New Lipstick Roundup and Reviews: Bond no. 9, Burberry, Cle de Peau, Gucci, Sisley

How are we all doing these days? I know that as we’re passing one month of staying at home, it’s getting more difficult for me to stay motivated to keep up my daily routine and not just let the days completely blur together. 

A couple weeks ago Saks Fifth Avenue was doing 25% off the majority of their beauty products, which is the highest discount I’ve seen for many brands. While it seems frivolous to shop for unessential items like beauty products in a time like this, I was definitely doing lots of stress shopping to cope with it all…so here we are. I will say — make sure you support your local and small businesses if you’re choosing to shop and spend money! Although I made a few big beauty purchases, I have also been buying food, groceries, essential and non-essential items from small businesses rather than big grocery store chains. 

That said, since I’ve now tried out a few luxury lip products, I have a roundup of my thoughts on the formulas and overall performance. 

Bond No. 9 New York Lipstick in Central Park
($105 for case and 3.1g/.11oz lipstick refill/$45 for refill only)
Bond no. 9 or Saks Fifth Avenue (also available at other department stores)

I’m starting with the most expensive and #treatyourself purchase. At $105 for a lipstick and case, there was no way I was ever going to try this unless there were a good sale going on, but these have been on my radar for a long time. I’m not really a fragrance person, but I AM a lipstick person, and the heavy gold case is an actual piece of art I keep on my vanity. The hefty weight and charm doesn’t exactly make this a pocket or tiny wristlet friendly lipstick, but applying these lipsticks is the ultimate luxurious ritual. They were also packaged in a beautiful reusable box.

I ordered the shade Central Park, which is a reddish-brown shade with a satin-cream finish and medium to full coverage. It has a denser formula that is more reminiscent of the Pat McGrath luxetrance lipsticks, but I think that it actually feels more lightweight on the lips while offering a similar amount of coverage. It took me one application to fully fall in love with the formula and shade. The shade is one of those deep neutrals that really flatters my skintone and could work for all seasons. This also has no scent, which I am very happy about, considering that the brand is a fragrance brand.

The formula though…wow. Once it goes on, it barely feels like anything, yet it feels really nourishing. It lasts through 4 or 5 hours easily, wearing down into a beautiful stain only after a big greasy meal. Through those entire 4-5 hours, my lips feel continuously moisturized and comfortable, and the coverage stays even, which is a rare feat. Even the Pat McGrath lipsticks can start to feel a teensy bit drying after a few hours with no balm or reapplication. The first couple times I tested this, I could not stop staring everytime I caught myself in the mirror because I loved how it was wearing on myself so much. 

Does that fully justify the full $105 with the case? That’s up to you. I could stomach buying the $45 refills because the formula is easily one of the best I’ve ever tried, but buying another case would probably take another extraordinary event. If you want a “dupe” in terms of formula, the Pat McGrath formula, or the Sisley Le Phyto Rouge (see more below) are next best, and slightly less expensive in the $38-$50 range.

Burberry Liquid Lip Velvet in Fawn
($34 for .2oz/5.7ml)
Burberry, Saks Fifth Avenue

This is another Sandra from ttsandra-inspired purchase. She raved about these liquid lipsticks awhile ago and I’ve been waiting for a good excuse to buy them ever since. Burberry makes fantastic makeup products, but they are getting harder to find. I thought the entire brand was getting discontinued for awhile, but the line seems to be fully stocked at Saks Fifth Avenue. 

The formula is a matte liquid lipstick with a moussey formula. The texture is almost reminiscent of some of the Korean or Japanese liquid lipsticks I’ve tried that feel lighter on the lips. It has a soft blurred finish that doesn’t crack or feel super drying on my lips. They have medium – full coverage that can be blurred and blended. This is about as comfortable as a liquid lip product can get, as I can wear it for 4ish hours without feeling like I need a gloss or balm on top. Fawn is a nice deep neutral rose shade that works as an everyday neutral for me. These also don’t have a scent.

Cle de Peau Radiant Lip Gloss
($48 for .27oz/8ml)
Cle de Peau, and most department stores

I’m not totally sure what made my buy a nearly-$50 lip gloss, but that could probably be said for all the products in this post. After all, how good could a lip gloss really get? As it turns out, exceptional. First, the applicator is the most unique I’ve ever seen. It’s a twisted doe foot that makes it really easy to apply the gloss to the contours of my lips without having to dip the wand back into the tube to get more product. It’s definitely not an applicator I thought I needed but it definitely applies the gloss better than I thought it would.

