Review & Swatches: All 7 of Eccentric Cosmetics' Liquid Matte Lipsticks

Recently, Anna from Eccentric Cosmetics (EC) asked for volunteers to review her new primer formulas, and I volunteered because EC's primer is my holy grail primer and I need to know if any changes are being done to it. To my surprise, she added an extra surprise in my package –samples of all of her new liquid matte lipsticks.

Here's why I got so excited about this. When Anna first released her liquid matte lipsticks, I immediately messaged her asking if a sample pack is possible. She told me she has no sample option available since she hasn't found any secure packaging for samples yet. The best she can do is clamshell packaging, but she didn't want to do that since clamshells may leak and she's not comfortable with that. I badgered her to make me a sample pack anyway, and told her I totally would accept the risks just to be able to try out all the colours. Unfortunately, before she could send my lipsticks over, she found problems in the formula and didn't feel comfortable selling them. She refunded me the money and I forgot all about it.

She still gave me a sample pack of all the colours free of charge to make up for it.

Isn't she awesome?

Without further ado, here are the swatches under natural light:

Face swatches!

Formula Review

I noticed that Uluru & Temple of Heaven have a stiffer and less runny consistency than the rest, and I'm not sure if it's because of the colour (I noticed odd coloured lipsticks tend to be stiffer) or there was a leak in the clamshells (ok Anna, you're totally right about clamshells...I'd still pay for this sample pack though!) and the formula dried out. I personally like their formula more since they end up with a more constant consistency and apply more evenly. Uluru just needs one swipe to be perfect, Temple of Heaven needs 1-2 swipes. Both of them feels dryer than the rest on the lips though.

Texture -wise, the rest are very liquid and feels like you're applying tinted water on your lips. As a result, the colour does apply unevenly, drying up the way stained water dries up with colour gathering around the edges. This is what I'm talking about:

That line there isn't my lips, it's the way the colour dried up on my lips.

It's easy to build up though, but you do have to wait until the first layer dries to build it up. I know this is make up blasphemy, but I find that the best way to build it up is to dab it over the dried first layer with your fingers. It's definitely not a formula I'd recommend to make up beginners since it's slightly harder to work with.

When they dry, all of them feel powdery on the lips. They're a bit drying, but I've come to expect this from matte lipsticks and I personally didn't find them too drying. I'd say it's about the same level of drying as Life's Entropy's lip theories.

Pigmentation-wise, it's amazing. Judging by Temple of Heaven's quality, I personally think EC should go ahead and make more odd colours because I'm so impressed by how vibrant the colours are. All of these do stain heavily, but fortunately, they don't transfer as much as regular lipsticks.  Here's how my hand looked like after several kisses:

The colour on my lips stayed put btw...so these lipsticks are totally safe for quick kisses with the SO. They're not hot & heavy make up session tested yet though...

I personally like the staining because that means I don't have to reapply that often. This is a picture of Aurora Australis on me freshly applied vs 4h later, after a greasy lunch of burgers and chilli fries.

Left: Freshly applied in the morning
Right: 4h later + breakfast + greasy lunch
The colour looked changed, but it's just the light. The stain for this colour is actually close to the original colour, just slightly less opaque.

As you can see, despite EC's warning about the colours not lasting through oily food, the staining means that they totally can last. The colours won't be as vibrant as before, but the stain is still beautiful.

In case you guys are curious, yes, I do plan on buying these. I'm waffling between Iguazu Falls & Temple of Heaven.