Review: More Clinique Pop Lip Colours (Bare Pop, Ruby Pop, Icon Pop)

Hi everyone!

It’s about time I shared these, for the first review of 2019!

You all know I love and ADORE the Clinique Pop Lip Colour in Cherry, which is plush and comfortable and stains beautifully. So, I bought this set of minis, including a spare Cherry Pop, during the Boxing Day sales in 2017. I didn’t get around to using them until late 2018, and I think I’m finally ready to give a verdict on them.

I like that the base of the packaging matches the bullet colour. These lipsticks go at the front of my lipstick storage rack so I can store them upright and still see the colour, but if you’re storing them in drawers it may be best to store them upside down in order to see the colour you are choosing more clearly.

 

Here’s a link to my little post gushing about Cherry Pop. I will hold back from gushing about it even more and focus on the other three shades that are new to me!

Bare Pop is a subtle light nude that shimmers. It’s comparable to Rikugien of the NARS satin lip pencil line so, if you prefer a bullet lipstick, this might be up your street. Unfortunately for its name, I think it’s *too* bare and I don’t really reach for it. However, when I do it’s to add it on top of a deeper nude to add interest, or to look like I am wearing nothing which is almost never.

Ruby Pop is a quite bright red. It is in the matte part of the collection, and this shade is delightfully summery. I think I can imagine this at a beach party or festival of sorts. That said, I wore it to work during the late summer to really feel those vibes.

Icon Pop is a delightful deep red, not dark enough to register as burgundy but it’s a delightfully rich shade that I think is very flattering. There are two photos of it below and the bottom one better expresses how this shade translates in real life.

The matte collection is interesting – like the original line, they are vivid in colour, glide across, stay put and are fairly smoothing and forgiving, but there is something about mattes that make you look like more effort has been put in other than just slapping on a lippie.

The matte colours are great in their own right – however, I just don’t reach for them over Cherry Pop. Most likely because I don’t really wear mattes anymore. BUT I have been wearing a lot more red lips recently so hopefully I use them a bit more over the coming months. If not, I’ll have to pass them on to a new home.

Bare Pop is definitely being put on the rehome pile, and I might keep Icon pop if it were not for the fact I own a few similar shades already. I am also particularly torn over whether I’d wear Ruby Pop a lot in future.

This is one of those occasions where buying a whole set of lipsticks just doesn’t work out. I expected at least one total dud (which is Bare Pop for me) but that the other reds are also not wowing me is a little disappointing. Maybe it’s just that Cherry Pop made me hold the entire range to a really high standard, or that my tastes changed between buying and using the set as I definitely lean away from mattes now.

Another reason I am unlikely to buy these lipsticks again – even Cherry Pop – is the fact that the Clinique brand isn’t cruelty-free which docks them of points in my book these days (it was not a priority to me this time last year). But if that is a lower-priority criterion for you, I’d still pick the regular Clinique Colour Pop lipsticks over the matte ones. They’re a great, foolproof range.

So, long story short, these newer lipsticks and I obviously sort of get along but we aren’t each other’s types… if that makes sense at all.

Until next time,

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