Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Nuance by Salma Hayek Perfect Lips Lip Quad in Warm

No Truckload Tuesday today (Yay, I've kept to my "No Buy"!) so instead, I'll be doing my first beauty product review.
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I'm not generally a fan of Salma Hayek but when I heard about the makeup line she launched in partnership with CVS based on organic and natural ingredients, I can't say I wasn't intrigued. A lot of celebrities have lent their name and image to cosmetic lines (just look at the numerous collaborations with MAC and OPI) but to actually come up with your own line just isn't heard of. What makes Salma's effort unique (along with it being the first complete beauty line from a collaboration between a retailer and an actress) is that this line is a realization of her grandmother's legacy, a cosmetologist who formulated her own beauty remedies. Her dedication to the development of an affordable line using her grandma's own ingredients and knowledge resulted in a beauty line that will definitely make her grandma proud.

How unique and different is that?


The Quick Take

Brand/Name: Nuance by Salma Hayek Perfect Lips Lip Quad in Warm
Color: four lip shades: two shimmer and two high shine cream shades that you can wear alone or mix and match: Red Hot, Mauve Berry, Sheer Champagne and Plum Shimmer
Price: $9.99 USD for 0.25oz
Ingredients: Polybutene, Diisostearyl Malate, Mineral Oil, Ozokerite, Cera Microcristallina, Ethylhexyl Stearate, Macadamia Integrifolia Seed Oil, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Prunus Armeniaca (Apricot) Kernel Oil, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil, Tocopheryl Acetate, Phenoxyethanol, Fragrance, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Tin Oxide, May Contain: Mica, D&C Red 7 Ca Lake, Iron Oxides, Titanium Dioxide, D&C Red 6 Ba Lake, FD&C Yellow 5 Lake, FD&C Blue 1 Al Lake, D&C Red 27 Al Lake.
Seen at: Unfortunately for us Canadians, this is exclusively available at CVS. I picked up my quad from a recent trip to Buffalo.
Note(s): Paraben free. Not tested on animals.


The quad closed looks like a pod.

You can open just one..

Or two across...

Or two adjacent...

Or three...

Or all four at a time.

I'm a sucker for amazing packaging and this one definitely delivers. I love how you can open as much of the "petals" as you want and in any way conceivable so that all colors that you might want to use are available to you at any given time. Storing the lip brush in the middle is pretty smart as that's the most space you'll have in the design. It can be tricky to get out though if you only have one of the "petals" open. I've only been using the brush it came with to test it out and it's pretty good quality. Not scratchy or anything, and small enough to do even the cupid's bow with precision. Now, if you're worried about it taking up a lot of space in your purse, it's actually not that big. The height is about the same as an average lipstick tube and the circumference at its widest is about 18cm. So while it might not fit in a smaller wristlet, it's not so obtrusive that it'll take up an obnoxious amount of space in an average sized purse. Another attraction that I can see from the design, apart from the uniqueness of it, is that the shape makes it easy to find. I'm guessing Salma took some cues from EOS and their spherical lip balms. Also, this is a great conversation starter. I can't count how many times I've been asked about it when I take it out to use in public washrooms.

Clockwise without flash: 1) Red Hot, 2) Mauve Berry, 3) Plum Shimmer, 4) Sheer Champagne

Clockwise with flash: 1) Red Hot, 2) Mauve Berry, 3) Plum Shimmer, 4) Sheer Champagne

Personally, I think some of the names are misnomers. Mauve Berry has nothing mauve or berry in it at all. It's a nice warm nude shade that leans a bit orange. Plum Shimmer is more of a sheer Red Hot with shimmer.

Right to left without flash: 1) Red Hot, 2) Mauve Berry, 3) Plum Shimmer, 4) Sheer Champagne

Right to left with flash: 1) Red Hot, 2) Mauve Berry, 3) Plum Shimmer, 4) Sheer Champagne

***I had to color correct the skin swatches with flash since it got washed out no matter how many times I re-took the photo. This is the closest I could get to what I see in person. 

