Red Lip Colour Comparison Review and Swatches

Hello everyone!
Today I decided to talk about something I love -RED LIPSTICK <3
I've been somewhat obcessed with finding the perfect red lipsticks for different occasions, I wanted a hot warm red, a cool deep red, a dark shiny red and something more subtle for casual occasions. Since I have a neutral skin tone, I could easily pull off all of these tones, but finding them within my budget was the tricky part!
I'm happy to say I did find them all though and today I will be reviewing and comparing them!


Here they are (and yes that's my laptop).

From left to right:
elf's Mineral Lipstick in Royal Red
elf's Mineral Lipstick Cheerful Cherry
Dior Plastic Shine 957
F. Mendez Cuenca 2
elf's Lipstick in Fearless
elf's Lipstick Posh
elf's Luscious Liquid Lipstick in Ruby Sliper  

There is another lip colour I'm adding to this review, it is the deep red gloss in elf's Make-Up Clutch. Here's a photo (just follow the pretty blue arrow).



So, let me start by showing my bare lips, they are a bit chapped and dry because of the cold, but just bear with me here.

Bare Lips

Now here are my lips With each of the lippies!!!



elf's Make-up Clutch -Red Gloss
(The result is not blotchy! It looks blotchy because of my chapped lips)



elf Mineral Lipstick in
Royal Red

elf Mineral Lipstick in
Cheerful Cherry

Dior Plastic Shine 957

F. Mendez Cuenca nº2

elf Lipstick in
Fearless

elf Lipstick in
Posh



elf Luscious Liquid lipstick in
Ruby Slipper



Beauty Clutch Gloss

You can find it here and here. Costs 10$/15£/17,50€


"Be fashionably beautiful for any occasion this holiday season! Ideal for the woman on-the-go, this stylish hard-sided Limited Edition Beauty Clutch provides the essentials to take your look from day to night. Open the 47-piece mirrored palette to reveal an array of eyeshadows on top and a pull-out tray with blushes, bronzer, eyebrow cream, and lip colors! The Beauty Clutch is your must-have makeup accessory of the season. This palette comes packaged in a sparkling silver glitter box for instant holiday glam!"

elf website

I plan on reviewing this whole clutch later but right now I'm only going to review the red gloss.

All glosses in this clutch are silky and very smooth, they are quite glossy but not sticky or heavy, they actually feel quite natural and look pretty bright.

I found the red gloss in this collection to be wonderful for a gentle and discreet red tint. It is fairly long lasting too but not incredibly pigmented.

I give it a 7 out of 10.

Mineral Lipstick -Royal Red and Cheerful Cherry

You can find it here and here. Costs 5$/3.50£/4€


"Now you can hydrate your lips and get a lasting soft color naturally! This nourishing blend of exotic oils, natural waxes, vitamins and plant extracts create the perfect moisturizing formula. The sleek lipstick has superior color payoff, glides easily onto lips, and is long wearing. Lips stay perfectly hydrated and soft throughout the day for no fuss, lip loving happiness. All our mineral makeup is 100% mineral based with no parabens, no preservatives and no chemical dyes."

elf website

I love the elf mineral line, it's amazing and these lipsticks are highly silky, long lasting and hydrating.
Royal Red is a gorgeous deep bordaux red with a slight hint of shimmer. I found the tone to be a little on the cold side but it is quite wonderful and not too intense even though it's so deep, plus it can also be layered to go from a gentle deep tint to an intense dark red.
I give it an 8 out of 10.


Cheerful Cherry is a warm cherry red with a slight gold shimmer to it. It is a lovely warm tone and can also be layered but is a bit more intense than Royal Red when it comes to layering and yet less intense than elf's essential line lipsticks. Like all of elf's mineral lipsticks I find it very very silky and hydrating but this one feathers a little more than the Royal Red and other mineral lippies I own.
It's a good casual red for a simple day-to-day look.
I give it 8 out of 10.

Dior Plastic Shine 957

You can find it in several make-up boutiques including Sephora, for example, and other local stores. It usually costs around 23$ or 16£ in the UK  and 12€ in the rest of Europe (or that least these are the price averages I have find with a little investigation).


