Kiss Creamy Sheer Rouge SPF25 PA++

Last fall, I came across Kiss Creamy Sheer Rouge SPF25 PA++ on Insta and was intrigued enough with the online swatches. Then to my surprise and luck, Julia sent the color 01 Erratic Love to me in her giant care package last fall. I liked it enough to seek out five more of the twelve colors available: 02 My Diva, 07 Classic Cassis, 09 Soleil Tint, 10 Universe Tint, and 11 Craze Cranberry.

All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

From left to right: 01 Erratic Love, 02 My Diva, 07 Classic Cassis, 09 Soleil Tint, 10 Universe Tint, and 11 Craze Cranberry.

Despite the plastic-y packaging, these lippies are marvelous! The formula is indeed creamy, smooth, and with just the right thickness. They're also moisturizing, glossy, and with a decent dose of color to boot, perfect for daytime wear. In fact, they very much reminded me of the long-discontinued but super popular Lavshuca Moist Melting Rouge. Both have applicators that are not retractable and click-as-you-go, each time twisting up just enough for one application because the buttery lippie would otherwise crumble. The SPF is a lovely bonus ^.^ Notice the colors 09 and 10 are both tint type, the only two tints in the whole lineup actually, as in they stain. With the exception of 10, all other colors are shimmer-free.

Another thing that impressed me about these was that the colors are vivid and are actually distinguishable from each other. No, I'm not being sarcastic. As I've learned with some Japanese lipsticks, picking out what I thought were different colors because they had different names didn't always mean I'd actually get different colors--ahem Chicca, Maquillage! Anyway, after swatching these Kiss lippies and trying them for the first time, I went right back to Rakuten JP to pick up two more colors 06 Dusty Rose and 08 Masquerade. Love!

Now for the bad news: unfortunately, these have now been discontinued and replaced with a newer Melty Sheer Rouge, again with 12 colors available, 6 "Basic" Type and 6 Tint Type. From the swatches I've been, the "basic" colors are meh--they all look the same, and 4 out of 6 have shimmers :( The tints are marginally better, but still aren't anywhere near the vibrancy of the old lineup. Basically, Kiss did away with the good stuff and replace it with crap. Argh! Why?!? For now, the old lineup of Creamy Sheer Rouge is still available on Rakuten JP, Amazon JP, and E(vil)bay. If you want to try one, I'd say go grab it now before it's gone for good.

- 01 Erratic Love: cool-toned pink-red.

- 02 My Diva: orange red, my favorite color of the bunch.

- 07 Classic Cassis: berry mauve.

- 09 Soleil Tint: goes on a transparent and sheer yellow but quickly turns coral. Leaves a faint coral-pink stain.

- 10 Universe Tint: black in the tube but applies more like blackberry-burgundy with sparse shimmers that don't show. Leaves a faint pink stain.

- 11 Craze Cranberry: raspberry.

Top row: 01 Erratic Love, 02 My Diva, 07 Classic Cassis, and 11 Craze Cranberry.

Bottom row: 09 Soleil Tint and 10 Universe Tint.

09 Soleil Tint and 10 Universe Tint swatches and stains.