Happy Monday! Today I am excited to share with you swatches and a review of the Cynthia Rowley Mini Creamy Lip Stain Trio. I purchased this trio directly from Birchbox’s website back in October (see that haul HERE). I had tried one of the shades through the Birchbox sample subscription in the past, and really enjoyed it. I decided to try out some other shades as well, and figured this trio would be perfect. Let me show you the Creamy Lip Stains in this trio, and share my thoughts on them.
Here is a look at the three tiny bottles in the trio. They come with a traditional doe foot applicator, which I don’t mind when it comes to liquid lip products. I love the black and gold accents on the caps as well.
I wanted to share with you a one coat swatch of each product on my arm because I wear 2-3 coats on my lips. From left to right is: Sugar, Heartthrob, and Dahlia. You can see that Sugar is the most pigmented and creamy, and Dahlia is the least pigmented. I’ll talk about each formula more in the individualized swatches below, but I do want to point out that although these are all from the same makeup line, the formulas vary a lot. There is no consistency here unfortunately.
The first shade in the trio is Sugar. This is the shade that I owned as a sample previously and really loved. It is a beautiful mauve pink that is a ‘my lips but better’ color for me. I applied two coats of Sugar and allowed the first layer to dry before adding a second. I love how opaque and pigmented this lip stain is. It feels nice on the lips, and I know I’ll be wearing it often!
Next up is Heartthrob, a bright red shade. I immediately noticed a difference in Heartthrob’s formula in comparison to Sugar. It is quite liquidy, and I found it really difficult to apply. As you can see from my swatch, clean-up was hard, too. Because these are lip stains, they stain the skin upon application. I’m not a fan of Heartthrob because if a lip product is hard for me to apply and makes a mess, it’s one I’m going to avoid!
Last but not least is Dahlia, a dark berry purple shade. I also had issues with Dahlia’s formula. It was very sheer and took about three coats before I got a full coverage look. It also applied very patchy – you know that creepy ring around the lips look? Yeah, I had a lot of trouble avoiding it! While the end result is quite pretty, I’d rather find a different product that is the same shade with a better formula.
All in all, I’m a bit disappointed with the Cynthia Rowley Mini Lip Stain Trio. I still love Sugar, but Heartthrob and Dahlia didn’t work for me. I recommend picking up a full size of Sugar instead of the trio. The full size is $20, but I stand by its formula and beautiful color. You can purchase it on Birchbox’s website HERE. I’m glad I tried out this trio so you don’t have to waste your money on it!