Give Soft, Butterfly Kisses with Make Up For Ever’s Rouge Artist Natural Lipsticks
If you read my boisterous, effervescent, praise-loaded review of the Make Up For Ever Rouge Artist Intense lipstick collection back in Fall 2010, you can imagine the pinch-me-now brand of excitement I experienced when I heard that the geniuses at Make Up For Ever had launched the Rouge Artist Natural lipstick collection ($19 per lipstick at Sephora.com), a range of creamy lip products meant to deliver sheer, unintimidating color and to keep your pout soft and moisturized.
The predominant lip color trends this season can be divided into two categories which, oddly enough, are polar opposites, with deep reds, bright tangerines and fuchsias, and vampy crimsons on one end of the spectrum and natural-looking, balm-like, sheer shades on the other end. Speaking to the latter trend, then, we’ve seen numerous brands release gel lipsticks, tinted lip butter sticks, and sheer lip colors that offer lightweight coverage and gloss-worthy shine (minus the stickiness associated with gloss). One could make and argument, then, for the MUFE Rouge Artist Natural collection being reflective of this less-is-more lip color trend. Still, this extensive collection (50 shades in all) far outperforms its competitors because of one simple reason: each lipstick delivers the perfect level of sheerness, never feeling overly translucent or glaze-like.
As most of you know, I tend to abhor lipsticks touted as “sheer” or “natural-looking” since I feel like the color reward is so minimal that I might as well just wear tinted lip balm or gloss. When wearing lipstick, I tend to want robust, saturated colors — whether they have a matte, satin, or pearl-saturated finish. That being said, I love the Rouge Artist Natural lipsticks since, though the colors looks soft and tender on lips, they still pop. Each lipstick is formulated with lightweight pigments and illuminating mother-of-pearl to give the final color greater depth and dimension, preventing it from ever looking flat or artificial. The colors appear subtle on lips for a melted-on-your-mouth effect, all without ever look streaky or see-through.
And, since the MUFE team knows how to truly capture the nuances of each color family, you’ll find many iterations of every shade, some softly iridescent and others strikingly diamond-like in their glimmer quotient, some cool and blue-based and others fiery and warm.
Though 50 shades are available in all, you’ll find the following 18 shades at Sephora stores and Sephora.com (the remaining colors are available at Make Up For Ever’s NYC Studio and LA boutique):
- #N1 Iridescent Nude
- #N4 Pink Beige
- #N7 Icy Brown
- #N9 Copper Pink
- #N10 Iridescent Copper Pink
- #N11 Iridescent Strawberry
- #N18 Powdery Pink
- #N27 Iridescent Blue Pink
- #N28 Purple
- #N31 Soft Fuchsia
- #N34 Candy Pink
- #N35 Iridescent Orange Pink
- #N37 Iridescent Icy Coral
- #N40 Pastel Coral
- #N41 Watermelon
- #N45 Red
- #N47 Brick
- #N50 Aubergine
Each lipstick is formulated with fatty acid-rich cupuaçu butter, which softens and hydrates lips, along with beeswax, which seals in moisture so that your pout will remain plump and smooth hours after lipstick application. Thanks to the addition of cupuaçu butter, the Rouge Artist Natural feels deliciously creamy and comfortable on lips, never drying them out or contributing to any flaking or chapping — in fact, your pout will feel better after you apply lipstick than it did before.
My one criticism: the Rouge Artist Natural didn’t exhibit the extraordinary longevity of the Rouge Artist Intense collection. Beyond that, however, I was floored. I’ve been wearing the N31 shade non-stop for days now, and I’m so smitten with it that I actually want to add more Rouge Artist Natural shades to my stash. Next on my list: the N28 Purple, N41 Watermelon, N45 Red, and N50 Aubergine.
Below, you’ll find swatches of the Rouge Artist Natural N31 lipstick, along with photos of me wearing the shade so that you can see exactly how it looks on lips.
One of my favorite shades in the Rouge Artist Natural shade is the N31, a soft lilac-tinged fuchsia pink that feels deliciously creamy on lips. Here’s a swatch of the color for you to use as a reference point:
Below, you’ll find photos of me wearing the Make Up For Ever Rouge Artist Natural lipstick in N31. As you can see, the lipstick is a punchy hot pink color, but it still looks soft and delicate on the pout.
