Brand new to Estee Lauder is their 30-colour range of the Pure Color Love lipsticks. Ranging from “ulta mattes to shimmer pearls, cool chromes and edgy cremes”, the colour lineup has a blissful diversity that doesn’t seem too heavy in any area. There are loads of nudes, heaps of brights, and plenty of deep shades.

Perhaps the most bizarre thing about this range is the shape of the lipstick bullet. I don’t even know what to call it – chisel edge point? X-acto knife? Like what the heck even is that? It comes to a sharp point as both sides are exactly identical – a steep vertical slant to the end of the lipstick bullet. One thing’s for sure – I don’t like the shape. Sure, it’s edgy, unique, whatever the heck else you want to call it, but it’s not for me. I’m currently trying to wear the lipstick down in the shape *I* want. Which means a heck of a lot of wear on one side of it – and yet I can never remember which side I’m wearing it down! ARGH!

Weird shape aside, the lipsticks themselves are quite lovely – which is really the whole point of the product now isn’t it? The packaging is a pull out tube with a lovely satisfying snap closure. It’s a weighty product, which to me has always meant luxury.

I was gifted an interesting variety of shades at the Pure Color Love launch event:

• Orchid Infinity – an edgy cream
• Bar Red – an ultra matte
• Flash Chill – a shimmer pearl

The colours were pre-selected for us, but I like how they approached the selection as it gave me the chance to try out a variety of finishes.

Of the three I tried, Orchid Infinity, the edgy cream, was the shade I had the most issues with. It required a few layers to get opaque coverage, however it whenever it wore away, it melted away on my lips nicely – no nasty edge that looks like you applied lip liner wrong (and heavily). The formula was smooth and creamy – almost slippery.

Bar Red, an ultra matte, was my favourite out of the three in this post. Although pegged as an ultra matte, this was not drying on my lips. It went on smoothly – albeit stiffly at first since I had to break through that initial layer (why are mattes like this?) – and afterwards it was smooth to apply. Pigmentation was on point and it such’s a glorious colour – your true red, or “Christmas red” as I tend to think of shades like this. This shade and formula can do no wrong as far as I’m concerned.

Flash Chill was the last shade I tried and the one I was the least interested in. But isn’t that the way it always goes before we discover a new shade that we suddenly love? Granted, Flash Chill looks very similar on my lips to plenty of coral shades I’ve been in love with over the years, but in the bullet I wasn’t convinced it would come out this nicely. I stand corrected however and Flash Chill is gorrrrgeous! It’s a peach that turns coral on my lips with some gold flecks of glitter splashed in for good measure. The glitter isn’t gritty, but it will stick to your lips a little longer than the lipstick will, so re-application will be necessary. (Which is fine – layering with all three of these lipsticks was absolutely fine and caused no issues.)

Final Thoughts

In order of finish preference for the Estee Lauder Pure Color Love Lipsticks, the ultra matte was by far my favourite. Super comfortable to wear and gorgeous pigmentation. Second was the shimmer pearl – it’s a lot of fun and there’s a glimmer of sparkle in the partial translucency of the colour. The cream was sadly my least favourite, but I think it may be partially because of the colour. Purples are a bastard in the makeup world, and this colour did suffer from some patchiness. That being said, the texture and feel of it was really, really nice, so you may fare better with a less volatile pigment.

In short, yes – I’d absolutely recommend these!

The Estee Lauder Pure Color Love Lipsticks are available exclusively in Canada via www.beautyboutique.ca where they retail for… actually I can’t tell you. This is really bizarre – I’m positive they’re available on www.beautyboutique.ca but the entire domain seems to be blocked in Australia (where I’m currently writing this post). Not sure why that is!

Summer is in full swing here in Toronto (seriously, it feels like a million degrees ever single day here – please send us some rain!), and I’ve got some items from the Estee Lauder Summer 2016 collection to play with!

The Estee Lauder Summer Glow Eyeshadow Palette is a small, but hefty feeling compact. The hinge snaps shut with a solid “I’m closed” feeling (you know the one!) and it has a huge mirror on the inside as well.

The palette contains six eyeshadows, two of which are matte/satin, the others are all shimmers. I very, very much appreciate the fact that the cream and deep brown shades are the non-shimmers!

This kind of palette colour scheme is really not unexpected for summer, but it’s still really nice to see the gold and blue punch added to an otherwise neutral palette.

The Estee Lauder Bronze Goddess Gelee Bronzer is a 1 ounce bottle of cream bronzer. You can use this to add colour to your foundation, or – do what I do – and use it as any regular bronzer to add targeted dimension and colour to your face.

That’s a very, VERY heavy swatch, but I wanted you to be able to see the texture. It’s not overly thick, but it’s definitely not a liquid either.

The Estee Lauder Lip & Cheek Glow in Sunburst is a 2-in-1 type product intended for both your lips and cheeks.

It’s a bit bulky in terms of packaging, but you are getting two items at once. The balm/traditional lipstick-looking side is fairly creamy (and smells amazing by the way), the gloss is easy to apply and looks beautiful on.

As it stands though, I prefer both sides of the product for the lips. I found the gold cast of the lipstick bullet oddly flattering (I had originally though it would pale me out too much) and the gloss with the specks of glitter in it is just beautiful. On the cheeks (I only tried the balm), it was a bit too tacky and never dried down completely.

Estee Lauder Summer 2016 Looks

For this look, I opted to use the more colourful shades in the eyeshadow palette (teal, gold, darker brown).

I also applied the Gelee Bronzer to the perimeter of my face, using a sculpting brush to blend it in. I used the Lip & Cheek Glow gloss on my lips, as well as the stick side where I usually apply my face highlighter on my cheekbones.

I applied the teal/blue all over the lid, the champagne rose through the crease, the darker brown through the outer corner and then through the crease and topped it off my highlighting my inner corner with the gold.

For my second look, I opted for more natural/bronzey tones. I skipped on foundation and instead used the Gelee Bronzer to warm up my skin in the usual bronzing places. I used the lipstick side of the Lip & Cheek Glow on my lips and LOVED the effect it gave them – kind of muted gold with a sheen.

I kept it really, really simple for the eyes. Shimmery bronze all over the lid, dark brown in the outer corner and the matte cream shade on my brow bone.

Final Thoughts

• If you’re looking for something quick and easy with a simple spark of colour for the summer, I don’t think you can go wrong with the  Summer Glow eyeshadow palette. They blended out nicely and wore well.
• The Gelee Bronzer was a little bit of a miss for me because it’s a touch on the orange side and I discovered that I’m just not a fan of cream bronzers, I far prefer powders. However, if you need something to perk up your foundation with a bit of a tint, this would work wonders. I did also prefer using it on my bare skin instead of over foundation since I felt it blended better.
• The Lip & Cheek Glow in Sunburst was an unexpected win. I love, love, LOVE the lipstick side of it – between the lovely smell (sweet, caramel-vanilla) and the way it looked on my lips… well, I was in love!

The products featured in this review were sent to me for consideration.