Any beauty junkie worth his or her salt would have at least heard of NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams, if they don’t already own multiple shades in their makeup collection. It was launched way back in 2011, and were already flying off the shelves before the term “liquid lipstick” even became a thing in the beauty scene.
This is 2019, but the NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams still enjoy an unwavering popularity, which should tell you something about their quality. They have become the holy grail lipsticks of many beauty junkies everywhere for the smooth, creamy formula which dries down to a beautiful matte finish. Also, guess what? It’s only SGD14 per piece.
The pros and cons
NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams are exactly that – creamy mattes. They come in standard doe-foot applicators and apply almost juicy at first, before drying down matte after 5 to 10 minutes. Most online reviewers have described the texture of the lip cream as “smooth” and “moussey“, and generally easy to work with. Some creative ones out there have also even tried it as a cream blusher and reported that it blended well on the cheeks too.
The lip creams are notable for the extremely comfortable wear that they provide on the lips – something that might be shocking to those who are used to the sacrifice of dry, chapped lips for the sake of wearing matte liquid lipsticks.
Matte liquid lipsticks are, however, known to be extremely long-wearing which most reviewers agree that the Soft Matte Lip Creams are not. They could last a good 3-5 hours (without eating) before it needs a re-application. Considering the lip creams are so affordable, easy to re-apply, and doesn’t require a whole lot of lip-prepping, the shorter wear time doesn’t seem to faze most people.
Because of how it isn’t transfer-proof and has a shorter wear time, many online reviewers have critiqued the Soft Matte Lip Cream for not being a great liquid lipstick. However, it’s worthy to note that they were launched before liquid lipsticks were a thing, and aren’t supposed to be one.
Most of the Soft Matte Lip Creams are highly pigmented, but some shades can sometimes go on streaky. A good tip regarding application that this beauty blogger has is to apply the lipstick horizontally once, then vertically to counteract the streakiness. Thankfully, a second coat of application is generally enough to cover up any streakiness on the first coat, and creating a flawless finish for your lip colour.
One last point to note! The packaging colours of the Soft Matte Lip Creams may not match the actual colour of the product on some shades, especially the pink and nude ones. We recommend that you see some swatches online (scroll down to see our swatches of the most popular shades), or better yet, swatch them yourself in-store before you purchase.
DV Tip: Put on a generous coat of intensive lip balm as the first step in your make-up routine (even before your facial moisturiser), and plan to do your lips last. By the time you’re done with everything else, your lips should have had at least a good 10 to 15 minutes of moisturising. Wipe off the lip balm, and your lips would be soft and plump, the perfect base for applying the NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream.
What do we think?
When writing this article, it wasn’t difficult to find members of the DV team that already own multiple shades of the NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams for their own use. Tiara, Zoe and I swatch the shades we owned and give our comments on how we like the lip cream.
Tiara
Tiara owns the shades Cannes, Milan, Prague, and San Paulo.
I found out about the NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams from the YouTube-sphere. This is one of my favourite lip products because it’s affordable, comes in a huge variety of shades and is super comfortable on the lips. It not only smells good, but also looks good.
Milan is a mid-tone, blue-toned pink.
Prague is a matte merlot shade.
At such an affordable price, the NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream is definitely a product worth having in your make-up collection. It’s not as long lasting as my other lip products, but I don’t mind reapplying it throughout the day!
Cannes is a matte muted mauve.
Sao Paulo is a plummy pink.
Zoe
Zoe owns the shades Abu Dhabi, Budapest, Copenhagen, Seoul and Stockholm.
I came across the NYX brand on social media and was really excited when Sephora brought them in!
Abu Dhabi is a deep rose-beige.
Stockholm is a mid-tone beige pink.
My favourite NYX product has to be the Soft Matte Lip Creams. They are so comfortable on the lips, it feels like you aren’t wearing any lip product at all. It’s also one of the least drying matte lip formulas I have ever tried!
Budapest is a deep mauve with red undertone.
Copenhagen is a matte rich plum.
The formula is also perfect for layering and achieving a gradient lip effect, because the matte lip creams blend so well with each other.
Abu Dhabi was used as the base, and Copenhagen layered over.
Stockholm was used as the base, and Seoul layered over.
Mandy
I own the shade Ibiza – only one for now because I’m new to the Soft Matte Lip Cream scene. When I first tried it on, I was surprised by how glossy it went on, but immediately fell in love with the burst of colour that helped me look more awake and vibrant. The lip cream took about five minutes to dry down to a matte finish.
Ibiza is a matte deep-rose pink.
I have naturally dry lips. No matter how much water I drink, I still get flaking skin on my lips. As such, I tend to avoid matte lipsticks in general because they not only exaggerate the flakiness but also dries out my lips even more. However, I have worn Ibiza without even prepping my lips with lip balm (out of laziness), and the comfort I got out of it was amazing.
The lip cream is definitely not transfer-proof, but I’m very pleased with the wear time I get out of it. I don’t like to have lip colour on when I’m eating anyway, so I prefer to wipe it off and reapply after.
Update: I loved the formula so much that I went out and got another 2 more shades: Zurich and Monte Carlo!
Other swatches
NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams have a total of 34 shades. Yes, 34!
NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams retail at SGD 14 each in NYX boutiques.
NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams review: Conclusion
All reviewers say that they love the NYX Soft Matte Lip Creams because of how affordable and comfortable they are on their lips. While they may not be very long-lasting nor transfer-proof, the reviewers are all happy with the wear time they offer and don’t mind re-application. The huge variety of colours is another plus point that everyone is happy with.
So is NYX Soft Matte Lip Cream the affordable holy grail to check out? Yes, you bet!
Unfortunately, NYX has pulled out of Singapore so you won’t be able to find their products in physical stores or Sephora, but you may still buy the Soft Matte Lip Cream at SGD11 from e-commerce websites such as Lookfantastic and Shopee.
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