Jill Stuart Rouge My Dress

Back in May hubby and I were planning to spend Golden Week in Taipei. But of course the plane ticket prices were tripled, and so we scrapped that plan and took a last minute trip in mid September instead (yes, I'm extremely behind on photos still...). Anyway, while on the plane I browsed through the shopping magazine and spotted this Jill Stuart Rouge My Dress Trio Flowery Balloon Collection, a Cathay Pacific duty free exclusive.

The trio includes the Rouge My Dress lipsticks in 12 Lucky Charm, 13 Berry Tutu, and 15 Fluffy Scrunchy, all for $75 which is actually a decent price considering these lippies retail for 3,000yen a piece plus tax. I needed an excuse to try a Jill Stuart lipstick 3(or three, ha), so I picked up the set despite their names really irked me. Does Rouge My Dress mean to only wear rouge and no other articles of clothing? Or deface a dress with rouge? =.=

All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

Anyway, if you're a fan of Jill Stuart, you might want to stop reading now because you're not going to like what I have to say about these lippies: I regret their purchase very much. In fact, I'll go as far as to declare them one of my worst lipstick buys ever. These lippies suck ballz, and I've tried plenty of lipsticks, Japanese, Korean, or otherwise.

As always, I'll start with the packaging. I don't mind the baroque detailing of the tubes. I mean, this is the brand's style, right? It's all very princessy and over the top. However, I do mind very much that the packaging is plastic. The tubes, ornate as they are, look rather cheap. And they feel cheap, light and insubstantial. No, that little crystal doesn't help either the look or the feel. I doubt it's real crystal anyway, given how cheap the whole packaging is. In short, it seems these are toys made for tween girls with moneyed parents, not for adults and professionals.

And good lord, the size of these lipsticks doesn't help their toy-like appearance and feel. Look how exaggerated and humongous the tube is next to a Lunasol lipstick! How is it these are sold at a department store cosmetic counter and not on the shelves at a toy store?!

And sadly, the lipstick formula does little to make up for the cheap packaging and the cartoony size--it too feels like plastic on my lips, and I do mean plastic and not waxy. My lips are comfortable immediately after application, but this softness doesn't last. Within half an hour, the whole thing starts to cake and look patchy, and my lips shrivel up as if the lipstick has absorbed all the moisture instead of providing it! In short, these lippies are actively drying, as in they dry out and peel my lips! Yikes!

The final salt in the wound is that all three of these colors have white base. They all show up milky on my lips :( Argh. What garbage! I want my money back!

- 12 Lucky Charm: a shimmer free bubblegum pink that somehow still turns milky on my lips. Nope.

- 13 Berry Tutu: a coral with gold shimmer. This is the only color I can sort of wear out of the three, that is, before it dries out my lips. So disappointed!

- 15 Fluffy Scrunchy: a pale milky peach with micro shimmer that give a pearly finish. And despite the pretty swatch they make me look like a ganguro girl wannabe who's too lazy and half-assing it. Le sigh. I was ranting about this lipstick to my friend A. and she asked if she could try it. So I happily passed it on to her along with a couple others I had with me in Tokyo, one being the Clinique Chubby Stick 13 Mighty Mimosa (peach is her thing, you see). After a few weeks, when asked about this lipstick, she replied simply, "I like the Clinique." Says it all, no?

12 Lucky Charm, 13 Berry Tutu, and 15 Fluffy Scrunchy. Will not buy again ever.