This past spring, for Valentine's Day Opera released two limited edition Lip Tints 07 Pink Fraises and 08 Burgundy Kiss, and they made it available for just one weekend (or was it just one day?) and only at their Omotesando shop.
I was beyond frustrated. There's more to Japan than just Omotesando and this campaign snubbed the rest of the country, much less those abroad like me. But of course, exclusive campaigns like this work like a charm. I heard from fudejapan (not affiliated) these sold out the same day at the shop, with the rest being hawked on Amazon JP for unbelievable markups, think 7-8,000yen each (retail was 1,600yen!). Urgh. Forget it.
Then a couple of months later, Opera did it again, this time releasing limited editions 09 Sakura Petal and 10 Plum Pink. Interestingly enough, these didn't sell out as fast, which should have been my clue something was off. But nope, like an idiot I fell for it. I'd seen some online photos (when will I learn to stop trust online photos, goddammit!) and thought they were pretty.
All pictures taken in natural light without flash.
I was beyond frustrated. There's more to Japan than just Omotesando and this campaign snubbed the rest of the country, much less those abroad like me. But of course, exclusive campaigns like this work like a charm. I heard from fudejapan (not affiliated) these sold out the same day at the shop, with the rest being hawked on Amazon JP for unbelievable markups, think 7-8,000yen each (retail was 1,600yen!). Urgh. Forget it.
Then a couple of months later, Opera did it again, this time releasing limited editions 09 Sakura Petal and 10 Plum Pink. Interestingly enough, these didn't sell out as fast, which should have been my clue something was off. But nope, like an idiot I fell for it. I'd seen some online photos (when will I learn to stop trust online photos, goddammit!) and thought they were pretty.
All pictures taken in natural light without flash.
You know where this is going, right? The moment I opened up the lipstick tubes I smacked my forehead. Argh! Not only they're both much paler than expected, they're milky in even in the bullet, lacking that translucency in the permanent lineup. Swatching them on the back of my hand didn't make me feel any better. They were still pale and still milky.
And as I waited for the hand swatches to stain, I finally tried them on my lips. Turns out they're actually not bad. Ha! ^.^"
- 09 Sakura Petal: appears a milky pale pink in the bullet but applies totally transparent on my lips with just a hint of pink. It stains the same way, just a hint of pink. Sure, it's a pricey staining lip balm, pretty much in the same vein as Clarins Kiss Joli Baume (which actually did leave a coral-pink stain). I'd say this Opera is the better one of the two, more moisturizing and longer lasting even with the same thinner consistency and slippy texture. It's not as expensive as Clarins either. In fact, after I finished up the Clarins balm, this Opera one replaced it in my bag!
- 10 Plum Pink: by plum pink they meant mauve. That said, it swatched a warmer pink on the back of my hand and left a similarly warm pink stain. Like 09 Sakura Petal above, it also applies totally transparent on my lips. Even better, it matches my natural lip color exactly and is a really pretty my-lips-but-better color. In the end, these aren't exactly must-haves, but if you already bought them like I did, don't beat yourself up. They're actually quite decent :D
09 Sakura Petal and 10 Plum Pink swatches and stains.
See my previous Opera Lip Tint post.
No comments:
Post a Comment