A very overlooked product from Catrice’s current spring/ summer range are their lip pencils. I haven’t heard anyone talk about these yet and to be quite honest I had all but forgotten about them. When I first spotted these, I was intrigued by their neutral tones. There are two types: lip foundation and velvet matt lip pencils. I tried some from each line.
Catrice Lip Foundation Caramel Blonde to Go
Catrice Velvet Matt Lip Pencil Mauve Me Tender
Catrice Velvet Matt Lip Pencil From Rags to Roses
I am not a huge lip liner fan. If I wear it, it tend to be nudes. Which is strange perhaps because most people will recommend using it with darker lip shades to create a precise line. I don’t use lip liner for precision though. I use it to make my top lip look fuller and that is a look I like best with a nude lip. I thought these looked nice at first sight. Both the Lip Foundation pencil and Velvet Matt Lip Pencil retail for €2.59 each. A good deal.
The Packaging
All of these pencils look very much alike. Despite the fact that they are from different lines, the packaging is pretty much identical. The only difference is the writing on the pencil. That could be pretty confusing when you’re picking these up or when you have several of these. However, as long as your shades are distinct, it will be easy to grab for the right color as that is visible on the end.
The Colors
From left to right:
Caramel Blonde to Go , Mauve me Tender, From Rags to Roses
These are all nudes, but each has a very unique undertone making them all different and distinct. Caramel Blonde to Go is a straight up beige nude. Mauve me Tender has a more purple/ mauve undertone as the name suggests. I love mauve lip colors so this was instantly my favorite shade here. From Rags to Roses is a pink toned nude.
The Swatches
Caramel Blond to Go | Mauve me Tender | From Rags to Roses
Swatched these look really good. The color pay off is great: the pigmentation is intense and the color goes on opaque in one pass. These do not appear patchy, nor to they look chalky or too powdery. All pencils have a matte finish.
However, the main problem with these is the texture. I didn’t notice it all that much when I first swatched them. They seemed to glide on nicely and evenly. But then I applied these to my lips. Holy moly! These pencils are so thick and waxy that they do not glive on easily. Rather, they tug on your lips in a very unpleasant manner. It is almost painful to apply these.
Once applied, the consistency doesn’t feel nice either. This feels like a thick, waxy layer on your lips and a sticky feeling remains that doesn’t dry down. Because of that sticky nature, the application also doesn’t go very easily: when you go over the pencil to create an even looking layer, the product picks itself off your lips and you end up with bare patches.
The Looks
Caramel Blond to Go
The colors on the other hand are stunning. Caramel Blonde to Go is a beige nude that for once actually looks nice on. Texture wise this was probably the easiest and smoothest to apply. It also shows the lines of my lips the least, but still it was difficult to get this to go on evenly.
Mauve me Tender
The purple tone of Mauve me Tender is absolutely gorgeous as well. It went on okay, but as you can see, there is this weird light patch on my bottom lip. That’s what I meant with the product lifting up upon itself. It’s not that I didn’t apply the lip liner there. When I tried to even out that spot, it simply took away all the product that was there.
From Rags to Roses
This was probably my least favorite to apply. Again, there is nothing wrong with the color in itself. However, this was just straight up painful. Being a very light shade, this needed quite some product to cover my lips completely and with this texture, that is just no pick nick.
The Conclusion
I’m afraid the Catrice Lip Foundation and Velvet Matt Lip Pencils just aren’t doing it for me. These looked so promising, but I cannot deal with painful applications and patchiness. If they re-release these colors in a smoother texture, I would certainly try them again, but these I do not recommend.
What is your favorite lip liner?
5 responses to “Catrice Lip Foundation & Velvet Matt lip pencil”
Natural and nice colours!
They do look lovely when swatched but too bad about how they perform and feel on the lips! Mauve me Tender is my favourite on you. But too bad about the formula! My favourite lip pencils are from Prestige – a drugstore brand from the US. Sadly they’re not easy to find here any more.
I’ve heard of Prestige, but have never spotted it. Will have to keep an eye out for it once I get to shop on my trip.
Hi.. I just bought it online to try it.. The product body itself build from a plastic not like the other lip pencil.. So I guess it can’t be sharpen at all?
With a strong sharpener it can be done, or you can try melting it down to get the product out. I personally didn’t like these pencils enough to the point where I had to sharpen them. They were too tough to work with for me.