TARTE Rainforest of the Sea Drench Lip Splash Lipstick

[Purchased]

Tarte Rainforest of the Sea Drench Lip Splash Lipsticks (0.085 oz.) retails for $22 USD ($26 CAD) and is available in 12 shades. They are said to be "a full-coverage matte lipstick with lip nourishing antioxidants."

* Bikini is described as a pink coral. [P]

* Cabana Boy is described as a mauve. [P]

* Surfer Girl is described as a cool fuchsia. [P]

"Saturate lips with creamy, full-coverage color and hydration with this long-wearing satin-matte lipstick. Featuring an array of bold and everyday shades, it's powered by tarte’s Rainforest of the Sea™ antioxidant complex and natural, lip-loving oils and butters. This vibrant lip formula helps firm, treat, and protect your lips while providing intense hydration and hiding the appearance of fine lines. Just use the crisp, precise tip to seamlessly define and contour lips, delivering a rich, long-lasting color."

The Drench Lip Splash packaging is a slim, light-weight lipstick tube—despite the beautiful purple and gold ombré design, the tube itself actually feels very thin and not as sturdy as most other lipsticks. When twisting the product up and down, it feels quite rough and two of the lipsticks broke during initial swatching, while the third is loose in the tube. They have a light mint scent, but no noticeable taste.

Bikini is a medium-dark, pink red with warm undertones and a satin finish. This shade applied smoothly, evenly and had great, opaque pigmentation. The creamy formula made it apply easily without dragging and was comfortable to wear. Bikini wore well for +5 hours, was lightly hydrating and left behind a stain. (4/5)

* Kat Von D Bachelorette was darker, warmer, matte. Kat Von D Bachelorette was darker, warmer, more red. Marc Jacobs So Sofia was warmer, more coral, glossy. Sephora Collection Strawberry Kissed was darker, more red, matte.

Cabana Boy is a light-medium, mauve rose with hints of pink, cool undertones and a satin finish. It applied smoothly, mostly even and had nice, opaque pigmentation. This shade had a creamy consistency that wore easily, but liked to accentuate dryness and imperfections which caused my natural lip color to show through in areas. I found the color also gravitated towards lip lines and felt hydrating during wear. Cabana Boy lasted +4.5 hours before fading. (4/5)

* ColourPop Bianca (LE) was cooler, more grey, matte. Sephora Collection Marvelous Mauve was darker, more pink, matte. Stila Patina was darker, cooler, more mauve.

Surfer Girl is a medium-dark, brightened magenta with cool undertones and a satin finish. This shade applied smoothly, evenly and had great, opaque color payoff. It had a creamy texture that applied easily, was comfortable throughout wear and didn't feather despite having a small amount of slip. The color did gravitate towards lip lines, but never felt drying. Surfer Girl lasted +6 hours and left behind a stain. (4/5)

* MAC Have Your Cake (LE) was brighter, warmer, more fuchsia. Bite Beauty Violet was brighter, more pink. MAC Heroine was cooler, more purple. Sephora Collection African Violet was cooler, more purple, matte.

Overall, the Drench Lip Splash Lipsticks have a very nice formula—they're pigmented, comfortable to wear, easy to apply and come in a great selection of shades. Unfortunately, despite being nice on the lips, the packaging and amount of product is disappointing. These lipsticks contain less product than your standard lipsticks (the usual is any where between 0.10 oz., 0.12 oz. to 0.15 oz.) and the packaging feels quite low-priced, especially considering all three shades I tested were loose in the tube straight out of the box, two of which actually broke.

With all that said, while the formula is nice, I would recommend passing on these lipsticks unless they improve the packaging or you're the type of person who regularly applies lipsticks using a lip brush.

Available now at Sephora