Launching this month, Clarins Joli Rouge lipsticks have experienced a face lift. They’ve been enhanced with a moisture-rich formula and come in brand new gold packaging. The range boast 25 shades that offer plenty of variety – from nudes and typical pinks; to vibrant reds and fiery oranges with the occasional dark vampy shade thrown in for good measure.

The new Clarins Joli Rouge come in a solid gold tube with a small indent and etched C on the lid. The tube feels light, but not cheap. It’s sleek and compact, so it definitely looks and feels like high end makeup.

The Joli Rouge formula is smooth and easy to wear. They glide on to your lips with ease and stay glossy for ages. They also have an interesting fruity, sweet scent. I would consider myself very sensitive to scents in lipsticks but these do not bother me. (For those who are familiar with essence lipsticks, they smell similar to those, but less artificial and slightly more fruity.)

The shades I tried out are not shades I would have picked for myself, but sometimes that’s the best part about being sent PR samples! Left to my own devices I’d only choose bright red-pinks or something of that ilk, and not gotten to experience these shades.

Soft Plum is a gorgeous purple-red berry colour that one can’t help but associate with fall. I basically want to throw on a long comfy sweater and pull on some knee high boots while wearing this shade! If you’re not especially comfortable with colours like this, rest assured that the sheen in the formula helps to diffuse the colour so that it doesn’t appear quite as stark. If the formula were matte, it’d be a completely different story and a lot more in your face.

In the look above, I matched Soft Plum with a golden lid shade (Makeup Geek Fortune Teller) and a deep cranberry crease shade (Makeup Geek Bitten).

Rosy Nude is the shade that took me by surprise. Even a friend of mine took one look at the bullet in the tube and was like “whoa, that’s light”. And I suppose it does look rather pale in the tube – I certainly wasn’t expecting it to look good on me in the slightest. But holy cow was I ever wrong. Rosy Nude is a *stunning* peachy-pink shade that matches every eye look I throw at it (although I apparently never caught any of them on camera, much to my displeasure). It’s currently rivaling my combination of Wet n Wild’s 903C with NYX’s Butter Gloss in Tiramisu on top for most flattering lip look on camera. Total winner.

Final Thoughts

In a beauty world where everyone has become obsessed with matte liquid lipsticks, it’s rather nice to try something new for a change. Don’t get me wrong, I am still very much in love with matte lips, but it’s been really pleasurable discovering a product that doesn’t make your lips feel like the Sahara. Having never tried Clarins‘ lipsticks before, I have to say I’m impressed with the Joli Rouge lineup. They’re soft, creamy, hydrating and easy to wear. They stay shiny the entire length of time I’ve worn them (which is around three hours, then I usually end up wiping off my lips to eat or drink) and they claim to last six hours. I’ve not tried them for that length of time because it’s just not in my nature to wear lipstick for that long, but at the three hour mark they showed no signs of giving up the ghost. Since they don’t dry down at all, you need to be aware that they will transfer to anything you touch your lips to, but that’s not expected for a formula that stays shiny for so long.

Of the colours I tried, Soft Plum was the more “typical” fall shade, whereas Rosy Nude knocked it out of the park for me in terms of the colour. Both colours wore well and I experienced no difference in the formula between them.

Let me know what you’ve tried from Clarins because I’m going to need recommendations! So far they’ve knocked it out of the park with their Aquatic Treasures collection and now this Joli Rouge lipstick lineup!

This post features press samples sent for consideration.