Milani Color Perfect Lipstick Mandarina

Milani Color Perfect Lipstick in Mandarina (available from HEB to CVS with a price ranging from $4 to $8) is a bright golden orange tangerine creme. Among the seemly sizable range, there are two additional oranges: Orangina (a frosty, bronzed orange) and Mango Mambo (another creme orange that's more reddish). The range comes with square, golden plastic lid that appears somewhat gaudy but at least the material feels substantial, the plastic resists to scratches and shut securely.
Color Perfect Lipstick has pointed tip and gem cut (for "precise application", according to Milani), which didn't stop me from making a slight mess since the bold lipstick color has a somewhat slippery formula. There is a heavy fragrance (to me it smells like a perfume take on artificial grape) to mask the strong waxy base, but the attempt is obviously unsuccessful, as I can detect both. Anyway, the fragrance is reminiscent of the 90s which can be a good (in a nostalgic way) or a bad (as it smells cheap) thing, depends on individual.

Bright golden orange side by side: Revlon Tutti Frutti, Shiseido Day Lily, Milani Mandarina and Revlon Siren - While Madarina is very close to Revlon Siren (maybe just a tad redder) but once applied on lips, it appears as (scary @$$ kind of) bright as Shiseido Day Lily, The only orange shade I am not comfortable wearing. Luckily, once the slippery formula dries down on the lips, it becomes a little stain-like, less yellow and generally more flattering.
Milani Color Perfect Lipstick applies easily on the lips and each swipe deposits an even layer of color along with a wet sheen (which dries down to a semi-opaque stain within a few minutes), the bold shades enhances dry patches on the corners of my mouth but many oranges do that anyway. While I like how the color looks (mind you, I like most of orange and orange-coral lip color I own) on the lips, I don't like how "heavy" it feels on the lips, "heavy" is probably not the right word but whenever I am wearing this, I constantly feel like I have something on, in a way that it seems to make my lips feel a little dry and  "pickled" (a sensation that's just a notch less than numbing).

As pigmented as it is, I found the wet-looking, slippery formula difficult to layer up, I can always see quite a bit of my natural purply lip color (that turns makes thing look brighter than they are) no matter how many swipes I go through.
Milani Mandarina becomes quite patchy once layered with Sephora lip gloss in Summer Punch - As you can see, the lipstick dissolves, diffuse and turns patchy when liquid is involved.

Overall: Looking at the product by itself, Milani Color Perfect lipstick is a lovely orange that applies smoothly, evenly and dries to a bold stain. Despite the pretty color, I personally would categorize it alongside Wet n Wild and NYC since it's heavily scented, waxy, slippery, don't build up (unless your lip color is warmed toned), leaves a wet sheen, feels heavy, doesn't cope well with liquid...You know, all the "qualities" I associate with cheap lipsticks.

Products like this really make me realize that I have been taking Revlon for granted for all these years (Even the Super Lustrous formula, my least favorite range from the brand, is so much better) ... 
P.S. This little guy appeared when I was taking the swatch pictures, how cool is that! 

Comments

  1. That is a pretty orange! More wearable than others I have seen.

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  2. That orange look lovely and the lipstick has a very interesting shape.

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  3. Ooh, that is so pretty. I have an orange from Milani that is super frosty and rather ulgy on me. I think I am going to have to get this one.

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  4. Wow. I've been wanting Mandarina but I'm surprised to see how similar it is to Siren!

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  5. Gorgeous color! Looks very pretty on you, to be honest I think any color would look great on your lips ;) I wish I could pull these orange shades on me, but they just make me look way older. I have the Tutti Frutti lip butter and it doesn't suit me at all..

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