Let it be known that even though I ADORE Dior and Lacôme, I never actually purchase these brands because they are not cost effective for me, they are too expensive and I am a bit of a bargain hunter. However, I got this one as a present so I decided to review it anyway.
This lip colour comes in liquid form in a classy little tube with a sponge applicator. It is slightly heavy and a little sticky but absolutly worth it! It does not feather or budge easily and is incredibly intense and deep for the perfect glossed up lips, it truly lives up to it's name but I would have called it "glass shine" rather than "plastic shine", to be perfectly honest. If you want a more matte tone, you can also achive it simply by blotting it a little with a tissue.
However, this is not very good for layering, and it can last all day long but will feather slightly without a lip liner but only if kept on all day since in general it doesn't feather much for a liquid colour.
I give it a 9 out of 10.

F. Mendez Cuenca nº2

I will be perfectly honest- I think this brand has been completely discontinued. This is a very very old lipstick that my mom kept frozen in storage with a few others and gave it to me when she moved. I think my granmother brought this from South Africa but it might one of the colours my mother bought in Spain a few years ago. After many hours of research I failed to find any online information of it. If you can find a store selling these, please inform me.


Ayway, this is a very old-school intense lipstick. This particular tone is warm and almost orangy, but not good for layering. It does NOT feather or budge, it almost reminds me of the old whale fat lipsticks my granmother still owned before she passed away but all of the ingredients in this state that it is cruelty free, it is really thick and sometimes even a little hard to remove. Despite all this it's not very sticky nor heavy and even though it's not very hydrating, it's not drying or aggressive to the lips either.
So all in all, it's an old style lippie with all it's pros and cons.
I give it a 5 out of 10.

elf Lipstick in Fearless

You can find it here and here. Costs 1$/1,50£/1,70€


"Indulge your lips with long lasting color and shine. The moisture rich formula hydrates, conditions and softens on contact for silky smooth lips.

Directions

Apply to lips and blend in color for total lip saturation. Re-apply as often as desired.

Instantly beautiful, healthy-looking lips designed, formulated and tested by our professional team of makeup artists."

elf website

I was so eager to my hands to this beauty!!! It is the PERFECT hot red. I won't go into much detail because I already reviewed it, but it is officially my favourite red right now. 
You can read my review on this one here.
I give it a 10 out of 10.


elf Lipstick in Posh

You can find it here and here. Costs 1$/1,50£/1,70€


"Indulge your lips with long lasting color and shine. The moisture rich formula hydrates, conditions and softens on contact for silky smooth lips.

Directions

Apply to lips and blend in color for total lip saturation. Re-apply as often as desired.

Instantly beautiful, healthy-looking lips designed, formulated and tested by our professional team of makeup artists."

elf website

Colour wise Posh is a cold deep berry red (as opposed to elf's Fearless -that is hot, bright and warm), it's relatively matte but still somewhat glossy and it is deep, intense, somewhat layer-able and quite attention grabbing but not as dark or gaudy as Dior Plastic so it is still proper and demure for most occasions.

Quality wise it is extremely smooth and easy to apply, it doesn't feather easily or dry up your lips. I found it very confortable to apply, plus it was easy to correct in case of smudging, something rare for red lipsticks.

I give it an 8 out of 10.

Luscious Liquid Lipstick in Ruby Slipper

You can find it here and here. Costs 1$/1,50£/1,70€

"Lip therapy is here. Intensive hydrating agents along with natural pigments leave lips with Long-lasting colour and moisture. This luscious liquid lipstick creates wearable colour that flatters a multitude of skin tones and looks."

elf website

This is a rather nifty lip colour. I think it fails as a liquid lipstick and is not very pigmented at all BUT it does work wonderfully as a tinted red lipgloss with a golden shimmer. I like to use this over other warm lipsticks to give them that shiny pop but I rarely use it alone unless I just want a slight shine.

It is not sticky or heavy and for a liquid gloss it lasts for a reasonable amount of time (3 to 5 hours) and does not smudge or feather. I find it quite comfortable and handy. Also, it comes in a twist up little pen with a sponge tip and despite looking like a tiny amount of product for such a long pen, it lasts a surprisingly long time.

I give it an 6 out of 10.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this red lip colour review! Next up I will be reviewing black eyeliners, powderroms.com, milanoo.com and more elf products.

Feel free to request more reviews of products in my elf products list (here).

Lot's of lipstick love,

Rav