If you follow me on Instagram, you may have caught a few peeks at my first ever ColourPop haul. Indeed, I finally caved and placed an order during their Cyber Monday sale. It took quite a while for me to narrow down my picks (and a lot of help from Temptalia and her amazing swatches and reviews!), but I finally settled on a few products from across their makeup range, including some lippies, shadows, blushes, contour sticks, and highlighting powders. Here’s the full haul plus swatches!
ColourPop Contour Stick
I picked up the coolest toned ColourPop Contour Stick ($8) I could find (which turned out to be the shade ‘Dove‘), in hopes of using this to contour. The shade is a bit warmer than I had hoped, but it still creates a very natural looking finish under the cheekbones and on the forehead. I also like how it quickly and evenly blends out – the formula is so nice and creamy!
ColourPop Super Shock Shadows
I have a thing for cooler-toned purples, greys, and taupes, so I picked up two ColourPop Super Shock Shadow’s ($5) in Party Time and Mixed Tape. Party Time is cool mauve grey with a satin finish, while Mixed Tape is a taupey grey with a silver sheen – and to my delight, they make the perfect pair!
The ColourPop Super Shock eyeshadow formula is sort of a cross between a cream and a powder, and is unlike anything I’ve ever come across. They can be applied using your fingers, or a synthetic shading brush. No matter how you apply them, they quickly build up intensity as they’re very pigmented. The texture also makes blending a breeze, even using your fingers. I’ve already started looking for more shades to pick up – suggestions welcome!
Left to right: ColourPop Contour Stick in Dove, ColourPop Super Shock Shadow in Mixed Tape, ColourPop Super Shock Shadow in Party Time
ColourPop Blushes
Next I picked out two ColourPop Blushes ($8) in the shade Never Been Kissed, a dusty coral with a matte finish, and Cheerio, a deeper cranberry shade with a satin finish and micro-shimmer. I honestly love both colors. They may look intense in their pots, but they start off sheer and create a subtle, healthy glow to the cheeks. I’ve been using Cheerio the most so far, but expect to be using Never Been Kissed a lot come summertime!
Similar to the shadows, the ColourPop blushes have a very spongy, almost cream-like texture that I find the easiest to apply by building up gradual layers using a duo fiber stripping brush (I’ve been using the Real Techniques one from their Berlin brush set).
ColourPop Highlighter
Next cheek product I grabbed is the ColourPop Highlighter ($8), in the shade Monster. This was sadly a disappointment – at first. It wasn’t the light cool pink I was expecting, but instead a duo-chrome pink-violet shade that looks pretty dark and quite frosty on my light-medium skin. But with a little experimenting, I found another use for it, and that’s to mix a little into my matte blushes to add some extra ‘oomph’ and sheen on the cheeks.
The formula is actually much softer than the shadow and blush formulas – it almost feels wet to the touch. Because of this, Monster took me the most time to get used to. It seemed no matter what brush I used to apply it, I could never seem to get very much color to show up (not that it wasn’t pigmented – a quick finger swatch produced amazing, vibrant color). Finally, I lucked out with a fluffy, domed highlight brush which picks up the pigment perfectly when I just want the subtlest layer on the tops of my cheeks.
Left to right: ColourPop Blush in Never Been Kissed, ColourPop Blush in Cheerio, ColourPop Highlighter in Monster
ColourPop Ultra Matte Lip & Ultra Satin Lip
On to the lips, I wanted to try out both the Matte and Satin liquid lipstick formulas ($6). For the matte shade, I snagged Bumble, which is described as a medium warm, rose. The formula is a bit runny, however, on the lips, but it builds up quickly to opaque coverage, while feeling very comfortable. It actually stains the lips, and lasts me a good 4-5 hours and then some if you count the stain.
For the Ultra Satin Lip formula, I picked up Baracuda, a warm deep rose. Again, these lippies are comfortable and very pigmented. I actually prefer the Satin formula only because it’s slightly thicker and less drying than the Matte formula.
ColourPop Lippie Stix
To mix it up a bit from the two warmer shades, I picked up the Lippie Stix ($5) in the shade Back Up, which is a blue-violet. This actually turned out to be my favorite lipstick shade out of the three – I just think it suits my neutral, slightly olive skintone the best (again, I tend to lean towards purple shades!). After trying all three lippies, I actually prefer this formula over the two liquid ones. Even though it doesn’t last quite as long, it’s creamier, more hydrating, and just plain easier to apply.
Left to right: ColourPop Ultra Matte Lip in Bumble, ColourPop Ultra Satin Lip in Baracuda, ColourPop Lippie Stix in Back Up
Wrap-Up
So that was everything from my first ColourPop haul! The biggest ‘shock’ going into it as a ColourPop noob was trying to wrap my head around the unique, creamy powder formulations that make up their blush, highlighter, and eyeshadows. It definitely took a little practice and experimentation with different synthetic brushes before I got into the swing of things. But once I did, I really started to appreciate the formula, especially the high color payoff, buildable coverage, and ease of blending that it provides. I’m not sure when I’ll be placing my next order, but I can tell you I’ll for sure be picking up a few more of their eyeshadows, and one or two more highlighters!
Have you tried ColourPop? What are you thoughts on their makeup?
Have any favorite products or shades?
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