Matte liquid lipsticks still seem to be going strong, but recently the market has been popping up with a lot of super glossy, highly pigmented lip lacquers as well. Recently mark. released a collection of lip paints that are available in 4 shades of each finish, with each collection containing shades ranging from very wearable to very outside the box that promise to be more intense than a lipstick and more saturated than a gloss with built in primer.  

For my review of the mark. Pout Vinyl & Velvet Lip Paints*, keep reading!

Let's start with the mark. Pout Vinyl Lip Paints*, shall we? The first thing that struck me with these is really just how incredibly pigmented they are. One dip is plenty to cover the lips in full on colour. I do find that the strong pigment can be a little bit difficult to apply when it comes to the more bold shades in the collection and I would definitely recommend pairing these with a lip liner to keep them from bleeding. 

On the lips, I find that these are really smooth and comfortable and I don't particularly find them sticky at all, which I absolutely love. I find the wear time to be about what you would expect from a product that is super glossy, in that the shine wears down more quickly than the colour but overall you will definitely need to reapply. 

Top: Cozy (petal pink), Shocking (electric fuchsia) 

Bottom: Glamour (cherry red), Covet (deep aubergine)

Cozy is a true baby pink shade that I personally think would work best on blondes, but blended a little bit into the lips I actually found it fairly flattering on me. Not necessarily a shade that I would normally gravitate towards, but quite pretty. Shocking is definitely my favorite of all of the shades. It's a true neon fuchsia shade that just screams summer to me. Might be a little bit intimidating to wear, but I personally think it's stunning and bold in all the right ways. Glamour is what I think of as a classic pin up red. It's got a strong cherry tone to it that I think would look amazing with really simple makeup on the rest of the face. Covet was my least favorite of the bunch. It's really deep and vampy, but on my skintone it can be really hard to get those kinds of shades to apply evenly, particularly around the outer rim of my lips. On a deeper skintone, though, this could be really gorgeous. 

Now onto the mark. Pout Velvet Lip Paints*, which were always going to be my preferred finish of these two collections. Again, I really can't say enough good things about how pigmented these products are. When you apply them, it's simply one swipe and you have full colour. I find that with these mattes, you don't have to worry as much about a lip liner because there's just less slip to the formula than the glossy ones and I didn't struggle to get a crisp line with the doe foot applicator.

The texture of these lip paints is really quite moussey and I don't feel like they ever completely set to a budge proof finish. That said, I do find that they wear similarly to the way a bullet style matte lipstick would - not quite so long as a liquid lipstick that really sets but generally more long wearing than a lot of other things. My only issue with these, really is that they can be a little bit drying, so I would recommend prepping your lips with a balm before application.

Top: Quiet (nude beige), Fancy (rich berry)

Bottom: Fantasy (electric purple), Spark (bright red-orange)

On my skintone, Quiet doesn't quite work without the help of a slightly deeper, slightly more pink lip liner. This shade is very, very pale and very very beige and I feel like it has that unfortunate deadening effect on my fair skin. I'm not sure how this type of shade would work on other skintones, but if you like a very beige nude you might be into this. Fancy is probably my favorite shade, but my least favorite for formula. I found that it comes off a little bit patchy and can take some work to get it full opaque. That said, it 100% worth it for me because the berry shade is just downright stunning. Fantasy, it has to be said, is Barney Purple and not really a shade that I'd personally reach for often, but I think this shade will knock it out of the park for someone who really loves a bold, unconventional lip colour. The formula on this one is pretty great. Finally, Spark is probably my favorite shade overall, especially for summer. The formula is really easy to apply with full opacity and the colour is bold and spicy while still really feeling wearable to me. I've finally gotten into more orange-toned red lips and this one is a killer.

Overall, for me, I think these are really great formulas if the finish is what you're into. Personally, a really glossy lip has never really been my thing, but as glossy formulas go the Pout Vinyl Lip Paint is really great and doesn't have that uncomfortable stickiness that some other glossy lip formulas have. The Pout Velvet Lip Paints are really what wins it for me though. I like the feel of them on the lips (as long as I prep with balm) and the pigmentation is just so out of this world that they're pretty dreamy to work with. I really hope that mark. decides to formulate more shades in this formula, because I would love a wider selection to choose from. 

The mark. Pout Vinyl & Velvet Lip Paints* are available from your local Avon representative. Check out Avon.ca or Avon.com for more info!

Thanks for reading!