Demo & Swatches
Review
Availability and Price
The Dose of
Color liquid lipsticks are primarily available and sold on the brands
website. Other online retailers, such as
Naimie’s and Ricky’s NYC, do carry the Dose of Colors brand, but might not
necessarily carry the entire Dose liquid lipsticks line. Given that Dose of Colors is an indie-brand,
its products are in stock periodically and go out of stock quite easily due to
popular demand and limited stock.
Following the brand via a social media platform or signing up for an
e-newsletter is the best way to keep a check on new releases and
re-stocks. The Dose of Colors liquid
lipsticks cost $18 (USD). I would advise
not to purchase this brand via websites such as Ebay or “unauthorized sellers”
because I have heard that such popular, in-demand, yet small-scale brands’
products are easily copied and sold as fakes.
Dose of Colors runs promotions (free shipping or 20% off) once in a
while, on certain national US holidays, such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or
Memorial Day.
Pigmentation
The Dose of Colors
liquid lipsticks shades – Mood, Cork, Desert Suede, and Chocolate Wasted – are
richly pigmented, applying fully opaque in a single swipe. With the exception of the shade Cork, I did
not feel the need to layer a second layer.
Cork required a little layering/building up, but only in the center
portion of the bottom lip. I’m not sure why, but Cork was slightly sheer
(unnoticeable really), despite layering, in the inner center portion of the
bottom lip. I think this was only
noticeable because I was testing it out and observing it close up. I was impressed that Desert Suede, despite being
a light neutral greige-taupe shade, showed up fully opaque in one swipe, single
layer. I was also pleased with Mood and
Chocolate Wasted, despite being such deep, bold, vampy shades, applied opaque
in one coat.
Application, Texture, & Comfort
The Dose of
Colors liquid lipsticks have a lightweight, non-tacky, creamy consistency. The
formula is not runny or thick and sets within a couple seconds, but setting
time is “unnoticeably” slower if you layer a lip balm underneath. As you might
have already assumed after reading my thoughts on pigmentation, these shades
apply like a dream. Usually light shades
and dark shades are difficult to apply because they might need (1) layering to
avoid patchy-ness, streakiness, and to achieve a polished evened out look and
(2) precision. Neither was an issue
here! As I already mentioned above, a single swipe gave rich, opaque color
payoff. The design of the applicator is fantastic – one of my favorite aspects
of this brand of liquid lipsticks. It is a doe-foot applicator that is angled
such that it cups the curvature of your lips. The only shade that lagged in
application, that too only very slightly, like negligibly, is Cork. Its pigment
didn’t adhere well to the inner center portion of the lips.
These liquid
lipsticks do set down to a full matte finish. However, fortunately these shades
are not ultra dry matte in texture, such as Anastasia Beverly Hills or Colour
Pop’s Ultra Mattes. I prefer liquid
lipsticks these days to any other lipstick formulation because they set to a
velvety matte finish, but I don’t care for the ones that dry down to such an
extent that my lips look very wrinkly and de-hydrated as if I’m recovering from
flu and soar chapped lips due to cold soars or frostbite. It is a fine line though! I find this the toughest aspect of a liquid
lipstick review because I want to make sure I describe the texture just
right. Although these set to a full
matte finish, my lips do not feel uncomfortable, heavy, tight, or parched. Additionally, my lips look matte, but not dry
or wrinkled. In my experience, these shades fortunately do not abnormally
exaggerate natural lip lines. If you are
prone to or suffering from chapped lips, I would advise you to prep your lips
and wear lip balm underneath, but generally speaking I did not find these Dose
of Colors shades to be drying.
Lastly, I want
to make an observation, which you might be wondering about if you have seen my
previous/first Dose of Colors liquid lipsticks review. The first two shades I tried from Dose of
Colors were Truffle and Stone. My review
of Truffle and Stone is contrast to my review of Mood, Cork, Desert Suede, and
Chocolate Wasted. If I wasn’t such a
curious cat for lipsticks (to put things politely because I cannot admit that
its an addiction) and it wasn’t around my birthday, I might not have taken the
risk to purchase these four new shades when they released after the jaded
experience I had with Truffle and Stone.
Also, a birdie on Instagram told me that it was rumored that Dose of
Colors tweaked its formula with the latest shades – Mood, Cork, Desert Suede,
and Chocolate Wasted. I can confirm that I felt a difference! At first I
thought maybe the formula was not tweaked, maybe formula just varies with
different types of colors. However, Desert Suede is a light shade, like Truffle
and Stone, but I love and prefer Desert Suede’s formula version. Now if Dose of Colors did improve its formula
– as in it looks and feels less drying – I’m not sure if Truffle and Stone have
been be re-formulated prior to their re-stock.
I imagine the formula gets upgraded across the board, but I don’t have
first hand information regarding the manufacturing process here so I can’t comment.
Longevity
Honestly, I
don’t like to eat with lipstick on, especially if the colors are as bold and
pigmented as Mood or Chocolate Wasted.
If I don’t eat, these shades stayed in place. Chocolate Wasted wears off
a tad in the center of the lips just by talking. I’m experiencing this as well
as feathering in the inner corners of my lips with very dark colors generally.
Chocolate Wasted doesn’t feather though, which tends to happen more with the
dark burgundy, wine, and plum shades I have tried (i.e., Kylie Cosmetics liquid
lipstick in Kourt K). I have tried to concentrate a lip liner in the inner
corners before applying a liquid lipstick on top, but it doesn’t make a
difference for me personally.
I have tested
the staying power of Cork while eating Ramen and Chocolate Wasted while eating
one breaded chickpea ball (kind of like mozzarella sticks, but with chickpeas
as filling instead of cheese and not as greasy or deep-friend). Obviously, the Ramen soup was liquid and a
tad oily and I dabbed my lips with a napkin a few times so Cork completely wore
off in the middle portion of my lips. I wiped Cork off completely (using a
small oil-based eye makeup remover pad) and re-applied it; wiping it all off
wasn’t really necessary before re-application, just more of my personal
preference. Although the chickpea ball was not greasy, Chocolate Wasted wore
down slightly in the center portion of my lips – it wore off enough that I’d
feel like re-applying if I were going to a dinner with friends, but not if I was
just stepping out for coffee with the Hubby. Keep in mind that if you layer a
lip balm underneath, the liquid lipstick will not be transfer-proof and it will
wear off quicker as it transfers onto stuff, like a teacup or straw. In the video you will see that Desert Suede
transferred onto my hand quite a bit and that happened before I had prepped my
lips with lip balm before wearing that specific color.
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♥ Yours Truly,
The Lipsticks-Ninja
Meesha ♥
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