LoTW: Kate Spade Supercalifragilipstick! in Fanciful Merlot

Who doesn’t know Kate Spade, the brand where all things are pretty, preppy, vibrant and occasionally cheeky with its wordings. From just selling handbags, it has become a full-blown lifestyle brand with its offerings in fashion, stationery, home decor and now branching out to beauty.

It was just a harmless browsing session to Kate Spade’s website after I got an email about one of its quite-regular sales. The website is just well designed, very attractive and easy to navigate around. So, it wasn’t that long for me to browse everything. Until, I glanced over at this lipstick, got inquisitive and then proceeded to do a little bit of investigation on Google *where else*

In short, I snatched one up.

Kate Spade Supercalifragilipstick! in Fanciful Merlot.

Upon probing, Kate Spade apparently collaborated with none other than the Lipstick Queen herself, Poppy King, to create these lipsticks. Needless to say, Lipstick Queen is a brand that specializes in, well, lipsticks! With just only that bit of information, I was sold. I need to try one!

The mouthful, tongue-twisting name of the lipstick is most likely inspired by Mary Poppins‘ Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (I literally typed that down). Instead of “listicexpialidocious”, it’s substituted by “lipstick”. How fitting and it works! Got me singing all over again. I remember how I practiced really hard just to pronounce it flawlessly.

They really took their time creating this, down to the presentation. I expect nothing less from both parties, really. It’s packaged in a two-toned box with embossed gold letters. The paper material isn’t the thickest, but it’ll do. From the moment I saw the box, opened it to find the striped lining inside, I knew I was in for a treat.

The lipstick bullet is encased a shiny gold tube, with a perfect balance of the gold tone (not too yellow). It has “supercalifragilipstick!” and the brand’s name on the outer tube, and a cheeky “Pucker Up” on the inner tube. All in hot pink letters.

Apologies for not being able to show the photo of a brand new bullet, I was just too excited and couldn’t restrain myself. But don’t fret, you’re not missing much because there’s nothing fancy about the it, just a classic shape. I don’t detect any fancy fragrance on the bullet, just run-of-the-mill lipstick scent.

Clicky, clicky.

The closure mechanism is very much the same like Chanel Rouge Allure’s. There’s a ‘button’ with a hot pink spade that you just press on and it will pop out. Take it out and you will see the inner tube. Twist it up and voilà, ready to pucker up the pout.

The gold tube feels nice on my hands. The size and the proportion feels balanced. It’s not too weighty, but it definitely won’t slip off of my hands either. I can hold this and use my thumb to press the ‘button’ without any difficulty. It makes a nice springy click sound. I suggest don’t play with it when you’re not using it though. I broke my Chanel Rouge Allure Pirate, unable to close the case back because of it :/

Fanciful Merlot, on the contrary, is not a wine type of a shade. Not even close. I’d describe it as a cool-toned cherry red. It’s really luscious with that high shine finish. That being said, it wasn’t like that in the beginning. When I first got it, the bullet was a little draggy, slightly dry and the pigmentation was barely on the medium side. But after a couple of times, when the top layer had worn off, it revealed this irresistible formula.

The texture feels incredibly lush! It’s a sophisticated combination of a full-pigment lipstick with the finish of a lip gloss and moisturizing like a lip balm. There’s almost a cushion-y, buoyancy feel to it, if that makes sense. It glides and sticks on my lips so easily. It’s quite full-bodied, I don’t have any trouble covering my lips at all.

I do however, have a tricky time at getting a crisp line because of its slippery formula. Not a problem because a lip brush will do the job. It seems to feather a bit, so I use a lip liner beforehand. I use Lipstick Queen Invisible Lip Liner. Sometimes, it sticks on my teeth, which is normal for this kind of formula honestly. I just make sure I blot the inner rim of my lips after I’m done with the application.

The wear time is fantastic for such a ‘wet’ formula. Depending on what I eat, the shine aspect might be gone after a meal, but the majority of the color is still on my lips. My first test was with roast pork with cracklings and it pretty much stayed nicely. I was very impressed! If what’s left is the stain, it will last for hours. I do like to reapply though, because I’m just head over heels with the juicy finish!

“If you say it loud enough, you’ll always sound precocious”

I didn’t expect to love Fanciful Merlot this much. But I ended up reaching for it often whenever I’m feeling red for daytime look. The high, lustrous shine finish is a sweet break from all the mattes I’ve been wearing as of late. I won’t lie, no matter how awesome a matte lipstick is, it won’t be as comfortable. My lips feel right at home with a formula like Fanciful Merlot.

Kate Spade Supercalifragilipstick! Fanciful Merlot as a whole package is a success and should be an example for other fashion brands who’s trying to do lipsticks (I’m looking at you, Tory Burch). It doesn’t just look pretty on the outside like an accessory, but it actually functions and performs well.

Um diddle diddle diddle um diddle ay!