Despite being popular in the west for a while now, the MLBB (My Lips But Better) / Dusty Rose / Beige trend has finally hit Korea. Known in Korea as “dry rose” (말린 장미), this lip trend has sparked more interest in going beyond the lip gradient look and experimenting with full wear lipsticks. I’m notorious in my friend circle for being obsessed with these tones, so I was excited when Etude House contacted me about reviewing a few of the current trendy colours they carry!
I’ll be reviewing 3 different colours from 2 of Etude House’s lip lines, and comparing them to all of the beige colours in my collection.
From left to right are BE102 – Enchanting Goddess Pose Beige, #7 Tea Rose, and BE101 Chic Hollywood Beige. I will first talk about the products themselves, and place swatches and comparison photos at the end of this post 🙂
Dear My Wish – BE101 & BE102
First up are the two colours from the Dear My Wish Lips-Talk line! Etude has two main lip lines, and added a third last month. Dear My Wish are my favourite of the three, as I find Dear My Blooming to be too drying, and the new Dear My Enamel line to not be as opaque as I’d like in a lipstick. However this is just a personal preference, as the latter is quite popular!
The Dear My Wish lipsticks are EXTREMELY creamy and moist, and thus quite prone to transferring and smudging, but the pigment is great and they’re so moisturizing I use them on a daily basis as a no-effort lip colour.
The packaging is the standard Etude colour, but with the ribbon in the center instead of at the base like the Dear My Blooming line. These can be distinguished from the new Dear My Enamel line by the colour of the ribbon, as the Enamel lipsticks have a burgundy ribbon instead of this pink/lilac one.
As you can see above, BE102 is the darker of the two, and more of a reddish tone than a beige, whereas BE101 is quite creamy and closer to being a “nude”, which is currently popular in the West. I’ve yet to find one I can pull off, so let’s see if this colour will be an exception 😦
Rosy Tint Lips – #7
Next is the Rosy Tint Lip in #7 Tea Rose. The Rosy Tint Lip line are a series of matte cream lip colours that I am quite fond of. The line may seem to only consist of basic pinks, corals, and reds, but each has a twist that makes them unique from these standard colours!
They come in a hard squeezable tube with a twistable cap. These products have a strong rose scent which dies down after application, and dry matte on your lips. I find that they aren’t very drying, and they don’t crease or cling to my dry patches. However, as they fade (they are not long-lasting) they tend to leave a ring around your lips, so it is good to check on them throughout the day after applying to keep the colour even!
Lately I’ve noticed that Etude House has been stamping expiration dates on their products in black, which looks quite out of place 😦
The product is dispensed through a small hole, and is spread on your lips with a felt applicator. This applicator isn’t my favourite as I feel it isn’t very hygienic in the long run, but the fuzzy tip gives a really nice and smooth gradient effect to your lips!
You have to press the tube quite hard to get any product to come out, but when it does it comes out as a little worm as you can see above! You can then use the felt tip applicator to apply it directly to your lips, or use a lip brush to pick up product and apply it that way. The tip can also be easily screwed off to dig out some product with a lip brush from the bottle directly if the applicator isn’t to your taste.
After continued use, the applicator will look like this. On one hand I really like the gradient effect this type of application gives, but on the other hand it feels a little dirty to me so I am quite conflicted…
Swatches
Despite being all in the “beige” spectrum on the Etude House website, you can see that these colours are quite different from eachother. BE101 is much more pink, and a closer match to the trendy Kylie Jenner beige. BE102 is more of a reddish brown, and Tea Rose is quite orangey. Because of this I was positive that Tea Rose would be my least favourite of the three, but the actual results surprised me as you will read below…
I took a picture of my bare lips for comparison. I generally have very low-pigmented, pale lips.
BE101 is the colour closest to my lip colour out of the 3. However, that is not a good thing! The application was fine and the colour very creamy and pigmented, but the colour was less of a “My Lips But Better” and more of a “My Lips”ㅠㅠ I looked just as washed out and dead as I would had I not applied anything at all! However, I believe that this colour will look very nice when paired with a darker lip liner…I love nudes and I like the Dear My Wish formula so I will definitely find a way to make this work.
BE102 is very creamy and pigmented, and a great day-to-day natural tone that matches almost all kinds of makeup. The brown undertone, while not being strong, makes it great for fall!
And now for my unexpected favourite – Tea Rose! I really thought that because of the seemingly orange undertone I was going to dislike this colour, but I ended up loving it and will be using it very often! This colour is a true MLBB, as it brought life to my face in a way that, despite looking like I wasn’t wearing too much of anything on my lips, warmed my complexion significantly. As I mentioned, the felt applicator blurs the lip line naturally and allows for a soft, even application. Love it!
Comparison Swatches
From left to right: Etude House Dear My Wish BE101 & BE102, Rosy Tint Lips #7 Tea Rose, Colourpop Brink, Etude House Color in Liquid Lips in BE102 Beige in Chic, Colourpop Lumiere, Kat Von D Everlasting Liquid Lipstick in Double Dare, Lolita, and Colourpop Tootsi.
Colourpop’s Brink felt like the lovechild of Dear My Wish BE102 and Tea Rose! Beige in Chic is the least “beige” of them all, being much more pink than brownish, with Tootsi and Lolita being the most brown. Brink and Double Dare also have a similar tone, but with a different finish.
I can’t wait for the day that Korea starts releasing liquid to matte lipsticks as the finish of the Kat Von D colours are my favourite out of all of them!
Final Thoughts
Dear My Wish – BE101 Chic Hollywood Beige
Colour: ★★✩✩✩
Pigment: ★★★★★
Wear: ★★★★✩
Price: ★★★✩✩ (9,500 KRW)
Overall: ★★★✩✩
Despite being my least favourite of the 3 due to how the colour looks on my skin tone, it’s still a very nice nude and will be fun to experiment with to see if I can finally figure out a way to pull off a nude once and for all! It’s a nice product but the colour on its own is not for me.
Dear My Wish – BE102 Enchanting Goddess Pose
Colour: ★★★★★
Pigment: ★★★★★
Wear: ★★★★✩
Price: ★★★✩✩ (9,500 KRW)
Overall: ★★★★✩
I love this colour as a daily lip, and is currently my go-to colour when I don’t wear much makeup to add a pop of colour without being too over the top.
Rosy Tint Lips – #7 Tea Rose
Colour: ★★★★★
Pigment: ★★★★★
Wear: ★★★✩✩
Price: ★★★★✩ (8,500 KRW)
Overall: ★★★★✩
My favourite of the 3! A unique colour that warms up my complexion in a natural, subtle way. This might be my new go-to lip colour 🙂 Despite not being very long lasting, it’s easy to reapply throughout the day and doesn’t stain, so I don’t find the wear time to be a problem.
Overall I’m quite happy with these products! I definitely recommend them to those new to the beige/dusty rose trend as they’re easy to use and not too pricey. I’m happy to see that Korea is getting more into wearing full coverage lips instead of just lip gradients (although I love me a good lip gradient), and am excited to see what will be the next makeup trend 🙂 Until next time!
Jasmineitor & Korea 