Pucker up! Shu Uemura’s Rouge Unlimited revamped lipsticks

When it comes to lipsticks, I’ll admit to being a little lazy and heading straight for MAC or NARS, with their ‘kid in candy shop’ massive variety of colours. However, Shu Uemura’s recent Rouge Unlimited revamp of their lipsticks might just change my mind!

Firstly, the new packaging is awesome. Fellow Sassy girl Emma and I both immediately started ooooohing and ahhhing over the new shiny silver tube. Shu’s previous packaging was quite plain but Rouge Unlimited’s sleek capsule casing is a total eye-catcher and looks like something out of Barbarella. A great start!

Complementing its vaguely sci-fi look, these new lippies come with a luggage-load of snazzy sounding technology behind them – sporting a ‘crystal core hybrid pigment’ to create the purest colours ever. Apparently, this transparent core combined with an outer opaque coloured one makes for fantastic true colour-pay off; honestly, I’m still not exactly sure what this means, but it sounds cool nevertheless!

However, we all know that the proof is in the pudding, so Emma and I put these babies to work! I tested out PK365, a striking bright pink colour whilst Emma went for OR540, a more everyday orange-based neutral. I instantly fell in love with mine; whilst many bright pinks tend towards the cooler end of the palette, this shade of camellia cerise had a lovely warmth to it meaning it didn’t look so stark on. I got complimented the first time I wore it, so you can’t ask for better than that! Meanwhile, Emma wasn’t originally sold on hers… until (in her words) ‘I used another lipstick and realised it was actually legit’. I think she’s been wearing it every day since!

The other major pro to Shu’s Rouge Unlimited lipsticks is their fantastic formula. Both Emma and I found them extremely moisturising (thanks to shea butter, jojoba seed oil and Ceramide) yet still strongly pigmented and even better, this hydrating sensation lasts all day. They’re super easy to apply too, gliding on smoothly, and there was no feathering or flaking – just hour after hour of gorgeous true colour.

Part of me wishes Shu had got a bit more inventive with names rather than numbered codes but these do actually serve a purpose. The two-letter prefix corresponds to their colour i.e. PK for pink, OR for orange, RD for red and BG for beige, plus some more unusual ones like CR for coral and WN for wine. So if you know what shade you want, this should make shopping much easier than picking your way through dozens of obscure names! And for those like me who thought more famous brands cornered the market for variety, Rouge Unlimited comes in 50 different shades!

Overall, we declare Shu’s Rouge Unlimited revamp a Sassy success! Pucker up, girls!

Shu Uemura Rouge Unlimited lipsticks are available now and cost $210.

See all Shu Uemura locations in Hong Kong here.