Lipstick Review: No 7 and Poppy King

Once again, I'm back on the trail of finding the perfect red lipstick. This time I've been lucky enough to trial the new lipstick for Boots No 7 range, which is a collaboration with designer Poppy King. Poppy is a self styled lipstick queen who started her own cosmetics company as a teenager and has had huge success at home in Australia. She is also a very glamorous vintage gal.

I genuinely adore No 7 products so was very excited by this range. If you're like me and you get excited by some pretty packaging then you will see that this range does not disappoint. It comes in a cute little box which automatically makes it seem slightly 'higher end' and the tube itself is a shimmery purple, just like the No 7 mascara I reviewed a while back.

The lipsticks are what I would call 'vintage sized' and are reminiscent of the smaller lipsticks of yesteryear, which are practical for slipping into a teeny 30s beaded bag (or stuffing down your bra).

Appropriately the colour that I was sent to try is called History and looks in the tube like a deep red.

For each lipstick in the range there is also a lip gloss of the same name

Here is a short video from designer Poppy King talking about History

 

Application

I applied straight on to my lips without any balm or primer. I didn't use lip liner as I wanted to see if it stayed or bled.

Application with this lipstick is really nice. It is creamy and slightly translucent, therefore it needs a couple of layers to build up the colour, but gives you the option to have it slightly lighter for more of a day shade. It stayed for a couple of hours, until I ate and reapplied, and didn't bleed.

I have found before from reviewing lipsticks and comparing with friends, that colours can look completely different on one person than they do on another. 

Of course, all of our natural lip colours are different and this does effect the way the colour looks on each of us. 

Poppy says in the above video that when you wear this red lipstick 'you're going to feel a boldness, and like anything is possible' This may be true if perhaps you are not accustomed to wearing red lipstick on a daily basis, but I think that it doesn't have the same striking boldness of pigment that MAC's Russian Red has for example. But again, that may be because on my lips I found History to have more of a dark rose red pigment. That's not to say that I don't like the colour. I have alot of red lipsticks....more than I can wear, but I actually think that I can find a place for this in my 'daily wear' category of lipsticks. History will be great for when I am out and about and want to reapply quickly, maybe even without looking in the mirror, because of its moistness and translucent quality I don't have to worry too much about getting it obviously out of place around my lips.



My camera is rubbish...this makes it look alot more subtle than it actually is, although it does show the rose colour

It's £12 price tag means its not the cheapest of lipsticks, but not shockingly expensive either. Its what I would expect to pay for a No 7 product, however remember that it is smaller than a normal, full size tube.

I rate No 7 and Poppy King's History lipstick 8/10

You can see the other shades in the range here

 These are Poppy's tips for getting your lipstick to last:

1. Choose lipsticks that have less glossy formulations.
2. Apply lipstick straight from the tube.
3. Blot with a tissue and apply again.
4. Apply lip liner over the entire lip before applying lipstick.
5. Take off the lipstick after lunch and re-apply from the beginning. This should last you right through the afternoon

In case you haven't seen it yet, here is Fleur's tutorial on 1940s glamorous lipstick application:

Disclosure: I was sent this free lipstick to review. All views and opinions expressed are my own.