Great Reds: Shanghai by Buxom

Hi!

Getting back to my posts on red lip colors, I am showing you Shanghai by Buxom! It's one of their Big and Healthy Lip Sticks, which are basically fat lip pencils that have twist-up product and a sharpener in the base. You can find them at Sephora for $18 and they come with .03 ounces of product, although mine is a smaller (.015 ounces) pencil and doesn't have the built in sharpener; it came in a gloss and lipstick promotional set offered by Buxom around the holidays a couple of seasons ago. Despite mine being mini-sized, the color and product should be the same in the larger ones! These are a slightly dry-feeling satin finish product; it's pretty stiff, which makes it easy to line your lips with these when they're sharpened to a point, but it makes filling in the lips a bit of an exercise. They are supposed to plump the lips, and I don't find that they do that, but there is a tingling minty taste/ sensation. They smell faintly of sweet mint as well. Shanghai is described on Sephora's website as a deep raspberry; I think it's a bit redder than what I picture when I read that description, but I think calling it a deep reddened raspberry would be pretty accurate. These have pretty good wear time; without eating, they last four or five hours, and they hold up better than creamier lipstick formulas through eating and drinking.

The packaging!

Big & Healthy Lip Stick, by Buxom

Shanghai!

Here is the product twisted up a bit from the case.

A swatch on my wrist! You can see how "sketchy" this looks, as opposed to the soft edges of a creamier product.

Shanghai by Buxom, no flash

Close-up of Shanghai by Buxom

Shanghai by Buxom, flash!

Close up of Shanghai with flash

Rating: 7 out of 10

I wish this product were a bit more moisturizing, and I have to say, application takes a little bit of time and effort to get everything filled in correctly, but I like that this wears longer than creamier products, and the color is lovely. These are great for layering underneath gloss, too, since they're hard enough that the product doesn't get mixed in with the gloss (if that makes sense); the gloss sits on top of these, creating more depth. I also really appreciate that this is a twist up product, although I wish the smaller ones came with the built-in sharpener! Mine has the little space for it, but when I unscrew the base, there's nothing in it...