I'm too old for this: Review of Hard Candy Metallic Mousse Lip Color in Smoke & Mirrors

Before anyone accuses me of ageism, I know many people my age or older who could totally pull off this lipstick. It's just that most of my efforts to master liquid lipstick, with the exception of Stila Fiery, which I wore to my wedding, have left me feeling old and unhip and muttering about "the youth." I need to stop.

But I'm pretty excited that metallic lips are becoming popular, because as much as I like the look of matte lipstick, I'm happy to see some more variety. And I like shiny things.

In addition to my enthusiasm to get on board the metal train, a few other things conspired to make me buy this Hard Candy Metallic Mousse liquid lipstick against my better judgement. First, I was at Walmart to pick up a prescription, which it wasn't ready when promised, so I was told I'd have to wait a half hour. And of course the makeup section is adjacent to the pharmacy. Second, I was wearing the beautiful Butter London Posh Bird on my nails at the time, and it just happened to match Smoke & Mirrors almost exactly (as you can see in my Instagram post). Third, I've been thinking about getting a greyed-out purple lipstick for months. And fourth, I was very hungry and not in my right mind. So here we are. But I probably should have gone with the pinky-mauve Truffle shade instead, because the formula isn't bad.

In the tube, it has definite purple shimmer--almost pinkish in direct sunlight light the photo above. On my lips, it looks utterly gray.

As the name suggests, it's a mousse formula rather than a thin liquid, which makes it much easier for me to apply neatly than something like a Colourpop Ultra Matte. The edges weren't perfectly crisp, but it looked fine from a normal distance. The texture feels just about like a regular bullet lipstick when it's on, though you can see that it does create a bit of that wrinkly-butthole look. Sorry. Not sure how else to describe it. Despite the puckering, I didn't find it drying, and I have pretty dry lips.

It stays in place well and wears off quite evenly--none of that bare inner lip nonsense. It does transfer slightly to cups and glasses, but not excessively.

Unfortunately, it's just too gray for me. It gives my whole face a sallow, undead look, which can be ameliorated a bit with some good blush. But I was hoping for a weird purple, not a scary gray.

All is not lost, though. I have actually been in need of a lipstick case for work, since my Revlon Balm Stains especially have a tendency to lose their caps in my bag. The case this thing came in, which has a mirror inside the lid, is perfect--unlike some lipstick cases it will fit a tube of gloss or a larger crayon-style lipstick. So let's pretend I paid $3 for the case and $3 for an unwearable lipstick. That feels slightly less regrettable.

It is an interesting color. For someone else. I'll have to get my metallic fix some other way.