Let’s talk about lips. Guardians of secrets, proselytizers of love, life, and laughter, gatekeepers for food and drink…and sometimes you even put makeup on them to change the color! Oh my! This concludes my attempt to be interesting and attention-grabbing for the intro of this post because let’s face it, I’m not as quirky as I think I am. Ha!
Last Monday morning a lovely little package arrived at the door from Haus Laboratories – aka Haus Labs. I knew it was coming through the wondrous powers of the internet and smart delivery information stuff. Inside the small envelope was SIX of Haus Labs’ brand new Le Monster Matte Lip Crayons.
FTC Disclaimer: I did receive these in the mail, by the brand, but this post is not sponsored – I just wanted to share my thoughts about the lip crayons. The links to Amazon are affiliate links wherein I do make a TINY commission on the sale if you choose to purchase through the links. All opinions and photos are 100% my own. If you have any questions, please reach out to me via my CONTACT page or check out my DISCLOSURE page for some FAQs.
HAUS LABS’ LE MONSTER MATTE LIP CRAYONS
Price: $18.00 USD each
Includes: 1.4g of product
Available: HausLabs.com and Amazon
Shades: 12
Released: February 18th, 2019
Packaging: Twist-up black plastic pencil component with cap and sharpener on the end.
Travel-Sized: Yes
Vegan/CF: Yes.
Lifespan/EXP: 12 months upon opening
Available Shades:
[ Shades in BOLD are the colors I received ]
- HOT ROD – Neon Pink
- 1950 – Pure Red
- MASTERED – Cherry Red
- FIRE ME – Dirty Orange
- DUST – Nude Pink
- MIAMI TANGO – Red Orange
- DESTROYER – Plum Berry
- PUSHER – Burgundy Wine
- TALK DIRTY – Nude Mauve
- POWER MOVE – Soft Rose
- REBEL – Pink Punch
- GREASER – Soft Fuchsia
This full-coverage, creamy formula strikes in one swipe with unexpected comfort and lightweight matte payoff, wrapping lips in smoother, fuller-looking color you can sink your teeth into.
Let’s start with the packaging – which is pretty on-brand for the rest of Gaga’s makeup line. See above for my Haus Labs stash. Black, sleek, and fairly minimalist. Each Le Monster Matte Lip Crayon has a lid, twist-up component where the product is stored, a label that includes the shade name and some product information, and color-matching nib at the end.
The lip crayons have a color-coded nib at the end of the barrel WHICH ALSO DETACHES TO REVEAL THE SHARPENER! I was wondering if there was a built-in component to help the product keep its shape and VOILA! there it was. Now, I must say that the sharpener on a few of the colors was a bit hard to remove, but that could be a good thing. The only downside to having the sharpener on the only piece that differentiates the colors from one another is that if you have multiple sharpeners off, you could easily misplace them on other crayons… if that makes sense.
Oh, and if you’re like me – be a little careful when removing the cap. I ended up taking the cap off at an angle and the tip of the lip color came off with it… this is why I can’t have nice things, apparently.
Now let’s talk formula:
The six colors that I’ve tried have all had the same creamy consistency when applying and have a matte to semi-matte finish when set. They are easy to apply to the lips and are buildable. I found that they are a medium coverage but can layer up to create a saturated look.
I noticed when I did layer this product on to get a full, opaque lip coverage – especially for the bolder shades like 1950 and Hot Rod, the lip crayon was slightly tacky on my lips. I don’t know how or why, but here’s me sharing my experience. The tackiness was reduced if I blotted my lips in between layers, so maybe it was just a buildup of the product? IDK.
Side note: I have Sjogren’s so my lips are perpetually dry – no matter how much lip balm, moisturizer, or exfoliate I use. I tend to stay away from “matte” lipstick formulations because I know that those tend to emphasize and further dry out my lips. I was a bit hesitant giving these a go, because of my lovely finicky lips, but I’m glad that I stepped out of my comfort zone.
—– SWATCHES —–
Thoughts:
Overall, these Le Monster Matte Lip Crayons are a great addition to Haus Labs’ line. They are pretty comfortable as far as matte formulas go and the color selection covers all the bases for a wide audience. Now, with that, I wish there were a few more… err… out-there colors. The Haus Labs line is a bit more understated than one would typically assume with a makeup line run by Lady Gaga. I guess this makes things more wearable to everyone as a whole…
The packaging component is a little tight to un-cap for both the product and the sharpener. And don’t take my word for it – I let my mom, Mr. Chaos, and my aunt give it a go and we all came to the same conclusion. On the plus side, it’s not going to accidentally un-cap itself in your bag – but you also run the risk of doing what I did which was taking off a chunk of product when I uncapped it. C’est la vie.
After swatching all six colors – my lips didn’t really like me that much… which is generally why I don’t do “lip swatches” in quick succession. Did you like how I filmed the lip swatch video? I’m trying out a few new things this year. Also, it should be known that I am very self-conscious about my lips/teeth area so doing a video that centers around it kinda makes me afraid to publish it. My teeth aren’t perfect and straight and my lips aren’t “Instagram-plumpy.” EH. If that makes sense?
Wear-test:
I did do a full 6-hour wear test on both Hot Rod, Talk Dirty, and Power Move. Both performed well, with minimal transfer during the day. As it is with all “matte” lipsticks that set, if you eat oily food, the colors will fade and transfer. Talk Dirty is pretty close to my natural lip shade so it faded the best, the second was Power Move and last was Hot Rod – mainly due to it being so bright and different than my lip color.
Favorite Colors:
Out of the six shades I received, it should come as no surprise that my two favorite colors are the two “neutral” shades – Talk Dirty and Power Move. Those are the ones that I will wear the most. The more orange-based colors, Miami Tango and Fire Me, while beautiful don’t really suit my undertones and they really bring out my lack of perfectly white teeth. I will still wear all of the colors for makeup looks, I’m sure, but for daily wear – Talk Dirty and Power Move win. I might pick up two other colors (Dust and Destroyer) one of these days because they also look interesting.
What was your favorite color that I swatched?
One of the cool things that came about with this little PR package was that I co-hosted a giveaway on my Instagram WITH Haus Labs! This was my first “co-hosted” giveaway with a big brand and it kind of gave me a bit of imposter syndrome, but overall there was a good response.
The downside to giveaways is that folks will follow to enter, and then as soon as the giveaway is over, they’ll unfollow. That’s partly why I don’t like doing giveaways. I want people to follow, subscribe, and become a member of the Chaos Community because they enjoy my content and weirdness… Such is the way of things on the internet, I guess. I am planning on doing more “secret giveaways” on social media where I don’t announce it flat out – but choose from the folks who engage with my posts consistently.
I guess that’s all I know. I hope you’re having a wonderful start to your week. Let me know in the comments if you’d like to see the makeup tutorial for the simple look that I’m wearing in the photos and swatch video. I’m using all Haus Labs and Milk Makeup products and would be happy to share in.
If you would like to pick up any of the Haus Labs Le Monster Matte Lip Crayons, click here!
1 comment
I’m actually going to buy this based on your review. I noticed that power move color when they were first introduced and then totally forgot about it, im an artist so you can guess where I spend my money lol. I’m only leaving this comment to tell you that you may not have Instagram plumpy lips but don’t change them, this might be an odd comment but I saw your picture and the first thing I noticed was that you have lovely lips. Happy new year.