Saturday 30 December 2017

Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick review & swatches

Hi guys! If you follow me on Instagram (and if you don't, why not?!), you may have seen this post being teased a couple of times over the last few weeks. If not, then today I'm going to be bringing you something pretty different for Avon, but something exciting for makeup fans.

Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Blue Suede
Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Blue Suede

Avon will soon be launching the mark. Epic Lip Lipstick collection, which is a two in one primer and lipstick hybrid that comes in 22 shades, including two online exclusive shades. Not only does this new range stick to the traditional shades, but they actually step out of the box this time and include some blues and a grey, which is definitely something that I didn't see coming from Avon. They also come in a range of finishes, from solid creams to shimmers and even a subtle chrome shade.

The formula is described as creamy and it promises to leave an airbrushed finish with colour that lasts and lasts. Each lipstick comes packaged in a sleek, black, rectangular tube with the mark. logo repeated over the lid.

So how do they wear? Let's get into the details.



Application and Results:

In regards to application, I find that it is a mix bag. Some of them apply really well, some not as great. I've gone into detail below each swatch and I'm going to be discussing parts of this towards the end of the post too.

The lipsticks themselves don't really have a smell that spans the collection. Some of them smell of pretty much nothing, but some have a chemical sort of smell. As with other Avon lipstick ranges, this tends to be with the more pigmented, darker shades.

Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Blue Suede
Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Blue Suede

Wear time seems to be pretty inconsistent too, with the most pigmented shades lasting longer. When I say most pigmented, I don't mean the darkest. Some of the darkest shades of this batch do apply a little streakily and patchy, and the best performers tend to be around the middle of the shade range.

With all of that said, there are some real stunners in this bunch. I'm going to be focusing more on the best parts at the end, so for now I'll show you the swatches and we shall talk about the highlights after seeing them.

Nude Attitude


Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Nude Attitude
Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Nude Attitude

A pale nude shade. Less streaky than Get Cheeky (next swatch), but still very streaky.


Get Cheeky


Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Get Cheeky
Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Get Cheeky

A pale peach shade. Applies very streakily, hard to get a good finish.


Wink of Pink


Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Wink of Pink
Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Wink of Pink

A pale pink shade. As the pigmentation increases the streaks become less, but they’re still there.



Grey Matters


Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Grey Matters
Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Grey Matters

A creamy grey,  Far more flattering than you would imagine before applying! It has better pigmentation than all of the lighter shades above and applies better too.



Street Style


Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Street Style
Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Street Style

Dark, dusky grey-lilac. This maybe isn’t the type of shade everyone would be drawn to, but is one to try for sure. I like it a lot.



Rosy Outlook


Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Rosy Outlook
Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Rosy Outlook

A nude, your lips but better shade. This is a very safe but also good shade. It’s super pretty and perfect for day to day life.



Wave Runner


Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Wave Runner
Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Wave Runner

A bright blue. This is one of the shades I was most excited about. It was a little patchy (less patchy in person than it looks in the photo), but otherwise felt comfortable on the lips. It was somewhat difficult to remove.


Be Loud 


Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Be Loud
Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Be Loud

A very loud, almost neon Barbie pink. This is such a bold shade and I love it, but it does apply a tad streakily. Also stains the lips a bit upon removal. This photo does not do the vibrancy any justice!



Red Extreme


Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Red Extreme
Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Red Extreme

A pure, bold red. If Avon always seem to get the nude shades wrong, the one shade they always get consistently right is a red. I can’t remember ever trying a bad red from Avon, they’re very good at them. Excuse the stain on my Cupid’s bow, couldn’t remove it from trying Be Loud.



Pink Punch


Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Pink Punch
Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Pink Punch

This is very similar to Be Loud, but with warmer undertones. It’s a bright, neon pink. It applies like Be Loud and also stains the lips like it too! 



Blushing Beauty


Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Blushing Beauty
Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Blushing Beauty

Whilst the name may make it sound like it’s going to be another pink shade, Blushing Beauty is a beautiful mauve. Glides on well and even though it looks a little patchy in the photo, it looks better in person.



Enchanted


Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Enchanted
Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Enchanted

This is the same as Plump Up The Jam from the Liquid Lip Lacquers, but better pigmentation as the matte shade I tried took two layers. I can’t speak for the shine formula, but the matte was definitely lacking pigment. It still isn't perfect though and is still a bit streaky. Now if they could make this shade with the same formula as their matte lipstick it would be rather brilliant. 



Coral Burst


Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Coral Burst
Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Coral Burst

A bright orange red with subtle shimmer. Applies well, good pigmentation.



Luv U


Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Luv U
Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Luv U

This shade. Wow! It’s so hard to capture the beauty of this one in a photo, but it is a pink-purple/blue chrome shade . The blue shines through when you hit the right light. I think I love it so much because it matches my glasses which are purple but shine blue in the right lights. Great pigmentation, easy to apply. The only thing I dislike is the name. 



Extremely Mauve


Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Extremely Mauve
Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Extremely Mauve

This is a beautiful dark mauve shade that is super easy to wear. Again, the formula is great.  



