My HERA Rouge Holic Collection Lip Swatches

HERA is one of the edgiest brands to come out of Seoul, and their Black Cushion is by far one of my favorite cushions for hot weather or oilier skins. They've launched 34 trendy Rouge Holic lipsticks at the Takashimaya counter in Singapore, and these are divided into 2 textures; cream and matte.

Here are 10 bestsellers, lip swatched for reference. It's a pain to swatch so many lipsticks in a row but I personally love watching lip swatch vids, so maybe someone else will find some pleasure in this LOL.

Cream shades featured

277 Lala Orange - creamy tangerine with a slight pink undertone once swatched.
112 Killing Pink - bright doll pink with a coral hue; more wearable than I was expecting.
247 Stunning Coral - stunning is right; this is more of a coral with MLBB beige/neutral tones thrown in. Extremely flattering.
297 Flame - gorgeous bright orange; total love.
327 Tempting Cherry - lovely wearable rich raspberry shade right between pink and red.

Matte shades featured

155 Rote Rosa - rosy grown-up brown-tinged pink that is ultra flattering.
345 Carmen - brown-based rich red that is going straight in my purse.
282 Sunrise - bright matte orange with a milky base that makes it almost neon.
098 Double Wine - vampy burgundy brown; not for the faint of heart.
154 Pink Suit - gorgeous deep mauve that isn't too brown or too cool.

I'm a fan of matte lipsticks in general but I have to say I was pleasantly seduced by the creams. All of them were smooth and balmy to wear and didn't settle into lines or look uneven. The mattes are the sort of texture that are perfect for doing blurred edges and ombres, but the dark shade Double Wine can go on slightly patchier, grabbing in certain areas more than others, and takes a bit more work to pat and even out.

Of course, if you want the most intense color payoff, the mattes are the ones to go for.

These all have a sweet, slightly odd scent; somewhere between edible and perfumey. I'm hard pressed to describe it. The scent is pretty strong but not sickening (at least to me). I also sometimes get peeling lips after wearing certain lipstick formulas, but my lips stayed comfortable and smooth with these. The mattes are obviously slightly drying after an hour or two, but not badly compared to some others. Korean and Japanese matte lip formulas tend to prioritize a lightweight feel and smooth comfort over opacity, although the HERA Rouge Holic Mattes I tried are all impressively opaque.