Bésame Cosmetics Voluptuous Lip Colour Set (Red Velvet)

'Tis the season for red lipstick.

I was happily surprised to see that Bésame Cosmetics is back with beautiful new products. Bésame is a small California-based niche makeup company that launched a few years ago with quite a bit of blog hype- we all loved the vintage-inspired packaging, attention to details and superb product quality. Things seemed to have fizzled  in the last couple of years, the line was pulled out of Henri Bendel  and seemed to be forever on clearance online with no new products to liven things up.

However, things are looking up. The website has undergone a serious face-lift and there's finally something new to get excited about: Voluptuous Lip Colour Set. These lip kits feature three items: lipstick, lip liner and a small lip brush. As you can see, the packaging is as gorgeous as ever, with that Old Hollywood touch. These products would look more at home on an Art Deco vanity than in my modern makeup storage system, but a girl has to keep her lipsticks straight, after all. The sets come in three colors: Red Velvet (a true movie star red, on the warm side but not orange. It looks lighter on skin than in the tube, as you can see in the swatch), Rupture Rose (a soft pink) and Champagne (a shimmery beige). The last two seemed too light for me, so I only bought Red Velvet.

The lipstick is creamy, has more moisture than Besmae's Vintage Lipstick line and a satiny finish. It's not a matte, but isn't shiny either. It's a true grownup lipstick with full coverage, the kind you need to take extra care to apply it right, but when you do it rewards you with a flawless, elegant look. That's where the other items in the kit come into play. The retractable lip liner is a perfect match to the lipstick and provides the defining required when wearing red. The tip is thin enough to draw a very exact line and you can also use it under the lipstick for extra staining and a good hold. Not that the lipstick needs much help in this department- it was much longer lasting than I expected, surviving a snack and a drink.

The lip brush looks small and cutesy, but is actually wonderfully designed. It's the perfect size and the handle fits effortlessly between the thumb and index finger. The brush is dense, soft and grabs the right amount of color. Serious red lipsticks always look better when applied with a brush so I'm very happy that these kits provide such a good one. There's a small velvet pouch for the lipstick, but I prefer to keep the brush in it, for neatness sake.

Bottom line: Now I just need the perfect dress.

Bésame Cosmetics Voluptuous Lip Colour Set ($35) is available online from besamecosmetics.com, which is where I bought mine, and at select retailers around the world (there's a store locator on the website).

All photos are mine.