Jade in The Palace: Trend It Up Ultra Matte Lipstick

One of my new year's resolutions is to buy less and pay more attention to quality instead of quantity. But some drugstore products are sometimes really good and more than just another cheap thrills. These new lipsticks from Trend It Up are good examples.

Trend it Up is an in house brand from DM , a drugstore chain in Germany. The brand focused on lip products ( lip liners, lipsticks, lip glosses, liquid lipsticks ) and nail polishes. The display is small but well packed and simply- sleek decorated. I had never really paid attention to the brands, but a friend of mine told me they have great matte lipsticks, so on one day where I needed to visit DM for household supply, I was being naughty and did few swatches that led to a purchase xD.

Trend it Up matte lipsticks are housed in a sleek black case. There is nothing fancy about the packaging, but it's weighty and functions really well. The case also doesn't feel flimsy or cheap.

I opted for 2 shades ; #020 and #090. They look kind of similar on the hand swatches above, but IRL they're very different. #020 is a medium rose-y pink shade that resemblances Tom Ford Pussycat a lot, only #020 is warmer and less mauve-y. #090 is a deep reddish pink that looks pink under sun light and looks red under dim light ( I know, it's crazy right? lol ). The lipsticks don't have any names, only number which is slightly annoying and harder to remember.

I didn't have a lot of expectations for these lipsticks but they really surprised me in a positive way. The texture is creamy - a bit waxy but still glides on smoothly and effortlessly. The finish is velvet matte, not über dry matte which I prefer because I just can't be friend with this ultra matte liquid lipstick trend. They just don't look good on me and make my lips looking like they haven't had any contact with lip balm for years xD. I like that these Trend It Up matte lipsticks don't accentuate my lip lines and are very comfortable on the lips. I usually can only wear matte lipstick for a few hours but these are so comfortable and hydrating that I sometimes forget I am having matte lipstick on.

My favorite matte lipstick ever is so far the Tom Ford matte lipsticks, but they are unfortunately not very friendly for the wallet, so I am glad that I found a very good alternative for the Tom Ford ones for a fraction of the price.

#020