Sephora + Pantone Universe Rose Quartz & Serenity Lipsticks Reviews, Photos, Swatches
Sephora + Pantone Universe Rose Quartz Lipstick
Sephora + Pantone Universe Rose Quartz Lipstick ($18.00 for 0.12 oz.) is a bright, pastel pink with neutral-to-cool undertones and a satin finish. It was mostly opaque in coverage, though there’s a translucency throughout where the natural lip color may enhance the pink tones or darken the overall color. It is extremely white-based and feels almost chalky on; I would recommend applying this with a lip brush to get really even edges, as the creamier, thicker consistency yielded jagged edges for me. It applied more evenly than I would have expected, though the color gathers in lip lines over time. The color lasted for three hours and was neither drying nor hydrating. MAC Lazy Lullaby (P, $19.00) is lighter, cooler (95% similar). MAC Weekend 1 (LE, $19.00) is darker, warmer (85% similar). MAC Vivid Image (LE, $19.00) is darker (80% similar). See comparison swatches / view dupes side-by-side.
Sephora + Pantone Universe Serenity Lipstick ($18.00 for 0.12 oz.) is a light-medium, periwinkle blue with cool undertones and a natural sheen. It had semi-opaque pigmentation that covered fairly evenly, though it could have been smoother overall. The texture had a lot of slip, so it slides around easily and would greatly benefit from a lip liner or primer, as it only lasted for two hours before it had significantly migrated into lip lines and looked like a mess. I was surprised at the overall pigmentation–no copping out here in the name of Serenity–but I wish it was less white-based and had less slip. It was neither drying nor hydrating on me. If you layer it to minimize the strength of the blue, I’d recommend pairing with something matte and patting it on top (vs. wearing it as the base) to avoid a lot of the pitfalls of the texture. NYX Earl Grey (P, $6.00) is brighter (90% similar). MAC Dew (P, $19.00) is darker, cooler (85% similar). Sephora 5-0 Grind (56) (P, $8.00) is less shimmery, darker, cooler (80% similar). Fenty Beauty Ya Dig (P, $18.00) is darker (80% similar). KVD Beauty Dagger (P, $20.00) is darker, less glossy (80% similar). See comparison swatches / view dupes side-by-side.
Rose Quartz
LELimited Edition. $18.00.
Serenity
LELimited Edition. $18.00.
Sephora + Pantone Universe Rose Quartz Lipstick
Sephora + Pantone Universe Rose Quartz Lipstick
Sephora + Pantone Universe Rose Quartz Lipstick
Sephora + Pantone Universe Rose Quartz Lipstick
Sephora + Pantone Universe Rose Quartz Lipstick
Sephora + Pantone Universe Rose Quartz Lipstick
Sephora + Pantone Universe Serenity Lipstick
Sephora + Pantone Universe Serenity Lipstick
Sephora + Pantone Universe Serenity Lipstick
Sephora + Pantone Universe Serenity Lipstick
Sephora + Pantone Universe Serenity Lipstick
Sephora + Pantone Universe Serenity Lipstick
They look odd by themselves as is. I see on Sephora that it says they’re meant to be layered with other lipsticks, have you tried that? Your eye look is great though!
You can definitely layer! They were a little slippery for me for layering unless it was over something very matte.
Since these are supposed to be layer lipsticks and not meant to be worn alone, did you test them as layering ones? Thanks!
You can definitely mix with other products to make the color more wearable, but I’d make sure to pair with more matte products or else they slide around a lot more!
I think they might be fun to play with – to mix out with another shade….Makes sense about using a matte (thanks!). I may “favorite” them and wait until they go on clearance since I don’t think they’ll do that great.
I’m such a bad person, I’m not going to lie the $23CAN price tag on these made me cringe when I swatched them in store…. I took a tissue and swatch the shades to see if they match up to the actually Pantone book my school has, (which they are pretty close to perfect!). lol
I should ask for the basic plus series for myself as a large B-day gift next year, they run about $140+US.
They are more expensive than I thought they’d be!
The quality makes me cry because I would have bought the blue for the shade.
