Matte bargain.

Careline held a month-long sale on their products last October and the deal that piqued my interest was their Php50 matte liquid lipsticks. I mean, 50 bucks for a matte liquid lippie? Come on, what a steal, considering the original price of these lippies is Php195 each. I took a damn long time to check the lippies out because 1). I still have a number of new lippies on my stash, and 2). I was torn between wanting to buy and wanting to save. Since the sale was coming to an end, I figured I'd just check out their products really quickly and see if anything was worth buying. I should've known this Php50 lippie sale would be a hit because the Careline stall I went to only had three shades left: a nude, a deep purple, and a glittery gloss. I was so tempted to buy the deep purple shade but I just knew it won't be used that often so I settled for the safe shade: the nude.

Here's the description of the matte liquid lipsticks in the Careline site:

"Dress you(r) lips in full pigmented-matte coverage with Careline Matte Liquid Lipstick. Its formula dries fast and glides on evenly with just one swipe. Its unique formula provides hours of comfort without a dry feeling."

In the website, there are 12 shades listed, ranging from nudes, reds, pinks, and unconventional colors. The range looks really good as most of them are warm toned, perfect for any skintone.

The nude shade I got is Glaze, a cool-toned nude pink. On the tube and swatch, I really like the color. It's the kind of shade that can be used for everyday, a sort of slapdash shade. Color-wise, it's great. Too bad I wasn't able to swatch it before buying.

On my pigmented lips and olive skintone, this just looks super light and cool-toned. The beautiful nude pink transformed into a light pink-gray. I'd call this shade corpse lips, the sister of concealer lips. This shade also highlights lip cracks big time so it's definitely not the most flattering out there.

Shade aside, I was really surprised at how decently pigmented this was. Okay, Careline, I see you upping your game! I was really surprised at how it gave me an opaque swatch and shocked when it gave me an opaque coat on the lips. I found the formula nice and easy to use as it wasn't too thick and pastey nor was it too thin that it slips and slides. It legit feels like a matte lippie from a mid range brand! I also didn't experience any skipping on the lips and it wasn't patchy at all. 

On the lips, it felt really alright. It wasn't as drying as the Kat Von D Everlasting mini liquid lippies but it wasn't as comfortable as Colourpop. It felt close to Ellana's in a way. 

In all fairness, this liquid lipstick dries fairly quickly but it still gives you time to blend it out if needed before it fully settles. Once it settles, it's pretty matte and dry to the touch however, there's still some stickiness and you'll feel it when you smack your lips. Unlike Colourpop or Ellana that really dries down like nobody's business, Careline's still has that sticky feeling on the lips. The tackiness doesn't move or shift the lippie around, though, but it feels a bit weird.

Just like most liquid lippies, this can stand water but it will dissolve once it gets in contact with anything oily so reapplying it is a must.

 I'd say this: Careline's matte liquid lipstick formula is better than Kat Von D's mini liquid lippies. There I said it. It was more comfortable on the lips and it didn't feel stiff and cement-like. Though the color I got is a huge miss for me, the formula is good enough for me to go and get another shade from this line. Is paying full price, Php195, worth it? Yes, yes it is, considering good liquid lipsticks start at 250/300. Not bad, Careline, not bad.