MAHALO Red My Lips Review

The Cause

As some of you might know April was sexual assault awareness month. Maryna, the founder of MAHALO, believes that your sexuality is yours and so partnered with the charity Red My Lips in order to help combat rape myths and victim blaming. Every April, Red My Lips runs the same global campaign – urging men and women worldwide to wear red lipstick in April to raise awareness about sexual violence and speak out against victim-blaming. Red My Lips are challenging rape myths and supporting those that have been victimised. This isn’t just a charity that focuses on women but recognises that these awful crimes happen to men too. Being a past victim of sexual violence myself, parting with my hard earned money meant nothing knowing that a portion of it was going to help anyone else that has suffered similarly. Although the campaign is over, the charity is not, and nor is the sale of this beautiful product. And what’s absolutely amazing is that 20% of the proceeds go to redmylips.org which is such a fantastic donation. I applaud Maryna and thank her for her kind nature and generosity.

The MAHALO Red My Lips Tint

The MAHALO Red My Lips Tint is an orange and pink toned red, matte lipstick to suit all skin tones, complete with a lip plumping infusion. It has the aroma of dark vanilla and rose, with a faint undertone of Hawaiian jasmine and comes encased within a beautiful eco-friendly bamboo packaging.  It’s made with 100% natural ingredients with some being organic and locally/wildly harvested when available. It’s also cruelty-free and vegan – the lip brush it comes with is also vegan too – yay!

The Ingredients:

Camellia oleifera (camellia)*, persea gratissima (avocado)*, ricinus communist (castor)*, euphorbia cerifera (candelilla)*, copernicia cerifera (carnauba)*, simmondsia chinensis (jojoba)*, theobroma cacao (cocoa)*, rosa damascena (rose wax), caprylic/capric triglyceride, maranta arundinacea (arrowroot), natural and organic flavors, dipalmitoyl hydroxyproline, euterpe oleracea (acai)*, vitis vinifera (grapeseed)*, non-gmo mixed tocopherols, rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary)*, iron oxides, red 7, mica.

*Clean ingredients: organic + local and/or wild harvested (when available).

The Packaging

It came packaged in a gorgeous red box with beautifully embossed gold typography, supported within a foam inlay and protected by a delicate layer of black tissue paper. The lip tint holder itself has a swivel top to it with a magnetic clasp to keep it closed. The lip tint is held within a small metal pan, wrapped within a renewable bamboo casing to help to preserve the vitality of the ingredients. There is also a nifty little mirror within the lid itself.

The Lip Tint

The lip tint to me was more of a lipstick. It’s a gorgeous luxurious matte red, and with just one layer produced a pretty bold colour, a 2nd layer resulted in a really full coverage and some super bold lips. The texture is thick and creamy and unlike most green beauty lipsticks it wasn’t overly thin or shiny. Upon application it does have a little sheen to it but dries out fairly matte, but here’s my favourite part – unlike your conventional matte lipsticks, due to its natural ingredients, it actually nourishes your lips rather than leaving them feeling dry and caked. It’s super moisturising and flexible.

Although it stated on the site that you’d experience a slight tingling from the plumping infusion of collagen amino acids I have to say that I didn’t feel a thing but my lips did look fuller and more defined.

The staying power was brilliant for something that isn’t artificial – it lasted all day and stayed put on my lips after eating and drinking, only needing a little touch up here and there. But with strong staying power came the burden of removing the lipstick – I had to used oil, in the end, to remove the final staining, and be warned it can stain your skin ever so slightly! The one thing I will warn you of is that if you eat anything oily it will loosen the lip tint enough for it to smudge around your face!

The orange and pink tones definitely make this lipstick accessible to anyone – I felt though that this had some cool blue undertones to it more than anything – in fact, it made my teeth look a hell of a lot whiter which was a bonus! I absolutely adored the colour and I feel like you can take this look from day to night no problems. If you’re looking for something subtle, however, this will not be for you!

The aroma notes stated ‘dark vanilla and rose with a faint hint of Hawaiian jasmine’ – I definitely smelled rose as the main base note followed by jasmine, and then vanilla came through very subtly. The fragrance stays notable throughout the day so if you’re not a fan of heavy fragrances I can see how this might become slightly irritable. I, however, loved the olfactory experience and I felt like I’d been transported away to a beautiful island, far, far away from the grim and gloomy United Kingdom.

The lip brush that accompanies it is very precise, in fact to the point that you can almost get away without using a lip liner, having said that a lip liner wouldn’t go amiss. I didn’t find that the lipstick bled or needed any primer either.

The Verdict

My final verdict? As someone who doesn’t normally wear lipstick, I’ve fallen in love with my luscious lips again, channelling my inner Audrey Horne, and becoming a total lipstick convert. The only bold lipstick I own is NARS’ Heatwave, a bold orangey red that I have worn twice in 4 years, and it’s safe to say that MAHALO’s Red My Lips completely blows it out of the water. The fact that each and every lipstick has been hand blended by MAHALO Skin Care in Hawaii and a portion of the proceeds goes to such a great charity was absolutely the final selling points for me. The price label didn’t bother me at all, considering that in my toxic past I used to purchase copious amounts of YSL and Guerlain make-up – so I’m happy to buy something that extra bit luxurious.

I’m hoping that in the future my bank balance will allow me to purchase some other items – I received some samples of the Petal Mask, Rare Indigo Beauty Balm, and the Vitality Elixir Facial Serum. Sadly my sample of Rare Indigo had all leaked out of its container but the other 2 were still intact. The serum was fab and the Petal Mask is definitely on my next to buy list.

I’d highly recommend the Red My Lips Tint to anyone looking to switch their beauty regime to something a little more eco-friendly or for those wanting to add a boost of high class, haute couture luxury to their make-up bags. Organic red lipsticks are a rare treat and this one wins over them all!

The MAHALO Red My Lips Tint is available only via Mahalo at $45.00 and 20% of the proceeds go to redmylips.org. (To all of my fellow UK friends this is roughly £31.00 plus another £19.50 shipping.)