A not so true brown.

I guess I'm jumping the bandwagon on brown lips in this post again. I mean, I don't think brown lips will die anytime soon considering the new releases in the market this past few weeks. Just when you thought brown lippies are no more, BAM! A new collection's born. 

This post is for those who want to ease their way into the trend without breaking the bank. Sure this isn't a creme or liquid lippie but it's something we need before applying those. Today I have a brown lipliner.

I got this lipliner a year back but because of back logs and all that, I totally forgot all about it. Thankfully it's still okay so here it is. Before the brown lip trend was booming, I got this lipliner when that trend was still a baby and when my interest with brown lips was just starting. Figured it's a good way to test what it's all about.

Backstory: I wasn't really supposed to pick up this one up. I was supposed to get a NYX lipliner but unfortunately, it was out of stock. So I just looked for a close dupe, hence, I ended up with Cappuccino. Cappuccino is a medium brown when swatched but the magic happens once you wear it. On the swatch above, you can tell it's a cool toned hue for the most part. It somewhat looks like the perfect contour/brow color because of its minimal warmth and redness.

Cappuccino is also a matte, with no hint of shimmer or gloss whatsoever. 

So here's how Cappuccino looks on the lips. Unlike the swatch, the gray tone of the lipliner really shows on the lips when worn. You can still see the brown color but the gray cool tone is definitely more prominent. It's like a really grungy nude, if you ask me.

Texture-wise, it's definitely workable. It's creamy enough that it'll glide on the lips easily without tugging or skipping. It didn't feel harsh or too dry on the lips but you can really feel it on. This also requires some exfoliation beforehand since it will cling on to dry patches and flakes on the lips. Pigmentation-wise, it's just like the other LA Colors lipliners I have. It has a medium coverage but it's buildable but you won't really achieve full opacity no matter how much you pile on. I encountered the same problem I had before as well: it sort of moves around. It becomes quite patchy on the center and I could never achieve a solid color on that part. So even if the perimeters of my lips have full coverage, the center areas will still be lighter and quite patchy, just like in the first photo above.

I think this liner is actually better when topped with a lipstick, preferably a semi-matte, matte, or a creme. Gloss-like lippies will just make the liner move more, resulting in uneven coverage. Love how this helps in making the lips fuller, too! Trying this with my lippies ASAP! x