According to Max Factor Lip Art is all the rage and you’ll flip for their new Flipstick lipstick

Max Factor recently brought in their newest lipstick – Flipstick. The concept is a dual ended lipstick and seems to be something I recall from back in the mists of time. The texture too, as we will see, harkens back to the mists of time.

The idea behind the Flipstick, so we are told is to latch onto the interest generated by lip art in recent times. To be honest, I don’t get lip art – please see this lovely specimen from Makeup Morsels. Yes, its creative but I don’t get it. I like my lipstick to be lipstick i.e. enhancing my overall look. I guess I prefer that someone stares at my lips and think “Wow! Red lips look good!” instead of “Wow! Why does she have crystals on her lips? Will she choke?”

Happily (or maybe unhappily if you were hoping to do some lip art with these Flipsticks) the Max Factor version is just basically a dual ended lipstick with a light colour at one end and a deeper colour at the other. One side is frosty (urgh!) and the other side is creamy. In some of them, both ends are frosty. You can wear them separately or layer one over the other to create a different effect and maybe different colour. That’s the limit of the lip art I’m afraid. But you know what? I don’t like this. I love my lipsticks and these just do not live up to anything that I look for in a lipstick. I’ll tell you why and you can tell me I’m a grinch 🙂 *snap*

First, the packaging. The metallic band around the middle of the plastic case cheapens the look. Pair it with the clear plastic caps at both ends, and it just looks all round cheap. The problem is, these are not cheap. They retail at RM56 here. Not cheap, but they look cheap. It reminds me of the lipsticks you get in the bargain bin makeup sets that you see pop up around Christmas in the pharmacies, or the stuff you get to play with in kids makeup sets. Harsh but a fact.

The twist up bit at both ends feel a bit wobbly to me as you twist up the lipstick and the lipstick bullet is skinny. Skinnier than a normal bullet and feels about to snap if you twist up too far.

The colour I have is Salsa Red 25 which, at first glance suits me to a T! Here are the 2 ends of the lipstick to show you the different colour and texture. For Salsa Red, one end is a creamy warm red and the other is a lighter frosty cooler toned coral red. That frost factor really throws me because I really dislike frosty lipstick – it makes anyone look old and it enhances the lines in your lips. If you have dry lips, avoid frosty lipsticks at all costs or risk looking 20 years older 😛

I have another gripe about the lipstick packaging. The name is printed on a transparent label and stuck over the cap on one end, to hold the cap in place. When you twist it off, it snaps in two but if that label peels off, you’ve had it. There’s no other way to tell what colour it is. This was the embarrassing thing that happened during the product launch a while back.

There were all 8 shades on display before us but all the labels had fallen off so none of us could tell what was what, or if there were duplicates on the table! Some of the metallic bands are quite similar in tone too. We then asked one of the distributor’s reps if they could tell us the shades and no one could. It was quite embarrassing. So Max Factor should print the names on the body of the case, and not rely on the sticker that can easily fall off at any time.

Left-Right: Frosty end (frosty metallic coral red) , Creamy end (matte warm rose red), Frosty end layered over creamy end (frosty rose red)

To be honest, the colours themselves aren’t too bad. If you consider that you get 2 or even 3 lip colours for the price of 1 tube, its practically a bargain. Salsa Red is a good one to get because I find that the colours are complementing and that rose red is flattering on the skin. There is a scent too which I do not find pleasant.

I will however warn you that I found these drying and it seems to enhance the lines on my lips. If you don’t mind layering some lip balm underneath before applying these, then that would be your best bet. Also, use the frosty end sparingly so it isn’t too aging.

In this swatch, I wore the creamy red end all over and then applied the frosty shade in the middle bit of the lips. You can’t quite tell from the close up shot, but you may notice that the middle bit of the lips is a little lighter and brighter in shade and colour. In the full face shot, you see it better. The frosty shade draws and reflects light and it does look quite pretty doesn’t it? 😛

So, colour wise I think its pretty. You could easily produce a similar effect using your own lipsticks separately – just pick a deep shade and a lighter or more shimmery one for contrast. The benefit of the Flipsticks is that they come in one handy tube. Some may like that. Some of the other shades are flattering too but the texture isn’t for me. I find it too aging and Heaven knows, I would prefer not to have anything that makes me look older! LOL!

In a nutshell

The Max Factor Flipstick is a dual ended lipstick with a lighter frosty shade at one end and a deeper creamier shade at the other. I dislike the packaging which I feel makes the product cheaper than it already looks. The texture of the lipsticks are a little drying to me, and can enhance lines on lips. You can wear each colour separately or blended together to create a new lip colour so you potentially end up with 3 or more lip colours. That makes it worth while if you like the texture. I however will pass on these till they improve on packaging and texture.

Pros: Potentially numerous lip colours to create by mixing and matching, Salsa Red is quite a fetching and complimentary colour, Frosty end used sparingly can make lips look more plump, Pricey for the quality

Cons: Packaging looks and feels cheap and flimsy, No way of telling the colour if the label peels off, Plastic cap feels brittle and potentially will crack and fall off easily, Texture is drying and enhances lip lines, Frosty shade is too frosty and aging

Who will like this: Anyone who would like to create a variety of lip colours with just 1 tube of lipstick

Have you seen these around and checked them out? What do you think of the concept of a dual ended lipstick for you to mix your own colours?

I think the concept is a good one but the execution could have been better. Maybe the texture could be made more emollient which would be more flattering. The colours too could be worked on so they don’t look so aging. For now, we get reds, berries and browns in various frosty textures which truth to tell, harken back to the 1970’s or 80’s when metallic plum, red and brown and frosty lips were all the rage. That went out with the Amazonian shoulder pads. Lets not bring them back.

Paris B

Max Factor Flipstick comes in 8 shades locally (Folky Pink 10, Swingy Brown 35, Boreal Mauve 15, Melody Brown 40, Mosaic Mauve 20, Salsa Red 25, Bloomy Pink 5 and Gipsy Red 30) Price: RM56 Availability: Max Factor counters