Lipstick Queen Mystery Chinatown Pencil Review & Swatches

Lipstick Queen Chinatown Glossy Pencil in Mystery ($20)

Some weeks back Gilt had a Lipstick Queen sample sale, so naturally I hauled a few items including this Lipstick Queen Chinatown pencil.  This line isn’t too widely carried (I’ve pretty much only seen it at Barney’s), which is a small tragedy considering all the fun items they make, but I was more than happy to pick up this pencil for only $12!  

Lipstick Queen’s Chinatown pencils are sheer, moisturizing glosses in an easy-to-use draw-on pencil form and Mystery was love at first swipe for me.  Check out the full review and more photos after the jump!

So what’s to love?  Well pretty much everything – my inner child loves cosmetics that come in big fat pencil form – maybe I feel like I’m being naughty and drawing on my face, maybe it makes me think of coloring books and crayons – either way, there’s just something so pure and innocent about it all :).  And to top it all off, the Chinatown pencils come boxed with their own fat pencil-appropriate sharpener, meaning you won’t have to go hunting all over the place for something that’ll be the perfect fit.  Gotta love it when cosmetics companies take practicalities into consideration for us!

The formula is sheer so if you’re looking for color that’ll pack a punch, look away.  If, on the other hand, you’re looking for a lightweight, semi-sheer kiss of color with a glossy finish minus the stickiness of a conventional gloss, you’ve found your product.  

Mystery looks to be a dark, vampy, kinda scary shade of deep purpley brown, but on the lips it’s this gorgeous berry stain reminiscent of the “I just had a popsicle” look.  It’s a subtle look with buildable pigmentation, and a great option for those who’ve to add a little non-scary color to their makeup arsenals. 

Please ignore the splotchiness in the lip swatch – these photos were taken awhile back and I’d actually just burned my lip (long story short I bit into an extremely hot dumpling that dripped scalding liquid onto my lip, resulting in several raised welts).  

So while the Lipstick Queen Chinatown pencils aren’t the longest lasting (non-sticky = not too long wearing) as I’d say they disappears in about an hour or two, they really do make for some good clean fun and are definitely a nice addition to my lippie collection. 

I purchased this product myself as I’ve been dying to own some Lipstick Queen for years now.  Next on my list of things to do – to meet Lipstick Queen creator Poppy King, who I’ve heard as absolutely AMAZING and seriously just a gem of a person.