3CE isn’t that affordable of a brand, nor is it pricey either. I would consider it a middle-of-the-scale priced makeup brand, but it does have that reputation to sort of back up the price. I’ve always been eyeing certain brands and their products since I started my K-beauty journey, and this is one of them. I wonder if it lives up to my expectations?
Like many of the brands I’ve “tracked” for a while, I kind of expect that I’ll end up liking the product a lot. But one thing that I found unique about the brand’s lip products of the same line, is that they’re rather unconventional colours in my opinion. For example, some of the pinks from 3CE are lighter and more vibrant than another brand’s.
With that being said, I find it could be hard to choose the colours you want to buy if you aren’t into the whole vibrant/statement lip look. Or if you’re looking for a more natural type of colour.
However, for me, I opted to go for a good fall colour this time around. I chose a colour from 3CE’s Velvet Lip Tint line called Daffodil, which shows up as this beautiful “fall” red. It’s pretty warm toned, and looks to be a mix between red-orange and red-brown a little bit. It’s too intense of a colour for Spring or Summer, but it should be perfectly compliment the colours of Fall.
According to the pictures on their site, it seems like the lip tint will cling to the natural lines of your lips and/or make them dry. But it doesn’t seem to be the case, it’s not as velvety in texture like the Peripera Ink The Airy Velvet tints. But it’s still got a little bit of the blurring effect, and it’s easy to blend it out right after applying.
I didn’t have a chance to test it’s lasting power throughout the day, but it does stain your lips (like with most lip tints/stains) and the difference in colour is small. It also stained my hand during my swatch, but that’s alright lol. Just proves it’s staining power.
I ordered this back in Spring, and I wanted to see how it would be to order from Stylenanda’s site as opposed to my usual place; YesStyle. This was during the time when they had a promotion for free shipping, and I decided it was a good time. (I think they have that type of promotion a few times a year.)
A few things to note: the site does charge in USD so there will likely be conversion charges. They also have an option to pay via PayPal, which is what I opted for. Also a note for Canadians: they usually ship via DHL, which usually means you’re more likely to be hit with customs fees.
I have no idea how the custom fees part skipped my mind, but I literally got a smack of reality when I got an email about it. I had to pay about $20 CAD in customs fees, but I know it’s not the highest I’ve seen people having to pay. Other than the little speed bump of paying the customs fees, the delivery was pretty quick.
Overall, I think I paid close to $40-something CAD in total for the lip tint. $23 USD + conversion to CAD, and then $20 CAD for customs. So I’m likely not buying from the site again, but it’s not going to stop me from checking out more 3CE products.
Personally, I don’t find this lip tint to be considered expensive when you look at a general scale (from Etude House prices to YSL prices I mean). But I do understand that some people will have reservations paying approx. $27 CAD for one lip tint (it’s usually around that price on YesStyle).
I think the added customs fees kind of soured me in the product which ended up being $40-something CAD total LOL, mostly I’m in a state of sighing a lot when I use the lip tint. So if you’re in Canada, or any country where you know DHL or EMS shipping will garner customs, maybe try someplace you know won’t garner customs. Or buy it in a store.
Finally, the product itself seems to be great. Which coincides with the reviews given, and despite the added $20, I like it.
