February 10, 2016

Hype or Hit: Colourpop

makeup hype and hit

I was reading through some of your great comments in my “What’s the worst eyeshadow you’ve ever used?” post and you all had some really great stories about bad eyeshadow formulas. One reader mentioned Colorpop Eyeshadow as being a no go for her. Honestly, I personally have had a problem with Colourpop’s Eyeshadow formula and I really enjoy it.

But what do you think of the brand overall?

Is it it a lot of hype?

Or a hit?

For me, it’s a little of both. I really like their shadow formula and I enjoy SOME of the Lippie Stixs. But I always fee like the Lippie Stix formula gets a lot of raves as being smooth and creamy but they are actually quite dry and color tends to fall into my natural lip lines. It really depends on which finishes you use. I have made my peace with the formula as many of the shades are lovely but sometimes it does make me rather anxious when I hear reviews saying how soft and creamy they are…why am I not feeling like this!? Ahhhhgrrr!

So I’m kinda on both sides of the fence. Some of Colourpop line is a hit for me but some of it also has a lot of hype that I don’t feel quite lives up to the products I’ve tried.

How about you?

Is it a complete hit?

Or is it a bit too hyped?

Or maybe you’re somewhere in between?

Do share!

36 Comments

About the Muse

Isabella MuseIsabella is just an average everyday geeky girl who doesn’t blend her eyeshadow correctly, wears too much blush, and hopes she never finds her holy grail products because she likes the thrill of the chase so much. Her mission is to bring you super honest reviews on makeup, skincare, fragrance and all things beauty. She’s in no way an expert on the topic and she sure as hell isn’t a super model. But she’s passionate about makeup and is seeking like-minded individuals that like pina coladas, getting caught in the rain, and ones that enjoy spending hundreds of dollars at Sephora without feeling buyer’s remorse. If you’re that person feel free to reach out and leave a comment or follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Bloglovin‘.

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Comments

  • Briana

    For the price, it does do a pretty good job. Although they are quite drying, the liquid lipsticks do dry matte unlike most drugstore brands that are more than $6. The formula of their eyeshadows, blushes, bronzers, and highlighters is quite mousse-y and airy. I would say that many applications are needed to get a pigmented pay-off. However it does allow for build able coverage.

  • auntymaim

    Ohh I am on board with you here – I luuuurve their shadows and I think the narrow form factor of the lippie sticks is a great idea – I can get a nice shape without a lip brush! But the formula on the lippie sticks has been less than stellar, I have one I like but in general it looks chalky and dry. I prefer a glossier/lighter look in my lipsticks so it’s not my thing at all, as much as I wish it were for the great price point and form factor!

    • Isabella Muse

      Have you tried the sheer ones? They are actually good! The others are hit and miss for me mostly miss, I have the same problem dry, chalky, not good ;(

      • auntymaim

        I haven’t! They look so *not* sheer swatched online that I never really considered them, but will check them out next time I’m in the mood for another bold color. The one I have that I like is “boogie”, but I admit my standards drop for anything with a sufficient amount of glitter. 😛

  • Lauren

    I’d rather shill out the extra cash for the perfect formula. I have not tried colourpop, but always hear rave reviews. I wish I could test them first.

  • Andrea

    I absolutely love their Ultra Matte Lips! They stay on for hours and hours without application. Their lippie stix are pretty nice (hate the name!) when I make another order I don’t think I’d ever purchase another though. I do not like their eyeshadows. I have one matte, a metallic and one other and I am not into the formula what so ever. The amount of product you need to use to get the look you want is really annoying and the matte shadow always ends up looking patchy. I have tried every brush, every finger, every way possible to apply and I’m really not impressed. I feel as if my Milani bella eyes apply better.

