NYX - Matte Pure Red

One of my favorite bold, bright reds is NYX Matte Lipstick in "Pure Red." These highly pigmented NYX Matte lipsticks are a great value for money (they will only set you back about $5.99 for 4.5 grams of product) and quite comparable to MAC lipsticks ($14.50 for 3 grams), in my opinion. All this gram talk makes me sound like a drug dealer... you'll have to excuse me, I'm currently immersed in a Breaking Bad marathon! But hey, lipsticks ARE my drug of choice. ;) If you're an animal lover, you'll be happy to hear that NYX is a cruelty-free brand -- Dexter is quite pleased with that.

It wears well, with a great matte finish -- if you're not a fan of matte lipsticks then you'll probably want to either avoid the noid (check NYX's regular lipstick range, which has about 70 shades) or simply apply gloss over the top. However, I love a matte finish and rarely ever use gloss or products on top of my lipstick. This shade wore very well on my lips with no liner, lasted for hours, and did not feather or bleed into my skin at all. Next to MAC's Lady Danger, I dare say this is one of my favorite reds! It's quite similar to that shade, but less orange. It's much brighter and more orange than MAC's Russian Red. I'd say that the closest I have to it from my own lipsticks is MAC's Scarlett Ibis (a sought after limited edition color from the Iris Apfel collection), but it is just the tiniest bit brighter. So if you missed out on Scarlett Ibis, scoop this up!!  If you are a packaging junkie, note that the packaging does feel a little cheap, as it's a very light plastic. Nevertheless, I have transported it around in bags and never had a problem with the top coming off or cracks in the plastic. Obviously it's not the most sleek or sophisticated packaging out there; but for a great quality lipstick for just under $6, can you REALLY complain that much?

I recently purchased more of these lipsticks because I was so impressed during my first encounter with "Pure Red," so I will be sure to let you know what I think of those as well in an upcoming video featuring my whole NYX lipstick "collection." I highly, highly recommend you try this formula out -- there is a large range (22+) of reds, cranberries, pinks, nudes, peaches, and orangier (Is that a word? Well, now it is.) shades to choose from. FYI: other shades that really stand above the rest for me are Indie Flick, Shocking Pink, Alabama, and Hippie Chic (not shown below).

[ all of the larger swatches on the left half of my arm are the Matte Lipsticks ]

[ the two in middle are from the Lipstick line ]

 [ the glossier looking shades on the right are Soft Matte Lip Creams ]