No offense, ’cause if anyone can rock these, you can. But to my aging, jaded eye, they look more like cosplay than real makeup. I think they were meant to be wearable. The shadows might be suitable for aging eyes, but if I wore either of these l/s, it would be an instant a. Psych admit or b. Arrest. I think, if one likes them, one would be safe to wait for the markdown. I wonder how much we’ll see these on the street, the way we have on other COTY releases. They probably will look ok on some people, but doubt they will have much universal popularity. Think these colors will do better in the paint and decorating sector. I have an old Sephora eyeliner that is a whitey pink. Think it’s called Jelly. In the spirit of the color, better haul it into rotation, maybe waterline.
I think I’ve seen this type of shade only a handful of times, but I rarely see bold or bright lip color in person unless I’m at a specific event!
That’s ’cause you don’t live near me! I do consider these bold and somewhat radical, and the collection was definitely NOT. Early 60s had some white based pinks (my friend’s father called them ‘kissing the garbage can lipsticks.’) But those early 60s (Ronnie Spector /girl groups/pre-Beatles) were exemplified by Revlon Naked Pink, which had less white, more flesh, and was pretty neutral. Maybe I should think of these l/s as BRAVE. The rest of this COTY is safe. Not highly admired, but safe. The l/s are BRAVE and mediocre. Have a great weekend and hug up that Mellan baby.
Have a great weekend, too, KJH! 🙂
I couldn’t imagine either of those looking good on anyone. They’re really not nice at all
You could also mix/layer like you might with some of OCC’s more basic/primary kind of shades!
Rose Quartz reminds me of MAC Bianca B that everyone went nuts for. Props for pigmentation, but I don’t think it worked out for them this time 🙁
I was surprised at the pigmentation of both, at least, lol!
These look frightening.
They’re definitely bold shades!
Those are really bad! I wonder if they would have chosen a matte formula if these shades could have worked better.
I agree – something more matte would have worked really well! I also think a jumbo lip crayon formula would have made this even better.
Eek, lol… A for effort I guess, but no.
I wish they had less slip! The color of the blue is really cool (to me).
Both of these are way too light for me. Too bad — a slightly darker shade of periwinkle blue is a really good color for me, might even get me to finally try a blue lipstick. Hmm… I wonder what Serenity would look like mixed with a touch of Ardency Inn’s Black is Blue…
I didn’t think of trying to mix it with a black! I wonder if it would work. Maybe if it was a pretty good/even black to begin with? I tried the pink with a fuchsia and the blue with a purple.
I think ‘Black is Blue’ is supposed to be a navy, which might be a bit dark for me. I’ve been really curious about trying blue lipstick for a year or two now, but haven’t worked up the courage yet! I’m usually pretty adventurous, I think, but I haven’t worn Technopagan RTW out of the apartment, yet, either. I’m seriously thinking about getting Serenity and Black is Blue and seeing if I can get something wearable-for-me out of mixing the two.
Do let me know if you give it a try, Fran!
I understand that these are supposed to be layered, but they seem a little opaque for that (unless you’re mixing colors outside of the bullet). It seems like a sheer or shimmery finish would have made these more useful for the average buyer. The packaging is lovely, though!
Not very impressed with this year’s Pantone release so far. It’s an odd choice to have a color concept that’s so inclusive, but put out products that don’t have such mass appeal.
It’s an interesting product, because in order to test claims like pigmentation/hydration, they have to be worn alone (or else it’s getting influenced by whatever else it is paired with), and there’s nothing about them on that says “layer me only” but I’m guessing it’s the starkness of both shades. If you want to layer, it’s a bit more like using different colored lipstick over a liner or vice versa OR creating an ombre effect (particularly in the case of the pink, as it is quite light). I do think they have a little more slip than preferred (especially Serenity) for layering – pat it on or apply with a lip brush and/or use layered with something far more matte.
The first one makes you look so Nicki, I love it 😀
(Reminds me a bit of the super light Giambattista Valli Lipstick)
It does!!
I give them props for going for it on pigmentation and unusual colors. But someone else said they wish they’d been sheer and iridescent like Bite Opal and I agree. But that’s me personally, I guess; that would have been a “safer” move.
They could have done that with glosses, maybe… instead of what they did do, ha.
No no no no no no (etc.) :0
Maybe next year!
Uh, no, absolutely not, whether worn alone, layered, matte, semi-matte, nope! Epic fail at Sephora -heads should be rolling over this collection, reviews are terrible for almost everything, don’t see many people wanting to buy or wear this. They should’ve just skipped the lipsticks/glosses and came out with highlighters with pink or blue duo chrome shimmers. I’m going to rotate Colour Pop Monster back into my stash for spring
I really wish these came in a large crayon form! I think of the new Bite Blanc lipstick and just think that is a more practical way to mix/match/layer in particular.
