That Tom Ford is a perfectionist is obvious. Maybe this is why everything he touches turn to gold. I mean, look at A Single Man – his first directorial debut – the clothes were beautiful, the cinematography was impeccable; the entire movie was super stylish.
It seems that there’s nothing that this (very handsome) designer can’t do – this was the guy who put Gucci back on the fashion map (and no, it had nothing to do with advertising Louis Pedersens’ pubes stripped to a “G”), and made Daniel Craig look hot in his suits in Quantum of Solace. Tom Ford gave us the fabulous Whitney sunnies (the ones that Angelina Jolie loves), and created the perfect Oriental perfume in Tobacco Vanille.
And now, he has given us the ultimate lipstick. Private Blend Lip Color was launched in the US in June, and I got lucky because a friend was in New York City at that time. Of course, Tom Ford is all about luxury, nothing he does is cheap. So my lip colour cost me USD45.
Painful, I know. But you know what – I love this so much I’m looking at buying a second colour!
It really is that good.
Before I continue, please let me address an issue – I’ve had readers write suggesting that I start swatching the make-up that I talk about. The thing is, I’m not just horrible at that, but more importantly, I don’t believe that swatching a lip colour on my hands truly reflects the colour of the lipstick – simply because my hand and my lips aren’t the same colour. And we all have different coloured lips to begin with, some are darker than others, some are pink, some even a maroon. Ultimately, the red I wear will not end up looking the same on your lips. In fact, I have a friend who tried on Lover, and it became a dark pink on her! All because of her more pigmented lips.
Anyway, back to this fabulous lipstick.
My shade is called Cherry Lush. And here’s the perfect example of what I’m talking about. If you read reviews on this colour, plenty of girls out there describe it as a true opaque red. And yes, it looks it in the picture too. But you know what, on my (rather pink) lips, the colour fades with to a bright pink. So it isn’t too much of a cherry on me.
No matter, because my goodness, everything about this lipstick is just right. For starters, it smells faintly of vanilla. And the packaging is beautiful, all white with gold trim in an elegant square tube. It has the perfect weight too – not too heavy and not too light, it feels luxurious! You know how sometimes you get a product that looks all luxurious and weighty, but is disappointingly light? Nothing of that here – because Tom Ford said so.
Then there’s the formula, very pigmented, and creamy – although it doesn’t glide on as well as I would have imagined. In fact, I always end up having to be a little careful during application because I don’t want to break the bullet – this is one bloody expensive lipstick, you know?
Once you have it on, it feels nice and light. The texture gives off a slightly satin finish that isn’t shimmery. It just glistens nicely. And after a couple of hours, there is minimal bleeding, and my lips are still well moisturised, and the colour is well preserved. When it does fade, it does it evenly to a more matte finish.
This is a lipstick for grown-ups. The red makes for very full and luscious wear – heck, this lipstick was made for this blog!
So thank you, Tom Ford. Here’s to more fabulous colours!
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