Visee My Red Rouge

I've been seeing a lot of Visee on Insta and while the Crystal Duo and the Crystal Duo Sheer Lipsticks certainly caught my eyes, I was worried these would be more gimmicky like Paul & Joe x Doraemon LE Lipstick D with the clear outer shaft mere decoration (I say that but I'm already eyeing P&J's summer collection, ha!). In the end, I refrained.

That was, until a new line of lippies called My Red Rouge. Yes, the regular lineup for these looked too pigmented for my taste. However, there was also a sheerer Tint Type, which meant staining, with only four colors available, and I picked up 101 Red and 103 Coral to try.

All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

For a drugstore lippie, these metal tubes are really nice! They're charcoal metallic with a lacy-flower print pattern. They're weighty in my hands and don't feel cheap. I don't get it. Decorte is a premium Kose brand and makes these huge, and clunky plastic lipstick tubes that are plain fugly, while the drugstore Kose brand makes these slim and sleek, and expensive-looking metallic ones. 

Sadly, I'm not as impressed with the formula. Sure, it's a jelly formula that's thick and balmy with a clear and glossy finish. However, it feels "artificially" moisturizing, if that makes any sense. As in, despite feeling emollient, the moisture doesn't quite sink in and just sits on top of my lips, unlike many of my other lippies where application provides almost instant dry-lips relief. 

Both colors I have are shimmer-free and they're great pigmentation wise. Actually, I can't believe they'd call these sheer, because both show very well on my lips. If anything, I think these definitely lean towards the pigmented, staining lipsticks rather than sheer, staining balms. They leave a much stronger stain than all the Opera Lip Tints I have, but worry not, they're still nowhere as clownishly bright as some of the old Revlon Kissable Balm Stains. Word of caution though: it seems all four colors leave pink-leaning stains, even the warmest color 103 Coral. So if your lips have a penchant to stain pink or mauve, I'd skip these. 

- 101 Red: more like a transparent pink-red, leaves a cooler pink stain.

- 103 Coral: transparent reddish coral, leaves a warmer pink stain

101 Red and 103 Coral swatches and stains.