These look so bizarre, and not in a good way, that when I was passing through Sephora to get to MAC I checked these out for laughs! And as I swatched them, I must’ve had that look on my face that’s suppressing a belly laugh and an out loud WTF!
I say this because I’ve been game enough to try on MAC Matte Royale (LOVE), but this???
No love for periwinkle?!
Matte Royal is *sort* of a periwinkle…just a super dark periwinkle-ish shade, right? ?
These are definitely more mixer or layering shades, although I would wear Serenity on it’s own. I have Nyx Macaron Lippie in Earl Gray, though, so I’ll just pull that out more often. I would use Nyx Macaron Lippie in Rose as a darker, more flattering version of Rose Quartz.
Serenity is definitely a color that could be worn on its own if it had a better formula, I think, more than Rose Quartz, which is such a contrasting shade for most that it can be a little harder to figure out!
It might be pretty paired with a slightly darker pink for an ombre lip.
Why.
At least they went full-steam ahead with this year’s Colors of the Year!
I kind of like Rose Quartz. I’d look horrid if I used it, but I’d like to try it on, for fun.
That’s the spirit 🙂
Weird…just weird
Definitely not hues that are for everyone!
I got myself both lipsticks as i do actually love pale shades and although I admit the formulas are not great (most brands struggle to get pale colours right) I think they are really fun to have. I haven’t worn them out yet but i have tried an ombre style lip with them with the blue in the centre, fading to purple then to pink at the corners, that actually seemed more wearable then them on their own!
What kind of lipstick did you pair with it, Phoebe? I think in terms of starkness/color, mixing definitely helps! I wish they were more matte, though, for mixing.
Seriously Christine – these lipsticks are awful. They make your lips look like a masque I am so surprised that Sephora would put its name to such products. How many girls/women wear blue lipstick to work?
Anyway, your beautiful eye look makes up for it. It is gorgeous.
Thank you, Genevieve!
Had no interest in Rose Quartz but I did pick up Serenity since I can’t resist a periwinkle lip. Looks FABULOUS on but is definitely far too slippy. Mixing it with the similar OCC Butch worked well as did other mattes. But yeah, definitely too much slip in general and on its own. Fabulous color on me though! Ha. I know everyone else here seems to think it’s terrifying/awful, but periwinkles always work for me. I do wish it had less of a white base as well. That would make it more wearable and more mix-friendly since it definitely lightens whatever it touches fairly heavily. Illamasqua Disciple was a good matte darker blue match that helped set it a bit as well (Sephora Collection just came out with a Disciple-esque blue [in color, not finish] called Secret Boudoir in the Rouge Cream line. Looks much more purple online than it is IRL. OT but it was a fun find!).
So few periwinkles out there… but yes, very slippery!! I don’t know why they didn’t make it more matte.
It was the perfect opportunity for a great matte periwinkle. I think next time I try it out I’m going to powder the hell out of it 😛
I would have to layer them but I’m still not impressed.
I wish they had less slip so they’d be easier to layer!
IDK, I mean if these were meant to be worn as is then I’d say a C is totally fair. But since the product description says they’re not supposed to be worn alone…
I would have loved to know how these worked/looked as a layering lipstick and what you would have paired them with. I would have also loved to know what kind of a rating they’d have gotten had they been reviewed in a manner consistent with the way they’re meant to be worn. This review is a little frustrating. Not something I’ve ever experienced on here. I’m at a loss.
Thanks for your feedback! In the review, I noted some info about layering these – see above! Unfortunately, I can’t test hydration, consistency, pigmentation, etc. if I mix it with another product, so for things like wear-time, hydration, and texture, I’m rating based on the product and had to wear them alone. Layering will certainly help make the *color* itself be more wearable or more versatile, but it’s not fair to say it is hydrating because I wore it with a moisturizing formula OR that it’s drying because I wore it with something that’s matte and is drying on its own. I did both – I wore it alone so I could see if the formula was hydrating and as pigmented as it said, and I also tried layering to see how it would work with other products. I’m sorry I’ve disappointed you, but I tested both shades the way that I felt was consistent with how I rate products.
