leaving a horribly apparent ridge of colour. This colour-ridge narrows as the colour slowly disappears from the centre of my mouth, eventually leaving me with a rather impressive ring around the lower lip-line. And this is without eating, only drinking.
Compared to some red lipsticks, I actually found this to be relatively transfer-proof, there’s a little left on my glass after drinking but nowhere near as much as most lipsticks. It also resists transferring to my teeth once it has set on the lip, so it’s a real shame that I experience such horrible overall wear. You can see the kind of wear I get in this photo on my Tumblr. You should note, however, that this may be a peculiarity on me… many other bloggers report great wear from this product.
Ultimately, it’s a gorgeous red but I probably won’t wear it without a serious case of paranoia, and when you’re braving a lip this ka-pow, that’s not a great combination.
Lime Crime Velvetines in Red Velvet is priced at £11.50 and available to buy online from love-makeup.co.uk and cutecosmetics.co.uk
Do you own one of the Velvetines? What are your thoughts on them?
Gorgeous on youuuuuu dear
Will check if they deliver to India 🙂
I haven’t had too much problems with this – but admittedly the times I’ve worn it were ones where eating and drinking didn’t happen for a few hours…. I automatically reached for a lip brush, which definitely makes for an easier application. I don’t get on very well with those applicators at the best of times, so something this bright was definitely a brush job. I do adore the colour and for photography work I can see this as an absolute winner. x
Shame about the wear but it does look gorgeous on you! Keep a handy pocket mirror on you and rock this anyway!
Nicky
zeeblikesit.blogspot.com
xx
I posted about this a couple of days ago. Like you, I didn’t want to buy it because of the LC drama but I couldn’t resist any longer so I bought it anyway. It wears on me similarly to you, but I don’t mind it. I’m used to having lipsticks which disappear entirely off my lips in a few hours, so having one which just disappears in the centre of my mouth doesn’t bother me. I’m a vain cow and I love looking at myself so when I top up my lippie I can make sure I haven’t sprouted a third eye or a spot big enough to have its own postcode.
I haven’t been using a lip brush with it but I will do because in my close up photos of it I look like Dee Snider. Sexual, not! x x
Ohh *Sigh* It is so beautiful! I, like you were, am desperate to buy it and try it out. I just have so may reds, but this seems so uniquely stunning!
[…] – desperately wanted to love her new Lime Crime Velvetine but when lip and velvet met, things didn’t stay pretty for […]
[…] – desperately wanted to love her new Lime Crime Velvetine but when lip and velvet met, things didn’t stay pretty for […]
[…] – desperately wanted to love her new Lime Crime Velvetine but when lip and velvet met, things didn’t stay pretty for […]
What a shame! It looks great on you.
[…] – desperately wanted to love her new Lime Crime Velvetine but when lip and velvet met, things didn’t stay pretty for […]
The Lush lip colours in Ambition and Decisive look similar to this, minus the repackaging lies and other drama I associate with LC. They also wear really nicely on me, fading to a tint quite evenly.
I too have been tempted to get my hands on lime crime velvetine but was not ready to pay the price. So indulged instead in the mua cheapo version (£3 or £4). Before wearing it for the first time today, I actually remembered your review and was hoping the same wouldn’t happen to me. You know where this is going. I have experienced the same ‘wear off’ and it bothers me a lot. I can’t cope with the fact that it’s ‘perfect’ everywhere else and totally gone towards the very inner centre of my lips, and like you, just after one hot drink. It made me lick my lips to try to spread the product more evenly on the whole surface of my lips. I am not used to this kind of wear. It is just weird. I’d rather wear a normal lipstick which has a more traditional, more even way to wear off on my lips or my trusty sleek pout for a durable lip, with truly no weight at all on my lips. I bought it in pink and in red. No point returning the red one, with the price of postage and packing. So I might give it to a new home instead. Disappointed :/ xx
I want to buy the lime crime velvetine red lip velvet .i want to know how I’m going to order it. Can u guys show me how to do that plz.
It looks great on you but I won’t try any of these for all the other things you shared 🙂
Hi there! I love this red velvet color on you! I have sort of a random question. I bought the red velvet as well, however I noticed that when I first opened it, the applicator and spout of the bottle were messy as in your second photo. Was it like that when you first opened it or only after you’d used it? I’ve seen other reviews of the same lip product and their bottles all look like this. Just wondering if its a lime crime thing or if mine has indeed been used before, in which case I will return it! I’d really appreciate your input!
I remember mine was messy, I’m a neat freak about things like makeup and remember being annoyed by it.
Hi,
Thank you very much for a very good post on RV. And I do think it looks wonderful on you! I oils like to answer a question on the quality of this product, if I may.
I purchased it two months ago, used it maybe 6 times and now the bottle looks only 1/3 full. Did you have the same issue or mine was half-empty? Another thing the product itself is drying out, it is not that liquid any more as it was in the beginning. I am frustrated and don’t understand whether it is all about velvetines or I got a spoilt product.
Your answer will help a lot.
Thank you in advance.
Best regards,
Aselle