Suqqu Water Color Lip Ink

A third incredible find from the same sale as Suqqu Matte Lip Crayon 105 染赤 (Someaka) and Clear Neon Lipstick 102 映菫 (Haesumire) are these Water Color Lip Ink in 101 水漆 (Mizuurushi), 102 樹蜜 (Jyumitsu), and 103 澄重 (Sumikasane), all LE's from fall-winter 2019 collection.

All pictures taken in natural light without flash.

I hadn't planned on getting these at all. I'd quit glosses for a long time. Years! But all three had transparent and shimmer-free "colors", and I'd read many praises for their formula. The LE and the sale price made them that much more tempting. In the end, I caved. And boy am I glad I did! 

A few words on the packaging first: it's meh. The chunky and clunky square and clear plastic tube doesn't inspire. It feels nice and substantial, with a whopping 6.8g of product, quite generous! But it also looks like something I'd bought from the drugstore. Ha. The fuzzy applicator is flat on both sides and picks up just the right amount of product, but if you like to slather balm and gloss on like me, you'll probably need to re-dip.

What's truly praise-worthy here is the formula. It's every bit as good as everyone says it is, a jelly with the perfect thickness, is super moisturizing, stays on for hours (lasted through lunch until I wiped it off!), and leaves my lips baby soft. There's zero stickiness and zero bleeding beyond the lip lines. The formula is supposedly unscented, but I can detect a faint menthol scent (it's on the list of ingredients), and it applies with an expected tingling sensation that lasts for under an hour. Now that I think about it, these glosses might need to stay on my nightstand instead of sitting in my purse. As you can see from the swatches below, there's really no color at all to any of them. Love!

- 101 水漆 (Mizuurushi): red in the tube but goes on clear.

- 102 樹蜜 (Jyumitsu): orange in the tube but goes on clear.

- 103 澄重 (Sumikasane): cassis purple in the tube but goes on clear.

101 水漆 (Mizuurushi), 102 樹蜜 (Jyumitsu), and 103 澄重 (Sumikasane).