Buxom Plumpline lip liners in 'Espionage' and 'Mystery'
I've written a review of one of these lip liners before, but in case you haven't read it, I'll paraphrase it briefly here. The plump lines from Buxom are a chubby stick that you can use as a liner or a lipstick. They are completely matte, and also comfortable to wear. They come with a brush built in to one end, so you can smooth out the product and avoid any patchiness. My preferred way to use them is as a straightforward lipstick, and they work excellently in that regard, with no fading, feathering, or bleeding. The plumplines are very similar to Nars velvet matte lip pencil but are much easier to sharpen and unlike with Nars, you don't end up sharpening your very expensive product into the bin.
My only gripe with these products is the silver lettering on the pencil wears off in a matter of minutes, and it makes it really hard to read what shade name you're using, and makes the actual product look shabby. If much cheaper makeup brands can make fade-proof packaging I don't see why Buxom can't.
I picked up two new shades recently. The first is Espionage. (Man, whoever was in charge of naming these pencils really picked a theme and ran with it!)
Espionage is described on the website as a blue-red. I would say it's more of a cool, pink-toned red. It leans almost berry on me. It's a gorgeous, rich colour and matches almost any makeup look.
The second shade I acquired is 'Mystery' as I wanted to test out one of their berry shades. I didn't swatch Mystery before I bought it, but the website described the shade as a plum. This I completely disagree with. I would describe Mystery as a blackened cherry. It's in the same colour family as Espionage but obviously darker. There is no patchiness at all upon application, which can be a problem for darker shades, and it wears as excellently as the others. I really like this shade and will be getting a lot of wear out of it in the upcoming colder months.
Here you can see both shades swatched next to each other. Espionage on the left and Mystery on the right.
Buxom are on to a really good thing with their plumplines, although the name seems to confuse a lot of people. The lip formula itself doesn't plump your lips, it's more the liner effect that can make your lips appear larger. Personally I couldn't give a monkeys, plumping or not, I love the unusual shade selection and the long-wearing formula. I will absolutely be picking up another shade or two to try.