Decadence in Lipstick with Red Abundance

Cle de Peau R2 Red Abundance Extra Rich Lipstick ($60.00 for 0.14 oz.) is a wicked, wicked, wicked shade of vibrant red. It’s a slightly orange-hued red with ridiculous pigmentation and glossy sheen. This is not an affordable lipstick–this is, quite easily, a lipstick that epitomizes luxury. The color is rich, smooth, and clings to lips for hours (I had six hours of wear, including a meal) and retains much of the sheen throughout. It’s not a heavy, thick, or particularly creamy lipstick, but it’s hydrating and doesn’t leave lips parched after it’s removed.

The Exra Rich line-up includes a total of eight shades: R1 Black Bacara, R2 Red Abundance, R3 Leonardis, R4 Danse du Feu, T1 Halloween, T2 Just Joey, T3 Baby Julia, and T4 Calliope.

The lipstick itself is shaped into a baguette, where the edges are designed to help you apply it as if you were using a lip brush. While I didn’t have any trouble applying it without a lip brush (the swatch is an application straight from the tube), I don’t know about it being particularly owing to the design. It’s pretty and unique as far as lipsticks go, but in terms of making it easier to apply, it felt about the same to me. The lipstick also contains Vitmain A Acetate, which is supposed to be the first lipstick formulated with it, which gives it both the texture and the moisturizing properties. I found the lipstick easy to apply–no drag–but it’s not creamy like YSL Rouge Voluptes; it’s smooth and feels like silk against lips.

Where this lipstick excels, as with Cle de Peau’s lipsticks in general, is de-emphasizing lip lines, giving lips a fuller, plumper look (but make no mistake, it’s merely from smoothing out lip lines–no actual lip plumping here). R2 also happens to be a very pigmented shade that really showcases the brightness and depth of this particularly red hue.  I’ve also experienced particularly long wear with this shade (which does lightly stain even as it begins to wear off in the sixth hour), but even in the lighter shades (to-be-reviewed), wear is surprisingly lengthy.

Price aside, is this a red you’d wear?

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• Product: 30/30
• Value: 7/10
• Ease of Use: 4/5
• Packaging: 5/5

Recommendation: If you’re in the market for a truly stunning red and don’t mind the splurge, Cle de Peau’s R2 makes an excellent orange-toned red.

Availability: Saks