The formula is a medium weight gloss that has a cushiony feel on the lips without being sticky at all. It has just the right consistency – it’s not too thin or thick – and it stays on my lips for 2-3 hours, keeping them moisturized and hydrated throughout. This is one of the more comfortable lipglosses I’ve tried. They have a very subtle floral scent that is hard to detect to me, but I have a pretty bad sense of smell. 

I have the shade Warm Crystal, which is a sheer warm nude shade with some light shimmer. The shimmer really makes these glosses seem more radiant and reflective, rather than being a true shimmer. I find it really flattering to wear with anything or on its own. I definitely have my eye on other shades of these glosses because I am so impressed by them.

Gucci Rouge à Lèvres Mat Matte Lipstick
($42 for .12oz/3.5g)
Gucci website, Saks Fifth Avenue, Sephora

I’ve also had my eye on the Gucci lipsticks ever since they relaunched the makeup line a couple years ago. The new lipstick line is massive, with 6 different finishes, and each finish is distinguished by the type of packaging they have – which, by the way, is absolutely beautiful. I am not a gold packaging fan, yet I still love all the packaging. 

I bought one of the matte finish lipsticks in the shade 208 They Met in Argentina. The matte finish has gold all over with ridged edges, and it is wonderfully reminiscent of vintage makeup. The shade is a matte deep salmon shade. 

The finish of these mattes is velvety, and they have an opaque medium to full coverage. They’re not a completely weightless formula, but they don’t feel heavy, either. It feel somewhere in between Charlotte Tilbury’s Matte Revolution lipstick and the Mat McGrath Mattetrance lipsticks, and the wear time is also somewhere in between the wear of those lipsticks. I get about 3-5 hours of wear, depending on how much I eat, drink, or touch my lips. I find the formula to be pretty comfortable. They don’t dry out my lips but they don’t necessarily add moisture, either, so I do feel like I need to touch up after 4 or 5 hours. These have a floral scent to them that isn’t overpowering (to me, at least), but it’s definitely noticeable. Fortunately, the scent fades after a few minutes.

Sisley Paris Le-Phyto Rouge Lipstick 
($58 for .11oz/3.4g)
Sisley Paris Website, and many department stores

This is another lipstick formula I’ve been wanting to try for awhile. I’ve seen and heard rave reviews of these as having a fantastic formula so I had high expectations for these. The packaging on these is also stunning. I love the animal print on the gold tubes, and while the tubes themselves aren’t so heavy they’re impractical, they have a nice weighty feel to them. 

The shade I have is 12 Beige Bali, a burnt orange shade in a satin finish. It has more orange to it than the Gucci lipstick, which has a bit more salmon in it. This lipstick also has medium coverage that can be layered to full coverage. The formula of these is spectacular. These do feel very weightless on the lips, and they also feel moisturizing, making it very comfortable to wear. It stays comfortable and almost feels like a balm, but with great lasting power. I find I can get about 4 hours of wear with these with light eating and drinking. 

Here are swatches of all the shades:

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

And I swatched them alongside similar lipsticks. The only lipstick I didn’t have any close comparisons was the Burberry Liquid Lipstick.

Bond No. 9 Central Park

It turns out I have a lot of similar lipsticks to Bond No. 9 Central Park, but nothing exactly like it. Pat McGrath Attitude is close, but doesn’t quite have that brownish tone to it.

Cle de Peau Radiant Lipgloss in Warm Crystal

I have a small but growing nude lipgloss collection, but no dupes for Cle de Peau Warm Crystal. It’s cooler than the other nude glosses here, and the Hourglass Unreal Lipgloss in Strike is more opaque and does not have shimmer.

Gucci Matte Lipstick in They Met in Argentina and Sisley Le-Phyto Rouge in Beige Bali

It turns out that Gucci They Met in Argentina and Sisley Paris Beige Bali are quite close to each other, but Beige Bali is more peachy-orange toned, while Gucci is more salmon-pink toned. The only close shade I had to these was Charlotte Tilbury’s Carina’s Star. 

I’m loving and enjoying all of these new lip products so far! The standout products are the Bond No. 9 lipstick and the Cle de Peau Radiant Lipgloss. I really like the other formulas as well, but I think these two are worth the pricetag for me.

Have you tried any of these? What are your favorite formulas?