Hot pepper lips at the grand cru - Bourjois rouge edition velvet lips

 I've been seeing these Bourjois matte's everywhere on Instagram, twitter, a thousand blogs all raving about them. I figured something magical must be inside these tubes, something that warrants the grand reviews they have received. I hurried myself to my nearest Boots and after pacing the isles 4 or 5 times, indecisive and attempting to find something more worthy of my money, I decided to hand the cashier my money. I think these were £9 each which to me is quite a price to pay for a lipstick, especially if you're buying two. I needed to get two though, just so I could do a more thorough review of the product and partly because I couldn't pick my favourite. I settled for 03 Hot pepper and 08 Grand cru.

     03 Hot pepper I bought purely because of the shade name, I thought it would make me feel fiery, spicy, hot, sensual, a punchy red lip, classic and sexy. However it left me deflated and considering my options if I begged for a refund and she refused. I dislike the formula, the product claims that each shade perfectly covers the lips because the formula is so packed with pigment it would be impossible to get anything other than that sort of coverage. Unfortunately, I found it lacking in coverage even after a few applications. Every matte lipstick I have tried has ended up dry, every liquid lipstick I have bought has had a dry matte finish until this. The lipstick does not dry, I assumed it would but after 3 timed minutes it looked exactly the same as it did with first application and was still wet. It's a very soft lipstick, feels like melted butter cream and it glides on the lips really easily. It doesn't dry them out at all but it does stain which I actually quite like. This is a light orange based red shade, the application doesn't look too bad as the patchiness it creates sort of blends in with my lip colour and can look kind of nice. I prefer this shade out of the two I purchased.

 

08 Grand Cru, a sexy red wine coloured lipstick, no wonder it's named after a vineyard. A dark red shade with a tint of brown gives this lipstick a stunning colour. I was most excited to try this one out of the two I purchased which is sad because I was mostly let down by this one. The dark shade really shows how uneven the application is, the formula is too soft, it melts when applying and doesn't stick to the lips very well. I found even after applying product for the 3rd time, the doe foot applicator was just moving it around and creating bare patches. The product isn't pigmented enough or thick enough to create an opaque matte finish and I found the lipstick looked messy, patchy and different shades of red. It tended to gather in the middle of my lips and wouldn't take to the edges, maybe if it was used with a lip liner then it would be a different story. I'll have to try that next time I apply and see if it makes a difference. Bourjois claim that this lipstick is undetectable once applying and comfortable to wear all day long, personally, I wouldn't find this comfortable as it doesn't dry. I'd be re-applying it constantly and always checking to make sure it hasn't smudged and stained my face.

   Overall, I'm really disappointed with these Bourjois lipsticks. I was looking forwards to feeling all kinds of spicy, sexy, juicy but instead I just felt like I'd wasted my money. I think I could maybe warm to the hot pepper shade but the Grand cru is definitely a vineyard I wont be visiting again!