Maychiri's Thoughts: Lip Crayon

Avon Mark Twist & Play Lip Stylo [Sweet Lust] Review

May 05, 2023

Next review: Avon Mark Twist & Play Lip Stylo, shade Sweet Lust.

I’d wanted to buy this lip stylo for months, but I just never got around to it. I couldn’t decide whether to actually buy it or not; it’s just that I already have a few lip crayons so do I actually need another one? I really liked the colour, though! And then I finally decided: screw it, I’ll buy it, no matter what it’s like! So, what is it like? Let’s see!

As with most Avon products, this crayon came in cardboard packaging with information regarding the crayon. There’s a beautiful picture of flowers, as this is a limited edition of the crayon, apparently. Inside the cardboard is the crayon itself. The crayon is black with white text. It’s a very simple design, but I don’t mind it. There is a sharpener on the other end of the crayon, and it matches the colour of the crayon. The cap and sharpener close very securely, making a satisfying click when they are closed! The retracting mechanism is good, though it does feel slightly loose. Nice design, but nothing special.

Ingredients: nothing nourishing here. No parabens, either. The scent is either so subtle that I cannot smell a thing or it is actually unscented. The expiration date is not marked anywhere. Probably 12 months if I had to guess.

This is an automatic lip crayon, so it should be very precise. And indeed it is, despite the thick lead! Of course, it’s even more precise if you sharpen the tip, but it is precise enough even blunt. This makes it super easy to line the lips precisely, which is especially important for the cupid’s bow. And then after lining your lips just fill them in with the crayon, it’s that easy!

Colour: this is a light rosy pink that is great for pale to light skintones. It’s got a lot of blue undertones, kind of Barbie-like. I really like this colour.

The formula is super smooth and glides across lips like butter. It is so soft and creamy while applying it and shortly thereafter. But then it takes a 180 and becomes powdery dry; more on that in a bit. I love how easy to use this formula is, it’s a joy to use! The texture is very glossy and satiny, but in a more pearly fashion. There’s a ton of extremely tiny shimmer that gives it this shimmery, shiny finish. This texture might be a bit dated by now, but I don’t mind it a lot.

However, it is much different than the photo in the catalogue; it looked like a matte crayon in the catalogue, if I had known it would be this pearly shimmery, I honestly wouldn’t have ordered it. I am just not the biggest fan of pearly lip products, I much more prefer matte finishes.

Despite being soft and creamy while applying it and for a short time after, it quickly changes and becomes powdery dry, and stays that way until you remove the crayon. It’s such a huge change that it took me by surprise the first time I used this lip crayon. Like, from so wonderfully soft and creamy to soft, yet powdery dry. It’s like going from one end of the spectrum to the other. But what’s even more puzzling than this huge change of formula, is that it’s actually incredibly comfortable to wear! The, now powdery, formula is so lightweight that I can barely feel there’s anything on my lips. This dryness somehow still feels soft on lips, even 8 hours later! It does not become cakey or anything. However, it can be just a tiny bit tacky sometimes. Not enough to actually be problematic, though. My lips didn’t feel at all dried out, which is just as surprising as how comfortable this is to wear! It’s just such a puzzling, weird, yet interesting formula.

This lip crayon is very long-lasting. 8 hours later and it still looks great, no smudging, feathering, or fading at all! It still looks just as pearly and not at all dry. However, it does not deal well with food; it fades from the centre of lips, so you will definitely have to reapply it after eating.

Removing this lip crayon is as easy as can be, no matter what you use. And of course, due to being such a subtle, light colour, there are no stains.

This crayon has an included sharpener on the other end. It’s a plastic sharpener meant for automatic pencils, but it’s not at all bad. It sharpens pencils really well. And this crayon in particular is so incredibly easy to sharpen! Only a couple of rotations and the tip is nice and sharp, perfect for outlining the lips.

