Disclaimer: I finally joined Octoly, and received these lipsticks complimentary from PAUL and JOE BEAUTE in exchange for a review.
I realize that most of my reviews on here are of lipsticks, and I am soon going to declare myself a lipstick queen. Have another lipstick review today, and this time it’s from a brand I’ve always had my eye on, but never tried. It’s funny that I’ve always known they were around, but I rarely see any blogs, influencers, magazines, etc, covering Paul and Joe Beaute, so I’m grateful that I finally have the opportunity to try their products.
Paul and Joe Beaute is a Japanese brand that does only what I can describe as makeup with whimsical packaging. Especially cats. Which I’m perfectly, okay with, by the way.
But while I can appreciate the whimsical packaging, and love some of the themes they do (especially the cat ones), I never actually bit the bullet to buy any of the products. For my own makeup, I prefer very sleek and minimal packaging in my collection that is functional, above all.
Still, when these popped up on Octoly, I decided to try them out and see if I liked the products, which would then make me more likely to buy products from the brand in the future.
Some logistics – Paul and Joe Beaute is available on their brand website, Beauty Habit, B-glowing, and now, Amazon.
I have 3 lipsticks to review today, all in different finishes. Like a lot of Asian brands I’ve seen, these lipsticks are customizable. You buy the lipstick refill and the containers, separately, so you get to choose which lipstick cases you want. The cases cost $9 and the lipstick bullets themselves are $20, so it’s essentially a $29 lipstick.
The price is up there with some of the high end brands though not quite a luxury brand. However, one thing that was kind of disappointing is the cases are actually cardboard. I had expected them to be a plastic case, but they are just a very durable cardboard. It does make me worried about leaving them in my bag in case something spills on it or it gets dirty. I’ve only had them for a couple week but I feel like I have to be more careful around these.
That said, the design of these cases are adorable. I am totally a proud cat person, so I love all the cat designs. It’s probably not for everyone, but there are also a lot of other designs available.
I have 3 different finishes of the lipsticks: shine, natural, and full coverage. They are pretty self explanatory, but the shine formula is a pretty sheer balm like finish; the natural is a light-medium coverage finish with some shine, and the full coverage is a more full coverage cream finish. The tube doesn’t note the finish, but it seems like the 100s are shine, 200s are natural, and 300s are full coverage.
The shades I have are:
- 103 Framboise-Mure (shine) – a barely there brownish red kind of shade
- 214 Paris Metro (natural) – pink nude
- 306 Cerise Noir (full coverage) – cherry red
All these shades are right up my alley, although 214 Paris Metro is a liiitle too light for me to wear on its own. It would be gorgeous with a deeper nude lip liner or a deeper lip gloss. I would have loved this shade 5ish years ago, but I prefer a deeper pink nude. Thankfully it’s not too opaque or thick that it completely washes me out.
103 Framboise-Mure is my favorite of the trio. Yes, it’s sheer, but it offers just a little bit of a tint to give my lips some color and shine. This kind of shade is also really difficult to find in a sheer finish like this. It reminds me of my much beloved (and discontinued) Revlon Fig Jam lip butter, and I’m thrilled to have something similar to it again.
306 Cerise Noir is a deep red cherry shade that has an opaque cream finish. It has a slight shine to it that is very comfortable, and I don’t think I have a darker red that’s similar.
I think the formula on all three of these is consistent across all 3 finishes. I found them to glide on easily, feel comfortable, and are actually moisturizing for my lips. There are some lipsticks that have a nice shine and emollience, but actually end up feeling drying on my lips. These do not. I was so surprised that they were moisturizing and comfortable, and even the full coverage formula felt light.
They have the texture of a thick balm, though they feel light. The thickness also helps with the lasting power. I felt the sheer formula stay on my lips for 2 or 3 hours, even with drinking and light eating. The natural finish had a similar lasting power, and the full coverage formula lasted longer on my lips, about 5 hours – which is probably mostly due to the pigmentation that tends to hang on longer.
I also have lip swatches of all the shades:
Cerise Noir
Overall, I am extremely impressed with these lipsticks, especially how comfortable and moisturizing the formula is. I was honestly not expecting them to be THIS nice, and it completes the trifecta of shades that I find flattering, with cute packaging.
If you’ve been looking to try Paul and Joe, I think these lipsticks are a great place to start. At the price point, they’re not the cheapest brand, but I think they are worth the near $30 price point, which is much lower than I’ve paid for some lipsticks. I would just be careful about the packaging and making sure it doesn’t get soaked in liquid, because I’m afraid it would ruin the design.
Final Rating: 8/10
Packaging: 7/10
Shades: 9/10
Formula: 10/10
Value: 7/10
Have you tried any Paul and Joe Beaute yet? What are products I have to try?
Beauty Unhyped 