Meet the Purrr-fect Barbie Pink Lip Pencil

My beloved MAC Pink Nouveau stub.

 You guys know I love my hot pinks and bright pinks. But just awhile back, it suddenly hit me that I couldn't find a good strong, bright medium pink liner to match these lipsticks.

Most pink lip liners on the market are either too pale, too nude, too beige, too red, too coral, or too deep.

MAC Pink Nouveau swatched beside liners (R-to-L): NYX Dolly Pink (pale blue-pink), Rimmel 018 Addiction (nude-pink),  Rimmel 005 Pure (coral), NYX Fuchsia (blue-based magenta), MAC Chromagraphic in Process Magenta (true fuchsia)

To illustrate it, I lined up the pink pencils I own and swatched them all beside Pink Nouveau. No go.

After searching high and low through high- and low-end brands, I was amazed that all these companies (MAC, Make Up Store, NYX, etc,) with huge color ranges didn't cater for this particular color tone when it was so popular.

And then I found it.

Barry M has a lip pencil called #12 Fuchsia, which I had dismissed time and time again because the color representation online was totally inaccurate, and because I associate the word "Fuchsia" with a much deeper pink.

Shown here: Barry M #12 Fuchsia Lip Pencil (and China Glaze Sea Spray Nail Polish)

Now let me tell you, this is not a perfect match. But it is the closest to perfect that I have EVER found.

Lip match: MAC Pink Nouveau lipstick swatched with Barry M #12 Fuchsia Lip Pencil

If you own Pink Nouveau, you will know it's a bright pink, but it's not quite neon. The real perfect matches with Barry M #12 Fuchsia Lip Pencil are the more fluorescent pinks such as Lime Crime Countessa Fluorescent and Barry M 62 Vibrant Pink. If you're wearing it with a slightly softer shade like Pink Nouveau or Dolly Pink, make sure to fill in your lips rather than just outlining them, as you don't want it to catch the light when a camera flashes and give you a neon ring around your mouth (tried and tested by yours truly).

Texture wise, it's smooth and pigmented to apply, and when you color in your lip with it, the color is not streaky or clumpy. It's also vegan-friendly, and costs a very fabulous £2.99. I totally stocked up on it.

Barry M 146 Dolly Pink Lip Paint (Swatch and Review)

Barry M Dolly Pink Lip Paint close-up.

This is THAT pink.
Yeah, you know. The one that is soft, bright, girly, and yet a little bit rebellious all at the same time. The one that looks so scary, but seems to work with every skin tone. MAC Pink Nouveau will always be the queen of bright doll pinks to me, but there are a few worthy dupes or alternatives.

If you want a creamy version of MAC's Pink Nouveau or NYX Summer Breeze, Barry M 146 Dolly Pink is the color for you.

Swatches (L-to-R): MAC Pink Nouveau Satin Lipstick, NYX Summer Breeze Matte Lipstick,  and Barry M 146 Dolly Pink Lip Paint.

As you can see above, the shades are extremely similar. Barry M Dolly Pink is a little more expensive than NYX, but still a very affordable lipstick. NYX Summer Breeze is the warmest, MAC Pink Nouveau in-between, and Dolly Pink is a touch more blue than the other two (which makes it pop more as there is more contrast with your skin), so if you're afraid of very blue pinks, this is not a good shade for you.

I'd liken the texture to a MAC Amplified Creme Lipstick, as it's very high-intensity but still has a creamy sheen. In terms of opacity, it is not as dense and pigmented as Barry M 62 Vibrant Pink or 52 Shocking Pink.
 In fact, compared to those 2 lipsticks, Dolly Pink needs just a little more work to even out as it has a bit more "slip", and pressing your lips together can shift and smear the coverage. But it's nothing I can't live with if I very lightly blot with a single-ply sheet of tissue to take away some of the emollients.

I'd say the wear is average, which is expected for a creamy lipstick, but it more or less survived half a burger, fries, soda and ice-cream to boot, although it did not cling on as evenly as denser lipsticks like Pink Nouveau or Shocking Pink.

It's no longer summer for many of you, but you don't NEED a season to wear beautiful pinks. 

Weekend Hot Pink: NYX Cancun Pink Black Label Lipstick

NYX Cancun Pink is a bright, blue-based pink that is creamy, pigmented, and (to me) extremely beautiful. While some love has been shown to Hot Pink from the same Black Label range as a creamy version of MAC Candy Yum Yum, Cancun Pink is more opaque.

The bonus is that it also does not stain the lips the way NYX Hot Pink and Candy Yum Yum do.

L-to-R: NYX Paris, NYX Cancun Pink, MAC Pink Nouveau

At just under $5 from Beautyjoint.com, it's definitely more expensive than the round lipsticks, but then this has been one of my favorite NYX purchases to date, and I think it would look wicked regardless of whether you have uber-pale or very deep skin tone. 

Duping MAC Pink Nouveau

Top-to-Bottom: MAC Pink Nouveau, NYX Matte Summer Breeze, and  Etude House  VIP Girl PK009

If you don’t have access, or don’t want to pay so much for MAC’s Pink Nouveau, but want a bright pink, here are 2 quick options.

NYX Summer Breeze matte lipstick and Etude House VIP Girl PK009.

Note they are not 100% dupes. I’d say they are about 90-95% similar. Both are a twinge less blue-toned than Pink Nouveau, so if you are attracted to true pinks, but find Pink Nouveau a tad too “cool”, try these other two.

Texture wise, NYX Summer Breeze is MUCH closer to the satin finish of the MAC but with a faint touch more peach in the base. The Etude House lipstick is glossy in texture, so you won't get that full-on opaque doll-pink mouth as you would with the NYX and MAC versions. If you have dry lips, or don’t like a matte finish, get this.

Cost wise, NYX wins. The Etude House lipstick might possibly be cheaper if you’re in South Korea (but then I can't say for sure). It’s a little marked up in other parts of the world. But if you are just buying ONE lipstick though, getting PK-009 from your local Etude might be cheaper than footing the shipping cost for NYX.