My review on the Bobbi Brown Crushed Liquid Lip is simple – Get it cos I think you’ll love it, like I do!

I’m going to ask you to trust me on this one – Go and get yourself a Bobbi Brown Crushed Liquid Lip. Just trust me, you’ll love it!

I do. I love mine to itty bitty bits. It’s not even a crush. It’s a full-blown love affair!

I think, if I hadn’t already fallen in love with the Bobbi Brown Crushed Lip Colour, I might have overlooked this new release a few months ago. But in love with the Crushed Lip Colour I am, so when the liquid version was launched, I hot-footed it down to the nearest counter to have a look.

I also promptly went home with 2 shades (because they are quite affordable) and have been enjoying them ever since. I was on the verge of blogging about it, when as fate would have it, all the shades landed on my desk! You should have seen the grin that split my face from ear to ear 😀

It also meant I had to get down to work! 😛

Bobbi Brown Crushed Liquid Lip – quite perfect!

I am not a big fan of liquid lipstick. I hardly own any, because most liquid lipstick tend to be matte or mattifying, and I am not a big fan of matte lips. I like my lips to have a touch of shine.

Liquid lipstick also tend to be drying, to settle in and emphasize lip lines, and/or bleed. I am not big on a high-maintenance lip colour or formula.

So happily, the Bobbi Brown Crushed Liquid Lip is none of the above!

It comes in fairly basic, simple packaging. The tube pretty much reflects the colour within, and it is bright and cheery and easy to identify.

That said however, as I will show you below, the colour in tube is a touch misleading. I found that many colours did not look very appealing in the tube, but when I swatched them, whether on hands or on lips, I was pleasantly surprised at how flattering they were.

Some looked pretty in tube, but looked less flattering on skin. So, my advice with these, is to actually test them, because you might be surprised. As I was.

Balmy texture, opaque colour, soft shine

What I love about the Bobbi Brown Crushed Liquid Lip is the texture. It looks like a lip gloss, with a slightly thick, a little goopy texture. However, swipe it on lips, and it feels like you’ve drawn a blanket of balm over your lips.

I went on a cold Spring holiday with no lip balm except this Bobbi Brown Crushed Liquid Lip, and it kept my lips comfortable, chap-free and flake-free.

I think that was my biggest test, and it passed with flying colours! 😀

RELATED READING: See how I kept my skin plumped and comfrotable in dry, chilly weather when travelling from the tropics READ HERE

It feels very emollient, like a rich oil balm on lips, that protects and nourishes your lips. It does not settle into lip lines, but seem almost to make lips look more plumped, which I love of course.

I also love how opaque the colour is, when swiped on lips. It is so easy for the colour to show, because it is so opaque, with just one swipe! This is true of all the colours, whether the pale nudes or the deepest plum.

It comes in a typical lipgloss style packaging, with a sponge-tipped applicator that is quite large. It does pick up quite a lot of product, so I recommend wiping on the edge before applying to lips, so you get a more even application.

The opacity is such that you can easily just swipe the whole applicator over your lips for colour, without double-dipping! It will give you a fairly even, fairly opaque lip colour. If you want to build the colour up, apply a second coat. But you don’t usually have to.

I like how I can tone the opacity up or down, depending on how I feel. If I feel like just applying a tint of colour to my lips, I can just apply a thin layer. If I want full on colour, I apply more.

The finish isn’t matte (which is why I love it so much!) It is a soft shine that isn’t too glossy, but neither is it too mattifying. The latter can usually be aging, and the last thing I want is to look older 😛

No Scent! YES!

If there’s one thing I’ve started to abhor, it is fragranced lipstick. I can forgive some like the Guerlain Rouge G, because their formula is stunning. But in the main, I prefer my lip products to have no scent.

And the Bobbi Brown Crushed Liquid Lip has NO SCENT and NO TASTE at all! I absolutely LOVED that. No waxy scent, no waxy taste, no sweet, icky, cheap perfume that bugs you through the day.

Nothing. Just pure juicy comfort.

Fairly long lasting but will mark cups

I personally find the Bobbi Brown Crushed Liquid Lip to be fairly long lasting. The deeper colours stay on for a long time, without drying out lips or leaving a stain. It will, of course, fade with eating and drinking, but for me, quite slowly.

It will however, mark cups and is not transfer-proof. I never look for that in a lipstick, because anything that will not budge off your lips will dry them out to a husk. It is the oils in the formula that comfort, nourish and keep lips moisturized, and this naturally makes for a more mobile formula. It will transfer, so no kissing 😛

Shades available are very flattering

When I first went to the Bobbi Brown store, I unfortunately did not actually test the colours. I went by how they looked in the tube, and that was my main mistake.