  • Lauren

    I personally think the brand is over-hyped, at least the lippie stix. The eye shadows are decent to good, generally, but I’ve been sorely disappointed with the lip products I tried. I bought a big order of a bunch of different products, and every single one of the 6 lippie stix I bought were terrible. I even made sure that they were ones that got good reviews! I was so mad, because I could have bought at least one or two good mid-to-high-end lip products for what I spent on just the lippie stix I bought. It was a complete waste of money. I made sure that I didn’t get the “matte” formula, yet everything was still matte (and the non-sheer shades looked terribly chalky on me)! Plus, they clung to my lip lines and drier areas badly, and made my lips look even drier, even when I tried prepping with lip scrub and balm prior to using them. I just couldn’t understand how so many people thought they were good. I couldn’t even get an opaque layer with the non-sheer shades without creating massive lines and patchy spots. They were a massive fail for me, to the point where I have absolutely no desire to even try any more of their lip products.

    • Isabella Muse

      likewise! even non mattes still seem to matte to me and they sink terribly into my natural lip lines. I’ve given them a forgiving pass since they are cheap and the colors are fantastically pigmented but I think a lot of the raving is hype!

  • Jessy

    I don’t own enough lip products to give an opinion. The ones I have do work for me and I do enjoy them. I do have around 12 or 15 eyeshadows, all I can say is that you either love the formula or you hate it. They do need a little extra work than powder ones, but if you get the hang of it, they can be fabulous. I was a little disappointed with the blushes, out of the 4 I have 2 are already dry and I had hardly worn them, the others don’t look good on me at all but it’s more a matter of me picking the wrong colors. As for the gel pencils, yeah those are a massive fail for me. They break with the slightest preassure, they transfer and a couple are too dry to work with. The gel pots seem ok, but I only have 2 of those. So tl;dr like other brands it’s a hit or miss, but for the price you pay it’s awesome when they work and not such a big deal if it’s a fail.

  • Rachel

    I thought the Lippie Stix were over hyped. The formula doesn’t work as well as I would hope. But they did release that new matte one. I’d be willing to try that in other colors. I’ll probably give their ultra mattes a try too at some point.

    The shadows I didn’t even care about at first, but now I love them. They stay forever and are so easy to use. I honestly use them over any other shadow now. I just feel like there is no fall out compared to powder shadows. I don’t even care about the bulky packaging. I’m in love!

  • Flaky

    I have purchased their eyeshadows and blushes. I can’t stress strongly enough how much I hate them both. The shadows were patchy, itchy and within less than an hour flaked off all over my face. The blushes were about the same, the wear for abut an hour on me. I tried them every which way with primers, without primers – brushes, sponges, finger tips – forget it. They were all a mess. And for all the hype about being so cheap, there isn’t that much product in the compact. I tried to write a negative review and they deleted it – so that tells me they are dishonest. The youtubers who gush about them are all paid with affiliate links, so i do not trust the integrity of anything they say. I won’t bother trying anymore of their products no matter what is said about them. There’s plenty to choose from out there. They won’t miss me and I won’t miss the,.

    • lizziejean3

      The eyeshadows are itchy on me too! Glad it’s not just me. My blushes have been fine. And I’ve only tried 1 lippie stix, which I do like.

  • Lorraine

    Colourpop, it’s hit and miss but way overhyped thanks to Youtube. The Lippie Stix is not worth it. The matte formula is not creamy at all. Compare to Maybelline’s Creamy Mattes it feels drying. The color doesn’t wear as long as NYX Matte Lipstick. I compared Colorpop Leather to NYX Aria half and half on my lips and despite it being a darker purple at first it ended up fading to the same lighter color, but more patchy and settled into lines. I still wore Leather to a concert just cause I wanted that dark purple but even with covering my entire lip with lip liner it still only wore 3 hours before needing retouching. Not impressed at all. The satin formula is better but not really creamy, it’s almost matte. For a creamy lipstick I prefer my Milanis. The formula I liked better was the sheer. But what really gets me is how some people say that it’s ok because they are inexpensive and have lots of color options. These are not drugstore lipsticks. Price per ounce is in the midrange. You get 1 gram for $5. Mac is 3g for $17 so not that much more expensive. When you compare it to real drugstore lipsticks that are usually 3-4 grams you can see it’s not cheap at all. Plus you can only get them online, so you have to buy multiple products on a single order and hope you like them. It’s not like you can just pay $5 for one to try like at the drugstore. The lots of options is on purpose, to get you to buy more. Some of the Lippie Stix are color dupes for the Ultra Mattes but they don’t name them the same so you’re tempted to buy both if you like a certain type of colors. A lot of the limited edition colors are almost the same with different names to tempt you to buy a new collection. I don’t think the price should excuse the poor formula.

