I love nothing more than when a high-end fad trickles down into the aisles of Boots and the likes. Liquid lipsticks, traditionally more of a wallet-whopping choice in the beauty world are finally making their way into a more budget-friendly form and creating quite a storm while they’re at it. Rimmel Apocalips* have been billed as one of the most anticipated launches of the New Year; catchy name (I like it), a range of colours encapsulating the basic to the damn right bold and coming from a brand already known as a bit of a drugstore maven in the lip colour category – Rimmel are on to a good’un here. So when six shades from their eight colour line arrived at Chez VDM, I had a date with the mirror, a wad of cotton pads and a bottle of Bioderma…
A gloss and colour all-rolled-into-one, Apocalips coats the lips with a high-shine, opaque layer of lacquer. Apply once, blot, apply again and you’re good to go for at least three hours before touching up is required. Of all the colours I trialled, Stellar (third from right and swatched) is my personal favourite, hitting the poppy lip trend on the head, but Apocaliptic (far right) which has a hint of MAC’s Girl About Town to it and Big Bang (second from right), a classic rouge will be the big sellers. The lows? I can’t say I’m a huge fan of the classic Rimmel scent and I found the nuder shades to apply a little streakily – it’s worth sticking to the ravishing reds and pinks here. There was also a bit of bleeding, so I next time I’ll throw on a liner and indulge in some blotting to fix it all in place. Of course these are going to draw comparisons to the YSL Glossy Stains and on the whole they stand strong in the shadow of their luxe competitor – although the YSL shimmies ahead slightly with an easier application and longer lasting, non-bleedable texture. But at a quarter of the price the Rimmel Apocalips put up a good fight.
Minor niggles aside, you can’t knock the price and availability of these; £5.99 a piece and they’ll be appearing on Rimmel shelves from tomorrow. A handful of the things will set you back the same amount as just one of its pricier dupes. Well, it would be rude to just pick up one…Â
*PR Sample
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