All in all, this is a nice lip crayon. I love how long-lasting it is, and how easy to apply it is. It glides across lips like butter, and it’s perfectly even; in addition to that, it is so easy to make a sharp outline with absolutely no smudging. The colour is really pretty, quite girly, but I don’t really like the texture. It’s a weird hybrid of satin and pearly finish that is very shiny, despite looking matte in the catalogue. I wish it was matte; this finish is pretty dated. And the formula is so weird! At first it is creamy and soft, but as soon as I am done applying it, it becomes powdery dry yet still soft, somehow. This is one of those rare time when a powdery dry formula is actually comfortable, as it’s not at all drying or uncomfortable, even 8 hours later. Sadly, it’s not at all food-resistant, so you’ll have to reapply it after eating. I don’t know, I like the colour, and how comfortable it is, but I just can’t get over the fact that it looked matte, when in actuality it is very shiny and pearly/satin/metallic, idk. I just don’t like the texture! I don’t think I’ll be recommending it due to the powdery dry feeling and the way too shiny texture.

Rating: 7/10

Would buy again? NO (too pearly)

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Cute

Maybelline Baby Lips Color Balm Crayon [005 - Candy Red] Review

April 26, 2023

Hello!

I only have one review this week, but I reckon this will be a very interesting item! This is the Maybelline Baby Lips Color Balm Crayon, shade 005/Candy Red. This crayon was ordered from Amazon, something I rarely do nowadays when the shipping is exorbitantly expensive (thanks Brexit). This crayon wasn't too expensive, so I ordered it because it’s something I had never seen in our shops; let’s see what it’s like!

First, the packaging: it’s solid red plastic with a matching cap that fits pretty securely and there’s teal text that’s the standard: country of origin, PAO, shade name etc. I must say that this is definitely an interesting choice of colours, the teal is very vibrant and pops but because of the high contrast it can be a bit difficult to read.

In terms of ingredients, you will find petrolatum, shea butter and vitamin E for nourishment, and there are no parabens. The scent is pretty intense and sweet but it is yummy; in my opinion it smells like strawberries! It is a really nice scent! The expiration date is 24 months after opening.

Pigmentation is excellent; it’s extremely intense, especially given that it’s marketed as a lip balm crayon.. This is a cool-toned red that looks exactly like the packaging colour on my lips. I think that it looks beautiful on pale skin! It is definitely a type of red you'd find in candy, but it also reminds me of candied apples!

As for the application, it is simple and easy enough but the tip of the crayon is round, and cannot really be sharpened, which makes it difficult to be precise around the cupid’s bow or, especially, in the corners of lips, where you very well might get a lot of smudging and get a lot of pigment outside your lips. The crayon is waxy enough to simply glide on lips, and I appreciate that!

The texture is incredibly glossy, so much that it looks almost wet. Or you could say that it looks juicy, either is appropriate. I actually like this, because it looks really luscious! And thanks to the emollients present it feels extra soft and rich on my lips, yes, it does also feel greasy and slippery but that doesn’t mean that it’s heavy on the lips. Nope, instead it feels surprisingly light! So it is pretty comfortable to wear throughout the day.

As for how long-lasting it is, it’s very long-lasting. It did not feather much during a couple of hours of wearing it and it did not fade at all. Additionally, I decided to test how well it would do with me washing my hair, and surprisingly, it basically looked almost the same as before the shower! That was definitely the biggest and most pleasant surprise! Although, that durability goes out the window when you go eat or drink something, especially if it’s greasy or oily. Food tends to destroy it; fortunately, it is mostly contained to the inner and centre part of the lips so it is easy to reapply it post meal. I mean, given how soft and slippery it feels this shouldn’t be a surprise.

Another unsurprising thing about this crayon is how easily it is removed and the effect after it is removed: by that I mean that it is relatively easy to remove but it leaves a stain. This happens to me with a lot of red lip products, but it is annoying when you have to either accept that your lips are stained pink and that it will take a lot of rubbing to get that off or actually try to rub it off and damage your lips due to how much you scrubbed them. I really hate when there’s a stain.

