The Ghoul Next Door🎀

I started dipping my toe into Asian beauty products during 2020 when I went on a bit of a Korean skincare binge (we all had our ways of coping, that was mine). The skincare obsession gradually became a makeup obsession, and because some sites that sell K-beauty products also carry C-beauty, I started to get interested in those, too. It’s a little intimidating if you don’t read the language to branch out, so I thought it would be helpful to post swatches and reviews of my lip collection.

Flortte (China) attracted me with the packaging but I am quickly falling in love. The Lip Cream is so satiny soft on my skin that I enjoy the feel of it even though the color comes off pretty quickly. It’s a bit too pink to read as a true nude on my skin, but it might work for cooler tones. The Lip Lacquer is truly amazing though, once it’s dried down a bit it stays in place through anything I put it through. The color is flattering for light warm olive skin. Highly recommend.

I’d been seeing these little Peripera (South Korea) lip creams for a long time before I bit the bullet last year, and I’m glad I did. It’s pretty affordable and I really like the fall tone of the Cinnamon Nude color here.

I bought this 3CE (South Korea) lip tint mainly because of the packaging collab with TOILETPAPER design. It’s become one of my most-used reddish lip colors, and even though it’s more expensive than most of the others on this list, I recommend it for sure.

This HYNTOOR (China) shade was disappointing to me. Online, the swatch of 009 looks very purpley but in person it’s a very warm, orangey brown. I’m not sure how the color looks SO different from online–I even double-checked it was the right color. It feels good on my lips and looks fine but it’s not what I wanted and the color doesn’t last compared to the other lip products on this list.

Girlcult (China) is one of my favorite C-beauty makeup brands to follow, because they don’t play it safe. Even though they have plenty of neutral options, there are loads of wilder, punkier shades and textures to try out. The lip glaze in M61 is a great soft goth/grunge lip look, since it’s dark enough to be a dramatic “black” lip (on my skin anyway) but because it’s actually a very deep plummy brown it’s much softer for people who feel like true black is too harsh. It blots out more purpley, so IMO it’s not a “true” nude for very deep skin. The staying power is good once it dries down.

If you haven’t made the leap into Chinese and Korean makeup yet, I hope this has helped inspire you! If you have, I’d love to know what other people recommend (and especially how I can fill my need for that warm purple lip color).