In the packaging, I thought Red Hot and Mauve Berry would translate as satin but they're all very shiny. The consistency differs among the colors. It feels a lot like a pigmented lip gloss for Red Hot and Plum Shimmer. Both feel slightly tacky and don't leave any stain after they've faded. Sheer Champagne feels lighter and something like a cross between a C.O. Bigelow lip balm and a regular lip balm. It doesn't feel as tacky as the other two and just adds a subtle gold shimmer. Mauve Berry is the driest feeling among the four and goes on more like a lipstick than a lip balm. I got the most staying power out of this color and it's a really pretty nude that looks like "your lips but better".

The quad contains Vitamin E that claims to condition and nourish while Macadamia Seed, Jojoba Seed, Grapeseed Oils are supposed to moisturize, strengthen and protect lips. I have lips that are prone to chapping and I didn't really find these to be all that moisturizing. It didn't particularly dry them out either, so I guess that's not a bad thing. If any, the most moisturizing shade was Sheer Champagne so whenever I use this quad, I try to layer it on for added moisture. I've also been wearing it alone for a few weeks now and haven't really noticed much in terms of improvement with my lips.

Without Flash

With Flash

I wanted to show you how the shades looked like when you mix them with each other and decidedly, you don't really get a wide spectrum of shades. So if you're looking for a lot of versatility, this might not be it.

Red Hot only on lips midway through a dinner date. Yikes!

I wasn't planning on taking lip swatches as I need to learn more about macro photography, but I wanted to show how the darkest shade in the quad fades: it leaves a ring of color with no staining. Not flattering at all! Mr. J took this photo midway through his birthday dinner date and I was pretty appalled by what was left of my lip color. Thank goodness for dimly lit French restaurants! I suggest you layer this over a lip liner for a longer lasting color.

Hammie isn't very happy about the color range you get or the lack of moisturizing that it claims. He does loooove the pretty packaging, how the line doesn't test on animals and is organic. It took a lot of debating to figure out just what to score this Nuance Lip Quad.

 7 Hammie Points!

What do you usually look for in a lip product? Would you give Salma's line a go if it's made available in Canada? Would you purchase a product based solely on packaging?

13 comments:

  1. That was very brave of you to include that lip swatch with the ring around your lips! Well, at least it didn't stain as you said. I can imagine how frustrated you'd be if it failed every checkpoint.

    The packaging is really different. Remember that old movie, Supergirl (from 1984 with Peter O'Toole? Heh, I didn't see it when it came out - I was just a toddler, but when I got older, I remember watching it and liking it in elementary school.) This packaging reminds me of the travel pod that Kara uses when she loses the orb and has to go from inner space to outer space...and then ultimately becoming Supergirl. I'm picturing that orb being filled with makeup now. Hehe!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I would've preferred it if it stained (I know, I'm weird like that). At least then, I'd still have some color all throughout instead of just that iffy ring. It's such a bad photo but for the purposes of completeness, sacrifices had to be done. *hangs head in shame* Thanks though, Mary, for thinking it was a brave thing to do. :)

    I think I remember seeing it when I was in grade school! Not when it first came out though. :P I can totally see what you mean! Maybe that's why she always looked good?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, very comprehensive review!

    I'm not a huge Salma Hayek fan either. Nothing against her either, but I saw her gush about her products somewhere on TV/online once and had a really hard time believing any of it. The only thing I believed was that her grandmother had amazing skin but so did a lot of our grandmothers -- and none of them had Salma Hayek's magic products.

    This lip quad is hilarious! I might be strangely shy about pulling it out of my purse in public. How big is it? Does it have the feel or weight of an artichoke in your hand? :D

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks, Liz! I have to wonder though, bad faded lip color photo = comprehensive? Hahaha! :D

    Really? I haven't actually seen Salma hawking her line. In all honesty, I think that amazing skin had a lot to do with the different diet and lesser pollution back then.

    It's so much fun to use in public! You get the funniest looks and people who are trying so hard not stare or be caught staring. It's not at all that heavy, I'd say just as much as a regular lipstick tube would weigh. This might give you a better idea: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-97AnsPyHK7A/TiXlHrqzOpI/AAAAAAAAJbM/3Tip6k-RRZ8/s1600/nuance+eye+quad+1.jpg (I should probably update the post with something like this, too.)

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