Decorte The Rouge

Since trying Cosme Decorte AQMW Rouge Glow (which I don't see on the Cosme Decorte JP website anymore, by the way), despite picking a few misses I was sufficiently intrigued to try the new Decorte The Rouge for research ^.^

All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

The Rouge line is pretty extensive. According to Decorte UK's Instagram, there are 20 Glow shades, which supposedly includes 13 that are "High Gloss," and 5 Mattes. However, neither Decorte UK nor JP otherwise clarified which colors are Glow, High Gloss, or Matte, so I just picked three from Selfridges UK digital swatches and ended up with RD455 in the Glow range (I think), and RD456 and RD457 in the Matte range. The older AQMW Rouge Glows had names for each color but these newer The Rouges do not.

Hmm, the packaging. I thought the AQMW Rouge Glows had chubby tubes but at least they were pretty and didn't look cheap. These new Decorte Rouges have matte black tubes with gold caps, and they're even bigger, chubbier, and plain ugly. I honestly can't decide which lipstick has uglier packaging, these Decorte Rouges or Suqqu Moisture Rich Lipsticks. At least the inside of the box has pretty rose gold prints.

Based on just one color RD455, the Glow formula is thick, smooth, and moisturizing. This particular color very pigmented, no less than her Matte sisters. The swatch below is just one swipe. That said, I like it very much and will pick up a few other reds in the range. Just wish it didn't take up so much space in my craft chest :(

The Mattes are amazing too! There's a very slight satiny sheen so it's not completely powdery matte. I'll call it "soft matte." What I'm really impressed with the comfortable wear and dare I say it's even moisturizing. As you can see from the swatches, it's damn pigmented. However, there's a slight translucency that makes it wearable to me, which is saying a lot since I tend to run away from mattes. Too bad there are only five colors in this range and the other three are nudes, so I'll stop here to the relief of my wallet.

- RD455: shimmer free and translucent but pigmented deep burgundy. There's a slight brown tone that's more apparent on my lips, probably because there's lot of yellow already in my skin. However, when I wiped it off, it came off on the kleenex with lots of purple. Interesting, huh?

- RD456: softly matte warm red. Love!

- RD457: softly matte deep brownish, bloody red. Makes for classic vampy lips. The satiny sheen in this color is slightly more visible than that in RD456 so it's an even softer matte.

RD455, RD456, and RD457. Here's an angled shot to show textural and finish difference between Glow RD455 and the Mattes RD456 and RD457.