ColourPop Ultra Matte Lips (Review & Swatches)

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The liquid lipstick obsession that has taken us over shows no signs of letting up any time soon! ColourPop (relatively) recently threw their brand into the mix, offering up their Ultra Matte Lips. I’m already a huge fan of matte lips, so I was excited to try these out and see how they compared to stuff I already owned. It was rough choosing colours, but I managed to talk myself into only getting five. (And that was down from 11!)

ColourPop Ultra Matte Lip ($6 USD each)
ColourPop Ultra Matte Lip ($6 USD each)

The Ultra Matte Lips come in a clear acrylic tube with a silver top. They have a doefoot applicator that picks up a decent amount of product. I found I needed three dips into the tube to get a fully covered lip.

ColourPop Ultra Mattes in Trap, Donut, Bumble, Tulle and Mars (swatches)
ColourPop Ultra Mattes in Trap, Donut, Bumble, Tulle and Mars (swatches)

The colours go on fully opaque in one swipe, but they are not forgiving in the least. If you make a mistake while tracing your lip line, you will need to completely wipe off your lip product and start again. (Which I had to do three times in the Mars swatch below.)

ColourPop Ultra Matte Lip swatches to show texture
ColourPop Ultra Matte Lip swatches to show texture

Once these dry, they set completely and are transfer proof. You can see in the shot above just how much it sinks into my skin – it definitely emphasizes your skin’s texture. Because these are totally transfer proof, these suckers are the very definition of a dry formula in my opinion. Your lips will feel a little bit  constrained and you may find the inner rim of your lip starts to feel a little crispy/rough where the line between your lip colour and your inner lip starts.

Lip Swatches

ColourPop - Trap
ColourPop – Trap

I picked up Trap because it’s unlike anything I own. To me it looks like a mauvey-grey, and it’s oddly wearable!

ColourPop - Donut
ColourPop – Donut

Donut is a warm pink with a brightness to it. I think a lot of people would have an easy time wearing this one.

ColourPop - Bumble
ColourPop – Bumble

Bumble is… man, how do I describe this? It’s like an orangey-red brick colour with… something else to it. Another totally unique colour to my collection.

ColourPop - Tulle
ColourPop – Tulle

Tulle is a darker version of Bumble but I would never call them the colour since the tonalities are a bit different. Fantastic shade for fall.

ColourPop - Mars
ColourPop – Mars

Mars is the shade that feels the most “me” when I saw it in swatches. It’s odd though – the shot above is such a red-pink, but I think it looks more fuchsia in person.

Final Thoughts

The ColourPop Ultra Matte Lips retail for $6 USD each and I think the price point is incredible for what you get. These lip products are budge proof and have incredible longevity (they’ll stay put for hours on end so long as you aren’t eating anything overly greasy). The colours are incredibly imaginative and I experienced intense colour without any patchy-ness.

However, I’ve never had anything so drying on my lips before. I actually really enjoy dry mattes (i.e., MAC’s Retro Matte formula), but this formula has absolutely no give to it. For me, I was never able to forget that I was wearing these when I had them on,  as I was always hyper aware of just how dry my lips felt. (And you definitely cannot just wipe these off when you want to remove them – you need an oil based makeup remover to get them off.) But maybe that’s a toss up! You have great staying power and longevity without having to worry about it, but you have to give up the comfort on your lips. I do appreciate that I never had to worry about the product while wearing them though. They won’t feather or bleed and I’m EXCEPTIONALLY prone to that.

At the end of the day though, I think I’ve got the colours I want and I won’t be picking up any others. It’s hard for me to get past the absolute dryness of the product not matter how much I love the colours.

Have you tried these before? What are your thoughts?

22 thoughts on “ColourPop Ultra Matte Lips (Review & Swatches)

    1. I need to get on the bandwagon and try the other brands as well (for liquid lipsticks). I’ve heard Kat Von D is the most comfortable so I may be trying those out next!

  1. Yeah, the dryness really is intense! But since the shades are so amazing, I’m determined to make them work. I’ve been applying a very thin layer of the Bite Maple Lip Mask underneath and I’ve found the finish much better without really affecting the wear time! 🙂
    Jen recently posted…Look of the Day: Bumble ColaMy Profile

    1. It’s SUPER intense. I couldn’t believe just how dry it felt, especially coming from someone who LIKES dry lip products. Guess I’ve met my match!

      I’m going to give it a go with the lip mask underneath. I’m surprised it works though… I feel like the lipstick would slide right off!

  2. They are really dry eh? You got bumble too! I really like donut too. Maybe I just wasn’t wiping the wand properly, but I only needed one swipe to coat my lips.

    The one thing I’m worried about these is that I’ve read people have experienced leakage from these. I haven’t actually experienced this but I deliberately not bring these in my purse because of this fear.
    Melanie recently posted…Empties: Goodbye Summer 🙁My Profile

    1. Exceptionally dry. I mean, they don’t leave my lips feeling chapped afterwards, but while I’m wearing it my lips feel totally dehydrated. It’s such a shame because the colours are phenomenal. Also, I probably needed three dunks to get product because I likely overapply. lol

      I’ve also read about the leakage, but I haven’t experience that at all. I even dropped one from four feet up and nothing bad happened to it!

    1. Oh damn. KVD was next on my list to try. I’m super curious how they compare to the ColourPop ones. And frankly… nothing could be more drying than the ColourPop ones… I hope…

        1. Oh yeah, the ColourPop ones are TOTALLY rough. I usually ended up flicking my lip over the ridge between real lip and lipstick and it felt flaky. It never looked that way (I kept double checking in the mirror), but it was so, SO weird.

  3. I have been really like this! Tulle is a favourite, and limbo the brown! Did you find Mars was an odd formula? I own a good few and I found it the hardest by far to apply evenly!

    1. Oh interesting! No, I didn’t find Mars especially different to apply (although I’ve only worn it one full day and then swatched it independently for this post). I know a lot of people have said they’ve found discrepancies between the shades and how they apply. I may just be less observant though. lol

      Tulle is such an amazing colour. I’m going to try the lipbalm trick that Jen mentioned in order to try to make these a bit more comfortable because I want to wear Tulle more this season!

    1. Very happy to help, Trysh! I’m half relieved I don’t love them (so I don’t drop more money on buying all the shades) but also half sad because their colour range is so damn gorgeous! I love the longevity and I may put up with the dryness for a few of those colours, but I wouldn’t be able to wear them daily and that’s just really sad. 🙁

  4. I got Creeper (the most amazing red EVER) back in September, and I couldn’t even feel it on!! I just ordered Donut, so I’m hoping I won’t be able to feel that one either. I also ordered one of the matte Lippie Stix, which I’m super excited about

    1. Really? Your lips don’t feel parched?? Creeper was one of the ones in my cart, sooooo pretty!

      I’ve got one of the matte lippie stix sitting at home but still haven’t worn it yet!

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