Best matte red lip colour ever? Lime Crime Velvetines

Hello all!

I may have found THE best red lip colour ever, but I feel a bit guilty about it.

For years there has been a lot of drama in the beauty world about Lime Crime. I don't need to mention why here because there are lots of posts on Google about it so I'll leave it there. That said, I'd read enough evidence over the years from sources I trust for me to swear off them fo' lyfe. Until I saw swatches of this lip colour, and revealed myself to be a giant hypocrite.

They looked so good. Damn.

I'm not usually one to jump aboard a bandwagon. If the bloggersphere is raving on about something it makes me want to head in the opposite direction, even if things look OMG-ERMERZIN. Me no sheepie. However, after thinking about this product long and hard, I decided to buy it, and I don't regret it, even though it makes me feel a little dirty.

Cue scowly faced full-face shot for reference.

I bought this from Love Makeup at the reduced price of £10.50 (now £11.50.) You get 3g in a frosted glass container with a metal lid.

It's very wet like a lipgloss when you first apply it, which dries completely to a matte finish in about a minute.

While it dries I find myself pouting like a porn star between appendages as it feels a little bit sticky in the corners of my mouth (stop laughing!) Once it has dried it's totally matte and I can't feel I'm wearing it at all. Although it LOOKS like my lips are dried out, that's just the product settling into my fine lines. My lips don't feel dry during or after wear at all. I've been wearing this almost every day for a week and my lips don't feel any drier than normal, and I'm not an obsessive lip balm user, so my lips aren't exactly plump and juicy to start with. Even IF it did make my lips dry, I'd be quite happy to supplement them with some lip balm as this is a red which turns heads. It gives me a mouth made for sin. ;)

Wear time for me varies on different parts of my lips. The colour on the outer parts of my lips lasts all day long, but the inner parts do need a touch up after I've eaten or had a drink, and if I bite into something and my lips graze my hands, the colour does transfer from the centre part. Like when nomming on burgers, for instance.

Long story short, it's a great red which wears long and will make people stare at you in a way which will make you feel slightly violated. Scowl at them in a fierce manner and move on so you can spread your fabulous all over town. A major bonus and selling point for me is this is a cruelty free product. Yass, no bunnies hurt to aid my sass.

Despite my feelings about Lime Crime, I've considered buying a back up of this as I can't imagine life my lips without it now.

Have you ever thrown out your standards for a product you just couldn't resist? If so, how do you deal with the guilt?! Haaaalp.

I deal with it by looking in the mirror and pouting at myself. It's hard to feel guilty when you look fabulous.

Thanks for reading.

EDIT 2015: Lime Crime's recent scandal where they didn't pay for a security setting on their site leading to loads of people having their financial details stolen means I'm off Lime Crime for good. No more new purchases!