Where last week was all about red lips for beginners, this week I am bringing you quite the opposite. The two Rimmel Provocalips liquid lipsticks I am reviewing for you today, are a both a full on red. There is no beating about the bush with these two babies, because when you apply these you are in for lips covered in an opaque layer of bang on color that lasts a very very long time.
Rimmel Provocalips Play with Fire
Rimmel Provocalips Kiss me you Fool
The Rimmel Provocalips liquid lipsticks are seemingly a great alternative to more high end liquid lipsticks. Rimmel was one of the first drugstore brands to launch such a line with their Apocalips line, which was also released in a matte version. But then they decided to step up their game and release a much longer lasting formula that consists of a 2 step system.
I own two colors of this line: Play with Fire and Kiss me you Fool. The latter I was gifted for free in a goody bag. The first one I bought in England earlier this year. The reason being that in Holland these lipsticks retail for €11.99, whereas in England these cost 6.99 pounds. That certainly knocks off a few euros! The shade range available in the UK is also more varied, but both of these shades are available in continental Europe.
The official name of this product is Rimmel Provocalips 16HR Kiss Proof Lip Colour. That name in itself already tells you something about the claims it holds: a long wearing, smudge proof lip color. It should not stain or transfer once it has dried down.
These lipsticks come in a double ended format. On the side with the lips you have a transparent gloss that is supposed to add shine and make your lip look longer lasting. This is the second step of the application process. On the other side, you will find a doe foot applicator, much like a lip gloss, that disperses the color. The packaging is straightforward and fuss free and the lip print on one half of the packaging is a nice, playful detail.
Both colors I own are reds. I like how the packaging easily shows you what color the lipstick has, as the tube comes in the shade you’re buying. I have to say that the packaging color is a pretty good match to the actual color inside the tube. Play with Fire is a nice deep, classic red that is fairly neutral in undertone. Kiss me you Fool is much brighter and more vibrant as its sister as it has a more orange and thus warm undertone.
Like many long lasting lip colors, this product comes with a side with color and a side with gloss. The gloss should fixate and add shine and can be applied throughout the day to freshen up your lip look. That works only in theory I find as the gloss wears off after just a few hours, whereas the color lasts a much longer time. Reapplying the gloss throughout the day will lead to the gloss running out much faster than the color, but you get equal amounts of product. This means you will run out of gloss before you run out of color. Plus I am not a fan of glossy red lips, so the gloss is a product I am personally not very keen on.
Here you can see the applicators in close up. You can clearly see that Kiss me you fool looks more liquid and disperses more product than Play with Fire. In comparison to many other liquid lipsticks I have been trying lately, the Rimmel Provocalips are much more watery. The Anastasia one is more like a mousse, which leads to fewer application accidents I find. The L’Oreal ones are much more like glosses, hence more sheer and stickier. The same goes for the Essence & Catrice versions. And the MUA Lip Lacquers were, despite the fact that I am not a fan, save for one color, more like the Anastasia one than anything else I tried so far.
Gloss – Play with Fire – Kiss me you Fool – stain after application
Time for swatches! As you can see, these two colors swatch out so differently. Play with Fire disperses less product than Kiss me you Fool and it seems less watery, but also less opaque. I am not sure why that is. Could it be that the UK version (which is what Play with Fire is) is formulated in a different way? Or perhaps the different colors have slightly different textures? If someone knows, please leave a comment down below.
On the lips:
Play with Fire
Kiss me you Fool
Play with Fire after 12 hours of wear time
On the lips you can clearly see a difference in color and texture as well. Despite the fact that I used two different cameras for taking pictures of the product, I feel that Kiss me you Fool has a better look once applied. It applied more smoothly and shows fewer lines in my lips. Play with Fire also bled into the little lines a lot more and you can see that very nicely on the ‘after’ picture. I decided to add that to show you how this would wear throughout the day.
I applied Play with Fire at 10 AM for the first picture and then took the last picture at 10 PM. And I have to say that I do not like how this wears. It sort of peels off in the middle, leaves my lips looking dry and flaky and it is definitely not smudge proof. As with many other liquid lipsticks, the application of these is hit or miss: you either get it right first time round, or you end up having to reapply the whole thing. There is no room for mistakes as the product dries down so quickly.
Full face
Another downside to these is the way they feel on the lips. Since these are quite drying, you have to use something on top. The gloss I find, isn’t nourishing enough for my dry and patchy lips. And reapplying throughout the day is a no go as this product flakes off and has to be removed completely before you can apply any product on top. I do have to say that Kiss me you Fool was a lot more comfortable to wear and wore down a little bit nicer as well. Again, it must be down to the difference in consistency.
All in all, I find Rimmel Provocalips a nice product, but no more than that. Sure they are long lasting, and the colors are nice, but in return you get a dry, flaky mess that is difficult to touch up. If you find the lipstick with the right consistency than this can be a great long lasting lip look, but I wouldn’t recommend wearing it for 16 hours and only if you are willing to commit to a product that is difficult to (re)apply and fairly high maintenance.
What is your experience using Rimmel Provocalips?
Note: I took these pictures with two different cameras. I hadn’t planned on owning two of these so I had a review lined up of just one, but then I got the other shade and decided to throw it in at the last minute. Hence the difference in quality and my own overall look as I got a haircut in between.