Overall, this is a very nice lip balm in the form of a crayon. I liked how intensely red it is, how soft and nourishing it felt on my lips and how incredibly long-lasting it is. What I disliked though, is how it cannot survive meals, how it’s a bit harder to precisely line your lips with it because of the blunt tip, and my god, especially how difficult to remove it is, or rather, the bloody stain that it leaves. That single-handedly knocked it down a few grades, because it’s a huge pain in the behind for me and it is such a shame since it is a lovely balm otherwise. Still, I think I might recommend it, it’s good enough to use, especially if you don’t mind stains!

Rating: 6/10

Would buy again? NO (stain, enough said)

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Lip Crayon

Maybelline Superstay Ink Crayon [30/Seek Adventure] Review

October 27, 2021

Now, the third item, the phenomenal Maybelline Superstay Ink Crayon, shade 30/Seek Adventure.

Having heard good things about this crayon, I just had to see for myself how it compares. I really like pink so I decided I would buy the shade 30/Seek Adventure. This was the first more “expensive” item I bought, alongside the L’Oréal Les Macarons Liquid Lipstick (sigh, what grand innocence back then). More on the Les Macarons in a bit.

The packaging: simple, clean pink plastic with white label. The black text on white background is a classic choice, but what sets it apart is the metallic reflective “Superstay Ink Crayon” which is elegant, in my opinion. It’s quite thick (being a crayon, not a pencil), and there is a sharpener on one end. The retracting mechanism is very good. Yet again, the colour of the packaging is pretty close to the colour of the crayon itself; swatching without opening the product is possible.

Source: www.maybelline.com

Ingredients: no nourishing ingredients, but also no parabens. The scent is that typical of Maybelline lip products, relatively intense and very sweet and like vanilla or cookies (it even smells ever so slightly like roses). Some might find it to be too intense, but I, quite frankly, adore it and think it’s delicious. The expiration date is 24 months after opening.

The pigmentation is very good. You might think that this crayon might not be precise enough to draw sharp lines, but you’d be mistaken; in part thanks to the included sharpener, it’s truly very precise. And the formula is waxy enough to simply glide over the lips and it is a rich formula, not at all watery or too waxy.

The texture is somewhere between matte and semi-matte, more matte than semi-matte, but not truly matte (god, how many times can I say matte in one sentence?). It looks very nice on the lips, thick and rich in colour. This crayon doesn’t exaggerate the fine lines of the lips even if they haven’t been exfoliated so it will always look so buttery and soft. The formula is very comfortable to wear even though it doesn’t feel as soft as it looks. Still, you won’t find this to be drying at all.

In terms of staying power: excellent! After a whole day it did not so much as budge, and it holds up really well during meals or drinks. You perhaps might have to fix the insides, but in general, it is truly eat/drink and mask-proof. Removal is super easy, use your run-of-the-mill micellar water, no experimenting or extreme rubbing needed to remove this beauty.

The sharpener: as with the Trend It Up Lip Liner I already reviewed, the sharpener is of excellent quality and it sharpens the crayon nicely. I might hold onto this one after I use up the crayon. It’s a small thing, but having a sharpener included with lip products is incredibly useful, and I am thankful that even cheap products have started to include them.

To summarise: I cannot stress this enough, but this is an excellent crayon, and one I would recommend everyone have in their make up collection. The positives are numerous (good pigmentation, excellent staying power, ability to withstand food/drinks/face masks etc…) and the negatives are almost non-existent. True, there are many, many crayons out there and some might be even better than the Superstay Ink Crayon, but this one beats the others in availability; (at least where I live) it’s available everywhere. So I will give it my highest recommendation!

Rating: 9/10

Would buy again? Definitely YES

Price at time of first purchase:	44.90 HRK ( ~5.96 € )

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Older Posts Home

Avon Mark Twist & Play Lip Stylo [Sweet Lust] Review

Maybelline Baby Lips Color Balm Crayon [005 - Candy Red] Review

Maybelline Superstay Ink Crayon [30/Seek Adventure] Review

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