Impulse Buy Monday: NYX Butter Lipstick

I've been in a search for the perfect red lipstick. With my pale skin and dark hair, I have a theory that with red lips I will be a dead ringer for Snow White (in my imagination at least!). In my quest I've bought several different brands and shades, and this week's Impulse Buy Monday is one of my conquests: NYX Butter Lipstick in the shade Mary Janes.

I knew nothing about this lipstick before purchasing it off of Ulta's website one evening. Unlike the hugely popular NYX Butter Gloss, I hadn't really heard or seen anything about its sister lippie. I adore the Butter Gloss, so I took a chance on the Butter Lipstick hoping that it would be the same miracle of a product.


Choosing a shade online can be very difficult, as website photos can never truly do a shade justice and it's kind of a "buyer beware" situation. I was looking for a deep red lipstick with a blue undertone (I like my teeth looking as white as can be!). I don't think orangey reds flatter me at all. I have cool toned skin, so the warmth of an orange red makes my skin look very odd. A blue red matches me far better, and looks more natural. Based on the Ulta photo, Mary Janes looked much deeper and more blue than the product I got, which was a bright fire engine red in the tube. So, my first impression was of disappointment, but I kept my hopes high.

Ulta describes this lipstick as "full, yet lightweight coverage with a luxurious satin finish."

This lipstick is very smooth to apply, it glides well onto the lips. Perhaps even a little too well, as it's  easy to paint outside the lines so to speak. I highly recommend lipliner and to neaten up the lines with concealer afterwards.

It's very pigmented, but I wouldn't say it is full coverage. It took a couple layers to get to a decent amount of coverage as the formula is more sheer. It is lightweight, but not nearly as comfortable or hydrating as the Butter Gloss, which is what I was hoping for in this lipstick. I can definitely feel it on my lips, but it's not as heavy as other lipsticks I own. I expected it to be more creamy, but this lipstick is missing the "butter" aspect. I don't hate the formula, though, it's just not what I anticipated.

Overall, I like this lipstick and would probably buy some additional shades. My one disappointment is still the color. Take a look at the swatch above, my first reaction is "Holy pink!" It's barely red at all, instead it's more of a magenta with a bit of red mixed in. So unfortunately the product isn't really true to the color in the tube. I think that if I lined and filled in my lips with a lip liner, the color will be more of what I want.

Impulse Buy Verdict: Ulta needs to adjust their swatches online... whoops I mean I like this formula, but maybe not this color so much. Buying online is so difficult because not only do you have to trust the images that the site provides, but every computer shows colors in different ways if they are not calibrated correctly. In the end, I don't regret buying this lipstick because I like the formula and think I can play with it a bit to make it work the way I want.