This month, I received NYX Butter Lipstick in my Ipsy bag (referral link). NYX is one of my absolute favorite brands of drugstore makeup, and I don’t often get to a pharmacy here that sells it, so I was pretty glad to see this tube of lipstick in my little Ipsy cosmetic pouch.

Now, when I said that I love NYX, I was mainly referring to their eyeshadows (especially the older square ones, but I dig the new round ones, too) and their blushes. I only have three other NYX lipsticks: a Black Label, a Matte, and a Round. I haven’t even tried the Round one yet, but I really like the other two. I also have a couple of their nail polishes, which are fine, but they’re also a bit old and I have them in the rounded-square bottle design that predates the current square one.

The color I received is Pops / Explosif (BLS17), and it’s definitely the sort of thing I would have chosen for myself. It’s a midtone, slightly muted, warmish mauve pink cream that, on me, is a bit stronger than MLBB. More like MLBB,BB.

For a US$6.00 lipstick that can often be found on sale, this is pretty much awesome. It applies smoothly, actually seems hydrating, and is well pigmented, reasonably glossy and lightweight. It acts like a lip balm but looks like a lipstick. You can apply one coat for a tinted balm look, and a second coat makes the color much more saturated.

Of course, the main drawback here is that it doesn’t have fantastic staying power. It’s pretty decent, don’t get me wrong, but I did reapply after about three hours. The color doesn’t fade off entirely evenly, but it still looks OK.

I wouldn’t really recommend this lipstick in very bright or high contrast colors, depending on your skintone, as it has a tendency to bleed a little bit into liplines. This is my main complaint, but it’s not a huge deal with a MLBB kind of color. If I ever get myself down to a Rexall, I’ll have to seriously check out more of these lipsticks. I found Pops to be super easy to wear and as a sufferer of dry lips, it was comfortable, as well.

The packaging is a little cheap looking, but it isn’t flimsy. I like that the case color coordinates with the lipstick color. The lipstick itself didn’t have a discernable smell even though fragrance is on the ingredient list (last). It might have had the faintest of tastes but I could not pinpoint what it was and it was certainly not unpleasant to me. I do have a stuffy nose at the moment, though, so perhaps take those last two observations with a grain of salt!

NYX Butter Lipstick retails for US$6.00 and is 0.16 oz / 4.5 g. The lipstick I received was made in Taiwan.

NYX Cosmetics (named after the Greek goddess and pronounced “Nix”, though in my head I always say “N-Y-X”!) is based in Los Angeles, CA, USA. It has been owned by The L’Oréal Group since 2014. NYX also states that they are cruelty-free, but I’m not sure how that jives with being part of L’Oréal.