Review: Lipstick Queen’s Liptropolis Lipstick Library

I bought this awesome trio of lipsticks along with my Jungle Queen lipstick a little while ago, and I am now ready to review it for you lovelies 🙂 Becoming reacquainted  with the world of Lipstick Queen means a lot of choice and so I had to make my decisions carefully 😉 I bought this trio set because a) the packaging is awesome and it caught my attention straightaway – there’s something Gotham City like about it, and b) the word ‘Liptropolis’ reminded me of Janelle Monae who is the Arch Queen of the Metropolis and I have no doubt what-so-ever that she would approve of said three lipsticks! So the decision was pretty clear to me – I must get thee Lipstick Library set!

Above: Janelle Monae – because how could I not include a picture of that lovely face? 🙂

 The concept behind Liptropolis is pretty cool, Poppy (‘The’ Lipstick Queen herself) is now based in New York (not Australia anymore 🙁 ) and she wanted to represent the different ladies in her new ‘home town’ and their neighbourhoods. Each lipstick represents on area of New York and here is what Poppy says about the collection –

“I have often said I can tell if a New York subway train is going up town or downtown by the passengers’ lip color so I decided to put my money where my mouth is and create a trio of lipsticks inspired by the different neighbourhoods of New York City.” Poppy.

The Lipstick Queen website goes on to say –

“Liptropolis tells the story of Lipstick in the City and is a tribute to chic women in cities everywhere! Inspired by the Fritz Lang film Metropolis, with Manhattan as muse, the book opens to reveal a complete New York wardrobe of lipstick shades.

Liptropolis is the first edition in the Lipstick Library – a collectable storybook series of lipstick trios. And now, due to popular demand, these three ultra-wearable shades are available as singles!”

Now each lipstick is supposed to fall somewhere in-between a sheer lipstick and an opaque lipstick, very much like Jungle Queen. I would say like I did with Jungle Queen, that each of these lipsticks is almost fully opaque, but because of the hydrating glossy formula’s, the pigmentation is just a tad short of being fully opaque. The bullets themselves don’t show to much of their true colour – it’s until you swatch the shades or pop them on your lips do you see how different and gorgeous they really are!

I couldn’t take a decent photo of the inside of the ‘book case’ as it’s all silver and to reflective. The inside contains little slots for all three lipsticks and a quick note from Poppy which goes like this:

“After years of living in New York I have noticed that each neighbourhood has its own signiture lip color that says something about the women who reside there. Lipstick is not just glamour, it tells the story of who you are and where you are going. One every New York street is a woman being sassy and strong, facing challenges, the excitement and the possibilities that make up New York. Volume 1 of my Lipstick Library is a tribute to the women of the city in 3 iconic shades.

SOHO – The Fashionable Red

UPPER EAST – The Elegant Nude

CENTRAL PARK – The Refined Peach

Make them your story. Your new chapter begins here. Lots of love, Poppy (a Lipstick Queen).”

Pretty lovely letter, no? Luckily the lipsticks are just as lovely to!

From the bullets, all three shades look pretty similar tone and colour wise. When swatched however, they show their true colours 😉

Left to right: Soho, Central Park & Upper East

Soho in my eyes is a deep plummy pink and super glossy. Central Park is more of a deeper pink than a red and also super glossy. Upper East is different in that while the swatch has a shine to it, I would say it’s the least glossy of the three (it’s almost matte on my lips). I love that all three lipsticks have no shimmer within the lipstick formula, so the colour of lipstick isn’t diffused by silver or gold micro-shimmer (don’t get me wrong, that also has a place in the lipstick world!).

I decided to take a few photos wearing the lipsticks so you could see the shades as they wear!

 In the photo above I am wearing Soho. I think Soho is my favourite – I cannot lie! The colour is just so pigmented and hydrating that I cannot help loving it. I definitely have a ‘thing’ for brighter lipsticks and this one ticks all the boxes. the gloss does wear down maybe after 2-3 hours, but it wears down evenly and I quite like the stain it leaves on the lips!

Wearing Central Park in the photo above. A medium toned pink and just as glossy as Soho. It may look slightly red in the photo, but I think what makes this colour interesting is that it is a deeper pink. Perhaps slightly peachy?

Upper East on my lips above. I was worried that I wouldn’t like this colour at all. Anything that’s classified as a pale nude with a strong peach undertone makes me run for the hills! I think this particular peachy shade works because it is a touch deeper than a ‘traditional’ nude and does have a little pink in it. It’s not so far matte that it looks dry on the lips and it doesn’t feel drying on the lips but after wearing Soho and Central Park you can notice the difference in texture. I personally don’t mind the dryer texture – for a colour like this I think it works because it is so much more of a natural shade. I can actually see myself wearing Upper East to my surprise, though I will have to have a think about what to pair it with (since it is so different from anything I have owned so far!).

Am I happy with this lipstick trio? Hell yes! I also love collectables and even though I will be using the lipsticks so they won’t stay in mint condition, I think the idea of the collection is great. I did see this set at a Kit Cosmetics counter in Sydney CBD (in Myer) a little while ago, however it’s probably tough to find in stores here in Aus (they always tend to have extremely limited supplies which sux). By the time I was decided on buying this set it wasn’t there anymore and I couldn’t find it online (from Aus suppliers). I bought my Liptropolis set along with my Jungle Queen lipstick from SpaceNK. The set costs 40 British Pounds which is a lot (that’s about $75) so each lipstick ends up costing about $25 which is quite reasonable in my eyes. If you live in the States then you can order this set straight from Lipstick Queen’s official website (lucky you!) for $48 US.

I just saw online that a second Lipstick Library volume is available and it’s called Look of Love. I’m not as captured by this second volume as I was with the first (just by looking at the book case and it’s design) so I will have to have a good think about whether or not I will get the second one.

What do you think of the Liptropolis lipstick trio? Do any of the shades jump out at you and pull your heart strings?

Until next time,

Beauty Bee~

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