As much as I love mainstream mass and prestige beauty brands (or just beauty products in general), I still have heaps of appreciation for brands that aren’t sold on every street corner. Susan Posnick’s product lineup reads like a strategically curated wish list for women who like simplicity, but demand performance. I checked out the new shades of her COLORESSENTIAL lipstick collection to see how they’d fare.
The new Spring collection for 2012 hosts four new shades, but I accidentally damaged one beyond repair with a little cap mishap of my own doing. I’m sad that you’re only seeing three—the fourth was extremely pretty (London), and you probably would have went nuts for it, because it was a deep berry with a shimmer that would work on all skin tones. Oops!
Berries
- Rio — vibrant berry
- London — classic bronzed berry (not pictured)
Nudes
- Marrakech — shimmering soft bronze-tinted neutral
- Santa Fe — shimmering golden copper
As I applied these COLORESSENTIAL shades, I could immediately get the sense for how hydrating they are. The only way to describe the moisture level for me is to compare it to a lip balm—an insanely moist, creamy one—with not a lick of wax! In terms of coverage, I was able to achieve medium-to-full coverage depending on application. Of course the more creamy shade gave more coverage than the shimmering shades (which is to be expected), but I thought they were all still flattering. This is quite a feat because I rarely like anything that’s remotely golden on my lips for my skin tone.
I felt as though it was almost like the shades adapted for me perfectly. I’m not implying these have a color-changing ability (don’t worry, no mood lipstick here), but I was AMAZED with how shades I normally wouldn’t touch with a 10-foot pole looked like I had been wearing them for ages. In terms of length of wear, I did find that these were about the norm for a hydrating lipcolor formula—with Rio wearing well for four hours. The fragrance is a very subtle vanilla scent, so for those who don’t tend to like lots of fancy fragrances and flavors in their lipsticks, these will be a perfect fit.
More photos…
Swatches…
Swatches top to bottom: Rio, Marrakech, Santa Fe
Susan Posnick’s lipsticks are very unpretentious; meaning you won’t get fancy things like a dagger on the end of your lipstick tube, or a groovy pattern pressed into the lipstick itself, but these just work for me. One feature I do like about the simple packaging however, is that the cap is magnetic. None of that losing your cap in the bottom of your purse business, thank you very much.
Bottom Line: Reach for these if you need a great hydrating lipstick in a range of flattering, nearly-universal shades for everyday wear.
Price & Availability: $19 each, susanposnick.com
