Autumnal Berry Lips from the High Street and High End

Wanna see some berry lip swatches? Of course you do. It's Winter... its almost synonymous with berry stained lips, and I thought that I'd dig out a few, from the high street and some high end, just to see how they compare - colour and texture wise. They may differ slightly in the bullet, but when swatched.. they're very similar - strikingly so. I know that most bloggers are familiar with Rimmel's Kate Moss 107 and to be honest... I forgot to put that in here. I know. Shame on me. But what you will notice, is that there is a lot of mention of the colour 'cherry', and the different colours that they swatch as. Some are more pink and red, the other more blue - it's a relative small difference in terms of the range of lipstick colours out there, but you know, Cherry doesn't always mean Cherry. 

I almost always use a lip liner with a dark lipstick, as it not only lasts longer, but increases that pow of colour - with dark lipsticks, my lipliner of choice is Burgundy by Mac, but I've found that this is soooo drying on bare lips, so I slick on some Reve de Miel beforehand leave that to sink in, before applying lipliner and then my lipstick of choice. I do get a lot of wear around the centre of my lips, so that's how I judge wear during the day. Burgundy does make all dark lipsticks that bit darker, so if you want something a bit lighter, than its worth changing up the liners and having a bit of an experiment. From the high street, we have Revlon, Barry M and Sleek - which I think represent three different areas of makeup from Boots and Superdrug. You've got Revlon, who we all know and rely on - matte balms, anyone? Barry M is synonymous with nails and nail care, so I think a venture into lipstick and everything else to do with the face is always exciting; and finally, there's Sleek, a relatively new brand in the past five or six years, with glorious packaging that can totally give more expensive brands a run for their money.

Then we have two pretty cult lipsticks, anything by Mac and also anything from Urban Decay. Let's all look at the glorious packaging from UD, it's sleek, metal and with an embossed UD on top of the bullet... it's one thing that I've always admired from them, their packaging blows other brands right out of the water. I think Shame and Diva, by UD and Mac respectively, are perhaps two of the closest lipsticks colour wise - there's a deep, reddish blue purple in there, but I think it's the quality is where my decision was just as difficult. Shame slides on like butter - its so soft and creamy, and the same can be said for Diva, and when applied with a layer of Reve de Miel and Burgundy underneath, they are pretty much like for like. I think there's something a bit drier about Mac than UD, so if you have dry lips, then some flakiness might show through, despite having some lip balm on underneath the liner and lipstick. Even though the lipliner is dry, with Shame on top of it, it still feels really wearable and not too restrictive - which I think can be a big thing when wearing liner and lipstick - kinda like when you put a face mask on, and as it dries, you get that tight, lack of movement... stiff feeling - unpleasant, but it has happened to me before. 

From left: Revlon's Black Cherry, Mac's Diva, Sleek's Cherry, Barry M's Black Cherry and Urban Decay's Shame. 

Much like with Mac, Revlon's Black Cherry can be a bit drying and cling to dry parts of your lips - I think it's the formula... or my lips, but even the swatch looks a bit clingy, yes? Revlon's is a bit more blue than Mac's, which is a red based - much like Sleek and Barry M. If we look at the swatches, they're all very similar. So similar, I was like '...how do I buy more berry lipsticks when these are all almost identical?' but the answer was simply, they're not identical, because even a dash more blue or red, combined with the formula, can make or break a lipstick. For me, the formula of Sleek and Urban Decay are the most similar, as they just glide onto the lips - there's always wear around the centre of the lips for me, regardless of formula, but these two feel comfortable and easy to wear; despite the fact that Sleek is more pinky red than Urban Decay, with the same liner, UD, would only be slightly darker. I suppose it depends if you'd rather play up the red underneath it, or the purple. Just remember, a different lipliner used, is a different look entirely. 

High Street vs High End is a constant debate, and in my opinion, there are gems to be found in either end - I think you just need to swatch and consider the formula, whether look at Seventeen or Estee Lauder, because if you don't like it, chances are, it's going to be a wasted purchase. Berry lips are a big love of mine in Winter months, with a cosy hat and wind bitten cheeks - if you want something to stay put all day, then maybe something drier would suit you, but if you don't mind a bit of a touch up, then something creamier would suit. I think it's all a bit of personal preference. I do wear all of these lipsticks but I do think it's time to experiment with a different lip liner - just to see what happens. I hope this has inspired you to look at some berry lipsticks this season - so go away and swatch, no matter whether high street or high end, fabulous things can be found. What are your berry lipstick essentials this Winter?