Berry Bold


Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Berry Bold
Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Berry Bold

A bright, bold berry red with a subtle shimmer. Another great red from Avon.



Sangria Shock


Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Sangria Shock
Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Sangria Shock

Beautiful plum with red undertones, but not as pigmented as other shades.



Chocolate Treat


Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Chocolate Treat
Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Chocolate Treat

A dark brown nude shade. Whilst this may not look as great on me, it would look beautiful on darker skin tones. Apologies for the shoddy application here, but by this point my lips were so sore it was becoming pretty difficult to apply them!



Spellbound


Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Spellbound
Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Spellbound

A dark purple with blue undertones. With a name like Spellbound and knowing that Luv U has a chromatic look, I’m kind of disappointed that this doesn’t follow suit. At the very least I kind of hoped for some shimmer, but this one leaves me feeling a bit disappointed as it isn’t even as pigmented as other shades.



Heartbreaker 


Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Heartbreaker
Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Heartbreaker

Heartbreaker is a dark, deep red with a very subtle shimmer. Very pretty, but wish it was more pigmented. Would be better layered over a lip liner.



Blue Suede


Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Blue Suede
Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Blue Suede

A dark, metallic navy. Guys! I am in love! I adore the shade Blue Suede in the stick, but I was super nervous about wearing it. I thought it would make me look washed out and I truly envy all the folks who can pull off this type of shade, but once I applied it I was so surprised and excited. It suited me far more than I expected and I love it. I really, really love it. I was actually sad about having to take it off to carry on swatching. If you are scared about trying a shade like this, please don’t be. You may find a new inner confidence that you never knew you had just from wearing it for five minutes. 



Temptress


Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Temptress
Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick in Temptress

A dark, dark purple with subtle shimmer. Again, not as pigmented and also hard to apply neatly without lip liner. Definitely needs a liner.


And there we have it!


Straight away, what seems evident is that Avon seem to have a hard time with delivering a good nude shade. I feel like this is something that I’m discussing again and again with all new Avon lipstick launches. With that said, I usually find that when a new wave of shades are released and they contain nude shades, they are pretty good. If you want a nude, it’s probably best to wait out for a Gen.2 or Gen.3 wave of shades.

Is the lack of a good, light nude shade a hinderance for this launch, though? I don’t think so. When Avon first launched mark., they described it as being for the bold, those who want to play with colour and make a statement (remember their quote, "Your face is the canvas: you are the artist"). I think that’s worth remembering because it means that their target audience would more likely to be looking at the mark. range for something more creative. If you want a good nude shade from Avon, it’s better to look towards their True Colour or Anew ranges. 

So do they deliver to their target audience? Yes and no. The majority of the brighter shades are very good, but there is the odd one that is a bit streaky (I'm looking at you mainly, Spellbound). Those aside though, then yes, it is a good collection to check out.

Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick
Avon mark. Epic Lip Lipstick

As I mentioned towards the start of the post, there are inconsistencies with the wear time. The most pigmented, such as Be Bold, Blue Suede, Rosy Outlook etc do last out longer. You will need to still carry your lipstick around for reapplication though as none of them are going to last the full day, but you do get a decent wear time of a few hours from the best of the bunch and a couple of hours with the weakest/least pigmented. If you can pair a shade up with a lip liner though, you will get more wear from them.

What I like most about this range and their shades though is the availability. I’m sure that you can name brands that sell blue lipsticks and other quirky shades, but the issue with them is that the majority tend to be either, a) in the higher price bracket, or b) not easily accessible to the general, casual shopper. Avon, however, sell their products at affordable prices and they are available in different ways. You can purchase online or find a rep to come to you. I'm not saying that there aren't other brands who sell these shades at affordable prices, but it does feel like with Avon doing it that they're being placed in front of "new eyes".

Another great thing is that a lot of folks want to try a different shade to the norm, but don’t want to splash out the money to use it once and not like it. Avon do offer sample sizes, so if you want to try before you buy to make sure it suits you, you can always get in touch with a rep! 

Personally, I am really happy that Avon have launched the shades in the Epic Lip collection. This range gives way to everyone to express themselves how they wish to. 

My top shade choices are Blue Suede, Grey Matters and Luv U. I would also recommend at least trying Wave Runner as well.

If you want to buy some shades, they will be available from my online Avon store (UK, courier delivery only), and the shades Grey Matters and Wave Runner will be online exclusives, so they won't be available via a rep catalogue.

If you want to share the swatches or prefer them in collage form, I also made a collage that can be found over on my Pinterest page.

Which shades are your favourite? Will you try the blues?
Let me know in the comments below!

Zoe. @Beautifinous

2 comments:

  1. So many different and beautiful shades. I love lipsticks so much. My fav shades here are Blushing Beauty, Extremely Mauve, Heartbreaker,Sangria Shock, Spellbound.. Oh these are really pretty. Loved your perfect swatches and in depth review.

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