Reviews for YSL Rouge Volupte & Rouge Pur, A Repost

I found this old review I did a year and a half ago and since I still feel the same about these lipsticks, I wanted to repost it. Its super long, yes, but you will be entertained.

Photo taken from graine2beaute.com

I wanted to try the Rouge Volupte lipsticks from YSL after seeing the gorgeous pinks and creamy peach toned shade swatches on Temptalia.com Her photos made the lipstick look truly amazing. The opaque pastels gave me spring fever in the middle of winter. But Temptalia must be some sort of magician because no matter how hard I tried, I could not achieve a similar look using the exact same lipstick that she did to create it. Now, on to the bashing.

The package is ultimate luxury and very much reminds me of the lipsticks my grandma used to carry around that were also fancy gold tubes holding very fragrant and expensive smelling lip color. Perhaps if YSL put less money into the over-the-top packaging and more money into whatever laboratory ingredient that chemists use to create lasting power in lipstick, I would be singing their praises right now instead of violently bashing them into the ground. 

No exaggeration, I looked in the mirror to apply this lipstick, looked down to put the cap back on, lifted my head back up to look at myself in the mirror to check my lipstick again and it was gone. The color had literally started sliding off my lips the minute I looked down. I do believe that the gravity from my head pointing in a downward position caused a wave of motion that was no match for a slippery little sucker like Rouge Volupte. It is no mystery why seeing as how the texture is like that of Country Crock. I also think that the slip-n-slide texture brought to life every imperfection that my lips had to offer, things that I didn't even know existed were suddenly put on blast. And I didn't like what I was hearing.

I got so caught up in my criticism that I didn't mention the shade I purchased which was Lingerie Pink which I had heard so much about and was the reason I bought it in the first place. So I did the only logical thing I could think of and that was to swap it on MakeupAlley.com. I knew it would quickly be adopted and would go to a better home than I could offer in the bottom of my "not really interested yet too expensive to throw out" drawer. Unwilling to admit defeat, I wanted to give YSL another chance. Much like a boyfriend who comes crawling back pleading with you that he's changed, I gave the YSL lipsticks another go around. And we all know how those situations end up. This time I'd try a different formula. Rouge Pur was described as being long-lasting. Maybe not in those exact words but it said something about lasting and that word solidified my purchasing decision. Perhaps I had misread the description because the only thing that lasted about the Rouge Pur was the the amount of time it spent "not on my lips." I purchased the Tea Rose shade because it was discontinued so naturally that made it more desirable. It was less of a "rose" shade and more "nude" but that was fine with me as long as it was better formulated than the Rouge Volupte. Much to my chagrin, it was basically the same texture with just a slightly different shape and slightly less luxurious packaging. 

I have heard from multiple lovers of that line that they have to re-purchase very regularly because of the limited amount of product YSL gives you. Personally, I think its less about the amount of product in the tube and more about having to put it on 25 times in 2 hours. That's basically equivalent to a month's worth of product in most other brands. I just pulled those numbers out of a random and possibly inaccurate place in my head so you be the judge.