I do not recommend just eye-balling them in store. Please test them on the back of your hand, or if you trust them enough, to test them on your lips.

When I eventually started testing the colours that I received, I found that colours I thought to be too pale, or dull and boring, to be very wearable and flattering. Most of them were deeper than they look in the tube (a good thing for me).

As the formula is quite opaque when applied, I think it adds to the depth. For me, that’s a good thing. However, if you favour a barely there look, then this might not be for you.

Let me show you first, the swatches on the back of my hand, and then on my lips, so you have an idea of how it looks when I wear them.

I swatched these from light to dark, and I will give a rough description of the shade. The colour description in brackets is the official description.

• Lychee Baby (pale pink nude) – In tube, it is a very insipid beige. On the back of my hand, it looked like a pale peachy pink. When you look at the swatch on my lips below, you will think I look a little ill. I thought it would work for me, after the back-of-hand swatch, but it didn’t.
• Hippy Shake (muted pale blue pink) – A blue-based pink, this looks like a muted, pale rose in the tube. A rather insipid colour, but applies almost lilac in tone. A better option for me than Lychee Baby.
• Juicy Date (pinkish brown) – In tube, it looks like a medium toned brown with a hint of pink. On the back of my hand, it looks like a warm brown, that is nothing like what it looks like in the tube. However, I found it quite flattering on the face. It is most certainly a colour I will wear for casual days, or if I’m wearing more eye colour.
• Give A Fig (dusty red rose) – I bought this to wear as an everyday colour, and it’s a colour I have been wearing very very often. I absolutely LOVE this colour, which I took a chance on because I don’t usually wear very neutral shades. However, it is a rosy shade, and I wear rose lip colours well. Besides, I loved the name and bought it PURELY for the name because tell me you don’t love a name like “Give A Fig”?
• Smoothie Move (rich rose) – A deeper rose shade than Give A Fig, it is also a wearable colour. Less strong on lips, than what it looks on the back of my hand, and in tube. It looks almost dull in tube.
• Bitter Sweet (berry pink) – I see hints of berry, although in tube, it is hard to distinguish Smoothie Move, Bitter Sweet and In A Jam. They look very similar. It looks a little dull in tube, but looks far better on lips, and is a little more perky than Smoothie Move.
• In A Jam (deep blue rose) – The blue base is a little more noticeable in this, and although on the back of my hand, it looks deep, on lips, I find little to distinguish the 3 I earlier mentioned. They are all flattering though, which says a lot.

To give you an idea of what I’m on about, here are the same swatches, but applied on lips, because that’s where you wear your lipstick. Not on the back of your hand 😛

I’ll happily wear 3 of the shades, which I find flattering in various degrees. Hippy Shake is a little touch and go for me, as the very significant blue, cool lilac tones clash a little with my colouring. Lychee Baby however, washes me out and masks my naturally pigmented lips, so I look off colour. I think you’d agree it’s a No. I might use it to tone down deeper lip colours, and see if it works better.

Juicy Date and Give A Fig on the other hand, are yay all the way! Give a Fig doesn’t look half as bright in tube, but I absolutely love how it looks when I wear it, and when I wear it, I don’t give a fig what people think 😉

Bitter Sweet, In A Jam and Smoothie Move are the 3 that look very similar in tube, and even when I wear it LOL! Honestly, it is hard to tell apart. The only reason I can, is because I took notes 😛

You may notice, if you peer closely enough, slight shifts in tone between each. There are varying degrees of berry in the colour to suit the sort of look you like, or your skin tone.

There are otherwise very minimal differences, with all 3 shades being berry based, and I find them flattering. A dressy, but not TOO dressy lip colour.

Peach & Quiet, the swatch which you’ll see below, is like Lychee Baby. The colour that makes me go “Eh? What the heck is this?!”

• Peach & Quiet (soft yellow pink) – In tube, it looks like a pastel crayon. I knew immediately I would not go near it. But because I had it, I had to experiment, to show you what it looks like. It doesn’t look bad on the back of my hand. But on my lips, it dulls my skin tone, makes my teeth look yellow, and doesn’t flatter my complexion. Big no from me.
• Mango Mood (bright coral pink) – In another brand, it might have been called a watermelon pink in tube. It looks bright and refreshing. But for some reason, the formula is such that it is brighter than it looks in tube! It is a very bright pop of watermelon pink that has no bearing on any mango I’ve ever come across. Pretty colour, but no mango.
• Main Squeeze (bright red pink) – A bright pink with a red base, this is a pretty colour that is a little unexpected. You can see how brightening it is to the complexion! It looks far more muted in the tube, so there is every chance that someone will buy this without testing, slick it on and go “WHOA! That’s bright!” You can sheer it out, which is a nice way to wear the brights and the reds in this collection.
• Cherry Crush (vibrant true red) – Cherry Crush is the other lip colour I purchased, because I wanted a bright to balance off the neutral Give A Fig. Cherry Crush was beautiful and I was smitten immediately! It is a true red as the description implies, and is not as bright as its siblings in the same range. The colour in tube is quite close to that on lips, and it has a slightly cool tone which I feel makes it more flattering.
• Big Apple (a red orange) – Very very bright. This is one that will suit those with a warmer skin tone. I usually stay away from orange based reds but I can wear this. It just isn’t a favourite when compared to Cherry Crush that looks more flattering and less garish on me. Big Apple potentially makes me look a a little brash and less sophisticated.

