Flower Beauty Mix n’ Matte Lip Duo Review & Swatches

Flower Beauty Mix n’ Matte Lip Duo ($10) is a new lipstick and lipgloss duo that’s available in seven shade selections which launched for the Spring 2018 season. The duo provides you with a creamy matte lipstick and a matching pearlized gloss that allows you to mix and match to create a variety of different looks.

I’m not much of a matte lipstick fan but I decided to check these out in the hopes they would be as lovely as the Tarte The Lip Sculptor Lipstick & Lipgloss which I love. I felt comfortable purchasing the matte formula as well since they came with a gloss. Lord knows my favorite way to wear matte and completely to defeat the point of the finish is by wearing lipgloss on top and these provided a gloss to go along with the matte lipstick so I was set.

Like Tarte’s version these arrive in a double-ended barrel which is rose gold in color with the Flower emblem printed on the side. I’ve always been a fond fan of Flower Beauty’s rose gold packaging! It’s quite pretty! I was quite surprised how generously sized they were as the lipstick is 0.12 oz in size and the lipgloss is 0.19 oz where as Tarte’s version will cost you more and you’ll get loss product with the lipgloss being 0.06 oz where as the lipstick is 0.12 oz in size. Tarte’s are $24 where as Flower Beauty’s are $10 so the better deal would go to Flower. However, I wasn’t keen on Flower Beauty’s formula so in the end I actually don’t mind spending more for less as I’ll stick to Tarte’s which are far more moisturizing and easier to apply.

The lipstick portion of this duo reminded me more of a semi-matte satin finish as they aren’t a completely traditional matte texture in my opinion. I felt they were richly pigmented and provided brilliant color on a single swipe however, they have a firmer texture which didn’t apply as evenly or as smoothly as I had hoped on my drier lips. I felt like I was dragging the color on since they are quite dry. I don’t have aging lips however, I do have drier ones and I felt like the color fell into my natural lip lines giving my lips a cracked, dried look. I felt for sure my saving grace would be the gloss to help add a bit of moisture and shine however, I didn’t like this formula either. It has a clumpy whipped mousse consistency that reminds me of the metallic matte lip products that were going around a few months ago like Revlon Ultra HD Matte Metallic Lipcolor. the idea of the formula was never to provide glossiness but I just assumed they gloss portion would have a lighter texture with a hint of shine. They created it to give lips a pearlized finish and to make lips look fuller when applied on top of the lipstick. I thought it had a sort of metallic gleam to it much like those Revlon matte metallics I mention before. It’s actually difficult to see any effect from applying the gloss on top of the lipstick since the shades are identical aside from the fact they smooth out the finish of the lipstick. They are quite pigmented but the slippery silicone texture sort of fell into my natural lip lines when I wore the gloss separately. But as I said it does go a long way at being the saving grace for the lipstick. I didn’t detect any flavor or fragrance on either product which is great for sensitive users.