Sephora + Pantone Universe Modern Watercolors Lip Gloss Set Review & Swatches
The Sephora + Pantone Universe Modern Watercolors Lip Gloss Set ($28) is a new, limited edition pastel lipgloss set focusing on the two Color of the Year shades in Rose Quartz and Serenity. As you know from a past post I did Sephora is doing an entire Pantone Universe Makeup Collection in soft pastel shades of color that compliment the soft blue and pink of the Pantone Color of the Year shades.
I’m not much of a pastel girl myself as I have a bit of warmth to my skin and I always feel like fairer skin tones look best in shades like this. On me, they look a bit chalky and pasty no matter how much I try to convince myself I look good in them.
None the less if nothing at all the Sephora + Pantone Color of the Year 2016 Collection is visually gorgeous. I’ve always found pastels very pretty, delicate, and feminine. Some people associate them with Easter or babies and I’m right there with them but I also think softer shades of pink, baby blue, or buttery yellows are really flattering shades for Spring. Just not in makeup sadly for me perhaps accessories and clothes but I, happen to unfortunately be one of those people that can’t pull off a baby blue eyeshadow look or a lipgloss one for that matter.
Visually the Sephora + Pantone Universe Modern Watercolors Lip Gloss Set is stunning. Housed in a gorgeous box with splashes of Rose Quartz and Serenity in a watercolor print this collection truly brings out Spring vibes. The glosses look like something you’d pick up at an art supply store in their little square tubes and caps that match the color of the gloss inside. If I didn’t know better I would think these were some sort of oil paints as they just have an artsy feel to them.
As much as I wanted to love these not all of them worked for me. Out of the six shades the best shades for me were Foxglove (a sheer dusky raspberry) and Cantaloupe (a true sheer melon) both of which gave my lips a very sheer hint of color. I liked both shades well enough but I wasn’t in love with the formula but I’ll get to that shortly. The other shades in this collection are also fairly sheer as well such as Rose Quartz and Pale Banana. Sunlit Allium and Serenity had a little more color pay off but not the intensity you’d expect from the color we see within the tube.
This might potentially be a great gloss but I wouldn’t know because the sponge applicator applied them very dryly. I felt like the color was dragging against my lips as I applied and I blame the sponge for that. I wish it was a flat spatula style sponge but this sponge didn’t quite grab the gloss well so I had to layer, layer, and layer some more to get any shine or color on my lips. And when I finally did get the color built up it felt very light with very little shine. Sephora dubs it a “luxurious shine and cushiony feel” lipgloss but I didn’t personally get all of that. They also called he sponge applicator “soft and flocked” but it’s more of a standard sponge applicator with a dense tip. Perhaps if the tip was softer it would have grabbed the gloss up better.
You might be able to cocktail a few shades to lighten or even deepen other glosses or lipsticks. I tried using them with a variety of different lipstick shades myself but really didn’t notice much of a change.
I think the Sephora + Pantone Universe Modern Watercolors Lip Gloss Set is a visually beautiful set of lipglosses but the formula is difficult to get a handle on and the color scheme isn’t one everyone will easily embrace. I know I look a little silly wearing purple and blue lipgloss but that’s not to say someone else won’t be able to rock it so it really depends!
I wish they had included a better applicator here as I might be more inclined to love the formula and to at least say I got a nice bit of shine from the glosses. But as is, they didn’t quite work out for me sadly.
The Sephora + Pantone Universe Modern Watercolors Lip Gloss Set will be launching shortly at Sephora and Sephora.com.