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Look for Less: Gold Shimmered Red Lips

Rimmel Berry Queen Lipstick + NYX Blonde Pearl EYeshadow
Rimmel Berry Queen Lipstick + NYX Blonde Pearl EYeshadow

Look for Less: Gold Shimmered Red Lips

Many of you really liked my MAC Marcel Wanders Lip Combo that featured MAC Gesina Lipstick and MAC Mary Lip Gloss. It’s a lovely combo, but it’s DEFINITELY! dupeable. Gold shimmer always looks really stunning layered over a red lipstick.

I used…

  • Rimmel Berry Queen (940) Moisture Renew Lipstick ($5.99)
  • NYX Blonde Pearl Eyeshadow ($7.00) (But any yellow gold eyeshadow will do!)
  • Wet ‘n’ Wild Clear Lipgloss ($1.99)

For $15, I think we get pretty close. I specifically wanted to find the cheapest dupe I could, so I only went through my drugstore products to pull colors. Berry Queen is insanely close to MAC’s Gesina, but it’s a little more pigmented, so it doesn’t end up as pink as Gesina when applied.  I mixed the gold eyeshadow with the gloss and then applied, so it would blend better (if you pat it on, it can be lovely, but it tends to stay where you patted it!).

I’d also recommend trying maybe a dark pink and then patting a sheer layer of blue-based red lipstick on top to get that pinky-red if you don’t have one already in your stash!  If you have naturally red lips, you might opt for a fuchsia lipstick rather than a pink-red.

What do you think?  Close enough?  Better? Worse?

See full face and comparison swatches…

Rimmel Berry Queen Lipstick + NYX Blonde Pearl EYeshadow
Rimmel Berry Queen Lipstick + NYX Blonde Pearl EYeshadow

MAC Marcel Wanders Lip Gloss
Marcel Wanders Combo: Gesina Lipstick + Mary Lip Gloss

Rimmel Berry Queen Lipstick + NYX Blonde Pearl EYeshadow
MAC Gesina Lipstick vs. Rimmel Berry Queen Lipstick

59 Comments

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Laurel Avatar

Wonderful. I prefer the Rimmel & Nyx dupe because I tend to like more tomato-y reds than fuschia pinks. Also, I’m a sucker for pretty much anything Nyx. 🙂

Sarah Avatar

Very pretty, and a great look for the holidays! I love this idea, do you have plans to do more or make it a regular feature? (I apologize if this is something you’ve done before, I have horrible memory!)

Sarah Avatar

I can only imagine what an undertaking it must be to try and organize a collection the size of yours! I have a hard enough time with my makeup, which is only a small fraction of what you have!

Elysia Avatar

awesome. Thanks for doing this Christine! O, and you might already know this, but I just learned to wash your brushes in cold water, as it keeps the bristles from loosening up and falling out.

Mayra Avatar

i really like these lip combos and dupes! Christine u should make these an evereyday thing, it would be great but i know ur super busy 🙁 so maybe not…

kcrystal Avatar

Really Awesome!!! The colors are close but the intensity is different. I like the stronger red on you but I like Gesina more (on me). I do like the comparison and would be fantastic in the future if you were able to do Highbrand vs drugstore lipstick pics in the future. For example, High Brand (warm tone) vs drug store (cool tone) lipsticks and vice versa.

Katie Avatar

I love posts like this…very helpful! If you ever reorganize your makeup, you have to give an updated video tour! Your collection video is one of my favs 😉

Carrie Ann Avatar

Great idea. It was really nice of you to do this. I still prefer Gesina, though. The other lipstick looks darker and redder on the lips. It’s interesting that the swatches are so similar.

Kat Avatar

I like the second lipstick photos a tiny bit more b/c it’s more pink (and a lil’ more softer to me) but you can only tell when the images are next to each other…really good dupes though! I’ll have to try the colour combo. Never thought of putting them together but it’s so pretty and complimentary =)

Laura Avatar

This is going to sound nuts, but how do you use an eyeshadow with lipstick like that? Can anybody point me to a tutorial or something? And yes, I am an old fogey who hasn’t paid a lot of attention to her makeup look in years, so I clearly have some catching up to do. 🙂

jamie @ publicservicebeauty.com Avatar

I love this look….and I have to agree with a few who posted before me: I like the drugstore alternative better. It actually hurts my fingers to type that, but the addition of the gold eyeshadow gives it more of a multi-dimensional shimmery “Christmas-y” look. Great idea!!

knownever Avatar

Milani makes a lot of great and affordable glosses with golden glitter in them as does CO Bigelow from time to time. I’ve been in love with gold glitter gloss since Lancome’s Angelic star gloss.

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