LoTW: Burberry Lip Velvet Bright Poppy

I love my Burberry Lip Covers and I wear them a lot. They are my go-to lipsticks. It has been about a couple of years since Burberry Beauty launched the Lip Velvet collection. While I initially got really excited about these, turned out, I never got around to get them! Blame the never-ending lemmings. Well, I finally did and this will be my first review.

Burberry Lip Velvet Bright Poppy. Let me give you the obligatory shot..

Burberry Lip Velvet’s packaging is matte instead of the usual shiny gunmetal. It feels like graphite on my hands. It’s the cool, edgy sister to the Lip Cover. Still with that inconspicuous magnetic closure and the signature rose scent. When I open the cap, I can just tell right away that the engraved bullet is matte. The whole presentation has a mysterious, reserved feel to it, which somehow made me leave them for quite a while before I finally deflowered one.

The shade that I chose to try for the first time, Bright Poppy, was actually the last of the three that I purchased. I picked this one because I was feeling a dark lip that day (the other two are reds). That being said though, Bright Poppy was second on my wish list for Lip Velvet.

To be honest, it wasn’t love at first application. Just like most dark colored lipsticks, Bright Poppy emphasizes the lips’ imperfections (that raggedy bits) and on my case, shades like these will sink into my vertical lip lines. It wasn’t as creamy as I had imagined too. It went patchy during application, I just couldn’t get it even. During that first try, I was out for a dinner and a movie, and I was really self-conscious about my lips. The boy said that it looked fine, but yeah, when he looked closer, it’s not exactly appealing. After I ate, I could see most of the product had wore off in the center, leaving me close to that dreaded ring-around-my-lips look. Not good.

And that was that. My first experience with Lip Velvet. I was this close to sell it off to a more loving home. But, not just yet.

I mean, the reddened plum shade is to-die-for! I have a penchant for dark lipsticks, so to see this one go, I’m not ready! To be fair, my lips weren’t at the best condition when I wore it the first time either. After receiving several encouragements, I decided to give this another try, about a month later.

This time, I made sure that I prep my lips properly. Exfoliate them the night before, apply lip balm throughout the night and before I apply the lipstick. Boy, second time’s a charm. Funny thing is, the bullet became creamier too. My theory is that the surface of the fresh, untouched bullet was a little bit dry and it needed to be ‘scrapped off’ before revealing the true beauty of the formula.

It applies beautifully, not butter-like, but it’s just how I wanted Lip Velvet to be in the first place. It glides on satisfyingly on the lips, covers them almost instantly. It does feel silicone-y, which I suppose is the ‘it’ ingredient for matte lipsticks nowadays. It’s not completely dead matte though. Upon careful inspection under the sunlight, Bright Poppy has micro light reflective pigments. NOT shimmers. I suppose these pigments grant the finish to be aptly called “velvet”.

Staying power is much better too, scratch that, it’s really good! The lipstick stayed nicely throughout the first meal; wore off a little, but I can just use my fingers to smudge the product around my lips to fix things up and create that heavily-stained look. After the second meal, I feel it’s time to reapply. Don’t get me wrong, it still looked presentable. But, the intensity had gone down especially in the center of the lips. By all means, the stain power is fantastic. As far as reapplying, I would just blot my lips, let the grease get absorbed by the tissue, apply lip balm and let it sit for 5 minutes, blot it a little before applying the lipstick all over again.

I’d say it’s not that drying, it doesn’t make my lips peel (I’m looking at you MAC!). It’s actually comfortable and definitely one of the better matte lipsticks out there. And considering this is a dark color, I give Bright Poppy two thumbs up.

To avoid that pale pasty complexion, I use my trusty Burberry Light Glow in Tangerine on the cheeks. Or, when I’m feeling a wintry mood, I’d go for NARS Crazed to give me that chilled-cheek flush.

Bright Poppy, you may not be my first love, but I certainly have grown very, very fond of you <3