Maybelline Color Sensational High Shine Lipstick in Coral Lustre

When I first started posting on the blog, Maybelline was pretty much my least favorite brand on the planet and to sum up my experience with the brand, it's pretty much "Nothing worked": The eye shadows were either too sheer or dusty, all their mascaras made me look like a raccoon, their express finish nail colors were(still are) runny like water and/or took  forever to dry...Three years has passed and look how it has evolved (into one of the major drugstore butt-kickers)!

Maybelline Color Sensational High Shine Lipstick has only be around for about a month or so,initially I was pretty scared of the idea of chunky glitter in a glossy base (at least that was my impression) but the beautiful color of Coral Lustre quickly won me over,not to mention I also heard about their improved scent from several online sources. The new range has the same light, flimsy tube as the old one but the lid is has a metallic coating that's (poorly done in many tubes)also prismatic(think "holographic" in nail polish...I don't use the word in other products since they has nothing to do with "recorded and reconstructed light"). Anyway, they managed to leave the top square alone so you can use it as a peephole, the pale purple might make the color a little off but it's a lot better than the deep brown, purple red or pink from their older range.

As mentioned earlier, for the new Color Sensational High Shine Lipstick Maybelline (finally heard our complaints and)got rid of the old Playdoh scent and replaced it with something much much nicer, many say it's citrus but I think it smells like orange Stardburst candy (that's more sweet than zest-like). Anyway, I guess different people react to different scents and for our discussion, the new Color Sensational High Shine smells pretty darn good...Enough babbling and straight to the lipstick...

Compared to other coral lipsticks I have,Coral Lustre is nothing like Maybelline Coral Crush(which is a good deal pinker, brighter and more pigmented), it has the same sheer, watery and sorbet-like texture as Paul and Joe Lipstick N(but it's more orange than Poppy). Tone wise, Coral Lustre is actually pretty similar to Revlon Coral Reef lip gloss that the two seem to be the warmest of the bunch. I also threw in Rimmel Coral Shimmer, Shiseido Maquillage (subtly metallic but very wearable) PK372 for comparison purpose. For me, it's difficult to pick which coral is better than the other as they are all quite unique on their owns.

Maybelline Color Sensational High Shine Lipstick in Coral Lustre on the lips - It's quite sheer at first but you can always build it up for a semi-opaque finish, with four or five swipes you will get a decent deal of color, a subtle watery shine and a subtle depth given by the shimmer, the shimmer in the lipstick is so fine that I almost wanted to call it nano-glitter ("micro" doesn't do it justice).

Maybelline Coral Lustre with DiorKiss lip gloss in Granny Smith (a glittery golden green). The lipstick looks and feels pretty good by itself already so a gloss is really optional.

Overall: Great scent,great color for summer(it's sheer but it's made this way), great finish (Who cares about cheap-looking tube when the color is this good?)and a great price. The lipstick is around 7-8 dollars (Walgreen charges more at the moment) but you can always wait for discount to pick up one or two. This week, CVS had (I meant to get this post up earlier but Blogger decided to have his/her mood swing...) a 3-dollar-off-10 for beauty purchase along with a BOGO 50% off sale on Maybelline, I stacked the two discounts with some manufacturers coupons and ended up getting two of them for $6.5 - Not my best couponing moment but I am still happy with the purchase.