Product Review: Flower Kiss Stick Velvet Lip Color

So the new Drew Barrymore Flower makeup line has been all the rage lately. People are talking about it. There was a lot of hype building up for its release. So naturally, I headed over to Walmart (begrudgingly since Walmart trips tend to cause me stress or irritation, but hey, sometimes you have to suck it up) to take a gander at what everyone was so excited about. There were quite a few things I thought looked promising, but I opted to try out the lipsticks first. Heck, Drew isn't shy about a bold lip, so I had high hopes to see how her own lipstick line (or kiss sticks as they're called) would turn out. 

The first thing you'll notice is that the packaging on her line is rather nice. It's sturdy and has nice rose gold details. The kiss sticks come in two general categories: high shine (black packaging) and velvet matte (white packaging).The kiss sticks have a color swatch area on the bottom to give you an idea of what the color inside is supposed to be like. I have mixed feelings about those because I never feel they give you an accurate view of the color, unless it's a window to show you the actual lipstick in the tube. I was right. I had to return the high gloss lipstick because when I got home and opened it, the color in the tube did not match at all.

Ginger Lily (high gloss), looked like a pink coral (more pink than coral) in the window. When I opened it, it was much more orange. Interestingly enough, when I checked online later the swatch there was more accurate. Go figure. Regardless, I chose the color in person, and felt the color window wasn't a good portrayal of the color inside. I suppose I should have let the color's name guide me, since it more closely described the lipstick in the tube. 

Flamingo Flower (velvet), on the other hand, was much closer in color to the display. The color window showed a rosey hot pink color, making it a shoe-in for my purchasing purposes (you all know I love a good hot pink lipstick), that pretty closely matched the color in the tube. So, I kept Flamingo Flower around to test it out for you. 

Check out the swatch below:

My thoughts:

• The cost is super fair, only $6.98 and accessibility is good too since most places in the US have Walmart. Would be nice if it were available at other retailers as well though. 
• Major thumbs up for being made in the USA and animal friendly (no animal testing here)
• I didn't notice any significant or specific smell
• The color selection was OK, actually quite good considering this is the first release. However you won't be finding any new and exciting colors here. Seems like they played it safe with color selection, which is fine as I'm sure they want the colors to appeal to the masses.
• I was underwhelmed by the color pay off. As you can see it's not particularly opaque, but I still thought the color was pretty.
• I would have looked past the fact that it wasn't as opaque as I expected, but I was completely dissatisfied with how dry the formula was for the Velvet lip color line. It certainly didn't glide on easily and effortlessly. I felt like I had to press down and drag it across my lips. The dryness only got worse as the day progressed. I didn't last much longer than a few hours before I had to take it off, moisturize and switch lipsticks altogether. 
• While I anticipated some dryness from a matte color, this was a lot dryer than I expected. Velvet is the last thing that comes to mind. It doesn't feel very soft or luxurious, to me it just feels dry. 
• For the price, I think there are much better drugstore lipsticks out there that will deliver more color pay off, be less dry, and feel nicer on your lips (Revlon, Maybelline, Milani, and Rimmel come to mind quickly). 

Sadly, I was disappointed by the Velvet lip color I purchased and immediately returned it after two attempts at wearing it. It just simply doesn't beat out some of its more established drugstore competitors that are well-known for their lipstick lines. 

Has anyone had a similar experience with the kiss sticks? Does this translate into the rest of the line or are there products in the line that are definitely worth getting? Let me know, I'm kinda curious! I'm not really ready to completely give up on the line just yet.