I can quite easily wear all the reds that you see here, but you may also note how a different base tone can make a person look different. I’m wearing the same makeup in all the pictures, so it also goes you show you how a different lip colour can change your whole look.

I personally love Cherry Crush (hence why I bought it!) and perhaps Mango Mood for a bit of girly fun. Main Squeeze is a contender as well, but Big Apple will potentially be left on the side eventually, as I think it looks a touch garish on me.

The final 2 shades are a brown and burgundy, which I don’t usually wear. Still, for the sake of experimentation, I did.

• Haute Cocoa (a rich brown) – It is a straight brown with a hint of plum in tube, which made me go hmm… Colours like these on lighter skin tone like mine tend to look a little off. But on medium to deep skin tones, they are always very flattering. So, don’t judge the colour by how it looks on me! It is wearable, but a little dulling to my complexion.
• Cool Beets (cool burgundy) – All the while, while editing the images and inserting the text, I thought it said “Cool Beans”! Ah the eyesight is most certainly not what it used to be 😛 It’s no wonder I felt it odd that a brown lipstick would have such a lovely deep burgundy shade. Now that I realize that it says Cool Beets, it all makes sense 😛 I used to wear deep lip colors like this once. I have stopped for a while, because of a lifestyle change. A lot has changed in how I do my makeup and the colours I use, and burgundy or deep plum lipsticks is one of the first to go. Still, the colour is pretty, the formula cannot be beat and it’s an easy wear 🙂

A note on the lip swatches. You may notice that my colouring shifts a little from one picture to another. I’ve never quite got the hang of editing people photos which is why you don’t see much of them 😛 The lip colour is what I was focused on, to get it as close to reality as possible, so focus on that. This serves as a guide, not as gospel 🙂

Bobbi Brown Crushed Liquid Lip – it’s a winner!

Pardon the extreme close up, but I just wanted to show you how smooth the lip colour looks.

I did not edit the texture of the lips at all, and this was after swatching and removing 14 lip colours. You’d think my lips would be a raw, peeling mess, but it wasn’t. It was plump and comfortable, but yes, a little raw. The things I do for the blog 😛

And this is why I love it so much. How it makes my lips look and feel, the plump juicyness, and the smooth, balmy colour that hugs my lips, providing moisture and nourishment. This is not a crush.

It is LOVE! 😀

In my books, it’s a winner. The formula is amazing, the colours come in a good selection and are flattering for most. You will easily find a shade that flatters you. Perhaps even two.

Also, because it’s fairly affordable (relatively speaking) you could get both. Or 3 even 😛 I don’t know, I know I struggled to pick just 2 the first time I shopped.

The colours are light enough for those who prefer a muted lip, and punchy enough for those (like me) who like it in your face. It is stunning and I highly recommend that you take a look!

IN A NUTSHELL

Buy it.

No really. Buy it!

OK, the Bobbi Brown Crushed Liquid Lip is a liquid version of the Crushed Lip Colour. But I think this is better. The balmy emollient texture is like a comfortable blanket on lips, protecting and nourishing it. The opaque colours are very flattering although you do have to test them, as the colours on skin may not be the same as that in tube. They are fairly long lasting and do not feather, bleed or settle into lines. If anything your lips look plump, lush with a beautiful soft shine. Absolutely stunning. Buy it.

PROS:
Balmy and nourishing texture protects lips
Lips feel nourished and moisturised even after you remove the lip colour
Opaque and flattering colours
Affordable

CONS:
None – except that like Pokemon, you may want to catch them all

WHO WILL LIKE THIS: Anyone who likes wearing lipsticks with a soft shine and that do not dry out your lips or settle into lines

PRICE: RM90 | US$26

WHERE TO BUY: Bobbi Brown counters and stores and online (USA), Nordstrom, Selfridges, Sephora

Have you fallen in love with the Bobbi Brown Crushed Liquid Lip yet? Are you keen to try them?

You don’t have to take my word for it. But if you do, you might just find a beautiful new lip product to love 😉

Paris B