Lipstick Love: Chanel Rouge Coco 19 Gabrielle

My lips always fall victim to the Winter cold so I'm incessantly applying lip salve like it's going off the next day. I'm also always on the prowl for hydrating lipstick with decent pigmentation. Chanel's Rouge Coco Hydrating Creme Lip Colour range offers some of the most moisturising lipstick out there so I popped around the Covent Garden store pre-Christmas. Unfortunately, they didn't have what I wanted. So when my ubercool cousin D popped a tube of Gabrielle (19) in my Christmas pressie bag, I was absolutely chuffed!

Gabrielle 19: a lot of beauty bloggers/vloggers call this a "true red" shade. It seems neutral enough which makes it very wearable for all skin tones. It's very pretty in a glam kind of way and is tinged with tiny gold specks that give it a nice shimmer to it.

Finish: creamy satin with shine. If you have dry lips (like I do) it's best to prep and smoothen your lips first. However, bear in mind that this is already a shiny lipstick so avoid shimmery lip balm/gloss.

Application: very creamy and glides smoothly on your lips. It's quite sheer so you can build up the colour depending on your preference. As with most red lipstick, it's best to use with lip liner.

Retouch: it's quite a sheer colour and I found myself having to retouch about four times for a whole day. I do drink a lot of hot bev so this could be why but this is what you'd expect anyway with most creamy lip gunk (ie quick colour transfer).

Sans flash

Avec flash

My lips did feel moisturised the whole day, moreso than when I use MAC's Mineralize lipstick. I'm also really in love with the colour: it's red enough to make a statement, but not screamingly so. Very refined and very glam indeed.

Do you have any Winter lippy favourites?