Sonia Rykiel Sublime Lipstick swatches part 1

Finally, a Japanese brand that a) makes only one line of lipsticks and b) did not saddle it with a fifty-syllable name.

Sonia Rykiel Sublime Lipsticks are balmy, lightweight, rose-scented and moisturising beauties which layer effortlessly to give a more opaque (but still glossy and somewhat translucent) look. They last surprisingly long (at least 4 hours of wear) and the brighter/darker shades leave a stain. Think of them as Dior Addicts but with actual moisturising properties, much smoother textures and better pigment.

The narrow design of the bullet makes mirror-less, straight-from-the-tube application easy, even for a lipbrush fiend like me.

30 permanent shades; each tube contains 4g and retails for HK$180 or ¥3465.

All swatches are two swipes each, pictures taken in bright store lighting. Some shades are shot through with microshimmer, which I've asterisked below.

closer looks

1* neutral orange
2 cool cherry pink-red
3 bright neutral pink
4 cool pink with slightly more purple in the base than 5
5* slightly lighter than 4, with silvery micro-shimmer
6* neutral soft pink
7 warm pinky coral

6 and 7 again
9 cool rosy peach
10* warm peachy pink (with the emphasis on pink)
12 browned rose
13* browned rose with micro-shimmer, warmer and with more red than 12
14 pinky peach (with the emphasis on peach), warmer and brighter than 7 or 9