Guerlain Mitsouko (140) Rouge Automatique

Guerlain Mitsouko (140) Rouge Automatique ($35.00 for 0.12 oz.) is a muted peach shimmered orange with hints of pink. It’s semi-sheer, which means that your natural lip color will play a larger role in the way the lipstick actually looks. On my lips, it looks like a soft, rosy coral with a frost finish. The orange hue seems to get lost when I wear it. I also felt that between sheer color and the frosted shimmer, the texture wasn’t as smooth; I could feel the shimmer particles when I pressed my lips together.

Guerlain’s description of the Rouge Automatique line describes the color as non-opaque, light, and luminous, so while this may be on the sheerer side, it still seems in line with the range–it definitely gave a visible color difference when worn, but this shade seems to embody what Guerlain described as “luminous, clear and pure color.”  (Nothing in Guerlain’s description of the new formula would make me think these are rich, pigmented lipsticks.)  I did feel I had to apply more than your average lipstick to get the color pay off as swatched, which is why it lost a couple of points.

my thoughts on the formula: Rouge Automatique lipsticks tend to have a very creamy, smooth consistency without being thick (in fact, I’d describe them as thin). They glide on with ease, and the majority of shades seem to deposit semi-opaque to opaque color. Mitsouko, however, is one of the sheerest shades I’ve tried (out of five!) and wear time is three to four hours. Wear for darker shades ranges from six to eight hours, while light to medium shades from four to six hours. It’s an excellent alternative to the luxury Rouge G lipstick–the formulas are comparable (and certainly so with a $11 price difference!), while the packaging gives up the luxury heft of Rouge G, it makes up for in the practicality. It’s a creamy, moisturizing, long-wearing formula with the subtle nuances and finishes I expect from Guerlain.

Guerlain Mitsouko (140) Rouge Automatique

Guerlain Mitsouko (140) Rouge Automatique

Guerlain Mitsouko (140) Rouge Automatique