Etvos Mineral Sheer Rouge

After Etvos Mineral UV Powder SPF50 PA++++, I went back and tried another item from the brand, the Mineral Sheer Rouge. There are 4 colors available but I passed on the Paris Pink and went for Prime Red, Rose Fig, and Ruby Red instead.

Etvos has two other lippies, the original Mineral Rouge that's supposed to be pigmented (and thus skipped) and the Mineral UV Rouge, basically the Mineral Rouge with SPF (also skipped).

All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

The packaging won me over in an instant. These are slim and sleek square metallic tubes in recyclable paper cartons. I love the packaging so much I took all 3 tubes with me to San Francisco (hubby attended a work conference there and I tagged along, because it's SF, and because the grandparents happily took in the little one for the week). 

Granted, this lippie is tiny and each tube contains only 2g of product, making the 3,000yen price tag rather steep. Then again, I can count on one hand how many lippies I've consistently used up (Lipstick Queen Medieval among them--I'm on my 3rd or 4th tube now), so I don't need a giant bullet of anything.

Here's Etvos versus Muselle Nocturnal Lipstick F versus Opera Lip Tint versus the discontinued Suqqu sleek black tube from the Bright Up and Creamy Glow/Moist lines. Etvos is actually even slimmer than Suqqu, though longer.

The formula is great! It's balmy in texture and is moisturizing, with a soft satiny finish instead of the usual glossy one, which makes it different enough to stand out among my collection of sheer lipsticks. Being "sheer" it swatched pretty well on the back of my hand, as you can see. On my lips, I only need one layer for a good dose of color and two layers are actually too pigmented for my taste. All three colors I have are transparent and shimmer free, totally my jam. Count me in for future releases!

- Prime Red: yellow-based red.

- Rose Fig: blue-based red.

- Ruby Red: coral.

Prime Red, Rose Fig, and Ruby Red. See why I love these?