Review + Swatches: Dirty Little Secret Cosmetics Lipsticks

I'm kind of excited to share today's post for several reasons: 

1. We're talking lipstick and I love lipstick. 
2. The products are from an indie brand and priced affordably
3. It's high time I shared some swatches of items I bought at IMATS

The opportunity to discover new (or new-to-me) brands and products is one of the best things attending makeup trade shows. (So are the savings opportunities) And IMATs definitely delivered. One of the new brands I discovered (though I'm not claiming to be Christopher Columbus here) was a little indie company called Dirty Little Secrets Cosmetics whose main area of focus (at least right now) is lipstick.

The owner, Emanuela deFalco, decided to launch her own lipstick line hoping to bring customers quality products in an array of colors that would satisfy the daring (think rainbow lips) and demure (think easy-to-wear shades) without totally breaking the bank. The result was Dirty Little Secret, which currently offers 20 different lipstick shades that pack a pigmentation punch and smell yummy. They retail for $10, which I consider to be on the higher end of the drugstore price point -- but certainly more affordable than your typical prestige brand. 

I picked up three shades from the collection: Hopeless, Poison, and Guilty Pleasure. 

After playing around with them, I've gotta say, they're rather good. I've put a noticeable dent in Hopeless and Guilty Pleasure and received a compliment or two while wearing Poison. 

Here are a few things I think you'll benefit from knowing about all three lipsticks I tried and then we'll go into each shade individually:

• The formula is creamy, glides onto lips and feels moisturizing
• They smell like bubble gum -- although they don't really taste like anything (the smell makes you lick your lips to check)
• The three shades I purchased have a glossy finish (but they varied in opaqueness) 
• Longevity is pretty much what you would expect with your typical glossy lipstick (these do not make any claims about being long wearing)

Guilty Pleasure

Guilty Pleasure is a violet-hued pink that would've been a perfect orchid inspired shade when orchid was Pantone's color of the year. It has medium coverage that can be built up to medium-full. 

It looks more violet in the tube,  but ends up more pinkish lavender on the lips, making is a super wearable shade. I reach for it much more often than I anticipated. The tube has actually started to take the distinctive curvature of my lips. 

Hopeless

Hopeless is a peach-toned sheer nude that's super easy to wear and perfect for every day. You can build it up from sheer to light-medium coverage and it has a nice glossy finish. 

Not surprisingly this shade is pretty fool-proof so it's been on heavy rotation. We're nearly past the lip-curved indentation phase and inching closer and closer to flattened tip. 

Poison

Poison is a bright barbie-like fuchsia and if you know me, you know I love a bright fuchsia. So I was drawn to this shade like a magnet. The site describes this a a full coverage shade and while it offers fabulous color pigmentation, it feels more like medium-full coverage to me. As you can see from the photo below, the color pay off is great but it doesn't look fully opaque to me. Still, the color is pretty and definitely noticeable.