  • Robin

    I’m team love for Colourpop!! I read reviews and watched YouTube, but what convinced me was a friend of mine wearing a ultra matte lippie and eating pizza. She kept dabbing her mouth and her lipstick stayed put! I finally asked her what she was wearing and so my obsession began. I have very fair skin (alpine rose by 100% pure is my skintone shade) so it doesn’t take a lot of product to work on my skintone, Birthday Suit blush, I wear everyday. Westie and brink are worn every week and have wonderful staying power. Eyeshadows, omg, this made me love cream shadows for the first time. I have oily lids and the color stays on my oily lids all day. They also blend well. Love the liners as well. Too Faced and Urban Decay smudge on me and don’t last, but Colourpop does. The ultra matte lip are a little dry for me, but not to the point where it’s uncomfortable. This line also lets me experiment with colors that are a little outside my normal routine. I can apply lightly for a softer daytime look. Th8s line is like fingerprint for adults. 🙂

  • Quinctia

    I’ve had fairly good luck with all of the Colourpop products I’ve tried. I don’t know if I was lucky in my shade selection, or the formulas just happen to be what works for me.

    My only complaint is that the gel eyeliner pencil I got wants to transfer a bit to the top lid…but only on one of my eyes! It’s a bit weird. So perhaps I just need to be a bit more mindful of what I do with my eyes immediately after application!

  • Zovesta

    It’s mostly hit for me, but some shades of their ultra matte lippies (1st Base!) were very drying for me. =( Also, they really aren’t that cheap… Love their eyeshadows, though! And their eyeliners are the best I’ve ever tried, by far.

  • J

    I have a few shadows and they are super glittery. I am a fan of sparkle , but goodness. I have to say that I’m not a fan of the fact that I can’t return things that do not work for me. I don’t think I will be doing any major orders anytime soon, but I do like what I ordered enough to use it and not trash it.

  • Carolyn2

    I purchased lippies but the colors didn’t look good on me. Formula was ok but didn’t wow me enough to purchase more to try to get the colors right.

    They seem really big in to glitter and mattes two things that I’m not in to…but I know they get rave reviews with tons of you tubers…and I think they innovate . Great price point, too.

  • Kristi

    I love CP! I’m not a huge fan of matte liquid lipsticks in general, but I have no issue with their regular lipsticks. My only complaint is that sometimes the colors are off…maybe it’s just me.

    I really don’t care about how much or how little you get….I hardly ever go through something, so $5 for me is great!

  • SLH

    Obligatory: Long time reader, first time commenter.

    I’ve only tried lip products from Colourpop. I really do like the Ultra Matte Liquid Lipsticks. I have zero complaints there. I’m not a big fan of the Lippie Stix though. I love matte lipstick like it’s my job. I feel like the Lippie Stix matte formula just stayed kind of creamy on me. It slid around my lips a lot and I ended up with a dark line along my bottom lip. Maybe I just got a bad batch or something.

    I kind of compare Colourpop to ELF in terms of quality. Things are either awesome or super disappointing. There is very little in between. When they hit, they REALLY hit, but there are a lot of misses as well.

    • Isabella Muse

      Interesting I never noticed, until you pointed this out, that they have disclaimers for not use around the eyes!

      • Rachel R.

        Some red eye pigments are not yet FDA approved for use around the eyes. Some people can have allergic reactions. The best thing with these types of shades is to test carefully and keep them out of your waterlines. They are safe for blushes.

        I have very sensitive eyes, and I haven’t had any trouble with CP’s or anyone else’s pigments.

