Maybelline New York Color Elixir...

Recently at the drugstore I stumbled upon a new display of these little beauties! I've been looking at pink shades for lips more and more but before going for that high end lippie that will take me back $40.00, I figured I would start with less expensive options, for the colors, to see if I would really wear pink again. Seeing these I figured why not give them a try?

Maybelline New York Color Elixir by Color Sensational...

Twenty shades in all, these go along the new trend of hybrid lip products that are popping up everywhere. The Maybelline version is said to have a trio of concentrates to deliver color, care and shine. These apparently came out last November but for some reason I had never seen them in Montreal until now.

The colors... 

I chose Captivating Carnation #080, a pretty bright pink that pulls a little coral on my lips and Mauve Mystique #025, which appears like a deep berry in the container but for some reason looks more like a mauvish lilac on my lips. Neither are saturated but they go on smoothly and the colors can be built up but high saturation doesn't last that long on me because I tend to rub my lips a lot with this type of formula.

Ok guys, look at those colors... WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME???

You do know I'm a NUDE lippie girl don't ya?

The formula...

More sheer than a liquid lipstick, not as sticky as a gloss and a little more "there" than a balm is how I would describe them. These will last a few hours but will not resist a meal. They are very comfortable to wear and their textures remind me of Clarins Lip Perfectors (if you go have a look at the first phrase of that post you'll see why I think I've flipped!), the only products I own I could compare them with, but with more color. Sadly they don't have the same lovely caramel/chocolaty taste. I couldn't quite put my finger on what they tasted like so I had a peek at reviews on Makeup Alley and one reviewer had the perfect description. These have a floral, almost laundry soap kind of taste that I just don't get and it lasts a little too long for me. The weird thing is that when you take the applicator out of the container, these smell like vanilla! That I could have lived with.

As you can see the colors are way more saturated than my beloved 

Clarins Lip Perfector in Candy Shimmer on the right.

A few hours of wear, first the shine goes and then the color but it disappears evenly even with the darker Mauve Mystique.

The applicator is a little flimsy and honestly they could have gone with a classic doe foot type but I guess this one makes the product more in tune with the times. Sometimes I wonder if companies are trying to reinvent the wheel! :)

Do I recommend Maybelline New York Color Elixir? Yes...

If you can get past the taste (I'm having a hard time to but I know some don't really notice it), these have a lovely formula and you can get three for the price of one high end lipstick. Great to try colors your not sure you would wear on a regular basis.

What annoys me the most about drugstore brands...

The sticky tape they use to keep people from opening the products is such a pain to remove!!! The fact that their offerings are box less for the most part is what makes these less expensive and I do get it but how many times have I gotten to finally use the product only to still have either tape or glue traces on the packaging oh and good luck in removing those traces. In some cases oil works but sometimes it doesn't. I don't mind much for a concealer but for a lip product that can be taken out of one's purse in public, me no likey!

Notice the nice traces of tape on the caps! Grrr!

What do you dislike most about drugstore brands?