Well, thank you for at least doing a review. I had really looked forward to your review. I guess I just didn’t think about how you’d go about actually writing one. I mean, if you layered would you feel compelled to only mix with other Sephora brand products. Or could you mix with things you knew preformed really well. Suppose one could institute all sorts of “rules” to test the wear of such things, but then you’d be stuck testing the same product all week, instead of moving on to something new.
I think it would have been nice of Sephora if they had actually made some mixing suggestions and done a few tutorials themselves. It’s almost lazy to put out a product designed for only one thing, then give very little info on how you’re supposed to get the best wear from it. Mix with a brush, apply straight from the tube, this color on top, or on the bottom, etc. I think they really dropped the ball and made the life of both consumers and beauty bloggers a lot harder. I’ll be passing on these as a result, when I had previously been looking forward to them.
I tried my best to review based on what I felt was the most accurate way to test the product and its claims, because all of its characteristics on its lonesome (slip, wear, hydration) ultimately impact what you layer it with. Since both are less matte and more emollient, they can slide, so they don’t work well as a base layer but work better patted on with a fingertip or a brush over something that is matte to satin (avoiding adding slip+more slip really). The best way to know if it adds hydration is just to see if it does on its own, since mixing it with something else is a can of worms – I’m no chemist for sure, but products may not combine well or certain ingredients may interact one way vs. another because they’re mixed. Plus, if you put a dab of this product and primarily wear the other, than obviously it is going to contribute less overall to the impact of wear!
There are natural variances, even in things like the reviewer’s skin in that particular moment or temperature/humidity of the environment. Reviewers, like myself, can only do our best and be transparent about how and why we tested something the way we did and what the results were.
You might want to check out Bite Beauty’s Blanc, which is designed for layering/mixing as well, but Bite has shown some inspiration/swatches of it in action on their Instagram.
Thanks for the feedback. This was definitely a frustrating product. I almost wish they’d gone in a different direction. I mean I see what they tried to do. The colors are spot on for the colors of the year, so they have that. Then they’re a product you don’t really see a lot of, so it has that novelty factor. But I almost feel like it would have been better to just make the blue something really sheer with maybe a little sparkle. That way you could wear it alone, or layer it over other colors to make them cooler toned (always nice for me, I can’t wear anything even a little warm!). And if they did something like CoverGirls old school Ice Blue Pink for the pink that would have at least been wearable (maybe just for me, lol, but still).
Thanks for the tip on Bite. I’ve seen them and swatched a few. They seemed nice. My toddler son is very taken with them. If I’m not careful he’ll paint on a coral lip in the blink of an eye every, single, time. In his defense it’s definitely his color, but those testers are oh so gross!
Just don’t care for Pantones color choices this year. Not in the least interested even if they had gotten “A’s” which they certainly didn’t.
Thanks for the review, Christine.
No problem, Susan!
So glad you tried these Christine, as I was very intrigued by the email Sephora sent out regarding them. Serenity is my fave. I don’t see the practicality of a baby blue for me personally even with layering, but it is gorgeous color.
Possibly with something to cool it down or maybe add a grayish tinge?
I can never wear shades like this! You can carry it off so well! Honest review like always! xx
Aw, thanks Emmy!
Hey! Here’s a great way to pair the lipstick with face charts from Sephora on this pin board … https://www.pinterest.com/sephora/rose-quartz-serenity-the-2016-color-of-the-year/ .Also wearing a matte white under the blue lipstick would really create a softer opaque finish for Serenity.. I know everyone is scared but it is a really cool color and, working with makeup means creating art and unique looks …The only thing that worries me is if i have yellow teeth lol .. speaking of uniqueness I can’t wait to create a look with smashbox’s new be legendary matte lipstick in punked (deep grey) … be adventurous peeps !!! I no longer work at Sephora but I can guarantee ..you don’t have to shy away from these lipsticks they are softer hues and move away from the gothic vibes of fall … the cotton candy colors can be seen on Keurig machines, jewellery, phone cases, and clothes already ! 🙂 … thanks for the detailed review , I like that you have made an effort to pair it on its own and layered … awesome job as always ! I’ll try and use nyx jumbo pencil on my lips before layering serenity and then take a tissue and dab makeup forever’s setting powder with a fluffy brush to mattify /set the lipstick!