  • AmberM

    I’m a fan. I love using the eye shadows as a soft eyeliner. The only product I’m disappointed in is the lip liner as I used my Grunge hard this fall and feel like it ran out too fast, which is shocking because I rarely run out of products. I usually tire of them first. However with the price being amazing, I don’t feel bad reordering.

  • Florence

    I have a love/hate relationship with ColourPop. I love the colour selection and the fun factor of their line. It’s always a risk choosing colors online without testing. It is misleading to think it’s inexpensive. There isn’t a lot of product especially in the lippie stix or eye liners. My main complaint (aside from the Canadian exchange rate and price of shipping), is the horrible shipping. It takes forever! Almost every order is either missing something or an item has broken on route (they are well packaged). Customer service is always responsive and everything is replaced.I keep saying I’m never ordering from them again until…all the pretty colours call my name!

  • Trysh

    The first time I tried the Lippie Stix, after hearing such amazing things about the smell, I was so disappointed because I got a lot of chemical undertones to them. That said, I love the blushes & highlights and am pretty much obsessed with the Ultra Metallic & Matte Shadows. I found the regular Metallic & Satin shades to be a little bit hit and miss on finish for me.

  • Sarah

    I. LOVE. COLOURPOP. Their eyeshadows are by far my favorite of any brand out there. So many of them are just so unique (ie cricket and bae) and different from other eyeshadows out there. I don’t care for their blush. I’ve bought a couple of them and I find them difficult to work with, using both my fingers or a stipple brush. Their highlighters are great, but you have to be careful because some of them contain glitter and I don’t care for that. Electric Slide is the most creamy gold highlighter I’ve ever used. I’m not a huge lipstick fan, so I don’t buy very many lippies. However, the ones I do have that I love are Whip (sheer) and Boogie (satin luxe). I haven’t tried their gel liners but the gel pots are absolutely amazing. They are creamy, super easy to apply, and stay on all day without budging. I haven’t tried their bronzers or ultra matte lips so I can’t speak to those.

  • Leza

    I feel CP is hit or miss. I really enjoy the eyeshadows but my only draw back is that I don’t reach for them as much as other eyeshadows and palettes. I think the idea of the individual pots take more time for me to come up with a look and having about 15-20 of them I feel like I don’t get much use out of them. Now the lip products are where I find the misses. I have several lippie stix of varying formulas and several matte liquid lipsticks. I have found a few misses in the formula of the lippie stix. I have the color Oh Snap which I love, but it starts to create that gross white line on my bottom inner lip after a while. I haven’t had any luck with the matte liquids. They are all very drying and sink into every line on my lips. I love the colors but I find the formula horrible and drying. I have not tried any of the blushes but the one highlighter I have in Wisp is really pretty. I’m always leery to try more products from them but they keep coming out with new stuff that is really tempting.

  • Jennifer

    I own more Colourpop than I think one person should. I honestly rarely reach for their lippies. The matte’s are too drying for me, but I do like the satin finish. I really like the eyeshadows, all of the different types. But my HG from is their eyeliners. I love everything about the pencil liners. I only have one of their gel pots because thats a product in general i don’t reach for often, but i do like it. I think there is really great color payoff. I find that the pencils stay on my waterline(i haven’t tried the metallics and probably wont..you know..metallic near my cornea). Puppy is one of the prettiest colored liners out there, in my opinion.

  • blee

    Muse, sorry I’m late to this. I ordered them back in the end of Jan, and also ordered some MAC lip sticks from Flamingo Park. The colors did not last as long as the MAC ones but their were nice. The blush was great but my eye color was not from Color Pop. When I used it in the crease the color washed out and was little muddy with the shimmer let behind. 🙂

  • Tina

    I love some of ColourPop. The bad: their lip products. I bought a few and they broke on me, the formula was awful, and they were like glue on my lips. It was weird. The good: their eyeshadows! I love all that I have, which is quite a few. The only problem I have with them is the metallic tend to have A LOT of fall out. I have to wear my Too Faced glitter primer when I wear them. That said, I got the Kathleen Lights “night” collection recently and they are all metallic and have no fall out whatsoever. So maybe they’ve fixed that problem? I hope so! I also have a couple of their highlighters and blushes and I like them okay. The formula, to me, works better for the highlighters than the blushes. I feel like blushes need to be more blendable, but the highlighters are kind of a precision application so the formula works more for them.

