Smart Shade Butter Kiss Lipstick in 90 Berry Medium

3 Reviews

1. 

   wornoutRat5

   Reply

   Almay is not a brand that I intentionally seek out and buy. I have no problem with it, I just never really think about it. I was browsing for a butter/balm type lipstick and thought the color of #90 would be a good match for my natural lip color. This lipstick was exactly what I had hoped it would be. I can understand why some people might argue that it’s not a lipstick, because it is sheer, light, and buttery (hence the butter kiss name). I tend to avoid heavy lipsticks because I just don’t think they look right on me, so the lighter texture was a plus for me. I also appreciate that it has a pleasant and mild scent/flavor. It’s very moisturizing but not heavy or goopy, and there is just enough color to suit my desire to have natural but better looking lips. The packaging is fine, but sometimes I find it a little tricky to get the lid off. Maybe it’s just mine? It’s not that big of a deal, and I’d rather have to work a little to get the lid off than to have it come off in my bag and cause a mess. Overall, I like it enough that I’m going to try some of the other shades, which almost never happens for me. I usually am never happy enough with a lip product to buy the same kind twice.

2. 

   drearyPiglet4

   Reply

   I’ve got 3 of these Almay Smart Shade Lip Butters (SSLB’s) in Medium: Pink/Nude/Berry & the Berry shade is very sheer compared to Pink which is quite pigmented & Med Nude is kind of pigmented but it’s kind of ambiguous which people may think Medium is either for ur skin tone or for the depth of the color (the natural ambiguity probably sells more lipstick!!). I kno Almay has a small range of MU & I wonder if the SSLB’s are one of their better selling products coz the idea of something “smart shade” sounds like it would be customized to u like a mood lipstick or something (it isn’t, it refers to their “system” of assigning shades to skintones). Almay has no shortage of white blonde spokesmodels, I think if they branched out w their models & got more aggressive w their ad campaigns they would sell more products. I find them quite forgettable, kind of overpriced, & limited in shades. All in all quite conservative & a wannabe Clinique but not as good of quality, I find wetnwild to be much more affordable & better quality! 1/3 of $$$! Almay should come out w chubby sticks I think they’d be a big hit for Almay.

3. 

   trustingTomatoe2

   Reply

   Almay is a brand that I wonder if it’ll survive much longer. The product line is pretty small compared to brands like Revlon or L’oreal. “Hypoallergenic” is a pretty meaningless term because there are no actual federal guidelines for its use, and so long as I can remember, Almay has always touted the hypoallergenic. I personally think they should jazz up their ads with, how shall I say, a greater variety of “faces.” I don’t remember who was before Kate Hudson, but now the face is Carrie Underwood, is it? Another blond, fair-skinned woman? You see my point?

   Anyway, I think that Almay has a wonderful product with this new lipstick/stick gloss. I’ve read a few reviews and yes, there is a bit of a gimmick to the “smart shade” line. This new lip product is visually similar to the Revlon lip butters–Revlon owns Almay, and it shows. I had 2 lip butters–Sugar Plum and Red Velvet. Sugar Plum was basically the same shade as my lips, or at any rate, it was sheer enough that my own lip color showed through. The Red Velvet for some reason turned fuchsia on me, not a good look! Also, I decided to go cruelty free from now on, so Revlon is out (tests on animals) and Almay is in. I suppose I might not be philosophically consistent because, again, Revlon owns Almay. But I am just starting on this journey.

   The medium berry is similar to Revlon’s Sugar Plum–it is a medium berry pink color. It is sheer, with no shimmer. Some people have taken issue with Almay calling this a lipstick because of how sheer it is. I find that sort of disingenuous, because they call this line “Butter Kiss” so you know Almay is on the “butter” bandwagon! So you know that the product is going to be similar to other types on the market.

   I prefer Almay to the Revlon: The color stayed true, the texture is smooth and not slippery, the formula is sheer and moisturizing. I have dry winter lips and I noticed that my lips were in better shape at the end of the day than when I started. Plus: the color didn’t grab onto the flakes like other lip products do. Cosmetic evaluation is really subjective: we like some colors and hate others; some people love glitter, others detest it. I find these days that I look best using sheer lip products with a touch of shine. I have small, lined lips, and while I love the matte lip look, for example, the few times I’ve tried mattes, my mouth looked even smaller and more lined. Yuck.

   This Almay product works well for me, and is all I want these days in a lip product: sheer but fairly pigmented; very very faintly scented (I prefer no scent); value-priced (I got mine at Ulta, buy 1 get one 50% off and then used my coupon so they ended up being about $3.50 each). I don’t care much about packaging apart from function (does the cap stay on?) because that just gets thrown away when you’re done.

   Almay does need to expand it’s line to include deeper tones for women of color in the very least. I don’t think Almay has done a good eyeshadow for YEARS so they need to get on that ASAP. I do love Almay’s foundations, though. Buff in their foundations is the best match I’ve ever found.

   I hope they keep these new lip products in their line, with an expanded range (Deep tones, and how about adding a purple and a coral????). I’ve tried on ultra expensive sheer lipsticks at Sephora, so I don’t understand the snobbery against drugstore brands that actually perform better. You can get 3-4 of the Almay brand for the price of a Too-Faced balm, for example. I personally love the thrill of a good bargain!