  • Kimberly

    I am absolutely CRAZY about all of the lip products! I’ve gone a little nutso ordering colors, and I love all of the ones I’ve purchased. Also, all of the formulas seem to work for me, and also, sometimes I do layer a gloss over the matte formulas–but it really isn’t necessary, just a preference. I’m loving the color selection and the price. I probably won’t purchase anything else in the line, but I think I WILL continue ordering the lip products!

  • Rachel R.

    I think ColourPop is mostly a hit. Their eyeshadows are fantastic, and IMHO live up to the hype. Theirs is the only cream formula that lasts on my oily lids. The blushes and highlighters are great, too. The Lippie Stix and lip liners are hits for me. I don’t find them dry at, but very creamy. I don’t have dry lips, though.

    I think the Ultra Matte Liquid Lippies are way over-hyped. I ordered a half dozen, and found the quality of the formula varied greatly from shade to shade. Trap, which everyone seems to love, makes my lips look shriveled. Dr. M, on the other hand, is the best teal lipstick I’ve ever used, and the formula is excellent. The other shades I got fell in-between. I decided not to buy any more.

    I haven’t tried the new eyeliners yet.

  • Stef

    I’ve tried a few of their products, mostly lip colors. The one eyeshadow I have is I Heart This, a now discontinued glittery metallic. I’ve only tried applying it with my finger and I have no complaints. It stays put without primer, doesn’t have fallout of any sort, and is true to pan in color. I might purchase another metallic shade but I am not confident about trying their mattes eyeshadows. The matte blushes are really nice and practically goof-proof when applied with a stippling brush. The matte lippie stix definitely drag on the lips during application. In terms of comfort, wear, opacity, and matte finish I do like them more than some other matte lipsticks I’ve tried. I reach for them more often than I do the KVD mini lipsticks. My biggest issue is consistency with product color. The Ultra Matte in Bumble looks nearly crimson on me when applied with the doe foot and I’ve seen it as more of a peachy color in other swatches, including those on their web store. The one creamy lippie stix (Bound) I have is smooth, richly textured, and opaque. Unfortunately, it has a dye that stains my lips pink and in the process, transforms the lipstick from a pink nude (it is described as such on their website) to a cotton candy pink. So now I have to find a nude brown lipliner to use as a barrier and make that discoloration less obvious. My opinion is that they should alert customers on each shade page as to whether the shade can stain lips. It might be desirable for some of their brighter shades, but it’s not something I want out of a neutral color. I don’t see the hype as a bad thing; it’s likely due to their social media presence and the attention they pay to aesthetics in developing themselves as a brand. I know they’re a relatively young company so I’d like to see them continue to grow and improve with their success.

  • brooke

    The positives far outweigh the negatives. Definitely a hit for me!! I’m in love with their eye shadows and lippie stix.. and you can’t beat the price.

  • Noelle

    I ordered 3 shadows,1 lippie stix, 1lipliner, 1matte liquid lip, 1 bronzer, 2 blush.

    The lip products I ordered were the “hits” for me. I didn’t find them very drying if my lips were well moisturized to start with. If I didn’t use some sort of balm, the lippie stix did drag across my lips. The liner and liquid lip were up to par. Nothing spectacular, but I don’t regret purchasing them.

    The Bronzer I’m on the fence about. It’s an “o-k” product, but I feel I have to use a ton of it.

    The misses for me were the blush and shadow. No matter how much I put I can’t get the color to show up. Perhaps I picked the wrong color selection. The shadows as well. I applied a ton it and I had very little color payoff. When I did get some color it faded very quickly. I’ve used a brush and my fingers, but to no avail.

    I will continue to use the bronzer and lip products, but I will be giving the blush and 2/3 shadows away. =(